PDF_01Introduction to Psychology.pdf

8/13/2019 PDF_01Introduction to Psychology.pdf

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Chapter 1Organizations, Work, and Applied

Psychology



OBJECTIVES

• Define psychology.• Explain Psychology as a Science.• Elucidate the characteristics of

Science.• Describe the nature and

characteristics of behaviour.• Explain ‘Pseudo -Psychology’. • Identify the tasks of Psychology.

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Just what is Psychology?

Psychology conjures up images of mental disorders andabnormal behavior.

Psychologists do study the strange and unusual, but they are

interested in the normal and commonplace as well.Just what is psychology?

Today psychology is defined as the scientific study ofbehavior and mental processes.



Science or common sense?

1. Memory is more accurate underhypnosis.2. All people dream during a night of

normal sleep.3. As the number of bystanders at anemergency increases, the time ittakes for the victim to get helpdecreases.

4. Humans do not have a maternalinstinct.5. Older adults tend to express lesssatisfaction with life in general thanyounger adults.

6. Eyewitness testimony is oftenunreliable.7. Children with high IQs tend to be

less able physically than their peers.8. Creativity and high intelligence donot necessarily go together.9. When it comes to close personalrelationships, opposites attract.

10. The majority of teenagers havegood relationships with theirparents.

Indicate whether each statement is true (T) or false (F).



Science or common sense?

All of the odd-numbered items are false,and all of the even-numbered items aretrue.

So, common sense, alone, will not takeyou very far in your study of psychology.



1.2 PSYCHOLOGY: ITS ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION

• The origin of psychology dates back to 1870s. The term‘Psychology’ is derived from two Greek words; Psyche means“soul or breath ” and Logos means “knowledge or study ”(study or investigation of something).

• The word ‘Psychology’ was not in common use before thenineteenth century, and the field of psychology did notactually become an independent science until the middle

of the nineteenth century.• German Professor Wilhelm Wundt established the first

psychology laboratory at the university of Leipzig, Germany in1879.

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1.3.3 Nature and Characteristics of Behaviour

• Behaviour is influenced by a number of factors• Behaviour varies in complexity.• The factors influencing behaviour are of different kinds•

Behaviour is influenced by two large sets of factors:• i) Those belonging to the individual; and• ii) Those belonging to the environment .

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Characteristics of Science

• Empirical observation• Psychology, as a science, is first of all, and above all, empirical.

That is to say, it rests on experiment and observation, ratherthan on argument, opinion, or belief.

• Systematic approach and theory• Data from observations and experiments are essential to

science, but for them “to make some sense” in helping us tounderstand events, they must be ordered in some way. Thescientist tries to find a limited number of principles which will

• summarize the data economically. Scientific theories areimportant tools for the organisation of data.

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Psychology: What it is and what it is not

• Psychology, like all academic disciplines, has its own conceptssuch as intelligence, personality, stress, learning, memory,thinking, perception etc.

• The goals of psychology, like other sciences, are to describe,explain, predict and control (Coon & Mitterer, 2008) the

phenomena it studies.• Psychology, thus, attempts to describe, explain, predict and

control behaviour and mental processes.• Psychology as a science of behaviour, attempts to explain the

‘why’ and ‘how’ of behaviour.

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Pseudo-Sciences/Pseudo-Psychology

• A Pseudopsychology is any unfounded system thatsuperficially resembles psychology.

• Many pseudopsychologies give the appearance of

science but are actually false. ( Pseudo means“false”).

• Pseudopsychologies change little over time becausetheir followers avoid evidence that contradicts theirbeliefs.

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The Tasks of Psychology

• Parameswaran & Beena (2002) have suggested the tasks ofpsychology, which are described as follows:

• 1) Firstly, a science of behaviour should observe, investigateand identify factors which influence behaviour and also assesstheir relative influences.

• 2) It must investigate the role of each of these factors,separately and together in producing similarities anddifferences in behaviour.

• 3) Based on these investigations, psychology should arrive atgeneralisations in the form of theories, laws and principlesexplaining the similarities and also the differences inbehaviour

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• 4) It should also explain the complimentary functions of thefactors and the processes, in generating similarities as well asdifferences among people.

• 5) Since behaviour is purposive , psychology must investigatethe nature, kinds and number of purposes, their origin anddevelopment, and the relationship among them.

• 6) Since behaviour changes , it is the responsibility ofpsychology to study and explain the nature of such changes,kinds, the processes which govern them and the interactionamong different kinds of changes.

• 7) While changes in behaviour are to be understood, stabilityand consistency in behaviour also need to be explained.

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• 8) The master concern of psychology is to explainhow change and stability, similarities and differences,

are organized and integrated to produce bothgenerality and uniqueness in behaviour.

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WORK

What would you do if you won 10 million in a lottery?

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Why do people work?

• Personal satisfaction• Fulfillment

•

Pride of accomplishment• Emotional security

• Self-esteem• Identity and status

• The single most reliable predictor of long lifeis satisfaction with one’s job.

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Where does I/O Psychology come in?

