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The Science of Psychology
Chapter 1 The Science of Psychology
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Outline What is Psychology? The Growth of Psychology Human Diversity
Psychology as a Science Research Methods in Psychology Ethics in Psychology Chapter 1 Learning Objectives Define psychology and describe the most important issues and topics that present-day psychologists study. Describe the origins of psychology and identify the major historical views that have guided its development as a discipline up to the present time. Suggest why the study of human diversity is essential to the field of psychology. Describe the basic premises on which a scientific field is based and suggest how the scientific method accomplishes the purposes of science. Identify the strengths and limitations of each of the major scientific methods of research employed by psychologists: naturalistic observation, case studies, surveys, correlational research, experimental research, and multimethod research. Summarize the major principles that govern the ethical standards adopted by psychologists and describe their importance in guiding research in the field.
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What Is Psychology? Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes Behaviors - refers to observable actions or responses in both humans and animals Mental processes - not directly observable, refer to a wide range of complex mental processes, such as thinking, imagining, studying, and dreaming Psychologists are interested in every aspect of human thought, feeling and behavior. Stress: Psychology is more than the study of abnormal behavior Highlight: Case Study on Toyota’s investment in their employees
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GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY Describe Explain Predict Control
first goal of psychology is to describe the different ways that organisms behave Explain second goal of psychology is to explain the cause of behavior Predict third goal of psychology is to predict how organisms will behave in certain situations Control the fourth goal of psychology is to control an organism’s behavior
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Fields of Psychology Seven of the largest subfields of Psychology include: Developmental Physiological Experimental Personality Clinical and Counseling Social Industrial and Organizational
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Developmental Psychology
Studies human physical, mental, social and emotional growth from conception to death Child psychologists Adolescent psychologists Life-span psychologists Most Developmental Psychologist’s focus on a particular stage of human development Child psychologists Study examples: Are babies born with certain temperaments? How infants become attached to caregivers Adolescent psychologists How puberty affects development Relationships with peers and parents Life-span psychologists Marriage and children Facing the transitions related to aging
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Physiological Psychology
Investigates the biological basis of human behavior, thoughts and emotions Neuropsychologists Psychobiologists Behavioral geneticists Neuropsychologists are interested in the inner workings of the brain and nervous system and how behaviors, thoughts and emotions are controlled Psychobiologists study the body’s biochemistry and the ways that hormones, psychoactive medications and “social drugs” affects us Behavioral geneticists explore the impact of heredity on both normal and abnormal behavior Neuropsychologists Study examples: How does the brain enable us to perceive the world through our senses? How does the brain allow us to think, speak, sleep, move, etc. Psychobiologists How hormones and puberty are related to mood swings How alcohol consumption during pregnancy impairs development Behavioral geneticists What degree of intelligence is hereditary? Do illnesses such as alcoholism and depression have a genetic component?
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Experimental Psychology
Conduct research on basic psychological processes including: Learning Memory Sensation Perception Thinking Motivation Emotion Study examples: How do people remember information and what makes them forget? Do men and women solve complex problems in different ways?
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Personality Psychology
Study the differences among individuals in such traits as: Sociability Conscientiousness Emotional stability Self-esteem Agreeableness Aggressive inclinations Openness to new experiences Study examples: Why are some people optimists and others pessimists? Are there consistent differences in personality characteristics between males and females?
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Clinical and Counseling Psychology
Seek to help people deal more successfully with their lives Clinical psychologists Interested primarily in the diagnosis, causes, and treatment of psychological disorders Counseling psychologists Concerned primarily with “normal” everyday problems of adjustments in life Clinical psychologists Interested primarily in the diagnosis, causes, and treatment of psychological disorders Study examples: Dealing with depression or anxiety Counseling psychologists Concerned primarily with “normal” everyday problems of adjustments in life Making difficult career choices Coping with a troubled marriage
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Social Psychology Study how people influence one another
Study examples: Interpersonal attraction Persuasive communications Attitude formation Obedience to authority Conformity to group norms Interaction of work team members Social psychologists look beyond a person’s personality characteristics to determine their thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
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Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology
Psychology applied to the workplace Study examples: Selecting and training personnel Improving productivity and working conditions Impact of computerization and automation on workers
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Enduring Issues in Psychology
All psychologists share a common interest in five enduring human issues: Person/Situation Nature/Nurture Stability/Change Diversity/Universality Mind/Body Person/Situation Is behavior caused by internal factors (thoughts, emotions, etc.) or by external factors (incentives, presence of others, etc.)? Nature/Nurture Is the person we become because of innate, inborn tendencies, or a reflection on experiences and upbringing? Stability/Change Are our characteristics permanent and fixed, or do we change over the course of our lives? Diversity/Universality To what extent are we similar to each other? Mind/Body How are our minds and bodies connected (i.e. how thoughts and feelings are linked to activity in our nervous system)?
