PSYCHOLOGY

RUTH, A COLLEGE STUDENT, DECIDES TO HAVE LUNCH AT THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA. SHE WALKS TO THE CAFETERIA, GETS IN LINE, CHOOSES TUNA SALAD AND ORANGE JUICE, AND PAYS AT THE COUNTER. SHE THEN LOOKS AROUND OR SOMEONE TO SIT WITH.

SHE DOESN’T SEE ANY CLOSE FFIENDS, SO SHE GOES TO A TABLE BY HERSELF SITS DOWN, AND BEGINS TO EAT.

A FEW MINUTES LATER, GARY, A YOUNG MAN IN RUTH’S ENGLISH CLASS, COMES OVER TO JOIN HER. WHEN RUTH LOOKS UP AT HIM, SHE NO LONGER FEELS LIKE

EATING. SHE THINKS GARY IS VERY GOOD LOOKING BUT HE NEVER SPEAKS TO RUTH UNLESS HE’S MISSED A CLASS AND WANTS TO BORROW HER NOTES. SHE GREETS HIM

COOLY, BUT GARY SITS DOWN ANYWAY AND BEGINS TO TELL A LONG, RAMBLING STORY ABOUT A VISIT FROM THE LITTLE GREEN PEOPLE, THE HORROR MOVIE ON TV HE STAYED UP TO WATCH LAST NIGHT. MEANWHILE, RUTH REMEMBERS THAT GARY

MISSED THIS MORNING’S ENGLISH CLASS AND CATCHES HIM EYEING HER NOTEBOOK.RUTH FANTASIZES DUMPING HER LUNCH ON GARY’S NEATLY GROOMED HAIR, BUT INSTEAD SHE GETS UP TO LEAVE. GARY ATTEMPTS A CASUAL SMILE AND ASKS TO

BORROW HER NOTES. NOW RUTH IS MORE THAN ANNOYED. ALTHOUGH HER ENGLISH NOTEBOOK IS IN PLAIN SIGHT, SHE TELLS HIM CURTLY THAT SHE IS SORRY

BUT SHE HAS LEFT HER NOTES IN THE LIBRARY –TO WHICH, AS A MATTER OF FACT, SHE MUST RETURN RIGHT AWAY. AS SHE LEAVES THE CAFETERIA, SHE GLANCES BACK AND SEES GARY STILL SITTING AT THE TABLE HE LOOKS DEPRESSED. SUDDENLY, SHE FEELS A

BIT DEPRESSED HERSELF.

THE APPARENTLY SIMPLE EVENT,BETWEEN RUTH AND GARY, RAISES MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT WHY PEOPLE BEHAVE AND FEEL AS THE DO.

HOW IS THEIR BEHAVIOR INFLUENCED BY THEIR PHYSCIOLOGICAL STATES?

WHAT MOTIVATES THEM TO CHOOSE ONE ACTION INSTEAD OF ANOTHER?

NEARLY ALL THE TOPICS WE COVER ARE REFLECTED IN A PSYCHOLOGIST’S PERCEPTION

OF THIS BRIEF STORY.

INSIGHT

• PYSCHOLOGY CAN PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO YOUR OWN AND OTHER PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR.EX. Student convinced is hopelessly shy and

doomed to be uncomfortable in groups, Social psychology- different kind group different effects, party-unstructered/bio lab-structuredMUCH MORE UNCOMFORTABLE IN UNSTRUCTURED

SOCIAL GROUPS THAN IN STRUCTURED, TASK-ORIENTED GROUPS

PSYCHOLOGYTHE STUDY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND MENTAL

PROCESSES.Psychologists differ in how much importance

they place on specific types of behavior.Some believe should study only behavior that

you can see, observe, or measure directly.(Ruth selecting, paying for food, choosing table,

refusing to lend notes – observable)

Others believe our fantasies, thoughts, and feelings are important kinds of human behavior, even

though not directly observable.(Ruth guesses Gary is sad by expression on face, cannot directly observe his emotional reaction)

While differ on which human behaviors important, do agree the study of behavior must be systematic.Systematic asking and answering questions about why think, act, and feel as they do reduces chance

of false conclusion about behavior.(three blind man and the elephant

MANY DIFFERENT APPROACHES ARE NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEX RICHNESS OF

HUMAN BEHAVIORWe spend time observing others, form

conclusions about people in general from our daily interactions.

Sometimes conclusions we draw are not accurate because we are not systematic in our

“study” of people (box pg-8)

SCIENTIFIC METHODReach conclusions by identifying specific

problems or question, formulating a hypothesis, collecting data through observation and

experiment, and analyzing the data.HYPOTHESIS

An “educated guess” – researcher has some evidence for suspecting a specific answer.

