Science of Psychology

Psychology as a science

• psychology uses the tools of science to: describe, predict, explain, and control behavior and mental processes

The ‘rat is always right’

• facts speak for themselves

• results have to be accepted even if the hypothesis is wrong

Key elements of the scientific attitude

• curiosity: asking questions

• skepticism: sifting reality from fantasy and demanding evidence

• humility: accepting incorrect predictions

Critical Thinking

• examining assumptions

• appraising the source

• discerning hidden biases

• evaluating evidence

• assessing conclusions

History of Psychology

The beginnings of Psychology

• Socrates and Plato

  • mind and body are separate

  • mind continues after death

• Aristotle

  • data is required to prove anything

• Descartes

  • agreed with Socrates

• Francis Bacon

  • founder of modern science

  • empiricism: all knowledge is derived from sense experiences

• John Locke

  • tabula rasa: the mind at birth is a blank slate upon which experience writes

First Psychologists

• Wilheim Wundt (1832-1920)

  • established the first psychology lab

  • wanted to measure ‘atoms of the mind’ the fasted mental processes

  • trained 160 psychology students

    • Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927)

      • introduced structuralism to study the events of the mind

      • used introspection

      • structuralism: early school focused on identifying the elements of thought and mind structures

      • introspection: the process of looking inward to directly observe one’s own psychological process

Milestones in Psychology

• Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

  • natural selection of mental and physical traits

  • adaptive evolution

  • influenced William James

• William James (1842-1910)

  • introduced functionalism

  • functionalism: assumes structures of consciousness must serve a function that helps the organism adapt, survive, and flourish

• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)

  • student of William James

  • denied her PhD due to her gender

  • researched memory

  • first female president of the APA

• Margaret Floy Washburn

  • student of Titchener

  • first female to earn a PhD in psychology

  • researched the animal mind

• John B Watson

• BF Skinner

  • Behaviorism: psychology should be an objective science, observable behavior is important to study but not unseen mental processes

• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

  • developed an influential treatment process called psychoanalysis

  • psychoanalysis: unconscious forces and childhood experiences affect our behavior and mental processes

• Abraham Maslow

• Carl Rogers

  • humans strive to reach their full potential

  • personal growth

  • humanism: rejects behaviorism and psychoanalysis and studies the potential of personal growth in humans

Today’s Psychology

• Psychology: the scientific study of behavior and mental processes of humans and animals

  • behavior: consists of any observable and measurable action taken by a person or other animal (anything a person DOES)

  • mental processes: consists of the internal, subjective experiences inferred from behavior (sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, feelings)

• Ulric Neisser (1967)

  • cognitive psychology: the study of mental processes

• psychology is growing and globalizing

  • contemporary psychology is influenced by biology, experience, culture, gender, and human flourishing

  • uses structuralism and combines ideas from many different psychologists

• Nature vs Nurture

  • is it genes or experience?

  • nature: behavior and mental processes occur because they are inborn or innate

    • Evolutionary psychology

      • evolutionary psychology: the study of how behaviors and mental processes present in species today exist because they were naturally selected

      • behavior genetics: the study of the relative influence and it’s limits of genetic and environmental influences on behaviors and mental processes

  • nurture: behaviors and mental processes occur as a result of experience or the environment

    • Twin Studies

      • identical twins share 100% of the same DNA

      • studies have been done on them to study nature vs nurture

• WEIRD cultures

  • WEIRD: western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic

  • studies done only in one culture give a deep understanding into that culture, whereas studies done on multiple cultures provide a good comparison on how they are similar/different

• Contemporary Psychology approaches

  • positive psychology: the scientific study of human flourishing

  • goal of discovering and promoting human strengths and virtues

  • strengthening individuals and communities

  • Martin Seligman

• Biopsychosocial approach: understanding behavior and mental processes from three key viewpoints

  • biological factors

  • psychological factors

  • social-cultural factors

Types of Psychologists

• cognitive psychologists: They study human thinking and might work as a professor

  or a corporate consultant

• developmental psychologists: They study how our behavior changes as we age

• educational psychologists: They study how we learn in different environments and in

  different ways

• experimental psychologists: They conduct experiments to understand our behaviors

  and mental processes

• psychometric psychologists: They use math and statistics to create, administer, score

  and interpret tests

• social psychologists: They study how we interact with others and how groups impact us individually

• forensic psychologists: They bring law and psychology together. They might develop public policy for the mentally ill, consult on jury selection or help law enforcement in criminal cases

• environmental psychologists: They study how we are influenced and affected by our natural or built (urban) surroundings

• health psychologists: They work to promote health and prevent disease

• I/O psychologists: They study the relationship between people and our work environments

• neuropsychologists: They study how our brain impacts our behavior and thoughts. They might treat Alzheimer’s or stroke, work with athletes and concussions or with people with autism or ADHD

• rehabilitation psychologists: They help individuals who have lost functioning after an

  accident or illness

• school psychologists: They work with kids in school dealing with problems that may negatively impact learning in the classroom

• sports psychologists: They work with athletes to help them improve their performance

• clinical psychologists: They promote psychological health in individuals, groups, or organizations. May specialize in specific psychiatric disorders

• community psychologists: They work with larger groups and communities and focusing on crisis management

• counseling psychologists: They help individuals cope with or make difficult life changes

7 Perspectives of Psychology

1. Psychodynamic Perspective

   • Focus: unconscious mind, early childhood experiences, interpersonal relationships

   • Key Concepts: defense mechanisms, psychosexual stages, id, ego, superego

   • Example: a therapist helping a patient understand their childhood trauma and how it affects their current relationships

2. Behavioral Perspective

   • Focus: learned behaviors, conditioning, reinforcement

   • Key Concepts: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, positive and negative reinforcement

   • Example: a teacher using a reward system to encourage students to complete their work

3. Cognitive Perspective

   • Focus: mental processes, memory, thinking, problem-solving

   • Key Concepts: Attention, perception, language, decision-making

   • Example: a therapist helping a patient identify and change negative thought patterns

4. Biological Perspective

   • Focus: physical and biological bases of behavior

   • Key Concepts: brain structure, neurotransmitters, genetics

   • Example: a researcher studying the effects of s new drug on brain activity

5. Sociocultural Perspective

   • Focus: how culture influences human behavior

   • Key Concepts: cultural norms, values, beliefs

   • Example: a researcher comparing the parenting styles of different cultures

6. Evolutionary Perspective

   • Focus: How the theory of evolution can explain psychological processes

   • Key Concepts: natural selection, adaptation, survival of the fittest

   • Example: a researcher studying the evolution of mating processes

7. Humanistic Perspective

   • Focus: motivation, self-actualization, personal growth

   • Key Concepts: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, unconditional positive regard

   • Example: a therapist helping a patient develop a stronger sense of self-worth

Types of Biases

• Hindsight Bias: the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

  • I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon

• Cognitive Bias: systemic errors in thinking- like shortcuts our brains take to make processing info easier and quicker, but they often lead us to incorrect ideas

• Confirmation Bias: the tendency to search for, interpret and remember information that confirms our preexisting beliefs or opinions

  • instead of objectively evaluating all evidence, we give more weight to information that supports what we already think and discount evidence that contradicts our views

• Overconfidence: having too much faith in our own judgement

  • occurs when we overestimate the accuracy of our own knowledge and judgement

Research Methods

Ethics

Statistics