Psychology

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Psychology

• Rachel Lyn Rumson
• 207-332- 7224
• rrumson_at_andovercollege.edu
• rachellyn.rumson_at_gmail.com

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Agenda

• Business Items
• Psychology of Studying
• Lecturette
• Activity
• -Break-
• Lecturette
• Assignment review

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Business Items

• Wiki
• http//psychT3.pbworks.com/
• Textbook companion site
• http//www.wadsworth.com
• Office hours required
• No late work

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Term Timeline

• Four quizzes
• Midterm - Jan. 5
• Term paper (Final Project) Feb. 3
• Final Exam Feb. 9

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Psychology of Studying
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Self Reflection

• Where do you do most of your studying?
• Where do you do you best work?
• What are your goals for this term? (Learning,
  academic growth, study habits, survival)
• How will you know when you are on target? Or off?

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Are you a Procrastinator or a Perfectionist?
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Psychology of Studying

• SQR4 and LISAN methods (p.3)
• What in common?
• What is different?
• Turn to your Neighbor
• names
• family
• where you live
• The program youre in

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What works?

• Time management
• Buddy system
• Meetings with me
• Community
• SQR4 and LISAN methods

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Turn to your Neighbor

• Find someone you do not know
• Share your
• Names
• Family status
• Were you live
• The program youre in

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Outline for today

• Psychology - Spotlight on behavior
• History of Psychology
• Contemporary Perspectives
• What Psychologists Do
• How they Think
• Research Methods
• Critical Thinking
• Pseudo-psychologies

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Introducing Psychology and Research Methods
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Psychology

• Spotlight on Behavior

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What Is Psychology?

• Psychology
• Psyche Mind
• Logos Knowledge or study
• Definition The scientific study of behavior and
  mental processes

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Behavior Types

• Directly observable actions and responses
• Overt i.e., can be directly observed (crying)
• Covert i.e., cannot be directly observed
  (remembering) private, internal

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Empirical Evidence

• Information gathered from direct observation

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Psychological Research

• Scientific Observation A systematic empirical
  investigation that is structured to answer
  questions about the world
• Research Method Systematic approach to answering
  scientific questions

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What Might a Psychologist Research?

• Development Course of human growth and
  development from conception to death
• Learning How and why it occurs in humans and
  animals
• Personality Traits, motivations, and individual
  differences
• Sensation and Perception How we come to know the
  world through our five senses

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What Might a Psychologist Research? Continued

• Comparative Psychologists Study and compare
  behavior of different species, especially animals
• Biopsychologists How behavior relates to
  biological processes, especially nervous system
  activities
• Cognitive How reasoning, problem solving, and
  other mental processes relate to human behavior
• Gender Psychologists Study differences between
  females and males

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What Might a Psychologist Research? Continued

• Social Human social behavior
• Cultural How culture affects human behavior
• Evolutionary How our behavior is guided by
  patterns that evolved during human history

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Goals of Psychology?

• Description of Behaviors Naming and classifying
  various observable, measurable behaviors
• Understanding The causes of behavior(s)
• Prediction Forecasting behavior accurately
• Control Altering conditions that influence
  behaviors
• Positive Use To control unwanted behaviors,
  (e.g., smoking, tantrums, etc.)
• Negative Use To control peoples behaviors
  without their knowledge

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A Brief History of Psychology

• Family Album

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Beginnings

• Wilhelm Wundt Father of Psychology
• 1879 Set up first lab to study conscious
  experience
• Stimulus Any physical energy that affects the
  person and provokes a response
• Introspection Looking inward (i.e., examining
  and reporting your thoughts, feelings, etc.)
• Wundts ideas brought to the U.S. by Tichener and
  renamed Structuralism

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Introspection Activity

• 6 Volunteers??

