Experimental

Psychology
Monday, 7 November 2011
 Verifying
Speculations
• Psychology as a scientific discipline
began as a reaction to the methods
of philosophical psychology.
• The objective of psychology during
the 19th century was to verify
and debunk the speculations regarding
the human psyche through empirical
evidence and the scientific method.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Verifying
•
Speculations
Wilhelm Wundt is
credited as the father of
modern experimental
psychology because of
his establishment of the
first experimental
laboratory for
psychology and the use
of actual and precise
scientific methods in his
experiments.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Verifying
Speculations
• We have as a result the following
schools of psychology:
Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviorism,
Psychoanalysis, Cognitive Psychology,
Phenomenological Psychology, Gestalt
Psychology, and Neurobiology.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 The Schools of
Scientific
Monday, 7 November 2011
Psychology
 Structuralis
m
• Began in Germany in the
late 19th century,
starting with Wundt.

• As the name suggests it,

the aim of this school
was to unravel the
structure of the human
psyche.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Structuralis
m
• Structuralists believed
that the human psyche is
consists of structured
parts of sensorial
perceptions that
contributes to varying
encounters and
experience of reality
that affects the psychic
state of man.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Structuralis
m
• Each part or portion of this psychic
state is said to have functioned like
gears that drove the entire human mind.
• These parts could be classified under
three categories that makes up the entire
structure of the human psyche: sensation,
images, and affective states.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Structuralis
m
• Wundt would insist an introspective
investigation of the human psyche,
particularly that of the senses, as a
method of verifying its varying states.
• Though he insists on a very
individualised findings on the subject,
he has nonetheless instilled the
rigour of investigation in his experiments.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Structuralis
m
• The consciousness is structured, and
yet it takes an individualised structure.
• Hence, a reduction of the psyche as
as terms or concepts
would always fail to represent the
depth of the human mind.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Structuralis
m
• Self-observation as a method
however, failed to convince Wundt’s
peers.
• It is difficult to confirm the actual validity of
a findings of introspection, primarily
because it is a private experience that
is left only to individual experience.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Structuralis
m
• Thus, the tendency of Wundt’s
experimental method is subjective in
most situations.
• Despite this, his discovery of the
varying mental states of the human mind
enabled other researchers to explore
this area of human
behaviour.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Functionalis
m
• Found its roots in the
US on 1896, from
Angell, Hutchins,
Carr, and James.

• These psychologists
believed that behaviour
has its own functional
aspect.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Functionalis
m
• Behaviour is said to be an offshoot of
man’s adaptation in his environment.
• Aggression, as a function, allows man to
respond and overcome possible dangers
from other organisms through
intimidation and hostility.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Functionalis
m
• The focus of the functionalists was to
know the purpose of every
possible human behaviour in relation to its
environment. (i.e.Why are women
more talkative than men?)
• It values mental experiences as the
stimuli for
varying behaviours.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Functionalis
m
• Functionalism however has seen
some recent changes in its
application.
• From the structuralists emphasis on
sensation and perception, the
functionalists focused on learning,
motivation, and thinking/cognition as its
main concern.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Functionalis
m
• The contribution of functionalism
to psychology
is the development of
longitudinal research.
• This is a repeated observation of the
same subjects over an extended period
of time to track
certain developments through time.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Functionalis
m
• Longitudinal Research also
allows psychologists to observe the
differences in the subject’s reaction
through time and track the factors that
may have affected the changes in the
subject’sbehaviour.
• Currently this method is still used not
only in psychology but also in
various anthropological researches.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Behavioris
m
• Behaviorism is the reaction to
functionalism and
structuralism.

• One of the key proponents of

behaviorism, B.F. Skinner,
claims that human behaviour
is merely a conditioned
behaviour.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Behavioris
m
• The idea behind behaviorism is that
man is just simply reacting
to whatever stimuli is given to him.
• They deny the existence of freewill by
stating that it is just merely a result of
the operating conditions in which
man is ‘programmed’ or
conditioned to do in given situations.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Behavioris
m
• This methodology criticises
introspection for its lack of
empirical basis and validation.
• Since we cannot really know what is
going on inside a person mind, we
might as well just observe his
actions and reactions towards
the environment.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Behavioris
m
• The theory that isadvanced by
Behaviorism is Stimulus-Response
Psychology.
• Taken from the notion of causality, it
states that, for every
reaction there is a given
stimulation.
• These reactions are the conditioned
reaction of a person’s behaviour.
Monday, 7 November 2011
Monday, 7 November 2011
Monday, 7 November 2011
 Behavioris
m
• The idea behind SR Psychology is that it is
possible to change human behaviour by
changing the environment.
• For example, if we want to prohibit
something, we either make it impossible for
anyone to do a prohibited act, or we
impose punishments that would make the
act unpleasant so as to condition people to
avoid it.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Psychoanaly
• sis
Was developed in Vienna.

