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What Psychologists Do
Some psychologists research, others consult – or apply psychological knowledge in therapy, and others teach
Clinical Psychologists –
Largest group of psychologists
Help people with psychological problems
Work in hospitals, prisons, universities and private practices
NOT PSYCHIATRISTS
Psychiatrist is a medical doctor and can prescribe medication
What Psychologists Do
Counseling Psychologists
Treat those with adjustment problems
Employed by businesses, colleges and universities
School Psychologists
Identify students with problems that interfere with learning (peer group, family, psychological, or learning issues)
How do school psychologists operate?
Student placement is a major responsibility
What Psychologists Do
Educational Psychologists
Focus on course planning and methods for a school system
Research how learning is affected by psychological, cultural, economic and instructional factors
Developmental Psychologists
Study the changes throughout a persons life
Include physical, emotional, cognitive, and social
Attempt to sort heredity and environmental influences
What Psychologists Do
Personality Psychologists
Identify characteristics or traits
Share an interest in origins of problems with clinical psych
Focus on anxiety, aggress, gender roles, etc.
Social Psychologists
Focus on behaviors in social situations
Examples?
What Psychologists Do
Experimental Psychologists
Research basic processes (such as nerve function, sensation, perception)
Some focus on relationship between biological changes and psychological events – called biological psychologists
Engage in basic research – research that has no immediate application and is done for its own sake
Psychologists: Other Specialties
Industrial and Organizational
Focus on people and work
Environmental
Focus on how people influence and are influenced by their environment
Consumer
Study the behavior of shoppers to predict behavior
Psychologists: Other Specialties
Forensic
Work in the criminal justice system
Testify about competence, problems that may cause criminal behavior, select officers, help officers cope with job stresses
Health
Examine how behavior and mental processes relate to physical health
A History of Psychology
Chapter 1 Section 3
Roots from Ancient Greece
“Know thyself” – Socrates
Introspection – “looking within”
How we examine thoughts and feelings
Associationism – a learned connection between two ideas or events
Ancient Greeks theorized about various problems such as confusion and bizarre behavior
Hippocrates suggested odd behavior was caused by abnormalities in the brain
Middle Ages
Believed behavior was caused by demonic possession
Believed possession was punishment for sins or dealing with the devil
Used tests to determine if a person was possessed
Float test
Birth of Modern Science
Modern psychology was born in the 1800’s
1879 – beginning of psychology as a modern lab science
Wilhelm Wundt
Structuralism – concerned with discovering the basic elements of consciousness
Objective sensations and subjective feelings
Modern Science
William James
Functionalism – concerned with how mental processes help us adapt
Principles of Psychology – first psych text book, 1890
Include behavioral observation
Functional vs. structuralism
Modern Science
John B. Watson
Behaviorism – scientific study of observable behavior
If you reward, behavior is learned
B.F. Skinner
Used reinforcement (if you reward for an action, the action will be repeated)
Modern Science
Gestalt School – emphasize the tendency to organize perceptions into meaningful wholes
Reject the idea that experience can be broken down into parts
Reject the idea that psychologists should concentrate only on observable behavior
Believe learning is active and purposeful
Modern Science
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis – emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and internal conflicts
Psychodynamic thinking – assumed most of what exists in the mind is unconscious and consists of conflicting impulses, urges and wishes
Contemporary Perspectives
Chapter 1 Section 4
Biological Perspective
Emphasizes influence of biology on behavior
Assume mental processes are made possible by the nervous system
Use CAT and PET scans to show what parts of the brain go with which mental process
Interested in influence of genes and hormones
Evolutionary Perspective
Focuses on evolution of behavior and mental processes
Suggest many behavior patterns have a hereditary basis
Focus more on inherited tendencies than environmental influences
Cognitive Perspective
Emphasizes role of thoughts in determining behavior
Rooted in “Know thyself”, along with structuralism, functionalism, Gestalt
Also view the mind as a computer
Believe behavior is influenced by values, perceptions and choices
Humanistic Perspective
Stresses self-fulfillment, consciousness, self-awareness, and capacity to make choices
What is considered most important?
Personal experiences
Friction between humanistic and behaviorists
Psychoanalytical Perspectives
Stresses influence of unconscious forces on behavior
Dominated in the 40s and 50s
(example – a person that intentionally bumps into you may be venting unconscious anger toward parents)
Learning Perspective
Emphasizes the effects of experience on behavior
Learning has different meanings in psychology
Behaviorists are concerned with what an organism does, not what it knows. Focused on learning habits though repetition and reinforcement
Social-learning theory suggests people can change their environments
Social-Learning Theory
People can learn intentionally by observing others
Conscious observational learning provides a storehouse of responses to situations
People can choose to do what they have learned
Have a cognitive leaning – believe people act in a way only when they recognize the situation calls for it
Sociocultural Perspective
Studies influences of ethnicity, gender, culture and socioeconomic status
Ethnicity
Includes study of bilingualism
Vulnerability to health problems
Prejudice
Gender, the state of being male or female
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