What is Psychology?

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

• Psychologist attempt to explain, describe, and predict behaviors.

• They examine a diverse set of phenomena and use various types of
research methods.
• Different subfields according to topics of interest
• Different research methods according to perspectives
• Morality and Brain
• Nonmoral, impersonal moral, and
personal moral problems
• Decision making
• 80% lean vs. 20% fat
The Subfields of Psychology
• Behavioral neuroscience: Examines the
biological basis of behavior.
• Cognitive neuroscience: focuses on more
complex functions.
• Behavioral genetics: Studies the
inheritance of traits related to
behavior.
• Experimental psychology: Use
empirical research methods to explore
and better understand behavior.
The Subfields of Psychology
• Cognitive psychology: Focuses on
the study of higher mental
processes.
• Evolutionary psychology: Attempts
to explain useful mental and
psychological traits as adaptations
and focused on how evolution has
shaped the mind and behavior.
The Subfields of Psychology
• Developmental Psychology:
Examines how people grow and
change through the lifespan.
• Social psychology: The study of how
people’s thoughts, feelings,
expectations, and actions affected by
other individuals and groups.
• Clinical psychology: Concerned with
the study, diagnosis, and treatment
of psychological disorders.
• Clinical neuropsychology: Focuses on
the relationship between biological
factors and psychological disorders.
The Subfields of Psychology
• Personality psychology: Focuses on the
consistency in people’s behavior over
time and the traits that differentiate
one person from another.
• Industrial/organizational psychology:
Concerned with psychology of
workplace.
• Sport psychology: Applies psychology
to athletic activity and exercise
The Subfields of Psychology
• Counseling psychology: Focuses on
facilitating personal and interpersonal
functioning across the life span.
• Educational psychology: Concerned with
teaching and learning processes.
• Forensic psychology: Applies psychology to
legal issues.
Working at Psychology
Feldman, 2019
Psychology As A Science
• Structuralism: seeks to describe the basic building
blocks or “structure” of mind.
• Introspection: Subjects were exposed to a stimulus
and were asked to describe what they are
experiencing in detail.
Psychology As A Science
• Structuralism: seeks to describe the basic building blocks
or “structure” of mind.
• Introspection: Subjects were exposed to a stimulus and
were asked to describe what they are experiencing in
detail.
• Functionalism: focuses on what the mind does
and how behavior functions rather than mind’s
structure.
Psychology As A Science
• Gestalt Psychology: focuses on the organization of perception and
thinking in a “whole” sense rather than on the individual elements of
perception.
• ”The whole is different from the sum of its parts.”
The Gestalt Laws of Organization
• Similarity: seeing the same colored rows as groups
• Pragnanz (simplicity): seeing the image as overlapping circles rather
than an assortment of curved, connected lines.
• Proximity: seeing two groups of dots
• Continuity: seeing a line rather than seeing separate lines and angles
• Closure: seeing a tetragon
• Common region: seeing the dots in same region as groups
Today’s Five Major Perspectives
• Psychodynamic
• Behavioral
• Cognitive
• Neuroscience
• Humanistic
Psychodynamic Perspective
• Early 1900s, Sigmund Freud
• Behavior is motivated by unconscious inner
forces which the individual has little or no
control.
• Undermines the effect of social influence and
role of social relationships.
• Little emphasis on the biological/genetic factors
Behavioral Perspective
• Focuses on the study of observable, external
behavior, which can be objectively measured
• Behavior is the result of stimulus-
response relationship
• 1920s, John Watson
• Claims that examining mental processes are not
scientific
Pavlov’s famous experiment paired ringing a bell with presentation of food. Initially, only
presentation of the food caused the dog to salivate, but after a number of pairings of bell
and food, the bell alone caused salivation.
• Watson (1920) – “Little Albert”
experiment
• Classical conditioning of fear
• 9-month-old became frightened
by a rat after a loud noise was
paired with every presentation of
the rat
• Behavior can be analyzed without
any reference to the mind
• Examined how pairing one
stimulus with another affected
behavior
B. F. Skinner – Pigeon Box
Cognitive Perspective
• Focuses on how people think, understand, and
know about the world.
• Study of mental events, but indirectly.
• Measuring an observable behavior
• Making inferences about underlying cognitive
activity
• Considering what this behavior says about how the
mind works
• Involves information processing models of
cognitive processes
Neuroscience (Biological) Perspective
• Views behavior from the perspective of the brain, the nervous
system, and other biological functions.
• Methods of this perspective involves such things as studying the
brain, genetics, hormones, the immune and nervous systems, and
study of heredity.
Humanistic Perspective
• All individuals naturally try to
grow, develop, and be in
control of their lives and
behavior.
• Strong emphasis on free will.
• Personal agency = the exercise
of free will.
Key Issues In Psychology
• Nature vs. Nurture
• Conscious vs. Unconscious
• Observable behavior vs. Internal mental processes
• Free will vs. Determinism
• Individual differences vs. Universal principles

• Should not be seen as dichotomies!