PSYCHOLOGY

An Introduction to
Psychology.
Chapter 1.1
BY:
Alex Malayi Wati, MA, MPhil
Department of Psychology
University of Eastern Africa, Baraton
 Chapter 1 Learning Objectives
 LO 1.1 Definition and goals of psychology
 LO 1.2 Structuralism and functionalism
 LO 1.3 Early Waves of Psychology: Introspection, Gestalt, psychoanalysis,
behaviorism and Eclectic
 LO 1.4 Modern perspectives
 LO 1.5 Skinner, Maslow, and Rogers
 LO 1.6 Psychiatrist, psychologist, and other professionals
 LO 1.7 Psychology is a science; steps in scientific method
 LO 1.8 Naturalistic and laboratory settings
 LO 1.9 Case studies and surveys
 LO 1.10 Correlational technique
 LO 1.11 Experimental approach and terms
 LO 1.12 Placebo and the experimenter effects
 LO 1.13 Conducting a real experiment
 LO 1.14 Ethical concerns in conducting research
 LO 1.15 Principles of critical thinking
 LO 1.16 Apply critical thinking to a real world example
 Psychology
What is it?
 One of the GRs for general knowledge and
personal use is psychology.
 The study of psychology is a philosophical
context that dates back to the ancient
civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, India,
and Persia. Historians
. point to the writings
of ancient Greek philosophers, such as
Thales, Plato, and Aristotle as the first
significant body of work in the West to be
rich in psychological thought (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
 What is Psychology?
 Novelist Herman Melville (1928) remarks that we cannot
live for ourselves alone; our lives are connected by a
thousand invisible threads. Psychology explores these
connections by studying how; we think, influence, and
relate to one another. How do we explain people’s
behavior? How do we form our beliefs and attitudes? And
how does what we think affect what we do? All these are
better understood thro’ knowledge of psychology.
 Psychology touches every aspect of our lives. That since
our society has become more complex, psychology has
assumed an increasingly important role in solving human
problems. For instance, what child rearing methods
produce happy and effective adults, how can mental
illness be prevented? What family and social conditions
contribute to alienation, aggression and crime?
What is Psychology?

 Thescientific study of behavior and

mental processes and how they are
affected by an organism’s physical,
state, mental state, and external
environment.
 Thescientific study of behavior and
mental processes and how they are
affected by an organism’s physical
state, mental state, and external
environment.
The scientific study of behavior
and mental processes and how
they are affected by an
organism’s physical, state,
mental state, and external
environment.

Humans and many other creatures

are included in the scientific study
of behavior and mental processes
The scientific study of behavior
and mental processes and how
they are affected by an
organism’s physical state, mental
state, and external environment.

Physical state relates primarily

to the organism’s biology - most
especially the state of the brain
and central nervous system
The scientific study of
behavior and mental
processes and how they are
affected by an organism’s
physical state, mental state,
and external environment.

Mental state does not have to be

conscious - can study mental states in
many creatures without their conscious
awareness - and can be studied in terms
of brain activity.
The scientific study of
behavior and mental processes
and how they are affected by
an organism’s physical state,
mental state, and external
environment.

All organisms function in an environment

that is constantly presenting them with
problems and challenges that must be
solved.
Why is psychology scientific or known as
a science?
. Because it relies on scientific methods i.e. use of
empirical methods, research controls and manipulate
variables, objectivity, allows hypothesis testing,
results can be replicated etc.
.Because it was one of the last sciences to be
considered in an experimental way,
Psychologists study overt and covert behavior.
The overt behaviors are observable behavior, while covert
behaviors include private mental processes that cannot be
directly observed or measured and must be inferred from
overt behavior.
Examples of overt behaviours are; laughing, walking,
eating, gestures, facial expression etc and covert behaviour
include the following; Perceiving, remembering, reasoning,
thinking, creating, feelings etc.
 Goals of studying psychology
 Psychologists seek to do five things when studying
behaviors:
 Describe – The first goal is to observe behavior and
describe it, often in minute details, what was
observed as objectively as possible
 Explain – While descriptions come from observable
data, psychologists go beyond what is obvious and
explain their observations why it happened.
 Predict – Once we know what happens, and why it
happens, we can begin to speculate what will
happen in the future. There’s an old saying, which
very often holds true: "the best predictor of future
behavior is past behavior."
 Goals of studying psychology
 Control – Once we know what happens, why it
happens and what is likely to happen in the future,
we can exert control over it. In other words, if we
know you choose abusive partners because your
father was abusive, we can assume you will choose
another abusive partner, and can therefore
intervene to change this negative behavior.
 Improve – Not only do psychologists attempt to
control behavior, they want to do so in a positive
manner, they want to improve a person’s life, not
make it worse. This is not always the case, but it
should always be the intention (Kendra Cherry).
 History of Psychology
 Although the science of psychology started in the
late 1800’s, the concept has been around a lot
longer.
 There was evidence of trephination (cutting holes
into a skull to let evil spirits out) back in the stone
age.

