Chapter 1

Thinking Critically with Psychological Science

Chapter Overview

The history and trends in psychology

The big question: Nature vs. Nurture

Bio-psycho-social levels of analysis

Psychology’s subfields

The Scientific Attitude: Curiosity, Skepticism, Humility

Description, Correlation, and Experimentation

Pre-contemporary Psychology

Prescientific Psychology………..everything<1879 Is the mind connected to the body or distinct? Are ideas inborn or is the mind a blank slate filled by

experience? Do we have a soul? When did we first begin asking these questions? How long have we been here? Psychology has roots in Biology and Philosophy

From speculation to science: The Birth of Modern Psychology

________________ (4th century BCE) had ideas about how the body and mind work.His method: making guesses.

_____________________(1832-1920) added two key elements to help make psychology a science:1. carefully measured observations2. experiments

Push a button when a ball dropped (based on when they heard the ball hit a platform): 1/10th of a second.

Push a button when consciously aware of hearing the ball hit the platform: 2/10ths of a second.

Wilhelm Wundt’s ______ experimentmeasured the time it took for people to:

Why were the times different?

William James: Emphasized the school of thought that Psychological processes have a function: __________________________________________________________________________________________________

The developer of functionalism, William James (1842-1910), asked: How did the human style of thinking and behavior enable our ancestors to live long enough to reproduce?

James mentored another pioneer

William James

_____________________ (1863-1930) became a memory researcher and the first female president of the APA.

She studied with William James but was denied a Harvard PhD. Why?

___________________.

Psychology Pioneers

Shifting definitions of “psychology”

Wilhelm Wundt and

Edward Titchener,

around 1900: “The science

of mental life.”

John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner,

behaviorists, 1920’s: “The

scientific study of

observable behavior.”

Cognitive psychologists,

1960’s, studied

internal mental processes, helped by

neuroscience.

Now we combine these definitions:

“The scientific study of human behavior

and mental processes.”

Sigmund Freud, founder of _________________________: He studied and helped people with a

variety of mental disorders. More about Freud when we study

personality and therapy

Sigmund Freud

Trends in Psychology: Freudian/Psychoanalytic Psychology

Behaviorists study and experiment with observable behavior.

Watson experimented with conditioned responses.

Skinner studied the way consequences shape behavior.

Like other behaviorists, he saw little value in introspection.

Trends in Psychological Science: Behaviorism

John B. Watson

B. F. Skinner

Humanists: Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers (1960s): studied people who were thriving rather

than those who had psychological problems.

developed theories and treatments to help people to feel accepted and to reach ________________________.

Carl Rogers

Abraham Maslow

Trends in Psychology: Humanism

• Evolutionary Psychology

• is an approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as social behavior, memory, perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective.

• It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations – that is, the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection.

Trends in Psychology: Evolutionary/Biological

• Biological Psychology

• Concerned primarily with the relationship between psychological processes and the underlying physiological events.

• Its focus is the function of the brain and the rest of the nervous system in activites (e.g. thinking, learning, feeling, sensing) recognized as characteristic of human and other animals.

Trends in Psychology: Nueroscience

Pre Contemporary Psychology (Greeks, Arabs, Asians and others)

Structuralism & Functionalism(Wundt & James) Gestalt Psychology (Wertheimer) Psychoanalysis(Freud) Behaviorism(Watson, Pavlov & Skinner) Humanism (Rogers & Maslow) Cognitive Psychology (Beck & Ellis) Biological/Evolutionary Psychology (Focus on brain

functioning and evolutionary forces)

Trends in Psychology:

Structuralism Psychoanalysis

Behaviorism Humanism

Functionalism Cognitive Gestalt

Wundt Hall Titchner Freud Jung Horney Erikson

Watson Skinner Pavlov Bandura Rogers Maslow

James Dewey Piaget Beck Ellis Wertheimer

Cognitive perspective

Social-cultural

Behavioral genetics

Neuroscience

Psychodynamic

Behaviorist

Evolutionary

There are many perspectives for

describing psychological phenomena: From different angles, you ask different questions:

How reliable is memory? How can we improve our thinking?

Could our behavior, skills, and attitudes be “downloads” from our culture?

Could our behavior, skills, and attitudes be genetically programmed instincts?What role do our bodies and brains play in emotions? How is pain inhibited? Can we trust our senses?

Do inner childhood conflicts still plague me and affect my behavior?How are our problematic behaviors reinforced? How do our fears become conditioned? What can we do to change these fears and behaviors?Why are humans prone to panic, anger, and making irrational judgments?

The Big Issue in Psychology: N-N

To what extent are our traits already set in place at birth (our “Nature”)?

And to what extent do our traits develop in response to our environment/ experience (our “Nurture”)?

The Nature-Nurture Question:

vs. Nature Nurtur

e

Plato: Ideas such

as “the good” and “beauty”

are inborn. Descartes:

Some ideas are innate.

____________________: Some traits become

part of our nature through natural

selection: they help us survive long enough to pass the traits to the

next generation.

Aristotle:All knowledge

comes through the senses.

______________:The mind is a

blank slate (blank chalkboard or

screen) “written on” by experience.

Nature Nurture

We have differences

that are shaped by our environment.

We share a common

origin that gives us an

inborn human nature in common.

+

Biology Plus Environment..are part of psychology’s

three “______________” levels of analysis.

