Welcome to Psychology

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Welcome to Psychology
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Lets review
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What is Psychology?

• Pick a partner
• Tell them what psychology is

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Psychology

• The scientific study of behavior and mental
  processes.
• scientific research methods.
• Behavior all observable behavior.
• Mental processes thoughts, feelings and dreams.

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Where did Psychology come from?

• Aspects of the Mind have been pondered for
  thousands of years by Philosophers!
• .like

Socrates!
Plato!
Its Nature were just born this way!
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• and Aristotle! (335 B.C.)

Its Nurture! Our environment shapes who we are!
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Nature vs Nurture

• This is still the fundamental debate in
  Psychology today!
• the mind and behavior remained merely philosophic
  discussion until.

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• Wilhelm Wundt

• 1879 establishes the first psychology laboratory
  at the University of Leipzig, Germany.
• This is generally considered the starting point
  of Psychology as a science.

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Psychoanalysts

• Sigmund Freud - around 1900

The unconscious mind controls much of our
thoughts and actions!
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Behaviorists
People repeat behaviors that are rewarded and
stop behaviors that are punished!

• 1930s and 1940s

Watson
Pavlov
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Humanists
People have free will! They are guided by
physical, emotional and spiritual needs!

• 1960s and 1970s

Carl Rogers and others 1960s and 1970s
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A Few more Contemporary Psychological Perspectives
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Cognitive Perspective

• Focus On how people think and process
  information
• Behavior is explained by how a person interprets
  the situation

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Biological Perspective

• Focus How our biological structures and
  substances underlie a given behavior, thought, or
  emotion
• Behavior is explained by brain chemistry,
  genetics, glands, etc.

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Social-Cultural Perspective

• Focus How thinking and behavior change depending
  on the setting or situation
• Behavior is explained by the influence of other
  people present

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Fields in Psychology

• What do people do with a degree in Psychology?
• what can I do with a degree in Psychology?

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Fields in Psychology

• Applied v. Basic Psychology
• Applied refers to practical and interactive
  psychology.
• Basic refers mainly to the research fields of
  psychology.

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Therapy

• Mental and physical rehabilitation regarding
  mental disorders.
• Can include medications, in/out patient services,
  counseling, etc

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School

• Assisting school-aged children, adolescence
  issues, counseling, etc.

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Clinical

• Diagnosis and treatment of troubled people.

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Industrial/Organizational
Practical issues of selecting and training a
workforce
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Forensic Psychology

• Provide advice to legislators, judges,
  correctional officers, lawyers and the police

• For example, serve as an expert witness, diagnose
  and treat incarcerated and probation offenders
  and screen and evaluate personnel in the law
  enforcement and judicial systems

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Sports Psychology

• Issues and techniques of sport-specific
  psychological assessment and mental skills
• Goal-setting, self-confidence, eating disorders,
  overtraining and burnout counseling, team
  building, sportsmanship

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Developmental

• Study mental and physical growth from prenatal
  through childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and
  into old age.

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Social

• Study how people influence each others attitudes,
  prejudices, norms, interpersonal attractions, etc.

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Cognitive

• Experiment with how we perceive, think, and solve
  problems

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Experimental

• Conduct research on learning, memory, sensation,
  perception, cognition, motivation, etc.

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Careers in Psychology Percentage of Psychology
Degrees by Specialty
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• What is the difference between a psychologist
  and a psychiatrist?

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Psychology v. Psychiatry

• Psychiatry is the study of mental disorders.
• Psychiatrists are medical doctors and can
  prescribe medications to treat the physical and
  mental disorders.