Intro to

Psychology
- Chapter 1 -
 Chapter Goals
Understand the role of psychology in your life
Explore key principles of psychology
Learn about the history of psychology and how
you/we can benefit from psychology and
research today
 History
Psychology as Science
Critical Thinking

Topics Five Domains

Diversity & Ethics
Scientific Method
Correlation & Variables
History of
Psychology
History of Psychology
There is SO much information in our modern world,
especially when we dig into the topic of psychology.

Civilizations from centuries ago have been interested in

psychological questions and philosophies, and that interest
continues throughout the ages.
History of Psychology
From the ancient Greeks to great minds in the 1800s and
into today, psychology is a field that continues to dig
deeper while also expanding outward in new directions.

We want to know about ourselves and the world around us,

and this introduction is meant to start your journey--
whether you continue it in the field of psychology or not!
History of Psychology
Ancient Greeks and The Four Humors
presented by Hippocrates (460-370 BCE), expanded by
Galen (Roman)
blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm
believed that this imbalance led to symptoms/temperament
intertwined with nature/seasons, astrology, the physical
body and life stages

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/shakespeare-and-the-four-humors/index.html#homesummary
History of Psychology
blood is sanguine
energetic, outgoing, social
yellow bile is choleric
believed tied to aggression; can also be good
in that they are independent and ambitious
black bile is melancholic
excess is depression; can mean someone is
deep thinker, feeler, introverted
phlegm is phlegmatic
associated with apathy; also relaxed demeanor
image credit https://classicalwisdom.com/science/medicine/the-humours-of-hippocrates-which-one-are-you/
History of Psychology
Ancient Greeks, continued
encouraged greater self-awareness through learning and
analyzing the presence of "humors" in the body
intertwines with religion, aromatherapy, exercise and persists
into the 1800s
treatments: bleeding, cupping, purging, sauna
https://youtu.be/na3eN1SrhPE?si=aD784CjtFrqLgzsp

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/shakespeare-and-the-four-humors/index.html#homesummary
 History of Psychology
Ancient Greeks, continued
throughout the ages, other treatment for disease included:
discussions about morality
asylums and prisons
burning at the stake
ice baths
lobotomy
herbal medicine
modern medication and treatments only recently shifted
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/shakespeare-and-the-four-humors/index.html#homesummary
History of Psychology
Take a look at the following slides and the dates listed, and share
what this tells you about the field of psychology...

1879 Wilhem Wundt credit with establishing psychology as an

academic field; opened first psychology lab in germany
1900 The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud)
1905 IQ tests developed
1908 Clifford Beers begins the call for more humane treatment
1913 Behaviorism introduced
History of Psychology
1920 Francis Cecil Sumner becomes first African American to earn
a PhD in psychology
1921 Rorschach test developed
1929 EEG developed
1935 AA founded
1936 first lobotomy performed in US
1951 first drug to treat depression
1973 homosexuality removed from the DSM
History of Psychology
what does psychology bring to you?

Examining objective vs. subjective

Subjective
stances that are personal
Objective
impersonal
scientific insight into self or others
History of Psychology
what does psychology bring to you?

the scientific study of what makes us tick

mind, body, senses let us experience the world
behaviors are actions resulting from senses and how we
interpret information
brains process our world and experiences, are in charge of
our mental activities and behaviors
History of Psychology
Break into groups of 3

Take a few minutes to talk about

what interests you in psychology
how learning about psychology could improve your life
relationships? future profession? in school?

Please be prepared to share your answers with the class.

Psychology as
Science
Psychology as Science
Empiricism is evidence-based method of conducting research
it is objective
this means our assumptions may be challenged or invalidated
example:
assumption: calories on menu will lead to better meal
choices
empirical data: Calorie listings are not related to long-term
changes in selections
Psychology as Science
IMPACT method is using psychology to learn how to learn
Improving: growth mindset
Monitoring: self-regulate learning; set goals, check progress
Practicing: rehearse information, active in learning
Attending: focusing on your studies, limiting distractions
Connecting: find ways to personally connect with material
Thinking Deeply: help information resonate, symbols, examples
Critical
Thinking
Critical Thinking
Psychology helps develop critical thinking skills

Is the source reliable?

credible sources usually come from professionals in the field
experts with advanced degrees, peer-reviewed articles
Critical Thinking
Psychology helps develop critical thinking skills

Is there strong evidence for the claim?

