Chapter 1 presentation 140

Ebbinghaus: Psychology has

a short history, but a long

past.

Three fields that influenced psychology:

Philosophy-writings about sleep,

dreams, senses and memory.

Physiology-study of anatomy and brain

function.

Medicine-relationship between disease

and mental processes.

Two major schools of psychology by

early 20th century:

1) Psychodynamic, based on the work

of Sigmund Freud.

Psychodynamic theory (continued)

Human behavior motivated by

unconscious conflicts

The past is critical to development

Second major school of psych:

Behaviorism-the study of behavior that

can be measured and verified.

Rejected the study of mental processes

Modern definition of psychology:

The science of behavior and mental

processes.

Other major perspectives in psychology:

1) Biological: the physical origins of

human and animal behavior, the

study of the nervous system, the brain.

2)Humanistic: how people grow

psychologically

the influence of interpersonal

relationships,

the importance of self-direction in

trying to reach one’s potential

3) Positive psychology: focus on positive

emotions and psychological

states, instead of the traditional focus

on problems and disorders.

4) Cognitive: how people develop

language, solve problems, and think

5) Cross-cultural: the influence of culture

on behavior and mental processes.

Some of your “personal” traits might be

cultural traits instead!

6) Evolutionary: based on the principle

of natural selection (survival of the

fittest).

Behavior is subject to natural selection.

Dr. Bishop’s definition of critical thinking:

Be open to the possibility that what you

believe or what someone else believes

is CRAP.

Be aware of what you bring to the table,

we all have biases and “weak spots”

What conclusions can reasonably be

drawn from the evidence?

Is there another explanation that makes

more sense for a research finding or

some other phenomena?

Steps in the scientific method:

1) Start with a testable hypothesis, a

tentative statement that describes the

relationship between two or more

variables.

2) Design the study and collect the data

Two basic categories of research

methods:

a) Descriptive methods-observing and

describing

Common descriptive methods:

Surveys

Naturalistic observation

Correlational studies

b) Experimental method: changing one

variable causes change in a second

variable.

Much harder to do, but can prove

cause and effect!

3) Analyze the data and draw

conclusions

Findings have to be statistically

significant

Significant isn’t necessarily meaningful!

4) Report the findings:

Other scientists need to be able to

replicate the findings

Findings are reported at conferences

and professional journals

Experimental Method

Why is it needed to prove cause and

effect?

Hypothesis: Drug X causes memory loss

in some people.

Independent variable (IV): what gets

manipulated

Dependent variable (DV): what gets

measured

Control group: Subjects who go

through the experiment but are not

exposed to the actual variable of

interest.

Random assignment: you can’t control

for everything!

All subjects have an equal chance of

being in the experimental group or the

control group.

Helps to even out “outliers”

Without random assignment and a

control group, it’s not an experiment!

Can’t use the word cause!

Hypothesis: Cigarette smoking causes

cancer in humans.

Can you do an experiment?

No experiment, can only look at pre-

existing smokers

No random assignment!

Surveys, hospital records, gov’t records,

etc.

Correlational study: very common in

psychology

We have to study pre-existing groups

How strongly two variables are related

Positive correlation: two factors

increase or decrease together

Ex: Anger and heart rate, loneliness

and depression

Negative correlation: two factors move

in opposite directions

Ex: alcohol use and grade point avg.