Preview. Guide. Introductory Exercise: Fact or Falsehood?

Transcription

1 The Story The Story of Psychology of Psychology Preview Gide Psychology traces its roots back to Greek philosophers reflections on hman natre. Psychologists initial focs on mental life was replaced in the 1920s by the stdy of observable behavior. As the science of behavior and mental processes, psychology had its origins in many disciplines and many contries. Psychology s most endring isse concerns the relative contribtions of biology and experience. Today, psychologists recognize that nrtre works on what natre endows. The biopsychosocial approach incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cltral levels of analysis. Al thogh different perspectives on hman natre have their own prposes and qestions, they are complementary and together provide a fller nderstanding of mind and behavior. Some psychologists condct basic or applied research; others provide professional services, inclding assessing and treating trobled people. With its perspectives ranging from the biological to the social, and settings from the clinic to the laboratory, psychology has become a meeting place for many disciplines. Mastering psychology reqires active stdy. A srvey-qestion-read-retrieve-review stdy method boosts stdents learning and performance. Introdctory Exercise: Fact or Falsehood? The Preface to these Lectre Gides incldes a Fact or Falsehood? qestionnaire that covers the entire text, with one item from each chapter. If yo have not already sed it, yo may want to do so now as part of yor introdction to the discipline and the text as a whole. Alternatively, yo may se Handot P 1 on the next page, the Fact or Falsehood exercise that relates only to the material in this Prologe. The correct answers are as follows: 1. F 2. T 3. F 4. T 5. F 6. F 7. T 8. F 9. F 10. F 1

2 2 The Story of Psychology Fact or Falsehood? 1. Qestions abot hman natre date back to the speclations of the ancient philosopher Aristotle. 2. Sigmnd Fred established the first psychology laboratory at the University of Vienna, Astria. 3. The science of psychology developed from the more established fields of biology and philosophy. 4. Psychology is best defined today as the stdy of mental life. 5. Psychology is a way of asking and answering qestions. 6. The biggest and most persistent isse in psychology concerns the natre nrtre controversy that is, the relative contribtions of biology and experience to psychological traits and behavior. 7. Evoltion has become an important principle for psychology. 8. In contrast to sociology and anthropology, contemporary psychology has little interest in how behavior varies across cltres. 9. Psychology s different perspectives contradict one another. 10. Psychiatry is a branch of psychology that involves the assessment and treatment of psychological disorders.

3 Modle 1 What Is Psychology? 3 Gide Learning Objectives Every qestion in the Test Banks is keyed to one of these objectives. Psychological Science Is Born 1-1. Describe some important milestones in psychology s early development. Psychological Science Develops 1-2. Describe how psychology contined to develop from the 1920s throgh today. Contemporary Psychology 1-3. Discss how or nderstanding of biology and experience, cltre and gender, and psychology s proper focs has shaped contemporary psychology Describe psychology s three main levels of analysis and related perspectives Identify psychology s main sbfields Explain how psychological principles can help yo learn and remember. modle 1 What Is Psychology? Psychological Science Is Born Lectres: Psychology s First Experiments*; History of Psychology; William James Fonding Father of American Psychology Exercise: Eminent Psychologists Project: Today in the History of Psychology 1-1. Describe some important milestones in psychology s early development. Early philosophers, sch as Aristotle, theorized abot learning and memory, motivation and emotion, perception and personality. Their thinking abot thinking contined ntil Wilhelm Wndt established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany. He soght to measre the fastest and simplest mental processes. Edward Titchener introdced strctralism, which sed introspection looking inward to search for the basic elements of the mind. However, selfreports proved somewhat nreliable, varying from person to person and experience to experience. Under the inflence of evoltionary theorist Charles Darwin, William James thoght it more fritfl to stdy how consciosness serves a prpose. Ths, fnctionalism focsed on how mental and behavioral processes enable the organism to adapt, srvive, and florish. James also wrote a textbook for the new discipline of psychology. He mentored Mary Whiton Calkins, the first female president of the American Psychological Association and a distingished memory researcher. Margaret Floy Washbrn, who was the first female psychology Ph.D., was the second female president of APA and the athor of The Animal Mind. Psychological Science Develops Exercise: Psychology as Science (PAS) Scale Project: Notable Figres in Psychology Project/Exercise: If <Notable Psychology Figre> Tweeted Project/Lectre: The Twentieth Centry s Most Eminent Psychologists Lectre: Fred Adiio Recording PsychSim 6: Psychology s Timeline LanchPad: The History of Psychology; Postpartm Depression: The Case of Andrea Yates *Each of these items appears in the Instrctor s Resorces nit titled Introdction to Psychology.

