Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION
TO THE
SCIENCE OF
PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCHOLOGY DEBORAH M. LICHT MISTY G. HULL COCO BALLANTYNE

Presenting Psychology (part 1)
• On March 22, 1952, twins were born in Mount Holly, New Jersey. After being
relinquished by their unmarried birth mother, one week later, they were adopted and
sent to different homes.
• Throughout this chapter, we will see how inherited biological factors (nature) and
different environments (nurture) can influence development of twins who are reared
apart.
• What would happen if these twins met later in life? Let’s explore this chapter to find out.
Presenting Psychology (part 2)

• WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
– Psychology
• Scientific study of behavior and mental processes
– Psychologists
• Scientists who work in a variety of fields, including many
perspectives and subfields, all of which include the study of
behavior and underlying mental processes
– Major professional organizations
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Association for Psychological Science (APS)
Fields of Psychology
Presenting Psychology (part 3)

• SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY AND SUBFIELDS

– Basic research
• Focuses on collecting data to support or refute theories
• Gathers knowledge for the sake of knowledge

– Applied research
• Focuses on changing behaviors and outcomes
• Often leads to real-world applications

– Discipline, not common sense

• Unlike common sense, psychology is a rigorous discipline
based on meticulous and methodical observation and data
analysis.
DISPELLED: SEVEN “COMMONSENSE”
MYTHS (part 1)
• MYTH
– People only use 10% of
their brains.
– Most older people live sad
and solitary lives.
– Once you’re married and
have kids, your sex life goes
down the tubes.
• REALITY
– We use essentially all of our
brains (Boyd, 2008, February
7; Howard-Jones, 2014).
– Many people become happier
with age (Lilienfeld, Lynn,
Ruscio, & Beyerstein, 2010).
– According to the National
Survey of Sexual Health and
Behavior (2010), men and
women in their late twenties
and early thirties are having
more sex than people in other
age groups.
DISPELLED: SIX “COMMONSENSE”
MYTHS (part 2)
• MYTH
– After birth, your brain no
longer generates new
neurons.
– Sugar makes kids hyper and
inattentive.
– People have distinct “learning
styles.” For example, “visual
learners” absorb information
better when it is presented in
ways they can see (graphs,
animations, etc.).
• REALITY
– Neurons in certain areas of the
brain are replenished during
adulthood (Eriksson et al., 1998;
Ernst & Frisén, 2015).
– This common belief is not one
supported by solid scientific data
(Howard-Jones, 2014; Vreeman &
Carroll, 2008).
– Although we all have different skill
sets and areas of interest, there is
no compelling evidence that we
possess specific learning styles
(Riener, 2010/2011).
Presenting Psychology (part 4)

• GOALS OF DISCIPLINE OF PSYCHOLOGY

– Goals vary by subfield
– Common goals
• Describe: Describe or report what is observed.
• Explain: Organize and understand observations of behaviors.
• Predict: Predict behaviors or outcomes.
• Control: Use research findings to shape, modify, and control
behavior.
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 1)
• PHILOSOPHY AND PHYSIOLOGY
– Plato (427−347 BCE): Truth and knowledge exist in the soul
before birth; nature contributes to human capacity for cognition

