Md.

Al Amin
Lecturer,
Department of Marketing, JnU
Introduction to Sociology and
Psychology
 What Psychology Is Like

Contents:
✓ Definitions
✓ Psychology as a Science
✓ Application of Psychology
✓ Psychology studies behavior
✓ Methods of Psychology
 Psychology

is
“ The science of human and animal behavior;
it includes the application of this science to
human problems”
 Psychology

is
“The science of human and animal behavior;
it includes the application of this science to
human problems”

✓ Psychology as a Science
✓ Application of Psychology
✓ Psychology studies behavior
Psychology as a Science

“A science is a body of systematized

knowledge that is gathered by carefully
observing and measuring events”.
 Psychology as a Science

Psychology is systematic.

Psychologists do:
✓ Experiment & observations
✓ Obtain data
✓ Finally come to decision
 Psychology as a Science

Another Characteristic of Science

Is
Measurement:
Assigning number to objects or events
according to certain rules.

Physical scales: Length, time, temperature.

 Measurement
Many of events in psychology is difficult to measure
by physical scale.
Example: Friendship, Happiness

But
We can design our experiment through physical
scale.
Example: How many times a person takes to
response in one situation or another.
Application of Psychology
✓ A teacher mentoring students.
✓ Social Psychologist trying to lessen tensions
between management and workers.
✓ Clinical Psychologist supervising group therapy in
a hospital.

❖ Engineers develop skills by using scientific

knowledge where psychologist have learned
through training, experiment, etc.
Psychology studies behavior
✓ Behavior includes anything that a person or animal
does that can be observed in some way.

❖ Never seen mind or heard a mind.

❖ But Psychologist try to understand feelings,
attitudes, thoughts & other internal processes
through behaviors that what a person does……..
 Methods of Psychology
Developing new knowledge about behavior through
experiment or observation.

Three types of methods:

✓Experimental Methods

✓Systematic Observation

✓Clinical Method
 Experimental Methods

“|Psychology method that measures the effect

of independent variables on dependent
variables.”

Increasing attendance marks from 5 to 10

has an effect
on
Attendance of students
 Experimental Methods

Increasing attendance marks from 5 to 10

has an effect
on
Attendance of students
 Experimental Methods
Increasing attendance marks from 5 to 10 has an
effect
on
Attendance of students
Develop Hypothesis
Independent Variable
Develop variables

Keep others conditions Dependent Variable

constant

Measure effects

Decision
 Develop Hypothesis
Hypothesis is a statement toward an object that can
be true or not.

➢ H o: Increasing marks has no effect on attendance

➢ H 1: Increasing marks has effect on attendance
 Develop Variables
• Variables: It is an event or condition which can be
measured and which varies quantitatively.

• Variable can be dependent & Independent.

Example:
Dependent Variable: Students’ attendance
Independent Variable: Increasing Marks
Keep others variables constant

Control:
Factors other than the independent variable which
might affect the dependent variable must be held
constant.
Because third variable can mislead the results.

Example:
✓ Third variable: Teacher’s performance
Keep others variables constant

• Two strategy to control extraneous / third variables:

1. Control group and experimental group strategy

2. Before and after strategy
Control group and experimental group
strategy

In this strategy total number of samples is divided into two

groups: one is control group another is experimental group.

Control group: Without introducing independent variable,

measure the effects
Experimental group: Introducing independent variable,
measure The effects.
Decision: Compare the difference between two group & come to
decision.
Control group and experimental group
strategy

Control Group
Behavior
A1 No
measured
A2 independent
A3 variable
Comparison
of the
behavior of
the control
and
experiment
group
Experiment Group
Behavior
B1 independent measured
B2 variable
B3
 Before and after strategy

✓ In before and after strategy the test group is measured

before introducing independent variable.

✓ Then introducing the independent variable and measure the

test group.

✓ Finally again measure the test group without independent

variable.
 Before and after strategy

A B A

Subject Measure Measure

Base line/ behavior after behavior again
A1
before independent without
A2
measure of variable independent
A3
behavior introduced variable

Comparison of behavior Comparison of behavior

under A & B conditions under B & A conditions
 Measure the effects

❑ In this stage researchers measure the effect

does marking as positive or negative effects on
students’ attendance on a specific time.
 Decision

❑ If increasing marks can increase number of

students' attendance, then we can say yes
marking has effect on attendance. If not it is
negative effect.
❑ If we increase marks in positive way, student
attendance will be positive.
❑ If decrease marks negatively, student
attendance will be also negative.
❑ So we can say increasing marks has direct
effect on student attendance.
 Limitations of Experiment

• This method is restricted in its applications.

• Bias occurs during experiment rather than
natural environment.
• The method sometimes interferes with many
independent variables.
 Systematic Observation

❑ In this method psychologist researchers observe

naturally occurring behaviors. After making a
number of observations, they use certain rules of
logic; try to infer the causes of behavior being
studied.

❑ Example: Pollution of river,

 Clinical Method

❑ This method is only used only when people come to

psychologist with personal problems.

➢ Example: Mr X, student of JnU is continuously doing bad results.

His parents bring him to the psychologist to find out why?

✓ Psychologist begins by collecting details person’s history

including family relations.
✓ This data are gained through interviewing the persons and his
associates
✓ Psychologist may administer tests of various kinds like
intelligence tests, interest tests, tests emotion etc.
✓ Finally analysis all things and take action based on tests.
 Approach of Psychology

Neurobiological Approach

Behavioral Approach

Cognitive Approach

Psychoanalytic Approach

Humanistic Approach
 Neurobiological Approach

❑ Human brain has twelve billion nerve cells.

❑ This approach includes the study of man attempts

to relate his actions to events taking place inside
his body particularly within the brain and nervous
system.

❑ Example: Learning came from nervous system as the

result of learning how to perform a new task.
 Behavioral Approach

❑ This approach proposed by John B. Watson

❑ Example: A person takes breakfast, rides a bicycle,

talks, laughs etc, these activities we can observe.

❑ In Behavioral Approach Psychologist studies an

individual by looking at his behavior rather than
internal working.
Behavioral Approach

SR
 Behavioral Approach

S-R: Stimulus-Response
Psychology. Proposed by B. F. Skinner.

This theory studies the stimuli that elicit

behavioral responses, the rewards and
punishments that maintain these responses.

➢ This theory does not consider the individuals'

conscious experience.
 Cognitive Approach

➢ Cognitive Psychologists argue that we are not

merely passive receptors or stimuli, We have mind.

➢ This approach refers to those mental processes

that transform the sensory input in various
ways, code it, store it in memory, and retrieve it
for later, use perception, imagery to response.
 Psychoanalytic Approach

➢ This approach consider the unconscious mind of

person.
➢ Developed by Sigmund Freud.
➢ By unconscious processes Freud meant
thoughts, wishes of which the person is
unaware but which influence his behavior.
 Humanistic Approach

➢ This Approach said that An Individual is free to

choose and to determine his actions.
➢ He is responsible for his actions & can not blame to
environment or parents or others.
➢ This approach ignores the
 Humanistic Approach

➢ This approach ignores the external stimuli or

unconscious mind.
➢ Rather than view man being “acted on” by
forces outside of his control.
➢ Humanistic approach prefers man to see as
ACTOR.