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Principles of Behavior
The Science of Psychology
Chapter One
Definition
Psychology is the science of
behavior and mental
processes.
Why Study Psychology?
 Used
to understand why people think, feel,
and act as they do.
 Separates mere opinion from a conclusion
based on observation and examination.
Goals of Psychology
 Description
and Observation:
 Explanation/HypothesisTheory Predicting
 Changing
Behavior-
Behavior
HISTORY
How did the discipline of psychology evolve?
 Greek philosophers----mind-body debate.
 Early biology.
 Relatively Young discipline
 Three main stages in the history of the
discipline:



Science of the Mind
Study of Behavior
Cognitive Revolution
The Science of the Mind

Introspection: Wilhelm Wundt, first psychological
laboratory
 Structuralism (def) analysis of complex experiences in
terms of their simplest components.
 Titchener –student of Wundt, who analyzed the
experience of consciousness by breaking it down
into it’s smaller components.
 Consciousness-our awareness of cognitive
processes such as concentrating, making decisions,
dreaming
• Sensations
• Feelings
• Images
Science of the Mind
– ( William James)-theory of
thoughts and behavior concerned with
how one uses their perceptual abilities to
function in the environment.
 Functionalism


Theory stated that perceptions, memories and
images could not be separated.
William James contribution to education and
women.
Psychodynamic Theory

Theory stated that we are motivated by unconscious
instincts and urges that are not available to the
rational, conscious part of our mind.
 Sigmund Freud-- physician who was convinced that
many ailments were psychological rather than
physiological in nature.
 He was trying to explain the psychological nature of
ailments, and therefore the connection between the
brain and behavior at the same time the
structuralists were debating consciousness.
THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR

Behaviorism-(John B. Watson)-school of
psychology that studies only observable and
measurable behavior. Therefore, if a
phenomenon could not be observed, it did not
exist as an object of scientific study.
 believed that all mental experiences such as
thinking, feeling, awareness of self, are nothing
more than physiological changes in response to
accumulated experiences.
 Classical Conditioning-Ivan Pavlov

Little Albert
Radical Behaviorism
 Operant
Conditioning: The theory of
reinforcement. Therefore, behavior that is
rewarded will continue, while behavior that
is punished will be extinguished.

B.F. Skinner
THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION
 Inability
of Behaviorism to explain
psychological phenomenon such as
perception, child development, personality
gave way to the rise of cognitive
psychology.
 Gestalt & Humanistic Psychology
 Cognitive Psychology as a foundation of
the discipline.
CONTEMPORARY
PSYCHOLOGY
 Multi-disciplined
 Clinical
 The
under large umbrella.
vs. Experimental
foundations of Psychology are
Physiological Psychology, Cognitive
Psychology, Learning Theory, and Social
Psychology
Subfields within Psychology
1. Clinical Subfields
Psychodynamic
 Humanistic
Cognitive Behavioral
2. Experimental Psychology Subfields
 Biological
 Cognitive
 Social-Cultural
 Learning/Evolutionary
 Developmental
3. Industrial Organiational
Studying Behavior through
Different Perspectives
 Biological-
mechanisms within the brain
and body
 Cultural-environmental
 Social
influences
Influences- Societal norms
Example: Feeding Behavior
 Biological-
biological mechanisms involved
in eating



Homeostasis/Food Regulation
Glucose-Glycogen
Liver-Hypothalamus
Feeding Behavior
 Cultural
Influences

When

How much
Feeding Behavior
 Societal
Influences

Presence of Others

Societal Perception
Advantage of Multiple Perspectives
 The


understanding of behavior requires:
Different perspectives multiple levels of
understanding.
The use of multiple perspectives neccesitates
the use of the scientific method.
PSYCHOLOGISTS AS
SCIENTISTS
Science is not defined by what it investigates but
by how it investigates.
 Scientific Approach




Curiosity
Skeptical
Objective
Critical thinking
Two Phenomena that limit our thinking and lead to
erroneous conclusions.
Hindsight bias
Judgmental Overconfidence
The Study of Behavior
 Critical
Thinking-
 Empirical
 The
Evidence
Scientific Method
Phenomenon that limit thinking and
lead to erroneous conclusions

Hindsight Bias

Judgmental Overconfidence
“We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are
on their way out!” quoted by Decca Records
Management when turning down a recording
contract with the Beatles in 1962…….
Scientific Method





Perceive a question
Formulate a Hypothesis
 Question: Does low self-esteem contributes to
depression
 Hypothesis-Are people with low self-esteem
more likely to feel depressed than those with
high self-esteem? (testable).
Test the Hypothesis
Formulate explanation for observations.
Report and Replicate-
Types of Research Methods
 Naturalistic
 Case
Observation-
Study
 Survey Correlational Research
 Experimental
Experimental Research
 Explains
a cause and effect relationship.
 Manipulates one or more variables under
controlled conditions in order to observe
their effect on behavior.


Independent variable-what is being studied or
manipulated.
Dependent variable- what is being measuredperception of play.
 Control
group Experimental group-
The Effects of Culture on
Psychological Research
 Cross-cultural
psychology is a research
method that tests the cultural parameters
of psychological knowledge.
 Uses participants of more than one
cultural background and compares data
obtained across those cultures.
 Allows psychologists to examine how
knowledge about people and their
behaviors from one culture may or may
not hold for people from other cultures.