1. How Do Psychologists Ask and Answer Questions?
The Scientific Method
Description
Correlation
Experimentation

2. Psychology’s Roots Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
“The soul is not separable from the body, and the same holds good of particular parts of the soul.” Aristotle, De Anima, 350 B.C.
Aristotle, a naturalist and philosopher, theorized about psychology’s concepts. He suggested that the soul and body are not separate and that knowledge grows from experience.

3. Psychological Science is Born
Wundt and psychology’s first graduate students studied the “atoms of the mind” by conducting experiments at Leipzig, Germany, in This work is considered the birth of psychology as we know it today.
Structuralism- used introspection
Wundt ( )
Preview Question 1: How has psychology’s focus changed over time?

4. Functionalism William James- Father of “modern psychology”
chapter 1
Functionalism
William James- Father of “modern psychology”
Early approach that emphasized the function or purpose of behavior and consciousness
Interested in how and why something happens- predecessor to behaviorism
Functionalists broadened field of psychology to include the study of children, animals, religious experiences, and stream of consciousness

5. Psychological Science is Born
Freud ( )
Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician, and his followers emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind and its effects on human behavior.

6. chapter 1
Psychoanalysis
A theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy, originally formulated by Sigmund Freud
Emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts

7. The biological perspective
chapter 1
The biological perspective
Psychological approach that focuses on how bodily events affect behavior, feelings, and thoughts
This perspective involves
Hormones
Brain chemistry
Heredity
Evolutionary influences

8. Psychological Science Develops
Behaviorists
Skinner ( )
Watson ( )
Ivan Pavlov a Russian Physiologist, James Watson and Skinner were all instrumental in developing the science of psychology and emphasized behavior instead of mind or mental thoughts. From 1920 to 1960, psychology in the US was heavily oriented towards behaviorism.
Watson and later Skinner emphasized the study of overt- observable- behavior as the subject matter of scientific psychology.

9. The cognitive perspective
chapter 1
The cognitive perspective
Psychological approach that emphasizes what goes on in people’s heads
This perspective involves
Behaviorism
Social-cognitive learning theories

10. Psychological Science Develops
Humanistic Psychology
Maslow ( )
Rogers ( )
Maslow and Rogers emphasized current environmental influences on our growth potential and our need for love and acceptance.

11. chapter 1
Humanist psychology
Psychological approach that emphasizes personal growth and the achievement of human potential, rather than the scientific understanding of behavior
This approach
Rejected behaviorism and psychoanalysis
Emphasized creativity and achieving potential

12. The sociocultural perspective
chapter 1
The sociocultural perspective
Psychological approach that emphasizes social and cultural forces outside the individual
This perspective involves
Social psychology or the study of rules, roles, groups, and relationships
Cultural psychology or the study of cultural norms, values, and expectations

13. The biopsychosocial approach
Psychology Today
We define psychology today as the scientific study of behavior (what we do) and mental processes (inner thoughts and feelings).
The best of psychology takes a combined approach to looking at any given phenomenon-
The biopsychosocial approach

14. Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

15. Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Focus
Sample Questions
Neuroscience
How the body and brain enables emotions?
How are messages transmitted in the body? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?
Evolutionary
How the natural selection of traits the promotes the perpetuation of one’s genes?
How does evolution influence behavior tendencies?
Behavior genetics
How much our genes and our environments influence our individual differences?
To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression attributable to our genes? To our environment?
Although debates arise among the psychologists working from differing perspectives, each point of view addresses important questions.

16. Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Focus
Sample Questions
Psychodynamic
How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts?
How can someone’s personality traits and disorders be explained in terms of sexual and aggressive drives or as disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas?
Behavioral
How we learn observable responses?
How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say to lose weight or quit smoking?

17. Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Focus
Sample Questions
Cognitive
How we encode, process, store and retrieve information?
How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Problem solving?
Social-cultural
How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures?
How are we — as Africans, Asians, Australians or North Americans – alike as members of human family? As products of different environmental contexts, how do we differ?

18. Psychology’s Subfields: Research
Psychologist
What she does
Biological
Explore the links between brain and mind.
Developmental
Study changing abilities from womb to tomb.
Cognitive
Study how we perceive, think, and solve problems.
Personality
Investigate our persistent traits.
Social
Explore how we view and affect one another.

19. Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry
A clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) studies, assesses, and treats troubled people with psychotherapy.
Psychiatrists on the other hand are medical professionals (M.D.) who use treatments like drugs and psychotherapy to treat psychologically diseased patients.

20. Four Big Ideas in Psychology
Critical Thinking is Smart Thinking
Behavior is a Biopsychosocial Event
3. We Operate with a Two-Track Mind (Dual Processing)
4. Psychology Explores Human Strengths as Well as Challenges
Preview Question 3: What four big ideas run through this book?

