Welcome to Psychology: Chapter 1

What is Psychology?

  • The scientific study of the mind and behavior

    • Why do people do the things they do?

  • Psychology is everywhere

  • Is huge with many subfields

    • clinical, social, cognitive, evolutionary, developmental, behavioral, health, cultural, personality, and biopsychology

Nature vs. Nurture

  • Nature = tendencies that are genetic, innate, inborn

    • born this way

  • Nurture = tendencies that are learned from the environment

    • shaped that way through life experiences

  • Is a false dichotomy; too simplistic/no distinct line

    • genes influence how we respond to our surroundings

    • enviromental factors can turn genes on/off (epigenetics)

    • reality is nature AND nurture, but certain approaches favor one or the other

Evolutionary Psychology

  • Explores ancient human origins (hundreds of thousands of years ago)

  • Often focuses on behaviors that are universal to all humans (but not always)

  • “Nature” argument: some tendencies are just universally human

  • “Nurture” argument: pressures from environment create different tendencies

  • Evolutionary context

    • ~2 million years ago: first to use fire

    • ~300,000 years ago: anatomically modern humans

    • ~70,000 years ago: cognitively modern humans

    • ~10,000 years ago: agricultural revolution

    • ~150 years ago: industrial revolution

    • ~25 years ago: tech boom

    • ~3 years ago: rise of AI

  • Individuals are motivated to survive, reproduce, and pass their genes on to future generations

  • Evolutionary psychology’s major claim: modern humans behave in ways that were beneficial for the survival and reproduction of ancient humans

Cultural Psychology

  • Culture = norms, rules, customs, beliefs, etc. of a group of individuals

  • Is much more than that; the brain’s job is to keep the body alive

    • the brain must adapt to surroundings

    • culture literally wires your brain

      • environment influences the way your brain develops and the person you become

  • Cultural psychology focuses on relationship between culture and individuals

  • Often favors the “nurture” argument

Considering Culture

  • A major goal of psychology → what is nature and what is nurture (what is human nature vs. what is specific to a population)

  • All subfields of psychology need to consider culture

    • field historically hasn’t been great at this

W.E.I.R.D. Cultures

  • Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic

    • characteristics of societies, not individuals

    • e.g., US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc.

  • 96% of participants in top psychology studies were from WEIRD cultures

  • Psych has a bad habit of studying Western people but making claims about human nature

  • Many psych studies use American college students as participants

  • Growing conversation about this but problem remains

  • We need more cross-cultural research

The History of Psychology

  • 1879: first psych lab (Wundt)

  • 1890s-1920s

    • psychoanalytic era (Freud)

    • focus on the unconscious

  • 1910s-1950s

    • behaviorist era (Skinner, Watson)

    • focus on behavior, not the mind

  • 1950s-60s

    • cognitive revolution

    • focus on thoughts and the mind

  • 1970s-80s

    • humanistic approach peaks (Rogers)

    • the field comes of age

  • 1990s

    • President George HW Bush officially declares the 90s “the decade of the brain”

    • federal resources dedicated to neuroscience

  • 2000s-present

    • positive psychology gains traction (Seligman)

    • growing awareness of cultural differences

  • 2025-present: many science are struggling to keep up with massive funding cuts at the federal level

Combining perspectives

  • Psychologists can have multiple approaches

    • clinical psychologist with behaviorist approach to treatment

    • social psychologist who focuses on evolutionary explanations

    • etc.

Psychology vs. other social sciences

  • Psychology: study of the mind and behavior (individuals)

  • Sociology: study of societies, social groups, institutions (groups)

  • Anthropology: study of cultures, especially evolutionary contexts (cultures)

  • Economics: study of decision-making, resources, scarcity (markets)

  • Some overlap in interests, but differences in approaches/scopes

Applying psychology to other areas

  • Law & criminal justice

    • eyewitness memory

    • false confessions

    • jury decision making

  • Education

    • attention

    • memory

    • motivation

  • Politics

    • voting behavior

    • misinformation

    • polarization

  • Sports

    • brain injury

    • team dynamics

    • enhancing performance

  • Technology

    • AI

    • gamification

    • social media

  • Business

    • marketing

    • purchasing decisions

    • leadership

Where to find quality information?

  • ✓ Print news

    • only if the source is trusted and they are reviewing research

  • ✓ Self-help books

    • only if the author is a known expert and is reviewing research

    • be careful

  • ✗ Cable news

    • has political slants and profit from stoking fear

  • ✗ Government websites (NIH, CDC, FDA, etc.)

    • not as much as before

  • ✗ Social media

Psychology “Facts” on Social Media

  • Do not trust them, even “experts” with a PhD

  • 2022 study of TikToks about ADHD based on top 100 TikToks on #ADHD tag

    • 89% were uploaded by non-experts

    • 52% were misleading

    • only 21% were potentially useful

Psychology is a science

  • A social science but still a science

  • Psychology is a grey area

  • Reality is fuzzy

  • Science is technical and complicated

    • reality cannot be easily boiled down to 30 seconds

Highest quality info comes from journal articles

  • Journals are sources that publish scientific studies for other scientists to read

  • All these citations refer to studies published in scientific journals