History, Approaches, & Methods (Module 1: CLEP Psychology)

What is Psychology?

• Word breakdown: Psyche= soul/mind, Ology= study of

• scientific study of the mind,scientific study of human behavior & mental processes

mental proccesses

• thoughts

• emotions

• impulses

behavior

actions we can visibly see

Critical Thinking

QLOBS

• (asking) Questions

• Logical thinking

• (making) Observations

• (recognizing internal) Biases

• (maintaining attitude of) Skepticism

Structuralism

• key figure: Wilhelm Wundt

• used introspection to break down consciousness into basic elements/components. 

  • introspection

    • definition: examining one’s own conscious experience as objectively as possible

    • what’s involved in recording your own thoughts/feelings?

    • subjective and fell out of favor bc its low replicability(used very specific experimental conditions)

• proposed that consciousness occurred when these basic elements combined in different ways to produce perceptions

• what are the basic elements/structures of mental experiences or human experiences?

• fell out of popularity once Wundt’s student (Edward Titchener) passed away in 1927.

Functionalism

• key figure: William James

• investigating operation of whole mind rather than individual parts

• understand mind = understand what mind can accomplish

• relied on both introspection AND more objective measures (recording devices, anatomy, etc.)

• what do mental processes do? how do they help us adapt to our environment?

  • processes/functions of human condition

  • consciousness/behavior helps ppl adjust to environments

What are the 5 approaches to psychology (for the CLEP Exam)?

BBCHP:

Biological

Behavioral

Cognitive

Humanisitic

Psychodynamic

Biological Approach

• physiological & biochemical explanations are root of behavior

  • genetics

  • hormones

  • neurotransmitters

  • neurochemicals

• these bio functions ->  ppl experience emotions, thoughts, etc

Behavioral Approach (Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, & Behaviorism)

• learned responses to predictable patterns of external stimuli

  • we respond/behave based on the environment around us

  • behavior is dictated by genertics & enviornment

• Key Figures:

  • Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936):

    • studied conditioned reflex, in which an animal/human produced a reflex (unconcious) response to a stimulus, and over time, was conditioned to produce THE SAME response to a differet stimulus (AKA classical conditioning)
      

  • John B Watson (1878-1958)

    • major proponent of BEHAVIORALISM, (focused on directly observable behavior/controlling that behavior)

    • focus on learned behavior & its interaction w/inborn qualities of the organism

    • behavioralist experiments commonly used animals
      

  • B.F. Skinner

    • studied how consequences impacted behavior (reward/punishment= main drivers)

    • developed operant conditioning chamber (aka. Skinner Box) which isolated subjects from exgternal enviornment and delivered positive, neutral, or negative reinforcements.

Humanistic Approach/Humanism (Maslow & Rogers)

• Humanism: psychological perspective emphasizing the innate potetial for good in all humans

• humanistic psychologists disagree with solely relying on experimentation without considering the “whole” human being

• Key Figures:

  • Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

    • known for hierarchy of needs

  • Carl Rodgers (1902-1987)

    • used client-centered therapy w/his clients. in CCT, patients take lead role in therapy session

    • believed therapists needed to display 3 features to maximize effectiveness of CCT: GUPRE

      • Genuieneness

      • Unconditional Positive Regard

      • Empathy

    • therapists need to accept clients for who they are, no matter what they’re dealing with

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Cognitive Approach (Chomsky)

• cognitive psych: things you can’t track/observe externally

  • memory

  • attention

  • thought processes

• helped est communication between European & US psychologists bc EU psych wasn’t as influenced by behaviorism

• stemmed in reaction to behaviorists (primarily focused on observable behavior/reactions to evnrionment), as well humanistic psychologists introduced interdisplinary methods of inquiry to psych

• cognitive psychologists began to work w/other fields (eg. anthropology, linguistics, com sci, neuroscience)

• Key Figure

  • Noam Chomsky

    • linguist, believed psych needed to include mental functioning, not just behavior, into study to truly understand behavior

Femenist Psych & Limitations of Scope

• dominant psychologists: Western, white, & male

  • most core psych had been developed w/biases towards these individuals

  • women, ethnic minorities, lgbtq+, etc. had difficulties entering psych, influencing its development, & thus increasing scope of research done for these communities

    • they had little influenc eof what was studied

  • experimental subjects were mostly men. male psychologists assumed gender had no influence & that women weren’t sufficient ineterest to study

