Download psychology`s roots, big ideas and critical thinking tools

PSYCHOLOGY’S ROOTS, BIG IDEAS AND CRITICAL
THINKING TOOLS
CHAPTER 1
MYERS AND DEWALL
CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW
 PSYCHOLOGY’S ROOTS
 FOUR BIG IDEAS IN PSYCHOLOGY
 WHY DO PSYCHOLOGY
 ASKING AND ANSWERING QUESTIONS – RESEARCH
PSYCHOLOGY’S ROOTS
 Wilhelm Wundt created psychology’s first experiment
 Early Pioneers
 Charles Darwin
 Ivan Pavlov
 Sigmund Freud
 William James
 Mary Whiton Calkins
PSYCHOLOGY’S ROOTS – DEFINITIONS AND APPROACHES
 Psychology’s Roots - originally defined as the science of mental life
 Behaviorism– the scientific study of observable behavior (John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner)
 Freudian Psychology – the study of the unconscious mind and childhood experiences
 Humanistic Psychology – the study of how our environment helps or hinders our personal
and emotional growth (Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow)
 Cognitive Psychology – the scientific study perception, memory, and information processing
MODERN PSYCHOLOGY
 Modern Psychology – the science of behavior and mental processes
 Modern Perspectives:
 Neuroscience – brain and body’s effects on emotions, memory, senses
 Evolutionary – how natural selection influenced genetic traits
 Behavior Genetics – combination of genes and environment; individual differences
 Psychodynamic – unconscious drives and conflicts
 Behavioral – learning observable responses
 Cognitive – encode, process, store information
 Social-Cultural – how behavior changes across situations
FOUR BIG IDEAS IN PSYCHOLOGY
 #1 Critical Thinking – examining assumption, values, weighing evidence and conclusions
 #2 Biopsychosocial Approach – using biology, psychology, and social-cultural factors to explain
and predict
 Nature and Nurture Issue – nature (biology) and nurture (experiences) that determine who you
are
 #3 Dual Processing Theory – our mind simultaneously operates consciously and unconsciously
 Dual Attitude System – we have two sets of attitudes systems that influence behavior
 Implicit Attitudes (unconscious) often differ from our Explicit Attitudes (conscious)
 Implicit Egotism – preference for things that are self-referencing
 #4 Positive Psychology – study of human strength, skill, and meaningfulness
WHY STUDY PSYCHOLOGY?
 Is Psychology Simply Common Sense?
 Our intuitions are limited and prone to errors
 Hindsight (20/20) Bias – tendency to think you could have predicted an outcome, after
having learned the outcome “I knew it all along”
 “Absence makes the heart grow fonder?”
 “Out of sight out of mind?”
 Overconfidence – this bias leads to overconfidence and increased blame towards others
 Perceiving Order in Random Events – we like to notice patterns, streaks in life events and
assume they are meaningful/real
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
 Scientific Attitude - Curiosity, Skepticism, Humility
 The Scientific Method - Forming and Testing Hypotheses
 Theory – a set of principles or ideas that seek to explain or predict an observation
 Good theories summarize behaviors and make clear predictions
 Hypotheses – testable components of a theory that describes a relationship(s)
 Operational Definitions – clearly worded concepts and terms (e.g. memory)
TESTING HYPOTHESES: DESCRIPTIVE METHODS
 Descriptive Research – watching, observing, and describing thoughts and behaviors
 Case Study – in depth examination of a person or group
 Naturalistic Observation – observing and describing naturally occurring behaviors
TESTING HYPOTHESES: DESCRIPTIVE METHODS
 Surveys – having individuals in a population self-describe their behaviors and attitudes
TESTING HYPOTHESES: DESCRIPTIVE METHODS
 Surveys Problems
 Small and Unrepresentative Samples lead to inaccurate conclusions
 Random Sampling – every person in the population has an equal
chance of taking the survey
 Wording Effects – wording and order can affect the responses to
question
TESTING HYPOTHESES: CORRELATIONAL METHODS
 Correlational Studies – describe how two naturally occurring events/factors related to one
another
 No Correlation – no relationship between two variables
 Negative Correlation – two variables change/move in opposite directions (-1.0 – 0.0)
 Self-esteem and Depression
 Positive Correlation – two variables increase/decrease together (0.0 - +1.0)
 Diet soda consumption and heart disease
 Golf courses and divorce
 Ice cream sales and murder
Correlation and Causation
Correlation Does Not
Equal Causation
TESTING HYPOTHESES: EXPERIMENTS
 Experimental Research – laboratory/controlled simulations that test cause and effect
relationships
 Manipulating/altering one or more variable) to see if it affects another variable(s)
 Independent Variable – the factor(s) that is manipulated/altered by the researcher to create
multiple groups/conditions (Experimental and Control)
 Dependent Variable – the variable(s) that is measured
TESTING HYPOTHESES: EXPERIMENTS
 Experimental Research Issues:
 Experimental Control – removing potential problems (confounds) from experiments
 Confound #1 – Unequal Groups/Conditions
 Random assignment –placing participants randomly into the experimental group(s)
and/or control group
 Randomization insures that all groups are equivalent except for the manipulation
TESTING HYPOTHESES: EXPERIMENTS
 Cofound #2 - Placebo Effect – anticipating an effect can cause you to experience the
expected outcome
 Double-Blind Procedure – controls for anticipation/placebo effects
TESTING HYPOTHESES: CORRELATION OR EXPERIMENT?
• You can only conduct an experiment when you
are able to use random assignment