21. Why Do Psychology?
How can we differentiate between uniformed opinions and examined conclusions?
The science of psychology helps make these examined conclusions, which leads to our understanding of how people feel, think, and act as they do!

22. What About Intuition & Common Sense?
Many people believe that intuition and common sense are enough to bring forth answers regarding human nature.
Intuition and common sense may aid queries, but they are not free of error.
Example: Personal interviewers may rely too much on their “gut feelings” when meeting with job applicants.
Preview Question 4: Why are the answers reached by thinking critically more reliable than ordinary common sense?

23. Hindsight Bias is the “I-knew-it-all-along” phenomenon.
After learning the outcome of an event, many people believe they could have predicted that very outcome.
Example: We only knew the dot.com stocks (housing market) would plummet after they actually did plummet.
“Anything seems commonplace, once explained.” Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes.
Two phenomena – hindsight bias and judgmental overconfidence – illustrate why we cannot rely solely on intuition and common sense.

24. Overconfidence Sometimes we think we know more than we actually know.
Anagram
How long do you think it would take to unscramble these anagrams?
WREAT
WATER
ETYRN
ENTRY
People said it would take about 10 seconds, yet on average they took about 3 minutes (Goranson, 1978).
GRABE
BARGE

25. Critical thinking does not accept arguments and conclusions blindly.
It examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence and assesses conclusions.
Courtesy of the James Randi Education Foundation
The Amazing Randi

26. Critical thinking guidelines
chapter 1
Critical thinking guidelines
Ask questions
Define your terms
Examine the evidence
Analyze assumptions and biases
Avoid emotional reasoning
Don’t oversimplify
Consider other interpretations
Tolerate uncertainty

27. How Do Psychologists Ask & Answer Questions?
Psychologists, like all scientists, use the scientific method to construct theories that organize, summarize and simplify observations.
Preview Question 6: How do psychologists construct theories?

28. For example, low self-esteem contributes to depression.
Theory
A theory is an explanation that integrates principles and organizes and predicts behavior or events.
For example, low self-esteem contributes to depression.

29. People with low self-esteem are apt to feel more depressed.
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a testable prediction, often prompted by a theory, to enable us to accept, reject or revise the theory.
People with low self-esteem are apt to feel more depressed.

30. Research Observations
Research would require us to administer tests of self-esteem and depression. Individuals who score low on a self-esteem test and high on a depression test would confirm our hypothesis.

31. Research Process

32. Is language uniquely human?
Description
Case Study
A technique in which one person is studied in depth to reveal underlying behavioral principles.
Preview Question 7: What three techniques do psychologists use to observe and describe behavior?
Susan Kuklin/ Photo Researchers
Is language uniquely human?

33. chapter 1
Descriptive methods
Methods that yield descriptions of behavior, but not necessarily causal explanations
Include
Case studies
Observational studies
Psychological tests
Surveys

34. chapter 1
Case studies
A detailed description of a particular individual being studied or treated, which may be used to formulate broader research hypotheses
Most commonly used by clinicians; occasionally used by researchers

35. Observational studies
Researchers carefully and systematically observe and record behavior without interfering with behavior
Naturalistic observation
Purpose is to observe how people or animals behave in their natural environments.
Laboratory observation
Purpose is to observe how people or animals behave in a more controlled setting.

36. Surveys
Questionnaires and interviews that ask people about experiences, attitudes, or opinions
Requires a representative sample
Group of subjects, selected from the population for study, which matches the population on important characteristics such as age and sex
Popular polls and surveys rely on volunteers

37. Wording can change the results of a survey.
Wording Effects
Wording can change the results of a survey.
Q: Should cigarette ads and pornography be allowed on television? (not allowed vs. forbid)

38. Survey Random Sampling
If each member of a population has an equal chance of inclusion into a sample, it is called a random sample (unbiased). If the survey sample is biased, its results are not valid.
The fastest way to know about the marble color ratio is to blindly transfer a few into a smaller jar and count them.

39. Descriptive Methods Summary
Case studies, surveys, and naturalistic observation describe behaviors.
They are difficult to replicate therefore cannot be used as evidence to prove a psychological theory

40. Correlational study
A descriptive study that looks for a consistent relationship between two phenomena
Correlation
A statistical measure of how strongly two variables are related to one another.
Correlational coefficients can range from 0.0 – 1.0.