  • many men constructed the psych of women w/out experimental tests of women, often using outdated/untrue assumptions

• key figure: Naomi Weisstein

  • her femenist psych attempted to be free of male cultural biases regarding the psychology of both men/women

APA (American Psychological Association)

• represents psychologists in the US

• largest org of psychologists around the world

• mission: advance/disseminate psych knowledge for the betterment of the ppl

• 56 divisions w/variety of specialties (religion, sprot, behavioral neuroscience, etc)

• members range from students to doctoral-level & come from various backgrounds

APS (Association for Psychological Science)

• founded due to disagreements between members in APA’s scientific & clinical branches

• activities

  • publishes 5 research journals

  • education/advocacy w/funding agencies

  • majority of members are from US, but signification protion are non-US psychologists

Psychodynamic Approach & Psychoanalytic Theory

• Key Figure: Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

  • Unconcious Mind:

    • proposed that ppl’s problems arose from unconcious mind, which play a role througout entire life

      • unconcious mind: repository of feelings/urges that we have no awareness of

    • according to Freud, we can access unconcious mind thru dream analysis, examining slips of tongue, and the first things that come to ppl’s minds

  • Psychoanalytic theory:

    • focuses on role of person’s unconsiousness & early childhood experiences, and how these things impact adulthood

    • 3 focuses: ID, superego, & ego

      • ID= pleasure (want it/want it now)

      • superego= morals/values, follow rules, societal norms, avoiding danger/averse situations

      • ego= moderator (reality principle, moderator between ID & superego)

  • Defense Mechanisms play role in our personalities

    • repression, supression, and reaction formation

Biopsychology (Field of Psych)

• definition: how does biology influence or behavior? (focusing on immediate causes of behavior)

• bio psychologists seek to understand how structure/function of nervous system is related to behavior

• example research interests: sensory and motor systems, sleep, drug use/abuse, ingestive behavior, reproducti behavior, neurodevelopment, neuroplaticity, etc

• biopsychologists come from all different backgrounds; interdisciplinary approach = neuroscience

Evolutionary Psychology (Field of Psych)

• definition: studying the ultimate biolgical causes of behavior

• has had resurgance in recent decades

• approach: predict outcome of bheavior in a particular situation based on evolutionary theory, then make observations/conduct experiments to determine whether results match theory

  • these studies aren’t not strong evidence bc behavior is not entirely genetic; a lot of it is influenced by cutlrual

  • very hard to demonstrate that human traits are naturally selected

  • traits we posess now evolved under very dated conditions, making predictivions about what is adaptive very difficult

• we can make predictions abt many different areas of human behavior (eg. mate choice, family relationships, freindship, parenting, etc.)

Cognitive Psych (Field of Psych)

• definition: area of psych focusing on studying cognitions (thoughts) and their relationship to our experiences/actions

• broad, consists of collaborations from ppl of various backgrounds

• research interests: attention, probelm solving, language, memory, etc.

Developmental Psychology (Field of Psych)

• definition: scientific study of development across a lifespan

• study physical maturation as well as changes in cognitive skills, moral reasoning, social behavior, etc.

• early era:

  • primarily focused on changes up until addulthood

  • eg: Jean Piaget → young kids don’t demonstrate object permanence

• now:

  • research expands to changes occuring later in life due to increasing lifespans

Personality Psychology

• definition: focuses on patterns of thoughts/behaviors that make each indvidual unique

• has taken more quantitative approach (idnetifying personality traits, measuring these traits, & determining how they’ll interact in specific contexts to determine how someone will behave in any given situation)

• personality traits are pretty consistent w/thoughts & behavior → Big Five/Five Factor Model

Big 5/Five Factor Model of Personality Dimensions

OCEAN

Social Psychology (Field of Psych)

• definition: how we interact with & relate to others

• sample research topics: how we explain our own behavior vs behavior of others, prejudice, attraction, resolving interpersonal conflicts, how our thinking & behavior changes as we’re around others

• Key Figure: Stanley Milgram

  • Milgram (1961)

    • 2/3 of participants delivered “lethal” shocks to another person just bc another authority figure told them to do so

    • study catalyzed development of ethical guidelines for psych experiments (discouraing deception/potential emotional harm, getting informed consent, etc)

Industrial Psych (IO) (Field of Psych)

