UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY

8th Edition

by
Robert S. Feldman

Slides prepared by Kimberly Foreman

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 Chapter 1:
Introduction to Psychology

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 Psychology at Work
• The scientific study of behavior and mental
processes

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 The Subfields of Psychology:
Psychology’s Family Tree

• Biopsychology
– Specializes in the biological bases of
behavior
• Sensation, perception, learning, and
thinking
– Experimental Psychology
• Methodological study of sensing, perceiving,
learning and thinking
– Cognitive Psychology
• Emphasis on The
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 Subfields of Psychology
• Sources of change and stability in
behavior
– Developmental psychology
• Changes in behavior over the lifespan (womb to
tomb)
– Personality psychology
• Examines consistencies in people’s behavior over
time and traits that differentiate us from one other

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 Subfields of Psychology

• Physical and mental health

– Health Psychology
• Explores relationship between psychological
factors and physical ailments or disease
– Clinical Psychology
• Investigates diagnosis and treatment of
psychological disorders
– Counseling Psychology
• Focuses on educational, social, and career
adjustment problems
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 Subfields of Psychology
• Understanding our social networks
– Social psychology
• Studies how people are affected by others
– Cross-cultural psychology
• Focuses on the similarities and differences in
psychological functioning across cultures and
ethnic groups

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 Subfields of Psychology
• New frontiers
– Clinical neuropsychology
• Focuses on relationships between biological
factors and psychological disorders
– Evolutionary psychology
• Examines influence of our genetic heritage and our
behavior

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Subfields of Psychology

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The Education of a Psychologist
• Doctoral Degrees
– Ph.D
– Psy.D
• Master’s Degree
• Bachelor’s Degree

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A Science Evolves: The Past, the
Present, and the Future

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 The Roots of Psychology

• Historical Forces
– “Tabula Rasa”
• John Locke
– Structuralism
• Wilhelm Wundt
• Uncovering the fundamental mental
components of perception, consciousness,
thinking, emotions, and other mental states and
activities
• Introspection
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 The Roots of Psychology
• Historical Forces
– Functionalism
• William James
• Moved from structure to what the mind does and
how behavior functions
– Gestalt Psychology
• Ebbinghaus and Wertheimer
• “The whole is different from the sum of its parts”

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 The Roots of Psychology
• Women in psychology: Founding mothers
– Leta Stetter Hollingworth
• Child development and women’s issues
– Mary Calkins
• First female president of the APA
– Karen Horney
• Social and cultural aspects of personality

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 The Roots of Psychology
• Women in psychology: Founding mothers
– June Etta Downey
• Personality trait theorist
– Anna Freud
– Mamie Phipps Clark
• Studied how children of color grew to recognize
racial differences

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 Today’s Perspectives

• Neuroscience
– How people and nonhumans functions
biologically
• Psychodynamic
– Behavior is motivated by inner forces and
conflicts
• Behavioral
– Focus on observable behavior that can be
measured directly
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 Today’s Perspectives
• Cognitive
– How people think, understand, and know
about the world
• Humanistic
– Free will
– Natural tendency to be in control our own
world

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Today’s Perspectives

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