How Can Psychology 201 Help you Understand the World? Pseudosciences: o What are the differences between a science and a pseudoscience? o What are examples of pseudosciences? o Why is understanding the difference important? o Why do people believe in pseudosciences such as astrology, shark cartilage therapy, iridology, graphology, etc.? How can you apply the principles of the scientific method from psychology to other claims in general? How do beliefs affect our perception of the world? What are the strengths and weaknesses of a scientific process? Why do drugs have the effects they do on your behavior what effect do they have on neurotransmitters? What parts of the brain affect behavior? What are the effects of sleep deprivation? Why do people abuse drugs? What effects can hypnosis produce? What effects can hypnosis not produce? What are the effects of different parenting styles? In general, I approach my courses by trying to get you to 1. explain how you can use the psychological principles from the course and 2. how psychology helps you understand the world around you.
General Psychology 201 Introduction and Research Methods Introduction: The Origins of Psychology The influence of philosophy (Aristotle and Descartes) The influence of physiology William Wundt: The founder of psychology Edward B. Titchener: Structuralism William James: Functionalism Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud Behaviorism (Pavlov, J.B. Watson, B.F. Skinner) Humanistic Psychology (Rogers, Maslow) Contemporary Psychology The Major Perspectives Specialty Areas in Psychology A Scientific Method: What is critical thinking? The steps in the scientific method Research Methods Descriptive Methods: Naturalistic observations Case studies Surveys Correlational studies Research Methods Experimental Methods: Do violent games increase aggressive behavior? Structure of an experimental method Variations of an experimental design Limitations of experiments What is a Pseudoscience? Ethics in Psychological Research Application: Evaluating Mass Media Reports about Psychology Statistics (Appendix A):
Is Psychology All Common Sense? A lot of psychology is common sense. However, there is a lot of psychology that isn t common sense. Common sense can depend upon your world-view. Sometimes the obvious isn t always obvious. For example, of the following technologies, which were deemed unimportant when they were first introduced? (source: Ira Flatow, They all Laughed ) Xerox machine Color television Telephone Microwave oven Typewriter Can you imagine life without any of them?
(1) What do persistent gamblers remember the most? (a) (b) (c) (d) Instances in which they win. Instances in which they lose. Neither, they remember each one about the same. I am not sure. (2) Subliminal messages (such as flashing eat popcorn or drink Coke during a movie without your awareness) are (a) (b) (c) generally effective in changing behavior. slightly effective in changing behavior. not effective in changing behavior. (3) Most people use anywhere from 5-10% of their brain. (a) More likely true (b) More likely false (4) More crimes are committed on the night of a full moon than any other night. (a) More likely true (b) More likely false (5) One flight trainer would scold someone after a very bad performance. The next performance improved. The same flight trainer also noticed that after an exceptional performance that he praised the student for, their performance decreased. The conclusion that scolding enhances performance and praise decreases performance is (a) a valid conclusion (b) not a valid conclusion
Is Psychology Common Sense? Beliefs and claims in science need to be testable and falsifiable. We can test this claim. In order to test this claim, I am going to do is give you a T/F quiz about psychological beliefs. The results from this test increase the confidence in this belief/claim or decrease the confidence of this belief/claim. By guessing, how many should people get correct? Based on the outcome of the quiz, we can make a conclusion about the claim psychology is common sense. Outcome of the average score on the survey of psychological beliefs Conclusion Upper Criteria Lower Criteria 36 Psychology is common sense Unclear whether psychology is common sense 0 Psychology is not common sense
Average score on the quiz Conclusion 41 Psychology is common sense 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Psychology is not common sense