It was like a bad SAW movie!!!!

 Waves/ History of Psychology

 History of psychology dates back to the great

philosophers of Ancient Greece; Socrates, Plato and
Aristotle who posed fundamental questions about
mental life – learning, memory, emotions etc.
 Philosophy deals with the study of the nature of life and life
hereafter. On the other hand, Psychology deals with the study
of the mind and its behavior.
 A psychology attempts to understand the role of the functions
of the mind in social behavior whereas philosophy explores
the various possibilities of establishing the truth about the
Waves/ History of Psychology

 philosophy - ideas of about the acquisition of

knowledge
 psychology - progress in understanding the nervous
system, senses, etc.
 both came together to create the idea of applying the methods
of science to the study of human behavior
 The science of psychology has gone through about 5
different waves since it started. Waves are different
ways of thinking over time.
Wave One: Introspection
The First school: Psychology as a science

Wilhelm Wundt
 Known as the “father of experimental
psychology.”
 established psychology as a separate
field of study with its own methods
and questions.
 first psychology lab, in Germany Dec.
(1879)
 In 1879, used people’s self These guys were
observations about their thoughts considered hot,
back in the
(introspection) to map out structure day!!!!
Wave Two: Gestalt Psychology
• Led by Max Wertheimer, these guys focused not on how
we feel, but on how we experience the world.
• The whole of an experience can be more than the sum
of its parts.
This may seem
like one picture,
but it can be
perceived as 3
different faces.
Can you find
them?

Think for a moment of all the reasons that you love your
mom. If you add all those reasons up, do they equal
your love for your mom? Hopefully not!!!
 Wave Two: Gestalt Psychology
 A group of psychologists who termed their
approach Gestalt psychology, which was
noted for emphasizing that perception of a
whole differs from that of the individual
stimuli that make up the whole,
spearheaded the challenge to the
structuralists’ notion that conscious
experience could be broken down into
elements.
 The key members of this group were Max
Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt
Koffka.
Wave Three: Psychoanalysis
 This wave of thinking started with Sigmund
Freud (in the early 1900’s).
 He was a renown personality theorist; he
believed that the unconscious part of the
mind plays a crucial role in human behavior.
His work contributed to the current
understanding of personality, clinical
psychology, human heart, and abnormal
psychology. He influenced many other
psychologists including Ann Freud etc.
 He argued that we protect ourselves from
our real feeling by using defense
mechanisms.
 Wave Four: Behaviorism
 John Watson established the psychological school of
Behaviorism early to mid 1900s. He emphasized that
science is rooted in observation, as only overt observable
behavior that could truly be measured consistently from
person to person.
 During this time people started to ignore how you feel
inside. All that mattered was how you acted. If you could
change your behavior, who cares howyou feel.
 Very popular during the conservative 1950’s when social
appearance mattered more than self expression.
Wave Five: Eclectic
 We are now in wave five….which is about variety.

 Psychologists pick and choose what theories to

use depending on the situation and the client.
Just like Ben 10 choosing
the right ally to fight the bad
guy depending on the
situation.
Wave Five is made up of about 7
different perspectives.
In other words, psychologists today, pick and
choose from about 7 schools of thought to
help you with your problems – they are
referred to as current Psychological
perspectives .