4 4 Modle 1 What Is Psychology? 1-2. Describe how psychology contined to develop from the 1920s throgh today. Until the 1920s, psychology was defined as the science of mental life. Wndt and Titchener focsed on inner sensations, images, and feelings, and James engaged in introspective examination of consciosness and emotion. From the 1920s throgh the 1960s, American psychologists, led by John Watson and later by B. F. Skinner, both behaviorists, dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as the science of observable behavior. In responding to Fredian psychology and behaviorism, hmanistic psychology emphasized or growth potential and the importance of meeting or needs for love and acceptance. In the 1960s, psychology began to recaptre its initial interest in mental processes. Cognitive psychology and cognitive neroscience explore scientifically the ways we perceive, process, and remember information. Today, psychology is defined as the scientific stdy of behavior and mental processes. Behavior is anything an organism does. Mental processes are the internal sbjective experiences we infer from behavior, for example, perceptions, thoghts, and feelings. Psychology developed from the more established fields of philosophy and biology. Its pioneers inclded Rssian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, Astrian physician Sigmnd Fred, and Swiss biologist Jean Piaget. Like those pioneers, today s psychologists are citizens of many lands. Psychology is growing and globalizing. Contemporary Psychology Exercises: The Scientific Approach; Self-Assessment on Psychology s Big Isses; Is Hman Natre Fixed or Changeable? LanchPad: Does Self-Confidence Intimidate Others? 1-3. Discss how or nderstanding of biology and experience, cltre and gender, and hman florishing has shaped contemporary psychology. Psychology s biggest and most persistent debate concerns the natre nrtre isse: the controversy over the relative contribtions of genes and experience to the development of psychological traits and behavior. Inclded in the history of this debate is Charles Darwin s concept of natral selection, which states that among the range of inherited trait variations, those contribting to reprodction and srvival in a particlar environment will most likely be passed on to scceeding generations. Evoltion has become an important principle for twenty-first-centry psychology. Evoltionary psychology focses on how we are alike becase of or common biology and evoltionary history, while behavior genetics asks abot or diversity as it reslts from or differing genes and environment. Today, contemporary science recognizes that nrtre works on what natre endows. Or species is biologically endowed with an enormos capacity to learn and adapt. Moreover, every psychological event is simltaneosly a biological event. Lectres: Differences in Cltral Norms; Systemizing and Empathizing Brains (For more on cltre and gender, see Chapter 4 of these Lectre Gides) Exercise: Gender Roles Althogh cltre shapes or specific ideas, attitdes, vales, traditions, and behaviors, the principles that nderlie them vary mch less. Or shared biological heritage nites s as members of a niversal hman family. Stdying gender differences is not only interesting bt also potentially beneficial in preventing conflict and misnderstanding in everyday relationships. It is important to remember, however, that women and men are overwhelmingly similar psychologically as well as biologically. To balance historic psychology s focs on hman problems, researchers have called for more research on hman strengths and hman florishing, referred to as positive psychology.

5 Modle 1 What Is Psychology? 5 Lectres: Illstrating Psychology s Complementary Perspectives: The Case of Andrea Yates; The Biopsychosocial Approach and Obesity; The Allre of the Neroscience Perspective; Complementary Perspectives; Hman Freedom and Choice Exercise: Metaphors and Psychology s Perspectives Exercise/Project: Applying Psychology s Specific Theoretical Perspectives 1-4. Describe psychology s levels of analysis and related perspectives. The tiered systems that make p the complex hman system sggest different levels of analysis: biological, psychological, and social-cltral. Together, these levels form an integrated biopsychosocial approach. Psychology s varied perspectives therefore complement one another. Someone working from the neroscience perspective stdies how the body and brain work to create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences. evoltionary perspective considers how the natral selection of traits promoted the srvival of genes. behavior genetics perspective considers how heredity and experience inflence or individal differences. psychodynamic perspective views behavior as springing from nconscios drives and conflicts. behavioral perspective examines how observable responses are acqired and changed. cognitive perspective stdies how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information. social-cltral perspective examines how behavior and thinking vary across sitations and cltres. Lectres: Psychology s Important Role in Basic Scientific Research; Psychology s Applied Research Classroom Exercise: Psychologist as Scientist Classroom Exercise: Personalizing Psychology in Crrent Events Classroom Exercise/Lectre Break: Categorizing Professions in Psychology Projects: Exposre to the Fields of Psychology; Interviewing a Psychologist LanchPad: Indstrial-Organizational (IO) Psychology: Psychology in the Workplace 1-5. Identify psychology s main sbfields. Some psychologists condct basic research. For example, biological psychologists explore the link between brain and mind, developmental psychologists stdy or changing abilities from womb to tomb, and personality psychologists investigate or persistent traits. Other psychologists condct applied research. For example, indstrial-organizational psychologists stdy behavior in the workplace and sggest ways of boosting morale and performance. Psychology is also a helping profession. Conseling psychology assists people with problems in living and in achieving greater well-being. Clinical psychology involves mental health professionals who stdy, assess, and treat people with psychological disorders. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders, which sometimes involves medical treatments as well as psychological therapy. Rather than seeking to change people to fit their environment, commnity psychologists work to create social and physical environments that are healthy for all. Psychology relates to many disciplines, by connecting with fields ranging from mathematics to philosophy and by aiding those disciplines.

6 6 Modle 1 What Is Psychology? Improve Yor Retention and Yor Grades Exercise: Eliciting Metaphors for Learning and Teaching 1-6. Explain how psychological principles can help yo learn and remember. What helps yo learn new material is repeated self-testing and rehearsal of previosly stdied material, called the testing effect (or retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning). To master information, one mst actively process it. People learn and remember material best when they pt it in their own words, rehearse it, and then review and retrieve it again. SQ3R, an acronym for Srvey, Qestion, Read, Retrieve, and Review, is a stdy method that encorages active processing of new information. Distribting stdy time, learning to think critically, processing information actively in class, and overlearning will also boost learning and performance.