– Aristotle (384−322 BCE): Knowledge is the result of

experiences; nurture plays a role in knowledge acquisition

– Descartes (1596−1650): Body and mind interact as separate

entities; dualism

– Fechner (1801−1887): Mind and body connection understood

by studying sensation; one of the founders of physiological
psychology
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 2)
• PSYCHOLOGY IS BORN
– Wundt (1832-1920)
• Founded first psychology lab and
first psychology journal in
Germany
• Measured psychological
processes through introspection
and used objective reports
• In 1861, Wilhelm Wundt
conducted an experiment on
reaction time, which was a turning
point in the field of psychology.
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 3)
• PSYCHOLOGY IS BORN
– Titchener (1867−1927)—Structuralism
• Set up lab at Cornell and conducted introspection
experiments aimed at determining most basic elements of
the mind
• Trained participants to provide detailed reports of subjective
experiences
– James (1842−1910)—Functionalism
• Offered first psychology classes in United States
• Focused on study of the purpose of thought processes,
feelings, and behaviors
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 4)
• HERE COME THE WOMEN
– Mary Whiton Calkins (1863−1930)
• Denied PhD graduation from Harvard but established her
own lab at Wellesley College
• Became first female president of APA
– Margaret Floy Washburn (1871−1939)
• First female PhD in psychology
– Mamie Phipps Clark (1917−1983)
• First Black female PhD; denied faculty position because of
gender
• Explored impact of race relation on self-esteem
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 5)
• MAJOR PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY
- Psychoanalytic
- Freud
• Focused on “abnormal”
functioning of mind
• Believed behavior and
personality influenced by conflict
between inner desires and
societal expectations
• Used as explanatory tool in
many of psychology’s subfields
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 6)
• MAJOR PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY
– Behavioral
• Pavlov
– Conducted classical conditioning experiments
• Watson
– Established behaviorism, which viewed psychology as the
scientific study of behavior that could be seen and/or measured
• Skinner
– Focused on operant conditioning, which is learning that occurs
when behaviors are rewarded or punished
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 7)
• MAJOR PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY
– Humanistic
– Rogers and Maslow
• Founded humanistic psychology, which suggested that
human nature is essentially positive
• Posited that people are naturally inclined to grow and change
for the better
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 8)
• MAJOR PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY
– Cognitive psychology
– Miller
• Researched memory, which provided catalyst for cognitive
revolution
• Examined mental processes that direct behavior, focusing on
concepts such as thinking, memory, and language
– Cognitive neuroscience
• Explores physiological explanations for mental processes
and connections between behavior and the human nervous
system
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 9)
• MAJOR PERSPECTIVES OF
PSYCHOLOGY
– Evolutionary
– Darwin
• Based on theory of evolution and
principles of natural selection
• Proposes that humans have many
adaptive traits and behaviors that
appear to have evolved over time
• Used to explain a variety of
personality traits, intelligence, and
behaviors
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 10)
• MAJOR PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY
– Biological
• Uses knowledge about underlying physiology to explain
behavior and mental processes
• Explores how biological factors, such as hormones, genes,
and the brain, are in behavior and cognition
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 11)
• MAJOR PERSPECTIVES
OF PSYCHOLOGY
– Sociocultural
• Vygotsky
– Proposed social and cultural
features influence
• Clark
– Studied impact of prejudice,
segregation, and
discrimination
– Theorized the importance of
sociocultural factors as
related to development of self
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of
Psychology (part 12)
• MAJOR PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGY
– Biopsychological
• Examines biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors,
including behavior
• Suggests these factors are interactive
Science and Psychology (part 1)

• In 1997, these twins first met at age 45.

They sounded, gesticulated, and looked
alike. Over time, they discovered many
common interests, habits, and traits. Now
after 19 years of friendship, the twins are
very close. Sometimes they feel as if they
know what the other is thinking.

Can identical twins communicate on a

supernatural level through some sort of twin
telepathy? What do you think? Why?
Science and Psychology (part 2)

• CRITICAL THINKING AND

PSEUDOPSYCHOLOGY
– Critical thinking
• Process of weighing various pieces of evidence, synthesizing
them (putting them together), and determining how each
contributes to the bigger picture
– Pseudopsychology
• Approach to explaining and predicting behavior and events
that appears to be psychology but is not supported by
empirical, objective evidence
– Astrology and horoscopes
The Scientific Method (part 1)

• USING THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

– Scientific method
• Process scientists use to conduct research, which includes a
continuing cycle of exploration, critical thinking, and
systematic observation
– Empirical evidence
– Hypothesis
– Experiment
• Controlled procedure that involves careful examination
through scientific observation and/or manipulation of
variables
The Scientific Method (part 2)

• STEPS
– Develop a question
– Develop a hypothesis
• Theories and scientific evidence
– Design study and collect data
• Operational definitions
Dr. Nancy L. Segal stands between
– Analyze the data twins Tim Carpenter (left) and
Bill Henry, who participated in the
• Descriptive and inferential statistics historic Minnesota Study of Twins
– Publish the findings Reared Apart (MISTRA).

• Peer-review process and replication

Research Basics (part 1)
 Variables THE TWIN’S RESEARCH
 Population ADVENTURE

 Sample Sharon and Debbie became part of

137 twin pairs participating in the
two-decade-long MISTRA project.
• Powerful method for
understanding influence of
environmental and genetic
factors on human
• Wealth of data about physical
Let’s look more closely at and psychological
each of these. characteristics
Research Basics (part 2)
 Variables
 Measurable characteristics
that vary, or change, over
time or across people
 Population
 All members of an
identified group about
which a researcher is
interested
Research Basics (part 3)
• Random sample
– Subset of the population
chosen through a
procedure that ensures all
members of the population
have an equally likely
chance of being selected
to participate in the study
• Representative sample
– Subgroup of a population
selected so that its
members have
characteristics that closely
reflect those of the
population of interest
Representative Sample?

