Goals of Psychology

• Describe

• Control

• Understand

• Predict

• D-CUP

Psychology working to save your life:9/11 Case Study:

What are the 4 goals?• Practice for

emergencies• Don’t gather, flee• Have a plan, but be

flexible

•What goal of psychology?

Monday Sept. 7, 2010

• Reminders: Notes due tomorrow = Quiz as well

• Lab Fee

• WARM-UP:– I am calculating the results of a survey I

gave…what goal of psychology am I implementing?

Just Eat It!

Levels of Analysis• As the runners lined up for the start of the 1986 NCAA 10,000 meter championship,

Kathy Ormsby a star athlete and pre-med student on the dean’s list, was the odds-on favorite. She had broken high school track records in three distances and recently set a new American collegiate record for the 10,000 meter. Her parents, who were always supportive fans, watched from the sidelines. At the starting pistol, Kathy got off to a slow start, a few paces behind the leaders. Her fans knew she would soon catch up, but this time Kathy didn’t bolt to the lead as she had done before. Without breaking stride, she ran off the track, scaled a seven foot fence, raced down a side street, and jumped off a 50 foot bridge. Ten minutes later, her coach found her on the concrete flood plain of the White River. She had two broken ribs, a punctured lung, and was paralyzed from the waist down. Not only would she never run again, she would never walk again.

• What caused this sweet, sensible, diligent, courteous and religious young woman to perform such an irrational behavior?

• Kathy’s father felt the tragedy had something to do with “with pressure that is put on young people to succeed.” Teammates felt the pressure may have come from within Kathy herself. “She was a perfectionist, determined to excel at everything” said one teammate. Kathy herself told an interviewer that she was overcome by the terrifying fear of failure as she began to fall behind in the race. “All of a sudden…I just felt like something snapped inside of me. I felt angry and persecuted and just wanted to run away. I know it sounds strange, but I was just out of control…I was watching everything that was happening and I couldn’t stop it. (UPI 12/22/86)

What caused this sweet, sensible, diligent, courteous and religious young woman to perform such an irrational behavior?

• As the runners lined up for the start of the 1986 NCAA 10,000 meter championship, Kathy Ormsby a star athlete and pre-med student on the dean’s list, was the odds-on favorite. She had broken high school track records in three distances and recently set a new American collegiate record for the 10,000 meter. Her parents, who were always supportive fans, watched from the sidelines. At the starting pistol, Kathy got off to a slow start, a few paces behind the leaders. Her fans knew she would soon catch up, but this time Kathy didn’t bolt to the lead as she had done before. Without breaking stride, she ran off the track, scaled a seven foot fence, raced down a side street, and jumped off a 50 foot bridge. Ten minutes later, her coach found her on the concrete flood plain of the White River. She had two broken ribs, a punctured lung, and was paralyzed from the waist down. Not only would she never run again, she would never walk again.

• Kathy’s father felt the tragedy had something to do with “with pressure that is put on young people to succeed.” Teammates felt the pressure may have come from within Kathy herself. “She was a perfectionist, determined to excel at everything” said one teammate. Kathy herself told an interviewer that she was overcome by the terrifying fear of failure as she began to fall behind in the race. “All of a sudden…I just felt like something snapped inside of me. I felt angry and persecuted and just wanted to run away. I know it sounds strange, but I was just out of control…I was watching everything that was happening and I couldn’t stop it. (UPI 12/22/86)

• Biological influences/factors:

• Psychological influences/factors:

• Social-cultural influences/factors:

Case #2• Mr. L. is 37 years old and lives alone with his mother. He has never

been married but has a good job teaching science at a local high school. His life seemed to be going pretty well until one day a month ago his principal chewed him out for not following a school policy. The following week, Mr. L. found himself sleeping through his alarm and showing up late for work. The same week he forgot several appointments and two meetings he was supposed to attend. He told his mother about these occurrences, and she told the neighbor, and now everyone knows that he’s having “troubles.” He had always remembered his mother’s birthday, but hadn’t realized until a week later that he had forgotten it. She didn’t mention his oversight, but he knew, even though she pretended not to be upset, that she was hurt. A month later he set up a date with a woman he had met at a local singles event, but when the evening came he called and cancelled at the last minute. Mr. L. describes his life as rather “pathetic” and although he feels depressed he also feels too unmotivated to do anything about it.

Mr. L• Mr. L. is 37 years old and lives alone with his

mother. He has never been married but has a good job teaching science at a local high school. His life seemed to be going pretty well until one day a month ago his principal chewed him out for not following a school policy. The following week, Mr. L. found himself sleeping through his alarm and showing up late for work. The same week he forgot several appointments and two meetings he was supposed to attend. He told his mother about these occurrences, and she told the neighbor, and now everyone knows that he’s having “troubles.” He had always remembered his mother’s birthday, but hadn’t realized until a week later that he had forgotten it. She didn’t mention his oversight, but he knew, even though she pretended not to be upset, that she was hurt. A month later he set up a date with a woman he had met at a local singles event, but when the evening came he called and cancelled at the last minute. Mr. L. describes his life as rather “pathetic” and although he feels depressed he also feels too unmotivated to do anything about it.

• Biological influences/factors:

• Psychological influences/factors:

• Social-cultural influences/factors:

A Brief History of Psychology