Jatin Jain (2018A7PS0276P)
CHAPTER 1
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* Psychology is a field that uses scientific methods to study human behavior.
* From philosophy came two key ideas:
-empiricism, the view that knowledge can be gathered through careful observation, and
-rationalism, the view that knowledge can be gained through logic and careful reasoning.
* Discoveries in the field of physiology, the branch of biology that studies the functions of living
organisms—were directly related to the emergence of psychology.
* Wilhelm Wundt, One of the Founders of Modern Psychology
Wundt was a strong advocate for an independent, scientific field of psychology. So impressive were
his arguments—and his personality!—that in 1879 Wundt succeeded in founding the first
laboratory for psychological research.
* Wundt believed that psychology should study consciousness—what goes on inside our minds.
Consistent with this view (which was known as structuralism because it focused on the structure of
the human mind), Wundt focused his research on such tasks as analyzing sensations, feelings, and
images into their most basic parts, largely through the method of introspection, in which individuals
describe what is going on in their own minds.
* Behaviourism -> psychology should study only what we can observe—overt behavior .Watson
argued overt activities can be measured in a scientific manner while internal events in structuralism
were unmeasurable .
* in 1960s equipment permitted rapid and accurate measurement of subtle internal changes in bodily
states such as heart rate, blood pressure, and electrical activity within the brain. Together, these new
technologies offered psychologists important new tools for measuring what had been, in the past,
largely unmeasurable.So there was a shift towards structuralism.
* cognitive revolution is a tremendous surge in interest, within psychology, in the task of studying
cognitive processes (mental events).
* most psychologists now define their field as follows: Psychology is the science of behavior and
cognitive processes.
* psychology’s “grand issues”—large-scale questions or themes
-First question: stability versus change :To what extent do we remain stable over time, and to what
extent do we change?
-Second question: To what extent are various aspects of our behavior determined by inherited
tendencies, and to what extent are they learned— shaped by experience with the world around us?
This is usually known as the nature–nurture question.
-Third theme : rationality versus irrationality
Would you eat a piece of chocolate shaped exactly like a spider—bulging eyes, long hairy legs, fangs,
and all?
* Major Perspectives of Modern Psychology
Behavioral - Focuses on overt behavior
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Jatin Jain (2018A7PS0276P)
Cognitive - Focuses on cognitive processes such as memory, thought, reasoning
Biological - Focuses on the biological events and processes that underlie behavior
Sociocultural - Focuses on all aspects of social behavior and on the impact of cultural factors on
behavior
Psychodynamic - Focuses on personality and on the role of hidden, often unconscious processes on
behavior
Evolutionary - Focuses on the possible role of inherited tendencies in various aspects of behavior
* Multicultural Perspective: In psychology, an approach that pays careful attention to the effects of
ethnic and cultural factors on behavior.
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*The Major Subfields of Psychology
Clinical psychology - Studies diagnosis, causes, and treatment of mental disorders .
Counseling psychology-Assists individuals in dealing with many personal problems that do not involve
psychological disorders .
Developmental psychology - Studies how people change physically, cognitively, and socially over the
entire life span .
Educational psychology - Studies all aspects of the educational process.
Experimental psychology - Studies all basic psychological processes, including perception, learning,
and motivation .
Cognitive psychology - Investigates all aspects of cognition— memory, thinking, reasoning, language,
decision making, and so on .
Industrial/organizational psychology - Studies all aspects of behavior in work settings .
Biopsychology - Investigates the biological bases of behavior .
Social psychology - Studies all aspects of social behavior and social thought—how we think about and
interact with others .
* Science - this term refers simply to a special approach for acquiring knowledge—an approach
involving the use of several systematic methods for gathering information plus adherence to several
key values or standards.
* the values and standards that are essential components of the scientific method
Accuracy:A commitment to gathering and evaluating information about the world in as careful,
precise, and error-free a manner as possible.
Objectivity:A commitment to obtaining and evaluating such information in a manner that is as free
from bias as humanly possible.
Skepticism: A commitment to accepting findings as accurate only after they have been verified over
and over again, preferably by many different scientists working independently.
Open-Mindedness:A commitment to changing one’s views—even views that are strongly held—in the
face of evidence that shows these views to be inaccurate.
* Theories: In science, frameworks for explaining various events or processes.
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Jatin Jain (2018A7PS0276P)
Hypotheses: Testable predictions derived from theories.
* some of the sources of potential error if we rely on common sense -
Confirmation Bias: The tendency to notice and remember primarily information that lends support to
our views.
Availability Heuristic: A mental shortcut suggesting that the easier it is to bring something to mind,
the more frequent or important it is.