Thus we have:
THE SEVEN SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Current Psychological Perspectives
 Psychological perspective is basically an
approach, a method of classifying a collection
of ideas, also called “schools of thought”. To
view and explain behavior from a particular
perspective is simply a way of looking at topics
within Psychology – perspective is an opinion.
Therefore, Perspective is a way of viewing
phenomena in psychology.
 Any topic in psychology can be approached from
different perspectives or schools of thought so
to speak. There are various different
approaches in contemporary psychology.
 Current Psychological Perspectives
 Most psychologists agree that no one perspective is
correct, although in the past, in the early days of
psychology each proponent of a given school of thought
would argue that their perspective was the best, for
instance, the behaviorist would have said their
perspective was the only truly scientific one. However,
each perspective has its strengths and weaknesses, and
this brings something different to our understanding of
human and animal behavior.
 It is important to know that psychology does have
different perspectives to the understanding and study of
human and animal behavior. For instance, if someone
insults you how would you react? May be you will react
by punching that person in the face or just walking away.
The depends on the perspective one subscribe to.
Current Psychological
Perspectives
 Biological (Neuroscience)
 Psychodynamic
 Behavioral
 Humanistic
 Cognitive
 Social - Cultural
 Evolutionary
 Biopsychology (Neuroscience) Perspective

 Focus: How our biological structures and

substances determine a given behavior, thought,
or emotion.
 Biological psychologists – study how physical and
chemical changes in our bodies influence
behaviors. Explains the brain, nervous system,
hormones effect on behavior.
 .Behavior is explained by brain chemistry (what
is happening in your brain), your genetic
makeup, chemical imbalances (neural
transmitters and brain differences) are the focus
of this perspective etc.
 Evolutionary Perspective
 Influenced by Charles Darwin and the Focus
is on innate, adaptive behavior patterns of an
organism. He published his theory of evolution
in 1859 book, “The Origin of Species.”
 He maintained that evolution unfolds
according to the principle of natural
selection, which states that the strongest or
most fit organisms are those that have
adapted best to their environment (survival
for the fittest).
 Therefore, Behaviors that increase your
chance of surviving are favored or selected
over behaviors that decrease chances of
surviving. Consequently, behavior is explained
by how that behavior may have helped our
ancestors survive long enough to reproduce
successfully.
 If a man has
Psychodynamic Perspective intimacy issues
and cannot form
 Focus: How behavior is affected by relationships
unconscious drives and conflicts. It with others.
suggests that both normal and What do you
abnormal behaviors are think someone
determined primarily by from this school
unconscious forces. may think?
 Behavior is explained based on
internal, often unconscious mental
Perhaps they may
processes, motivations, and desires
probe into the
or unresolved inner childhood
man’s unconscious
conflicts. These conflicts and
and discover that
frustrated desires may explain the
he was abused
exhibited behavior among
when he was
individuals.
younger. The
 In order to get better, we must bullying may have
bring forward the true feelings we caused fear in
have in our unconscious. getting close to
others.
Behavioral Perspective
 Focus: on observable behaviors;
Pretend that you thus it does not speculate about
fail psychology mental processes such as
class. You become thinking. It looks at how stimuli in
depressed. In turn, our environment such as
you begin to rewards, punishments and
indulge in observation we receive influence
overeating and you our actions.
gain weight.
 According to this perspective
suggests that behavior is learned
What do you think a behaviorist
and influenced by other people
may do? and events. Therefore, behavior
They would probably is explained based on
ignore the fact that experience or learning.
you are depressed  Classical conditioning - Pavlov
and just focus on  Operant conditioning – Skinner
your overeating.  Founded by James Watson

Maybe make you run a mile every time you eat over 2000 calories.
 Humanist Perspective
 This Humanistic perspective was
developed by Abraham Maslow and Carl
Rogers – who argued that behavior reflects
innate ‘actualization’ sought to understand
each personas unique
 Focus: How healthy people strive to reach
their full potential
 Therefore, behavior is explained as being
motivated by satisfying needs (safety,
hunger, thirst, etc.); with the goal of
reaching one’s full potential once basic
needs are met.
 Behavior is seen as stemming from your
free will and choices that one makes.
These choices are influenced by your self-
concept (how you think of yourself) and by
your self-esteem (how you feel about
yourself). This view of the self and feelings
towards the self- direct you to choose
certain behavior over others.
 Cognitive Perspective
 Focuses: On how people
think and process
information and how that
process may influence
behavior.
 Behavior is explained
based on how knowledge is She rejects
acquired, organized, You meet a girl… you…don’t even
remembered, and used to Hopes are high!!! get digits.
guide behavior? How do you react to the rejection?

