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PSYCHOLOGY
RUTH, A COLLEGE STUDENT, DECIDES TO HAVE LUNCH AT THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA.
SHE WALKS TO THE CAFETERIA, GETS IN LINE, CHOOSES TUNA SALAD AND ORANGE
JUICE, AND PAYS AT THE COUNTER. SHE THEN LOOKS AROUND OR SOMEONE TO SIT
WITH. SHE DOESN’T SEE ANY CLOSE FFIENDS, SO SHE GOES TO A TABLE BY HERSELF
SITS DOWN, AND BEGINS TO EAT.
A FEW MINUTES LATER, GARY, A YOUNG MAN IN RUTH’S ENGLISH CLASS, COMES
OVER TO JOIN HER. WHEN RUTH LOOKS UP AT HIM, SHE NO LONGER FEELS LIKE
EATING. SHE THINKS GARY IS VERY GOOD LOOKING BUT HE NEVER SPEAKS TO RUTH
UNLESS HE’S MISSED A CLASS AND WANTS TO BORROW HER NOTES. SHE GREETS HIM
COOLY, BUT GARY SITS DOWN ANYWAY AND BEGINS TO TELL A LONG, RAMBLING
STORY ABOUT A VISIT FROM THE LITTLE GREEN PEOPLE, THE HORROR MOVIE ON TV
HE STAYED UP TO WATCH LAST NIGHT. MEANWHILE, RUTH REMEMBERS THAT GARY
MISSED THIS MORNING’S ENGLISH CLASS AND CATCHES HIM EYEING HER NOTEBOOK.
RUTH FANTASIZES DUMPING HER LUNCH ON GARY’S NEATLY GROOMED HAIR, BUT
INSTEAD SHE GETS UP TO LEAVE. GARY ATTEMPTS A CASUAL SMILE AND ASKS TO
BORROW HER NOTES. NOW RUTH IS MORE THAN ANNOYED. ALTHOUGH HER
ENGLISH NOTEBOOK IS IN PLAIN SIGHT, SHE TELLS HIM CURTLY THAT SHE IS SORRY
BUT SHE HAS LEFT HER NOTES IN THE LIBRARY –TO WHICH, AS A MATTER OF FACT,
SHE MUST RETURN RIGHT AWAY. AS SHE LEAVES THE CAFETERIA, SHE GLANCES BACK
AND SEES GARY STILL SITTING AT THE TABLE HE LOOKS DEPRESSED. SUDDENLY, SHE
FEELS A BIT DEPRESSED HERSELF.
THE APPARENTLY SIMPLE EVENT,BETWEEN RUTH
AND GARY, RAISES MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT
WHY PEOPLE BEHAVE AND FEEL AS THE DO.
HOW IS THEIR BEHAVIOR INFLUENCED BY THEIR
PHYSCIOLOGICAL STATES?
WHAT MOTIVATES THEM TO CHOOSE ONE
ACTION INSTEAD OF ANOTHER?
NEARLY ALL THE TOPICS WE COVER ARE
REFLECTED IN A PSYCHOLOGIST’S PERCEPTION
OF THIS BRIEF STORY.
INSIGHT
• PYSCHOLOGY CAN PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO
YOUR OWN AND OTHER PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR.
EX. Student convinced is hopelessly shy and
doomed to be uncomfortable in groups,
Social psychology- different kind group different
effects, party-unstructered/bio lab-structured
MUCH MORE UNCOMFORTABLE IN UNSTRUCTURED
SOCIAL GROUPS THAN IN STRUCTURED, TASKORIENTED GROUPS
PSYCHOLOGY
THE STUDY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND MENTAL
PROCESSES.
Psychologists differ in how much importance
they place on specific types of behavior.
Some believe should study only behavior that
you can see, observe, or measure directly.
(Ruth selecting, paying for food, choosing table,
refusing to lend notes – observable)
Others believe our fantasies, thoughts, and
feelings are important kinds of human behavior,
even though not directly observable.
(Ruth guesses Gary is sad by expression on face,
cannot directly observe his emotional reaction)
While differ on which human behaviors
important, do agree the study of behavior must
be systematic.
Systematic asking and answering questions
about why think, act, and feel as they do
reduces chance of false conclusion about
behavior.
(three blind man and the elephant
MANY DIFFERENT APPROACHES ARE NECESSARY
TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEX RICHNESS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR
We spend time observing others, form
conclusions about people in general from our
daily interactions.
Sometimes conclusions we draw are not
accurate because we are not systematic in our
“study” of people (box pg-8)
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Reach conclusions by identifying specific
problems or question, formulating a hypothesis,
collecting data through observation and
experiment, and analyzing the data.
HYPOTHESIS
An “educated guess” – researcher has some
evidence for suspecting a specific answer.
State what you expect to find, expressed in a
way that it can be proved or disproved
EXAMPLE
People with same opinions on issues more likely
to be attracted to each other than people with
different opinions.
