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Psychology
Study of
mental processes
and
behavior
mental processes – language acquisition, thinking,
memory, learning, etc.
behaviors – actions
Psychology
Is Psychology Intuitive?
Stanley Milgram
Shock
Level
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Switch Labels
and Voltage Levels
“Slight Shock”
15
30
45
60
“Moderate Shock”
75
90
105
120
“Strong Shock”
135
150
165
180
“Very Strong Shock”
195
210
225
240
Shock
Level
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Switch Labels
and Voltage Levels
“Intense Shock”
255
270
285
300
“Extreme Intensity Shock”
315
330
345
360
“Danger: Severe Shock”
375
390
405
420
“XXX”
435
450
120
“Ugh! Hey this really hurts.”
150
“Ugh! Experimenter! That’s all.
get me out of here. I told you
I had heart trouble. My heart’s
starting to bother me now.”
300
(agonized scream) “I absolutely
refuse to answer any more.
get me out of here You can’t hold
me here. Get me out.”
330
(intense & prolonged agonized
scream) “Let me out of here.
Let me out of here. My heart’s
bothering me. Let me out,
I tell you…”
5 stopped @ 300
4 stopped @ 315
2 stopped @ 330
1 stopped @ 345 (23rd shock)
1 stopped @ 360 (24th shock)
1 stopped @ 375 (25th shock)
0 stopped @ 390, 405, 420, & 435
26 went to 450
(30th shock)
“With numbing regularity good people
were seen to knuckle under the
demands of authority and perform
actions that were callous and severe…
The kind of character produced in
American democratic society cannot be
counted on to insulate its citizens from
brutality and inhumane treatment at the
direction of malevolent authority…”
What does all of this mean?
Is Psychology Intuitive?
Follow-Up Studies to Milgram
• Original study
• Different building
• Teacher with learner
• Put hand on shock
• Orders by phone
• Ordinary man orders
• 2 teachers rebel
• Teacher chooses
shock level
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Percentage of subjects administering
the maximum shock (450 volts)
Introduction to Psychology
- Study of mental processes & behavior
- Long past, short history
- First psychology laboratory founded – 1879
by Wilhelm Wundt
- SCIENCE
- Past goes further back to Aristotle, John
Locke (tabula rasa), etc.
- nature v. nurture
Philosophical Approaches
- Empiricism  Experience
all reality is experienced reality
- Rationalism  Reason
reality needs reason to make sense
- Materialism  Matter
all that matters is matter
Introduction to Psychology
Early schools or approaches
Structuralism - break down the conscious
experience to its most basic components
(structures)
- Edward Titchener – student of Wundt
- used introspection as method to break
down conscious experience
-Problem – experience differs from time
to time; also different people give
different responses
- later schools (behaviorist) object to
introspection
- school fails
Introduction to Psychology
Next school or approach to bomb out!
Functionalism – study how behaviors helps
us function in our environment
- heavily influenced by evolutionary
theories
- want to apply psychology to everyday
problems
- key figure  William James
- wanted to study consciousness
- process  stream of consciousness
- influential
- became interested in too many non-scientific –
clairvoyance, mental telepathy, etc and
functionalism quickly went the way of
structuralism
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools
Let’s start a little out of order - Gestalt
- Max Wertheimer
- Perception
- view the world as a whole
- like simplicity and completeness
Laws
1. Law of Closure - The mind may experience
elements it does not perceive through
sensation, in order to complete a regular
figure (that is, to increase regularity).
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools - Gestalt
---------------------------
Law of Similarity — The mind groups
similar elements together - similarity
might depend on relationships of form,
color, size, or brightness
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools - Gestalt
Law of Proximity — Spatial or temporal proximity of
elements may induce the mind to perceive a collective
or totality
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools - Gestalt
Law of Continuity — The mind continues visual, auditory,
and kinetic patterns
No pictures to demonstrate – so let me draw one for you
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Gestalt & other cool
perception stuff
Faces or Vase
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Gestalt & other cool
perception stuff
Trumpet
Player or
Face?

Old woman
or young
woman?

Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Gestalt & other cool
perception stuff
Nekker Cube
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Gestalt & other cool
perception stuff
Stare at the dot in the middle for 45-60 seconds and close your eyes
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Gestalt & other cool
perception stuff
Which vertical line
is longer?
