Unit 1: Psychology’s Roots, Big Ideas, & Critical ThinkingPsychology’s RootsFour Big Ideas in PsychWhy Do Psychology?How do psychologists Ask & Answer Questions?

Unit 1: Psych’s Roots, Big Ideas, & Critical Thinking

1.) Objective 1: How has psychology’s focus changed over time?

• early philosophers asked big questions about life

• Wilhelm Wundt – “father of psychology”▫start of psychology

1st psych lab▫attempt to measure

• Freudian Psychology▫ Study unconscious thoughts & childhood memories

500 BCE

mental processes

1879

believed psychology was the science of mental life

1900

Objective 1: How has psychology’s focus changed over time?

1920s

•John Watson & B.F. Skinner▫“scientific study of observable behavior.”

▫ no reference to mental processes

Objective 1: How has psychology’s focus changed over time?

1960s•Humanistic Psychology

▫positive environment & growth potential1990s•Cognitive Psychology

▫Back to studying mental processes▫Study scientifically (brain scans, etc…)

Psychology…

Science of

Behavior Mental Processes

AND

logos = study of

psyche = soul

What event defined the start of scientific

psychology?

Psychology’s Timeline – PsychSim5•3 pages•MAKE NEAT – use rulers•Slides 5 - 9 – 13

Objective 2: What are psychology’s current perspectives & its subfields

PERSPECTIVE FOCUS

Neuroscience (Biological) How the body & brain enable emotions (pain messages, blood chemistry & mood, etc…)

Behavioral How we learn observable responses (are we simply products of our environment)

Cognitive How we encode, perceive/interpret, store & retrieve information

Psychodynamic How behavior springs from unconscious drives & conflicts

Sociocultural How behavior & thinking vary across situations & cultures

How the effects the mental

All behavior is a result of reward/punishment (no mental

process)

How we solve problems – what we remember.

Cause of behavior is rooted in childhood & in unconscious

Objective 3: Explain the four big ideas that are themes throughout this course.

1. Critical Thinking is Smart Thinking

2. Behavior is a Biopsychosocial Event

3. We Operate With a Two-Track Mind (dual-processing)

4. Psychology Explores Human Challenges as Well as Human Strenghts

1. Critical Thinking is Smart Thinking

•science supports thinking that examines assumptions,weighs evidence, & tests conclusions

•questions smart psychologists ask…▫How do we know that?▫Who benefits from this?▫Is the conclusion based on science or

intuition?

Critical Thinking & Statistics…Theory 1:

Emergency room admissions caused by wife abuse increase after the Super Bowl

especially in the city of the losing team.

Theory actually made up by group attempting to draw attention to the issue.

Point: Common sense is no substitute for science.

Just b/c something might be true doesn’t mean it is true.

Theory 2:Talking on a cell phone while driving is just as

dangerous as drunk driving.•Chances of being killed by a drunk driver are

18 in 1 million.•Chances of making a call on cell phone & being

involved in a fatality accident are 13 in 1 million.

▫Difference of 5 in 1 million…..▫Is that statistically significant? Meaning does the

difference make a difference? Is 5 a big enough # that it didn’t just occur by chance?

Point: Pay attention to the significance of numbers.

Theory 3:Men speak 10,000 word per day. Women speak

35,000 words a day; therefore women communicate more than men

Is it possible to use many words and not say much?

Is it possible to communicate without using words?

Point: It is possible to start with a statistic that is true and draw a wrong

conclusion.

You can have true statistics and still have false conclusions.

2. Behavior is a Biopsychosocial Event•psychologists must view behavior from

many levels▫Biological▫Psychological▫Social

•Everything psychological is simultaneously biological

•Nature – Nurture Debate

3. Two-Track Mind

•conscious and automatic (dual processing)▫We do things w/o knowing it

4. Exploring Human Strength

•Positive Psychology (Martin Seligman)▫build a “good life”▫build a “meaningful life”

Does the finding strike you as surprising or not

surprising?

Research has found people with low self-

esteem are susceptible to flattery.

Research has found people with high self-

esteem are susceptible to flattery.

Case Study: Andrea YatesBIOLOGICA

LBEHAVIORA

LPSYCHODYNAMIC Soc-CulCOGNITIVE

Objective 4: What are some limits on or intuition and common

sense?

•Are lie detectors accurate?•Is eyewitness testimony reliable?•Does the death penalty prevent murder?

▫Do states with the death penalty have lower homicide rates have?

▫After states pass death penalty laws, do homicide rates go down?

▫Do homicide rates rise in states that abandon the death penalty?

NO

NO

NO

Lab #1: Testing Intuition Experimenter: last name/class periodSubject: last name

Trial # Switch Correct Wrong Stay Correct Wrong

20 Trials

Objective 4: What are some limits on or intuition and common

sense?

•HINDSIGHT BIAS▫“I-knew-it-all-along-phenomenon”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder” “Out of sight is out of mind.”

▫If two opposite findings make sense, need science to prove.

•How many seconds will it take you to unscramble the following 3 words?

▫WREAT

▫ETRYN

▫GRABE

▫WREAT = WATER

▫ETRYN = ENTRY

▫GRABE = BARGE

10 seconds vs 3 minutes

OVERCONFIDENCE

Point to Remember…

•Hindsight Bias & Overconfidence often lead us to overestimate our intuition.

•Using the scientific method can help us separate reality from illusion.

A.Y. Perspectives Paper

•After you have categorized your observations, you are to write a formal analysis of your findings.

•In paragraph form, you will introduce A.Y. and her crime, define each perspective and select one piece of information from each perspective to explain A.Y.’s behavior

A.Y. Paper Rubric

Paragraph 1: Intro to A.Y. crime (brief)Paragraph 2: Define biological perspective & include one

piece of evidence from A.Y. life to support this perspective. Paragraph 3: Define behavioral perspective & include

one piece of evidence from A.Y. life to support this perspective.

Paragraph 4: Define cognitive perspective & include one piece of evidence from A.Y. life to support this perspective.

Paragraph 5: Define psychodynamic perspective & include one piece of evidence from A.Y. life to support this perspective.

Paragraph 6: Define social-cultural perspective & include one piece of evidence from A.Y. life to support this perspective.

Paragraph 7: Conclude with which perspective you feel best explains why A.Y. did what she did. Must include explanation as to why you believe this.

3 points

3 points

3 points

3 points

3 points

5 points

2 points

3 points

25 points

Due

Wednesday