Introduction to Psychology

History & Research Methods

Caroline M. Clements, Ph.D.

The University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Department of Psychology

Index Card Information

• Name

• Student Number

• Code for posting exam scores

• Local Phone Contact

• Email address

What is Psychology?

• Psychology is the science of brain

processes and behavior

The Goals of Psychologists

• Psychologists engage in the study of

psychology in order to understand,

explain and predict and control

behavior.

Lecture Overview

• History of Psychology

• Modern Perspectives in Psychology

• Psychology as a Career

• Doing Research in Psychology

Historical Background

• Nativist (nature) vs Empiricist

(nuture)

– Are a person’s characteristics mostly

inborn or learned?

Historical Background

• Plato – (427-347)

– Plato was interested in moral

philosophy and despised natural

philosophy (that is, science) as

an inferior and unworthy sort of

knowledge.

– Believed we are born with

complete knowledge within our

soul.

– Learning – a process of inner

reflection to discover the

knowledge within us.

Democritus of Abdera 460-370

BC

• Democritus explained all changes in the world as changes in motion of the atoms, or the way that they were packed together.

• This brought mathematics into a fundamental physical role since the whole of the structure proposed by Democritus was quantitative and subject to mathematical laws.

• Another fundamental idea in Democritus's theory is that nature behaves like a machine, it is nothing more than a highly complex mechanism.

History

• Aristole – (384-322)

– Knowledge acquired

through experience.

• Four Laws of

Association

– Law of similarity

– Law of Contrast

– Law of Contiguity

– Law of Frequency

History

• Descartes- (1596-1650)

– Mind body dualism

– Reflexes

– Behavior controlled by

the mind or will.

• Dualistic notion of human

behavior suggested at least

some components of

behavior could be

scientifically investigated.

History of

Psychology

Early History of

Psychological Thought

• Greeks

– how does the “soul/mind” give rise to memory, sensation, movement, etc.

– where is the “soul/mind” located

• Descartes (1600s)

– dualism (mind/body problem)

• how does physical matter give rise to thought, sensation, etc.

– mechanistic view (e.g., reflexes)

– pineal gland as the interface between soul and body

Phrenology: Franz Gall (1758-1828)

First Psychologists

(late 1800s-early 1900s)

–Wilhelm Wundt

father of experimental psychology

first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, 1879

studied reaction time to simple and two-choice stimuli

The First Psychologists

–E. Bradford Titchener

• popularized Wundt’s psychology and brought it to U.S.

• used introspection to uncover components of thought

The First Psychologists

–William James

first important textbook: The Principles of Psychology

the mind is a stream of consciousness

William James

Principles of Psychology

“We know of nothing … which can be in the

remotest degree compared with the stream of

thought that accompanies the brain’s material

secretions.”

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/index.htm

The Early Era and Roots of

Psychology

• Psychophysics

– Early psychologists, doing research on

sensation and sensory experience, noticed

interesting aspects of the functioning of the

senses.

– For example, the perception of a stimulus’

intensity is not directly proportional to the

actual physical intensity of the stimulus.

The Early Era and Roots of

Psychology

• Psychophysics

– A sound that is half as loud (in physical terms, in decibels) as another sound may not sound that way to the listener.

– Psychophysics attempts to provide a mathematical description of the relationship between the actual physical properties of the stimulus and its perceived properties.

The Early Era and Roots of

Psychology• The enormous impact of Darwin: The origin of species

(1859); The descent of man (1871)

– In his presentation of compelling evidence that humans and other animal species were related, Charles Darwin forced scientists and thoughtful people working in many disciplines to consider the basic features held in common by many or all animals, such as thinking and intelligence.

– Comparative psychologists, who use this perspective, are specialists who compare different animal species.

The Early Era and Roots of

Psychology

Women in Psychology

In the early days of psychology, opportunities for women were limited.

Mary Calkins was one of the pioneering women in the field.

She never received the Ph.D. that she earned from Harvard

She went on to do research, study the function of memory, and serve as the president of the American Psychological Association 1905.

The Early Era and Roots of

Psychology

• Women in Psychology

– Other early contributing women in the field of

psychology were:

• Christine Ladd-Franklin –color vision

• Margaret Washburn -first woman to receive Ph.D.

• Karen Horney

• Anna Freud

– The latter two were followers of Sigmund Freud

and the Psychoanalytic school of psychology.

