Introduction to Psychology Textbook

Course Instructor: • Feldman, R. S.(2004).Understanding

Prof. Azizuddin Khan Psychology. Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi, India
Office: 108 A, H & SS/ Psychophysiology
Laboratory, Department of Mathematics • Morgan, King, Weisz,& Schopler (7th Edition).
Office hours: Any time by e-mail, or by Introduction to Psychology. Tata McGraw-Hill,
arrangement New Delhi, India
Phone No.: 2576 4360
Email: [email protected]

Course Objectives Evaluation

• At the end of the course, students should have • Quiz during the course covering March 27,
an understanding of the basic theories, findings, 2025.
and methods in various areas of psychology.
The topics include • Mid-sem: MCQ Type questions
– Introduction to Psychology • End-sem exam: covers the entire
– Perception semester.
– Learning – All test will be multiple choice as well as
– Memory subjective question.
– Personality

Course Content Why Study Psychology

• Lectures will cover some material from the text • Need a social science course
book, and some material NOT in the text book • Learn more about yourself
• Learn more about others
• Learn more about how others influence you
• Learn more about how you influence others
• Investigate psychology as a major
• By Accident
 Test your knowledge about Psychology Major issues
 Psychologists can read mind of others • How is the knowledge represented ?
 The more motivated you are, the better you will • How does individual acquire new knowledge?
do at solving a complex problem. • How does visual system organize sensory
 Improved mood rules out depression experiences into meaningful objects and
 Most humans use only 10 percent of their events?
potential brain power. • How does memory work?
 Blind people have unusually sensitive organs of • How does the Brain learn?
touch • What makes an experience conscious?
 The major cause of forgetting is that memory • What is the basis of unique cognitive capacities
traces decay or fade as time passes. of human brain, relative to that other, similar
species?
 The overwhelming majority of acts of domestic
violence are committed by men

Ways to Validate Truth or Reality Scientific Method

• Personal experience • An approach to knowledge that relies on a

• Intuition systematic method of generating hypotheses,
collecting data, and explaining the data
• Social and/or cultural consensus – identify a research issue, question or problem
• Religious scripture and interpretation – design a study to investigate the issue,
• Philosophy and logical reasoning – collect and analyze data,
– draw conclusions, and
• Science and the scientific method
– communicate their findings
– The database that is developed using the scientific
method

Purpose for Using Scientific Method Criteria for Using Scientific Method

Understanding Database • Knowledge must be grounded in experience

• Description • Facts & Concepts
• Prediction • Principles • Knowledge must be grounded in a paradigm
or exemplar
• Explanation • Theories
• Laws • Falsifiable hypothesis
• Influence or Control
 Psychology Psychology?

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior

• Derived from the Greek words psyche, meaning and mental processes.
“mind,” and logos, meaning “the study of.”
• Psychologists are interested in every aspect of
– Scientific methods are used to understand how
human thought and behavior.
humans and other living creatures think, feel, and act.
• Related areas of study
– Philosophy
– Other sciences
• Biology Pharmacology
• Sociology Economics
• Anthropology Neurobiology
• History Geography
• AI

Psychology Goals of Psychology

• Goals of Psychology • Prediction

– Description – When researchers can specify the conditions under
• First step in understanding most behaviors or mental which a behavior or event is likely to occur
processes • Influence or Control
• Describes the behavior or mental process of interest
as accurately and completely as possible – When researchers know how to apply a principle or
• Tells what occurred change a condition to prevent unwanted
occurrences or to bring about desired outcomes
– Explanation
• Requires an understanding of the conditions under
which a given behavior or mental process occurs
• Enables researchers to state the causes of the
behavior or mental process they are studying

Psychology Research Methods

• Two types of research that help psychologists • Descriptive research methods
accomplish these goals – Research methods that yield descriptions of
– Basic research behavior rather than causal explanations
• Research conducted to advance knowledge rather than for • Naturalistic observation
its practical application
– Example: studying the nature of memory • Case studies
– Applied research • Surveys
• Research conducted to solve practical problems
– Example: exploring methods to improve memory
• Experiment
 Naturalistic Observation Case Studies

• Observing and recording the behavior of • Intensive description and analysis of a single
humans or animals in their natural environment individual or just a few individuals.
• Advantages • Advantages
– can observe what occurs before and after target behavior – rich description of an individual
– insight into the important factors to study – each individual serves as own control
– no artificiality of the laboratory – no large groups of participants
– no random assignment
• Disadvantages
– less control over variables • Disadvantages
– cannot imply causality – generalizability is decreased by small sample size
– observer bias and subject reactivity – the individual being studied may be an exception
– target behavior only occurs once – observer bias

