Lecture 1

What is psychology?
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
o Behavior: what we do
o Mental processes: sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts,
beliefs, and feelings
History of Psychology
o 4th and 5th century B.C.
o Greek philosophers asked questions about mental life and
theorized about mental processes
o What is consciousness?
o Are people inherently rational or irrational?
o Is there such a thing as free will?
Nature-nurture debate
o Are human capabilities inborn or acquired through experience?
o Nature view: humans enter world with inborn store of knowledge
and understanding of reality
Descartes: some ideas are innate
Plato: Ideas such as the good and beauty are inborn
Charles Darwin: some traits and behaviors are part of the
nature of the species
o Nurture view: knowledge is acquired through experiences and
interactions from the world
Aristotle: knowledge comes through the senses
John Locke: the mind is a blank slate
Modern Scientific Psychology: Wundt established first
psychological laboratory in 1879
o Added two key elements to help make psychology a science
Carefully measured observations
experiments
o Structuralism- relied on introspection in reaction to stimuli such
as the smell or feel of a flower
Introspection: reporting on sensations and other elements
of experience
Used introspective reports to build a view of the minds
structure
o Functionalism- developed by Williams James
Focused on how behavioral processes enable organism to
adapt, survive, and flourish
Studied human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and
asked:
What function might they serve?

 How might they have helped our ancestors survive?

o Behaviorism
Emphasized role of the environment and learning in
behavioral development
Studied activities that could be observed (often in animals
and infants)
Discussed psychological phenomena in terms of stimuli
and responses
o Humanism
Studied people who were thriving rather than those who
had psychological problems
Emphasized the importance of current environmental
influences on our growth potential
Developed theories and treatments to help people to feel
accepted and to reach their potential
Contemporary Perspectives
o Social-cultural- orientation toward understanding how behavior
and thinking vary across situations and cultures
o Cognitive- concerned with mental processes such as perceiving,
remembering, reasoning, and deciding
o Neuroscience/biological- seeks to understand neurobiological
processes that underlie behavior and mental processes
o Psychodynamic- views behavior as springing from unconscious
drives and conflicts
o Behaviorist- focuses on observable stimuli and responses and
views behavior as a result of conditioning
o Evolutionary- interested in how the natural selection of traits
promoted the survival of genes that shape behavior
Biology Plus Environment- are part of psychologys three
biopsychosocial levels of analysis
o The deep level Biology: genes, brain, neuro-transmitters,
survival, reflexes, sensation
Influences behavior or mental process| natural selection of
adaptive traits
Genetic predispositions responding to environment
Brain mechanism
Hormonal influences
o In the middle Psychology: thoughts, emotions, moods, choices,
behaviors, traits, motivations, knowledge, perceptions
Learned fears and other learned expectations
Emotional responses
Cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations

o The outer level Environment: social influences, culture,

education, relationships
Social-cultural influences: presence of others
Cultural, societal, and family expectations
Peer and other group influences
Compelling models (such as the media)
Week 1 Lecture 2
Research Methods
The Scientific Method is the process of testing our ideas about the
world by: Theory, Hypothesis, Research and Observation| If the
data doesnt fit our ideas, then we modify our ideas and test again
The next/final step in the scientific method: replication| Replicating
research means trying it again using the same operational definitions
of the concepts and procedures
Theory: a set of principles built on observations and other verifiable
facts that explains some phenomenon and predicts its future behavior
Hypothesis: a testable prediction consistent with our theory
o Testable means that the hypothesis is stated in a way that we
could make observations to find out if it is true
Research Principles and Practices
o Standardization- apply every procedure in a consistent, precise
manner
o Operational definition- reducing ambiguity by defining
variables in terms specific measurement operations (e.g.
defining anxiety as a score on a specific anxiety scale; defining
intelligence based on scores on an intelligence test)
o Generalization- applying research findings to an entire
population not just the sample in one study
o Validity- ensuring that an experiment measures what it is
supposed to measure
o Reliability- insuring that the results can be repeated in more
than one experiment
o Replication- repeating the study to determine whether or not
the same results can be achieved
o Programmatic research- carrying out a logical sequence of
related studies, all moving toward a common goal
Lecture 3 Week 1
Descriptive and correlational research methods
o Case study
o Naturalistic observation

Survey
Correlational design
take a sample?
If you want to find out something about men, you cant interview
every single man on earth
o Sampling saves time
o Random sampling is a technique for making sure that every
individual in a population has an equal chance of being in your
sample
o random means that your selection of participants is driven only
by chance, not by any characteristics
Correlation:
o General definition: an observation that two traits or attributes are
related to each other
o Scientific: a measure of how closely two factors vary together. Or
how well you can predict a change in one from observing a
change in the other
o Finding correlations: scatterplots
o Correlation coefficient: the correlation coefficient is a number
representing the strength and direction of correlation
The strength of the relationship refers to how close the
dots are to a straight line, which means one variable
changes exactly as the other one does; this number varies
from 0 to +/- 1
o Correlation does not equal causation
o To find causation= need experimentation (manipulating one
factor in a situation to determine its effect)
Experimental Research Method
o Definition: a type of research in which the researcher carefully
manipulates a limited number of factors (IVs) and measures the
impact on other factors (DVs)
o Benefit: allow researcher to establish cause-effect relationship
o Independent variable- a variable that is set, changed, or
manipulated by the experimenter
o Dependent variable- a variable that is measured to see
whether they change as a result of experimental manipulations
o Experimental group- the group that receives the treatment or
manipulation being studied
o Control group- the group that does not receive the treatment and
is otherwise identical to the experimental group
If a variable in an experimental group is manipulated, this
is how we know that the change wouldnt have happened
anyway
o
o
Why
o

Group is compared to a control group, a group that is the

same in every way except the one variable we are
changing
By using a random assignment (randomly selecting some
study participants to be assigned to the control group or
the experimental group) we make sure the control group is
really identical in every way to the experimental group
Random sampling is different from random assignment
Summary of the types of research
o Descriptive- to observe and record behavior
Perform case studies, surveys, or naturalistic observations
No variable is manipulated
Weakness: no control of variables; single cases may be
misleading
o Correlational- to detect naturally occurring relationships; to
assess how well one variable predicts another
Compute statistical association, somethings among survey
responses
No variable is manipulated
Weakness: does not specify cause-effect; one variable
predicts another but this does not mean one causes the
other
o Experimental- to explore cause- effect
Manipulate one or more factors; randomly assign some to
control group
Independent variables are manipulated
Weakness: sometimes not possible for practical or ethical
reasons; results may not generalize to other contexts
Statistics- tools for organizing, presenting, analyzing and interpreting
data
o Value: to present a more accurate picture of our data (e.g. the
scatterplot) than we would see otherwise
o to help us reach valid conclusions from our data; statistics are a
crucial critical thinking tool
Measures of central tendency
o Mode- the most common level/ number/score
o Mean (arithmetic average)- the sum of the scores, divided by the
number of scores
o Median (middle persons score, or 50th percentile)- the
number/level that half of people scored above and half of them
below
Measures of variation

o Range- the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a

distribution
o Standard deviation: a calculation of the average distance of
scores from the mean
Drawing conclusions from data
o After finding a pattern in our data that shows a difference
between one group and another, we can ask more questions
In the difference reliable; can we use this result to
generalize or to predict the future behavior of the
Is the difference reliable; can we use this result to
generalize or to predict the future behavior of the broader
population?
In the difference significant: could the result have been
caused by random/ chance variation between the groups