The document discusses the definition and history of psychology as well as its goals and methods. Psychology is defined as the scientific study of human and animal behavior and mental processes. It has evolved from philosophy and physiology and aims to describe, explain, predict, and modify behavior using scientific methods. Several early and modern approaches to psychology are also outlined.
The document discusses the definition and history of psychology as well as its goals and methods. Psychology is defined as the scientific study of human and animal behavior and mental processes. It has evolved from philosophy and physiology and aims to describe, explain, predict, and modify behavior using scientific methods. Several early and modern approaches to psychology are also outlined.
The document discusses the definition and history of psychology as well as its goals and methods. Psychology is defined as the scientific study of human and animal behavior and mental processes. It has evolved from philosophy and physiology and aims to describe, explain, predict, and modify behavior using scientific methods. Several early and modern approaches to psychology are also outlined.
The document discusses the definition and history of psychology as well as its goals and methods. Psychology is defined as the scientific study of human and animal behavior and mental processes. It has evolved from philosophy and physiology and aims to describe, explain, predict, and modify behavior using scientific methods. Several early and modern approaches to psychology are also outlined.
Therefore: (1) Early definition of , literally the term ‘psychology’ simply refers to the study of the mind, soul/spirit/life or
it is often represented by, the Greek letter psy (‘sayi’) or
‘sy’ Conti… (2). Current Definition In the present day psychology is defined as the scientific study of human and animal behavior and mental process. From this definition we can identify the following:
I. Psychology is a science and Art
This means psychologists do not study behavior with commonsense rather they follow scientific procedures and use empirical data to study behavior and mental processes. Conti… II. Psychology deals with behavior refers to all of our outward or overt actions and reactions, such as talking, facial expressions, movement, etc. There is also covert behavior which is hidden, unobservable and generally considered as a mental process III. Psychology studies mental processes refer to all the internal, covert activities of our minds such as thinking, perceiving, feeling, problem solving, creativity, imagination, knowing, comprehending, conceptualizing, remembering etc… Conti…
The above broader definitions (current one) consist of
two important issues:
A. The subject matter of psychology: what psychology
studies? Behavior is any action or reaction i.e. measurable and observed. mental process -covert/underlying characteristics.
B. Its methodology: how psychology studies behavior and
other mental processes? (i.e., its methods or approaches): critical observation and experimentation respectively. General Purposes/Goals of psychology One of the reasons that make psychology a science is its goal/purpose. Thus, psychology as a science has the following basic goals: 1. Describing behavior(What?) it involves: reporting the clear picture of the existing behavior.
involves observing the behavior and noticing everything about it.
It is a search for answers for questions like What is happening?‘
Where does it happen?‘ To whom does it happen?‘ And under what circumstances does it seem to happen? Conti…
2. Explaining behavior(Why is it happening) It involves:
why did the person do what he or she did? establish cause-effect relationship, especially in the context of experimentation.
Explanation is about trying to find reasons for the observed
behavior. This helps in the process of forming theories of behavior (A theory is a general explanation of a set of observations or facts) Conti…
3. Predicting behavior :– Once we know what happens, and why it happens, we can begin to speculate what will happen in the future and what the future will bring about. prediction is about determining what will happen in the future.
Best saying, : "the best predictor of future behavior is past
behavior.”
\ Conti… 4. Controlling / Modifying abnormal behavior(How can it be changed? ). Psychologists are involved in managing and changing negative or anti-social aspects of behaviors and maladjustment problems through psychological approaches/therapies.
Control or modify or change the behavior from undesirable one
(such as failing in school) to a desirable one (such as academic success). Historical Development of Psychology
Psychology's historical roots are philosophy and physiology
until the end of 19th century, psychology was not a formal independent discipline of behavior.
In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt, who formally considered as the father of
psychology in Leipzig, Germany.
This year is considered as the birth of psychology as a separate
field of study.