Ethnic Minorities in

Psychology• Gilbert Jones - 1901, First black male Ph.D.

• Inez Possner - 1933, First black female Ph.D.

• Kenneth Clark – 1971, First Black president

APA

• Norman Anderson – 2002, First Black CEO

APA

The Early Era and Roots of

Psychology

• Behaviorism – John B. Watson and B.F.

Skinner

– structuralism was abandoned because it was

difficult to study the subjective perception of

experience.

– Behaviorism concentrates on observable,

measurable behaviors and not mental processes.

– Behaviorists primarily seek to study the

observable behaviors associated with learning.

The Early Era and Roots of

Psychology

• Behaviorism – John B. Watson and B.F.

Skinner

“Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely

objective experimental branch of natural science.

Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of

behavior.” -- John B. Watson, 1913

The Early Era and Roots of

Psychology• Behaviorism and Studies of Learning

– The early question posed by behaviorists in the mid-20th century, such as Clark Hull’s work with rats in the area of maze learning, have given way to complex questions about how humans learn to be aggressive and violent.

– This is just one of many interesting questions with complex answers that have yet to be fully revealed.

– Even modern behaviorists have left behind the hope of discovering ―simple universal principles of behavior.‖ But their principles are nonetheless interesting and useful, as you will soon see.

Study of Psychology Today• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior

and mental processes.

• Psychology values:

– empirical evidence

– critical thinking

– systematic research methods

• Goals of psychology include:

– description of behavior using careful observations

– explanation identifying the cause(s) of behavior

– prediction allows for specification of the conditions under which a behavior will or will not occur

– facilitating changes in behavior (e.g., therapy)

Modern Psychology Views

• Psychoanalytic view emphasizes the

unconscious mind

• Behaviorism focuses on objective and

measurable behaviors

• Humanistic psychology emphasizes the inner-

self and the importance of subjective feelings

• Cognitive psychology focuses on mental

function and reasoning

Modern Psychology Views

• Psychobiology views behavior as reflecting brain processes

• Evolutionary psychology asserts that certain behavioral characteristics are subject to natural selection

• Cultural psychology examines the influence of culture and ethnic practice on people’s behavior

Positive Psychology

• A recent addition to the field

• Focuses on the characteristics that make

people happy and successful

• Asserts that psychology has, in the past,

focused too much on the negative

Areas of Psychology

• Clinical – psychotherapy, assessment, diagnosis

• Developmental – how do we develop across life?

• Social – how do people behave in groups?

• Biopsychology – what is the brain basis of behavior?

• Cognitive – how do we think and perceive?

• Personality – what basic traits make up a

person’s personality?

Psychology Degrees By Area

Careers in Psychology

• Clinical work – e.g., psychotherapist*^

• Academic – e.g., professor/researcher*

• Business – e.g., industrial psychologist*^

• Journalism – e.g., science writer*

• Technology – e.g., software developer

*requires graduate degree

^requires license

Psychology as a Science

• Attempts to describe, predict, control and

explain thought and behavior.

• Uses scientific method

Science vs. Common Sense

Objective data collection

Reliance on evidence

Systematic observation

Subjective data collection

Ignores counterevidence

Hit or miss observation

Science versus Pseudo-Science

• Systematic

• Testable

• Reliable

• Unbiased

• Self-Correcting

Extending Evidence

• Specific truths are deduced from general

truths

• General truths are induced from specific

truths

Science & Proof

• A deduction is proven if the general

premise is true and the logic is valid.

• An induction goes beyond the known data,

and thus can never be proven.

Science, then does not prove things,

because all information about the

outside observable world is

inductive.

Science

• Terminology:

• Hypothesis - a possible way things could be

• Theory - an explanation for the way things are,

usually supported by a lot of data.

• Advantages of science:

– Scientific methods are deductive

– Science is more systematic, and less subject to human

bias

Judging Theories

• Fit to the data

• Quality of the data

• Ability to predict

• Ability to explain

• Ability to control

Pseudo-science

• Why people believe:

– People like excitement

– People are prone to wishful thinking

– People are naïve and trusting

– People remember hits, ignore misses

Psychological Research

• Two forms of psychological research:

– Basic research seeks answers for the

purpose of increasing knowledge.

• e.g. What role do the frontal lobes play in

memory?

– Applied research seeks answers for specific

problems.

• e.g. What types of memory strategies and

rehabilitation strategies are most effective for

people with frontal lobe injuries?

