Chapter 1

1. Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology

2. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Kristen Beyer works for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where she develops questionnaires and conducts interviews aimed at identifying common features in the backgrounds of serial killers.

3. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Jason Kring, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, conducts research on how the gender composition of a team affects performance under the stress of spaceflight and military combat.

4. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Anne Marie Apanovitch is employed by a major drug company to study which of the company’s marketing strategies are most effective in promoting sales.

5. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Rebecca Snyder studies the giant pandas at Zoo Atlanta in an effort to promote captive breeding and ultimately increase the wild population of this endangered species.

6. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Michael Moon’s job at a software company is to find new ways to make Internet web sites easier for consumers to use.

7. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Elizabeth Kolmstetter works at the Transportation Security Administration where, following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, she took charge of a program to establish higher standards for hiring and training security screeners at U.S. airports.

8. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Marissa Reddy, a co-director of the U.S. Security Service’s Safe Schools Initiative, tries to identify risk factors for violent behavior in high school students.

9. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Sharon Lundgren, a founder of Lundgren Trial Consulting, Inc., helps prepare witnesses to testify in court and teaches attorneys how to present their evidence in the most convincing ways.

10. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Evan Byrne works at the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, where he investigates the role of memory lapses, disorientation, errors, and other human factors in causing airplane crashes.

11. What Is This Person’s Educational Background? A. Engineering B. Criminal Justice C. Computer Science D. Law E. Psychology F. Advertising G. Biology H. Education I. Zoology J. Business Administration Capt. Karen Orts, chief of mental health services at a U.S. Air Force base, provides psychotherapy to military personnel suffering combat-related stress disorders and teaches leadership courses to commissioned and noncommissioned officers.

12. Questions We Will Be Addressingin This Chapter What is psychology, and how did it grow? Why don’t all psychologists explain behavior in the same way? How does your cultural background influence your behavior? How can critical thinking save you money? How do psychologists learn about people?

13. Questions We Will Be Addressingin This Chapter (cont’d) What does it mean when scientists announce that a research finding is “significant”? Do psychologists deceive people when they do research?

14. The World of Psychology:An Overview What is psychology, and how did it grow?

15. What Is Psychology? The science that seeks: To understand behavior and mental processes and To apply that understanding in the service of human welfare.

16. Subfields of Psychology Cognitive Biological Personality Developmental Quantitative Clinical, Counseling, and Community Educational School Social Industrial/ Organizational Health Sport Forensic Engineering Environmental

17. Table 1.2: Typical Activities and Work Settings for Psychologists

18. Figure 1.3: Linkages

19. A Brief History of Psychology Roots in philosophy dating back to the time of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle In 1600s, Locke, Hume, and Berkeley advocated philosophical view known as empiricism – the idea that knowledge comes only through experience Birth of modern, scientific psychology credited to Wilhelm Wundt in 1879.

20. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) Used laboratory science methods to study consciousness. Began psychology’s transformation from a philosophy to a science Used introspection to study conscious experience

21. Figure 1.4: A Stimulus for Introspection Be an “Introspector” Ignoring what this object is, try to describe only your conscious experience of it.

22. Structuralism Early Advocate: Edward Titchener, trained by Wundt Goals: To study conscious experience and its structure Methods: Experiments; introspection Application: “Pure scientific research” Spurred development of psychological laboratories.

23. Gestalt Psychology Early Advocate: Max Wertheimer Goals: To describe organization of mental processes. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Methods: Observation of sensory/perceptual phenomena. Applications: Understanding of visual illusions Laid some groundwork for humanistic and cognitive psychology.