Surveys Experimental Method

• A research technique in which questionnaires or • A research technique in which an investigator

interviews are administered to a selected group deliberately manipulates selected events or
of people. circumstances and then measures the effects of
• Advantages those manipulations on subsequent behavior.
– large quantity of information • Independent variable:
– relatively inexpensive – The variable that is manipulated by the experimenter
• Disadvantages to test its effects
– respondents may not be representative • Dependent variable:
– response biases – The variable that is measured to see how it is
changed by the independent variable
– truthfulness of responses

Experimental Method Historical Development of Psychology

• Experimental group • Three phases

• Control group – Prescientific era
• Advantages – Behavioristic era
– conclusions about causality can be made – Cognitive revolution

• Disadvantages
– more ethical considerations
– behavior is constrained to laboratory
 Schools in Psychology Structuralism

• A school: A group of scientists who agree on the • Wundt - “world’s first psychologist.”
three questions: • Wundt’s method for studying the mind was
– What is the problem we deal with? known as introspection.
– What phenomena do we look at? – Wundt’s student, Edward Titchener, later named
– How do we look at these phenomena? Wundt’s model of consciousness structuralism.
• Five schools: • Structuralism sought to identify the components
– Structuralism; Functionalism; Psychoanalysis; of the conscious mind.
Behaviorist; Gestalt

Functionalism Gestalt Psychology

• William James was among the first American • Wertheimer and his colleagues founded the
students to visit Wundt in Leipzig. Gestalt School of Psychology as an alternative
– His approach to psychology came to be called to structuralism.
functionalism. • Gestalt psychology is an approach to
– Functionalism was the study of how the conscious psychology that studies how the mind actively
mind helps humans survive and successfully adapt to
their environment. organizes stimuli into coherent wholes.
– Kurt Lewin and his students were instrumental in
• In 1890, James published Principles of
shaping the development of a new area of
Psychology specialization—social psychology.

Continue Behaviorism

• Watson founded the school of psychology

known as behaviorism.
– His research caused him to question the three current
schools of psychology that analyzed the structure,
content, and function of the mind.
• Behaviorism is an approach to psychology that
studies observable behavior, rather than hidden
(a) (b)
mental processes.
– Underlying behaviorism was a philosophy known as
logical positivism.
 Psychoanalysis Contemporary Perspectives
• Of the five early schools of psychology:
• Freud was a medical doctor, so he is considered – Only psychoanalysis and behaviorism have survived
a psychiatrist and not a psychologist. as contemporary perspectives. However, each
approach has been altered from its original form.
• The unconscious mind is inaccessible to a – The influence of Gestalt psychology can be found in
person’s conscious awareness. the areas of cognitive and social psychology.
– Freud’s emphasis on the unconscious mind stood in – Contemporary perspectives of psychology can be
organized into one of seven different perspectives:
sharp contrast to Wundt and James’s studies of • Psychoanalytic
conscious experience. • Behaviorist
• Humanistic
• Psychoanalysis is an approach used to study • Cognitive
how the unconscious mind shapes behavior. • Neuroscience
• Evolutionary
• Sociocultural

Psychoanalytic Perspective Behaviorist Perspectives

• Early psychological perspectives– • Contemporary behaviorism was shaped by the

psychoanalysis and behaviorism–still exist work of B. F. Skinner, who stressed the
today.
• The unconscious mind and early childhood consequences of rewards and punishment on
experiences continue to be central to the behavior.
psychoanalytic perspective. – Rewards tend to increase the likelihood of behavior.
– Contemporary psychoanalysts place less emphasis – Punishment tends to decrease the likelihood of
on sexual drives and more emphasis on cultural
experiences than Freud. behavior.
– Contemporary psychoanalysts emphasize Erik
Erikson’s (1980) life-span focus on personality
development.

Humanistic Perspective Continue

• Positive psychology has emerged in the past 10
• Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow were the years and is a direct descendant of the
primary architects of the humanistic perspective. humanistic perspective.
• Like William James, both Rogers and Maslow • Positive psychology is a scientific approach to
contended that psychology should study studying optimal human functioning and asserts
people’s subjective mental experiences. that the normal functioning of human beings
• The humanistic perspective stresses people’s cannot be accounted for within purely negative
frames of reference.
innate capacity for personal growth and their
– Goals of positive psychology include teaching people
ability to make conscious choices. to avoid harmful self-deceptions while still maintaining
a sense of realistic optimism about life.
 Cognitive Perspective Neuroscience Perspective

• The cognitive perspective attempts to • The neuroscience perspective attempts to

understand behavior by studying how the mind understand behavior by examining the nervous
organizes perceptions, processes information, system.
and interprets experiences.
• Neuroscientists conduct a good deal of research
• Principal leaders of this “cognitive revolution” in
on animals with simpler brains.
psychology were George A. Miller and Ulric
Neisser. • The nature-nurture debate has been a classic
• Cognitive psychologists contend that the controversy in psychology.
computer is a useful metaphor for the human
mind (Harnish, 2002).

