Chapter 1

Introducing Psychology
 Section 1
Why Study Psychology?
Introduction Warm-Up Question
Answer this question on the card:

Why are you sitting in Psychology class when there are

so many other things you could be doing?
 Psychologists Point of View
They study complex behavior
• Physiological- having to do with an
organism’s physical processes
• Cognitive- having to do with an organism’s
thinking and understanding
 What is Psychology?
The scientific study of behavior that is tested
through scientific research
– the study can involve both animal and human
behaviors
– Some believe our thoughts, feelings, and
fantasies are important, but not always
observable
– the study of behavior must be systematic
 Use of Systematic Method
• Usually asks and answers questions about why people
think, act, and feel as they do reduces the chances of
coming to false conclusions
• Blind men and elephant story
 The Goals of Psychology
• Description
• Explanation
• Prediction
• Influence
 Description
• Describe or gather information about the
behavior being studied and present what
is known
 Explanation
• Are not content with the facts
• They seek to explain why people or animals
behave
• Hypothesis- an assumption or prediction about
behavior that is tested through scientific
research
• Theory- a set of assumptions used to explain
phenomena and offered for scientific study
 Prediction
• Use knowledge and predict what
organisms think and feel in various
situations
• By studying past behaviors, psychologists
can predict future behaviors
 Influence
• Psychologists seek to influence behavior
in helpful ways
• Basic Science- the pursuit of knowledge
about natural phenomena for its own sake
• Applied Science- discovering ways to use
scientific findings to accomplish practical
goals
 Scientific Method
1) Question
2) Hypothesis
3) Experiment
4) Results
5) Conclusions
6) Theory
Famous Psychological Experiments

● Ivan Pavlolv – Classical Conditioning

● B.F. Skinner – Operant Conditioning
● Stanley Milgram – Obedience
● Solomon Asch - Conformity
 Section 2
A Brief History of
Psychology
 The Origins of Psychology
• 5th and 6th Centuries
– Greeks studied human behavior and decided
people were rational and not dominated by
gods
– Greeks set the stage for the development of
sciences
 The Origins of Psychology
• 1500 and 1600s
– Copernicus- published idea that the earth was
not the center of the universe, the sun was.
– Galileo Galilei- used a telescope to confirm
the predictions of Copernicus
– Descartes- proposed a link between the body
and mind
Structuralism Historical
● Wilhelm Wundt- is acknowledged for
establishing modern psychology as a Approaches
separate field of study
○ Set up the first psychology lab in Leipzig,
Germany
○ Two types of elements: sensations and feelings
○ Believes an individual observes, analyzes, and
reports his or her mental experiences
● Structuralist- a psychologist who studied
the basic elements that make up
conscious mental experiences
● Introspection- a method of
self-observation in which participants
report their thoughts and feelings
Functionalism
● William James- taught the
first class in Psychology at
Harvard University
○ Wrote the first textbook
○ “The Principles of
Psychology”
● Functionalist- a psychologist
who studied the function
instead of the structure of
consciousness
 Inheritable Traits
Sir Francis Galton
● Wanted to understand how
heredity influences a person’s
abilities, character, and behavior.
● His study focused on genius
being a hereditary trait
● Did not consider that
distinguished families may also
have exceptional environments
and socioeconomic advantages
 Inheritable Traits
• Scientists recognized flaws in Galton’s
research
• They came up with the theory that “a
person’s heredity and environment interact
to influence intelligence”
Gestalt Psychology
• German Psychologists
– Max Wertheimer
– Wolfgang Kohler
– Kurt Koffka
• Disagreed with the principles of
structuralism and behaviorism
• Believed perception was more than
a sum of its parts
• Studied how sensations are
assembled into perceptual
experiences
Contemporary Approaches
• Psychoanalytic
• Behavioral
• Humanistic
• Cognitive
• Biological
• Sociocultural
Psychological Perspectives Assignment
● Your task is to make an informational poster and interpretation
of a contemporary psychological perspective. (p.17-22)
● Each group must include the following for their topic:
○ General information
○ Key terms
○ Psychologist(s) in the field
○ A visual
○ An example to help explain it (not in book)
● Demonstrate this approach with an interpretation of it by your
group. (All members have a role.)
 Psychoanalytic Psychology
Sigmund Freud
– Interested in the unconscious mind
– Used the technique of free
association, which is still used
today
– Believed that dreams are
expressions of the most primitive
unconscious urges
– His view on the unconscious is a
powerful influence and controversy
 Psychoanalytic Psychology
• Psychoanalyst- a psychologist who studies
how unconscious motives and conflicts
determine human behavior, feelings, and
thoughts.

• Case study- is an analysis of the thoughts,

feelings, beliefs, experiences, behaviors,
or problems of an individual
 Behavioral Psychology
Ivan Pavlov- Russian Scientist
• Salivating dog experiment
● Pavlov rang a tuning fork each
time he gave a dog some meat
powder.
● The dog would normally salivate
when the power reached his
mouth
● He repeated the experiment, the
dog would salivate when it heard
the ring
● The dog was conditioned to
associate sound with food
 Behavioral Psychology
Behaviorist- a psychologist who analyzes how
organisms learn or modify their behavior based
on their response to events in the environment
• John Watson
– Believed psychology should only concern
itself with the observable facts of behavior
• B.F. Skinner
– Introduced the concept of reinforcement
– Is a response to a behavior that increases
the likelihood for the behavior to be
repeated
 Humanistic Psychology
Humanist- a psychologist who believes that
each person has freedom in directing his or
her future and achieving personal growth
• Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Rollo
May are humanistic psychologists
– Believed human nature as evolving and
self-directed
Cognitive Psychology
• Jean Piaget
• Noam Chomsky
• Leon Festinger
• Cognitivist- a psychologist who studies
how we process, store, retrieve, and
use information and how thought
processes influence our behavior
• Believe that behavior is more than a
simple response to a stimulus
 Biological Psychology
• Known today as behavioral neuroscience
• Psychobiologist- a psychologist who studies how
physical and chemical changes in our bodies influence
our behavior
– Have found that genetic factors influence our
behaviors
– Discovered a link between chemicals in the brain and
human behavior
 Sociocultural Psychology
• Sociocultural psychologists study:
– the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and
differences on behavior and social functioning
– The impact and integration of millions of
immigrants entering the U.S. every year
– Attitudes, values, beliefts, and social norms and
roles of the various racial and ethnic groups