Psychology

Perspectives,

A psychologist is a…

scientist-practitioner that always behaves in an ethical manner

Psychology is…

the scientific study of the mental processes and behaviour and how they interact

Scientific study implies…

that the knowledge about the mind and behaviour is discovered through empirical (systematic) observation or experimentation

Mental processes refer to…

thinking, remembering and feeling

Behaviour is…

any kind of observable action and includes words, gestures and biological activity

Positive psychology focuses on…

understanding and harnessing positive emotions and actively stimulating conditions that produce valued, subjective experiences that help people flourish

Psychological perspectives (general)

• each perspective gives a unique understanding of the same psychological issue

• people will have bias towards one of more perspectives

• perspective also provide a broad set of theoretical assumptions employed by the scientific community

Psychodynamic perspective (Sigmund Freud)

• thumb backwards, iceberg

• looking behind, looking at childhood and past experiences, what you are aware of and what you are not aware of, unconscious things stemming from childhood

Assumptions

• interaction of conscious and unconscious thoughts

• behaviour is the interplay of thoughts, feelings and wishes

• mental process can be in conflict —> anxiety

Characteristics:

• understand mental life through speech and dream analysis

• knowledge is gained through therapist case studies which seek to understand client’s thoughts, feelings and actions

Limitations

• non-empirical (not observable, can’t set up a hypothesis)

• cannot falsify hypotheses

• unreliable measure

• most happens in unconscious thought

Behaviourist (B.F. Skinner)

• middle finger, robot

• very robotic, environment informs behaviour, automatic response to something that’s happened, not about thoughts only about the environment

Assumptions

• environment controls behaviour through learning

• there is no link between internal states (thoughts/feelings) and behaviour

• stimuli becomes associated through conditioning (classical and operant conditioning)

Characteristics

• external stimuli elicits behaviour

• knowledge about relationship between stimuli and behaviour —> experiments (quantitative, statistically analysed, replicated)

Cognitive

• pointer finger, computer

• thinking, stimulus in - is processed - what comes out in terms of behaviour

Assumptions

• Information is processed, stored and retrieved

Characteristics

• infer mental processes through experiments

Humanistic

• ring finger, helping hand mountain, reaching the pinnacle of life

• all about self-actualisation, to be the best you can possibly be, humans are innately good

Assumptions

• people are unique, motivated to reach full potential (self-actualisation)

• innately good

• strive to reach goals and ambitions

Therapy

• person centred care

• therapist is empathetic towards client

Evolutionary

• pinkie finger, running/survival of the fittest

• survival of our genes, about behaviours that ensure genetic survival, about offspring

Assumptions

• behaviours which ensured reproductive success (survival and reproduction) are either biologically determined (eating, sexual impulses) or evolved

Characteristics

• sociobiology (natural selection based on psychological function, social behaviours and physical function)

understanding a person requires attention to the individual’s…

biology, psychological experiences and cultural context

A psychologist might focus on the following areas

• biopsychology

• development

• social

• community

• clinical

• cognitive

• personality

• positive psychology

• industrial

• organisational

• educational

• health

• counselling

• sport

• forensic

• conversation

Top 5 employment sectors for a psychologist in Australia

• private

• education

• health

• government

• other

Psychology is shaped by…

culture and biology

Types of philosophical debates in psychology

free will vs determinism

nature vs nurture

rationalism vs empiricism

individualism vs relationality

conscious vs unconscious

mental vs physical

continuity with other animals vs discontinuity with other animals

Early schools of thought

Structuralism - Wilhem Wundt, how is consciousness structured? (introspection)

Functionalism - William James, what is the purpose of consciousness?

Quantitative research

focusing on collecting and analysing numerical data to identify patterns (numbers) - quantity

Qualitative research

understand the ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind people’s experiences, attitudes and behaviours, focusing on descriptive data rather than numerical data - quality

mixed methods

use a combination of quantitative and qualitative research

Characteristics of good research

• describes, predicts and explains observations

• is systematic (standard procedures)

• is based on good theory

standardised procedures…

expose participants in a study to as similar procedures as possible

to have generalisability a study must have…

• internal validity (a valid design, procedures of the study sound)

• external validity (applicability to situations outside the laboratory, is experimental situation the same as real world)

theory provides…

the framework for hypothesis (tentative belief about the relationship between variables

Experimental research is…

a systematic process to describe, predict and understand cause and effect

• independent variable - is manipulated/can be changed

• dependent variables - the variable that is affected by the independent variable

• conditions

• the importance of the control (reference point/something to compare against)

limitations:

• ethical considerations

• external validity

Steps to conduct an experiment

Frame a hypothesis - operationalise the variables - develop standardised procedure - select and assign participants - apply statistical techniques to the data - draw conclusions

Quasi experiment

• can’t ethically do the experiment

• not possible to an experiment

• no randomisation of groups

• control is achieved by matching relevant characteristics

• Example - comparing the anxiety levels of children whose parents are divorced compared to children whose parents are not divorced

Descriptive research

aims to describe phenomena rather than look for cause and effect

Case study - used when large sample is not possible, so often is one person or a small group

Limitations

• small sample size (overcome by multiple case studies)

• research bias = observer bias