• Was intended to conduct

case studies on individual
patients and profile
certain mental problems
and issues in an organised
and scientific method.

• The proponents are

Freud, Jung,Adler,
Binswanger, and
Lacan.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Psychoanaly
sis
• Was intended to replace
physiological treatment for
psychological problems.
• Focused on the idea that the mind has
an operant unconscious.
• Strived to understand human behaviour
through the influence of the
unconscious.
Monday, 7 November 2011
 Psychoanalysis -
The
• The unconscious
Unconscious
is
the indirect influence
of human behaviour.
• It is the sum total of
the suppressed
desires and whims
that are gradually
manifested in human
activity.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 The
Unconscious
• Freud conceives the unconscious as the
malady that causes “misbehaviour” in
men.
• The goal of the analyst is to look for
symptoms or ‘complexes’ that might
lead to this kind of
behaviour.
• Suppressed desires for sex, as an
example, would manifest itself through
unusual sets of symbolisms.
Monday, 7 November 2011
 The
Unconscious
• Freud utilised various
exercises on the patient to
diagnose the unconscious of
an individual.
• Criticisms on Freud: Freud
perceived man as an
animalistic brute that was
driven by the wiles of a
pleasure seeking Id,
specifically in the context of
sex.
Monday, 7 November 2011
 The
Unconscious
• Carl Jung on the other hand, perceived
the unconscious asa conglomeration of
a person’s cultural and individual psyche.
• Unlike Freud, Jung strived to focus his
research on the symbolism of dreams,
not to persecute the possible complexes
of man, but to understand his innate
semiotic structure.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 The
Unconscious
• The collective
unconscious is the
symbolic system that
we inherit culturally.
• We gain them through
the constant
unconscious association
of our culture’s
symbolic system.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Cognitive
Psychology
• Focuses on the
exploration of internal
mental processes in
man.
• It does not subscribe to
the methods of
introspection, and
argues against
behaviorism’s position
on the non- existence
of internal mental
states.
Monday, 7 November 2011
 Cognitive
Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology insists
that man is not a passive
participant in the creation of
knowledge, he always has
an active role in
transforming stimuli into
knowledge.
• Man is considered as a
dynamic information
processing system.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Cognitive
• Psychology
Cognition is not always similar
with every individual.
• Thought processes are done
differently with regards to
different perceptions of reality.
• This branch of psychology is a
reaction to behaviorism, and
finds justification from its
theories through
neuropsychology.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Cognitive
Psychology
• It aims to use the scientific method to
determine the processes involved in
creating knowledge through rigorous
experimentation and objective
investigation.
• Kenneth Craick for example, would say
that the mind is a projective machine that
is able to simulate and model external
events as a way to process perceptual data.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Phenomenolog
y
• Originally, this branch of
psychology came from
the philosophical
discourse of Edmund
Husserl.

• He investigated
subjectivity and
experience as a critique
of science.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Phenomenolog
y
• The sciences during Husserl’s time was
obsessed with abstraction and theories
that claimed to be universal even without
experiential demonstration.
• Husserl studied the varying aspect of
subjectivity and how experience affects a
subject in its perception and cognition.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Phenomenolog
y
• In psychology, Carl Rogers, focused on the
interrelation of the subject in its interaction
with the world.
• All experiences are unique and individual in
as much as its perception differs from one
subject to another.
• Hence, experience must always be
considered as a subjective cognition of reality.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Phenomenolog
y
• One of the methods used
in phenomenology is
called ‘bracketing.’
• This is to acknowledge the
fact that our subjectivity
will always have its own
preconceived biases about
things that might affect
our cognitive state.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Phenomenolog
y
• Phenomenology not onlyconsidered
asa method, it is also an attitude.
•A phenomenological investigation would
always try to understand phenomena as
it is by suspending its biases in order to
grasp the it objectively.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Phenomenolog
y
• The goal of phenomenology is to
understand human behavior through
the investigation of its ‘inner world’.
• They always consider man to be free
and capable of rational judgments in spite
of the stimuli that surroundsthem.
• Hence, it is considered as a
humanistic psychology/philosophy.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 The Gestalt
School
• Founded during the 1900’s in
Germany.
• A reaction to structuralism
and behaviorism.
• Placed their emphasis on the study of
Cognition and Learning by beginning
with the whole rather than the parts.
• Gestalt - De. Shape, Figure, or Form.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 The Gestalt
School
• Kohler was the proponent of the
Gestalt school.
• He opted that the whole is more than
the sum of all its parts.
• Thus, the mind operates more than
what it’s parts supposedly
would do.

