Psychology 12 Academic Stimulus/Stimuli
Psychology
Ψ is the Greek letter psi and it is the international shorthand symbol for the word Psychology.
You will often see it in text books or anything relating to the subject.
PSYCHOLOGY
THE DEFINITION: The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes(MIND)
THE GOAL: To describe, predict, explain and control behaviour
KEY QUESTIONS:
How are bodily processes turned into mental awareness of the outside world?
How do our minds and bodies interact?
How do psychologists study the mind?
Even if we were to split open the skull of a willing volunteer and have a look inside, we would only see the grey matter of the brain.
We cannot see someone thinking.
Nor can we observe their emotions, or memories, or perceptions and dreams.
How do psychologists study the mind?
In fact, psychologists adopt a similar approach to scientists in other fields
Nuclear physicists interested in the structure of atoms cannot observe protons, electrons and neutrons directly.
Instead, they predict how these elements should behave and devise experiments to confirm or refute their expectations.
Human behaviour: The raw data of psychology
In a similar way, psychologists use human behaviour as a clue to the workings of the mind.
Although we cannot observe the mind directly, everything we do, think, feel and say is determined by the functioning of the mind.
So psychologists take human behaviour as the raw data for testing their theories about how the mind works.
What is the Mind?
Refers to the mental processes and experiences that cannot be directly observed.
any response that is internal or hidden from view and cannot be directly observed
Psychology relies on inferences, or assumptions, about underlying processes on the basis of observable behaviour.
An inference is a logical conclusion which is based on available evidence.
What is behaviour?
Behaviour refers to any observable action made by a living
person or animal. is best described as any kind of response that can
actually be seen and measured.
Examples of behaviour include: Eating Sleeping Sneezing Watching T.V. Running Marshmallow Effect
What is Behaviour?
Consider each activity listed below and state whether or not you think it is a behaviour.
Experiencing butterflies in the stomach Dreaming
Blinking
Heartbeat
Toothache Planning an excuse to get out of a date
Singing a song aloud
SAY THE COLOUR OF THE WORDS IN THE NEXT SLIDE.
The STROOP EFFECT
ml The interference between the different information
(what the words say and the color of the words) your brain receives causes a problem.
The words themselves have a strong influence over your ability to say the color. There are two theories that may explain the Stroop effect: Speed of Processing Theory: the interference occurs
because words are read faster than colors are named. Selective Attention Theory: the interference occurs
because naming colors requires more attention than reading words.
activity involving letters of the alphabet.
• Based on your gut feelings, quickly
write down:
• Your six LEAST FAVOURITE letters
Look over each list and circle all of the letters that occur in your own first name.
Count the number of circled letters in each list.
Which list included more of the letters from your own first name??
The preference for the letters in one’s own name is the name letter effect. TO THINK ABOUT: Would people be more likely to purchase a product if the product
resembled his or her name?
Which center circle is
The flashing is all in your head.
DESSERT ACTIVITY
If you could only pick one dessert to have for the rest of your life, which one (and only one) would you pick?
Based on your selection, personality psychologists can identify key characteristics about your personality.
Your choices are:
Strawberry short cake
Chocolate chip cookies
Strawberry shortcake
Romantic, warm, loving. You care about other people, can be counted on in a pinch and expect the same in return. You can be very emotional. You are a friend for life! But look out if someone screws you over. You can hold a grudge.
Chocolate chip cookies
Sexy; always ready to give and receive. Very creative, adventurous, ambitious, and passionate. You can appear to have a cold exterior but are warm on the inside. Not afraid to take chances. You will not settle for anything average in life. Love to laugh.
Brownies
You like sports, whether it be baseball, football, or basketball. If you could, you would like to participate, but you enjoy watching sports. You don’t like to give up the remote control. You tend to be self centred and high maintenance.
Sorbet
Sweet, loving, cuddly. You love all warm and fuzzy items. A little nutty at times. Sometimes you need an ice cream cone at the end of the day. Others perceive you as being childlike and immature at times.