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How do psychologists answer questions?
Approaches (6) to understanding behavior include: Biological Cognitive Behavioral Psychoanalytic Humanistic Cross cultural
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Outline What is Psychology? The Growth of Psychology Human Diversity
Psychology as a Science Research Methods in Psychology Ethics in Psychology Chapter 1 Learning Objectives Define psychology and describe the most important issues and topics that present-day psychologists study. Describe the origins of psychology and identify the major historical views that have guided its development as a discipline up to the present time. Suggest why the study of human diversity is essential to the field of psychology. Describe the basic premises on which a scientific field is based and suggest how the scientific method accomplishes the purposes of science. Identify the strengths and limitations of each of the major scientific methods of research employed by psychologists: naturalistic observation, case studies, surveys, correlational research, experimental research, and multimethod research. Summarize the major principles that govern the ethical standards adopted by psychologists and describe their importance in guiding research in the field.
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HISTORICAL APPROACHES
How did psychology begin? Structuralism: Elements of the Mind Functionalism: Functions of the Mind Gestalt Approach: Sensations versus Perceptions Behaviorism: Observable Behaviors
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The Growth of Psychology
The history of psychology can be divided into three main stages: The emergence of a science of the mind The behaviorist decade The “cognitive revolution”
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The "New Psychology:" A Science of the Mind
Psychology was born in 1879 when Whilhelm Wundt founded the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany In the public eye, a laboratory = “science”
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Structuralism: Wundt and Titchener
Wundt was interested in studying thoughts and developing a way to study them scientifically Titchener broke down consciousness into their simplest components: physical sensations, feelings, and images Developed into an approach called Structuralism Concerned with identifying the units of conscious experience (“thought”) and how they can be combined and integrated
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Functionalism: William James
William James challenged structuralism Pure sensations without associations do not exist in real-life experience Consciousness cannot be broken into elements it flows in a continuous stream Functionalism was concerned with the ongoing use of conscious experience Interested in learning and the impact of experience on the brain James coined the phrase “stream of consciousness”
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Psychodynamic Psychology: Sigmund Freud
Freud believed that we are motivated by unconscious instincts and urges that are not available to the rational, conscious part of our mind Psychodynamic theory laid that foundation for the study of personality and psychological disorders
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Redefining Psychology: The Study of Behavior
Psychology saw itself as the study of mental processes Primary method of collecting data was introspection or self-observation Behaviorism challenged this idea and focused on behaviors that can be observed and measured
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Behaviorism: Watson and Skinner
Watson founded behaviorism on the belief that if you cannot locate or measure something (i.e. consciousness), it cannot be the object of scientific study All mental experiences – thinking, feeling, awareness of self – are nothing more than physiological changes in response to accumulated conditioning or learning Skinner focused on the role of reinforcement By rewarding certain behavior, we become an active participant in our conditioning or learning Behaviorism is based on the work of Pavlov’s conditioning experiments Highlight: Watson’s experiment to condition fear into “Little Albert” Highlight: Skinner’s box rewarding animals for hitting a leaver
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The Cognitive Revolution
By the 1960’s psychologists came to view behaviorism as only one piece of the explanation of human behavior and mental processes Began to see humans as active learners not passive recipients of life’s events Two schools of thought paved the way for the Cognitive Revolution: Gestalt Psychology Humanistic Psychology
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The Cognitive Revolution
Gestalt Psychology Concerned with perception – our tendency to see patterns, to distinguish an object from it’s background, etc. Wertheimer, Köhler, and Koffka were interested in tricks of perception. Humanistic Psychology Emphasizes human potential, the importance of love, belongingness, self-esteem, etc. Maslow was concerned with feelings and yearnings
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Cognitive Psychology Concerned with mental processes: thinking feeling, learning, remembering, decision making, etc. Concerned with how we acquire, process, and use information to solve problems Believe that mental processes can be studied scientifically by observing behavior and making inferences about the kinds of cognitive processes that underlie the behavior Example: reading a story and then observing what can be remembered
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New Directions in Psychology
Today, psychologists are more flexible in considering other approaches New theories and initiatives are emerging: Evolutionary Psychology Positive Psychology Evolutionary Psychology Concerned with the evolutionary origins of behaviors and mental processes, their adaptive value and the purposes they continue to serve Seek to answer: how we became the way we are Positive Psychology Focuses on positive experiences Looks for a positive relationship between positive emotions and physical health Identifies the factors that allow individuals, communities and societies to flourish
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Multiple Perspectives Today
Contemporary psychologists tend to see different perspectives as complementary. Each perspective contributes to understanding human behavior Most agree that the field advances with the addition of new evidence to support or challenge existing theories.