Test hypothesis in a way that would enable him
or her to collect data.
A survey, questionnaires, analyze the data.
Real answers to general questions arrived at
only be general agreement of the experts after
years of research on many different aspects of a
problem
GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
DESCRIBE
EXPLAIN
PREDICT
CONTROL BEHAVIOR
DESCRIBE
Gather information about the behavior being
studied and present what’s known.
(we describe Ruth’s behavior in the café)
Psychologist interested in explaining why people
behave as they do, often goes beyond observed
to include ideas about why people react in
certain ways.
EXPLAIN
Psychologists present ideas in the form of
hypotheses, which can be grouped together into
theories.
Theory past hunches or trial explanations about
the facts observed.
Theories subject to change as more info about
people and behaviors are gathered.
Theories fulfill 1st 2 goals,
to describe and explain observed behavior
PREDICT
A result of accumulated
knowledge, what people will think,
feel, or do in certain situations.
Studying descriptive accounts
linking certain behaviors together,
psych’s, can predict certain events.
INFLUENCE/CONTROL BEHAVIOR
Many Psych’s research to find more about
human behavior, others interested in
discovering ways to use what is already known
about people to benefit others.
Some interested in both basic science, or
research and applied science, or practical
applications of the principles discovered in basic
science research.
BASIC
Studying ability of infants to perceive visual
patterns – basic research – not concerned with
implications findings may have on crib design.
Study REM in sleep research – basic research – if
discover individual has sleep disturbance, try to
understand and explain situation, but will not
try to correct it.
Correcting it is job of the applied scientist.
Clinical psychologists.
Ex. Consultant to toy manufacturer,
Psych’s into applying principles, not discover
Rene’ Descartes
Rene’ Descartes – French Philosopher
Their is a link between mind and body, mind
controls the body’s movements, sensations and
perceptions.
Mind and body influence each other to create a
person’s experiences.
3 minute philosophy – you tube
John Locke
British Philosopher - late 17th
John Locke
empiricism
all knowledge is obtained through observation
and experience. Infants come into this world
with blank minds, with no experiences.
Tabula rasa
(Latin blank tablet) JL used this term to describe
the mind of the human infant. Knowledge is the
result of a build up of experiences
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt
1879 Germany - Laboratory of Psychology
founder of psychology as a science.
Real interest was in study of the human mind.
Developed a method of self-observation
introspection collect information about the
mind.
In controlled situations, trained subjects
reported their thoughts, Wundt tried to map out
the basic structure of thought processes.
Attracted many students who carried on
tradition of psych research.
Father of Psychology.
Wundt was important because he separated
psychology from philosophy by analyzing the
workings of the mind in a more structured way,
with the emphasis being on objective
measurement and control.
This laboratory became a focus for those with a
serious interest in psychology, first for German
philosophers and psychology students, then for
American and British students as well. All
subsequent psychological laboratories were
closely modeled in their early years on the
Wundt model.
William James
William James
1st American psychologist
more writing than research.
Speculated that thinking, feeling, learning,
remembering – all the activities of the mind
serve one major function, to help us survive as
species.
Focused on function of the conscious mind.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Interest in the unconscious mind.
Beneath the surface are primitive biological urges that are in conflict
with the requirements of society and morality, these conflict are
responsible for much human behavior.
Free Association
1st thing comes to mind.
Psychoanalyst
Be objective listen and interpreted associations
Dream analysis
Apply same free association techniques to dreams.
Sir Francis Galton
Sir Francis Galton
Heredity and inherited traits influences a person’s
ability, character, and behavior.
Greatness runs in families, cousin of Darwin,
concluded genius is hereditary.
Faulty idea, might be result of socioeconomic and
environmental advantages.
Invented procedures for testing abilities and
characteristics of a wide range of people.
Beginnings of individual psychology, determine, is
behavior by heredity or environment.
Sir Francis Galton first coined the term
“eugenics” in 1883. Put simply, eugenics means
“well-born.” Initially Galton focused on positive
eugenics, encouraging healthy, capable people
of above-average intelligence to bear more
children, with the idea of building an
“improved” human race. Some followers of
Galton combined his emphasis on ancestral
traits with Gregor Mendel’s research on patterns
of inheritance, in an attempt to explain the
generational transmission of genetic traits in
human beings.
Negative eugenics, as developed in the United States
and Germany, played on fears of “race degeneration.”
At a time when the working-class poor were
reproducing at a greater rate than successful middleand upper-class members of society,
these ideas garnered considerable
interest.
One of the most famous proponents
in the United States was President
Theodore Roosevelt, who warned
that the failure of couples of
Anglo-Saxon heritage to produce
large families would lead to
“race suicide.”
Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov
Concept of conditioned reflex - a response
(salivation) elicited by a stimulus (the tuning
fork) other than the one that first produced it
(food)—was used by psychologists as a new tool,
as a means of exploring the development of
behavior.