• It helps people in choosing a job.• Knowing how to get along with others can be

the difference between success and failures

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What I-O Psychologists means to your employer?

• They promote efficiency, improve morale, andincrease company profits.

• Help reduce turnover.• Help increase job satisfaction.• Appropriate psychological tests help to ensure

that the right persons get in.

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SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Identify a Research Problem

Design a StudyCollect and Analyze DataDraw ConclusionsCommunicate findings



The Scientific Method

Psychologists, like all scientists, use the

scientific method to construct theories thatorganize, summarize and simplifyobservations.



A theory is an explanation that integratesprinciples and organizes and predicts

behavior or events.

For example, low self-esteem contributes todepression.

Constructing Theories



A hypothesis is a testable prediction, oftenprompted by a theory, to enable us to

accept, reject or revise the theory.

People with low self-esteem are apt to feelmore depressed.

Hypothesis





How does the scientific method work

The classical approach to solving anything inscience starts with a "problem," which throughexperimentation and prediction, evolves

through the "hypothesis" and "theory" stagesinto a scientific "law."



The Scientific MethodConstructing Theories

Description

Experimentation

Frequently Asked QuestionsAbout Psychology





Limits of Intuition

Personnel interviewers mayrely too much on their “gut

feelings” when meetingwith job applicants.



Hindsight Bias is the “I -knew-it-all- along”phenomenon.

After learning the outcome of an event, manypeople believe they could have predicted that very

outcome.

Hindsight Bias





The Scientific Attitude

The scientific attitudeis composed of

curiosity (passion forexploration),

skepticism (doubtingand questioning) and

humility (ability toaccept responsibility

when wrong).

C o ur t e s y

of

t h e J a m e s R

a n d i E

d u c a t i onF

o un d a t i on

The Amazing James Randi



The Scientific Attitude

Critical thinking does not accept argumentsand conclusions blindly.

It examines assumptions, discerns hiddenvalues, evaluates evidence and assesses

conclusions.




Psychologists, like all scientists, use the

scientific method to construct theories thatorganize, summarize and simplifyobservations.




The scientific method consists of the orderly,systematic procedures that researchers follow

as they identify a research problem, design astudy to investigate the problem, collect andanalyze data, draw conclusions, andcommunicate their findings.

(Formal Definition)




1. Wild and Crazy Idea If we assume that all science starts as science fiction,I like this terminology better than just calling it a”research problem." Getting beyond this involvessetting up experiments to verify your idea.




2. Hypothesis If your experimental data fail to support your idea,

you'll need to go back to Step 1. If yourexperiments do support your idea, move on toStep 3.






4. Law This is where most discussions of the scientific method

end. However, I feel two additional steps are almostguaranteed to occur.

“scientific law: 1. A natural phenomenon that hasbeen proven to occur invariably whenever certain

conditions are met. 2. A formal statementdescribing such a phenomenon and the conditionsunder which it occurs.” Also just called a law.




5. Dogma

Laws tend to be supported to such an extent that they almostbecome dogma. Take gravity for example. When is the last time youdropped a pencil and it floated away. Pretty stupid idea, huh? We areall so sure that gravity isTHE LAW that we don't even

consider the possibility thatthere may be exceptions orsituations when it breaksdown and doesn't work.

This leads to the last and final stage:









Personnel Psychology

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• Branch of Applied Psychology• Subfield of Industrial Organizational Psychology

– Focuses• Differences in individuals’ behaviors• Job performances• Methods to measure and predict these

differences







APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY VALUES




1. “In a free society, every individual,regardless of race, age, gender,disability, religion, national origin, orother characteristics, has a fundamentaland inalienable right to compete for any

job for which he or she is qualified.”

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D S C O OG V U S

2 .“Society can and should do a better job of making the wisest and mosthumane use of its humanresources.”

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3. Human resource professionalsand managers must be astechnically competent and

well-informed as possible tobest influence the lives ofindividuals .

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Changes to the“world of work”

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• Globalization pervasive• Technology less expensive• Mergers & acquisitions common• Structure & design

Gl b li i



Globalization

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• Complex work routine -> outsource• Management information centralized ->

downsize



ANNAGRAM• 1. BLEAT- TABLE• 2. TRIAL- TRIAL• 3. TWIER-WRITE• 4. CHEAT-TEACH• 5. DEFAT-FATED• 6. EPHOD-HOPED• 7. PINTO-POINT• 8. TAWER-WATER• 9. OLEOS-LOOSE• 10. GRATE-GREAT

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T h l l i



Technology less expensive

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• More work for fewer employees withcontinuous training

Oth t h l ff t



Other technology effects

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• DIGITAL DATA – Distance no longer meaningful – Virtual offices & managers – versus “human” manager – Change may be the only constant – Education is never completed – Distractions may be more costly

• Spam mail• IM’ing , texting, video mail,• software viruses, trojans,• twittering, social networking,• online shopping, gaming …

•

M & A i iti



Mergers & Acquisitions

• Psychological Contract loss – job insecurity•

Perspective shift to employability security

Documents

PDF_01Introduction to Psychology.pdf