Download Chapter 1: Introducing Psychology

AP Psychology
PSYCHOLOGY (Bernstein)
Chapter 1: Introducing Psychology
• PSYCHOLOGY: the science that seeks to
understand behavior and mental processes,
and to apply that understanding in the
service of human welfare
• POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: a field of
research that focuses on people’s positive
experiences and characteristics, such as
happiness, optimism, and resilience
Where do psychologists go to work?
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Biological/physiological psychologists
Developmental psychologists
Personality psychologists
Clinical/counseling psychologists
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community psychologists
health psychologists
Educational psychologists
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engineering psychology/
human factors
school psychologists
Social psychologists
Industrial-Organizational (I/O)
psychologists
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Cognitive/experimental psychologists
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rehabilitative psychologists
Quantitative psychologists
OTHER
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Sports psychologists
Forensic psychologists
Environmental psychologists
Relating Subfields to Human Behavior
1. On your paper, anonymously write down
three questions about why people think or
behave the way they do. Turn in card.
2. Pick a card (other than your own) and
write which subfields might address ONE
of the questions on the card.
3. Suggest ways to study the selected
question.
Linkages within Psychology and Beyond
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different subfields of psychology overlap
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psychology linked to and interacts with other
disciplines (ex. neuroscience--cellular biology and psychology)
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psych theories used in other disciplines like law,
medicine, engineering, etc.
(ex. developmental and educational psychology)
RESEARCH: The Foundation of Psychology
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conduct experiments and other scientific
procedures
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systematically gather data
analyze data
draws conclusions
generates new ideas/questions for study
Psychology relies on EMPIRICISM--knowledge
based on experience and observation rather than
imagination and intuition
Interest in Behavior and the Mind throughout History
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Pick a dude or set of dudes below. (dudes selected from the History of Psychology, pp.13-17 in Rubenstein)
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Create a chart like the one below.
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Fill in your dude’s/dudes’ box on the chart, explaining his interest in behavior and the mind.
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what contribution(s) did your dude(s) make to the field that would become PSYCHOLOGY?
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume
Gustav Fechner
Wilhelm Wundt
Edward Titchener
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler
Sigmund Freud
William James
G. Stanley Hall
James Mark Baldwin
John B. Watson
B. F. Skinner
Interest in Behavior and the Mind throughout History
Socrates,
Plato,
Aristotle
debated nature of mind and soul; relationship of mind and
body; some knowledge is innate
John Locke,
George Berkeley,
David Hume
Empiricism; tabula rasa; no knowledge is innate but gained
through sensation/direct sensory experiences (17th c.)
Gustav Fechner
psychophysics--relationship between physical stimuli and
psychological experience of them
Wilhelm Wundt
“Father of Psychology”; introspection--quality and intensity
are the two essential elements of any sensation; first psych
lab in Leipzig, Germany (1879); used empirical research
Edward Titchener
also used instrospection but added “clarity” as an element
of sensation; structuralism--attempt to define the
structure of consciousness
Hermann Ebbinghaus
focused on capacities, limitations, and other characteristics
of mental processes such as learning and memory;
participant in own experiments
Max Wertheimer,
Kurt Koffka,
Wolfgang Kohler
German Gestalt psychologists who saw consciousness as a
totality; believed the whole is greater than the sum of its
individual parts (e.g., analogy of a strip of film)
Interest in Behavior and the Mind throughout History
Sigmund Freud
believed all behavior is motivated by psychological processes,
especially unconscious conflicts within the mind
William James
first U.S. psych lab (Harvard); functionalism--focused on the role of
consciousness in guiding decisions, solving problems, etc; emphasis on
how we adapt to environment
G. Stanley Hall
functionalist who founded first psychology research lab in the U.S.
(1883) at Johns Hopkins University
James Mark
Baldwin
functionalist and pioneer in research on child development;
founded first Canadian psych lab at the University of Toronto (1889)
John B. Watson
consciousness unobservable and should be ignored; behaviorism-observation of overt behavior and responses to various stimuli
(learning determines behavior and adaptations)
B. F. Skinner
champion of behaviorism; functional analysis of behavior--explained
how rewards and punishments shape, maintain, and change behaviors
through operant conditioning
Approaches to Psychology
(pick a topic...any topic)
Research Topic
Approach
Questions, Assumptions, and Methods
BIOLOGICAL
assumes biological factors (genes, hormones, and the activity of the
central nervous system--esp. the brain) affect behavior and mental
processes
EVOLUTIONARY
emphasizes how behavior and mental processes emerge as
generation-to-generation adaptations to help organisms survive in
their environments (process of natural selection)
PSYCHODYNAMIC
sees constant unconscious conflicts within each person as the
main determinant of behavior and mental life; conflict primarily
between impulse to satisfy personal desires and the need to live by
rules of society (based on Freud’s theories)
BEHAVIORAL
sees behavior as primarily the result of learning; a person’s learning
history, esp. patterns of rewards and punishments, influences
behavior; problem can be solved by unlearning old habits and
developing new ones
COGNITIVE
emphasizes the importance of thoughts and other mental
processes; focuses on how people take in, mentally represent, and
store information; how they perceive and process info; and how
cognitive processes are related to observable behavior
HUMANISTIC
sees behavior as determined primarily by each person’s capacity to
choose how to think and act based on each individual’s unique
perceptions; believes people control themselves, each person is
essentially good and has innate tendency to reach highest potential
Most psychologists use an
ECLECTIC approach...
meaning they combine the features of several
approaches in both their research and practice
dealing with individual cases.
(ex. social-cognitive or cognitive-behavioral psychologists)
HUMAN DIVERSITY in Psychology
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What is CULTURE?
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the accumulation of values, rules of behavior, forms of expression, religious beliefs,
occupational choices and the like fora group of people who share a common
language and environment
SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR AND MENTAL PROCESSES
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Race
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Ethnicity
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Social Class
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Culture of Origin (religion, language, customs, traditions...)
III. INDIVIDUALISTIC v. COLLECTIVIST CULTURE (see chart on p. 23 in Bernstein)
IV. MULTICULTURAL COUNTRIES AND SUBCULTURES
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IMPACT OF SOCIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY ON PSYCHOLOGY???