Introduction to Psychology - Topic One: Introduction

Classroom Exercises: The Limits of Human Intuition For a simple opening demonstration of how our intuition stumbles ask students to solve the following simple addition problem in their heads: Begin with 1000 and add 40 to it. Add 1000. Then add another 30 followed by another 1000. Next add 20. Add another 1000. Finally, add 10. What is the sum? Most will call out 5000. Placing the numbers on the chalkboard clearly yields a total of 4100. Daniel Kahneman offers two examples of how our intuition can stumble. For yet another demonstration of the limits of human intuition, fill a glass completely with water, and place it on your desk or lecturn. Ask students what will happen if you slip a penny into the glass. Will the glass overflow? Many will say, yes, others no. Slip the penny in to demonstrate. Now ask, How many pennies do you think we can add without having any water flow over the edge? Begin slipping in pennies. You will be able to drop dozens in a medium-sized glass. In fact, Ivan Moscovich reports adding as many as 52. Counter to human intuition, water has a high surface tension, behaving as though it has a flexible skin. That skin pulls inward and resists breaking. The glass of water will develop a great bulge before the water flows over the edge. You can demonstrate how the surface tension can

even support the weight of light objects. Place a clean razor blade flat against the surface and it floats, not because of buoyancy but because of the support of surface tension. So as you can seeintuition may not always work

Gordon Wood suggests some implications of the hindsight bias for everyday decision making that might also be presented to your class. Jurors may be unable to ignore information even when so instructed by a judge, because once they know, they may believe they knew it all along. We may also second-guess decision makers after we know the outcome because we readily forget our previous knowledge state. All of us may have difficulty learning from experience if we fail to realize that experience has altered our knowledge Hopefully looking at what we just did means that you will be very cautious in your thinking as we go through all the materials in our coursequestion everything! Because Psychology is a science Psychology = Psyche (inner thoughts) + (-ology) Science Definition of psychology Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes What is science? realizing problems, making initial observations, hypothesizing, testing hypotheses What is behavior? any activity that is directly observable

What are mental processes? not directly observable: e.g., thinking, motivation

Goals of psychology To describe human and animal behavior and mental processes To understand human and animal behavior and mental processes To predict human and animal behavior and mental processes To influence/control human and animal behavior and mental processes Psychology's systematic approach means that psychological study typically proceeds according to the rules of science, which we will talk about later. Why it is important? Verifiable. History of Psychology Psychology's start is in the land of philosophy with Plato, who believed in innate ideas, that the brain was the seat of mental processes. He was well ahead of his time! To better understand the theories that we'll be chatting about later, it's good to start at the beginning... Gradually replacing the philosophy of Plato was a belief that knowledge should be acquired through observation and experimentation, a philosophy that marked the beginning of the scientific method. Psychology, as an experimental science, grew from both the post-Renaissance developments in philosophy and the development of physiological studies of the nervous system and sensory mechanisms. Wilhelm Wundt (1832 - 1920) is generally honored as the founder of scientific psychology. He wrote the first book on psychology, dealing with sensory

perceptions. In 1879, Wundt founded the first research laboratory in psychology at the University of Leipzig. Unlike many of his time, Wundt did not believe in mystical explanations about thinking. He rejected all of this and hoped to understand the nature of human consciousness. To do so, Wundt used the method of introspection, in which a person experiences something and then describes the personal nature of the experience. Researchers were to report their experiences in terms of specific sensations and feelings, compared to each other, and these were then developed into the basic building blocks of the conscious mind. The main goal of Wundt's psychology as first to discover these building blocks and then discover how they combined to form more complex elements of mental processes. One of the representatives of Wundt's psychology who came to America was the British student E. Titchener (1867-1927). Titchner's psychology closely follows the atomistic portion of Wundt's psychology by studying the elemental structures of consciousness. However, instead of attempting to explain them via hypothetical mental processes as Wundt had, Titchener focuses on research that was purely descriptive. He believed that psychology was the study of experience. Because of its emphasis on the basic units of experience and the combinations in which they occurred, this school of psychology became known as Structuralism. Now as time went on, people in the world of science stopped caring so much about the separate elements of thought and consciousness. They wanted to understand its function instead. One American psychologist who believed in the adaptive significance of consciousness was William James (1842-1910). James believed that mental processes had evolved in a similar manner to other traits, and his interest was in understanding the role consciousness played in helping an organism to adapt to its environment. This school of thought came to be known as Functionalism. Most of James's ideas were examined in The Principles of Psychology (1890), which is one of the most important written works in the history of psychology.