Cheesecake
Smooth, sexy, and articulate with your hands, you are an excellent after dinner speaker and a good teacher. But don’t try to walk and chew gum at the same time. A bit of a diva at times, but you have many friends.
Pudding
You are adventurous, love new ideas, and are a champion of underdogs and a slayer of dragons. When tempers flare up you whip out your sabre. You are always the oddball with a unique sense of humour and direction. You tend to be very loyal.
Cake
Fun-loving, sassy, humorous, not very grounded in life; very indecisive and lack motivation. Everyone enjoys being around you, but you are a practical joker. Others should be cautious in making you mad. However, you are a friend for life.
Ice cream
You are a very fun loving person, who likes to laugh. You are fun to be with. People like to hang out with you. You are a very warm hearted person and a little quirky at times. You have many loyal friends.
Was the description accurate or inaccurate?
Why could this be?
Does this make it hard to know if the prediction was “right”?
Pie You are a terrible person. No one likes you.
Sure, a few people act as if they like you, but they only hang out with you to make fun of you. Turns out, you aren’t that attractive either. Stay in college as long as you can because no one would hire you anyway. Your magic number is...let’s be honest...you have no magic in your life. That makes your magic number zero. Loser.
In the context of these personality descriptions, the general statements work and seem believable because they are positive.
If the feedback were negative it becomes less credible.
The Barnum Effect
Barnum Effect : is a term that is used in psychology.
It is the tendency for people to accept very general or vague characterizations of themselves and take them to be accurate.
A good example of this can be seen when people believe what is said about them in psychometric tests, personality profiles, astrological predictions, and so on.
Prescientific Psychology
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
1. Viewed mind and the body as interactive machines a. mind could influence the body and vice versa
b. allowed for both voluntary and involuntary behavior
2. Ruled out organs other than the brain (e.g., the heart) as locations of mental functioning
)
b. Derived ideas (all ideas acquired through experience or reflection)
John Locke (1632-1704)
1. Empiricist approach-knowledge should be acquired by careful observation
2. Opposed notion of innate ideas-he believed that all ideas come from experience or reflection we are not born with them
3. Mind is a "blank slate" (tabula rasa) written on by experience
Founders of Scientific Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
1. Founded the first research laboratory in psychology (Leipzig, Germany, 1879)’
This is considered the birth of modern psychology
2. Research methods included introspection, psychophysical measurements and reaction time His work concentrated on consciousness, thus
psychology became the scientific study of conscious experience
Wundt is considered to be the founder of psychology
Wilhelm Wundt http://www.famousscientists.org/scientist-photos/Wilhelm-Wundt.jpg
(1883) at Johns Hopkins University
2. Started first American psychology journal (1887), American Journal of Psychology
William James 1. Published the influential Principles of Psychology,
1890
2. Associated with the founding of functionalism, a perspective emphasizing the functions rather than the structures of consciousness
Sigmund Freud: Published the Interpretation of Dreams (1900), an important work in psychoanalytic theory
Ivan Pavlov Published first of many studies on conditioned reflexes, 1906 1. Leader of behaviorism 2. Believed psychology should study behavior, not
consciousness 3. Viewed environment as the most important factor
in the development of behavior; 4. dismissed the importance of inherited traits and
instincts in human behavior
1. Employed in college/university settings
2. Primary responisibilities include teaching, research and writing but may also include consulting, practice and administration
Researchers
2. Examine diverse phenomena. Examples:
a. The effects of coffee breaks on work productivity
b. Optimal training procedures for a specific job
c. Ways to change behaviors that would prevent the spread of HIV
Developmental Psychologists:
Practitioner
2. May also conduct research
Kinds of Practioners
2. Involved in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
3. Duties include psychological testing, interviewing and therapy
B. Counseling Psychologists: 1. Often work with clientele whose problems are of a
moderate degree
2. Many counseling psychologists specialize in marital or family counseling
C. School Psychologists:
1. Concerned with social, intellectual and emotional development of elementary and secondary students
2. Work with children, parents and teachers
3. Often test students for special programs
D. Educational Psychologists:
Involved in teacher training, curriculum design and other related educational processes
E. Industrial/Organizational Psychologists: 1. Work in business and industry
2. Attempt to improve productivity
3. May develop employee selection programs, work with advertisers, study consumer behavior or design equipment
F. Experimental Psychologists: 1. Broad classification for laboratory researchers
2. Work primarily in a specific area, such as memory, language or animal behavior
G. Social Psychologists:
2. Study topics such as conformity, obedience and leadership style
III. Contemporary Theoretical Orientations/perspectives in Psychology
What are Psychological Perspectives
BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH
experience ….
