1002PSY Introductory

Individual and Social

Psychology

Week 1
Introduction and the Science of
Psychology
 Lecture Outline
• Introducing me
• Course Outline
• Course Content
• Course Design
• Assessment
• What is Psychology – historical overview
• How we know in Psychology
 Convenor
• Dr Natalie Loxton
• Room 2.06
• Consultation hours:
o Tues 3-4pm
o Weds 2-3pm
o Please check L@GU for changes to these times
• Email:[email protected]
 About Me
• Background
o Was once a first year student
o Trained in clinical psychology but really a
research psychologist
• Research interests:
o Addictive behaviour (mainly hazardous
drinking & binge-eating)
o Personality (Reinforcement Sensitivity
Theory)
 Etiquette
You are more then welcome to address me as:
-Natalie
-Dr Loxton
-Never, ever, “Nat”

In emails use a meaningful Subject Line please

e.g., “1002PSY Awesome lecture today”
Refrain from ambiguous subject lines (or all
CAPS)
e.g., “Help!”, “URGENT !!!!!”

Also see David Neumann’s email on Monday

 First Year Advisor and SSA
• FYA: Dr Chris Pepping  SSA: Robyn Gede
• Can provide assistance with  The SSA can provide
enrolment, career
information, general first
assistance with study
year issues. plans, learning styles,
• Chris will be running issues outside of uni
Common Time sessions that may impact on your
directly after the lecture in studies
the Auditorium.  Email: ssa-
[email protected]
 Course aims
• Critical understanding of major fields in
psychology
o Developmental
o Personality
o Abnormal / Clinical
o Health
o Social
• Conceptual analytical & problem solving skills
• Foundation for later courses
Course content
 Course Design
Learning Contract
• Lectures (2 hrs per week)
• Tutorials (1 hr per week) and preparation (2 hrs per week)
• Web site forums etc (as required)
• Reading and further study (2 - 4 hrs per week) including pre and post
tests for the chapter
• Students responsible for their own learning.
• Textbook:
o Gerrig, R. J., Zimbardo, P. G., Campbell, A. J., Cumming, S. R., & Wilkes,
F. J. (2009). Psychology and Life (Australian edition). Sydney: Pearson.
o N.B. OR JUST VOLUME 2 of textbook for those not doing 1001PSY in 2014
plus readings on Learning@GU (Chapters 1 and 2)
1002PSY learning@GU site
• PRIMARY METHOD FOR INFORMATION
DISSEMINATION
• Notices
• Lecture notes and lecture capture (course
content)
• Assessment information (research participation,
report, exams)
• Discussion forums
• Course Profile
• Grade centre for mid semester and lab report
marks
 Responsibilities
• Convenor’s responsibilities
o Course design and co-ordination
o Provision of lectures
o Dealing with administrative issues
o Exams
o Learning@Griffith management
• Tutors’ responsibilities
o Prepare and facilitate tutorials
o Provide assistance with assessment and feedback
o Mark lab report
o Consultations around assessment times
 Responsibilities (cont.)
• Your responsibilities
o Attend lectures* AND tutorials
o Complete relevant readings and tute exercises before
lectures and tutes
o Complete assessment on time
o Use resources provided by the university (e.g., peer
support, SSA, Student Services, etc)
o Read and understand course outline (and any updates
posted to Learning@GU)
o Use consultation times with tutors approriately

*Occasionally lecture recordings fail – use them to revise

lecture, not as the primary vehicle
 Assessment
Assessment Task Due Date Weighting

Exam 2nd and 3rd September, during

20%
Mid-semester Exam lecture Week 6

Report 12pm, Monday 13th October 2014

30%
Research Report Week 11

Participation
5pm, Friday 31st Oct 2014
Research Participation (or 5%
Week 13
Alternate Assessment)

Exam during Exam Period

(Central) November Examination Period 45%
Final Exam
 Research participation
• Weighting: 5%
• Due date: Friday 29th October, 2014.
• Time: 5pm
• Requirements: participate in 5 credit points worth
of research participation.
• Students should access the link on learning@GU
https://griffithpsychology.sona-systems.com
as part of this you should receive an email with the link
and their passwords people registering late will need to
contact [email protected] for an account
• Alternative assessment
Mid Semester Examination
• Weighting: 20%
• Date: Week 6 (2nd or 3rd September)
• Time: 9am or 12pm (during lecture) You
MUST attend the time slot that you
enrolled in for the lecture
• Where: Auditorium (M23 Mt Gravatt)
• Content covered: Lectures and chapters from weeks 1 - 5
• Chapters: 1, 2, 11, & 12
• Format: 40 minutes to complete 40 multiple
choice questions each worth .5 marks
 Lab report
• Weighting: 30%
• Date Due: Monday 8t13h October 2014 - Week 11
• Time: 12pm
• Submission: Electronic copy via learning@GU.
• Word length: 1500 words.
• Topic: The topic of the lab report will be explained during tutorial in week 2.
The results and information about writing a lab report will be provided in tutorials
• Requirements:
o You will complete an online survey and recruit another person (i.e friend or family
member who is at least 20 years old), which will then be analysed and you will be
given the results. Link to online survey given out in week 2 tutes.
o You will need to write a lab report, which reviews the literature in the area to set up
the purpose of the experiment and to generate hypotheses.
o You will need detail the method used to collect the data and discuss how the results
reflect your hypothesis and relate this back to the literature.
o Guidance on how to write a lab report will be provided in tutorials but students
should also refer to the “Writing for psychology: An introductory guide, APA 6,
2013” (red book).
o Must comply with American Psychological Association 6th edition (APA 6th).
 Final Examination
• Weighting: 45%
• Due date: During End of Semester Examinations
• Requirements: multiple choice and short answer
questions.

