Chapter: 1 Introduction to Psychology Course: Introduction to Psychology

KEY
Heading: Green
Definitions: Yellow
Examples: Blue
Imp Dates and Names: Gray

Definition of Psychology:
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Behavior: involves something which is overt (observable). Behavior is our action done
to react to external stimuli or reaction to any situation. Which behaviors are normal and
which behavior need to be changed.

Mental processes: are covert (unobservable) in nature. It involves memory, perception,

intelligence, dreaming, reasoning, and decision-making and other thinking activities.
Even the biological functioning is also important aspect.

Psychology studies, explain, predict and modify the behavior and thinking which enable
people to lead better lives. Psychologists use scientific methods to find answers which are
more legitimate and valid resulting from intuition which are inaccurate.

Historical Background:
In earlier years psychology was considered as part of philosophy and it is just a matter of
common sense and our experiences.

People who have wisdom of ages can give justification of any specific behavior which
can be generalized.

Due to this subjective nature that involves biases people make error in thinking and
interpreting other’s behavior and in predicting behaviors.

Later on scientific methods were introduced in social sciences due to the existence of
psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany.

Now psychology is objective in nature because it involves scientific methods to study

mental processes and behaviors.

Experimentation and observation is the main tool which does not involve personal biases.

The Subfields of Psychology:

Psychology’s Family Tree:
Psychology is a broad and diverse field and a number of different branches have emerged
in the study of the brain and behavior.

What Are The Biological Foundations of Behavior?

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Behavioral Neuroscience is the branch of psychology that analyzes how the brain and
neurotransmitters influence our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings.

E.g. It often look at how biological processes interact with emotions, cognitions, and
other mental processes.

How Do People Sense, Perceive, Learn, and Think About The World?
Experimental Psychology perform experiments on causal relationships investigate the
effect of one or more variables on one or more outcome variables.

This type of research also determines if one variable causes another variable to occur or
change. In this type of research evidence is gathered by altering the amount of a treatment
and measuring the effect on study participants.

E.g. Frustration (independent variable) leads to aggression (dependent variable).

Cognitive Psychology focuses on the higher mental processes including thinking,

memory, reasoning, problem solving, judging, decision-making and language.

E.g. We can ask the victims of 8th October 2005 earthquake that what they remembered
about that incident and what were their experiences.

What Are The Sources of Change and Stability in Behavior Across The Life Span?
Developmental psychology is the study of changes in behavior during a lifetime.

Many developmental psychologists study only a part of the lifespan. Most are chiefly
interested in childhood and adolescence, the period of a person's life between birth and
the early 20's.

It studies the growth and changes from conception through death.

E.g. Milestones in development are very important and has significant role in later
development of the personality. When the child began to walk, when began to talk, when
he smiled and when he started sitting and crawling etc.

Personality is made up the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior that
make a person unique. Personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly
consistent throughout life.

How Do Psychological Factors Affect Physical and Mental Health?

Health psychology is concerned with understanding how biology, behavior, and social
context influence health and illness.

Recent advances in psychological, medical, and physiological research have led to a new
way of thinking about health and illness. This conceptualization views health and illness
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Chapter: 1 Introduction to Psychology Course: Introduction to Psychology

as the product of a combination of factors including biological characteristics (e.g.,

genetic predisposition), behavioral factors (e.g., lifestyle, stress, health beliefs), and
social conditions (e.g., cultural influences, family relationships, social support).

E.g. Long-term stress (psychological factor) has affect on physical health.

Many health psychologists focus on prevention research and interventions designed to

promote health and reduce the risk of disease.

E.g. Children who have aggressive parents are at risk of developing aggression. We can
provide them healthy environment to prevent the development of aggression in them.

Clinical psychology is concerned with the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and

prevention of mental disorders.

While they often work in medical settings, they are not medical doctors and do not
prescribe medications.

Some specialize in treating certain disorders, while others work with clients suffering
from a wide variety of problems. Clinical psychologists treat some of the most severe
psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. In addition to working with
clients, clinical psychologists have to keep detailed records of client assessment,
diagnosis, therapeutic goals, and treatment notes.

Counseling Psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on educational, social

and career adjustment problems. In educational settings students can get advice on the
kinds of jobs that might best suited for them, methods to study effectively, strategies to
solve problems related to room mates and concerns about professors grading methods. In
organizational setting they hire counseling psychologists to help employees with work-
related problems.

How Do Our Networks Affect Behavior?

Social psychology is the study of the psychological basis of people's relationships with
one another.

Social psychologists investigate such processes as communication, cooperation,

competition, decision making, leadership, crowd behavior, aggression, attribution and
changes in attitude.

E.g. What is the force behind people who are motivated to provide help to other’s in any
emergency situation without any benefit.