The deep level, Biology:

genes, brain, neuro-

transmitters, survival, reflexes,

sensation

The outer level, Environment:

social Influences, culture,

education, relationshipsIn the middle,

Psychology: thoughts, emotions,

moods, choices, behaviors, traits,

motivations, knowledge, perceptions

The three levels as influences on some psychological phenomenon

Example: DepressionExample: IntelligenceExample: Enjoying SoccerExample: Shyness

Psychology’s Subfields

AppliedClinical Psychology

Counseling Psychology

Educational Psychology

Industrial-Organizational

Community Psychology

Clinical Psychology

Basic researchBiological

Developmental

Cognitive

Personality

Social

Positive Psychology

Scientific Attitude Part 1: Curiosity

Hypothesis: Curiosity, if not

guided by caution, can lead to the death of felines

and perhaps humans.

Definition: always asking new

questions

“That behavior I’m noticing in that guy… is that common to all people? Or is it more common when under stress? Or only common for males?”

Scientific Attitude Part 2: ____________

Definition: not accepting a ‘fact’ as true without

challenging it; seeing if ‘facts’ can withstand attempts to disprove them

Skepticism, like curiosity, generates questions: “Is there another explanation for the behavior I am seeing? Is there a problem with how I measured it, or how I set up my experiment? Do I need to change my theory to fit the evidence?”

Scientific Attitude Part 3: Humility

Humility refers to seeking the truth

rather than trying to be right; a scientist needs to be able to

accept being wrong.

“What matters is not my opinion or

yours, but the truth nature

reveals in response to our questioning.” David Myers

____________________________:

analyzing information,

arguments, and conclusions, to

decide if they make sense, rather than

simply accepting it.

Look for hidden

assumptions and decide if

you agree.Look for

hidden bias, politics,

values, or personal

connections.

Put aside your own

assumptions and biases, and look at

the evidence.

See if there was a flaw in

how the information

was collected.

Consider if there are

other possible

explanations for the facts or results.

Scientific Method: Tools and Goals

The basics: Theory Hypothesis Operational Definitions Replication

Research goals/types: Description Correlation Prediction Causation Experiments

You will need to be familiar with these terms and concepts

Take extra time to understand these terms

Research goal and strategy: Description

Strategies for gathering this information: Case Study: observing

and gathering information to compile an in-depth study of one individual

Naturalistic Observation: gathering data about behavior; watching but not intervening

Surveys and Interviews: having other people report on their own attitudes and behavior

Descriptive research is a systematic, objective

observation of people.

The goal is to provide a

clear, accurate picture of people’s

behaviors, thoughts, and

attributes.

__________________Examining one individual in depth Benefit: can be a source

of ideas about human nature in general

Example: cases of brain damage have suggested the function of different parts of the brain (e.g. Phineas Gage seen here)

Danger: overgeneralization from one example; “Joe got better after tapping his foot, so tapping must be the key to health!”

Observing “natural” behavior means just watching (and taking notes), and not trying to change anything.

This method can be used to study more than one individual, and to find truths that apply to a broader population.

Naturalistic Observation

The Survey Definition: A method of

gathering information about many people’s thoughts or behaviors through self-report rather than observation.

Keys to getting useful information: Be careful about the

wording of questions Only question randomly

sampled people

Wording effectsthe results you get from a survey can be changed by your word selection.

Example:

Q: Do you have motivation to study hard for this course?

Q: Do you feel a desire to study hard for this course?

Random Sampling• If you want to find out

something about men, you can’t interview every single man on earth.

• Sampling saves time. You can find the ratio of colors in this jar by making sure they are well mixed (randomized) and then taking a sample. population sample

__________________is a technique for making

sure that every individual in a population has an

equal chance of being in your sample.

“Random” means that your selection of participants is driven only by chance, not by any characteristic.

CorrelationGeneral Definition: an observation that two traits or attributes are related to each other (thus, they are “co”-related) Scientific definition: a measure of how closely two factors vary together, or how well you can predict a change in one from observing a change in the other

In a case study: The fewer hours the boy

was allowed to sleep, the more episodes of

aggression he displayed.

A possible result of many descriptive studies:discovering a __________

In a naturalistic observation: Children in a

classroom who were dressed in heavier clothes were more likely to fall asleep than those wearing

lighter clothes.

In a survey: The greater the number of Facebook friends,

the less time was spent studying.

Correlation Coefficient• The correlation coefficient is a number representing how closely

and in what way two variables correlate (change together).• The direction of the correlation can be positive (direct relationship;

both variables increase together) or negative (inverse relationship: as one increases, the other decreases).

• The strength of the relationship, how tightly, predictably they vary together, is measured in a number that varies from 0.00 to +/- 1.00.

Close to +1.0

(strong negative correlation)

(no relationship,no correlation)

Guess the Correlation Coefficients

(strong positive correlation)

Height vs. shoe size

Years in school vs. years in jail

Height vs. intelligence

Close to 0.0

Close to -1.0

If we find a correlation, what conclusions can

we draw from it?

Let’s say we find the following result: there is a positive correlation between two variables, ice cream sales, and _______________________How do we explain this?

Correlation is not Causation!

“People who floss more regularly have less risk of heart disease.”

“People with bigger feet tend to be taller.”

If this data is from a survey, can we conclude that flossing might prevent heart disease? Or that people with heart-healthy habits also floss regularly?

Does that mean having bigger feet causes height?

Comparing Research MethodsResearch Method

Basic Purpose How Conducted

What is Manipulated

Weaknesses

Summary of the types of Research

Descriptive To observe and record behavior

Perform case studies, surveys, or naturalistic observations

Nothing No control of variables; single cases may be misleading

Correlational To detect naturally occurring relationships; to assess how well one variable predicts another

Compute statistical association, sometimes among survey responses

Nothing Does not specify cause-effect; one variable predicts another but this does not mean one causes the other

Experimental To explore cause-effect

Manipulate one or more factors; randomly assign some to control group

The independent variable(s)

Sometimes not possible for practical or ethical reasons; results may not generalize to other contexts