1. Psychology Quiz (true or false)
Psychologists can read people’s minds.
The closer the genetic relationship between two people, the closer their IQ scores are likely to be.
Psychologists manipulate people like puppets.
People cannot change-they are the way they are.
Substance abuse may be a sign of mental illness.

2. A therapist may prescribe medication to patients who are diagnosed with a mental illness.
An estimated 54 million Americans suffer from some form of mental disorder in a given year.
Many people develop fears of various creatures even though they have had no direct negative experiences with them.
Body temperature does not remain a steady 98.6 degrees throughout the day.
The world wide web was modeled on the way the human brain works.

3. Hypothesis: If students are given mint gum while taking a quiz, then they will get a larger number of correct responses than their non-mint gum chewing classmates.
Results:

4. Mint Gum Quiz Results
# of correct responses possible =120

5. What is Psychology?
Unit 1

6. Overview The science of psychology Origins of psychology
Psychological perspectives
What psychologists do
Critical and scientific thinking
Correlations
The experiment
Evaluating findings

7. Psychology is not… Psychology is:
Pop psychology, Psychobabble, (pseudoscience & quackery)
Self-help books, talk shows
Astrology, graphology, psychics…
Common sense
Psychology is:
The study of behavior and mental processes
Based on empirical evidence- relying on evidence gathered by careful observation, experimentation, or measurement

8. Origins of Psychology Origins of Psychology
Ancient Egyptians, Aristotle (300 BC), and Greek philosophers
Psychology- combo of two Greek words-psyche meaning “mind” and logos meaning “study” or “knowledge”
Develops out of other fields
Wilhelm Wundt- father of psychology; launched the 1st experiment in Leipzig, Germany in 1879 (birth year of psych)
Introspection; est. structuralism
Edward B. Titchener-
Structuralism- goal is to study conscious experience and its structure through experiments and introspection; explain structure of the mind by breaking it down mental experiences into their component parts
Wilhelm Wundt

9. Origins of Psychology
Gestalt psychology-integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes (the whole is different than the sum of its parts)
William James-
How the mind works in allowing an organism to adapt to its environment; wrote 1st psych text; founded functionalism
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis-explains personality and behaviors through unconscious motives and conflicts
Behaviorism
Study only observable behaviors not mental processes (John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner)
Phrenology – Dr. Joseph Gall
Phineas Gage
Freud's couch

10. Origins of Psychology Old perspectives Functionalism (William James)
Early approach that emphasized the function or purpose of behavior and consciousness
Interested in how and why something happens
Functionalists broadened field of psychology to include the study of children, animals, religious experiences, and stream of consciousness
Structuralism (Wundt, Titchner)
Structure of the conscious experience could be understood by analyzing the basic elements of thoughts & sensations
Try to understand structure by analyzing intensity, clarity and quality of its basic parts
Psychoanalysis (Freud)
A theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy, originally formulated by Sigmund Freud
Emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts

11. Contemporary Psychological Perspectives
Choose a celebrity with outrageous behavior.
Focus in on a specific behavior.
Examine and record why the celebrity exhibits this behavior from all six perspectives.
Biological perspective
Learning (behavior) perspective
Cognitive perspective
Sociocultural perspective
Psychodynamic perspective
Humanist Perspective
How do we choose mates? Who do you find attractive?

12. The Biological Perspective
~Psychological approach that focuses on how bodily events affect behavior, feelings, and thoughts
Follows the tradition of functionalism
This perspective involves:
Hormones & glands
Brain chemistry
Heredity-genetic factors
Evolutionary influences
Evolutionary Psychology- functional behavior of the past is reflected in present behaviors, mental processes, & traits
adaptation

13. Learning Perspective (Behavioral Perspective)
A psychological approach that emphasizes how the environment and experience affect a person’s or animal’s actions.
This perspective involves:
Behaviorism
Rewards and punishments maintain or discourage specific behaviors

14. The Cognitive Perspective
Psychological approach that emphasizes what goes on in people’s heads (mind)
Involves:
Interpretation of mental images, thinking, language
Perceptions and thoughts influence our behavior