• All tutorials will be assessable as will lectures and course

readings.

• The university expects students to be available to sit exams

during the exam period (i.e., do not book flights
home/vacation during this time)
Resources for students
• Learning@GU course web-site
• Learning Assistance Unit
• Student Services
• Other students – peer support REALLY
important
• New students – common time, peer mentoring
• SSA and FYA
What is Psychology all about?
• Questions Addressed:
 What is psychology?
 How has psychology evolved?
 What do psychologists do?
 What is psychology?
• The scientific study of the behaviour of individuals
and their mental processes (Gerrig et al., 2012)

• Alternatively: the scientific study of :

o Affect
o Behaviour
o Cognition
o & their inter-relationships
What Psychologists Do
 Ways of understanding people:
Current psychological
perspectives
• Psychodynamic perspective
• Behaviourist perspective
• Humanistic perspective
• Cognitive perspective
• Biological perspective
• Evolutionary perspective
• Sociocultural perspective
 Psychodynamic
• Key Figures:
o Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
o Carl Jung (1875 – 1961)

• Inherited instincts, biological drives,

defence mechanisms
• Unconscious expression
• Dream interpretations
• Internal and external forces
• We are not always rational
 Behavioural perspective
 Key Figures: Watson (1878-1958) and
 Skinner (1904-1990)

 Observable behaviour Learning

 Animal vs human learning
 Reinforcement and punishment
 “Skinner box”
 Operant and classical conditioning
 Humanistic perspective
 Key Figures:
 Rogers (1902-1987)

 Maslow (1908-1970)

 Inherent capacity of making rational choices

and developing to maximum potential
 Uniqueness of human experience, free choice,
innate goodness
 Hierarchy of needs
 Self-actualisation
 Cognitive perspective
 Human thought & the process of knowing
& thinking
 Studies thought processes, and the impact
of these on emotion, motivation and
behaviour
 Behaviour outcome of thinking
 Role of perceptions, judgements,
expectations, attributions, etc,
Biological perspective
 Role of genes, brain, nervous
system & endocrine system
 Underlying physical structures &
biochemical processes
 Behaviours are result of chemical and
electrical activities that take place
between nerve cells
Evolutionary perspective
 Key Figures:
 Charles Darwin

 Francis Galton

 David Buss

 Behavioural & mental adaptiveness

 Natural selection
Sociocultural perspective
 Cross-cultural differences in the causes
and consequences of behaviour
 Can be cultural groups within a country

 Can be applying theories across

countries to see if the theory applies to
all human or only to a narrower, specific
population
 Philosophical issues central to
individual and social psychology
• Whether persons are conceived of as
individuals, each of whom is unique, or as
essentially like others.
• To what extent do psychological processes
reflect biological or environmental influences.
 Philosophical issues cont.
• Whether the nature of human beings is
basically egoistic and needs techniques and
processes of education, moralisation or
socialisation to enable people to live together
in groups, communes and states or whether
people are social by nature and it is good or
bad influences that make them social or
antisocial.
• Whether men and women are free and
responsible agents or are determined by
natural and social forces.
How can we know about
the world (especially
people)?
 Direct experience
 Common sense
 Authority figures
 Faith or belief – religions
 Scientific enquiry
 Knowledge in Psychology
• Psychology takes a scientific approach.
o Fundamental to the discipline
o Scientific method in research
o Scientist-practitioner model of practice