Evolutionary Perspective Sociocultural Perspective

• The evolutionary perspective is partly based on • The sociocultural perspective emphasizes social
the writings of Charles Darwin and the principle and cultural influences on behavior (Gripps,
of natural selection. 2002; Haight, 2002).
– Culture refers to the total lifestyle of a particular social
– Natural selection is the process by which organisms
group, including the ideas, symbols, preferences, and
with inherited traits best suited to the environment material objects that culture members share.
reproduce more successfully than less well-adapted
organisms. • Individualism and collectivism
– Individualism is a philosophy of life that stresses the
• The slow genetic changes that occur in a priority of personal goals over group goals.
species due to natural selection result in the – Collectivism is a philosophy of life that stresses the priority
evolution of the species. of group needs over individual needs.

Psychology’s Subfields Fields of Psychology

• The goals of research psychologists are to • Developmental

acquire psychological knowledge primarily • Physiological
through use of the scientific method • Personality
• Applied psychologists use existing psychological • Clinical and Counseling
knowledge to solve and prevent problems. • Industrial and Organizational
• Cognitive Psychology
• Comparative Psychology
 Continue Developmental Psychology

• Forensic Psychology • Studies human mental and physical growth from

• School Psychology conception to death
– Child psychologists, When do we develop
• Evolutionary Psychology
attachments?
• Mathematical Psychology
– Adolescent psychologists, do we develop self-
• Military Psychology identity? How?
• Engineering Psychology – Life-span psychologists, How do we learn to
• Experimental parent?
• Social Psychology

Physiological Psychology Personality Psychology

• Investigates the biological basis of human • Personality psychologists study the differences
behavior among individuals.
– Neuropsychologists, brain vs nervous system, i.e. • How do these traits differ between males and
strokes, no taste when sick females? Is something a stable personality trait
– Psycho-biologists, body chemistry or hormones, i.e., or a response to a social reaction or stressful
how do they interact with drugs, how stress influences
situation??
– Behavioral geneticists, heredity factors, i.e., does
alcoholism run in families

Clinical and Counseling Psychology Industrial and Organizational Psychology

• Clinical psychologists are interested primarily in • Psychology applied to the workplace

the diagnosis, cause, and treatment of • I/O psychologists are interested in selecting and
psychological disorders. training personnel
• Counseling psychologists are concerned • Improving productivity and working conditions
primarily with “normal” problems of adjustments
• The impact of computerization and automation
in life. on workers
 Cognitive psychology Comparative Psychology

• A cognitive psychologist studies the processes • Comparative psychology, refers to the study of
of thinking and acquiring knowledge. the behavior and mental life of animals other
– Sample question: What do “experts” in a field know or than human beings.
do that sets them apart from other people? • Synonymous with animal psychology.

Forensic Psychology School Psychology

• Forensic psychologists apply psychological • School psychologists work within the educational
principles to legal issues. system to help children with emotional, social,
and academic issues.
– This may involve studying criminal behavior and
treatments, or working directly in the court system. • These psychologists collaborate with teachers,
– Forensic psychologists often conduct evaluations, parents, and students to find solutions to
screen witnesses, or provide testimony in court academic, social, and emotional problems.
cases.
• Most school psychologists work in elementary
and secondary schools, but others work in
private clinics, hospitals, state agencies, and
universities.

Evolutionary Psychology Mathematical Psychology

• An evolutionary psychologist tries to explain • Mathematical Psychology is an approach to

behavior in terms of natural selection pressures psychological research that is based on
promoting behaviors that lead to success in mathematical modeling of perceptual, cognitive
reproduction and survival. and motor processes, and on the establishment
– Sample questions: What forces led to selection for
human language abilities? What specific advantages of law-like rules that relate quantifiable stimulus
in survival over other animals did language give early characteristics with quantifiable behavior.
humans in the ancestral environment?
 Military Psychology Engineering Psychology

• Military Psychology deals with research and the • Applied Experimental and Engineering
application of psychological research to military Psychology promotes the development and
problems. application of psychological principles,
– Combat stress reaction (CRS)-a progressive knowledge, and research to improve technology,
psychological breakdown in response to combat. consumer products, energy systems,
– Post-traumatic stress disorder communication and information, transportation,
decision making, work settings, and living
environments.

Experimental Psychology Social Psychology

• Sensation • The scientific study of how people think about

• Perception others and influence others
– Example: Persuasion -Implications for politics,
• Learning
advertising, courtship, parenting, religion, education,
• Memory medicine, law
• Language and Thought – Attitude
– Social Perception
• Motivation – Attribution
• Emotion – Prejudice and Discrimination
– Aggression and Helping Behavior
• Cognition
– Interpersonal Attraction

Enduring Issues in Psychology

• Person/Situation, Caused by your emotions

(inside) or environment (outside)
• Nature/Nurture, Nature vs. nurture issue
• Stability/Change, How much do we change
throughout our lives?
• Diversity/Universality, Does our understanding of
behavior apply to all people?
• Mind/Body, Thoughts/feelings (experience) vs.
neurons (biological)