• definition: applies psychological theories, principles, etc in industrial/organizational settings

• deal w/personnel management, organizational structure, workplace enviornment, etc

• some do scientific research on behavior in IO settings

Health Psychology

• key definition: focuses on how health is affected by biological, psychological, AND sociocultural factors (biopsychosocial model)

• health psychologists help ppl achieve better health thru public policy, education, intervention, research, and motivating ppl to address patterns of behavior that contribute to poorer health

Sport & Exercise Psychology (Field of Psych)

• definition: psychological aspects of sport performance, motivation & performance anxiety, effects of sport on mental and emotional wellbeing

• not just sports, but also mental/physical performance under demanding conditions (eg. fire fighting military ops, artistic perforamnces, surgery, etc)

Clinical Psych (Field of Psych)

• focuses on diagnosis & treatment of psychological disorders and other behavior

• some clinicians do research on the side

Counseling Psych (Field of Psych)

• focuses on emotional, social, vocational, & health related outcomes in individuals considered psychologically healthy

Forensic Psych (Field of Psych)

• deals w/psych in the justice system

• roles of forensic psych

  • assess ppl’s competency to stand trial

  • assess defendant’s state of mind

  • act as consultant on child custody cases

  • consult on sentencing & treatment recs

  • advise eyewitness/children’s destimonies

  • used in witness protection & jury selection process

  • small portion work w/law enforcment as a criminal profiler

• must have good understanding of law, not just psych

personality trait

consistent pattern of thought & behavior

What are the 3 ypes of research methods for psych (for the CLEP exam)?

Experimental

Clinical

Correlational

Research Method: Experimental

• define

• variables

• groups

• key concepts (3)

• investigating a cause & effect relationship between 2+ variables

• 2 variables

  • Independent

  • Dependent

• 2 groups

  • Expermiental Group

  • Control Group
    

• Key Concepts

  • Random Assignment

  • Blind & Double Blind Study

  • Placebo & Placebo Effect

Research Method: Clinical (3 types of studies)

• Case Studies

• Naturalistic Observation

• Clinical Interview

Independent Variable

• IV

  • variable that’s being manipulated

  • the “cause” in cause & effect relationship

  • eg: when investigating the impact of antideppresant pill on mood, giving the pill or placebo would be IV

Dependent Variable

• variable that’s being measured for change

• the “effect” in cause & effect relationship

• eg: when investigating the impact of antideppresant pill on mood, the change (or lack of) mood would be DV

Experimental Group

• group that is exposed to the cause of experiment

• i.e receives the IV

• eg. the group that recieves the antidepressant meds

Control Group

• group that’s not exposed to cause of experiment

• i.e receives NO treatment or a treatment that should have no effect

• eg. group that recieves no treatment, medication, etc.

Random Assignment

• participants should be randomly to experiemental group & control group to avoid selection biases

Blind & Double Blind Study

• Blind Study

  • participants don’t know what level of IV they are recieving

  • eg. participants don’t know what type of pill they’re getting

• Double Blind Study

  • neither party knows what level of IV they are receiving

  • eg. participants AND experimenters don’t know what type of pill they’re receiving

Placebo & Placebo Effect

• Placebo

  • benign product/treatment tool that mirrors a real treatment tool

• Placebo Effect

  • when a participant is given a benign treatment/tool but still has a response to the treatment

Case Study

• individual cases of studying a behavior, condition, or emotion

• Freud used these to develop psychoanalytic theory

• pros: helpful to understanding individuals on a deep level

• cons: hard to apply understandings from a single case to broader population

Naturalistic Observation

observe behavior of participants in their natural enviornment (eg. classroom, jungle, etc.)

Clinical Interview

• interview someone 1 on 1 to get info on clinical presentation

• note: participants may give different experimenters very different info depending on person, manner of asking questions, etc.

Research Method: Correlational

• seeing how 2 variables relate to each other

• NO MANIPULATION of either variable

• doesn’t measure cause & effect; just observing

  • eg: looking at correlation between mood & # of exams you’re studying for

Correlation Coefficient (r)

ranges from -1.0 to 1.0

• positive correlation: closer to 1

  • increase in variable A, increase in variable B

• negative correlation: closer to -1

  • increase in variable A, decrease in variable B

• no correlation: 0

Surveys

self reported measurements admistered by you

• can reach large group of ppl

• subject to dishonesty in scope of answers reported