• Components of the scientific approach

(Schafersman, 1994)
o Empiricism
o Rationalism
o Skepticism
 Empiricism: The Use of
Empirical Evidence
• Empirical evidence is evidence that one can see, hear,
touch, taste, or smell;
o it is evidence that is susceptible to one's senses.
• Empirical evidence is important because it is evidence
that others besides yourself can experience, and it is
repeatable
o empirical evidence can be checked by yourself and others
after knowledge claims are made by an individual.
• Empirical evidence is the only type of evidence that
possesses these attributes and is therefore the only type
used by scientists and critical thinkers to make vital
decisions and reach sound conclusions.
 Rationalism: The Practice
of Logical Reasoning
• Scientists and critical thinkers always use logical
reasoning
• Logic allows us to reason correctly, but it is a complex
topic and not easily learned
• Emotional thinking, hopeful thinking, and wishful thinking
are much more common than logical thinking, because
they are far easier and more congenial to human nature.
• Most individuals would rather believe something is true
because they feel it is true, hope it is true, or wish it
were true, rather than deny their emotions and accept
that their beliefs are false.
 Skepticism : Possessing a
Sceptical Attitude
• Skepticism- constant questioning of your beliefs and
conclusions.
• Good scientists and critical thinkers constantly examine the
evidence, arguments, and reasons for their beliefs.
• Self-deception and deception by others are two of the most
common human failings.
• Escape deception by others and self-deception by
repeatedly and rigorously examine your basis for holding
your beliefs. Question truth and reliability of both the
knowledge claims of others and self.
• Test your beliefs against objective reality by predicting the
consequences or logical outcomes of your beliefs and the
actions that follow from your beliefs.
• If the logical consequences of your beliefs match (empirical)
objective reality you can conclude that your beliefs are
reliable knowledge.
 Skepticism
• Skepticism is the reason our research is
published in the form it takes so it is
verifiable and repeatable.
• Skeptics are undogmatic.
• Skeptics hold beliefs tentatively and are open
to new evidence and rational argument about
those beliefs.
 Some alternatives to a
scientific approach
• Experience – the earth is flat.
• Common sense – post hoc, predictions are vague
• Authority figure – WMD in Iraq, Children overboard
• Faith or belief – cannot be falsified by evidence.
Therefore no difference between truth and falsehood.
Implications for students in
psychology courses
• Be open to new knowledge and your current
knowledge being wrong
• Expectation of critical analysis of literature
• Expectation of logical reasoning in writing
• What are acceptable sources of information to
use in psychology assessment
 Characteristics of good
psychological research
• Guided by theory
• Standardised procedures
• Generalisable- internal and external validity
• Reliable
• Uses multiple methods including
experimental, correlational and descriptive
research
Empiricism
 Empirical means observable
 Therefore, empirical evidence is
repeatable & can be confirmed by
others
 Without empirical evidence,
‘knowledge’ is merely
supposition
Rational Thinking
 Rational – logical development of conclusions
from accepted evidence or premises
 Critical thinking – weighing ideas on basis of
evidence & argument
 Contrasts with emotional, hopeful & wishful
thinking
 Rational thinking is harder because it requires:
 Abandoning strongly-held ideas

 Effort

 Hard to accept that their beliefs being false

Scepticism
 Holding one’s beliefs lightly
 Science is empirical scepticism – the
continued questioning of ideas based
on new empirical evidence
 Basic consequence of scepticism is
Occam’s Razor:
 The simplest explanation is usually the
best explanation
Implications for Studying
Psychology
 Be open to new knowledge & to
discovering your assumptions are
wrong
 Markers expect
 Critical analysis of literature
 Logical reasoning in writing

 Arguments based on valid evidence

Scientific Enquiry in Psychology

 Scientific Method:
Steps include:
 “Set of procedures used for
gathering & interpreting evidence in
a way that minimises error and
yields dependable generalisations
 Procedures (standardised;
repeatable)
 Interpretation (guided by &
informing of theory)
 Draw conclusions with maximum
objectivity
 Psychological Research Methods:

Experimental vs. Non-experimental Research

Experiments
• Controlled test of the effect of one (or more)
factor(s) on one (or more) other factors(s).
• Experiments involve a person
• intentionally and systematically varying something – we
called this thing the independent variable (IV)
• IVs are variables hypothesised to have some influence on
whatever behaviour is being studied.
• Randomly assigning participants (Ps) to situations where
they are exposed to different levels of this IV
o Measuring some other thing(s) that is expected to be affected by
the IV – we call this second thing the dependent variable (DV)
o controlling for all other possible influences upon the DV.
 Experiments
• Thus, experiments involve:
1.manipulation of the IV
2.random assignment of Ps
3.measurement of consequent changes in
the DV
4.control over extraneous variables (EVs).
5.Experiments allow us to draw conclusions
about ‘what causes what’.
 Correlational studies
• Measuring two or more variables and
assessing the relationships between these
variables.
• No manipulation or random assignment.
• Correlational studies allow us to draw
conclusions as to what is associated
withwhat (but not what causes what).
 Correlational studies
• Correlational Coefficient (r)
• Degree of relationship between two
variables
• Values of:
o -1.0 = perfect negative correlation
o 0.0 = no correlation
o +1.0 = perfect positive correlation
 Warning !
• Correlation does not equal causation
 Example: Self-reported facebook
usage and Actual facebook usage

r = .587, p < .001

Junco (2013)

http://blog.reyjunco.com/comparing-actual-and-self-reported-measures-of-
facebook-use
 Example
Junco (2012)
69% of students reported texting during class.
28% of students said they used Facebook during class,
28% of students said they used email during class, and
21% of students said they searched for content during
class.

Using Facebook and texting during class are

significantly negatively related to overall semester GPA,
But, emailing and searching during class were not
related to GPA….
Statistics and Psychology
• Embrace the statistics !
• You WILL need to know
how to do them if you
want to study psychology
 Summary points to take
away
• Different perspectives in psychology each added
to our understanding of human behaviour in
different ways.
• Different principles and assumptions and
important theorists for each.
• Psychology is a science – uses the scientific
method to gain reliable knowledge about
phenomena.