Chapter 1 Introduction to Psychology basics

Introduction oto psychology basic concepts revision

1. Chapter 1
Introducing Psychology

2. Section 1
Why Study Psychology?

3. Introduction Warm-Up Question
Answer this question on the card:

Why are you sitting in Psychology class when there are
so many other things you could be doing?

4. Psychologists Point of View
They study complex behavior
•Physiological- having to do with an
organism’s physical processes
•Cognitive- having to do with an organism’s
thinking and understanding

5. What is Psychology?
The scientific study of behavior that is tested
through scientific research
–the study can involve both animal and human
behaviors
–Some believe our thoughts, feelings, and
fantasies are important, but not always
observable
–the study of behavior must be systematic

6. Use of Systematic Method
•Usually asks and answers questions about why people
think, act, and feel as they do reduces the chances of
coming to false conclusions
•Blind men and elephant story

7. The Goals of Psychology
•Description
•Explanation
•Prediction
•Influence

8. Description
•Describe or gather information about the
behavior being studied and present what
is known

9. Explanation
•Are not content with the facts
•They seek to explain why people or animals
behave
•Hypothesis- an assumption or prediction about
behavior that is tested through scientific
research
•Theory- a set of assumptions used to explain
phenomena and offered for scientific study

10. Prediction
•Use knowledge and predict what
organisms think and feel in various
situations
•By studying past behaviors, psychologists
can predict future behaviors

11. Influence
•Psychologists seek to influence behavior
in helpful ways
•Basic Science- the pursuit of knowledge
about natural phenomena for its own sake
•Applied Science- discovering ways to use
scientific findings to accomplish practical
goals

12. Scientific Method
1)Question
2)Hypothesis
3)Experiment
4)Results
5)Conclusions
6)Theory

13. Famous Psychological Experiments
●Ivan Pavlolv – Classical Conditioning
●B.F. Skinner – Operant Conditioning
●Stanley Milgram – Obedience
●Solomon Asch - Conformity

14. Section 2
A Brief History of
Psychology

15. The Origins of Psychology
•5
th
and 6
th
Centuries
–Greeks studied human behavior and decided
people were rational and not dominated by
gods
–Greeks set the stage for the development of
sciences

16. The Origins of Psychology
•1500 and 1600s
–Copernicus- published idea that the earth was
not the center of the universe, the sun was.
–Galileo Galilei- used a telescope to confirm
the predictions of Copernicus
–Descartes- proposed a link between the body
and mind

17. Historical
Approaches
Structuralism
●Wilhelm Wundt- is acknowledged for
establishing modern psychology as a
separate field of study
○Set up the first psychology lab in Leipzig,
Germany
○Two types of elements: sensations and feelings
○Believes an individual observes, analyzes, and
reports his or her mental experiences
●Structuralist- a psychologist who studied
the basic elements that make up
conscious mental experiences
●Introspection- a method of
self-observation in which participants
report their thoughts and feelings

18. Functionalism
●William James- taught the
first class in Psychology at
Harvard University
○Wrote the first textbook
○“The Principles of
Psychology”
●Functionalist- a psychologist
who studied the function
instead of the structure of
consciousness

19. Inheritable Traits
Sir Francis Galton
●Wanted to understand how
heredity influences a person’s
abilities, character, and behavior.
●His study focused on genius
being a hereditary trait
●Did not consider that
distinguished families may also
have exceptional environments
and socioeconomic advantages

20. Inheritable Traits
•Scientists recognized flaws in Galton’s
research
•They came up with the theory that “a
person’s heredity and environment interact
to influence intelligence”

21. Gestalt Psychology
•German Psychologists
–Max Wertheimer
–Wolfgang Kohler
–Kurt Koffka
•Disagreed with the principles of
structuralism and behaviorism
•Believed perception was more than
a sum of its parts
•Studied how sensations are
assembled into perceptual
experiences

22. Contemporary Approaches
•Psychoanalytic
•Behavioral
•Humanistic
•Cognitive
•Biological
•Sociocultural

23. Psychological Perspectives Assignment
●Your task is to make an informational poster and interpretation
of a contemporary psychological perspective. (p.17-22)
●Each group must include the following for their topic:
○General information
○Key terms
○Psychologist(s) in the field
○A visual
○An example to help explain it (not in book)
●Demonstrate this approach with an interpretation of it by your
group. (All members have a role.)

24. Psychoanalytic Psychology
Sigmund Freud
–Interested in the unconscious mind
–Used the technique of free
association, which is still used
today
–Believed that dreams are
expressions of the most primitive
unconscious urges
–His view on the unconscious is a
powerful influence and controversy

25. Psychoanalytic Psychology
•Psychoanalyst- a psychologist who studies
how unconscious motives and conflicts
determine human behavior, feelings, and
thoughts.

•Case study- is an analysis of the thoughts,
feelings, beliefs, experiences, behaviors,
or problems of an individual

26. Behavioral Psychology
Ivan Pavlov- Russian Scientist
•Salivating dog experiment
●Pavlov rang a tuning fork each
time he gave a dog some meat
powder.
●The dog would normally salivate
when the power reached his
mouth
●He repeated the experiment, the
dog would salivate when it heard
the ring
●The dog was conditioned to
associate sound with food

27. Behavioral Psychology
Behaviorist- a psychologist who analyzes how
organisms learn or modify their behavior based
on their response to events in the environment
•John Watson
–Believed psychology should only concern
itself with the observable facts of behavior
•B.F. Skinner
–Introduced the concept of reinforcement
–Is a response to a behavior that increases
the likelihood for the behavior to be
repeated

28. Humanistic Psychology
Humanist- a psychologist who believes that
each person has freedom in directing his or
her future and achieving personal growth
•Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Rollo
May are humanistic psychologists
–Believed human nature as evolving and
self-directed

29. Cognitive Psychology
•Jean Piaget
•Noam Chomsky
•Leon Festinger
•Cognitivist- a psychologist who studies
how we process, store, retrieve, and
use information and how thought
processes influence our behavior
•Believe that behavior is more than a
simple response to a stimulus

30. Biological Psychology
•Known today as behavioral neuroscience
•Psychobiologist- a psychologist who studies how
physical and chemical changes in our bodies influence
our behavior
–Have found that genetic factors influence our
behaviors
–Discovered a link between chemicals in the brain and
human behavior

31. Sociocultural Psychology
•Sociocultural psychologists study:
–the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and
differences on behavior and social functioning
–The impact and integration of millions of
immigrants entering the U.S. every year
–Attitudes, values, beliefts, and social norms and
roles of the various racial and ethnic groups