1. INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

2. ◦ Personality ◦ A solid core of traits reflecting the unique essence of a particular human being ◦ That core of thoughts and feelings inside you that tells you how to conduct yourself. ◦ Your personality is more than just an “attitude.” It is what causes you to act and react the way you do.

3. What you’ve done so far… ◦ The Color Code Test ◦ Red – Power ◦ Blue – Intimacy ◦ White – Peace ◦ Yellow - Fun ◦ Reds and Blues spend their lifetimes trying to control others. ◦ Whites and Yellows spend their lifetimes refusing to be controlled. ◦ This year 85% of employees who lose their jobs can attribute it personality conflict.

4. Strengths & Weaknesses For each color ◦ Red ◦ Leader, focused, responsible, committed ◦ Blue ◦ Loyal to people, sincere, honest, moral ◦ White ◦ Tolerant, patient, cooperative, good listener ◦ Yellow ◦ Positive, friendly, optimistic, open ◦ Red ◦ Arrogant, bad listener, tactless, critical of others ◦ Blue ◦ Judgmental, unforgiving, suspicious, irrational ◦ White ◦ Timid, lazy, dependent, directionless ◦ Yellow ◦ Uncommitted, inconsistent, self- centered, rebellious

5. What do I do with my color? ◦ Using your color, write your first name in the COLOR you were matched with ◦ Decorate your name ◦ Cut it out ◦ Tape it neatly on the back of my door

6. You have siblings? Your Birth Order can often show about you! ◦ Oldest/Only ◦ Treated like an adult, given more responsibility, an example, independent. ◦ Middle ◦ Peacemaker, work hard for attention, calm and even- tempered, good/average student. ◦ Youngest ◦ Spoilt, strives for attention, matures quickly, easy-going about school, irresponsible

7. Chapter One: Introduction, History, and Research Methods ◦ What is psychology? ◦ The science of behavior and mental processes. ◦ Science – because psychologist use scientific research in their studies to understand more. They collect data and analyze it. ◦ Behavior & mental processes – the scope of what psychologists study is so vast. ◦ All observable behaviors can be studied as well as mental processes including thoughts, feelings and dreams.

8. Psychology’s founding fathers: Wilhelm Wundt ◦ The “Father” of psychology ◦ 1879 – first lab devoted to psychological experiments.

9. Psychology’s founding fathers: ◦ 1892 – G. Stanley Hall founds the American Psychological Association (APA). ◦ 1905 – Mary Whiton Calkins becomes first woman President of APA. ◦ 1905 – Alfred Binet develops the first intelligence test.

10. Can any one psychological perspective answer all of psychology’s questions?

11. Psychological Perspectives ◦ Psychological perspectives, schools of thought, and psychological approaches are all synonyms for ways psychologists classify collections of ideas. ◦ Ex: Look at this real life possibility: Do you help the person who spilled their bags of groceries? Why do some people help when others don’t? ◦ Each perspective has an explanation. ◦ And there are six different ones…

12. #1: The Cognitive Perspective ◦ Popular since the 1960’s. ◦ School of thought that focuses on how we take in, process, store and retrieve information. ◦ Focuses on how people think! ◦ People involved: James and Piaget ◦ Ex: Helping the person with the groceries is a function of how we think about or interpret a situation. ◦ We may choose to help the shopper because we think it will make us look good to others; or won’t because we think helping might make us look silly.

13. Psychology's founding fathers: William James ◦ 1 st American psychologist. ◦ 1 st psych textbook author – 1890. ◦ Functionalism: ◦ Goal of psychology was to study the functions of consciousness, the ways consciousness helps people adapt to their environment.

14. Psychology’s founding fathers: Jean Piaget ◦ Worked on how children develop their thinking abilities. ◦ Developmental and cognitive psychologist.

15. #2: Biological Perspective ◦ School of thought to focuses on the physical structures and substances underlying a particular behavior, thought, or emotion. ◦ People involved: ◦ Ex: Could remind us that levels of a naturally occurring “feel good” chemical in our brain that could affect helping behavior. ◦ Those lacking in this element could feel depressed and not help the person with their groceries.

16. #3: Socio-cultural Perspective ◦ School of thought that focuses on how thinking or behavior changes in different settings or situations. ◦ People involved: ◦ Ex: Helping is more likely to occur if you’re with a couple of friends and 50 feet from your front door; and less likely if you’re in a crowded, big-city movie theatre lobby where few faces are familiar.