State what you expect to find, expressed in a way that it can be proved or disproved

EXAMPLE

People with same opinions on issues more likely to be attracted to each other than people with

different opinions.Test hypothesis in a way that would enable him

or her to collect data.A survey, questionnaires, analyze the data.

Real answers to general questions arrived at only be general agreement of the experts after

years of research on many different aspects of a problem

GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGYDESCRIBE

EXPLAIN

PREDICT

CONTROL BEHAVIOR

DESCRIBEGather information about the behavior being

studied and present what’s known.

(we describe Ruth’s behavior in the café)

Psychologist interested in explaining why people behave as they do, often goes beyond observed

to include ideas about why people react in certain ways.

EXPLAINPsychologists present ideas in the form of

hypotheses, which can be grouped together into theories.

Theory past hunches or trial explanations about the facts observed.

Theories subject to change as more info about people and behaviors are gathered.

Theories fulfill 1st 2 goals,to describe and explain observed behavior

PREDICT

A result of accumulated knowledge, what people will think,

feel, or do in certain situations.Studying descriptive accounts

linking certain behaviors together, psych’s, can predict certain events.

INFLUENCE/CONTROL BEHAVIORMany Psych’s research to find more about

human behavior, others interested in discovering ways to use what is already known

about people to benefit others.

Some interested in both basic science, or research and applied science, or practical

applications of the principles discovered in basic science research.

BASIC Studying ability of infants to perceive visual

patterns – basic research – not concerned with implications findings may have on crib design.

Study REM in sleep research – basic research – if discover individual has sleep disturbance, try to

understand and explain situation, but will not try to correct it.

Correcting it is job of the applied scientist. Clinical psychologists.

Ex. Consultant to toy manufacturer, Psych’s into applying principles, not discover

Rene’ Descartes

Rene’ Descartes – French Philosopher

Their is a link between mind and body, mind controls the body’s movements, sensations and

perceptions.

Mind and body influence each other to create a person’s experiences.

3 minute philosophy – you tube

John Locke British Philosopher - late 17th

John Locke

empiricism all knowledge is obtained through observation and experience. Infants come into this world

with blank minds, with no experiences. Tabula rasa

(Latin blank tablet) JL used this term to describe the mind of the human infant. Knowledge is the

result of a build up of experiences

Wilhelm Wundt

Wilhelm Wundt

1879 Germany - Laboratory of Psychology

founder of psychology as a science. Real interest was in study of the human mind.

Developed a method of self-observation introspection collect information about the mind. In controlled situations, trained subjects reported their thoughts, Wundt tried to map out the basic

structure of thought processes. Attracted many students who carried on tradition

of psych research.

Father of Psychology.

Wundt was important because he separated psychology from philosophy by analyzing the

workings of the mind in a more structured way, with the emphasis being on objective

measurement and control.This laboratory became a focus for those with a serious interest in psychology, first for German philosophers and psychology students, then for

American and British students as well.  All subsequent psychological laboratories were closely modeled in their early years on the Wundt model.

William James

William James 1st American psychologist

more writing than research. Speculated that thinking, feeling, learning,

remembering – all the activities of the mind serve one major function, to help us survive as

species. Focused on function of the conscious mind.

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

Interest in the unconscious mind.

Beneath the surface are primitive biological urges that are in conflict with the requirements of society and morality, these conflict are responsible for much

human behavior. Free Association

1st thing comes to mind. Psychoanalyst

Be objective listen and interpreted associationsDream analysis

Apply same free association techniques to dreams.

Sir Francis Galton

Sir Francis Galton Heredity and inherited traits influences a person’s

ability, character, and behavior. Greatness runs in families, cousin of Darwin, concluded

genius is hereditary. Faulty idea, might be result of socioeconomic and

environmental advantages. Invented procedures for testing abilities and

characteristics of a wide range of people. Beginnings of individual psychology, determine, is

behavior by heredity or environment.

Sir Francis Galton first coined the term “eugenics” in 1883. Put simply, eugenics means “well-born.” Initially Galton focused on positive

eugenics, encouraging healthy, capable people of above-average intelligence to bear more

children, with the idea of building an “improved” human race. Some followers of Galton combined

his emphasis on ancestral traits with Gregor Mendel’s research on patterns of inheritance, in

an attempt to explain the generational transmission of genetic traits in human beings.

Negative eugenics, as developed in the United States and Germany, played on fears of “race degeneration.” At a time when the working-class poor were reproducing at a greater rate than successful middle- and upper-class members of society, these ideas garnered considerable interest. One of the most famous proponents in the United States was President Theodore Roosevelt, who warned that the failure of couples of Anglo-Saxon heritage to produce large families would lead to “race suicide.”

Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov

Concept of conditioned reflex - a response (salivation) elicited by a stimulus (the tuning

fork) other than the one that first produced it (food)—was used by psychologists as a new tool,

as a means of exploring the development of behavior.

They could begin to account for behavior as the product of prior experience.

TheoryPavlov concluded that he was able to pair a neutral

stimulus with an excitatory one and have the neutral stimulus eventually elicit the response the was

associated with the original, unlearned reflex. In Classical Conditioning terminology, an unconditioned stimulus

(US) is an event that causes a response to occur, which is referred to as the unconditioned response (UR). And, in

Pavlov's study with dogs, the food within the dog's mouth is the US, and the salivation that results is the UR. Pavlov took a step further and added an element known as the nonexcitatory, conditioned stimulus (CS), which is

paired with the US.

• Pavlov used a metronome as the CS which he rang first, then fed the dogs. This pairing would eventually establish the dog's conditioned response of salivating to the sound of the metronome. After repeating this procedure several times, Pavlov was able to remove the US (food) and by only ringing the bell the dogs would salivate (CR). Since the bell alone now produced the unconditioned response (salivation), the association had been established (Conditioned). Pavlov continued to present the CS with any pairing with the US until the CR no longer occurred. This elimination of the CR is known as extinction. However, waiting a few days and then reintroducing ticking metronome resulted in the dogs once again salivating to the CS. Pavlov termed this, spontaneous recovery.

Pavlov continued of the conditioned response. He replaced the metronome with other stimuli for use as

the CS. He conditioned the dogs using a buzzer, the flash of a light, a touch on the dog's harness, and the use of different pitches of a whistle in which the dogs had to

differentiate between to determine which pitch resulted in access to food.

Pavlov's experimental research gained much respect throughout Russia as well as America and the rest of the nations. Although he began his investigations late in life he managed to develop the major constructs of a fully

realized field of learning. He summarized his discoveries in his remarkable book, Conditioned Reflexes.

John B. Watson

Behaviorists stressed investigating observable behavior.

Psychology should concern itself only with the observable facts of behavior.

All behavior, even instinctive behavior, is the result of conditioning and occurs because the

appropriate stimulus is present in the environment.

Nature vs. Nurture

The Little Albert StudyIn 1920 Watson and an assistant, Rosalie Rayner, published one of the most famous research studies of the past century. Watson attempted

to condition a severe emotional response in Little Albert, a nine-month-old child. Watson determined that white, furry objects, such as

a rat, a rabbit, and cotton, did not produce any negative reaction in the baby. But by pairing together a neutral stimulus (white, furry animals and objects) with an unconditioned stimulus (a very loud

noise) that elicited an unconditioned response (fear), Watson was able to create a new stimulus-response link: When Albert saw white, furry objects, this conditioned stimulus produced a conditioned response of fear. This study is generally presented as a seminal work that provided

evidence that even complex behaviors, such as emotions, could be learned through manipulation of one's environment. As such, it

became a standard bearer for behaviorist approaches to learning and is still widely cited in the early twenty-first century.

B. F. Skinner Contemporary American Psychologist

B. F. Skinner Refined and popularized behaviorist position.

Attempted to show how, in principle, his laboratory techniques might be applied to

society as a whole. Utopia Widely criticized , many people think that he

seeks to limit personal freedom with his “manipulative” conditioning techniques. Reinforcement , or controlled reward and

punishment, increasingly popular in education., modern computer education programs

With pigeons, he developed the ideas of "operant conditioning" and "shaping behavior."

Unlike Pavlov’s "classical conditioning," where an existing behavior (salivating for food) is shaped by

associating it with a new stimulus (ringing of a metronome)

operant conditioning is the rewarding of a partial behavior or a random act that approaches the

desired behavior.

Operant conditioning can be used to shape behavior. If the goal is to have a pigeon turn in a circle to the left, a reward is given for any small movement to the left. When

the pigeon catches on to that, the reward is given for larger movements to the left, and so on, until the pigeon has

turned a complete circle before getting the reward. Skinner compared this learning with the way children learn to talk -- they are rewarded for making a sound that is sort of like a word until in fact they can say the word. Skinner believed other complicated tasks could be broken down in this way

and taught. He even developed teaching machines so students could learn bit by bit, uncovering answers for an immediate "reward." They were quite popular for a while, but fell out of favor. Computer-based self-instruction uses

many of the principles of Skinner's technique.

Humanistic Psychology

Abraham Maslow Rollo May

Carl Rogers

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Humanistic Psychology has given rise to a subject called the Positive Psychology in 21st

century. Positive psychology is the scientific study of

human happiness. The history of psychology as a science shows that the field has been primarily dedicated to

address mental illness rather than mental wellness.

Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers and Erich Fromm, developed successful theories and practices that involved human happiness despite there being alack of solid empirical evidence behind their work.