1 Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2003 Core Concept 1-1 Psychology is a broad field, with many...

11Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2003

Core Concept 1-1Core Concept 1-1

• Psychology is a broad field, with many specialties, but fundamentally psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes.


What psychology is notWhat psychology is not

• mere speculation

• “folk wisdom”

• a pseudoscience


Roots of the word Roots of the word “psychology”“psychology”

• “psych”--mind

• “ology”--the study of


Experimental PsychologistsExperimental Psychologists

• Do research on basic psychological processes such as perception, learning, memory, motivation

• Most are university professors


Teachers of PsychologyTeachers of Psychology

• Primary job is teaching psychology in college or high school.

• Frequently overlaps with experimental psychology as research takes place mainly in universities.


Applied PsychologistsApplied Psychologists

• Use research findings to solve human problems

• Work in a variety of settings

• Many different specialties


Clinical/Counseling PsychologistsClinical/Counseling Psychologists

• Diagnose and treat mental disorders and emotional problems

• Work in private practice or agency


Industrial/Organizational PsychologistsIndustrial/Organizational Psychologists

• Apply psychology to the workplace

• Selection and training of employees

• Improve productivity and morale

• Marketing and Advertising


Engineering PsychologistsEngineering Psychologists

• Design equipment, controls, and environments for more efficient, safer, easier use

• Also referred to as human factors or ergonomics








School PsychologistsSchool Psychologists

• Expertise in the problems of learning and teaching children

• Diagnose learning and behavioral problems

• Consult with teachers and parents


Other Applied PsychologistsOther Applied Psychologists

• Rehabilitation Psychologists

• Neuropsychologists

• Health Psychologists

• Sports Psychologists

• Forensic Psychologists


Forensic PsychologistsForensic Psychologists

• Forensic Clinical Psychologist

• Correctional Psychologist

• Police Psychologist• Trial Consulting


Clinical Forensic PsychologistsClinical Forensic Psychologists

• Evaluate criminal defendants and civil litigants

• Offer an opinion on legal question-competency, insanity, etc.


Correctional PsychologistsCorrectional Psychologists

• Work in a prison or jail setting

• Evaluate and treat inmates for mental and emotional problems


Police PsychologistsPolice Psychologists

• Evaluate police officer candidates

• Fitness for duty evaluations

• Counsel police officers and their family members

• May consult on criminal investigation (profiling)


Trial ConsultingTrial Consulting

• Jury selection

• Witness preparation

• Trial strategy


Figure 1.3a Specialties in psychology. Percentages are approximate. The percentages shown here are based on membership in the American Psychological Association. The APA welcomes both scientists and practitioners. However, some psychological researchers belong to other organizations, such as the American Psychological Society. As a result, the percentage of clinical and counseling psychologists working in the United States may be a little lower than shown in chart a. Nevertheless, it is accurate to say that most psychologists specialize in applied areas and work in applied settings.


Figure 1.3b Where psychologists work. The percentages shown here are based on membership in the American Psychological Association. The APA welcomes both scientists and practitioners. However, some psychological researchers belong to other organizations, such as the American Psychological Society. As a result, the percentage of clinical and counseling psychologists working in the United States may be a little lower than shown in chart a. Nevertheless, it is accurate to say that most psychologists specialize in applied areas and work in applied settings.


Figure 1.3c This chart shows the main activities psychologists do at work. Any particular psychologist might do several of these activities during a work week (APA, 1998). The percentages shown here are based on membership in the American Psychological Association. The APA welcomes both scientists and practitioners. However, some psychological researchers belong to other organizations, such as the American Psychological Society. As a result, the percentage of clinical and counseling psychologists working in the United States may be a little lower than shown in chart a. Nevertheless, it is accurate to say that most psychologists specialize in applied areas and work in applied settings.


Psychologist vs. PsychiatristPsychologist vs. Psychiatrist

• Ph.D.• Broad field with many

specialties • Most are clinical

psychologists who diagnose and treat mental disorders

• Lobbying for prescription privileges.

• M.D.• Physicians who

specialize in the medical treatment of mental disorders

• Authorized to prescribe medications

• Now the least popular specialty in medical school



• Modern psychology developed from several conflicting traditions, including structuralism, functionalism, Gestalt psychology, behaviorism, and psychoanalysis.


PsychologyPsychology

• Long history• Ancient Greek

Philosophers


SocratesSocrates

• Rejected the study of the external world

• Focused on individual thinking

• “Socratic Method”--cross-examination of the individual


PlatoPlato

• Student of Socrates• Rejected existing

philosophy of the nature of the external world

• Focused on the thoughts and opinions of the individual


AristotleAristotle

• Student of Plato

• Believed purpose of man is to pursue knowledge

• Use senses and intelligence to acquire knowledge


Middle AgesMiddle Ages• After the Fall of the

Roman Empire and before the Rennaisance

• Roman Catholic Church in control of Europe

• Held that the mind and soul do not operate according to any laws of nature but rather are mysteries of God


DecartesDecartes• 17th century

mathematician and “father of modern philosophy”

• Proposed that human sensations are based on activities of the nervous system

• States of the brain led to states of the mind


DualismDualism

• Decartes proposed that the mind and body are separate--but they interact.

• Thought the interaction took place in the pineal gland--the “seat of the soul”


The ThinkerThe Thinker• Cognito ergo

sum• I think therefore

I am.