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Where Are The Women? Women have contributed to psychology from its beginnings Women presented papers and joined the national professional association as soon as it was formed in 1892 Women faced discrimination Some colleges and universities did not grant degrees to women Professional journals were reluctant to publish their work Teaching positions were often closed to them
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Where Are The Women? Today women outnumber men in the field:
Receive ¾ of the baccalaureate degrees in psychology Represent approx. ¾ of psychology graduate students Earned two out of three doctorate degrees in psychology awarded in 1997 They perform key research in all of the psychology subfields
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Percentage of Women Recipients of Ph.D.s in Psychology
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Outline What is Psychology? The Growth of Psychology Human Diversity
Psychology as a Science Research Methods in Psychology Ethics in Psychology Chapter 1 Learning Objectives Define psychology and describe the most important issues and topics that present-day psychologists study. Describe the origins of psychology and identify the major historical views that have guided its development as a discipline up to the present time. Suggest why the study of human diversity is essential to the field of psychology. Describe the basic premises on which a scientific field is based and suggest how the scientific method accomplishes the purposes of science. Identify the strengths and limitations of each of the major scientific methods of research employed by psychologists: naturalistic observation, case studies, surveys, correlational research, experimental research, and multimethod research. Summarize the major principles that govern the ethical standards adopted by psychologists and describe their importance in guiding research in the field.
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Human Diversity Little attention was paid to human diversity throughout most of the 20th century Today, understanding human diversity is essential Psychologists have begun to examine how culture, gender, race, and ethnicity can affect human behavior
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The Value of Studying Diversity
Understanding cultural, racial, ethnic and gender differences in thinking and behavior: Reduces interpersonal tensions Separate fact from fiction Understand how and why groups differ in their values, behaviors, approaches to the world, thought processes and responses to situations Increase appreciation of the many universal features of human behavior
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Gender Gender is the psychological and social meaning attached to being biologically male or female We have ideals about gender roles – the cultural expectation of acceptable behavior for each gender The study of gender similarities and differences has become part of mainstream psychology Feminist Theory explores how the views on social roles of women and men influence treatment of people, especially women
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Race and Ethnicity Race shapes people’s social identities, sense of self, experiences and even health Psychologists study why race is important and how individuals select or create an ethnic identity and respond to stereotypes Most ethnic minorities are still underrepresented among the ranks of psychologists
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Culture Culture provides modes of thinking, acting, and communicating about how the world works and why people behave as they do Culture influences values, attitudes, behaviors and beliefs Psychologists study how culture impacts human behavior and thought
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Outline What is Psychology? The Growth of Psychology Human Diversity
Psychology as a Science Research Methods in Psychology Ethics in Psychology Chapter 1 Learning Objectives Define psychology and describe the most important issues and topics that present-day psychologists study. Describe the origins of psychology and identify the major historical views that have guided its development as a discipline up to the present time. Suggest why the study of human diversity is essential to the field of psychology. Describe the basic premises on which a scientific field is based and suggest how the scientific method accomplishes the purposes of science. Identify the strengths and limitations of each of the major scientific methods of research employed by psychologists: naturalistic observation, case studies, surveys, correlational research, experimental research, and multimethod research. Summarize the major principles that govern the ethical standards adopted by psychologists and describe their importance in guiding research in the field.
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Science and the Scientific Method
All scientific fields are based on empirical observation Phenomena of interest can be observed and measured All scientific fields rely on the scientific method as the basis of study A systematic method of generating hypotheses (educated guesses), collecting data, and explaining the data Data is explained using theories to organize known facts and predict relationships Allow scientists to formulate new hypothesis to expand on the scope of the theories
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Outline What is Psychology? The Growth of Psychology Human Diversity
Psychology as a Science Research Methods in Psychology Ethics in Psychology Chapter 1 Learning Objectives Define psychology and describe the most important issues and topics that present-day psychologists study. Describe the origins of psychology and identify the major historical views that have guided its development as a discipline up to the present time. Suggest why the study of human diversity is essential to the field of psychology. Describe the basic premises on which a scientific field is based and suggest how the scientific method accomplishes the purposes of science. Identify the strengths and limitations of each of the major scientific methods of research employed by psychologists: naturalistic observation, case studies, surveys, correlational research, experimental research, and multimethod research. Summarize the major principles that govern the ethical standards adopted by psychologists and describe their importance in guiding research in the field.