 Behavior is explained as
the product of thoughts
and interpretations based
on memory, expectations,
beliefs, problem solving, or
decision making. Some learned get back Some learned to give
on the horse up and live a lonely life
And try again. of solitude.
Social-Cultural Perspective
 Adopts a wider view of the impact of
the environment on behavior. It
suggests that your society or culture
influences your actions.
 Focus: How thinking and behavior
change depending on the setting or
the environment.
 Behavior is explained by the
influence of the society or culture or
other people around. This perspective
attributes behavior on the aspects of
the society such as sexual values,
changes in family structure, or the
lack of connectedness in
neighborhoods and communities.
 How people’s thoughts, feelings and
This is my culture!!! behavior are influenced by their
(this is the point culture?
when my wife rolls  What are the common elements
here eyes). across a given culture and are they
innate or external?
 Scope/Branches of Psychology
 Psychology is the youngest of all sciences and
it is still in the process of development.
However, Its scope is very wide. The scope of
Psychology becomes more interesting and
useful in our lives, when we divide it, into its
branches. It has two main branches:
1. Pure Psychology, which deals with the psychological
research and data which helps to formulate the
principles of activity of human beings.
2. Applied Psychology, which applies the information
given by Pure Psychology, to solve the problems of
actual life. It includes the following:
 Applied Psychology
 Experimental Psychology: which aims at
understanding the basic psychological processes
including perceiving, memorizing, learning,
thinking, etc.?
 Social Psychology: It deals with
interrelationships of people among themselves,
likes and dislikes of people, attitudes and
interests.
 Abnormal Psychology: Studies the activities
which do not conform to the standard of
maturity, i.e.: ineffective ways of adjustment to
life- abnormal behavior
 Applied Psychology
 Developmental Psychology: Studies the
overall psychological or biological development
of an individual at various levels from birth to
old age.
 Comparative Psychology: This branch
compares the mind or behavior of different
animal species or different races of man or
different stages of an individual.
 Physiological Psychology: Studies the
functions of organs in order to understand the
activities of an individual.
 Uses of Psychology to day
 Most psychologists earn an advanced degrees,
usually Masters and doctorate.
 Psychology is used by either in research as
research psychologist or applied psychologist to
provide direct services to clients in various ways:
 Applied Psychologists: Try to extend the
principles of scientific psychology to the
practical, everyday problems of the world
 Clinical Psychologists and Psychiatrists:
 specializein the diagnosis and treatment of
psychological disorders, clinical psychologists
versus counseling psychologists and clinical
psychologists versus psychiatrists
 Uses of Psychology to day
 Clinical Psychologists
 specializein the diagnosis and treatment of
psychological disorders
 clinical psychologists versus counseling psychologists
 clinical psychologists versus psychiatrists
 Counselingpsychologists often work with
clients who have less serious problems than
those of patients seen by clinical
psychologists.
Human Factors/Engineering: design and
engineering of new products - how best to
design new keyboard or telephone touch pad
and the best place to put knobs on stove
 Uses of Psychology to day
 Consumer psychology involved in is the
scientific study of the behavior of
consumers.
 Environmental Psychologists: the
relationship between the physical
environment and psychological processes,
functioning of workers in different
environments and people's sense of
personal space
 Neuropsychologists are trained to diagnose
disorders of the brain.
 Uses of Psychology to day
 Forensic psychologists: interface between
psychology and the law, assisting victims
of crime, profiling criminals and selecting
jurors for trials
 Health psychology is a diverse and rapidly
growing specialty concerned with the
relations between psychological factors
and health.
 Sportpsychologists apply the theories and
knowledge of psychology to enhance
athletes’ performance.
 Uses of Psychology to day
Research Psychologists:
 Conduct experiments or collect
observations designed to uncover the basic
principles of behavior and mind
 Bio psychologists
investigate the biological basis of behavior
 Personality Psychologists
study the differences between individuals
 Cognitive Psychologists
conduct research on memory, language,
problem-solving
 Uses of Psychology to day
Experimental Psychologists
conduct research on sensation,
perception, and basic learning
Developmental Psychologists
study human mental and physical
growth from conception to death
Social Psychologists
study how people influence one
another
 Psychology and Research
 What is Psychological Research?
 Research is a careful and detailed study into a
specific problem, concern, or issue using the
scientific method. It's trying to learn something
by performing an experiment
 This lesson explores the purposes of research in
Psychology and the individuals who observe,
record, and alter our behavior.
 According to Kothari (2003) Research Is a
scientific and systematic search for pertinent
information on a specific topic - is an art of
scientific investigation.
 Definitions of Research
 The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary lays
down the meaning of research as “a
careful investigation or inquiry especially
through search for new facts in any
branch of knowledge.
 Research is a systematic attempt to
provide answers to questions (Tuckman,
1999).
 Assumptions/ opinions/ common sense
that needs to be sifted to find truth
Uses of Psychological Research