Therefore, the subject matter of psychology is derived from
philosophy & its methodology is from physiology. Early Vs modern Schools/approaches/ of psychology There are five early schools of thoughts in psychology. These are structuralism, functionalism, Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis and behaviorism. These schools of thoughts differ in three significant ways:
1. In the object/subject of study ( what psychology should study like
conscious mind, unconscious mind or overt behavior. …WHAT
2. In the goal of study ( analyzing the contents of mind, examining the
function of mind or behavior, considering the effect of environment on behavior.) …WHY
3. In the methods of study like introspection, observation, dream
analysis …HOW A. Structuralism It is the first early school of psychology. was developed by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward B. Titchener. Wundt established the first psychological laboratory, in Germany in 1879. Wilhelm Wundt was the father of modern psychology.
The object of structuralism was the conscious mind
The goal of structuralism was to find the units or elements that
make up our conscious experience or conscious mind.
method – introspection i.e. methods of self-observation
B. Functionalism Founder- William James
Object of study is mental activity
The goal of functionalism is to study how mind affects
what people do.
Functionalists use a method of introspection and
measures of performance. C. Behaviorism Behaviorism was developed by John Watson (1878 – 1958). subject of study is overt behavior.
Goal -to see the effect of environment on behavior.
Watson said that “give me a baby what you want but the baby grows as what I want” this indicates that human behavior is only influenced by environment.
Behaviorism uses observation and experimentation as a
method of study of overt behavior. D. Gestalt Psychology Founder -Max Wertheimer.
The German word gestalt refers to form, whole, configuration or
pattern.
The major credo/philosophy of Gestalt psychology is that "the whole is
different from the sum of its parts. A 13 C D 12 13 14 15
Study object is the conscious mind.
The goal of gestalt psychology is to see the holistic nature of mind.
- Methods of the study are introspection and demonstration. E. Psychoanalysis founder --Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)
Subject of the study is unconscious mind
free association, dream interpretation and
analysis, slip of tongue etc. are used as a
method. Current/ Modern Schools/Approaches/ of Psychology
Behaviorism and psychoanalysis, on the other hand, are
still active among the current perspectives with some
modifications.
Some of the new approaches that have emerged out of
Humanistic perspective The prominent advocators of this perspective were Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
Humanistic psychologists claim that every one has the capacity to
develop to higher levels of maturity and realize his/her full potential if given the opportunity-human beings have free will. Cognitive Perspective Developed by -Jean Piaget and Albert Bandura. focus on how people’s thoughts and explanations affect their actions, feelings and choices. This perspective explains how information in the memory is processed at different stages and thinking about the world influences our behavior. Biological Perspective it is sometimes called psycho-biological perspective
This perspective interested in studying the
effect of the brain, the hormonal system and heredity on psychological function or behavior.
Socio-cultural Perspective- It focuses on the social and cultural factors that affects human behavior(how group membership, cultural rules and values affects attitudes and behaviors,) Subfields of Psychology : Basic Psychologists What they do
Explore the links between behavior and
Biological mind.
Study changing abilities from womb to tomb.
Developmental
Study how we perceive, think, and solve
Cognitive problems.
Investigate our persistent traits.
Personality
Explore how we view and affect one another.
Social Subfields of Psychology : Applied
Psychologists What they do
Studies, assesses, and treats people with
Clinical psychological disorders
Helps people cope with academic, vocational,
Counseling and marital challenges.
Studies and helps individuals in school and
Educational educational settings
Studies and advises on behavior in the
Industrial/ workplace. Organizational Research methods in Psychology 1. Scientific method - a process of testing ideas through systematic observations, experimentations, and statistical analysis.
2. Theory - is an integrated set of principles about observed
facts that is intended to describe and explain some aspects of experience.
3. Hypotheses - is a tentative proposition about the
relationship between two or more variables or phenomena.
E.g. Males have high self - confidence in making decisions
than females. Steps of scientific research Step one - Defining the Problem - noticing something attention catching in the surrounding for which one would like to have an explanation. For example, you may notice that children seem to get a little more aggressive with each other after watching practically violent children‘s cartoon videos. Hence, you may raise a research problem focusing on the effect of aggressive videos on children’s behavior.