H.O. 1.2
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Small Group Debrief

• Groups of 3
• 5 min

H.O. 1.2
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William James and Functionalism

• Functionalism How the mind functions to help us
  adapt to our environment
• Functionalists admired Darwin and his theory of
  Natural Selection
• Animals keep physical features through evolution
  that help them adapt to environments

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Behaviorism

• Watson and Skinner
• Psychology must study observable behavior
  objectively
• Watson studied Little Albert with Rosalie Raynor
  Skinner studied animals almost exclusively

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Gestalt

• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
  
• Key names Wertheimer, Perls
• Wertheimer Mistake to analyze psychological
  events into pieces many experiences cannot be
  broken into smaller units

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Psychoanalytic Psychology Freud

• Our behavior is largely influenced by our
  unconscious wishes, thoughts, and desires,
  especially sex and aggression
• All thoughts and actions are determined nothing
  is an accident
• Freud performed dream analysis and was an
  interactionist (combination of our biology and
  environment make us who we are)
• Recent research has hypothesized that our
  unconscious mind is partially responsible for our
  behaviors

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Repression

• Unconscious thoughts held out of awareness
  because they are threatening

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Humanism

• Rogers
• Goal of psychology is to study unique aspects of
  the person focuses on subjective human
  experience.
• Each person has innate goodness and is able to
  make free choices (contrast with Skinner and
  Freud).
• Maslow Self-actualization Develop ones full
  potential and become the best person you can be

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Who are these ladies?
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Psychology Today

• Three Contemporary Perspectives

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Psychology Today

• Biological
• Psychological
• Sociocultural

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Psychology Today

• Biopsychology Our behavior can be explained
  through physiological processes
• Uses brain scans to gather data (CT, MRI, PET)
• Looks at neurotransmitters
• Positive Psychology Study of human strengths,
  virtues, and optimal behavior
• http//www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Defaul
  t.aspx

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Sociocultural Perspective

• Many thoughts and behaviors are influenced by our
  culture
• Psychologists need to be aware of the impact
  cultural diversity may have on our behaviors
• What is acceptable in one culture might be
  unacceptable in another

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Sociocultural Perspective

• Cultural Relativity Behavior must be judged
  relative to the values of the culture in which it
  occurs
• Social Norms Rules that define acceptable and
  expected behavior for members of various groups

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Psychologists

• What are they Doing?

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• FIGURE 1.3 (a) Specialties in psychology (APA,
  2005). Percentages are approximate. (b) Where
  psychologists work (APA, 2000). (c) This chart
  shows the main activities psychologists do at
  work (APA, 2000). Any particular psychologist
  might do several of these activities during a
  work week. As you can see, most psychologists
  specialize in applied areas and work in applied
  settings.

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Psychologists

• Usually have masters or doctorate. Trained in
  methods, knowledge, and theories of psychology
• Clinical Psychologists Treat psychological
  problems or do research on therapies and mental
  illnesses
• Counseling Psychologists Treat milder problems,
  such as poor adjustment at work or at school

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Fig. 1-3a, p. 28
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Fig. 1-3b, p. 28
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Fig. 1-3c, p. 28
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Psychiatrists

• MD usually use medications to treat problems
  generally do not have extensive training in
  providing talk therapy

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Many Flavors of Psychologists

• Psychoanalysts Receive additional Freudian
  psychoanalytic training post-Ph.D. or post-M.D.
  at an institute
• Counselors Advisers who help solve problems with
  marriage, career, school, or work
• Psychiatric Social Workers Many have masters
  degrees and perform psychotherapy
• Use social science principles
• Presently a very popular profession
• Not all psychologists perform therapy!

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Table 1-3a, p. 27
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Table 1-3b, p. 27
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Scientific Research

• How to Think Like a Psychologist

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The Scientific Method

• Six Basic Elements
• Observing
• Defining a problem
• Proposing a hypothesis (an educated guess that
  can be tested)
• Gathering evidence/testing the hypothesis
• Publishing results
• Building a theory

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Hypothesis

• Predictable outcome of an experiment or an
  educated guess about the relationship between
  variables
• Testable
• Operational Definition States exact procedures
  used to represent a concept. Allows abstract
  ideas to be tested in real-world terms

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Operational Definitions

• Are used to link concepts with concrete
  observations.
• Operational definitions vary in how well they
  represent concepts.
• For this reason, many different experiments may
  be necessary to draw clear conclusions about
  hypothesized relationships in psychology.

