General Psychology General Psychology (PY110)(PY110)

Chapter 1

The Science of Psychology

PsychologyPsychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Psychologists attempt to understand1. Observable Behavior (Overt):

Actions or reactions such as speech and physical movement

2. Mental Processes (Covert): Actions or reactions such as remembering and thinking, which cannot be directly observed

Four PerspectivesFour Perspectives

The four perspectives fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw

No one perspective is “better” than another

Each provides information on behavior and mental processes

The four perspectives fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw

No one perspective is “better” than another

Each provides information on behavior and mental processes

BiologicalBiological

CognitiveCognitive

BehavioralBehavioral

Socio-cultural

Socio-cultural

Perspectives Emphasizing Perspectives Emphasizing Internal (Covert) FactorsInternal (Covert) Factors

Biological perspective◦Concerned with our physiological

hardware The brain, nervous system, and glands

Cognitive perspective◦Emphasizes our

mental processes Perception, memory, and

problem solving

Perspectives Emphasizing Perspectives Emphasizing External (Overt) FactorsExternal (Overt) Factors

Behavioral perspective◦Explains that we behave as we do

because of our past history of conditioning

Sociocultural perspective◦Focuses on the impact of other

people and cultures

Behavioral PerspectiveBehavioral Perspective

Two types of conditioning:

ClassicalConditioning

ClassicalConditioning

OperantConditioning

OperantConditioning

How we learn fear and emotional responses, taste aversions, and

certain other behaviors

Involves the relationship between our behavior and its environmental

consequences

Four Goals of PsychologyFour Goals of Psychology

What

Why

Anticipate

Change or Modify

Major Research PerspectivesMajor Research Perspectivesin Psychologyin Psychology

Research MethodsResearch Methods

•Observation•Naturalistic Observation•Participant Observation

•Case Study•Survey•Experimental

Descriptive Methods:Descriptive Methods:Observational TechniquesObservational Techniques

The researcher directly observes the behavior of interest◦Naturalistic observation: The

observation occurs in its natural setting, without the researcher intervening.

◦Participant observation: The observer becomes part of the group being observed.

Descriptive Methods:Descriptive Methods:Case StudiesCase Studies

The researcher studies an individual in depth over an extended period of time to attempt to learn as much as possible about the individual being studied

Scope is Low, but Detail is HighOften used in clinical settings to gather

information that will help in the treatment of the patient

Results of case studies cannot be generalized to other people

Descriptive Methods:Descriptive Methods:Survey ResearchSurvey Research

Uses questionnaires and interviews to collect information about the behavior, beliefs, and attitudes of particular groups of people

Scope is High, but Detail is Low

It is critical to note that the wording, order, and structure of the survey questions may lead the participants to biased answers◦ For instance, some questions might evoke socially-desirable

responses in an effort to make certain impressions on the researchers

A representative (sample) of the total population must be selected at random to avoid biased results and allow results to be generalized across whole population

Experimental ResearchExperimental Research

Experimental Research is observations under controlled conditions

This control allows the researcher to isolate cause-and-effect relationships from the experimental results

Experimental ResearchExperimental Research•Experimental research seeks to establish cause and effect relationships between two variables.

Designing an Experiment Designing an Experiment (Change)(Change)

When a researcher designs an experiment, the researcher begins with a hypothesis about the cause-and-effect relationship between two variables

One of the variables is assumed to be the cause, and the other variable is the one to be affected

◦ The independent variable is the hypothesized cause, and the experimenter manipulates it

◦ The dependent variable is the variable that is hypothesized to be affect by the independent variable and thus is measured by the experimenter

Results

Collect, Analyze, & Interpret Data

Experimental Design

Hypothesis

Problem

Designing an ExperimentDesigning an Experiment

State Problem

Suggest Cause & Effect Relationship

Divide Sample in two groups

Experimental Group

Control Group

Manipulate with IVGive Placebo or do

nothing

Record Data Record Data

Analyze Statistically

Was Hypothesis Correct?

Select Random Sample

The PlaceboThe PlaceboA placebo is a harmless pill that has no

active ingredientsThey are used to make the control group

believe they are receiving the same ‘treatment’ as the experimental group

The placebo effect is improvement due to the expectation of improving because of receiving treatment

The Double-Blind The Double-Blind ProcedureProcedure

A control measure in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know which participants actually got the treatment (experimental group) and or got the placebo (control group)

If the experimenter OR the participant does not know which group they are in, the experiment is called single-blind

Summary of Research MethodsSummary of Research Methods

Data Analysis - AveragesData Analysis - Averages Designed to summarize a set of data with a

single number Three measures of central tendency

1. The mean is the numerical average for a distribution of score

2. The median is the score that is positioned in the middle of the distribution of scores when scores are listed from lowest to highest If there is an odd number of scores,

the median is the middle score If there is an even number of scores, the

median is the average of the two center scores

3. The mode is the most frequently-occurring score in a distribution of scores If two scores occur with equal

frequency, both can be the mode

Data Analysis - VariationData Analysis - Variation

Provides an idea of how scattered a set of results are

Two measures of variability1. The range is the difference between the highest

and lowest scores in a distribution of scores Like the mean, the range can be greatly distorted

by extremely high or extremely low scores

2. The standard deviation is the average extent to which the scores vary from the mean of the distribution A small standard deviation means that scores do

not vary very much from the mean A larger standard deviation means that scores

tend to vary greatly from the mean

Summary of Summary of Descriptive StatisticsDescriptive Statistics

The Normal DistributionThe Normal Distribution