Psych Bellringer

What do you hope to gain from learning psychology? (give 3-5 reasons) Begin all bellringers on a new sheet of looseleaf You do not have to write the question as long

as you write the topic

GROUP DISCUSSION

What is psychology?What types of work do psychologists do?What types of things do psychologists study?Why is it important to study psychology?

UNIT 1

Psychology: study of behavior and mental processes

*the word comes from “psyche” meaning mind or soul, and “logia” meaning study or investigation

*Psychology is a social science

(1) Describe Behavior: gather information about the behavior being studied and to present what is known(2) Explain Behavior: explanation of why people or animals behave as they do

*hypothesis: an educated guess about some phenomenon

*theory: complex explanation based on findings from a large number of studies

(Parapsychology exercise)

(3) Predict Behavior: predict what organisms will do or what they think or feel in different situations

Goals of Psychology:

(A)Basic Science: research

EX: a study of eye movement during sleep research—may find a person who has a sleep disorder, so they try to

understand and explain the situation

(B)Applied Science: discover ways to use what we know about people to benefit

others; use psychological principles to solve immediate problems

EX: they would try to correct the sleep disorder

Types of Science:

History of Psychology

Ancient times… Socrates (look within yourself) Plato (examine your thoughts & feelings) Aristotle (people see pleasure and avoid pain) Hippocrates (confusion and madness were caused by

abnormalities in the brain)

Middle Ages Madness was caused by demons Water-float test

Events leading up to birth of psychology:1600’s:

~ Dualism (mind and body are separate and distinct)~Descartes disagreed and said their was a link between mind and body~ Scientific Revolution led to chemical advancements ~Phrenology—examining bumps on skull to determine intellect and character…encouraged others to study brain

1879: ~ First psychology lab opened in Leipzig, Germany by Wundt

(1) Structuralism ~ studied conscious experience~ 2 categories of experience: objective (sight, taste) and subjective (emotions)

You can experience an apple by its shape and color and subjectively remember how good it tastes

~ Wundt was a structuralist ~ He developed introspection (people reported their thoughts and Wundt tried to figure out thought processes)

~ Led to scientific method

Historical Approaches to Psychology:

(2) Functionalism: ~experience is a continuous “stream of consciousness”~studied how mental processes help animals and people adapt to their environment

ex. Asking someone out continually…why?~Habits are difficult then become automatic (sports)~William James---taught first psych class at Harvard in 1875~James is the “father of psychology” in US

(3) Gestalt (means “whole pattern”)

~ the context in which something occurs affects the way we perceive it

~ German psychologists Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka

~ studied the whole person, not just one part

EX: when people look at a chair, they recognize the whole,

rather than noticing the seat, legs, etc.

*(show illustration examples)

(A) Psychoanalytic:

~Sigmund Freud (1938) interested in

unconscious mind and internal conflict; thought all behavior is a result of unconscious motivation

~used “free association” where a patient

would say everything that came to mind,

no matter how silly or irrelevant it seemed

~Freud was first to use dream analysis

~Have primitive biological urges in conflict with society expectations

Current Approaches to Psychology:(most psychologist don’t group themselves into historical theories anymore)

(B) Behavioral ~ Pavlov--studied conditioning; dog salivating from ringing fork ~ Watson--all behavior is a result of a stimulus that produces a response (Do you know what your pet is thinking?) ~ Skinner--studied reinforcement

(C) Humanistic~Each person is unique and has the potential to develop fully; people are free to make choices~Focus on the person rather than the environment~Maslow & Rogers

(D) Cognitive:~study the mind~ 1950s Jean Piaget—focused on how we process, store, and use information and how it influences our thinking~behavior is influenced by mental processes (perceptions, memories, expectations)

(E) Biological:~focus on how the brain, nervous system, hormones, and genetics influence our behavior~how music, hormones, and genes are involved

(F) Socio-cultural:~studies how culture, gender, socio-economic and ethnicity affects our behavior…ex. Female jobs

Psychiatrist: a medical doctor who can prescribe medication to patients

Psychologist: people who have been trained to observe, analyze, evaluate, and treat behavior; cannot prescribe medication

Psychi vs Psycho

1. Clinical Psychologist: helps people deal with personal problems like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and drug addiction~employed in clinics, hospitals, prisons, private offices~about ½ of psychologists; largest group

2. Counseling Psychologist: helps people with adjustment problems about careers, friends, and family ~ employed in industrial firms (businesses)

Types of Psychologists:

3. School Psychologist: work in school to help young people with emotional or learning problems; give intelligence and achievement tests

4. Educational Psychologist: deal with topics related to teaching young people for entire school system…motivation, instructional methods, etc.

5. Developmental Psychologist: study life span; look at physical changes (ht & wt, aging) , emotional (self-esteem), cognitive (how children learn right/wrong) and social (relationships among peers and parents)

7. Industrial Psychologist: employed by business or government agencies; may study how to improve work conditions, or job placement services

8. Social Psychologist: study people’s behavior in social situations; focus on physical attraction, conformity, prejudice, violence, etc.

9. Experimental psychologist: experiment on nervous system; ex. what triggers memory and hunger

10. Others: Sports, Forensics, Consumer, Environmental…

American Psychological Association (APA): a scientific and professional society of psychologists and educators; world’s largest club for psychologists

Job AdvertisementUsing one of the assigned types of psychologists, create a

job advertisement for that occupation. Include:

What the nature of the job will be What type of specialist is being sought Degree needed 3 interesting facts about this type of psychologist Money earnings The best and worst part of this job

Have at least one illustration on the advertisementYou may complete this on the computer or construction

paper

Collage

Choose one of the 6 Contemporary psychological perspectives: Biological, Cognitive, Humanistic, Psychoanalytic, Behaviorist, Sociocultural

Use magazines or the computer to locate pictures that illustrate the subject matter and key assumptions of their assigned perspective