41. (positive or negative)
Correlation
When one trait or behavior accompanies another, we say the two correlate.
Indicates strength
of relationship
(0.00 to 1.00)
Correlation
coefficient
r = +
0.37
Preview Question 8: Why do correlations permit prediction but not explanation, and what is an illusory correlation?
Correlation Coefficient is a statistical measure of the relationship between two variables.
Indicates direction
of relationship
(positive or negative)

42. Direction of correlations
Positive correlations
An association between increases in one variable and increases in another, or decreases in one variable and decreases in the other.
Negative correlations
An association between increases in one variable and decreases in another.

43. Correlation and Causation
Correlation does not mean causation! or

44. Explaining correlations
chapter 1
Explaining correlations
Start with three variables (X, Y, Z)
X might cause Y
Y might cause X
X might be correlated with Y, which alone causes Z
Correlations show patterns, not causes.
Illusory Correlation The perception of a relationship where no relationship actually exists. Examples…

45. Given random data, we look for order and meaningful patterns.
Order in Random Events
Given random data, we look for order and meaningful patterns.
Your chances of being dealt either of these hands is precisely the same: 1 in 2,598,960.

46. Exploring Cause and Effect
Experimentation
Exploring Cause and Effect
Like other sciences, experimentation is the backbone of psychological research. Experiments isolate causes and their effects.
Preview Question 9: How do experiments clarify or reveal cause-effect relationships?

47. Exploring Cause & Effect
Many factors influence our behavior. Experiments (1) manipulate factors that interest us, while other factors are kept under (2) control.
Effects generated by manipulated factors isolate cause and effect relationships.

48. Double-blind Procedure
Evaluating Therapies
Double-blind Procedure
In evaluating drug therapies, patients and experimenter’s assistants should remain unaware of which patients had the real treatment and which patients had the placebo treatment.

49. Evaluating Therapies Random Assignment
Assigning participants to experimental (breast-fed) and control (formula-fed) conditions by random assignment minimizes pre-existing differences between the two groups.

50. chapter 1
Variables of interest
Independent variables Variables the experimenter manipulates
Dependent variables Variables the experimenter predicts will be affected by manipulations of the independent variable(s)

51. Independent Variable
An independent variable is a factor manipulated by the experimenter. The effect of the independent variable is the focus of the study.
For example, when examining the effects of breast feeding upon intelligence, breast feeding is the independent variable.

52. Dependent Variable
A dependent variable is a factor that may change in response to an independent variable. In psychology, it is usually a behavior or a mental process.
For example, in our study on the effect of breast feeding upon intelligence, intelligence is the dependent variable.

53. chapter 1
An experiment
A controlled test of a hypothesis in which the researcher manipulates one variable to discover its effect on another.
An experiment includes variables of interest, control conditions, and random assignment.

54. A summary of steps during experimentation.

55. chapter 1
Your turn
An experimenter wants to study the effects of music on studying. He has some students study while listening to music and others study in silence, and then compares their test scores. What is the independent variable in this experiment?
1. The students
2. The presence of music while studying
3. The kind of music
4. The test scores

56. Below is a comparison of different research methods.

57. chapter 1
Control conditions
In an experiment, a comparison condition in which subjects are not exposed to the same treatment as in the experimental condition.
In some experiments, the control group is given a placebo, an inactive substance or fake treatment.

58. chapter 1
Random assignment
For experiments to have experimental and control groups composed of similar subjects, random assignment should be used.
Each individual participating in the study has the same probability as any other of being assigned to a given group.

59. chapter 1
Experimenter effects
Unintended changes in subjects’ behavior due to cues inadvertently given by the experimenter.
Strategies for preventing experimenter effects include single- and double-blind studies.

60. Descriptive statistics
chapter 1
Descriptive statistics
Statistical procedures that organize and summarize research data
Examples
Arithmetic mean
Standard deviation

61. Inferential statistics
chapter 1
Inferential statistics
Statistical procedures that allow researchers to draw inferences about how statistically meaningful a study’s results are.
The most commonly used inferential statistics are significance tests.
Statistical tests that show how likely it is that a study’s results occurred merely by chance

62. Choosing the best explanation
chapter 1
Choosing the best explanation
Interpretation of results may depend on how the research was conducted.
Cross-sectional studies
Subjects of different ages are compared at a single time.
Longitudinal studies
Subjects are periodically assessed over a period of time.

63. Frequently Asked Questions About Psychology
Q1. Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?
Ans: Artificial laboratory conditions are created to study behavior in simplistic terms. The goal is to find underlying principles that govern behavior.
Preview Question 10: How does research benefit from laboratory experiments?

64. Q5. Is psychology free of value judgments?
FAQ
Q5. Is psychology free of value judgments?
Ans: No. Psychology emerges from people who subscribe to a set of values and judgments.
Preview Question 12: How are researchers influenced by their own values, and what is psychology’s ultimate purpose?
© Roger Shepard