Levels of Analysis

1
Levels of Analysis
2
Biological Influences

• Natural selection of adaptive traits
• Genetic predispositions responding to environment
• Brain mechanisms
• Hormonal influences

3
Psychological Influences

• Learned fears and other learned expectations
• Emotional responses
• Cognitive processing and perceptual
  interpretations

4
Social-Cultural Influences

• Presence of others
• Cultural, societal, and family expectations
• Peer and other group influences
• Compelling models (such as the media)

5
Modern Approaches/Perspectives

• Evolutionary
• Biological
• Cognitive
• Behavioral

• Psychoanalytical
• Humanistic Approach
• Social-Cultural

6
Evolutionary Approach

• Focus How nature selects traits that promote
  the perpetuation of ones genes. Survival.
• Influenced by Charles Darwin

7
Psychoanalytical Approach

• Focus How behavior springs from unconscious
  drives and conflicts
• Early Childhood
• Dreams
• Sigmund Freud

8
Biological Approach

• Focus How the body and brain create emotion,
  memories, and sensory experiences.
• Brain structures, blood chemistry, neural
  communication.
• Roger Sperry, Michael Gazzaniga, Paul Broca

9
Cognitive Approach

• Focus How we encode, process, store, and
  retrieve information.
• Jean Piaget, Elizabeth Loftus, Hermann Ebbinghaus

10
Behavioral Approach

• Focus Learning based on how a behavior is
  rewarded or punished.
• John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Ivan Pavlov

11
Humanistic Approach

• Focus Emphasizes that we have great freedom in
  directing our future, a large capacity for
  growth, intrinsic worth, and self-actualization.
• Abraham Maslow
• Carl Rogers

12
Social-Cultural Approach

• Focus How behavior and thinking vary across
  situations and cultures.
• Albert Bandura, Phillip Zimbardo

13
Which Perspective??

• Dr. A is interested in studying the different
  attitudes about the elderly among North American
  and Japanese adults. Dr. A has found that the
  Japanese show more respect and responsibility
  toward elderly parents, and wishes to understand
  the cultural norms that contribute to these
  attitudes.

14
Which Perspective??

• Prof. B studies the attention process involved
  when people search for specified objects by
  measuring the amounts of blood flow to various
  portions of the brain while a participant engages
  in a letter detection task.

15
Which Perspective??

• Dr. C tries to help a client stop smoking by
  understanding the unconscious reasons for the
  clients need to smoke. Dr. C encourages the
  client to talk about his childhood conflicts with
  his parents.

16
Which Perspective??

• Dr. Dre tries to help a client stop smoking by
  telling her to keep a careful record of the
  number of cigarettes smoked and the particular
  people or situations who are a part of her
  smoking behavior. She keeps these records as a
  way of uncovering the factors that reward her for
  smoking, so that she may later remove those
  rewards.

17
Which Perspective??

• Prof. E studies the factors that help or hinder
  students in memorizing information from
  textbooks. The professor systematically varies
  task characteristics such as textbook difficulty
  in an effort to understand the underlying memory
  processes involved in reading a textbook.

18
Which Perspective??

• Dr. F is working to help a seriously depressed
  man become a productive member of society again.
  She points out to her client his potential for
  personal growth and his obvious love for his
  family, and reminds him of his many successes in
  professional and personal activities.

19
Subfields/jobs that conduct basic research

• Biological links between brain and mind
• Development changing abilities from the womb to
  tomb
• Cognitive how we think, perceive and solve
  problems
• Educational studying influence on teaching and
  learning
• Personality investigating our persistent traits
• Social explore how we view and affect one
  another

20
Subfields/jobs that conduct applied research

• Industrial-organization psychologists use
  psychology concepts and methods in the workplace
  to help organizations and companies select and
  train employees, , boost morale and productivity,
  design products, and implement systems
• Human factors psychologists focus on the
  interaction of people, machines, and physical
  environments
• Counseling psychologists help people to cope
  with challenges and crises and to improve their
  personal and social functioning
• Clinical psychologists assess and treat mental,
  emotional, and behavior disorders
• Psychiatrists medial doctors licensed to
  prescribe drugs and otherwise treat physical
  causes of psychological disorders

21
Where Do Psychologists Work?

• 49 Private Practice-Therapy Setting-Clinical
  Psychologist
• 28 Academic Setting- Research (Basic/Applied,
  Professor)
• 13 Variety (Social Work, Group Home
  Coordinator)
• 6 Industrial/Organization Setting (Production
  Manager)
• 4 Secondary Schools-(School Psychologist/Counselo
  r)