Unit One: Chapter OneIntroduction to Psychology

Warm Up• Give me three examples of why someone would choose to

study psychology.

Why Study Psychology?• Behavior and Mental Processes• Behavior is an observable action

• You writing these notes• If another person can’t see it, it’s not behavior• If you can see it by performing a test it is also considered behavior• Heart rate and blood pressure can be seen with machines

• Mental processes• Cognitive activities • Dreams, perceptions, thoughts, and memories• Other people cannot see your dreams or thoughts

• Psychological Constructs• Way of identifying things that we cannot measure• Ie feelings

Why Study Psychology? • The Goals of Psychology• Better understand mental processes and behaviors• Predicting or changing unwanted behavior

• Behavior of a person only changes, if they want to change it

Why Study Psychology?• Psychology as a Science• Linked with the natural sciences in studying the functions of the

brain.• Research

• Surveys and experiments• Human or animal behavior• Some believe that research done with animals can be applied to humans• Do you think that this is ok?

Why Study Psychology?• Psychology as a Science• Psychological theories

• Theory is someone trying to explain why things are they way they are.• Behavior, mental processes, and biological processes• Allows psychologist to predict the behavior or mental process of another

person• Principle is a rule. There is no question that it is the way things work.• Theories can be revised but principles cannot.

Vocabulary Chapter One• Behavior• Cognitive activities• Constructs• Theory• Principle• clinical psychologist• counseling

psychologist• Basic research• introspection

• Associationism• Structuralism• Functionalism• Behaviorism• Gestalt Psychology• Psychoanalysis• Psychodynamic thinking• Psychological

perspectives• Ethnic group

Warm Up• What does a psychologist do?• How many different types of psychologists do you think there

are?

What psychologists Do• There are many different types of specialization for

psychologists• Clinical Psychologists• Largest group• What people usually think of when they think psychologist• Help people with psychological problems or problems dealing

with some aspect of their life• Not a psychiatrist – not a medical doctor

What psychologists do• Counseling Psychologists• Treat people with adjustment problems rather than psychological

disorders• Difficulty making decisions about future plans• Conflict with family, peers, etc.

• School psychologists • Help students that have problems that interfere with learning• Deal with problems with the peer group or family• IQ and achievement tests • Advise teachers on how to help students meet educational goals• Recommendations on placement of students

What psychologist do• Educational Psychologists• Helping students learn• Not focused on specific student but the entire district• Developing instructional methods for a district• Help develop standardized tests

• Developmental Psychologist• Study changes throughout a person’s lifetime• Physical, emotional, cognitive, social• Nature vs. nurture• Most study adolescence

What psychologists do• Personality Psychologists • Identify characteristics and traits

• Friendly, nice, outgoing• Study the development of traits

• Why are some people more prone to other traits than others?

• Social Psychologists• Deal with people’s behavior in social situations• Gender differences, attraction, conformity, group membership• Prejudice, discrimination, and aggression

What psychologists do• Experimental Psychologists• Experimental research

• Functions of the nervous system• Called biological psychologists• Engage in basic research

• Has no immediate application and is done for its own sake

• Industrial and Organizational Psychologists• People in the work place• Improve working conditions and increase worker output

What psychologists do• Environmental Psychologists• Focus on the way influence or are influenced by their

environments• Consumer Psychologist• Study the habits of shoppers

• Do you think that advertisements were developed by psychologists?

• Forensic Psychologists• Work within the criminal justice system

• Health Psychologists• How behavior and mental processes effect your health

Advertisement • Create a job advertisement for a psychologist in of the

specializations we discussed in class.• Describe the duties of psychologist, but do not write which

field they are.• Post the advertisement somewhere in the room.

Advertisement• With a partner, walk around the room and try to figure out

which psychologist the advertisement is for• Write your guesses in your notebook.• Exit Ticket: Then describe one type of psychologist in your

own words.

Warm Up• Draw your own Rorschach Ink blot • Tell me why you think this test is no longer used

History of Psychology• Ancient Greece• Socrates – we can learn about ourselves by examining our

thoughts and feelings• Aristotle – experiences remind us of experiences of the past

• People are motivate to seek pleasure and avoid pain• Peri Psyches

• Associated psychological problems with supernatural• Gods punishing people

History of Psychology• Middle Ages• Believed that psychological problems were due to be possessed

by a demon• Punishment for sinning• Water-float test – if you could keep your head above water you were

considered in leagues with the devil. If you sunk you were considered pure, but you also drowned.

• Modern Science• John Locke – knowledge is formed through experience • Study of behaviors and mental processes more similar to

chemistry (natural sciences)

History of Psychology• Structuralism• Wilhelm Wundt• Discovering the basic elements of consciousness

• Objective sensations - sight and taste are reflections of the outside world

• subjective feelings – emotional responses and mental images• Human mind functions by combining objective sensations and

subjective feelings

History of Psychology• Functionalism• William James• Experience is a “stream of consciousness”• How mental processes help organisms adapt to their

environment• Introspection and laboratory experiments• Successful actions will become habits

History of Psychology• Behaviorism • John Watson• Consciousness only known by the individual• Focused on only observable behaviors

• Reinforcement• B.F. Skinner• If you are rewarded for an action, you are more likely to repeat it

History of Psychology• The Gestalt School• Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler• Perceptions are more than the sum of their parts• Cat is still a cat even if it’s missing its tail• Doesn’t believe thought can be broken down into parts

History of Psychology• Psychoanalysis• Sigmund Freud• Importance of unconscious motives and internal conflict• Freudian slip – shows unconscious thought when you misspeak

• Find a partner to show your ink blot design to• Write down what your partner says and using psychoanalysis

interpret what they are thinking.

Timeline• Create a timeline, using the book, of the events, studies, and

psychologists that we went over in class.• It needs to be decorated with at least two pictures and include

all of the earlier schools of psychology

Interpreting Primary Sources• You will receive a primary source written by one of the men

we talked about today. • Read the source and try and determine who wrote it.• In your notebook, write who you thought it was and why you

thought it was that person.

Warm up• Dou you think that all psychologists agree?• Why would they disagree?

Contemporary Perspectives• Biological perspective• Mental processes are made possible by the nervous system

• The brain• Influence of hormones and genes

• What effect would these things have on personality traits? Or your psychological health?

• Evolutionary Perspective• Hereditary basis of behavior

Contemporary Perspectives• Cognitive Perspective• Studying mental processes to understand human nature• Information processing – memory cycle

• How can processing information differently effect your behavior?

• Humanistic Perspective• Self-fulfillment • Consciousness is a force to shape personality

Contemporary Perspectives• Psychoanalytic Perspective• Unconscious motives influence behavior

• Learning Perspective• More concerned with what someone does than why they do it• Reinforcement and influence from environment are important• Social-learning theory – learn by observing others

• Values can influence whether you choose to learn something or not

Contemporary Perspectives• Sociocultural Perspective• How Ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status effect

behavior and mental processes• Cultural expectations of different groups

• How does that effect your behavior?

Chapter One quiz• If you finish early, go back through your notebook and finish

anything that needs to be completed.