9th Grade Social StudiesMrs. Anderson

I. Definition of psychologyII. Definition of psychologistIII. Subfields in psychologyIV. Things psychologists doV. Well-known psychologistsVI. Categories related to psychologyVII. Your own definition of psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Psychology is a science based on a large body of social

science and behavioral science research and which is expanding its boundaries to overlap with neuroscience and health science.

http://www.psychologymatters.org/psycdefinition.html

Psychologists study two critical relationships: one between brain function and behavior, and one between the environment and behavior.

As scientists, psychologists follow scientific methods, using careful observation experimentation and analysis to learn more about the world in which we live and its inhabitants.

http://www.psychologymatters.org/psycdefinition.html

Clinical Psychologists Cognitive and perceptual psychologistsCounseling psychologistsDevelopmental psychologistsEducational psychologistsEngineering psychologistsEvolutionary psychologistsExperimental psychologistsForensic psychologists

Health psychologistsIndustrial/organizational psychologistsNeuropsychologistsQuantitative and measurement psychologistsRehabilitation psychologistsSchool psychologistsSports psychologists

Conduct researchStudy social developmentHelp people learnPromote physical and mental healthStudy and contribute to the work

environment

A. B.F. Skinner (1904-1990); U.S. Skinner is best known for his experiments

that lead to the theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning has to do with how we learn to behave through rewards and punishments for certain behaviors. Operant conditioning explains that we make a connection between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.

B. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939); Austria Freud is known for a lot of dealing with psychology.

To name a few dream analysis, defense mechanisms, personality (id, ego and superego), psychosexual development and psychoanalysis.

The id is known as your pleasure principle; it strives for immediate gratification of your desires, needs and wants; present at birth.

The ego is your reality principle; it develops from your id; it’s main job is to monitor the impulses of your id and make sure that they are expressed in a socially acceptable and appropriate manner.

The superego is last to develop; develops around age 5; our sense of right and wrong; made up of two parts, the ego ideal and the conscience.

C. Jean Piaget (1896-1980); Switzerland Piaget is best known for his findings about the

stages of cognitive development that children go through. He said there were four stages:

Sensorimotor: Birth to 2 years old Preoperational: Ages 2 to 6; development of language Concrete operational: Ages 7 to 11; start gaining an

understanding of mental operations Formal operation: Ages 12 to adulthood; development

of abstract reasoning

D. Erik Erikson (1902-1994); Germany Erikson is best known for his theory about

psychosocial development. According to Erikson there are 8 different stages that we go through as we develop through social interaction. They are

Stage 1: Trust v. Mistrust Stage 2: Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt Stage 3: Initiative v. Guilt Stage 4: Industry v. Inferiority Stage 5: Identity v. Confusion Stage 6: Intimacy v. Isolation Stage 7: Generativity v. Stagnation Stage 8: Integrity v. Despair

E. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936); Russia Pavlov is best known for his experiments that

lead to his theory about classical conditioning. In classical conditioning, Pavlov took a conditioned stimulus that was a neutral stimulus and paired it with an unconditioned stimulus so that eventually he would get a conditioned response from the conditioned stimulus alone without the unconditioned stimulus.

This is used to either increase or decrease a particular behavior

F. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970); U.S. Maslow is best known for his hierarcy of needs.

He said that there were five different levels to a human’s need:

1: Physiological needs: basic needs for survival 2: Security needs: needs for safety and security 3: Social needs: needs for belonging, love and

affection 4: Esteem needs: needs for things that reflect

personal worth, social recognition, accomplishment 5: Self-actualizing needs: level of self-awareness;

concerned about personal growth and less concerned about the opinions of others

A. Phobias: an intense, almost paralyzing fear centering on a specific situation or object. It can seem irrational.

B. Emotions: mental states that happen because our nervous system is responding to external or internal stimuli

C. Mental health disorders: when a persons mental states are having an adverse affect on them

D. Problem solving: ability to look at a problem and take a positive approach to solving it

E. Environment v. heredity: both of these factors affect who we are; environment is the people, places and things that we are surrounded by; heredity is certain traits that were passed on to us from our parents (nature v. nurture)

F. Personality: it is a combination of characteristics (behavioral, emotional, mental and temperamental) that make an individual unique

G. Perception & Learning: perception is how we perceive things; learning is a cognitive process by which we gain knowledge

H. Creativity: the ability to use your imagination to come up with new ideas, solutions and/or images

All of the categories previously mentioned are related to psychology because they have to do with our mental capabilities and how that can affect our mental health and behaviors which is exactly what psychology is about (the study of the mind and behavior)

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