Looking into himself, James came to the conclusion that atoms of experience simply do not exist in the real world. Our minds are constantly weaving associations, revising experiences, starting, stopping, and jumping back and forth in time. Consciousness, he argued, is a continuous flow, not an assemblage of bits of sensation, emotions and images. These bits cannot be separated...and even if they could, it's not really useful. For example, if we could not recognize a banana for what it was, we would have to figure it out each time we saw it...all of our experiences were connected in regards to the banana. Mental associations allow us to benefit from previous experience. Once we have solved a problem, it can become automatic. Behaviorism A time came in psychology when scientists began to want to be able to truly study what was going on and felt that the study of the mind was not the way to go. They wanted to study that which was observable. John B. Watson is the founder of a group of psychology called Behaviorism...it concentrates on describing, predicting, and controlling observable, measurable behaviors, and not mental processes that can only be inferred. Watson inspired people to begin studying animal behavior in hopes that this would help explain human behavior as well. They found that all behavior is very complex and difficult to study. Around the same time, psychology went in the opposite direction towards therapy of psychological disorders. Sigmund Freud changed how treatment occurred. He believed that there was in existence a hidden unconscious that influences all mental processes and behavior (in direct contrast with behavioral psychology). In Psychoanalysis, the focus was on attempting to uproot those unconscious desires and thoughts. Contemporary Psychoanalysis

Most modern psychoanalysts disagree with Freuds emphasis on sexual and aggressive motives for human behavior. Most believe that other motives are responsible for human behavior, e.g., Erik Erikson believed that how we are treated and how we react to developmental stressors has much to do with why we do what we do.

Social Learning Theory believes that mental processes can be subjected to scientific inquiry - based originally on behaviorism but includes a cognitive component. Albert Bandura: aggression and modeling Patricia Devine: emotional/cognitive factors that influence formation and maintenance of prejudice Contemporary Cognitive Perspective Increasingly popular since the mid-1970s, this perspective studies the processes involved in perceiving, believing, thinking, and other cognitive activities using sophisticated scientific instrumentation. For example, is there a particular neural network in the brain responsible for allowing you to perceive your grandmother? Particular neural circuits involved in experiencing prejudice?

Contemporary Humanistic Psychology Considered the Third Force in psychology (behind psychoanalysis and behaviorism). Believes that individuals determine their own fates through decisions they make Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow are examples of humanistic psychologists Not as scientifically oriented as other branches of psychology

Contemporary Biological Perspective Interested in the role of the brain in psychological processes Interested in the role of heredity in psychological processes sociobiology heredity in psychological abnormality heredity in cognitive skills, etc.

The Sociocultural Perspective Culture, ethnicity, and gender identity are important to understand a person What is normal is a culturally-relative term How do you define normal? All sociocultural variables must be taken into account to fully understand someone; all judgments concerning normal must be relative to the culture in which one lives.

Nature v Nurture: what is the argument...what are somethings that you think are nature, some nurture that effect who you are?

Different Types of Psychologists: Many psychologists end up working in the areas of research and teaching...much of what they find is applied in various situations by teachers, psychologists, etc. (Ask at each point what would be useful or who might use this information) Basic areas of psychology the domain of psychology that is involved in the generation of new knowledge upon which later applications can be built psychological research done in many field areas Applied areas of psychology these psychologists apply the basic knowledge to solve human problems applied areas include counseling, clinical, and educational psychology

Biological Psychology: Biopsychologist, or behavioral neuroscientists are psychologists who try to explain behavior in terms of biological factors such as electrical and chemical activities in the nervous system, the effects of drugs and hormones, genetics and evolutionary pressures Learning & Motivational Psychology: the concern of psychologists working in this field is how behavior depends on the outcomes of past behaviors, and how behavior is also influenced by current motivations. They study how an action's consequences modify subsequent behavior. Cognitive Psychology: cognition is thinking and acquiring knowledge; cognitive psychologists study those processes. They conduct experiments to examine what people know, how they came to know it, and how they express and apply their knowledge.

Developmental Psychology: Developmental Psychologists study the behavioral capacities and tendencies that are typical of different ages and also study how behavior changes over the lifespan. Developmental psychologists frequently address the nature-versus-nurture issue. Social Psychology: People's behavior is influenced by the expectations and behaviors of those around them. Social psychologists study how an individual influences and is influenced by other people.

Applied Psychology: Industrial/Organizational Psychology: I/O Psychology is the study of people at work. Psychologists in this field utilize elements of cognitive psychology, social psychology, and standardized testing to optimize the functioning of people in the work place. Clinical Psychologists & Other Mental Health Providers: Psychotherapist is a general term for professionals in a variety of disciplines related to psychology who have a specialty in helping people with psychological problems: - clinical or counseling psychologists...they hold an advanced degree in psychology, usually a PhD. - psychiatrists...can do similar services but hold an M.D. so they can also prescribe medication. School Psychologist: specialize in the psychological condition and educational needs of students. Devise and implement plans to meet the academic and psychosocial needs of students.