24. Psychoanalysis Early Advocate: Sigmund Freud Goals: Explain personality and behavior Develop techniques for treating mental illness Methods: Study of individual cases. Applications: Development of psychotherapy Emphasis on childhood as important in later personality

25. Functionalism Early Advocate: William James Goals: To study how the mind works in allowing an organism to adapt to the environment Methods: Naturalistic observations of animal and human behavior Applications: Child psychology; Educational and industrial psychology; Study of individual differences

26. Behaviorism Early Advocates: John B. Watson; B. F. Skinner Goals: To study only observable behavior and explain behavior via learning principles Methods: Observation of the relationship between environmental stimuli and behavioral responses Applications: Behavior modification Improved teaching methods

27. Approaches to the Scienceof Psychology Why don’t all psychologists explain behavior in the same way?

28. Approaches to the Science of Psychology Biological Approach Assumes behavior and mental processes are largely shaped by biology Evolutionary Approach Assumes that behavior and mental processes are largely result of evolution through natural selection

29. Approaches to the Science of Psychology • Psychodynamic Approach • Assumes human behavior reflects mostly unconscious conflicts between impulses to satisfy our instincts vs. society’s rules • Behavioral Approach • Focuses mostly on observable behavior and how that behavior is formed through learning

30. Approaches to the Science of Psychology • Cognitive Approach • Focuses on how our behavior is affected by the ways we take in, mentally represent, process, and store information • Humanistic Approach • Sees behavior as derived from our capacity to choose how to think and act

31. Human Diversity and Psychology How does your cultural background influence your behavior?

32. Impact of SocioculturalDiversity on Psychology Behavior shaped by sociocultural variables, such as gender, ethnicity, social class, etc. Culture is an organizing and stabilizing influence.

33. Some Characteristics Typical of Individualist vs. Collectivist Cultures

34. Korean or U.S. Advertisements?

35. Thinking Critically About Psychology (or Anything Else) How can critical thinking save you money?

36. Five Questions for Critical Thinking What am I being asked to believe or accept? Is there evidence to support the claim? Can that evidence be interpreted another way? What evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives? What conclusions are most reasonable?

37. Critical Thinking and Scientific Research Must ask specific questions in order to get meaningful answers. Hypotheses – a specific, testable statement Operational definitions – methods used to test hypothesis Research variables – specific factors altered and measured during research

38. Critical Thinking and Scientific Research • Reliability and validity concerns • Reliability – consistency of evidence • Validity – degree to which evidence represents topic being studied • Role of theories • Theory – set of statements designed to explain certain phenomena

39. Research Methods in Psychology How do psychologists learn about people?

40. Main Goals in Research Describe a phenomenon. Make predictions about the phenomenon. Control the phenomenon to ask specific questions about it. Explain the phenomenon.

41. Naturalistic Observation:Watching Behavior Features: Observe behavior in the environment in which it typically occurs Strengths: Provides uncontaminated descriptive data about behavior Pitfalls: Observer bias Participant self-consciousness

42. Case Studies: Taking a Closer Look Features: Intensive examination of a specific person or situation Strengths: Provides detailed descriptive analysis of new, complex, or rare phenomena Pitfalls: May not provide representative picture of phenomena

43. Surveys: Looking at the Big Picture Features: Standard set of questions asked of a large number of participants Strengths: Gather large amounts of data relatively quickly and inexpensively Pitfalls: Sampling errors Poorly phrased questions Response biases

44. Correlational Studies: Looking For Relationships Features: Examine relationships between variables Strengths: Test predictions, evaluate theories, suggest new hypotheses Pitfalls: Cannot confirm causal relationships

45. Figure 1.6: Three Correlations

46. Experiments: Exploring Cause and Effect Features: Manipulation of an independent variable to see its effects on a dependent variable. Example of an experiment Strengths: Can establish a cause-effect relationship Pitfalls: Confounding variables

47. Sources of Confounding Variables Random variables Random assignment used to offset Participants’ expectations Placebo used to offset Experimenter bias Double-blind designs used to offset

48. Selecting Human Participants for Research To whom can the results be generalized? Importance of sampling How can one select a representative sample? Random vs. biased samples Convenience samples Focus on Research – Studying EMDR Linkages – Psychological Research and Behavioral Genetics

49. Figure 1.7: A Simple Two-Group Experiment

50. Statistical Analysis of Research Results What does it mean when scientists announce that a research finding is “significant”?