Psychology Chapter 1

1
PsychologyChapter 1

• Why study psychology

2
Objectives section 1

• Identify the goals of psychology and explain how
  psychology is a science.

3
A Day in the Life

• Read page 3 for class discussion
• In-class assignment
• Write the 18 vocabulary words on page 3
• Due when timer goes off. (25 minutes)

4
What is Psychology?

• Sec 1

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Why study Psychology?

• To understand yourself, and others
• To learn about feelings, thoughts, and stress
• To learn why people behave the way they do

6
The goals of psychology

• To observe and describe behavior and mental
  processes and to better understand them
• To be able to explain, predict, and control
  behavior

7
What are behaviors?

• Actions that you can observe.
• Actions you can control
• Actions you can not control

8
Controllable Behaviors

• Walking
• Talking
• Eating
• Drinking
• Dancing

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Non-controllable Behaviors

• Heart rate
• Blood pressure
• Digestion
• Brain activity

10
Emotions affect behavior and mental (cognitive)
processes

• Sleeplessness
• Anger
• Depression
• A faster heart rate
• Restlessness
• Cause stress
• Performance

11
Mental Processes

• Cognitive Activity
• Dreams
• Perception
• Thoughts
• Memories

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Examples

• Performance anxiety
• Place Kicker
• Last chance to win game
• Misses field goal

• Test anxiety
• Placement test for college
• Stress to score high

13
In both examples psychologists could teach them
ways to deal with anxiety

• How do you cope with your anxieties?
• Visualization
• Breathing exercises

14
Psychology as a Natural Science

• Social Sciences
• History
• Anthropology
• Economics
• Political science
• Sociology
• Psychology
• These deal with the structure of the human
  society and the nature of the individuals

15
Psychology focuses on the behavior and mental
processes of the individual

• The working of the brain and total human body
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics

16
Psychology uses the same scientific method

• Conducting experiments, collection and analyzing
  data and drawing conclusions
• Widely used research methods
• Surveys- collecting data involves asking
  questions of a particular group
• Experiments- research usually done in a lab

17
Psychological Theories

• Organized ideas about behavior and mental
  processes
• Theory
• Is a statement that attempts to explain why
  things are the way they are and happen the way
  they do

18
Psychological theories discuss principles that
govern behavior and mental processes.

• Such as
• Behavior (sleeping, aggression)
• Mental processes ( memories, mental images)
• Biological ( effect of chemicals in the brain)
• These theories help psychologist predict behavior
  and mental processes

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In-class assignment

• Answer the Three questions on page 6

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What do Psychologists do?

• Sec 2

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Objective section 2

• Describe the work done by psychologists according
  to their areas of specialization.

22
Break into a group of 2You will need to know
the different specializations in Psychology for
your test.

• complete the graphic organizer Handout
• Psychologist s specializations in Psychology
• This is a in-class assignment due when the timer
  goes off.

23
History of Psychology

• Sec 3

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Objective section 3

• Explain the historical background of the study of
  psychology

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Roots of psychology

• Ancient Greece ( 428-347)
• Plato Student of Socrates
• Know thy self
• Examine your own thoughts and feelings
• Aristotle
• About the mind (scientific approach)
• Ancient Greece believed the Gods got mad
• and punished people

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Middle ages / Mental illness

• Possession by demons
• Punished for sins and making deals with the
  devils or witches
• Test
• Water float test
• Float found guilty and executed
• Sink and drown found to be innocence

27
Scientific approach lead to the Birth of Modern
Science

• Sir Isaac Newton
• John Locke
• 1800s first psychological labs established in
  Europe and the United States

28
Wilhelm Wundt

• Founder of Structuralism
• Discovering the basic elements of conscious
  experience
• 2 separate categories
• Objective- sight and taste reflect the outside
  world
• Subjective- thoughts, emotional responses and
  mental images
• Ex What an apple tastes and feels like to bite
  it

29
William James

• Founder of Functionalism
• Experience can not be broken down it is
  continuous
• Wrote first Modern day Psychology Book
• The Principles of Psychology
• Mental processes help organisms adapt to their
  environment

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Differences

• Structuralism
• Relied only on introspection
• What are the elements (structures) of
  Psychological processes?