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Who was Clever Hans?

• Case study

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Research Methods

• Specific hypotheses can be tested in a variety of
  ways, including
• naturalistic observation,
• correlational studies,
• controlled experiments,
• clinical studies, and
• the survey method.

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Publishing
(Thats right APA style)

• Psychologists revise their theories to reflect
  the evidence they gather.
• New or revised theories then lead to new
• observations,
• problems, and
• hypotheses.

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• Just like your
• Final Projects!!

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Research Methods

• Specific hypotheses can be tested in a variety of
  ways, including
• naturalistic observation,
• correlational studies,
• controlled experiments,
• clinical studies, and
• the survey method.

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Naturalistic Observation

• Observing a person or an animal in the
  environment in which the person or animal lives

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Limitations

• Observer Effect Changes in a subjects behavior
  caused by an awareness of being observed
• Observer Bias Occurs when observers see what
  they expect to see or record only selected
  details
• Anthropomorphic Error Attributing human
  thoughts, feelings, or motives to animals,
  especially as a way of explaining their behavior
  (e.g., Anya my cat is acting like that because
  shes feeling depressed today.)

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Correlations

• Existence of a consistent, systematic
  relationship between two events, measures, or
  variables

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Coefficient of Correlation

• Statistical index ranging from -1.00 to 1.00
  that indicates direction and degree of
  correlation
• Closer the statistic is to 1.00 or to 1.00, the
  stronger the relationship
• Correlation of 0.00 demonstrates no relationship
  between the variables

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Positive Correlation

• Increases in one measure are matched by increases
  in the other measure

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Negative Correlation

• Increases in one measure are matched by decreases
  in the other measure

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Correlation and Causation

• Correlation does not demonstrate causation Just
  because two variables are related does NOT mean
  that one variable causes the other to occur

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What does the correlation coefficient tell us?
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• What does the correlation coefficient tell us?
• how strongly two measures are related

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The Psychology Experiment

• Where Cause meets Effect

H.O. 1.6
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Experiments

• A formal trial to confirm/disconfirm a hypothesis
  and to identify cause and effect relationships

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Performing an Experiment

• Directly vary a condition you might think affects
  behavior
• Create two or more groups of subjects, alike in
  all ways except the condition you are varying
• Record whether varying the condition has any
  effect on behavior

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• FIGURE 1.1 Results of an empirical study. The
  graph shows that aggravated assaults in Los
  Angeles become more likely as air temperature
  increases. This suggests that physical discomfort
  is associated with interpersonal hostility (Data
  from Simister Cooper, 2005.)

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Variables

• Any condition that can change and that might
  affect the outcome of an experiment

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Independent Variable

• Condition(s) altered by the experimenter
  experimenter sets their size, amount, or value.
  These are suspected causes for behavioral
  differences

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Dependent Variable

• Measures the results of the experiment
  Condition is affected by independent variable

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Extraneous Variables

• Conditions that a researcher wants to prevent
  from affecting the outcomes of the experiment
  (e.g., number of hours slept before the
  experiment)

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• Figure 1.9 Experimental control is achieved by
  balancing extraneous variables for the
  experimental group and the control group. For
  example, the average age (A), education (B), and
  intelligence (C) of group members could be made
  the same for both groups. Then we could apply the
  independent variable to the experimental group.
  If their behavior (the dependent variable)
  changes (in comparison with the control group),
  the change must be caused by the independent
  variable.

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Groups

• Experimental Group The group of subjects that
  gets the independent variable
• Control Group The group of subjects that does
  NOT get the independent variable
• Random Assignment Subject has an equal chance of
  being in either the experimental or control group

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• FIGURE 1.8 Elements of a simple psychological
  experiment to assess the effects of music during
  study on test scores.