They could begin to account for behavior as the
product of prior experience.
Theory
Pavlov concluded that he was able to pair a neutral
stimulus with an excitatory one and have the
neutral stimulus eventually elicit the response the
was associated with the original, unlearned reflex.
In Classical Conditioning terminology, an
unconditioned stimulus (US) is an event that causes
a response to occur, which is referred to as the
unconditioned response (UR). And, in Pavlov's study
with dogs, the food within the dog's mouth is the
US, and the salivation that results is the UR. Pavlov
took a step further and added an element known as
the nonexcitatory, conditioned stimulus (CS), which
is paired with the US.
• Pavlov used a metronome as the CS which he rang first,
then fed the dogs. This pairing would eventually
establish the dog's conditioned response of salivating
to the sound of the metronome. After repeating this
procedure several times, Pavlov was able to remove
the US (food) and by only ringing the bell the dogs
would salivate (CR). Since the bell alone now produced
the unconditioned response (salivation), the
association had been established (Conditioned). Pavlov
continued to present the CS with any pairing with the
US until the CR no longer occurred. This elimination of
the CR is known as extinction. However, waiting a few
days and then reintroducing ticking metronome
resulted in the dogs once again salivating to the CS.
Pavlov termed this, spontaneous recovery.
Pavlov continued of the conditioned response. He
replaced the metronome with other stimuli for use
as the CS. He conditioned the dogs using a buzzer,
the flash of a light, a touch on the dog's harness,
and the use of different pitches of a whistle in
which the dogs had to differentiate between to
determine which pitch resulted in access to food.
Pavlov's experimental research gained much
respect throughout Russia as well as America and
the rest of the nations. Although he began his
investigations late in life he managed to develop the
major constructs of a fully realized field of learning.
He summarized his discoveries in his remarkable
book, Conditioned Reflexes.
John B. Watson
John B. Watson – 1924 American
Behaviorists
stressed investigating observable behavior.
Psychology should concern itself only with
the observable facts of behavior.
All behavior, even instinctive behavior, is the
result of conditioning and occurs because the
appropriate stimulus is present in the
environment.
Nature vs. Nurture
The Little Albert Study
In 1920 Watson and an assistant, Rosalie Rayner, published one
of the most famous research studies of the past century. Watson
attempted to condition a severe emotional response in Little
Albert, a nine-month-old child. Watson determined that white,
furry objects, such as a rat, a rabbit, and cotton, did not produce
any negative reaction in the baby. But by pairing together a
neutral stimulus (white, furry animals and objects) with an
unconditioned stimulus (a very loud noise) that elicited an
unconditioned response (fear), Watson was able to create a new
stimulus-response link: When Albert saw white, furry objects,
this conditioned stimulus produced a conditioned response of
fear. This study is generally presented as a seminal work that
provided evidence that even complex behaviors, such as
emotions, could be learned through manipulation of one's
environment. As such, it became a standard bearer for
behaviorist approaches to learning and is still widely cited in the
early twenty-first century.
B. F. Skinner
Contemporary American Psychologist
B. F. Skinner
Refined and popularized behaviorist position.
Attempted to show how, in principle, his
laboratory techniques might be applied to
society as a whole. Utopia
Widely criticized , many people think that he
seeks to limit personal freedom with his
“manipulative” conditioning techniques.
Reinforcement , or controlled reward and
punishment, increasingly popular in education.,
modern computer education programs
With pigeons, he developed the ideas of
"operant conditioning" and "shaping behavior."
Unlike Pavlov’s "classical conditioning," where
an existing behavior (salivating for food) is
shaped by associating it with a new stimulus
(ringing of a metronome)
operant conditioning is the rewarding of a
partial behavior or a random act that
approaches the desired behavior.
Operant conditioning can be used to shape behavior.
If the goal is to have a pigeon turn in a circle to the left, a
reward is given for any small movement to the left. When
the pigeon catches on to that, the reward is given for
larger movements to the left, and so on, until the pigeon
has turned a complete circle before getting the reward.
Skinner compared this learning with the way children
learn to talk -- they are rewarded for making a sound that
is sort of like a word until in fact they can say the word.
Skinner believed other complicated tasks could be broken
down in this way and taught. He even developed teaching
machines so students could learn bit by bit, uncovering
answers for an immediate "reward." They were quite
popular for a while, but fell out of favor. Computer-based
self-instruction uses many of the principles of Skinner's
technique.
Humanistic Psychology
Abraham Maslow
Rollo May
Carl Rogers
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Humanistic Psychology has given rise to a
subject called the Positive Psychology in 21st
century.
Positive psychology is the scientific study of
human happiness.
The history of psychology as a science shows
that the field has been primarily dedicated to
address mental illness rather than mental
wellness.
Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers and Erich Fromm,
developed successful theories and practices that
involved human happiness despite there being a
lack of solid empirical evidence behind their
work.