Mood effects: Moods—your current feelings—influence the way you think . Tendency for our current
moods to influence our perceptions, judgments, and decisions .
* Critical Thinking: Thinking that avoids blind acceptance of conclusions or arguments and instead
closely examines all assumptions, evidence, and conclusions.
* Systematic Observation: A basic method of science in which events or processes in the world are
observed and measured in a very careful manner.
Naturalistic Observation: A research method in which behavior is studied in the settings where it
usually occurs.
* Case Method:A method of research in which detailed information about individuals is used to
develop general principles about behavior.
* Survey Method:A research method in which large numbers of people answer questions about
aspects of their views or their behavior.
Sampling: In the survey method, the methods used to select persons who respond to the survey.
* Correlation : A tendency for one aspect of the world (or one variable) to change with another aspect
of the world (or variable).
Correlational Method : A research method in which researchers attempt to determine whether, and
to what extent, different variables are related to each other.
* Even if two variables are strongly correlated , this does not necessarily mean that changes in one
cause changes in the other. I.e. correlation does not equal causation.
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* Experimentation (the Experimental Method): A research method in which researchers
systematically alter one or more variables in order to determine whether such changes influence
some aspect of behavior.
Independent Variable: The variable that is systematically changed in an experiment.
Dependent Variable: The variable that is measured in an experiment.
* control condition—a baseline against which results in the other condition could be compared.
* Random Assignment of Participants to Experimental Conditions : Assuring that all research
participants have an equal chance of being exposed to each level of the independent variable (that is,
of being assigned to each experimental condition).
*Two requirements for success of experiment
- random assignment of participants to experimental conditions.
- Insofar(as much) as possible, all factors other than the independent variable that might also affect
participants’ behavior must be held constant.
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Jatin Jain (2018A7PS0276P)
* In order to avoid potential problems, which are known as experimenter effects, many experiments
in psychology employ a double-blind procedure.
* Experimenter Effects: Unintended effects, caused by researchers, on participants’ behavior.
Double-Blind Procedure: Procedure in which the researchers who have contact with participants do
not know the hypothesis under investigation.
* Research methods used by psychologist
* Inferential Statistics:A special form of mathematics that allows us to evaluate the likelihood that a
given pattern of findings is due to chance alone. (%chance<5 => significant)
Replication:A basic scientific principle requiring that the results of an experiment be repeated before
they are accepted with confidence.
Meta-Analysis:A statistical procedure for combining the results of many different studies in order to
estimate both the direction and the magnitude of the effects of independent variables studied in
these experiments.As this is mathematical so it eliminates potential sources of error.
* The basic scientific principle of replication is still important, even when inferential statistics are used
to evaluate research findings.
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* two ethical issues
-> deception also raises important ethical issues. But it seems helpful in research.
Deception: The temporary withholding of information about a study from participants.
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Jatin Jain (2018A7PS0276P)
They feel that deception may shake participants’ faith in psychology, and may sometimes leave
them with negative feelings—such thoughts as “How could I have been fooled so easily? Why
didn’t I figure out what was really happening?”
most psychologists have concluded that deception is permissible, provided that two basic
principles are followed
- Informed Consent:A principle requiring that research participants be provided with information
about all the events and procedures a study will involve before they agree to participate in it ,
and that they be informed that they are completely free to leave at any time.
- Debriefing: Providing research participants with full information about all aspects of a
study after they have participated in it.
-> Research on animals
Reasons why we do research on animals
-First, psychologists may want to find out something about the behavior of a particular species.
-Second, they may want to determine whether certain principles of behavior—for example, basic
principles concerning learning—apply to many different species.
-The most important reason for conducting research with animals, however, is the one that
raises important ethical issues: some research exposes participants to conditions or treatments
that could not be performed with human beings.
supporters of animal rights contend that the procedures employed in research with animals
often expose them to harsh or cruel treatment
Psychologists respond to such criticism in two ways.
-First, they note that harsh and cruel procedures are virtually never used in their research
-Second, psychologists note that research with animals has contributed to human welfare in
many important ways.
* ethical issues in the practice of psychology
-The most frequent of these have to do with questions of confidentiality—situations in which
psychologists receive information from their clients that professional ethics require them to hold
confidential, but which they also feel obligated to reveal for legal reasons.
-Another frequent cause of ethical concern involves situations in which psychologists find
themselves in conflicted relationships with clients; that is, situations in which a psychologist’s
professional role as healer is somehow inconsistent with other relationships he or she may have with
a client.
-Another, and more unsettling, cause for ethical concern centers on sexual issues—instances in
which psychologists are attracted to their clients or vice versa.
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