PSYC 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Research, Psych, Sigmund Freud
14 Jun 2018
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PSYC 200 Intro class January 8 Chapter 1
What is Psychology?
• psh id + logos stud = stud of the id
• Psychology: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
o Overt Behavior: An action or response that is directly observed
o ex) crying
o Covert Behavior: A response that is internal or hidden from view
ex) thoughts/emotional reactions
Empiricism
• Empirical evidence: facts or information based on direct observation or experience
• Data: Observed facts or evidence
o Ex) Bystander effect (NOT common sense)
▪ The more ppl during emergency the less likely one is going to receive
assistance by bystander = diffusion of responsibility
• Opt to help VS opt to follow the crowd (part of the right group)
Psychological Research (All means empirical data collected)
• Scientific observation: An empirical investigation that is structured to answer questions
about the world
• Research method: A systematic approach to answering scientific questions
• Research Cycle
o 1. Review the literature
▪ Check what is out there – scientific journals
o 2. Develop a Testable Hypothesis
o 3. Design Study/Collect Data
o 4. Analyze the Data & accept/reject hypothesis
o 5. Publish, Replicate & Seek Scientific Review
o 6. Build a Theory
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
What might psychologists research?
• Developmental Psychologist: interested in human growth and development from
conception until death
• Learning Theorist: interested in variables affecting learning and in theories of learning
• Personality Theorist: studies personality traits, dynamics, and theories
• Sensation and Perception Psychologist: studies sense organs and the process of
perception
• Comparative Psychologist: studies & compares behaviour of different species,
especially animals
• Biopsychologist: Studies relationship between behaviour and biological process,
especially activity in nervous system.
• Social Psychologist: Interested in human social behaviour
• Cultural Psychologist: Studies the ways in which culture affects human behaviour
• Gender Psychologist: Studies the difference b/w males and females
• Evolutionary Psychologist: Studies the ways that human behaviour has evolved
throughout the history of mankind
• Ad ore…health psych, clinical psych, etc.
Animals & Psychology
• Psychologists are interested in the behaviour of any living creatures
• Animal models are used to discover principles that apply to human behaviour
o Learning about animal behaviour – relating it to human behaviour
▪ Requires proof of protocol
Psychology 4 Goals (need to work in order)
1. Description of Behaviour
a. Naming and classifying various observable, measurable behaviours
b. What is the nature of behaviour?
2. Explain/Understanding
a. The causes of behaviours
b. Why does it occur
3. Prediction
a. Predicting behaviour accurately
b. Can we forecast when it will occur? (ex. diffusion of responsibility)
4. Control
a. Altering conditions that influence behaviours
b. What conditions will affect it? (ex. limit the amount of ppl in a setting)
c. Ex Video) Piano key stairs in Stockholm changing behaviour from using the
escalator and also making using the ascension more fun
i. Ppl do’t eerise, B/C eerise is’t fu, preditig ppl ill e ore ope
to fun exercise = this activity (of control)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
January 10, 2018
History of Psychology
Wilhel Wudt Father of Psholog
• 1879: Set up first lab to study conscious experience
• How do we form sensations, images and feelings?
• Observed and measured stimuli of various kinds
o Stimulus: Any physical energy that has some effect on an organism & evokes a
response
▪ E oise, light…
Titchener
• Developed the concept of Introspection: Looking inward (examining & reporting
thoughts, feelings, etc.)
• He rought Wudt’s ideas to the U“ ad reaed it Structuralism
o Stucturalists hoped to analyze experiences into basic eleets/building
loks using introspection as their primary tool.
▪ Examples:
• What makes chocolate chips taste amazing? (taste, smell, texture)
• Describe your experience when holding an apple? (weight, colour)
William James & Functionalism
• Functionalism ho the id futios to adapt us to the eiroet
• Experience was NOT made out of building clocks BUT rather it was an ever-changing
stream of sensations/images
• Futioalists adired Charles Dari’s survival of the fittest
o Natural Selection: physical characteristics that help animals adapt to their
environments are retained in evolution
John B. Watson & Behaviourism (change from introspection)
• Emphasis: overt, observable behaviour VS study of the mind
• He observed the relationship b/w stimuli (events in the environment) & any animal
response/behaviour
• Stimulus → Response
• Pavlov developed the idea of conditioning – ou a old oe’s ehaiour
rewarding/punishing
o Watson adopted Palo’s concept of conditioning to explain most behaviour
▪ Dog sits when told → give him a treat
• B F Skinner believed that our behaviour is controlled by (mainly) rewards
Max Wertheimer – Gestalt Theory
• German psychologist was the 1st to advance the Gestalt viewpoint
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
