Psychology

An Introduction

AIMS OF LESSON

To develop an understanding of what Psychology is and what Psychology isn’t

To explore how Psychology has shaped our world

Watch the clip and then view the rest of the powerpoint for more detailed

information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfx6k9xiA5Q

Psyche = Mind;Logos = Knowledge or Study

Once defined as study of the mind Now broader definition to include behaviour

too Psychologists study mind and behaviour scientifically

What is psychology?

What is the Mind?

Refers to experiences or 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

What is Behaviour?

Consider each activity listed below and whether or not you think it is a behaviour.

Experiencing butterflies in the stomachDreamingBlinking

HeartbeatToothache

Planning an excuse to get out of a dateSinging a song aloud

Writing a letterExperiencing an itch

Reading the time on your watch

Ψ is the symbol for 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.

Is Psychology just common sense?

Ψ It might be common sense to say that some football fans behave badly because they are hooligans….

Ψ How do we know this?Ψ Do we have evidence for this explanation?ΨHas anyone done any research on this topic?

- effects of crowds/groups on individuals: deindividuation

- Effects of alcohol on individuals

Scientific StudyScientific 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

What is Research?

Ψ Research is a way of investigating something. We look at it in depth.

There are several Research MethodsΨ Laboratory ExperimentΨ Field ExperimentΨ Natural ExperimentΨ ObservationΨ SurveyΨ CorrelationΨ Case Study

Some psychological research topics:

Importance of love in childhood

development of language

accuracy of eyewitness testimony

PRO SOciAL HELPING BEHAVIOUR

TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION

causes of ADDICTION

Which centre circle is larger?

Here are the same circles again.

Do you see the flashing dots?

The flashing is all in your head.

What do Psychologists do?

They explain behaviour

But how do they explain it?

Many different APPROACHES or PERSPECTIVES to explaining behaviour

BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH

Ψ Perhaps we learn behaviour….

Ψ This explanation is called Learning Theory and is based on Conditioning

Ψ There are two types of Conditioning

Ψ Classical Conditioning

Ψ Operant Conditioning

Classical Conditioning. Ivan Pavlov

Unconditioned stiumulus ucs (food) Unconditioned response ucr (salivation)Conditioned stimulus cs (bell)Conditioned response cr (salivation)

ucs (food) +cs (bell) ucr (salivation)cs (bell) cr (salivation)

The dog sees the food and salivates. Then the dog sees the food at the same time as a bell is rung. It salivates. Then the dog hears the bell, associates it with the food, and salivates. The dog has been conditioned to salivate at the sound of the bell.

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 ConditioningB F Skinner

The rat’s behaviour is ‘shaped’ until it ‘learns’ that it will be reinforced (rewarded) if it presses the food lever!

Why Operant? When an animal performs a behaviour, it

operates on the environment.

Possible consequences of behaviour

Ψ positive reinforcement..pleasurable reward, so behaviour will be repeated

Ψ negative reinforcement..performing a behaviour that will stop an unpleasant stimulus

Ψ punishment .. an unpleasant response which will stop the behaviour

Little Albert

Is your behaviour conditioned or 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?

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 MechanismsΨ Repression: Keep threats out of consciousness.

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.

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

Memory Attention Schemas Thinking Attribution Perception Information processing Social cognition

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 !! What behaviour can you attribute to

biology???

Examples

Brain structure – link between Broca’s and Wernicke’s area and language; the pineal gland and biological rhythms

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

ACTIVITY TIME

Now complete the psychology quiz on this page.

Keep attempting the quiz until you get 100% We will be discussing what you have read

on these slides in the next lesson. You should now understand what

Psychology is and have an overview of the different approaches.