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Chapter One: Essence of Psychology

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36 views37 pages

Chapter One: Essence of Psychology

Uploaded by

sad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
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CHAPTER ONE

ESSENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY
1.1. DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGY
AND RELATED CONCEPTS
o Questions

 What comes to your mind when you hear about the word
psychology?
Have you ever heard about, read or listened to anything
related to psychology?
What was its content about?
Did you appreciate it? Why?
What do you expect from the course in psychology?
Cont.…
oThe word "psychology" is derived from two Greek words 'psyche'
and ‘logos’.
Psyche refers to mind, soul or sprit
logos means study, knowledge or discourse.

:. Psychology epistemologically refers to the study of the mind, soul,


or sprit

oit is often represented by the Greek letter ᴪ (psi) which is read as


("sy").
Cont.…
oPsychology is the scientific study of human behavior and the
underlying mental
There are three aspects; science, behavior and mental processes:

oScience: psychology uses scientific methods to study behavior and


mental processes in both humans and animals.

oBehavior: refers to all of our outward or overt actions and reactions,


such as talking, facial expressions, movement, etc.

oMental processes: refer to all the internal, covert activities of our


minds, such as thinking, feeling, remembering, etc.
1.2. GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
oQuestions

 Why do you think is psychology important?

What do you think a psychologist is doing when


studying behavior and mental processes?
Cont.….
oAs a science, psychology has four goals; description, explanation,
prediction, and control.

oDescription: Description involves observing the behavior and


noticing everything about it. It is a search for answers for questions
like
What is happening?
Where does it happen?

To whom does it happen? And

under what circumstances does it seem to happen?


Cont.…

o Explanation: Why is it happening? Explanation is about


trying to find reasons for the observed behavior

Finding the cause of the behavior.

o Prediction: prediction is about determining what will happen


in the future.

o Control: How can it be changed? Control or modify or change


the behavior from undesirable one (such as failing in school)
to a desirable one (such as academic success).
Cont.…
Question

What is the relationship and difference between the


four goals of psychology?
1.3 Historical background and major
perspectives in psychology
o Psychology is a relatively new field in the realm of the sciences,
only about 125 years old. Began as a science of its own in 1879
in Leipzig, Germany by Wilhelm Wundt.

o Wundt developed the technique of objective introspection to


scientifically examine mental experiences.

o Psychology then begun as an independent field of study and


with Wundt as its founder or "father of modern psychology ".
School of thought in psychology
1.3.1. Early schools of psychology
What do you think is a school of thought?

Do you think we have schools of thought in psychology? If yes, like


what, for example?
Cont.…
o A school of thought is a system of thinking about a certain issue,
say, for example, about human behavior or mind.

o There are five such early schools of psychology.

1. Structuralism- structuralism views psychology as a study of


structure of mind. Edward Titchener is the founder of
structuralism (1867-1927).

The goal of structuralists was to find out the units or elements, which
make up the mind such as; sensations, images, and feelings. The
best-known method used by them was introspection.
Cont.…
2. Functionalism- functionalism views psychology as a study of
function of the mind. William James (1848-1910)

James focused on how the mind allows people to function in the real
world; work, play, and adapt to their surroundings.
Developed methods including questionnaires, mental tests and objective
descriptions of behavior.
Cont.…
3. Gestalt Psychology: Gestalt psychology views psychology as a study

of the whole mind. Max Wertheimer and his colleagues in the 20th

century.
The German word "gestalt" refers to form, whole, configuration or pattern.


Mind should be thought of as a result of the whole pattern of sensory activity and the

relationships and organizations within their pattern.


Gestalt psychologists acknowledge consciousness.


"the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Means mind is greater than its parts

(images, sensations, and feelings).


Cont.…

oQuestions

what is common to all the three schools of though?


How can we answer the question of subjectivity in psychology?
Cont.….

4. Behaviorism: behaviorists view psychology as a study of


observable and measurable behaviors.

o John B. Watson is the founder of behaviorism. Other proponents


include E.Thorndike and F. Skinner.

o For Watson, psychology was the study of observable and


measurable behavior.
Cont.….
o Behaviorism had three other important characteristics

 conditioned response as the elements or building blocks of behavior,

 learned rather than unlearned behaviors, and

focus on animal behavior.

o All the four schools of thought discussed so far were focusing on


human mind and behavior as conscious experiences.

o What is unconscious experiences?


Cont.….

5. Psychoanalysis: psychology studies about the components


of the unconscious part of the human mind.

o Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

o He called emotional causes of illnesses as ‘ hysteria‘ or


conversion reaction.

o The unconscious contains hidden wishes, passions, guilty


secrets, unspeakable yearnings, and conflict between desire
and duty.
Cont.….
o We are not aware of our unconscious urges and thoughts
and they make themselves known in dreams, slip of the
tongue, apparent accidents and even jokes.

o He used clinical case studies (hypnosis and Dream


analysis) as a method.
Cont.….
oQuestion

Discuss how the old schools of psychology differ in terms of their object
of study, their goal, and method of analysis?
1.3.2. Modern schools of psychology

oModern psychologists tend to examine human behavior through several

views.

oThe views that predominate today are

Psychodynamic,

Behavioral,

Humanistic,

Cognitive,

Biological, and

Sociocultural perspectives.
Cont.…
oPsychodynamic perspective –

It has its origins in Freud's theory of psychoanalysis


This perspective emphasizes the unconscious dynamics within the individual
such as inner forces, conflicts or instinctual energy.
The psychodynamic approach emphasizes:
• The influence of unconscious mental behavior on everyday behavior
• The role of childhood experiences in shaping adult personality
• The role of intrapersonal conflict in determining human behavior
Cont.…
oBehavioral Perspective-


It emphasizes the role learning experiences play in shaping the behavior of an

organism.