Is the evidence empirical?
intuition: personal, "gut instinct"
beliefs: personal, informed by values or experiences
opinions: your personal judgments
Critical Thinking
Psychology helps develop critical thinking skills

Do other reliable sources support the claim?

Are those other sources believable?
Do they agree about the empirical evidence?
Are further pieces of evidence needed?
Five Domains
Five Domains
Biological

How activity in brain & body relates to thoughts, feelings, actions.

Examines areas such as neuropsychology, neuroscience, including
sensory processing
sleep
reproduction/behaviors
neuroplasticity
how biology is related to mental health
Five Domains
Cognitive

Examines how various areas of cognition interact and influence our

patterns of thinking (how we think, feel, act and why)
perception, thought patterns, thinking
memory and attention
language
emotional regulation
Five Domains
Developmental

Work to examine and explain how we develop throughout our

lives in order to understand and realize developmental potential
through all life stages
how we develop language
physical development
can include cognitive and moral development
Five Domains
Social and personality

Examines how our personal characteristics function and inform our

interactions with others
personality
emotion
motivation
beliefs and values
Five Domains
Mental & Physical

Examines the way mental and physical health intersect how this
plays out in our actions, thoughts, and emotions
stress and coping
abnormal psychology
treatments and therapies
lifestyle, unhealthy behaviors and addictions
Five Domains
Interconnectivity: single domain vs many

Some people in the field study or specialize in one area

May work together to understand relationships or overlap of
one or more areas
Examples
why people love K-pop
how having a pet improves health
Five Domains
Interconnectivity: single domain vs many

Working together (either as multiple professionals or by individually

considering multiple domains) may improve an outcome for a client
Example: I treat someone who comes in complaining of anxiety
and stress, has low motivation due to job and relationship issues,
and reports daily headaches. I decide to focus treatment on the
symptoms of anxiety. What could I be missing?
Diversity &
Ethics
Diversity and Ethics
Characteristics that can be known/observed that make us seem
different in certain circumstances or environments
race and ethnicity
gender and sex
religion
age
language
socioeconomic status
Diversity and Ethics
The field is becoming more diverse, but more work is needed
in our world, research must be more inclusive and diverse to
accurately represent the world's population
culture beliefs, values, rules, customs that exist within a group of
people sharing a common language or environment
examples: homes, schools, religion, cities, countries, sports
research participants’ cultures can affect their psychological
processes
Diversity and Ethics
when conducting research, standards called "ethics" must be
adhered to to protect researchers, participants, and the study
this was not always the case in the history of psychology
examples: little Albert, Stanford prison experiment and
the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
ethics
accepted standards of right and wrong that (in this context)
guide how psychologists conduct research
Diversity and Ethics
Components of ethics
privacy: researchers respect participant privacy
confidentiality: participant information must be kept secret
informed consent: people must be told about the research and
can choose whether to participate or not
protection from harm: researches cannot ask participants to
endure unreasonable pain or discomfort
Diversity and Ethics
Little Albert conditioning experiment
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/01/little-albert
Little Albert violates which element of ethical research?

Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

https://eji.org/news/history-racial-injustice-tuskegee-syphilis-
experiment/
Tuskegee violates which element of ethical research?
Scientific
Method
Scientific Method
Systematic procedure of observing and measuring things that are
observable to gather evidence and answer questions.
Scientific Method
Four goals of science
Describe what happens
Predict when it happens
Control what causes it to happen
Explain why it happens
Scientific Method
Steps in the scientific method
Formulate a theory
Develop a testable hypothesis
Test with a research method
Analyze the data
Share the results and conduct more research
Scientific Method
Step 1: Theory
a theory is an explanation of how a mental process or
behavior occurs
a theory is formulated by performing a literature review
where you explore research/scientific articles related to your
ideas and questions
examples of known theories?
evolution, cell theory
Scientific Method
Step 2: Hypothesis
developing a hypothesis will create the platform for you to
begin exploring and testing your research
a hypothesis is your attempt to answer a theory's questions
Consists of testable prediction that should be observed if
the theory is correct
Scientific Method
Step 3: Test
You test your theory using a research method
research is the systematic collection of data to prove or
disprove a hypothesis
Three main types are: descriptive, correlational, and experimental
Scientific Method
Step 4: Analyze
analyzing your data allows you to determine whether you found
a significant effect
analysis also shows you things you did NOT anticipate, flaws in
your study/experiment, and could allow for further questions or
development
Scientific Method
Step 5: Share and replicate
publish your results and discuss or share with the community,
public, colleagues, etc.
you cannot cherry-pick your results (ethics!)
Cherry-picking is when you report only things that are
favorable and support your hypothesis
replication is the ability to conduct the research or experiment
and receive consistent results
Scientific Method
Types of Research

Descriptive: describe what is occurring

What study techniques do student use?
Includes: case studies, observation, self-reports (survey,
interview, questionnaire)
Can include interventions or not
Scientific Method
Types of Research

Correlational: testing the relationship between variables (not

causal)
Relationship between time studying & scores?

Experimental: investigate the cause of an outcome

What study technique results in highest scores?
Correlation &
Variables
Correlation & Variables
Correlation is not CAUSE
sometimes there is uncertainty about what variable caused
the other
a third variable problem occurs when researchers are
uncertain if a cause can be attributed to the influence of an
third variable
Correlation & Variables
Consideration of variables and correlations impact validity
Third variable example:
time spent on social media correlates with feelings of
depression, but we don't know if social media causes
depression, or if depression causes us to use social media
3rd variable is comparison:
comparison can drive depression AND use of social media
Correlation & Variables
Third variable example 2:
cities with more churches correlates with higher levels of crime
more churches in a city does not lead to more crime
3rd variable is population
higher population leads to more churches and more crime
Correlation & Variables
Third variable example 3:
in the summer, more ice cream sales correlates with more
drowning deaths
more ice cream sales does not create more drownings
3rd variable is summer weather
summer weather leads to more ice cream sales and more
drowning deaths
Correlation & Variables
Experimental Methods
research methods that test causal hypotheses by manipulating
independent variables and measuring the effects on dependent
variables
example:
you want to study how long it takes a toy car to go down
hills with different terrains
Correlation & Variables
Experimental Methods
independent variable
variable the experimenter manipulates to examine its impact
on the dependent variable
in control of the experimenter
example: you determine the various types of surfaces--
smooth, bumpy, carpeted, etc.
Correlation & Variables
Experimental Methods
dependent variable
variable affected by the manipulation of the independent
variable
depends on what the participant does (outcome)
example: the time it takes the toy car to go down the hill
Correlation & Variables
Experimental Groups
experimental group
treatment group
one or more treatment groups of participants who receive
the intervention of the independent variable being
investigated
Correlation & Variables
Experimental Groups
control group*
provides baseline
a comparison group of participants who receive no intervention
or who receive an intervention unrelated to the independent
variable being investigated
*necessary in a proper experiment to determine causality
Correlation & Variables
Definitions

confound: anything that affects a dependent variable,

unintentional, source of error
population: general group an experimenter wants to know
sampling: process an experimenter uses to select people from
the population
Correlation & Variables
Definitions

sample: subset of people chosen to participate

convenience sample: sample of people conveniently available for
the study
random sample: sample fairly representing the population through
an equal chance of inclusion
Correlation & Variables
Definitions

random assignment: placing research participants in the

conditions of an experiment so that each participant has an
equal chance of being assigned to any level of the independent
variable
qualify means to describe
quantify means to measure
 References
Grison & Gazzaniga. (2022). Psychology in your life. (4th ed.). W.
W. Norton & Company