Step two - Formulating the Hypothesis –
It is an educated guess about the explanation for your observations, that can be tested in some way.
For our example above, you might formulate a hypothesis ―children
who watch violent cartoons will become more aggressive than those who watch non-violent cartoons Conti… Step three - Testing the Hypothesis –
at this step, the researcher employs appropriate research
methods and collects ample data (information) to accept or reject the proposed statement. For instance, in the above example, the data will be gathered from children who watch aggressive videos and from those who do not watch aggressive videos and make comparisons between the behaviors of the two groups to determine whether watching aggressive video makes children more aggressive. Conti…
Step four - Drawing Conclusions –
this is the step in which the researcher attempts to make generalizations or draw implications from tested relationship
Step five - Reporting Results –
at this point, the researcher would want to write up exactly what she/he did, why she/he did, and what she/he found. So that, others can learn from what she/he has already accomplished, or failed to accomplish. This allows others to predict and modify behavior based on the findings.. Major types of research methods Descriptive research - in this type of research, the researcher simply records what she/he has systematically observed. Descriptive research methods include naturalistic observation, case studies, and surveys. i. Observational Method (naturalistic observation and Participant observation) A. Naturalistic observation: this refers to observation and recording of behavior in its natural setting without attempting to influence or control it. Advantage: It gives the opportunity to study behavior in natural settings. Often provide first hand information it is vital to study certain phenomena that would be either impossible or unethical to set up in an experiment. Conti… Limitations: observer effect (animals or people who know they are being watched may behave artificially Researchers must wait for events to occur; they cannot speed the process up or slow it down. Since researchers have no control over the situation- doesn’t show cause effect relationships. Observer bias-(observe behaviors he/she wants to observe and ignores others). B. Participant observation: the researcher actually joins the group to be studied (investigated) in order to record thoughts and feelings accessible only to group members. 2. Case Study An in-depth study of a person (few students) typically conducted to gain knowledge about a particular psychological phenomenon. For instance, a case study on a man who had multiple personalities Advantages: deep insight into specific behaviors.
Limitations: subjective observer bias; lacks generalization of findings Conti… 3. Survey Methods gathering a lot of information from large number of individuals.
Example. The attitude of university students towards the
cost-sharing program. Advantages It can provide accurate information about large number of participants. It saves time, money, and other resources. Conti… Limitations Responses may be inaccurate. Subjects may give false information because of faulty memory or a desire to please the interviewer.
Samples may not be true representatives of the
population.
Characteristics of the interviewer may influence
responses. 4. Archival studies
Archival studies are an examination of the existing records of
human activities. Researchers often examine old newspapers stories, medical records, birth certificates, crime report, popular books, art works, personal files etc.
They may also examine statistical trends of the past, such as
crime rate, birth rate marriage and divorce rate and employment rates.
Strength-researchers cannot unwittingly influence the subject
by their presence.
Limitation- available records of human behavior are not
always complete or detailed enough to be useful. 5. Correlation Method
This method studies the degree of relationships
between two or more variables.
The degree and direction of relationship is
indicated by a correlation coefficient-a numerical value that ranges from +1.00 (a perfect positive correlation) to -1.0'0 (a perfect negative correlation.) Example- Correlation between ESLCE result and college GPA. 4. Experimental Method A research method shows cause- effect relationship. In an ER there are two groups:
The Experimental group- This is the group that
receives the treatment/IV The Control group – A group that receives no treatment but is created to see the difference created by the treatment given to the experimental group. Randomization :assigning participants to Experimental and Control conditions by random assignment to minimize existing differences b/n the 2 groups. variables in an experimental research
Three groups of variables: namely,
Independent variable( IV)- This is the variable that is being manipulated to see its effect on the dependent variable Dependent variable(DV) – A variable that is measured and is expected to change as a result of manipulating the independent variable Extraneous variable – this is a variable that is not controlled in the experiment but can influence the experimental procedure. Example, The Study of the effectiveness of counseling on academic performance of 12th grade students From the above example answer the following Questions: What is the:
