Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PSYCHOLOGY
AN
AN EXPLORATION
EXPLORATION
Second Edition
CHAPTER 1
the science of
psychology
• Description
– What is happening?
• Explanation
– Why is it happening?
– Theory
Explanation of a set of observations or
facts
• Prediction
– Will it happen again?
• Control
– How can it be changed?
• Structuralism
– Focused on structure or basic elements
of the mind.
• Wilhelm Wundt
– Established first psychology laboratory
Leipzig, Germany in 18 7 9
– Developed objective introspection
Examine and measure personal thought
and mental activities
• Edward Titchener
– Wundt’s student
– Brought structuralism to America.
• Margaret Washburn
– Titchener’s student
– First woman to earn a Ph.D. in
psychology.
• Structuralism died out in early 19 0 0 s.
• Max Wertheimer
– Perception can only be understood as a
complete event.
– Understanding patterns, whole figures
• Gestalt
– German translated as “organized whole”
• Main Ideas
– Unconscious (unaware) mind
Where threatening impulses and desires
are repressed
– Repressed urges create nervous
disorders
• Freud’s concepts
– Stressed importance of early childhood
experiences
– Formed the basis for modern therapy
• Ivan Pavlov
– Russian physiologist
– Studied digestive processes
– Reflex can occur with new and unrelated
stimulus
– Conditioned dogs to salivate to
metronome
• John B. Watson
– Developed the “science of behavior”
– Psychology should focus on observable
behavior
Must be directly seen and measured
Ignore notion of unconscious
– Believed phobias were learned through
conditioning.
Case of “Little Albert”
– Child conditioned to fear a white rat
Psychology: An Exploration, Second Edition
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White
American psychologist John Watson is known as the father of behaviorism. Behaviorism focuses only on
observable behavior. Courtesy of Underwood & Underwood/Bettmann/Corbis
• Psychodynamic perspective
– Modern version of psychoanalysis
– Focus on development of a sense of self
– Discover motivations behind behavior
No emphasis on sexual motivations
• Behavioral perspective
– B. F. Skinner
Developed theory of how voluntary
behavior is learned
Introduced concept or reinforcement
– Perspective was major force in the
twentieth century
• Humanistic perspective
– People have free will to choose destiny
– Early contributors:
Abraham Maslow
Carl Rogers
– Self-actualization
Achieving one’s full potential or actual
self
• Humanistic perspective
– Modern Humanism
Used in psychotherapy
Assists in self-understanding
• Cognitive perspective
– Major force emerging in 1960’s
– Focus on memory, intelligence,
perception, problem-solving, and
learning.
– Cognitive neuroscience
Physical workings of brain and nervous
system
Use imaging techniques
– MRI, PET
Psychology: An Exploration, Second Edition
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White
These scans show loss of gray matter in the brains of individuals with very early-onset, adolescent schizophrenia
over a five-year period, highlighting one focus of the biological perspective. Courtesy of The University of
California, Los Angeles
• Sociocultural perspective
– Examines relationship between social
behavior and culture
• Biopsychological perspective
– Behavior is a result of biological events
in the body
Genetic influences, hormones, and the
activity of the nervous system
• Evolutionary perspective
– Examines biological bases of universal
mental characteristics that all humans
share
Seeks to explain mental strategies and
traits
Mind is seen as set of information-
processing machines
• Psychiatrist
– Medical doctor (M.D.)
– Specializes in the diagnosis and
treatment of psychological disorders.
• Psychoanalyst
– Psychiatrist or a psychologist
– Special training in Freudian theory and
psychoanalysis.
• Psychologist
– Academic degree and specialized
training in psychology
– Work in counseling, teaching, and
research
– Specialization can include clinical,
counseling, developmental, social,
personality theory
• Scientific Method
– System of gathering data
– Bias and error in measurement are
reduced
• Naturalistic Observation
– Watch animals or humans behave in
their normal environment
– Advantage:
Realistic picture of behavior
• Naturalistic Observation
– Disadvantages:
Observer effect
– People or animals behave differently when
they know they are being observed
– May reduce observer effect through
participant observation
• Naturalistic Observation
– Disadvantages:
Observer bias
– Observers see what they expect to see
– May reduce observer bias through use of
blind observers
Each naturalistic setting is unique
– Observations may not hold
• Laboratory Observation
– Watching animals or humans in a
laboratory setting
• Advantages:
– Control over environment
– Allows use of specialized equipment
– Can lead to the development of
hypotheses
• Disadvantage:
– Artificial situation that may result in
artificial behavior
• Case study
– Study of one individual in great detail
– Advantages:
Tremendous amount of detail
Good for studying rare conditions
– Disadvantages:
Cannot apply results easily
to similar individuals
Vulnerable to bias of researcher
• Survey
– Researcher asks a series of questions
about the topic under study
Given to a representative sample
Population
– Randomly selected sample of subjects
from a larger group
• Survey
– Advantages:
Data from large numbers of people
Study covert behaviors
– Disadvantages:
Have to ensure representative sample (or
results not meaningful).
People not always accurate (courtesy
bias)
• Correlation
– Measure of the relationship between two
variables
– Variable
Anything that can change or vary
• Correlation
– Correlation coefficient (r)
Mathematical calculation
Measures
– Direction of the relationship
– Strength of the relationship
– Knowing the value of one variable allows
prediction of the value of the other
variable
• Positive correlation
– Variables are related in the
same direction.
As one increases, the other
increases
As one decreases,
the other decreases
• Negative correlation
– Variables are related in
opposite directions
– As one increases, the other
decreases
• Correlation does not prove
causation
• Operational definition
– Specifies steps or procedures used to
control or measure the experimental
variables
• Independent variable (IV)
– Variable manipulated by experimenter
• Dependent Variable (DV)
– Represents measured response of the
experimental manipulation
Psychology: An Exploration, Second Edition
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White
Features of the Experiment
LO 1.10 Experimental approach and terms
• Experimental Group
– Receives the manipulation
• Control Group
– Not subjected to the independent
variable
– Controls for other factors (confounds)
that may affect the outcome
• Random Assignment
– Participants are assigned randomly to
control or experimental group
– Each participant has equal chance of
assignment to experimental or control
groups
• Placebo effect
– Expectations of the participants can
influence their behavior
– Classic control-give placebo to control
group
• Experimenter effect
– Experimenter’s expectations
unintentionally influence study
• Single-blind study
– Subjects do not know if they are in the
experimental or the control group
– Reduces placebo effect
• Double-blind study
– Neither experimenter or participants
know if in experimental or control group
– Reduces placebo and experimenter
effects
Psychology: An Exploration, Second Edition
Saundra K. Ciccarelli • J. Noland White
Experimental Example
LO 1.12 Elements of a real world experiment
• Animal research
– Attempt to answer questions not
obtainable with human research
– Avoid exposure to unnecessary pain or
suffering
– Animals are used in approximately 7%
of psychological studies