Download Introduction to Psychology

Introduction to Psychology
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
What it is and isn’t
 Psychology – the discipline concerned with
behavior and mental processes and how they are
affected by an organism’s physical state, mental
state, and external environment.

Examples ( gambling , learning a language, remembering)
 3 Things that Psychology is NOT
1.
Pseudoscience ( false science) ex. Talk shows
2.
Less or non-scientific studies (astronomy)
3.
Just “common sense”
Answer Intro Questions
 Judgmental Heuristics – mental shortcuts that we
employ in making our everyday judgments.


Click, whirr responding vs. Controlled responding
Example
Psychology of Spending
"The more transparent the payment outflow, the greater the
aversion to spending, or higher the 'pain of paying.” Journal of
Experimental Psychology
 Cash is viewed as the most transparent form of payment.

The Evolution of Psychology
 An ancient history of questioning, describing,
understanding, predicting

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Hippocrates accurately identified the brain as the center of
emotions
Phrenology in the early 1800’s (a classic pseudoscience)
An illustration from Thomas Sewall's 1837
lectures on phrenology showing the use of
the craniometer. Originally intended for
the determination of personality, its use
was eventually confined to the
measurement of intelligence
and assessment of "racial
characteristics". (Academy of Medicine,
Toronto)
 The Father of Psychology (Wilhelm Wundt)


Established the 1st Psychological laboratory in 1879
Developed a scientific method called trained introspection
The careful, systematic self-observation of one’s own conscious
experience.
 Significance = scientific beginnings

 Functionalism – an early approach that was based
on the belief that psychology should investigate the
function or purpose of consciousness, rather that its
structure

William James strongly influenced by Charles Darwin
 Psychoanalysis – attempts to explain personality,
motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on
unconscious determinants of behavior

Sigmund Freud – He was convinced that the physical and
social ills that his patients had mental causes not physical one.
Famous Studies
 Solomon Asch – Conformity
 Pavlov’s Dogs
 Harry Harlow Monkey Experiment
 Stanley Milgram
 Albert Bandura – Bobo Doll
 B.F. Skinner – Operant Conditioning
 John B. Watson – Little Albert
 Rosenhan Experiment
 Festinger – Cognitive Dissonance