Cross-cultural Psychology investigates the similarities and differences in psychological

functioning in and across various cultures and ethnic groups.

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E.g. They study how culture differ in their use of punishment during child rearing
practices. What are the affects of parental attachment on academic achievement.

Expanding Psychology’s Frontiers:

Evolutionary Psychology considers the influence of genetic inheritance on behavior from
our ancestors. Inheritance determines physical attributes like hair color, height, eye color
and features.
Genetic inheritance determines physical traits such as skin and eye color, but certain
personality traits and social behavior as well.

E.g. Behavior such as shyness, jealousy and other qualities are partially determined by
inheritance.

Behavioral Genetics focuses on biological factors such as chromosomes and genes. It

seeks to understand how we inherit certain behavioral traits and the environmental
influences on our development of certain traits.

Clinical Neuropsychology unites the areas of neuroscience and clinical psychology. It

focuses on the origin psychological disorders in biological factors. It provides the
understandings of structure and chemistry of the brain and it provides explanation how to
treat psychological disorders and provide proper medication to control behavior.

A Science Evolves: The Past, The Present, and The Present:

Half-million years ago evil spirits were considered as the main cause of any
psychological problem. Healers do an operation known as Trephining in which they drill
a hole in a skull sp that the evil spirit can escape. Archeologists have found skull with
hole.

Hippocrates thought that personality is made up of four temperaments:

1. Sanguine (cheerful and active).
2. Melancholic (sad).
3. Choleric (angry and aggressive).
4. Phlegmatic (calm and passive).

These are fluids present in human body. Excess or decrease in this fluid can cause
abnormality.

Descartes indicated that nerves are hollow tubes through which animal spirits passes like
water passes through pipes. A person place his finger near to fire the heat transmits spirits
directly to brain through the nerves.

Franz Joseph Gall indicated that we can study the faculty of brain through the shapes or
bumps of the skull by moving fingers across the skull. This method is known as
Phrenology.

The Roots of Psychology:

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Psychology roots were traced back in ancient Greeks and Romans. Philosophers also
used to argue the topics which we are discussing today. John
Locke believed that children were born with minds like blank
slates known as tabula rasa. Experiences of the world will
write their tale on it. Plato and Rene Descartes believed that
knowledge is inherited.
Psychology as a separate discipline was recognized after the
establishment of first psychological laboratory by Wilhelm
Wundt in Leipzig Germany in the year 1879. At the same time
William James also established a laboratory in Cambridge.

Wundt approach is known as structuralism – which focused

on mental components of perception, consciousness, thinking, emotions and other kinds
of mental states and activities.

Wilhelm Wundt’s structuralism was based on procedures called

introspection – in which people are presented with any stimulus
– such as green light or sentence printed on the card – and asked
them to describe, in their own words and in as much as detail as
they could. In this method psychologists can better understand
the structure of mind.

Introspection was challenged that it is not a scientific technique

that can reveal the structure of the mind. There is no method to find out the accuracy of
other’s introspection. Sometimes people cannot describe their inner experiences such as
emotions. This lead to some new approaches.

Functionalism concentrated on what the mind does and how behavior functions.
Functionalists might examine the functions of the emotions.

E.g. Fear prepares us to deal with any emergency situation to save ourselves for survival.

Gestalt psychology emphasizes how perception is organized. German scientist Hermann

Ebbinghaus and Max Werthimer proposed that the whole is different from sum of its
parts. Meaning that our perceptions, or understanding, of objects is greater and more
meaningful than the individual element that makes up our perceptions.

Today’s Perspectives:
These broad perspectives emphasize different aspects of behavior and mental processes.

The Neuroscience Perspective:

This perspective views behavior in terms of the biological functioning. It studies how
nerve cells are connected, the role of inheritance of different traits from generation to
generation, Instincts and behaviors. Psychologists also study the baby response towards
strangers. Heredity influence physical attributes (height, weight, eye color, hair color) as
well as psychological attributes (intelligence, attitudes, aggression).
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Biological psychologists study the biology of humans to predict the physical or

psychological problems in children as risk. They can lead human lives for betterment by
overcoming diseases due to inheritance. They can stop cousin marriages.

The Psychodynamic Perspective:

It is based on a belief that behavior is motivated by inner forces which are uncontrollable
by human beings. Dreams and slips of the tongue are the true indicators of psychological
problem and unconscious desires.

Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychodynamic perspective. He emphasized on

unconscious in which our unpleasant memories are stored which creates anxiety.

The Behavioral Perspectives:

It suggests that observable behavior should be the focus of study.

J. B. Watson gave the statement that “give me a dozen healthy infants and I will bring
them up in my environment, there is possibility they will become doctor, lawyer, artist
and even beggar and thief, regardless of his talents, tendencies, abilities and race.”

His main concept understood the behavior by studying and modifying the environment,
we can form any kind of behavior.

