1. The Science of Psychology
Unit 1
The Science of Psychology

2. 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.

3. What Is Psychology? Psychology is the scientific study
of behavior and mental processes
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

4. Fields of Psychology
Seven of the largest subfields of Psychology include:
Developmental
Physiological
Experimental
Personality
Clinical and Counseling
Social
Industrial and Organizational

5. 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

6. 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?

7. Experimental Psychology
Researches 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?

8. Personality Psychology
Studies differences among individuals in traits such as:
Emotional stability
Self-esteem
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?

9. Clinical and Counseling Psychology
Seeks 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

10. Social Psychology Studies how people influence one another
Study examples:
Persuasive communications
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.

11. Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology
Applied to the workplace
Selecting and training personnel
Improving productivity and working conditions
Impact of computerization and automation on workers

12. Three Perspectives Behavioristic view
Behavior is shaped and controlled by one’s environment.
Emphasizes
Study of observable behavior
Effects of learning
Reward and punishment

13. Three Perspectives Cognitive view
Behavior understood in terms of mental processing of information
Explains behavior in terms of information processing
Self-talk
Beliefs

14. Three Perspectives Psychodynamic View
Behavior result of hidden or unconscious forces
Clashing forces within personality
We’ll explore core-beliefs or core-issues later

15. Enduring Issues in Psychology
All psychologists share a common interest in five enduring human issues:
Person (personality)/Situation (environment)
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)?

16. Human Diversity
Little attention was paid to human diversity throughout most of the 20th century Today, understanding human diversity is viewed as being essential. Psychologists have begun to examine how culture, gender, race, and ethnicity can affect human behavior

17. The Value of Studying Diversity
Understanding cultural, racial, ethnic and gender differences in thinking and behavior:
Reduces interpersonal tensions
Separates fact from fiction
Helps us understand how and why groups differ in their values, behaviors, approaches to the world, thought processes and responses to situations
Increases appreciation of the many universal features of human behavior

18. Race and Ethnicity
Race shapes people’s social identities, senses 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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 bias (answering the way one ‘should’)
Truthfulness of responses

24. Experimental Method
A research technique in which an investigator deliberately manipulates selected events or circumstances (variables), then measures the effects on one’s behavior
See Psych!Live video

25. Experimental Research
Independent variable
The variable that is manipulated by the experimenter to test its effects
Dependent variable
The variable that is measured to see how it is changed by the independent variable

26. The Psychology Experiment
What are variables?
Variable
Any condition that can change
Anything that might affect an experiment’s outcome

27. Three types of variables
Independent - cause
Dependent - effect
Extraneous – interfere with results

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. Stanley Milgram’s Studies on obedience
Read “RESEARCH ON HUMANS: THE MILGRAM EXPERIMENTS” on pp. 28 to 29 of your text
Video

32. Was Stanley Milgram’s Study of Obedience Unethical?
Milgram demonstrated convincingly that situational influences can lead most people to obey the commands of an authority.
Although Milgram followed standard experimental protocols, should these experiments have been conducted at all, or the research participants placed in that position?
Discussion:
What are the pros and cons of Milgram’s studies?

33. 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

34. 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.”

35. Animals have helped us understand:
Stress
Learning
Obesity
Aging
Sleep
Many other things