• People gather on the National Mall

in Washington, D.C., to advocate
for immigration reform.
• If a researcher aims to understand
American attitudes about
immigration, she would be foolish
to limit her study to a single state
because immigrant populations
vary significantly across the
country. (Pew Research Center,
2014, November 18).
From the Pages of SCIENTIFIC
AMERICAN
• ARE PEOPLE INCLINED TO ACT COOPERATIVELY OR SELFISHLY? IS SUCH
BEHAVIOR GENETIC?
– Human nature supports prosocial and selfish traits.
– Twin study research reveals genetic effects on sharing and empathy.
– A gene is linked to altruistic behavior; a variant of this gene is associated with more selfish
preschooler behavior.
• Explanations from evolutionary scientists
– Cooperative behavior may have evolved first among relative and then among increasingly
diversified communities.
– Humans cooperate to gain advantage; evolutionary processes take place at group level.
• But
– No behavior is entirely genetic.
– Culture, school, and parenting are important cooperation determinants.
– Selfish or cooperative behavior is individually unique and dependent on genetic and
environmental influences.
Descriptive Research (part 1)

• NATURALISTIC RESEARCH
– Important features
• Environment not disturbed
• Systematic observation used
• Variables operationally defined
– Challenges
• Unwanted variables in natural environment
• Replication of research more difficult
– Observer bias
• Errors due to researcher’s value system, expectations,
attitudes reduced with comparison from multiple observers
Descriptive Research (part 2)

• CASE STUDIES
– Important features
• Involve detailed examination of individuals or small groups
• Include large amount of data on particular people or groups
• Are especially useful investigating unique cases
– Challenges
• Cannot be used to support or refute hypotheses
CLASSIC CASE STUDIES IN
PSYCHOLOGY (part 1)
• DESCRIPTION • OUTCOME
– Phineas Gage – Suggested the role that
• A railroad worker who frontal lobes play in
survived after an iron rod personality
blasted through his skull
– H.M.
– Showed how brain
• A man who suffered from
damage can be linked to
profound memory loss
memory loss
following brain surgery
– Little Albert
• An 11-month-old who was – Revealed the ability to
conditioned to fear rats classically condition fear in
humans
CLASSIC CASE STUDIES IN
PSYCHOLOGY (part 2)
• DESCRIPTION
- The Genain Quadruplets
• Identical quadruplet sisters
who all developed
schizophrenia
- "Rat Man"
• A man with obsessive
thoughts, including a
punishment involving rats
- Lorenz's Geese
• Goslings that became
attached to Konrad Lorenz
• OUTCOME
- Demonstrated a genetic
factor is involved in
schizophrenia
- Exemplified a case study
on which Sigmund Freud
based his theories
- Documented the imprinting
phenomenon
Descriptive Research (part 3)

• SURVEY METHODS
– Challenges
• Wording and honesty
– Wording can lead to response bias.
– Participants are not always truthful.
– Inaccurate representation of attitudes and beliefs may occur.
• Skimming the surface and failing to tap into the complex
issues underlying responses
• Representative sample and survey may fail when the
response rate falls short
Descriptive Research (part 4)

• It Depends How You Ask

– In a classic study, researchers
asked two versions of the same
question:
• (A) Do you think the United
States should allow public
speeches against democracy?
• (B) Do you think the United
States should forbid public
speeches against democracy?

What were the results?

Descriptive Research (part 5)

• CORRELATIONAL METHOD
– Important features
• Examines relationships among variables
• Assists in making predictions

– Challenges
• Does not prove causation
Descriptive Research (part 6)

• CORRELATIONAL METHOD
– Correlation coefficient (r)
• Statistical measure (symbolized as r) indicates the strength
and direction of the relationship between two variables.
– The closer r is to +1.00 or to −1.00, the stronger the
relationship.
– The closer r is to 0.00, the weaker the relationship.
Descriptive Research (part 7)

• Third variable
– Unaccounted-for characteristic of participant or
environment that explains changes in the variable of
interest