Huge Step for ScienceHuge Step for Science

• In the mid-1800s, a Russian chemist discovered the Periodic Table of Elements

• Led to the beginning of scientific psychology


First Psychological LaboratoryFirst Psychological Laboratory

• Established by Wilhelm Wundt in 1879 in Germany

• Based on structuralism


StructuralismStructuralism

• Historic school of psychology

• Devoted to discovering the basic structures of mind and thought

• Used introspection as method


First Psychological LaboratoryFirst Psychological Laboratory


IntrospectionIntrospection

• The process of reporting one’s inner conscious experience

• Method found harsh criticism in America


FunctionalismFunctionalism

• Emphasized how the mind works to adapt to the environment

• Important in the history of American psychology


Functionalism and American Functionalism and American PsychologyPsychology

• John Dewey--progressive education movement

• William James (1842-1910)--”father of American psychology”


William JamesWilliam James


Stream of ConsciousnessStream of Consciousness


Gestalt PsychologyGestalt Psychology

• Studied perception to understand how the brain works.

• Gestalt--”a meaningful whole”, what you perceive is more than the sum of its parts


BehaviorismBehaviorism

• Sought to make psychology an objective science by focusing only on behavior--not mental processes.

• This historical school remains a modern perspective in psychology.


B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

• Most influential behaviorist

• Studied mainly laboratory animals

• Used “Skinner Box”


Skinner BoxSkinner Box


PsychoanalysisPsychoanalysis

• Focuses on mental disorders

• Unconscious needs and desires--sex and aggression

• Early childhood experiences

• Mental conflicts


Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic TheorySigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic TheoryMost influential of psychodynamic theoriesMost influential of psychodynamic theories



• Seven main perspectives characterize modern psychology: the biological, developmental, cognitive, clinical, behavioral, trait, and sociocultural views.


Biological ViewBiological ViewSearches for causes of behavior in genes, Searches for causes of behavior in genes,

nervous and endocrine systemsnervous and endocrine systems


Evolutionary PerspectiveEvolutionary Perspective

• Behavior and mental processes are genetic adaptations for survival.


Developmental ViewDevelopmental View

• Emphasizes changes that occur across the lifespan.

• Nature or nurture?• Not just childhood

changes but “womb to tomb”.


Cognitive PerspectiveCognitive Perspective

• Emphasizes mental processes

• Information processing

• Interpretation of experiences


Clinical ViewClinical View

• Emphasis on mental health and mental illness.

• Variations include psychodynamic psychology and humanistic psychology.


Behavioral ViewBehavioral View• Explains behavior by

principles of learning• Behavior shaped by

and individual’s history of rewards and punishment


Trait ViewTrait View

• Behavior and personality are the products of long-lasting characteristics.

• Example: introversion-extroversion.

• Research has identified five personality traits to be the most important--”Big Five”.


Socioculutural PerspectiveSocioculutural Perspective

• Emphasizes the importance of culture, social norms, and social learning

• Cross-cultural studies of behavior



• Psychologists, like researchers in all other sciences, use the scientific method to test their ideas empirically.


The Five Steps of the Scientific MethodThe Five Steps of the Scientific Method

Developing a hypothesisDeveloping a hypothesis

Performing a controlled testPerforming a controlled test

Gathering objective dataGathering objective data

Analyzing the resultsAnalyzing the results

Publishing, criticizing, and Publishing, criticizing, and replicating the resultsreplicating the results


Developing a Developing a hypothesishypothesis

Performing a controlled test

Gathering objective data

Analyzing the results

Publishing, criticizing, and replicating the

results

Hypothesis –

Statement predicting the outcome of a scientific study

Operational definitions –

Descriptions of how conditions of a study are produced and concepts are measured.



Developing a hypothesis

Performing a Performing a controlled testcontrolled test




results

Independent variable –Variable manipulated by the experimenter

Dependent variable –Changes caused by independent variable





Gathering Gathering objective dataobjective data



results

Empirical information gathered by researcher to test hypothesis






Analyzing the Analyzing the resultsresults


results

Based on statistical analyses of results, the hypothesis is accepted or rejected








Publishing, Publishing, criticizing, and criticizing, and replicating the replicating the

resultsresults

Click to continue on to Click to continue on to Types of Psychological ResearchTypes of Psychological Research



Types of ResearchTypes of Research

• Experiments

• Correlational Studies

• Surveys

• Naturalistic Observations

• Case Studies


ExperimentsExperiments

• All conditions are controlled and compared by researcher

• Experimental group--exposed to special treatment

• Control group--no special treatment

• Determines cause-effect



Figure 1.9 Experimental control is achieved by balancing extraneous variables for the experimental group and the control group. For example, the average age (A), education (B), and intelligence (C) of group members could be made the same for both groups. Then we could apply the independent variable to the experimental group. If their behavior (the dependent variable) changes (in comparison with the control group), the change must be caused by the independent variable.


Correlational StudiesCorrelational Studies

• Relationship between variables studied

• Correlational coefficient-statistic that measures degree of relationship

• Cannot conclude cause-effect from a correlation




SurveysSurveys• Asks people for

responses to a prepared set of questions

• Advantage--easy to survey large numbers of people

• Disadvantage--accuracy of self-report


Naturalistic ObservationNaturalistic Observation

• Behavioral assessment of people or animals in natural environment

• Advantage-real world

• Disadvantage-lack of control


Naturalistic Observation StudiesNaturalistic Observation Studies


Case StudiesCase Studies

• In-depth study of one person or a few people

• Unusual problems or talents


Research BiasResearch Bias

• Personal-long standing beliefs

• Observer-fail to see forest for the trees

• Expectancy-find what looking for


Ethical IssuesEthical Issues

• Informed Consent

• Deception--debriefing

• Use of animals

Date post:	28-Dec-2015
Category:	Documents
Upload:	roxanne-mcdonald
View:	215 times
Download:	1 times

1 Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2003 Core Concept 1-1 Psychology is a broad field, with many...

Documents