 Study development and external

factors an their role on mental health
 Study people with specific
psychological disorder and sexual
disorders pedophilia/ animals
 Develop tests to measure specific
psychological phenomenon e.g.
aptitudes
 Develop treatment approaches to
improve peoples mental health
The Scientific Method
Terminologies
 Hypothesis
 Hypothesis is a statement
of assumption that is
assumed to be true and
can be tested
 Formal prediction about
the relationship between
two or more variables that
is logically derived from
the theory
Example of the Hypothesis-Testing
Approach
 VARIABLE(S)
A Variable is an element or
characteristic under study (to be
studied). It must be testable and
is either independent or
dependent.
A variable is anything that can
vary among participants in a
study.
 Participatingin class leads to
better grades than not
participating.
Independent Variable

 Independent variable is a
variable in an experiment that
is being manipulated by the
experimenter (in put
variable). Condition or
event that the experimenter
varies
 Hopefully the independent
variable brings about change is
known as treatment variable.
 Determines how the groups in
the experiment are divided
Dependent Variable
 The dependent variable
would be the effect of the
drug (the result of the
experiment or outcome
variable).
 Whatever is being measured
by the investigator in the
experiment and used to
compare the experimental
groups.
 It is dependent on the
independent variable.
Examples
For instance, let’s say that we have a
theory that people who drive sports
cars are more aggressive in their
interactions with others. Our
independent variable would be the
type of car you drive (sports, sedan,
SUV, etc.). Our dependent variables,
the outcome of our research, would
be aggression.
 A Theory
 A theory can be defined as a "system
of general principle, facts, ideas and
concepts that provide a framework
for organizing and interpreting
observations."
 A general principle proposed to
explain how a number of separate
facts are related (in order to test
whether it is correct or not in
research)
 Theory therefore, gather observations
(facts), organizes them onto separate
integrated set of principles that
predicts behavior
 The Experiment
 Experimental group - subjects in an experiment
who are subjected to the independent variable
(subjects that are being treated in an
experiment).

 Control group - subjects in an experiment who

are not subjected to the independent variable
and who may receive a placebo treatment
(controls for confounding variables).

 Random assignment - process of assigning

subjects to the experimental or control groups
randomly, so that each subject has an equal
chance of being in either group.
 Controls for confounding (extraneous, interfering)
variables.
 The Experiment
 Experiment - a deliberate
manipulation of a
variable to see if
corresponding changes in
behavior result, allowing
the determination of
cause-and-effect
relationships.

 Operational definition -
definition of a variable of
interest that allows it to
be directly measured.
 The Experimental Biases
 However, there are aspects of research that can
contaminate results thereby reducing accuracy, are called
research biases, intervening or confounding variables and
are of three types:
 Selection Bias – it involves how we select participants to
be used in an experiment – if we are biased in our
selection then there will be a problem.
 Placebo Effect – involves the influencing of performance
due to the subject’s belief about the results. In other
words, if I believe the new medication will help me feel
better, I may feel better even if the new medication is
only a sugar pill.).
 Experimenter Bias – The same way a person’s beliefs can
influence his or her perception, so can the belief of the
experimenter. If I’m doing an experiment, and really
believe my treatment works. . .
Controlling Experimental Biases

 To control for selection bias, most experiments

use what’s called Random Assignment, which
means assigning the subjects to each group based
on chance rather than human decision.
 To control for the placebo effect, subjects are
often not informed of the purpose of the
experiment. This is called a Blind study, because
the subjects are blind to the expected results.
 To control for experimenter biases, we can
utilize a Double-Blind study, which means that
both the experimenter and the subjects are blind
to the purpose and anticipated results of the
study