introduction to psychology · in applying psychological principles rather than discovering them is...

INTRODUCTIONTO

PSYCHOLOGYACOURSEOUTLININGTHECOGNITIVEANDPSYCHOLOGICALPROCESSESOFMANKIND

WHYDOESHEDOIT?

It’s 4 A.M. and Steve is engrossed in the green glare of his computer screen, one minute pretending he’s aruthless mafia Lord masterminding a gambling empire, the next minute imagining he's an evil sorcerer oran alien life form. Steve, a college student, is playing a fictional Internet game that is played by sendingonline messages to other players. But as he continually logs on for hours, Steve finds himself sleepingthrough classes, forgetting his homework, and slipping into ”Internet Addiction”.

WhydoyoubelieveStevebehavesthisway?

HEDOESITBECAUSE...

• Steve stays on his computer from midnight untilmorning, often ignoring physiological, orphysical, needs such as sleep and hunger. Heengages in this behavior because of cognitive,or private, unobservable mental, reasons. Forexample, Steve may go online because he likesthe intellectual challenge of outwitting theother players.

Physiological:havingtodowithanorganism’sphysicalprocesses.

Cognitive:havingtodowithanorganism’sthinkingandunderstanding

WHYPSYCHOLOGY?

• Learning about psychology can help you gain a better understanding of yourown behavior, knowledge about how psychologists study human and animalbehavior, and practical applications for enriching your life.

• Psychology can provide useful insight into behavior.

EXAMPLE

• Suppose a student is convinced that he is hopelessly shy and doomed foreverto feel uncomfortable in groups. Then he learns through social psychologythat different kinds of groups tend to have different effects on their members.

• He notes that although he is miserable at parties, he feels fine at meetings ofthe school newspaper staff and in the group he works with in the biologylaboratory.

• In technical terms, he is much more uncomfortable in unstructured socialgroups than in structured, task oriented groups.

WHATISPSYCHOLOGY?

• Psychologyisthescientificstudyofbehaviorandmentalprocesses.

• Whenappliedtohumans,psychologycoverseverythingthatpeoplethink,feel,anddo.

• Thestudyofbehaviormustbesystematic.Theuseofasystematicmethodofaskingandansweringquestionsaboutwhypeoplethink,act,andfeelastheydireducesthechancesofcomingtofalseconclusions.

• Thestudyofhumanbehaviorissimilar.Wecannotrelyonsimplisticexplanations.Inordertounderstandourobservations,wehavetocombinetheresultsofmanypsychologicalstudies.

THEGOALSOFPSYCHOLOGY

1.Description2.Explanation3.Prediction4. Influence

DESCRIPTION

• The first goal for any scientist or psychologist is to describe orgather information about the behavior being studied and topresent what is known.

EXPLANATION• Psychologistsarenotcontentsimplytostatethefacts.Rather,theyalsoseektoexplainwhypeople(oranimals)behaveastheydo.Suchexplanationscanbecalledpsychologicalprinciples–generallyvalidideasaboutbehavior.Psychologistsproposetheseexplanations

PREDICTION• Thethirdgoalofpsychologistsistopredict,asaresultofaccumulatedknowledge,whatorganismswilldoand,inthecaseofhumans,whattheywillthinkorfeelinvarioussituations.Bystudyingdescriptiveandtheoreticalaccountsofpastbehaviors,psychologistscanpredictfuturebehaviors.

INFLUENCE• Finally,somepsychologistsseektoinfluencebehaviorinhelpfulways.Thesepsychologistsareconductingstudieswiththelong-termgoaloffindingoutmoreabouthumanoranimalbehavior.Theyaredoingbasicscience,orresearch.Otherpsychologistsaremoreinterestedindiscoveringwaystousewhatwealreadyknowaboutthepeopletobenefitothers.Theyusedpsychologyasinappliedscienceandareusingpsychologicalprinciplestosolvemoreimmediateproblems.

TYPESOFPSYCHOLOGISTS

• Psychologistsstudytheabilityofinternstoperceivevisualpatternsaredoingbasicresearch.Theymaynotbeconcernedwiththeimplicationtheirfindingsmighthaveonthedesignofthecrib.Psychologistsstudyrapideyemovementandsleepresearcharealsoinvolvedinbasicscience.Iftheydiscoverthatoneindividualhasasleepdisturbance,theywilltrytounderstandandexplainthesituation,buttheymaynottrytocorrectit.

• Thatisajobforapplyscientists,suchasclinicalpsychologists.Anexampleofthepsychologistinvolvedinapplyingpsychologicalprinciplesratherthandiscoveringthemisaconsultanttoatoymanufacturer.Atoymanufacturertriestodeveloptoysthatappealtochildren.Themanufacturermayapply,oruse,psychologicalprincipleswhendesigningthosetoys.

DIFFERENCEBETWEENAPPLIEDANDBASICSCIENCE

• Psychologistsdoingbasicresearchfoundthatbabiesraisedininstitutionssuchasorphanagesbecomeseriouslydelayedintheirphysical,intellectual,andemotionaldevelopment.Scientistswereabletotracethistothefactthatthesebabieshavenothingtolookatbutblank,whiteceilingsandwhitecushions,andarehandledonlywhentheyneedtobefedorchanged.However,wehavetobeverycarefulnottoapplythisfindingtobroadly.Eventhoughchildrenwholackstimulationtendtodeveloppoorly,itdoesnotfollowthatprovidinginfantswithmaximumstimulationwillcausethemtogrowupemotionallysoundandintellectuallysuperior.Quitethecontrary,mostbabiesdobestwithamediumlevelofstimulation.Evenmoresignificantly,socialinteractionseemsmuchmoreimportantthanvisualstimulation.Normaldevelopmentismorelikelytoresultfromlong-terminteractionswitharesponsivecaregiver.Basicscienceprovidesspecificfindings,butdoesnotdictatehowthesefindingsareappliedintherealworld.

THESCIENTIFICMETHOD• Toensurethedataarecollectedaccurately,

psychologistsremindsscientificmethod.Inpsychology,factsarebasedondata.Thedataareobtainedformethodssuchasexperiments,surveys,casestudies.Thismeansthatpsychologistsreachedtheirconclusionsbyidentifyingaspecificproblemorquestion,formulatinghypothesis,collectingdatathroughobservationandexperimentation,andanalyzingthedata.

ScientificTheory:ageneralapproachtogatheringinformationandansweringquestionssothaterrorsandbiasesareminimized.

• Question:Scientistproposesproblemintheformofameasurablequestion

• Hypothesis:apredictionofthepossibleresults• Experiment:totestthehypothesis• Results:astatementoftheknowledgegained• Conclusions:astatementofwhethertheoriginalhypothesis

wassupportedorrefuted• Theory:A psychologicaltheory hastwokeycomponents:It

mustdescribeabehavior.Itmustmakepredictionsaboutfuturebehaviorsbasedonresultsofexperimentsmadeonhypotheses.

REVIEW

• Whatisthedifferencebetweenahypothesisandatheory?

• Listthegoalsofpsychologyanddescribethem.

• HowmightapsychologistdoingbasicscienceandapsychologistpracticingappliedsciencedifferintheirapproachtotheissueofInternetAddiction?