Basic Cognitive Psychology Research

Baldo et al. (1998)

LEFT

Basic Cognitive Psychology Research

Baldo et al. (1998)

Applied

Cognitive

Psychology

The Scientific Method

The Experiment

• An experiment involves a set of controlled

conditions that aim to confirm a

hypothesis.

• Hypothesis refers to a statement of cause

and effect:• ―Higher environmental temperatures lead to more

aggression.‖

• ―Exposure to marijuana increases appetite.‖

Experimental Variables

• To test a hypothesis, an experimenter defines

the variables of the hypothesis:

– Cause: Independent variable (IV)

• marijuana: plain cigarette versus cigarette containing 5

mg of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana)

– Effect: Dependent variable (DV)

• appetite: grams of ice cream consumed in 1 hour

• The experimenter “manipulates” the IV and

measures the DV to test the hypothesis.

Experimental Issues

• Controls are important for determining causality

– the only difference between the experimental and control groups is the presence or absence of the IV.

• Placebo effects represent changes in behavior that are related to expectations of a treatment.

– placebo effects are controlled by a “blind” control group

• Experimenter bias refers to expectations that influence a participant’s behavior.

– example: Clever Hans, the horse who could do math

– can be controlled using double blind procedures

Non-Experimental Research

• Naturalistic observation refers to systematic recording of

behavior in a natural state or habitat.

– e.g. observing apes in the wild

• Surveys are instruments designed to sample attitudes or

behaviors.

– e.g., asking students at a rally how they feel about

animal rights issues

• A case study is an in-depth study of a single person.

– e.g., Freud used the case study method to study anxiety

• Correlations refer to looking at the relationship between

two variables without manipulating them.

Correlation Techniques

• The correlation technique assesses the degree of association between 2 variables.

• Correlations vary in direction:

– Positive association: increases in the value of variable 1 are associated with increases in variable 2 (e.g., smoking and risk of cancer)

– Negative association: increases in variable 1 are associated with decreases in the variable 2 (e.g., years of education and risk of Alzheimer’s disease)

– No relation: values of variable 1 are not related to variable 2 (e.g., years of education and height)

• Correlations also vary in strength of the relationship.

Interpreting Correlations

Fig. 1.5

Correlation Take Home Line:

Correlation does NOT imply causation!

Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Study

• 1963 social psychology experiment,

subjects thought they were shocking another

person to promote ―learning‖

• Many subjects delivered high level shocks

and were upset when they later learned the

true nature of the experiment

• This study, and other factors, led to much

more stringent APA resarch guidlines

APA Ethical Guidelines

(humans)

• informed consent

• awareness of risks

• confidentiality

• deception can be used ONLY if benefits justify

it and there is no other way to do the study

APA Ethical Guidelines

(animals)

• Researchers must ensure ―appropriate

consideration of [the animal’s] comfort,

health, and humane treatment.‖

• Animals may not be subjected to ―pain or

stress‖ when an alternative procedure is

available.

Ethical Issues in Research

• Respecting the rights of human research participants involves:

– Informed consent is an explanation of a study and the responsibilities of experimenter and participant.

– Confidentiality of study information must be maintained.

– Debriefing refers to explaining the research process to the participants at the end of the study.

• Deception involving participants must be justified.

• Animal research must be justified and must minimize discomfort and pain.

Issues of Gender and

Cultural Diversity

• Traditionally not studied in psychology

– Why?

– Is it important to study—why?

• How can diversity be studied?

• Are there any potential risks to studying

diversity?

Modern Psychology Views

• Psychoanalytic view emphasizes the unconscious

mind

• Behaviorism focuses on objective and

measurable behaviors

• Humanistic psychology emphasizes the inner-self

and the importance of subjective feelings

• Cognitive psychology focuses on mental function

and reasoning

Modern Psychology Views

• Psychobiology views behavior as reflecting

brain processes

• Evolutionary psychology asserts that

certain behavioral characteristics are

subject to natural selection

• Cultural psychology examines the influence

of culture and ethnic practice on people’s

behavior

Take Home Concepts• Hypothesis

• What type of study?

– experimental, correlational, naturalistic

observation, case study

• Independent variable(s) (IV)

• Dependent variable(s) (DV)

• Control group

• Were participants randomly sampled

and assigned?

• Ethical concerns

• Gender and cross-cultural issues

• Potential experimenter and participant bias