The Cognitive Perspective:

It focuses on how people know, understand and think about the world.

How people understand the outside world. How we process information. How our mind
influence our behavior.

Psychologists have done many experiments on mental processes like focus of attention,
decision-making, intelligence, finding causes of behaviors. The main idea is that how a
person understands and thinks about the world.

Many psychologists who adhere to the cognitive perspective compare human thinking to
the workings of a computer, which takes in information and transforms, stores and
retrieves it. In their view, thinking is information processing.

The Humanistic Perspective:

They rejected the view that behavior is determined by heredity rather behavior is
determined by environment. Human beings have natural capacity to make decisions about
their lives and control their behavior. Humans have power to develop higher level of
maturity. People have striving nature for full potentials. Free will that is they have ability
to make decisions about life.

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All individual have natural tendency to strive to grow, develop and be in control of their
lives and behavior. Each of us has the capacity to seek and reach fulfillment.

According to Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, people strive to reach their full potential
if they are given the opportunity. The emphasis of the humanistic approach is on free
will, the ability to freely make decisions about one’s own behavior and life. The notion
was free will stands in contrast with determinism, which sees behavior as caused, or
determined, by things beyond person’s control.

People have the ability to make their own choices about their behavior rather then relying
on societal standards. It stresses the role of psychology in enriching people’s lives and
helping them achieve self-fulfillment.

Psychology’s Key Issues and Controversies:

Nature versus Nurture:

Heredity vs. Environment:
What is the influence of genetics and environment, the influence of physical and social
environment in which a child is raised.

Neither nature nor nurture alone is the sole determinant of behavior rather it is a
combination of the two.

Conscious versus Unconscious Causes of Behavior:

How much of our behavior is produced by the forces of which we are aware of and how
much of our behavior is produced by unconscious mental activity.

Clinical psychologists who follow psychodynamic principle they ay that mental disorders
brought about by unconscious forces whereas, psychological disorders are caused by
faulty thinking processes.

Observable Behavior versus Internal Mental Processes:

Psychologists who rely on behavioral perspective say that behavior is a source of
providing information which is observed directly. Cognitive psychologists believed that
inside of the person’s mind is critical to understand behavior so we must read the mind.

Free Will versus Determinism:

Free will means choices freely made by an individual and how much it is determined
means that the behavior is largely produced by factors beyond people’s willful control?

People make intentional choices and that those who display so-called abnormal behavior
should be considered responsible for their actions. Other psychologists think than
individuals are the victim of forces beyond their control.

Individual Differences versus Universal Principles:

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Behavior is unique with special qualities or how much it reflects culture and society in
which we live and how much behavior is universal.

Universal principles of behavior like nervous system operate in a certain way, digestive
system is same, lungs work same, and heart works same. But humanistic psychologists
believe that every individual is unique. They consider every person’s behavior a
reflection of distinct and special individual quality.
Research Methods in Psychology

I. Systematic Observation:
Behavior is systematically observed and recorded.

Types of Observational Methods:

1. Naturalistic Observations:
This method involves observing behavior in natural settings. The researcher tries to be
unobtrusive (does not interfere with the behavior).

E.g. Researcher sits in airplane and observes how many times a particular passenger uses
arm rest.

E.g. Researcher goes to a shopping mall and observes two women communicating with
each other that how many time they have touched each other.

E.g. Researcher stands beside a traffic signal and observes when the signal turns green
how many cars honked how many times.

2. Laboratory Observations:
Observations in which researcher creates circumstances in which the behavior will take
place.

E.g. Researcher goes to any school and observes that students during break go to canteen
to buy eatable product. Researcher manipulates the situation by telling the shop keeper
not to open the canteen at break time. He then observes that the students will show
annoyed and aggressive behavior.

Advantages:
i. Easy to do.
ii. Researches are done in real life situation and true behaviors are observed which
are valid in nature.

Disadvantages:
i. Researcher sometimes misinterprets the outcomes of behavior.
ii. Unable or unaware to understand what factors are affecting behavior and draw
incorrect conclusions.

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II Survey Method:
Research method in which large number of people are asked to report their own opinion.

Methods involved:
i. Interviewing People.
Interview is a face to face interaction between two or more than two people. Interview
may be structured, unstructured or semi-structured.

ii. Administering Questionnaire.

Researcher develops a questionnaire comprising of open-ended or close-ended questions
related to particular issue. Then he draws a sample from a population which represents
the whole population. Findings are then generalized to the whole population.
Advantages:
i. We can collect a lot of data very quickly.
Disadvantages:
i Difficult to get a representative sample.
ii. Volunteer bias: Volunteers are those people who complete the survey and who
do research. They may have strong opinion about a topic which may be different
from the population. So they will provide a source of error in a research.
iii. Self-report Bias: People have tendency to report positive attitudes towards any
situation. E.g. If people are asked to rate themselves according to traits on a rating
scale having options “below average, average, above average”. Probability is that
they will rate themselves above average which is a source of error

III Correlation Method:

Correlation describes strength and direction of relationship between two variables.
Correlation allows us to make predictions and cause and effect relationship.

