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Ethan

Ethan. Questions Investigated by Psychologists. How important are parents in the development of a child? Why do individuals remain in abusive relationships? Is depression caused by a chemical imbalance? What are the long-term consequences of sexual assault?

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Ethan

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  1. Ethan

  2. Questions Investigated by Psychologists • How important are parents in the development of a child? • Why do individuals remain in abusive relationships? • Is depression caused by a chemical imbalance? • What are the long-term consequences of sexual assault? • Is personality more influenced by genetics or the environment? • What causes school bullying?

  3. What is Psychology? • The scientific study of behavior and mental processes. • The goal of psychology is to describe, understand, predict, and change thought and behavior.

  4. What is Psychology? (con’t) • Psychology involves analysis at three levels. • The brain (biology) • The person (intrapersonal) • The group (interpersonal)

  5. What is Psychology (con’t) • Psychologists use critical thinking to investigate various phenomenon: • Identify central ideas. • Maintain a skeptical and questioning attitude. • Tolerate uncertainty and avoids black/white thinking.

  6. What is Psychology (con’t) • Psychologists use empiricism to investigate behavioral phenomena: • Knowledge acquired through observation.

  7. Psychology involves: Objective data collection Subjective data collection Systematic observation Hit or miss observation Reliance on evidence Ignores counterevidence

  8. Early Movements in Psychology: • Structuralism • Functionalism • Psychoanalysis • Behaviorism • Humanistic Models

  9. How has psychology attempted to achieve its mission? Its history: • Structuralism: The first major movement. • Goal – To understand the basic elements of thought and laws by which they combine into complex experience.

  10. For example, there are two elements of consciousness: • Sensations: Arising from the eyes, ears, and other sense organs. • Feelings: Such as fear, anger, and love. …How to these combine into mental structures? What are the rules?

  11. What is Psychology (con’t) • Structuralism’s roots were established by Wilhelm Wundt. • Set up the first psychology laboratory in Germany (1879).

  12. Wundt believed: • Experimentation can be used to study basic processes of mind, not the higher processes. For the latter, only naturalistic observation could be used.

  13. History (con’t) • Edward B. Titchener furthered Wundt’s in the United States. • He sought a periodic table of mental elements. For example, sensations and images were characterized by quality, sensation, intensity, duration, clearness, extensity.

  14. History (con’t) • Key contributions of structuralism: • Introspection (self-examination): To understand the mind by describing and analyzing thoughts, sensations, and feelings.

  15. History (con’t) • Experiments. For example, studying the speed of thought by observing reaction time.

  16. An example of structuralism’s explanation of behavior: • Studying Tiger Wood’s golf success by analyzing how he perceives distances, faraway terrain, and wind direction.

  17. History (con’t) *Limitations: • Not all behavior can be described with conscious thought. • Structuralism failed to establish laws of behavior.

  18. History (con’t) • Functionalism: The second major movement, which went beyond charting the mind’s elements…

  19. History (con’t) • Goal: To understand the function of the mind in adaptation: functionalism was influenced by Charles Darwin (1809-1882). • Involved studying people’s goals and beliefs.

  20. History (con’t) • Founder of functionalism (and American psychology!) was William James. • James set up the first American psychology laboratory.

  21. History (con’t) • He believed that knowing only the contents of the mind was too limited: we need to know how the mind’s contents function and work together.

  22. An example: • How do Tiger Wood’s goals and beliefs help him to press on in the face of adversity?

  23. History (con’t) • Key contributions of functionalism: • Using animals to study behavior. • Practical applications • Example: Improving education

  24. How does psychology currently work to achieve its mission? • Today’s perspectives incorporate ideas of the past expanded by a deeper understanding of the mind. Psychologists with different perspectives work in different settings and in different ways. However:

  25. Today’s Psychology • All are attempting to explain human behavior.

  26. Current methods (con’t) • All incorporate a theory of development, personality, and therapeutic techniques. • Most consider research and theory to be cornerstones of their approach (Lefton & Brannon, 2003).

  27. Psychoanalytic Theory Major Founder: Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

  28. Famous Quote “I have found little that is ‘good’ about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash.” --Sigmund Freud

  29. Major Ideas/Assumptions • Behavior is determined by unconscious processes and biological/instinctual forces (e.g., sex & aggression). • Personality develops during the first 6 years of life, influenced by one’s early experiences and progression through the stages of psychosexual development. • Early childhood experiences are responsible for subsequent adult problems. • Early childhood relationships lay the foundation for all adult relationships.

  30. Psychoanalytic Theory (con’t) • Key Idea: Behavior/emotional problems are driven from anxiety stemming from early traumatic experience. • Unconscious: warehouse of past experiences, conflicts, memories, & repressed material; it substantially contributes to most of our behavior and mental health problems.

  31. Psychoanalysis • Techniques 1) Free association: Patient reports freely and without censure ideas that come to mind. 2) Dream interpretation: Interpreting dreams uncovers symbols of unconscious conflict.

  32. Pull the monster out of the closet…

  33. Behaviorism

  34. Behaviorism (con’t) • Founder: John Watson (1878- 1958). • Established the study of observable stimuli (environmental situation) and response (anything an organism does).

  35. Basic Assumptions of Behaviorism • All behavior, whether positive or negative, is learned. Cognition (thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, etc.) are also learned behaviors. • Behavior is maintained by current circumstances, not historical events.

  36. Watson quote: “If you could understand rats without the convolutions of introspection, could you not understand people the same way?”

  37. Watson quote: “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist that I might select- a doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even into a beggarman and thief………..” “Little Albert” experiment….

  38. Another Famous Behaviorist….

  39. Behaviorism (con’t) • Founder: B. F. Skinner (1904- 1990). • Furthered behaviorism and examined the effects of reinforcement on behavior (currently a technique used with children, and dog training too!)

  40. Cognitive-Behavior Therapy • Major founders: Varied • Key ideas: Most behavioral/emotional problems are due to faulty learning coupled with poor choices and habits.

  41. Humanistic Therapy • Founder: Carl Rogers (1902-1987) • Key Idea: Most behavioral or emotional problems are due to blocked growth and potential.

  42. The Most Modern and Cutting Edge Perspectives • Most psychologist use a blend of the aforementioned techniques, supplemented by:

  43. Cutting Edge (con’t) • The Biopsychology perspective: Examines how brain structure and its cellular functioning (and thus neurotransmitters) affects mental processes and behavior. Study:

  44. Cutting Edge (con’t) a. Genetic abnormalities b. Central nervous system problems c. Brain damage d. Hormonal changes

  45. Cutting Edge (con’t) 2) The Sociocultural perspective: Examines how culture affects mental health, identity, and ability to thrive. • Time, identity, values

  46. Cutting Edge Perspectives (con’t) 3) The Evolutionary perspective: Analyzes how the human brain developed over hundreds of thousands of years. This framework can be used to understand:

  47. Cutting Edge Perspectives (con’t) a. Cross-cultural similarities b. Gender differences c. Drives (e.g. altruism).

  48. The Common Factors Model: What ALL perspectives have in common • All of the major schools of thoughts have similar therapeutic outcomes. This is because they share certain COMMON FACTORS such as:

  49. Cutting Edge (con’t) • Catharsis • Reassurance • Learning • Feedback and changing expectations

  50. Specialties

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