Monday, 7 November 2011

Monday, 7 November 2011
 The Gestalt
School
• Thus, unlike structuralism, the Gestalt
school sees learning as a cognitive
activity that occurs in a holistic
manner.
• It stresses that the most effective method
of learning is to look at the entire
totality of the subject matter first before
dwelling on its parts.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 The Gestalt
School
• Learning for the Gestalt school ought to
begin with an overview of the entirety
of the topic before dwelling on its
parts.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Neurobiolog
y
• Establishes the connection between the
biological activity inside the human brain
and human behaviour.
• Mental events occur in one’s psychic
life because of the activity happening in
one’s brain.
• Often associated with cognitive
psychology.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Contemporary
Psychology
Monday, 7 November 2011
 Physiologic
al
• a.k.a. Neuro-Psychology
Psychology
• Tries to establish the connection between
behaviour and the biological processes of the
nervous system.
• Neurosciences - concerned with the functions
of the brain and its relation to behaviour.
• Psycho-pharmacology - concerned with the
effects of drugs on human behaviour.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Development
al
• Focuses on the stages of the development of
Psychology
the human body and its effects on human
behaviour.
• Growth for this type of psychology opens new
avenues of abilities in cognition and psycho-
motor development.
• Research conducted in this field often focuses
on a subjects growth from infant hood to
adulthood.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Social
Psychology
• Studies human behaviour based on its
relationship with other people.
• The scope of this field ranges from
one individual to a huge social
group.
• Examples of this type of research
would be social polls,
surveys, and market behaviour.
Monday, 7 November 2011
 Clinical
Psychology
• Concerned with the diagnosis and
treatment of emotional problems,
delinquency, aggression, addiction, and
other mental problems.
• Usually found in hospitals, prisons,
and mental health clinics.
• It is often associated with
psychiatry.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Counsellin
g
• Focuses on the same problems as
Clinical Psychology on adifferent
environment such as the workplace,
school, or in large institutions.
• Focuses on treating smaller psychological
problems, such as stress, anxiety,
tension, insecurity, and other work
related problems.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 School and Educational
Psychology
• Concerned with the evaluation of learning
in students.
• They usually administer tests on
the students potential cognitive skills.
(and admissions)
• They also help on improving research
and teaching methods soas to
train teachers in improving their
effectiveness.
Monday, 7 November 2011
 Industrial
Psychology
• Specialises on the recruitment, training,
and supervision of employees in the
workplace.
• Their area of concern involves
the efficiency of the employees in
the workplace.
• They facilitate training programs,
and improvements on the methods
of motivating the employees.
Monday, 7 November 2011
 Engineering
Psychology
• Concerned with the interaction between
man and machine.
• Often associated with ergonomics.
• Aims to know the most efficient way of
interacting with machines so as to
improve productivity.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Method
Monday, 7 November 2011 s
 The Experimental
Method
• Does not necessarily imply that the
experiments would be conducted
inside a laboratory.
• Opts to control the environment of
the experiment.
• Aims at having results that are repeatable
as long as the factors have been retained
properly.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 The Experimental
Method
• Follows the following steps:
• 1. Recognition and identification of
the problem.
• 2. Gathering of data.
• 3. Formulation of the hypothesis
or hypotheses.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 The Experimental
Method
• 4.Testing of the hypothesis.
• 5. Conclusion
• 6.Verification of the result. (Repetition
of the experiment).

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Observational
Method
• Categorised as either participant or
non- participant observation.
• Used as a method to study
behaviour in experimental conditions.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Participant
Observation
• The researcher becomes
a part of the environment
in which the subject is
exposed to.
• The researcher may affect
the subject’s behaviour.
• The researcher is able to
have closer investigation
of the subject.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Non-
Participant
• The subject isObservation
observed
without meddling or
becoming a part of its
environment.
• In most cases the subject is
not aware of being
observed at all.
• May employ devices that
would enable remote
observation. (i.e.
Cameras, microphones,
motion sensors)
Monday, 7 November 2011
 Survey
Method
• Employs the use of questionnaires and
interviews to gather data.
• Often used in situations wherein the
subjects are too numerous to be
observed.
• Used in polls, market research, focus
group discussions, and social research.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Test Method

• Used to measure abilities,

interests, attitudes and
accomplishments of individuals.
• Enables the researcher to study
individuals without controlling the
environment and disturbing its subjects.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Case Histories /
Studies
• a.k.a Scientific Biography.
• A study of past cases and
observations conducted by other
researchers.
• It also involves areconstruction
of a subject’s biographyor
memories.

Monday, 7 November 2011

 Case Histories /
Studies
• Often associated with longitudinal
research.
• Involves a long period of
observation (sometimes even a
lifetime).
• Tracks down changes and factors that may
have affected such changes.

Monday, 7 November 2011