• Direction of variable relationships

– Direction of relationship (directionality) matters.
– In some instances, causal direction can go both ways.
ACROSS THE WORLD
• THE HAPPIEST PLACES ON THE PLANET
– According to the World Happiness Report, published by the
United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network
(SDSN), Earth’s happiest people live in Switzerland. The United
States claims 15th place on the list of 158 countries.
– Why are some populations happier than others?
• According to the report, most variation in happiness can be attributed to
a handful of factors, and the three most critical are these:
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita
- Social support
- Healthy years of life expectancy (Helliwell et al., 2015, p. 6).
– Why do you think the United States was not first on the list?
Experimental Research: Experimental
Method (part 1)
• Experimental Method • Random Assignment
– Type of research that – Process of appointing
manipulates a variable of participants in a research
interest (independent study to the experimental
variable) to uncover or control groups, ensuring
cause-and-effect that every person has an
relationships equal chance of being
assigned to either
Experimental Research: Experimental
Method (part 2)
• Experimental Group • Control Group
– Members of an experiment – Participants in an
who are exposed to the experiment who are not
treatment variable or exposed to the treatment
manipulation by the variable; this is the
researcher; represents the comparison group
treatment group
Experimental Research: Experimental
Method (part 3)
• Independent variable (IV) • Dependent variable (DV)
– In an experimental design, – In an experimental design,
the variable manipulated the characteristic or
by the researcher to response that is measured
determine its effect on the to determine the effect of
dependent variable the researcher’s
manipulation
Experimental Research: Experimental
Method (part 4)
• Extraneous variable • Confounding variable
– Variable in the – Type of extraneous
environment or of the variable that changes in
participants that could sync with the independent
unintentionally influence variable, making it difficult
the outcome of the study to discern which one is
causing changes in the
dependent variable
Experimental Research: Experimental
Method (part 5)
• Double blind study • Experimenter bias
– Type of study in which – Researchers’ expectations
neither the researchers that influence the outcome
who are administering the of a study
independent variable nor
the participants know what
type of treatment is being
given
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

• LOOKS REAL
– One of these pills contains an active ingredient; the other
is a placebo. In placebo-controlled drug trials, researchers
give some participants drugs and others placebos.
– People taking the placebos often experience effects that
are similar to those reported by the participants taking the
actual drug.
• What is a placebo?
– Inert substance given to members of the control group; a
fake treatment that has no benefit but is administered as if
it does
PSYCHOLOGY IN THE MEDIA

• In 2012, researchers published a study showing

a correlation between pacifier use in boys and
lower levels of emotional intelligence later in life.
The findings of this study could easily be
interpreted as “pacifier use stunts emotional
development,” but this is a reckless conclusion.

Do you know why?

Research Ethics (part 1)
• RESEARCH ETHICS
– Conducting psychological research carries an enormous
ethical responsibility.
– Ethical guidelines
• Written guidelines for ethical treatment of research participants by
professional organizations
– APA; APS; BPS
– Research psychologists must:
• Do no harm
• Safeguard welfare of research humans and animals
• Know responsibilities to society and community
• Maintain accuracy in research, teaching, and practice
• Respect human dignity
FALSE BALANCE IN THE MEDIA

• If 97% of climate scientists agree that humans

are causing global warming and only 3%
disagree, why do news outlets often present this
issue as a “debate” between two individuals?
• By giving equal attention to the two viewpoints,
the media promote the misconception that
scientists are split 50-50 on the issue.
• This is called a “false balance.”
Didn’t See That Coming

• SPONGEBOB ON THE BRAIN

– No one expects cartoons to make
kids smarter, but can cartoons hurt
them?
– One study suggests that preschool
children watching just 9 minutes of
the high-energy, ultra-stimulating
kids’ show SpongeBob Square
Pants experience a temporary dip
in cognitive function.

Were you surprised at these results?

Research Ethics (part 2)

• MORE ABOUT ETHICAL PRACTICE

– All experiments on humans and animals must be
approved by an institutional review board (IRB) to
ensure the highest degree of ethical standards.
– Supporting fair use of work of others
– Maintaining confidentially
– Obtaining informed consent
– Debriefing
Research Ethics (part 3)

• ETHICAL USE OF ANIMALS IN RESEARCH

– Guiding principles in five areas (APA)
• Approving the use of animals
• Housing animals
• Obtaining animals
• Experimenting on animals
• Animals in the classroom
Research Ethics (part 4)

• POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
– Focus
• Positive aspects of human nature
• Human strengths and virtues

– The story of the twins, Sharon and Debbie,

demonstrates two people who opt to see the brighter
side of life. It also underscores the importance of
nature and nurture, culture, gender, and what is best
about human nature.