Learning Theory and is based on
Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Unconditioned stiumulus ucs (food)
Unconditioned response ucr (salivation)
Conditioned stimulus cs (bell)
Conditioned response cr (salivation)
Eventually after training
Have you been classically conditioned?
At the dentist …are you frightened as you walk through the door? As you sit in the chair?
Going to the dentist is associated with pain – you expect pain whenever you go to the dentist
Operant Conditioning
B F Skinner
The rat’s behaviour is ‘shaped’ until it ‘learns’ that it will be
reinforced (rewarded) if it presses the food lever!
A. Behaviorism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU0zEGWp56Y
Theoretical orientation based on the idea that scientific psychology should only study observable behaviour (things that can be measured)
1. First described by John B. Watson, 1913
2. Emphasized environmental determinants of behavior a. Role of heredity greatly deemphasized but not totally denied b. Environment can be manipulated to change behavior, whereas
heredity cannot (as yet)
3. Deals only with directly observable behaviors a. Explain behavior by assessing the effects of external stimuli b. Behavior is determined by the occurrence of external events
4. B.F. Skinner: most famous behaviorist
the environment.
positive reinforcement..pleasurable reward, so behaviour will be repeated
negative reinforcement..performing a behaviour that will stop an unpleasant stimulus
punishment .. an unpleasant response which will stop the behaviour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_mIEnnlF4
Little Albert
learned?
Ψ What do you do when you hear a bell ring?
Ψ Could you touch a spider?
Ψ Have you ever been rewarded for a
behaviour?
1. Human Behavior is understood by describing underlying biochemical and neurological causes in the body
2. Reductionistic: Observable behaviors reduced to physiological explanations
The brain and mind are the same thing
Biological Approach
All behaviour normal and abnormal, is based in physiological processes, especially the brain but also including other parts of the nervous system and the endocrine (glandular) system.
THIS IS UNDOUBTEDLY TRUE !!
Brain function: electrical activity – EEG stages of sleep
Brain function: neurotransmitters – increase in dopamine activity in schizophrenia, decrease in serotonin in depression, increase in pleasure/euphoria ?
Physiological arousal – skin conductance responses, heart rate, increase with arousal state; hormones (adrenaline)
Functional MRI (fMRI)
Applies MRI technique to blood flow in the brain. So can picture the brain ‘in action’, e.g. look for variations in brain activity across different areas during speech and other behaviours
Good spatial resolution (3 mm), no injections or radioactivity; but strong magnetic field, so any metal interferes
Positron Emission Tomography
PET: injection of e.g. radioactive glucose; taken up by most active areas, emits radioactivity which can be recorded and built into a picture of brain activity
Uses injections and radioactivity, so number of scans limited and only adults used.
Spatial resolution not as good as fMRI
2. Human behavior primarily determined by unconscious processes
3. Theory not based on experimental evidence but by analyzing conversations with patients
many aspects of this theory therefore are untestable
4. Influential on American psychology (e.g., stressed the importance of early experiences in determining later behavior patterns)
Psychoanalytic Theory
Ψ Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality (Psychoanalytic Theory) and treatment for abnormal behaviour called Psychoanalysis.
