Psych 1000: Introduction to Psychology

A Brief Look at the Course Outline

Textbook
Evaluation
Make-Up Exams
Participation Requirement
Lecture Schedule
• How to Study
• What is Psychology?
Historical Overview
Different Areas
What Do Psychologists Do?

• Major Themes in Psychology

◼ Dr. Fazakas-DeHoog lfazakas@uwo.ca

 What is Psychology?
◼ Psychology
– Scientific study of behaviour
◼ Actions
◼ Thoughts
◼ Feelings
◼ Reactions

◼ Goals are to
◼ Describe
◼ Understand
psyche: soul, spirit, self, or life ◼ Predict
-ology: branch of knowledge ◼ Control
Roots of Psychology
2 MAJOR INFLUENCES
 Roots of Psychology
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES

• NATIVISM - (i.e. inherited)

* Focus on hereditary factors
* Nature

• EMPRICISM- * Knowledge gained through

observation and our senses
* Study only what could observed.
* Experiences

• RATIONALISM- * Knowledge is gained through logic

History of Studying Behaviour
Philosophical Influences
The Philosophers

◼ Aristotle
– Empiricism is born
◼ Knowledge through
experience
– Environment and upbringing
shape cognitive abilities
◼ John Locke
– Nothing can exist within the
intellect that did not have its
origins in the senses
– Empiricism
– “Tabula Rasa”
History of Studying Behaviour
Natural Science

◼ Phrenology (GALL)
– Bumps in the skull indicate
overdeveloped brain regions
– Cranioscopy
◼ Can understand someone’s
personality from these
bumps
– Localized brain regions for
.behaviour
◼ ( FLOURENS) – entire brain
(not localized areas) worked in
synchrony to produce functions.
 History of Studying Behaviour
Natural Science
The Scientists
◼ Charles Darwin
– Natural Selection
◼ “Survival of the fittest”

– Nothing special about humans

◼ Humans can be studied
scientifically

◼ Ivan Sechenov
– Physiologist
◼ Believed that all complex behaviour can
be explained by reflexes
Roots of Psychology
History of Studying Behaviour Cognitive
Psychology
History of Studying Behaviour is Born
◼ Wilhelm Wundt
 1st Psychology lab (1879)
EXAM
 Leipzig, Germany
 Founder of Structuralism
(studied structure & components of
consciousness & the mind)
 Used Introspection
 Studied the same phenomena cognitive
psychologists study today

◼ Hermann von Ebbinghaus

 First rigorous empirical study of
cognitive phenomena
◼ Memory & Forgetting
History of Studying Behaviour

North
History of Studying Behaviour American
Influences

◼ William James
– Functionalism
– studied “Function or Purposes” of
consciousness & mental process in
adapting to the environment.

◼ John Watson
– Rise of Behaviourism
– Empiricist
– Observable behavior
– All behavior is learned
History of Studying Behaviour North
American
History of Studying Behaviour Influences

Wolfgang Kohler
Gestalt Psychology
• How are the elements
of experience organized
into whole experiences?

The whole > the

sum of its parts
History of Studying Behaviour
History of Studying Behaviour
◼ Sigmund Freud
Everyone’s Favourite Shrink
Psychodynamic
perspective
is born
– Austrian physician that
focused on mental
illness
– Psychoanalytic theory of
mental disorders
◼ The importance of
unconscious processes
◼ Sexual & aggressive urges
◼ Free association
◼ Repression/defense
mechanisms
◼ Importance of early
childhood experiences
History of Studying Behaviour ◼ Cognitive Revolution
– Returning to scientific study
Now… of mental processes

◼ Thoughts, feelings
◼ Social Influences
– WWII
◼ → research on obedience
& confrmity

– Desegregation
◼ → research on prejudice &
racism

– Multiculturalism
◼ → cultural differences
Psychology
AS BASIC AND APPLIED SCIENCE
• Focus on developing and testing theories

BASIC RESEARCH
• Main goal of basic research:
= Quest for knowledge
E.g. What is a thought?
APPLIED RESEARCH
• The main goal of applied research:
= Knowledge is applied to solve practical
problems
E.g. How can we enhance memory?
 What do Psychologists do?

Schools ◼ Majority work in private

Industry & Other practice
4.2% 8.5%
Government – Must be a clinical
Private psychologist
6.3%
Practice – Certified with College of
33.6% psychologists
Hospitals
8.8% ◼ Colleges/universities
Human - Teaching
services - Research
10.6% Colleges &
Medical schools - Administration

28.0%
Psychiatry vs. Psychology

◼ Psychiatrists
– M.D.
– May prescribe drugs for patients
– Plus training in treatment of mental disorders
◼ Psychologists
– Ph.D
◼ approx 6 yrs post-BA
– May not prescribe drugs
– Clinical Psychologists are the group of psychologists
who are interested in mental disorders
* Clinical psychologists vs. Counseling psychologists
Modern Psychology
Six Major Perspectives
◼ Biological
– Understand behavior in terms of: biological processes,
evolution, genetics
◼ Cognitive
– Information-processing problem solvers
– Thoughts influence emotions & behaviour
◼ Psychodynamic
– Unconscious processes, conflicts & defenses
– Early childhood experiences
Modern Psychology
Six Major Perspectives
◼ Behavioral
– external environment shapes behavior
– learning/consequences of behavior
◼ Humanistic
– conscious motives, freedom, choice
– innate tendencies towards growth.
◼ Sociocultural
– how culture is transmitted to its members.
– cross-cultural differences
Applying the Perspectives
◼ BRANDON, Man. July 31, 2008-- Screaming
passengers fled in terror from a Greyhound bus
as an unidentified fellow passenger suddenly
stabbed a man sleeping next to him,
decapitated him and waved the severed head at
horrified witnesses who had fled the bus.
◼ Using each of the perspectives, explain this very
unusual behavior
◼ Biological
◼ Cognitive
◼ Psychodynamic
◼ Behavioral
◼ Humanistic
◼ Sociocultural
Modern Psychology
Conflicting Perspectives ?
◼ Recently, biopsychosocial Integrated Approach
– Are we physical, biological beings ?
– Are we affected by unconscious processes ?
– Are we shaped by our environment ?
– Do our thoughts influence our behavior ?
– Innate tendencies towards growth ?
– Are we impacted by our culture ?
Major Themes in Psychology

◼ Psychology is Empirical
– favours direct observation vs. intuition

◼ Our view of the world is subjective

– our thoughts, motives, expectations, shape
our perception of reality.

◼ Nature vs. Nurture

– Biology vs. Environment
– Nativism vs. Empiricism
Major Themes in Psychology
◼ Mind vs. Brain
– Monism where mind + body is one
– Mind-body dualism
◼ Behavior is Determined by Multiple
Causal Factors
- Biopsychosocial
◼ Psychological capacities have evolved
◼ Cultural environment shapes behavior and
mental processes
 NEXT LECTURE

◼ Research methods & Statistics

◼ Reading: Chapter 2 & Appendix