Introduction to Psychology

Psy 101

Katherine A. Ryder, Ph.D.

Course Requirements

• Research Project 10%

• Class work/Homework 4%

• Major Exam 1 20%

• Major Exam 2 20%

• Quiz x3 3%

• Participation/Discipline 3%

• Final 40%

DN=13, Cheating/Plagiarism, Participation

Study Tips

• Slides – Moodle

• Chapter Outline

– Divide / Share

• Key Words/Concepts

– In bold / definitions on page margins

• Flash Cards – Metacognition

• Divide / Share

• Objectives

– At end of each chapter

• Web -> www.worthpublishers.com/myers

– Multiple choice self-tests

Empircism

Empircism

• The view that

– (a) knowledge comes from experience via the

senses

– (b) science flourishes through observation

and experiment

Psychology(9th edition)

David Myers

PowerPoint SlidesAneeq Ahmad

Henderson State University

Worth Publishers, © 2010

The Story of Psychology

Prologue

The Story of Psychology

What is Psychology?

Psychology’s Roots

Psychological Science Develops

Contemporary Psychology

Psychology’s Biggest Question

Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

Psychology’s Subfields

CLOSE UP: Tips for Studying Psychology

Psychology

With hopes of satisfying curiosity, many people listen to talk-radio counselors and psychics to

learn about others and themselves.

Dr. Crane (radio-shrink)

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Psychic (Ball gazing)

Psychology’s Roots

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Aristotle, a naturalist and philosopher, theorized about psychology’s concepts. He suggested that the soul and body are not separate and that knowledge grows from

experience.

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Hippocrates

• The 4 Humors

– Yellow Bile / Summer / Fire / Hot & Dry

• Excess -> Choleric

– Black Bile / Autumn / Earth / Cold & Dry

• Excess -> Melancholic

– Phlegm / Winter / Water / Cold & Moist

• Excess -> Phlegmatic

– Blood / Spring / Air /Hot & Moist

• Excess ->Sanguine

Arabic Roots of Psychology• Galen / Jalinos

– Physician at Roman Gladiator School in hometown of Pergamon, Mysia

– Performed many audacious operations — including brain and eye surgeries — that were not tried again for almost two millennia

– Of Galen’s 600 books, just 20 survive today• Only those works captured and preserved by Arabs exist today

• The works of Galen were not taken unquestioningly, but as a challengeable basis for further enquiry.

– Strong emphasis on experimentation and empiricism led to new results and new observations

– Contrasted and combined with those of Galen by writers such as Razi, Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi (Haly Abbas), Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulasis), Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) and Ibn al-Nafis.

Psychological Science is Born

Wundt and psychology’s first graduate students

studied the “atoms of the mind” by conducting

experiments at Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. This work is considered the

birth of psychology as we know it today.

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t (1832-1920)

Psychological Science is Born

American philosopher William James wrote an important 1890 psychology textbook. Mary Calkins, James’s student, became the APA’s first female president.

James (1842-1910)

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Psychological Science is Born

Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician, and his followers emphasized the importance of the

unconscious mind and its effects on human behavior.

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d (1856-1939)

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Contemporary PsychologyPsychology’s Big DebateNature versus Nurture

Darwin states that nature selects those traits that best enable the organism to survive and reproduce

in a particular environment.

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Nature-Nurture Debate

• Nature-Nurture issue

– The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development pf psychological traits and behaviors.

• Natural Selection:

– The principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

Psychological Science is Born

Psychology originated in many disciplines and countries. It was, until the 1920s, defined as the science of mental life.

Psychological Science Develops

Behaviorists

Watson and later Skinner emphasized the study of overt behavior as the subject matter of scientific

psychology.

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Psychological Science Develops

Humanistic Psychology

Maslow and Rogers emphasized current environmental influences on our growth potential

and our need for love and acceptance.

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Psychology Today

We define psychology today as the scientific study of behavior (what we do) and mental

processes (inner thoughts and feelings).

Psychological Associations & Societies

The American Psychological Association is the largest organization of psychology with 160,000 members world-wide, followed by the British Psychological Society with 34,000 members.

Contemporary Psychology

1. Psychology’s Biggest Question

2. Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

3. Psychology’s Subfields

4. CLOSE-UP: Tips for Studying Psychology

Psychology’s Three Main Levels of Analysis

Psychology’s Current PerspectivesPerspective Focus Sample Questions

Neuroscience How the body and brain enables emotions?

How are messages transmitted in the body? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?

Evolutionary How the natural selection of traits the promotes the perpetuation of one’s genes?

How does evolution influence behavior tendencies?

Behavior genetics How much our genes and our environments influence our individual differences?

To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression attributable to our genes? To our environment?

Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample Questions

Psychodynamic How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts?

How can someone’s personality traits and disorders be explained in terms of sexual and aggressive drives or as disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas?

Behavioral How we learn observable responses?

How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say to lose weight or quit smoking?

Psychology’s Current Perspectives

Perspective Focus Sample Questions

Cognitive How we encode, process, store and retrieve information?

How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Problem solving?

Social-cultural How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures?

How are we — as Africans, Asians, Australians or North Americans – alike as members of human family? As products of different environmental contexts, how do we differ?

Psychology’s Subfields: Research

Psychologist What she does

BiologicalExplore the links between brain and mind.

DevelopmentalStudy changing abilities from womb to tomb.

CognitiveStudy how we perceive, think, and solve problems.

Personality Investigate our persistent traits.

SocialExplore how we view and affect one another.

Psychology’s Subfields: Research

Biological

9.9%

Developmental

24.6%

Cognitive

8.0%

Personality

4.8%

Social 21.6%

Psychometrics

5.5%

Experimental

14.1%

Other 11.5%

Data: APA 1997

Psychology’s Subfields: Applied

Psychologist What she does

ClinicalStudies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders

CounselingHelps people cope with academic, vocational, and marital challenges.

EducationalStudies and helps individuals in school and educational settings

Industrial/

Organizational

Studies and advises on behavior in the workplace.

Psychology’s Subfields: Applied

Data: APA 1997

Clinical

67%

Counseling

15%

Educational

9%

Other

3%

Industrial

6%

A clinical psychologist (Ph.D.) studies, assesses, and treats troubled people with psychotherapy.

Psychiatrists on the other hand are medical professionals (M.D.) who use treatments like drugs

and psychotherapy to treat psychologically diseased patients.

Clinical Psychology vs. Psychiatry

Your Study of Psychology

• SQ3R– Survey before you read

– Use learning objective as a question as you read material

– Read, Review, Reflect

• Distribute study time

• Listen actively

• Overlearn

• Focus on BIG ideas

• Be a smart test taker