Ψ The theory explains human development in terms of an innate drive (something we are born with e.g. pleasure) and early experience (the extent to which the desires were gratified)
Structure of the Freudian
Personality Ψ Freud assumed that the mind is divided into 3
parts: Id, Ego and Superego
Defence Mechanisms
Ψ Displacement: Move target of emotions e.g. aggression to someone/something else.
Ψ Projection: Attribute undesirable characteristics to someone else..”it’s not me it’s you”.
Ψ Denial: Refuse to accept the reality of an event.
Ψ Intellectualisation: Remove emotions from a threatening event.
Ψ Examples?
1.Cognitive psychologists study thoughts and mental processes
2. Study the intervening mental processes between stimulus inputs and response outputs
3. Significant contributions made in the areas of language, thought and memory
4. Prominent figures include Jerome Bruner, Jean Piaget, Herbert Simon and Noam Chomsky
Cognitive /Information Processing Theory
Cognitive Psychologists believe it is internal, mental processes that can explain behaviour
Began in the 1950s around the time of the first computers
Examples of processes
1. Emerged in the 1950s
2. Viewed behavior as a product of free will and opposed the determinism of behaviorism and psychoanalysis
3. Believed too much emphasis placed on "rat studies" in the understanding of human behavior
4. Emphasized the inherent goodness of human beings
5. Developed methods of psychotherapy consistent with their views
6. Prominent figures include Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and Gordon Allport
RESEARCH METHODS
I. The Experiment:
The only research method capable of showing cause and effect A. Includes a hypothesis
1. A statement about the relation between two or more variables 2. Must be testable, verifiable and refutable
B. Independent variable: Variable manipulated by the experimenter
C. Dependent variable: Measured variable influenced by the independent variable
D. Experimental group: Group that receives the treatment E. Control group: Group that does not receive treatment (or
receives a treatment presumed to be ineffective, e.g., placebo) 1. Serves as the basis for comparison of results from the
experimental group 2. Also serves to eliminate alternative explanations of the results
F. Confounding variable: 1. Any variable besides the independent variable that could influence the
results of an experiment 2. Influence is unwanted
G. Population: The large group of people or animals from which samples are drawn
H. Sample: Set of subjects drawn from particular population
I. Control Measures 1. Counterbalancing: Controls for order effects of conditions 2. Single-blind: Controls subject awareness of group assignment 3. Double-blind: Controls subject and experimenter awareness of group
assignment 4. Randomization: Selection and assignment of subjects to groups
through random or chance procedure
Naturalistic Observation
B. Typically, behavior is not interfered with or altered
Correlation Method
A. Statistical technique used to measure the strength and nature of the relation between two variables
B. Variables are quantified and statistically compared
C. Helpful in studying topics, such as spouse or child abuse, where experimental methods (e.g., randomly selecting subjects and instructing them to behave in abusive ways) would be unethical
D. Does not establish cause and effect
E. Strength of relation is shown by absolute value of correlation coefficient; sign (+or -) indicates the direction of the relation
Survey Method
A. Methods used to measure attitudes, motives, opinions and so on.
B. Se1f-reported data: Interpreted cautiously
C. Easily biased
1. A small return rate of a survey virtually ensures a sample that is not representative
2. Phrasing of the questions may affect respondents' answers
CONDUCTING RESEARCH
Experiments – lab & field. Questionnaires – self report, open & closed questions. Interviews – structured & unstructured. Observations – overt, covert, ps observation & non- ps observation. Types of studies – case studies, correlation studies, longitudinal studies.
Scientific Study Scientific study refers to the approach which is used in
psychology.
Psychologists use the highly disciplined methods of science e.g. experimentation and carefully controlled observation.
Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Psychology differ in what they study, yet each uses the scientific method trying to achieve common goals of:
description, prediction, explanation and control
Experiments
The researcher manipulating the IV
The researcher measuring the DV
The researcher trying to control extraneous variables which may affect the outcome of the experiment.
Laboratory experiments
environment.
which could affect the
Takes place in real or natural environment.
Social psychologists prefer to do research in this way because ps cannot guess when situations have been set up.
Activity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRh5qy09 nNw
making it easier to
environment.
can guess what the
things set up in the lab room
and form an interpretation of
the experiment's purpose
and unconsciously change
their behaviour accordingly.
because the findings are
applicable to real life
study.
findings in a natural
low level of control.
effect.
Questionnaires
Consist of pre-set questions.
Same for everyone in the sample.
Can use open or closed questions
Closed Questions Questions which have a set number of possible answers - multiple
choice - rating scales
The ps choose their own response.
Disgusting Bad OK Quite nice Excellent
people’s thoughts and
set of questions so
researchers can look for
sample quickly
responses.
give the answer they
answers.
Activity
You are researchers and you are trying to find out about people’s music preferences.
In pairs, design a questionnaire that includes 2 open and 2 closed questions based on .
When you have done this, find another pair who have finished and swap questionnaires.
Interviews Another type of self report method.
Face to face, directly to the interviewee.
Questions are usually opened rather than closed. Why?
2 main types of interviews:
* Structured * Unstructured
Predetermined No set questions
Everyone has Each question is the same questions based on interviewee’s answers.
Conversation.
+ used to access people’s thoughts and feelings.
+ both interviewee and researcher can double check either a question or a response.
Weaknesses
- No way of checking for truth: lie, exaggerate, socially desirable responses.
- Rely on the ability of ps explaining their thoughts & feelings.
Observations
Overcome the problems of self report methods.
Although part of an experiment, can take place in people’s natural environment.
Many dimensions to observations:
Overt observations: Participants are aware that they are being observed.
Covert observations: Participants are unaware that they are being observed.
Participant observations: Researcher participates with the group he/she is studying.
Non-participant observations: Researcher observes from a distance and does not interfere.
This means there are 4 possible types of observation:
An overt participation observation.
An overt non-participation observation.
A covert participation observation.
A covert non-participation observation.
Zimbardo (1971). http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?q=stanfo rd+prison+experiment&hl=en&emb=0#
Ainsworth (1970). http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?q=stanfo rd+prison+experiment&hl=en&emb=0#q=ainsw orth&hl=en&emb=0
Activity
In groups of no more than 5, make up a study that could be used to demonstrate either:
1) Overt non-participation
2) Covert participation
a poster
a table
a mind-map
of the strengths and weaknesses of observations in psychological research for your revision.
So far, we have looked at the main methods of psychological research.
However, these methods can be used in different ways, giving more specific types of studies…….
EXPERIMENTS QUESTIONNAIRES
INTERVIEWS OBSERVATIONS
Participant
Non-
participant
Used for unstructured interviews and observations.
Can be an individual or group.
Usually involves an in-depth analysis of the individual or group under investigation.
E.g. Genie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipt0pjz0mwg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipt0pjz0mwg
Correlation Studies
Can collect data through questionnaires, structured interviews and observations.
Correlation studies focus on the analysis of data, rather than how it is collected.
Used to look for relationships/associations between variables.
There are three possible results of a correlational study: a positive correlation, a negative correlation, and no correlation.
- Time consuming
- Ps in the original study might drop out
http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?hl=en&q=t win%20study&um=1&ie=UTF- 8&sa=N&tab=wv#
Because of the problems of a longitudinal study, some researchers prefer to use a cross-sectional study.
Instead of studying one group of people over a long period of time, the researcher uses two groups to represent the different stages that are being studied.
- Because the researcher is not using the same group of people, individual differences are ignored.
Activity
In pairs, work out which of the four studies are:
a) A case study
b) A correlational study
c) A longitudinal study
d) A cross-sectional study