Types of correlation:
i Positive Correlation:
As the value of one variable increases the value of other variable will also increase.

E.g. Increase in weight of gold carats will increase the price of gold.
y

Variable 2-Price

x y
Variable 1-Gold Carat

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ii Negative Correlation:
As the value of one variable increases the value of other variable decreases.

E.g. Increase in usage of car will decrease the price of the car.
y

Variable 2-Price

x y
Variable 1-Usage of Car

iii. No Correlation:
When two variables are unrelated.

E.g. Increase in usage of shoes will decrease the price of the soap.
y

Variable 2-Price
Of Soap

x y
Variable 1-Usage of Shoe

IV Experimental Method:
Method in which one or more variables are systematically changed to establish a causal
relationship.

There should be two variable:

i Independent Variable (X): It is manipulated by the researcher.
i. Dependent Variable (Y): It is measured to know the effects.

a. It is used to establish a relationship between independent and dependent variables.

b. There should be two variables.
c. Extraneous variables are controlled.
d. X is active in nature.
e. Random assignment is done by the researcher in selecting experimental group and
control group.

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There should be two groups:

i Experimental Group: They are exposed to Independent variable.

ii Control Group: Receives no treatment or placebo.

Random Selection: Every individual of the whole population has equal chance of
including in the sample.

Random Assignment: Participants coming voluntarily to researcher for taking part in the
research will be randomly assigned to experimental and control group.

Placebo: Treatment that does not contain any feature that will make any difference in the
out comes of the experiment. It is also known as fake treatment.

Hypothesis: Predictions or educated guess about outcome of any research.

E.g. There is a Hypothesis that “Media promotes aggressive behavior in children”

Groups Independent variable (X) Task

Experimental group Watched video of aggressive models Play a game

Control group Watched a simple video Play a game

Dependent Variable (Y)

Show aggressive behavior

Show normal behavior

E.g. There is a Hypothesis that “Media promotes pro-social behavior in children”

Groups Independent variable (X) Task

Experimental group Watched video of helping models Play with chicks

Control group Watched a simple video Play with chicks

Dependent Variable (Y)

They handled the chicks with care

They simply played with chicks

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E.g. There is a Hypothesis that “This particular drug is effective in reducing anxiety”

Groups Independent variable (X) Task

Experimental group Given tablets that reduces anxiety Tests are applied

Control group Given sugar coated tablets (Placebo) Tests are applied

Dependent Variable (Y)

Tests showed the anxiety was reduced

Tests showed anxiety level remained same

How to Conduct Research:

1. Define the question
2. Gather information and resources (observe)
3. Form hypothesis
4. Perform experiment and collect data
5. Analyze data
6. Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new
hypothesis
7. Publish results
8. Retest (frequently done by other scientists)

Rights of Individuals: Seeking an Appropriate Balance:

Ethics:
A system of ethics is a set of principals for behaving in a way that is morally correct.
i.e. to behave ethically is to do what is right.
There are three main areas where the researcher must:
a) Treat human research participant with respect and maintain their dignity.
b) Care for the welfare of animals when they are the subject of research.
c) Should be honest in the treatment of data.

In social psychology we are more concerned with human beings so we will only
discuss issues related with human research participants.

i. Planning the Study:

Psychologist must design and conduct research in accordance with recognized standards
i.e. to conduct research ethically.

ii. Assuring Subjects as Volunteers:

Prior conducting a research the researcher must make agreement with the participants to
clarify the nature of the research.
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iii. Informed Consent:

It means human subjects should be given “enough information “about the research so
they make decision to voluntarily participate or not.

iv. Minimizing Invasiveness:

During the research psychologists usually interferes with the participants according to
this rule this invasion must be minimized as much as possible.

v. Dispensing with Informed Consent:

Research involving anonymous questionnaires, naturalistic observation or archival
(historical) research does not require informed consent.

vi. Deception in Research:

Deception is when the participants are not told complete information/details of the study
prior to their participation. Deception is undesirable for the psychologist but deceptive
techniques are used in order to get original responses and findings.

vii. Debriefing:
Psychologists must provide opportunity to the participants to obtain appropriate
information about the nature, results and conclusion of the results known as briefing in
which all aspects of research is discussed.

a) Dehoaxing: reveal the true purpose of the research.

b) Desensitization: Process in which stress, anxiety or other negative feelings
experienced by participants during research are reduced.

viii. Maintain Confidentiality:

Psychologists have basic obligations to take precautions to protect confidentiality of
participants.

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