Behaviorists focus on environmental conditions (e.g. rewards, and punishments) that

maintain or discourage specific behaviors.

oHumanistic Perspective-


According to this perspective, human behavior is not determined either by unconscious

dynamics or the environment.


Rather it emphasizes the uniqueness of human beings and focuses on human values and

subjective experiences.
Cont.…
oCognitive Perspective-

it emphasizes what goes on in people's heads; how people reason,

remember, understand language, solve problems, explain experiences and

form beliefs.

This perspective is concerned about the mental processes of how people's

thoughts and explanations affect their actions, feelings, and choices.

oBiological Perspective-

it focuses on studying how bodily events or functioning of the body affects

behavior, feelings, and thoughts.


Cont.…
oSocio-cultural Perspective-

 It focuses on the social and cultural factors that affects human behavior.
1.4. Branches/sub fields of psychology
o Developmental psychology

 It studies the physical, cognitive and psychological changes across the life

span.
o Personality Psychology

it focuses on the relatively enduring traits and characteristics of individuals.

Personality psychologists study topics such as self-concept, aggression,

moral development, etc.


o Social Psychology

deals with people‘s social interactions, relationships, social perception, and

attitudes.
Cont.…
o Cross-cultural Psychology - examines the role of culture in
understanding behavior, thought, and emotion.
 It compares the nature of psychological processes in different cultures,
with a special interest in whether or not psychological phenomena are
universal or culture-specific.

o Industrial psychology –

 applies psychological principles in industries and organizations to


increase the productivity of that organization.
Cont.…
oForensic psychology


psychological principles to improve the legal system (police, testimony, etc..).
oEducational Psychology


concerned with the application of psychological principles and theories in improving the

educational process including curriculum, teaching, and administration of academic

programs.
oHealth Psychology


applies psychological principles to the prevention and treatment of physical illness and

diseases.
oClinical Psychology:


is a field that applies psychological principles to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment

of psychological disorders.
Cont.….
Counselling Psychology:
 is a field having the same concern as clinical psychology but helps
individuals with less severe problems than those treated by clinical
psychologists.
1.5. Research methods in psychology
o Questions
 what science, and the scientific method in particular, is
focused on?
Definition of terms
o Scientific method - a process of testing ideas through
systematic observations, experimentations, and statistical
analysis.

o Theory - is an integrated set of principles about observed facts


that is intended to describe and explain some aspects of
experience.

o Hypotheses - is a tentative proposition about the relationship

between two or more variables or phenomena. E.g. Males have

high self - confidence in making decisions than females


cont

Types of Research
Based on the purpose of the study, there are two
types of research:
A. Applied Research - research for the purpose of
solving practical problems (typically the fourth
goal: to control behavior).
B. Basic Research - research conducted for the
purpose of advancing knowledge rather than for
practical application (typically three goals:
description, explanation, prediction).
B. Major types of research methods
1. Descriptive research

In this type of research, the researcher simply records what she/he

has systematically observed. include

naturalistic observation, case studies, and surveys.

I. Naturalistic observation: is a descriptive research method in which

subjects are observed in their natural environment to get a real (not

artificial) picture of how behavior occurs.

Limitations are observer effect and observer bias


Cont.…

II.Case study: is a descriptive technique in which an


individual is studied in great detail.

 Advantage - provides tremendous amount of data about a

single case or individual.

 Disadvantage- the researchers can‘t apply the results to

other similar people, which means what researchers find in

one case can‘t necessarily apply or generalize to others.


Cont.….

iii. Survey: is a descriptive research method used to collect data


from a very large group of people.
 Advantage- useful to get information on private (covert) behaviors and it
addresses hundreds of people with the same questions at the same time.
 Disadvantage is that it needs a careful selection of a representative
sample of the actual population.
Cont.…
2. Correlational research - is a research method that measures the relationship between two
or more variables.

• Correlational research method mainly refers to discovering relationships, not causes and
effect.

• Correlation means relationship, so the purpose of a correlational study is to determine if a


relationship exists, what direction the relationship is, and how strong it is.
• Positive Correlations: Both variables increase or decrease at the same time. A correlation
coefficient close to +1.00 indicates a strong positive correlation.
 
• Negative Correlations: Indicates that as the amount of one variable increases, the other
decreases (and vice versa). A correlation coefficient close to -1.00 indicates a strong
negative correlation.

• No Correlation: Indicates no relationship between the two variables. A correlation


coefficient of 0 indicates no correlation.
3. Experimental research
• it is a research method that allows researchers to study the cause and effect
relationship between variables.

 Experiments involve at least one independent variable and one dependent variable.
 Independent variable - is the manipulated, influential, experimental factor.
 Dependent variable - is the factor (behavior) that is measured in an experiment.

- Outcome variable (results of the experiment)


 Experimental Group: in an experiment, the group of participants exposed to the
independent variable or treatment.

 Control Group: a group that is similar to the experimental group and is


exposed to the same experiential environment but is NOT exposed to the
independent variable; the group is used for comparison
Steps of scientific research
o Step one - Defining the Problem

o Step two - Formulating the Hypothesis

o Step three - Testing the Hypothesis

o Step four - Drawing Conclusions

o Step five - Reporting Results

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