Download Approaches to Psychology presentation

What is Psychology?
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
(humans and animals)
Covers what we…..
• Think
• Feel
• Do
• Largest association of Psychologists worldwide
Why Study Psychology?
• Application to everyday life
• Gain insight into behavior (yours and others)
Why Study Psychology?
• Dispel myths about human behavior
Goals of Psychology
 Describe behavior
 Explain behavior
 Predict behavior
 Influence behavior
 Nature vs. Nurture
 Stability vs. Change
 Rationality vs.
Irrationality
Phrenology – Examining
bumps on the skull to determine
intellect and character traits (19th
century)
Past attempts at understanding human
behavior (weird or not) have led to what we
know today and shaped the current
Approaches to Psychology
Ancient Psychology
Aristotle
Trephination
Wilhelm Wundt
• “Father of psychology”
• Started 1st lab to study humans (1879)
• Established Psychology as formal field of study
• Introspection – self observation, report thoughts and
feelings
William James
• “Father of MODERN Psychology”
or “Father of Psychology in the U.S.”
• Principles in Psychology = 1st Psychology Textbook
• Psychoanalytic
• Behavioral
• Humanistic
• Cognitive
• Biological
• Sociocultural
Perspectives
PSYCHOANALYTIC/
PSYCHODYNAMIC
• Key ideas
• childhood experiences
• unconscious forces
• Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)
• Unconscious motivations are responsible for human
behavior
• Techniques:
• Free association
• Psychoanalysis
• Dream analysis
BEHAVIORAL
• Key ideas
• Observable Behavior
• Conditioning/Learning
• Prior experience
• John Watson (1878 – 1958)
• Behavior the result of conditioning – “We are what we
learn to be”
• B.F. Skinner (1904 – 1990)
• Reinforcement
HUMANISTIC
• Key ideas
• Self-directed
• Uniqueness
• Potential to develop
EVOLUTIONARY
 Key Ideas:
 Survival of the fittest
 Inheritable traits
 Success
 Main theorist: Charles Darwin
COGNITIVE
• Key ideas
• How we ….. Process, Store, Retrieve information
• Thought patterns
• Problem solving
• Behavior results from memories, expectations
BIOLOGICAL
• A.k.a. Behavioral neuroscience
• Key ideas
• How the brain, nervous system, hormones, genetics
influence behavior
SOCIOCULTURAL
 Key ideas
• Cultural influence on behavior
• Gender
• Socioeconomic status
Eclecticism
• By combining information from all of the
approaches, psychologists stand a better chance of
describing, explaining, predicting, and controlling
behavior.
Psychologist
• Observe, analyze, evaluate behavior
• Doctorate degree
Psychiatrist
• Medical degree + training in psychiatric medicine
Clinical Psychologist
• diagnoses and treats people with emotional disturbances
Counseling Psychologist
• help people deal with problems of everyday life
Developmental Psychologist
• Study changes that occur throughout life
Educational Psychologist
• helps students learn
Industrial/Organizational
Psychologist
• employed by businesses to boost production, improve working
conditions, make the workplace a more satisfying environment
Research v. Applied Psychology
 Research Psychologists – study origins, causes, results
of behavior
 Applied Psychologists – make direct use of the
findings of research psychologist; deal directly with
clients
Naturalistic Observation
• Observe subjects in a natural setting without interfering
• Natural behavior
Case Study
• Intensive investigation of one or more participants
• long-term observations, diaries, tests, interviews
Survey
• Interviews, questionnaires, or both
• asking many individuals a fixed set of questions
Longitudinal Study
• Data is collected over a number of years
• Development
• time-consuming
Cross-sectional Study
• Different age groups – same time – compare
Longitudinal vs.
Cross-Sectional
Double-Blind Experiment
• Neither participants nor experiment knows which received
medication
• keeps researcher unbiased
Placebo effect
• change in illness/physical state from knowledge and
perception of treatment
• believing it will have an effect
• fake medication