General Psychology PSYC 200. Group Discussion Questions. Outline. Defining and Describing Psychology 2/19/2015. Describing Psychology ROOM 7515

Transcription

1 General Psychology PSYC Describing Psychology ROOM 7515 Group Discussion Questions One of your classmates has flipped ahead in the book and notices that there will be a lot of material on the brain. I don t see why I have to learn so much biology. I want to be a school counselor, not a brain surgeon How are the mind and brain connected? In what specific ways might knowing the brain help us to understand the mind? Another classmate is unsettled after reading B.F. Skinner s claim that free will is an illusion. Psychology always tries to treat human beings like lab rats, whose behavior can be manipulated. I have free will, and I decide what I m going to do next. What would you tell your friend? Does an understanding of the basic principles of psychology allow us to predict every detail of what individual humans will do? Outline Psychology is Hard Subfields Career Options Storytime Defining and Describing Psychology The Hardest Science William James 1

2 Behavior is difficult to predict What makes psychology difficult? In class discussion Come up with 3 reasons Behavior is multiply determined Why are you here (in this class right now)? Why do thieves steal? Why has crime gone down in the past 20 years? People differ from one another People react when they are being studied How are website comments different from in person comments? (also how are signed comments different from anonymous ones?) 2

3 Many psychological concepts are difficult to define Happiness? Blue? Consciousness? Attention? Culture Influences Behavior What makes psychology challenging? Behavior is difficult to predict Behavior is multiply determined People differ from one another Many psychological concepts are difficult to define People react when they are studied Culture influences behavior Difficult to predict Probabilistic prediction Multiply determined People Differ from one another Still can predict 3

4 Hard to Define? Culture Influences Behavior Some universals Systematic differences Psychology has nothing to do with Engineering Clowns Reading someone s mind How and why people have specific skill sets (amazing at math, not creative, etc) Tick. The ocean Mathematics and physics Algebra Processing of a computer Memorization Certain emotions Levels of Explanation Subfields of Psychology 4

5 Depression Cultural -- expectations about happiness Social -- relationships, social support Cognitive/Behavioral -- pessimism, sleeplessness Neurological -- brain structures Neurochemical -- neurotransmitters Molecular -- genetic predisposition Psychologists in Partner activity Think about how a psychologist might work in the field you have been given What problems are there that a psychologist might know, research, or have some expertise? What roles could a psychologist take? Who might pay a psychologist in these fields? Where do Psychologists Work? With psychology, you could be a therapist at a place like RMC or work with military personnel suffering from combat-related stress disorders work for a pharmaceutical company as a research specialist work in advertising and marketing or human resources at a large corporation design museum exhibits or websites run a nonprofit organization teaching parenting skills to young parents or providing community services to the elderly work as a high-school guidance counselor work for the NTSB to investigate the role of human factors in causing airplane crashes study giant pandas at a zoo to promote captive breeding and protect endangered species Work Settings Today. Business, Government Other Schools Private Practice Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools Mental Health Facilities (Hospitals, Clinics, Counseling Centers) neuroscience revolution? diverse and growing 54 Divisions of APA scientist-practitioner gap Should clinical practice primarily reflect scientific findings or subjective intuition? APA vs. APS giving psychology away prescription privileges for clinical psychologists 5

6 Storytime Van Halen Brown M&M s Next time Methods of Psychology 6