Psychology the Science of Behavior and Mental Processes

CHAPTER 1

Psychology—the science of behavior and mental processes

Pseudopsychology—Erroneous assertions or practices set forth as being scientific psychology Confirmation bias—the tendency to attend to evidence that complements and confirms our beliefs or expectations, while ignoring evidence that does not.

What is Psychology? Psychology is a science that seeks to describe, explain, predict, and control individual behavior and mental processes.

The 4 Goal of Psychology Describes what happens Descriptions that clarify concepts so they can be observed Explains what happens Psychologists develop theories to explain observations Predicts what happens Making a scientific prediction is a rigorous process, which seeks To identify relationships between events or observations Controls what happens Help people to gain self control over their own thoughts and Behavior and understanding how others might influence them

Three main branches of psychology: Experimental –do research on basic psychological processes; Teaching-primary job is teaching; Applied-use knowledge developed by experimental psychologists to solve human problems

Psychiatry-medical specially dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders

Applied Psychology Specialties Industrial and organizational-I/O-modify the work environment to maximize productivity and morale develop interviews and testing procedures to help organizations select new employees, develop programs to train and retain employees, market research Sports-help athletes to maximize their performance, deal with enhancing motivation, controlling emotions under pressure and planning practice sessions. Engineering-design devices for easy and reliable human use, discover what went wrong in accidents attributed to human error. School-have expertrise in problems of teaching and learning, diagnose learning and behavior problems and consult with teachers, students, and parents, administer, score, and interpret psychological tests. Rehabilitation-serve with physicians, nurses, counselors, and social workers on teams to treat patients with both physical and mental disorders, hospitals, social service agencies. Clinical and counseling-work with people who have problems with social and emotional adjustment or those who face difficult choices in relationships, careers or education, psychological testing and long-term therapy.

Historical Roots Structuralism-devoted to uncovering the basic structures that make up mind and thought, sought the elements of conscious experience. Introspection-process of reporting on one’s own conscious mental experiences. Functionalism-believed mental processes could best be understood in terms of their adaptive purpose and function. Gestalt-sought to understand how the brain works by studying perception and perceptual learning, believed that percepts consist of meaningful wholes. Behaviorism-sought to make psychology an objective science that focused only on behavior to the exclusion of mental processes. Psychoanalysis- emphasizes unconscious processes.

Perspectives, Views, Schools of Thought Biological-searches for the causes of behavior in the functioning of genes, the brain, and nervous system and the endocrine system. Neuroscience-understanding how the brain creates thoughts, feelings, motives, consciousness, memories Evolutionary-sees behavior and mental processes in terms of the genetic adaptations for survival and reproduction. Developmental- emphases changes that occur across the lifespan. Cognitive-emphasizes mental processes such as learning, memory, perception, and thinking as forms of information processing. Cognitive neuroscience-emphasize brain activity as information processing. Clinical-emphasis the understanding of mental disorders in terms of unconscious needs, desires, memories and conflicts (psychodynamic) Humanistic-emphasizes human ability, growth, potential and free will. Behavioral-finds the source of our actions in environmental stimuli, rather than in inner mental processes. Trait-views behavior and personality as the products of enduring psychological characteristics. Sociocultural-emphasizes the importance of social interaction, social learning, and cultural perspective. Culture-a complex blend of language, beliefs, customs, values, and traditions developed by a group of people and shared with others in the same environment

Research Scientific method-a 5 step process for empirical investigation of a hypothesis under conditions designed to control biases and subjective judgments Empirical investigation=research that relies on sensory experience and observation as research data. Theory-testable explaationfor a set of facts or observation, not just a speculation or guess. Hypothesis-statement predicting the outcome of a scientific study, describing the relationship among variables in a study Operational definitions-specific questions of concepts involving the conditions of a scientific study, stated in terms of how the concepts are to be measured o what operations are being employed to produce them Independent variable-experimenter changes it independently of all the other carefully controlled experimental conditions. Random presentation-process by which chance alone determines the order in which the stimulus is presented. Data-pieces of information gathered by a researcher to be used in testing a hypothesis. Dependent variable-measured outcome of a study, the responses of the subjects in a study. Replicate-doing a study over to see whether the same results are obtained, a control for bias, often done by someone other than the original researcher. Experiment-researcher controls all the conditions and directly manipulates the conditions, including the independent variable. Placebo-substances that appear to be drugs but are not., referred to as “sugar pills” Experimental group-participants in an experiment who are exposed to the treatment of interest. Control group-participants who are used as a comparison for the experimental group, not given the special treatment of interest. Random assignment-used to assign individuals to various experimental conditions by chance alone. Correlational study-form of research in which the relationship between variables is studied but without the experimental manipulation of an independent variable cannot determine cause and effect relationships. Positive correlation-indicating that the variables change simultaneously in the same direction Negative correlation-indicating that the variables change simultaneously in opposite directions. Survey-descriptive research, involving seeking people’s responses to a prepared set of verbal items. Naturalistic observation-descriptive research involving behavioral assessment of people or animals in their home surroundings. Case study-involving a single individual. Personal bias-researcher allowing personal beliefs to affect the outcome of a study. Expectancy bias-allowing researcher’s expectations to affect the outcome of a study. Double-blind Study-both researchers and participants are uniformed about the nature of the independent variable being administered.