WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? Scientific study of human life Find casual relationships between human behaviour and experience Theory that explains observations about behaviour What makes people ‘tick’ The study of behaviour, mental processes and experience

Psychology compared with common sense studies behaviour systematically produces evidence that can be tested, quantified, and analysed attempts to be objective not confined to everyday experience builds on and draws from a body of knowledge aims to predict with a measure of certainty

Major Branches of Psychology Cognitive Physiological Social Developmental Individual Differences (including psychopathology) What do these deal with?

Approaches in Psychology Psychodynamic Freud, Jung, Klein Behaviourist Watson, Skinner, Thorndike Humanistic Rogers, Kelly Cognitive Gardner, Bruner, Beck Evolutionary Darwin…

Individual Differences The Psychology Tree Life Stages Hormones Neuroanatomy Loss & Change Brain Structure Physiological Developmental Child Development Attitudes & prejudice Moral, Social, Gender Social Language Social influence Learning & Problem Solving Intelligence Cognitive Personality Memory Individual Differences Attention Perception Abnormal Psychology Animal Case Studies Psychometrics Comparative Psychodynamic Humanistic Cognitive Evolutionary Behaviourist Neo-Behaviourist

Applications of Psychology Occupational Clinical (includes counselling & psychotherapy ) Organisational Educational Forensic

Tests, Questionnaires & Surveys How Do Psychologists Do Research? Observations Experiments Interviews Tests, Questionnaires & Surveys ……..or a combination of these

Quantitative Research Quantitative or Qualitative ? Quantitative Research Produces evidence & results in numeric form Results can be analysed and tested for statistical significance Scope of research may have to be limited to allow this Usually produces clear results, but these will not always take account of individual diversity Results may not be reliable or properly understood & applied Qualitative Research Produces evidence in non-numerical forms, usually words (eg. diary studies) Gives rich data that is detailed and can easily encompass diversity and individuality of experience Can be quite flexible in scope May not produce clear results Sometimes subjective and “unscientific”