A
B
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Gestalt & other cool
perception stuff
The Müeller-Lyer Illusion
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Gestalt & other cool
perception stuff
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Gestalt & other cool
perception stuff
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Psychoanalysis
- Founded by Sigmund Freud
- focus on the unconscious and
early childhood experience
- develop into many different
theoretical schools
- Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Erik
Erikson, etc.
- few psychologists practice it
today
- major influence in early 20th
century, both clinically &
philosophically
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Behaviorism
It’s all about behavior!
- overt actions & private processes should be
considered behavior
- observable behavior is key to psychology
- only way to make psychology a SCIENCE!
- begins with Pavlov and Classical Conditioning
- later 20th century  B.F. Skinner and Operant
Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov
- Philosophy: individual
freedom is an illusion!
John Watson
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Humanistic Psychology
“I’m ok, you’re ok!”
- reject behaviorism & psychoanalytic schools
- “Third School of Psychology”
- humans have freedom to chose & self-determine
- innately good
- key to normal behavior is drive to reach
individual potential  self-actualization
- should get credit for achievements & must
accept responsibilities for shortcomings
- key proponents - Abraham Maslow, Carl
Rogers
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – The Modern Schools
Cognitive – replaces behaviorism
- derived from work of the Gestalt
- primary interest  thinking, memory,
perception, language, learning, etc.  internal
processes
Biological or Physiological – behavior
determined by biological or internal chemical
processes - Brain
- growing field with more scientific advances
 neuroscience
Introduction to Psychology
20th Century Schools – Cross-Cultural
Perspective
- study how ethnicity & culture affects behavior, thoughts, &
other mental processes
Introduction to Psychology
American Psychological Association (APA)
- scientific and professional organization of psychologists
- 150,000 members – largest organization of psychologists in
world
- 54 divisions
• encourage development and application of psychology in the
broadest manner
• promote research in psychology, the improvement of research
methods and conditions, and the application of research
findings
• improve the qualifications and usefulness of psychologists by
establishing high standards of ethics, conduct, education, and
achievement
• increasing and disseminate psychological knowledge through
meetings, professional contacts, reports, papers, discussions,
and publications
Introduction to Psychology
How does a psychologist get their data?
If you want a science, you need to use the…
… Scientific Method (in case you missed it the first 100 times in
your science classes)
• Define the question
• Gather information and resources (observe)
• Form hypothesis
• Perform experiment and collect data
• Analyze data
• Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting
point for new hypothesis
• Publish results
• Replicate (frequently done by other scientists)
Introduction to Psychology
Two methods:
1. Descriptive methods
2. Experimental method
Introduction to Psychology
Let’s start with the 4 descriptive methods
1. Naturalistic Observation observe subjects in their natural habitat
- few ethical problems as long as there
are no privacy violations
2. Case Studies gather as much data as possible about 1 subject
- interviews of subject, relatives, friends,
acquaintances
- Limitations  time-consuming and limited
number of subjects
Introduction to Psychology
3. Surveys & Questionnaires talk to many people about a narrow range of
topics
Good survey/questionnaire requires
- proper question that does not lead the
subject
“Would you vote for candidate X knowing he
is a child molester?”
- Representative Sample - sample
that accurately reflects the
characteristics of the population as a
whole.
Introduction to Psychology
4. Correlation Studies
Measure of the relationship between
two variables
- correlation coefficients – goes from
-1.0 to +1.0
- closer to -1.0 and +1.0, the stronger
the relationship
- closer to 0, the weaker the
relationship
Which of the following is a stronger
positive correlation –
relationship?
both variables go in the
same direction
+.38
-.72
negative correlation –
A
B
variables go in opposite
directions
Introduction to Psychology
ALL Descriptive methods do not give causal relationships
- correlation studies can tell us 2 variables have a relationship but
it does not tell us one causes the other
Need the Experimental Method
Key concepts:
independent variable – variable
manipulated for a change
dependent variable – variable
measured for a change
control group - practically identical to the experimental group,
except for the single variable of interest whose effect is being
tested, which is only applied to the experimental group
Introduction to Psychology
Self-fulfilling prophecy - prediction
that directly or indirectly causes
itself to become true
- Blinds & double blinds
- subjects do not know whether
they are in control or experimental
group AND experimenters do not
know which subjects are in control
& experimental groups