17. #4: Behavioral Perspective ◦ School of thought that focuses on how we learn observable responses. ◦ Believe people learn certain responses through rewards, punishments, and observation. ◦ People involved: Pavlov and Watson ◦ Ex: a person who helps has previously observed someone being rewarded for helpful behavior. ◦ Like y’all and bonus cards?

18. Psychology’s Founding Fathers: Ivan Pavlov ◦ 1906 – Pavlov’s dogs ◦ He studied animal learning and fueled a move in psych toward interest in observable behavior and away from the self-examination of inner ideas and experiences.

19. Psychology’s founding fathers: John B. Watson ◦ Launched behaviorism ◦ Dominant perspective of the 20 th century. ◦ Behaviorist perspective: ◦ Studied only observable and objectively describable acts. ◦ Don’t waste time studying unconscious…can’t see it! ◦ Made science more objective and scientific. ◦ Today behaviorism focuses on learning through rewards and observation.

20. #5: Humanistic Perspective ◦ School of thought that focuses on the study of conscious experience, the individual’s freedom to choose, and capacity for personal growth. ◦ Healthy people strive to reach their full potential. ◦ People involved: Maslow and Rogers ◦ Ex: A person who has met their safety/physiological needs (hunger, thirst, shelter) would be able to reach out socially and help another person in need.

21. More on Humanistic… ◦ Humanistic psychology (1960), 3 rd force. ◦ Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers ◦ Emphasized conscious experience as the proper focus for psychology. ◦ Humans have free will and will strive for full potential by making smart decisions. ◦ Rejected that humans are controlled by rewards and reinforcements. ◦ Maslow’s Hierarchy 

22. #6: Psychodynamic Perspective ◦ Contemporary name; formerly known as psychoanalytic perspective. ◦ School of thought that focuses on how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts. ◦ People included: Freud ◦ Ex: Helpful behavior results from an unfulfilled childhood wish to have one’s mother accept one’s offer to help.

23. Psychology’s Founding Fathers: Sigmund Freud ◦ Stereotypic therapist, with a pen and pencil listening to a patient on the couch. ◦ 1900, introduced first complete theory of personality… psychoanalysis. ◦ Publishes The Interpretation of Dreams.

24. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective ◦ Focused on abnormal behavior, which Freud attributed to unconscious drives and conflicts, often stemming from childhood. ◦ Relied on personal observation and reflection instead of controlled laboratory experimentation as its means of discovery.

25. Problems with Psychoanalysis ◦ Claimed to be scientific, but relied on self- reported reflections…not scientific methods. ◦ Died in 1939, many theories have since been disproved and some out of date. ◦ But some of his ideas are still with us: ◦ Freudian slip ◦ Anal-retentive ◦ Psychodynamic Theory ◦ Our unconscious thoughts, inner conflicts, and childhood experiences significantly affect our personality and behaviors.

26. New Areas of Psychology! ◦ Behavior Genetics: ◦ Focuses on how much our genes and our environment influence our individual differences and behavior. ◦ Combo of biology and behaviorism. ◦ A psychologist interested in behavior genetics might ask two questions: Is there a helpfulness trait? If so, is it triggered into action by growing up in a family that promotes and values helping those in need? ◦ Yes? – and you have the trait and a family that promotes it, you will be helpful. ◦ Thus, helping behavior is a product of learning and an inherited genetic trait.

27. New Areas of Psychology! ◦ Evolutionary Psych: ◦ Study behaviors that helped our ancestors survive long enough to reproduce successfully. ◦ Positive Psych: ◦ Focus: to study and promote original human functioning. ◦ Martin Seligman ◦ Promotes building positive qualities of people, not repairing the worst things.

28. Careers in Psychology: ◦ Basic research: ◦ Pure science or research ◦ Research for the sake of finding new information and expanding the knowledge base of psychology. ◦ Clinical Psychologies: ◦ Diagnose and treat patients with psychological problems. ◦ Largest number of professional psychologists.

30. Careers in Psychology ◦ Applied Research: ◦ Research designed to solve specific practical problems. ◦ Marriage counselors, education counselors, organizational counselors, etc.