Lecture #1

Psychology
(Prologue)

*What is Psychology?
-it has only been around a little while (150 years)
-but the definition has changed over time

1) First definition:
-Wilhelm Wundt
-opened first psychology lab
-University of Liepzig (c. 1879)
-originally trained physiologist/philosopher
-his definition: Psychology is the science of mental life.
-his technique: introspection
-no longer used
-trained observers think about a concept and break it into its elements –
the elemental structure of the human mind
(e.g. a snowball -> parts: cold, white, wet, hard, etc… - they blend in the
mind to create the concept of a snowball)

2) Second definition:
-John B. Watson
-American (1920’s)
-believed Wundt was wrong to claim you can observe/study thoughts
-his definition: Psychology is the study of observable behavior.

3) Current definition:
Psychology is the science of behavior (what we do) and mental processes
(sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings).

*The Five Perspectives Used to Study Psychology (behavior and mental processes)
-see table in book
- seven are listed, but we lump the first three together

1) Biological perspective
-Any explanation of behavior and mental processes that uses biological
processes

a) Neuroscience
-How does the brain give rise to a mental process?
(e.g. high levels of anger are traced to the amygdala in the limbic system)
 b) Evolutionary
-What is it about the normal course of human history that allowed certain
traits (e.g. anger) to remain in us?
-How did the trait help in the survival of our species so that we could pass
on our genes?

c) Behavior(al) genetics
-part of us is in our genes (inherited)
-part of us is in our environment
-the question:
How much does each cause (genes and environment) contribute to
a trait?

2) Behavioral perspective
-How do environmental forces (stimuli in the environment) trigger a
psychological state?
(e.g. anger could be caused by violent movies or by hitting your hand with a
hammer)

3) Cognitive perspective
-How thoughts/interpretations of a situation create a psychological state
(e.g.
-your mom tells you that you are not as bright as you siblings. You can
interpret it as her trying to motivate you or just an insult, and you have a
different reaction depending
-cognitive therapists: depressed patients interpret things negatively)

4) Sociocultural perspective
-How does expression vary across cultures?
-your culture influences your behavior (e.g. you may be angry because you live in
an angry culture)

5) Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic perspective
-How does your unconscious produce certain thoughts/ psychological states?
-your unconscious is formed by your childhood experiences

-No perspective is better or worse, just different

*Subfields

-Basic research
~30% of psychologists (e.g. university psychologists)
-Goal: build up a knowledge base of facts
 (e.g. developmental psych – study of children “from the womb to the tomb” – set
of facts parents/teachers can use (e.g. milestones – what cognitive abilities should
a child have a certain age?))

-Applied research
~10% of psychologists
-Goal: to tackle practical problems
(e.g. industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology – try to make workers more
productive/happy – try to improve worker placement)

-Clinical
-most psychologists (~60%)
-Goal: treatment/professional services

*Recent Trends

-70% of all degrees have gone to women (huge change from the beginning)

-The number of psychologists has grownfyhujk

(e.g. in Britain, the number of psychologists had grown exponentially since the 1940’s)

Chapter 1
Thinking Critically With Psychological Science

-you may think disagree that psychology is a science, that it is just common sense
-Psychology is not just common sense
-intuitions can mislead you, psychologists use science to point out how
-We need a scientific attitude to do psychology

-Demonstration:
-Let’s Make a Deal – you get to choose between door 1, door 2, or door 3
-Our version: you can choose envelope 1, 2, or 3 – one has a dollar in it
-she chose envelope 3
-envelope 2 did not have the money in it
-Should she stay with envelope 3 or switch to envelope 1?
-she stayed with envelope 3 – the intuitive choice
-she should have taken envelope 1 – she had a 1/3 chance of getting the
money the first time, so there was a 2/3 chance that she had not taken it –
if you always chose to switch, you will win 2/3 of the time
-common sense is not trustworthy

*Thinking critically – part of scientific attitude

-recent ads
-Hollywood 48 hour miracle diet
 -independent research – who did it?
-significant weight loss – what is significant?
-Herbal Grobust
-Bradford research institute – who is that?

*Be humble before nature – another aspect of scientific attitude

-if you find evidence which goes against your intuitions, you must go with the
evidence
-avoid hindsight bias (the tendency to say “I knew it all along”)

Psychology as a Science (Cont.)

Research Strategies
-How to psychologists ask and answer questions?

Scientific Method

theories
/\ \/
generate/refine leads to
/\ \/
research/observations <leads to< hypotheses

e.g. depression and self esteem

-Theory: low self esteem feeds depression
-Hypothesis: low self esteem is correlated with depression
-Research: test the correlation with enough accuracy to replicate and refine
the theory

-Theories are constructed to explain observations and then theories are used to
generate hypotheses that are tested by making more observations

-Good theories explain by:

-organizing and linking observed facts
-implying hypotheses which offer testable predictions, and, sometimes,
practical applications

-Demonstration of testing a theory:

-Astrology: does your personality reflect your astrological sign (i.e. your
birthday?)
-Pick from a list of personalities which one fits you without knowing
which one goes with your astrological sign, then reveal what birth
date each sign goes to
-How many people picked their astrological personality? only about 1/6
(chance levels)
-Conclusion: bad theory