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Placebo

• A fake pill (sugar) or injection (saline)
• Placebo Effect Changes in behavior that result
  from expectations that a drug or other treatment
  will have some effect the belief that one has
  taken an active drug

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Experiment Types

• Single Blind Only the subjects have no idea
  whether they are in the experimental or control
  group
• Double Blind The subjects AND the experimenters
  have no idea whether the subjects are in the
  control or experimental group
• Best type of experiment if properly set up

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Experimenter Effects

• Changes in subjects behavior caused by the
  unintended influence of the experimenters
  actions
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy A prediction that leads
  people to act in ways to make the prediction come
  true

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The Clinical Method

• Data by the Case

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The Clinical Method

• Case Study In-depth focus of all aspects of a
  single subject
• Natural Clinical Tests Natural events, such as
  accidents, that provide psychological data

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• Some of the earliest information on the effects
  of damage to frontal areas of the brain came from
  a case study of the accidental injury of Phineas
  Gage.

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The Survey Method

• Using public polling techniques to answer
  psychological questions
• Representative Sample Small group that
  accurately reflects a larger population
• Population Entire group of animals or people
  belonging to a particular category (e.g., all
  married women)
• Courtesy Bias Problem in research a tendency to
  give polite or socially desirable answers

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• FIGURE 1.11 If you were conducting a survey in
  which a persons height might be an important
  variable, the nonrandom sample of shorter people
  would be very unrepresentative. The random
  sample, selected using a table of random numbers,
  better represents the group as a whole.

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Critical Thinking

• healthy skepticism

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Critical Thinking

• Ability to analyze, evaluate, compare, critique,
  and synthesize information

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Critical Thinking Principles

• Few truths transcend the need for empirical
  testing
• Judging the quality of evidence is crucial
• Authority or claimed expertise does not
  automatically make an idea true
• Critical thinking requires an open mind

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How to Critically Evaluate New Information

• Ask the following
• What claims are being made?
• What test (if any) of these claims has been made?
• Who did the test how good is the evidence?

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How to Critically Evaluate New Information
Continued

• Ask the following
• What was the nature and quality of the tests?
  Are they credible and can they be repeated?
• How reliable and trustworthy were the
  investigators?
• How much credibility can the claim be given?

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Pseudo-Psychologies

• Palms, Planets and Personality

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Pseudo-Psychologies

• Pseudo means false. Any unfounded system
  that resembles psychology and is NOT based on
  scientific testing
• Phrenology Personality traits revealed by shape
  of skull and bumps on your head
• Palmistry Lines on your hands (palms) predict
  future and reveal personality

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Pseudo-Psychologies Continued

• Graphology Personality traits are revealed by
  your handwriting
• Astrology The positions of the stars and planets
  at the time of your birth determine your
  personality and affect your behavior
• Extremely popular today (Whats your sign?)

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Uncritical Acceptance

• Tendency to believe positive or flattering
  descriptions of yourself

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Fallacy of Positive Instances

• When we remember or notice things that confirm
  our expectations and forget the rest

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Barnum Effect

• Always have a little something for everyone.
• Tendency to consider a personal description
  accurate if it is stated in very general terms

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Psychology in the Media Separating Fact from
Fiction

• Be skeptical
• Consider the source of information
• Ask yourself, Was there a control group?
• Look for errors in distinguishing between
  correlation and causation (are claims based on
  correlational results yet passed off as
  causations?)

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Separating Fact from Fiction Continued

• Be sure to distinguish between observation and
  inference (e.g., Robert is crying, but do we know
  why he is crying?)
• Beware of oversimplifications, especially those
  motivated by monetary reasons
• For example is no proof, i.e., one example is
  not proof

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Homework

• Get acquainted with the wiki
• Sign up (use your best email account)
• Look at textbook companion site
• Open extra credit for work done
• Just email it to me from the site!
• What is psychology? due Monday