31
differences

• Functionalism
• Includes behavior, observation in the laboratory
  and introspection
• What are the purposes (functions) of behavior and
  mental processes?
• Adaptive behavior are habits learned and
  maintained because they are successful
• Studying leads to good grades
• Learning to read and write

32
John WatsonFounder of Behaviorism

• Behaviorism
• Scientific study of observable behavior
• unscientific to study conscious
• Conscious is a private event know only to the
  individual.
• Psychology is a science- limited to observable,
  measurable events which are behavior.

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B. F. SkinnerBehavior reinforcement

• Reinforcement or rewarding
• Learn by being rewarded (repeat of behavior)
• Used in animals and humans a like

34
The Gestalt School

• Based on the idea that perceptions are more than
  the sums of their parts
• Perceptions are wholes that give shape or meaning
  to the parts
• Learning (problem solving) is accomplished by
  insight, not mechanical repetition.
• Insight is the reorganization of perceptions that
  enables a person to solve a problem.

35
Kenneth Clark

• Black Psychologist
• Studied negative effect of segregation on the
  self esteem of African American Children
• White dolls
• pretty and good
• Brown dolls
• ugly and bad
• Proved the negative effects of a racist society
  on the young mind of children

36
Sigmund Freud

• Founder of psychoanalysis
• Emphasizes the importance of the unconscious
  motives and internal conflicts in determining
  human behavior
• First to bring out the couch

37
continued

• People are driven by hidden impulse, verbal slips
  and the belief that dreams represent their
  unconscious wishes.
• Believed that the sexual and aggressive urges are
  more important than conscious experience in
  governing peoples behavior and feelings

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In-Class assigenment

• Answer the Questions on page17

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Contemporary Perspectives

• Section 4

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Objective section 4

• Describe the 6 main contemporary perspectives in
  psychology.

41
Today Psychologists do not describe themselves as
Structuralists or Functionalist

• Contemporary Perspectives

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Biological Perspective

• Study the influence of biology on our behavior
• the influences of hormones and genes
• Personality, intellect, and artistic talent
• Looks for connection between events in the brain
  (brain cell activity) and behavior

43
Techniques Used

• CAT (Computed Axial Tomography)
• Computer generates 3 dimensional image
• PET (Position Emission Tomography)
• Measures abnormal molecular cell activity

44
Cognitive Perspective

• Role thoughts play in determining behavior
• Rooted in Socrates (Know thy self)
• Process, storage, retrieval
• Short or long term memory
• Peoples behavior is influenced by their values,
  their interpretations and their choices
• Remark insult or not

45
Humanistic Perspective

• Stresses mans capacity for self-fulfillment, the
  importance of consciousness, self awareness and
  the capacity to make choices
• Consciousness- the force that shapes peoples
  personalities
• Personal experiences most important

46
Continued..

• Self-awareness, experience and choice permit us
  to Invent ourselves
• View people basically good and helpful
• Help people to get in touch with their feelings,
  manage their negative impulses and realize their
  potential

47
Psychoanalytic Perspective

• Rooted in Freuds theories
• Influences of the unconscious on human behavior
• People driven by the Unconscious sexual and
  aggressive impulse
• Still feel the impact of Freud in current
  psychology

48
Learning Perspective

• Emphasizes the effect of experience on behavior
• Learning is the essential factor in observing,
  describing, explaining, predicting, and
  controlling behavior

49
Social learning theory

• People can change their environment or create new
  ones
• Believe that people learn by direct experience or
  by observing other people

50
Socio-cultural perspectiveeffects on human
behavior and mental processes

• Addresses issues of ethnicity, gender, culture
  and socio-economic status
• These have a significant impact on human behavior
  and mental processes
• Bilingualism
• Prejudice
• Ethnic differences ( physical and psychological)
• Multicultural issues ( Psychotherapy and
  treatment)
• Prejudice
• Gender
• Roles, careers, education

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In-Class Assignment

• Answer the questions on page 21

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The End

• Study your notes, movie sheet, and vocabulary for
  the test.