15. The Sociocultural Perspective
Psychological approach that emphasizes social and cultural forces outside the individual
This perspective involves:
Ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status influence our behavior
Social psychology or the study of rules, roles, groups, and relationships
Cultural psychology or the study of cultural norms, values, and expectations

16. The Psychodynamic Perspective
Psychological approach that emphasizes unconscious dynamics within the individual, such as inner forces, conflicts, or the movement of instinctual energy; f
This perspective involves:
Unconscious thoughts, desires, conflicts
Early childhood experiences
Self-awareness

17. The Humanist Perspective
emphasizes personal growth and the achievement of human potential, rather than the scientific understanding of behavior
This approach involves:
Self-concept
People make free and conscious choices based on their unique experiences
Emphasized creativity and achieving potential

18. Work in colleges and universities
What Psychologists Do
Basic Research- seeks knowledge for its own sake; teach and conduct research
Biological psychologists (neuropsychologists)
Developmental psychologists
Cognitive psychologists
Experimental/research psychologists
Social psychologists
Applied Research- tackles practical problems; concerned with finding uses for knowledge
Industrial/organizational, forensic, sports, educational, school, & consumer psychologists
Counseling psychologists- help people cope with challenges
Clinical psychologists (clinician) - assess and treat mental, emotional & behavioral disorders; most common 52% of psychologists
Psychiatrists- provide psychotherapy, MD’s licensed to prescribe drugs & treat physical causes of psychological disorders
Work in colleges and universities

19. Critical and Scientific Thinking
Critical thinking- does not accept arguments and conclusions. Does examine assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assess conclusions.
Scientific Method-
In psych the question
should be in an If…then
Format.

20. Research Strategies Include: Case studies Observational studies
Correlational study
Surveys
Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Studies
experiments

21. Case Studies-
A research technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
Prone to bias
May not apply to other people or situations
Examples: Genie-child abuse/language acquisition; patients with brain injury

22. Observational Studies-
Researchers observe and record behavior without interfering with behavior
2 types:
Naturalistic observation
Observe people or animals in their natural environment
Laboratory observation
Observe behavior in a controlled setting
confirmation bias- tendency to search for information that confirms a preconception
Participant bias-research participants behave in a certain way because they know they are being observed or they believe they know what the researcher wants

23. Correlational study-
A research project strategy that investigates the degree to which two variables are related to each other
Correlation- A statistical measure of how strongly two variables are related to one another. Correlational coefficients can range from 0.0 – 1.0.
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.
Correlations show patterns, not causes.

24. Correlations can be represented by scatterplots.

25. Surveys-
Allows researchers to collect a large amount of data efficiently through questionnaires and/or interviews
Survey method- research technique that questions a sample of people to collect information about their attitudes or behaviors
Random sample- represents a population because each member of the population has an equal chance of being included

26. Longitudinal and Cross-sectional studies
Useful to developmental psychologists to study how individuals change throughout the lifetime
Longitudinal study- research that follows the same group of individuals over a long period of time
Cross-sectional study- research that compares individuals from different age groups at one time.

27. Experiments
A research method in which the researcher manipulates and controls certain variables to observe the effect on other variables. An experiment includes variables of interest, control conditions, and random assignment.
Experiment Steps
Hypothesis-testable prediction
Operational definitions: explanation of the exact procedure
Random selection
Random assignment (experimental & control)
Experiment
Identify the effects of the variables
analysis

28. Variables:
Independent variables -variables the experimenter manipulates; the variable that should cause something to happen
Dependent variables -variables the experimenter predicts will be affected by manipulations of the independent variable(s); variable that should show the effect of changing the independent variable
Confounding variable- variable that could change the dependent variable

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

31. Control Group: 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.
Experimental Group: participants who are exposed to the treatment.

32. Data Analysis Is the hypothesis supported?
Are the results statistically significant?
If the result would occur by chance alone is no more than 5%
Can the results be replicated?