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Research Methods To collect data systematically and objectively, psychologists use a variety of research methods including: Naturalistic Observation Case Studies Surveys Correlational Research Experimental Research
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Naturalistic Observation
Observing and recording the behavior of humans or animals in their natural environment Advantages Observed behavior is likely to be more accurate, spontaneous and varied than in a laboratory Disadvantages Observer bias May not be able to generalize to other settings or people Observer bias Presence of an observer may alter the participants’ behavior Expectations, or biases, of the observer might influence the interpretation of what was actually observed
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Case Studies Intensive description and analysis of a single individual or a few individuals Advantages Can yield a great deal of detailed, descriptive information Disadvantages The individual or group is unique – difficult to draw conclusions from a single case Can be time consuming and expensive Observer bias
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Surveys A research technique in which questionnaires or interviews are administered to a selected group of people Advantages Large quantity of information quickly Relatively inexpensive Disadvantages Must pay close attention to the survey questions Respondents may not be representative Response biases Truthfulness of responses
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Correlational Research
A research technique based on the naturally occurring relationship between two or more variables Advantages Description and prediction are possible Disadvantages Does not identify what causes a relationship to exist
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Experimental Method A research technique in which an investigator deliberately manipulates selected events or circumstances and then measures the effects of those manipulations on subsequent behavior
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Experimental Research
Independent variables The variable that is manipulated by the experimenter to test its effects Dependent variables The variable that is measured to see how it is changed by the independent variable
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Experimental Research
Experimental group The group subjected to a change in the independent variable Control group The group not subjected to a change in the independent variable
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Experimental Research
Advantages Can draw conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships Disadvantages Lab setting may influence subjects’ behavior Unexpected and uncontrolled variables may confound results All variables cannot be controlled and manipulated
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Multimethod Research Many psychologists overcome the limitations of using a single research method by using multiple methods to study a single problem
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Importance of Sampling
A drawback to every form of research is that it is impossible to measure every variable Study a small sample and then generalize the information to the larger population Sample Selection of cases from a larger population Random sample Each potential participant has an equal chance of being selected Representative sample The characteristics of the participants corresponds closely to the characteristics of the larger population
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Outline What is Psychology? The Growth of Psychology Human Diversity
Psychology as a Science Research Methods in Psychology Ethics in Psychology Chapter 1 Learning Objectives Define psychology and describe the most important issues and topics that present-day psychologists study. Describe the origins of psychology and identify the major historical views that have guided its development as a discipline up to the present time. Suggest why the study of human diversity is essential to the field of psychology. Describe the basic premises on which a scientific field is based and suggest how the scientific method accomplishes the purposes of science. Identify the strengths and limitations of each of the major scientific methods of research employed by psychologists: naturalistic observation, case studies, surveys, correlational research, experimental research, and multimethod research. Summarize the major principles that govern the ethical standards adopted by psychologists and describe their importance in guiding research in the field.
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APA Code of Ethics Participants must be informed of the nature of the research in understandable language Informed consent must be documented Risks, possible adverse side effects and limitations on confidentiality must be given in advance If participation is for course credit, equitable alternative activities must be offered Cannot deceive about aspects of the research that would affect participants’ willingness to participate Deception about the goals of the research can be used only when absolutely necessary to the integrity to the research
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Research on Animals Animals are used in experiments in which it would be clearly unethical to use human participants APA’s ethical guidelines Researchers must ensure “appropriate consideration of [the animal’s] comfort, health, and humane treatment.”
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Chapter Review What is Psychology?
How is psychology defined and what topics do they study? Given the broad range of careers and interests, what hold psychology together?
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Chapter Review, con’t The Growth of Psychology
How did the work of Wundt and Titchener, of James, and of Freud contribute to the early development of psychology as a field of study? How was the approach to human behavior taken by Watson and Skinner different from Freud's? How have Gestault, humanistic and cognitive psychologists extended the definition of psychology? How is the field of psychology being defined today? In psychology's early years, why were relatively few women accepted in the field?
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Chapter Review, con’t Human Diversity Psychology as a Science
Why is the study of human diversity important in the field of psychology? How are psychologists helping us to understand the differences between men and women? Why are psychologists interested in racial and ethnic differences? How does culture contribute to human diversity? Psychology as a Science What features distinguish a scientific field from a field not based in science?
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Chapter Review, con’t Research Methods in Psychology
Why is natural setting sometimes better than a laboratory for observing behavior? When can a case study be most useful? What are some of the benefits of survey research? What is the difference between correlation and cause and effect? What kinds of research questions are best studied by experimental research? What does multimethod research allow psychologists to do? How can sampling affect the results of a research study?
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Chapter Review, con’t Ethics and Psychology
Why did Milgram’s experiments on obedience raise ethical questions about his research? Are there ethical guidelines for conducting psychological research? What objections have been raised regarding research on animal subjects?
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