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Psychology Twelfth Edition

Chapter 1 What Is Psychology?

Psychology, Pseudoscience, and

Popular Opinion

• LO 1.1.A Define psychology, and describe how it

addresses topics from a scientific perspective.

• LO 1.1.B Provide examples of pseudoscience,

psychobabble, popular opinion, and “plain old

common sense” related to psychological topics,

and describe how scientific psychology would

address such claims.

What Psychology Is

• Psychology is the discipline concerned with

behavior and mental processes and how they are

affected by an organism’s external and internal

environment.

• Unlike pop psychology, scientific psychology is

based on research and empirical evidence.

– gathered by careful observation, experimentation, and

measurement

What Psychology Is Not (1 of 4)

• Psychologists have many pseudoscientific

competitors, such as astrologers and psychics.

• Like psychologists, promoters of nonscientific

systems try to explain people’s problems and

predict their behavior.

• When their claims are put to the test, they turn out

to be so vague as to be meaningless or just plain

wrong.

What Psychology Is Not (2 of 4)

• Psychology’s methods and reliance on empirical

evidence distinguish it from pseudoscience and

“psychobabble.”

• Like scientists in other fields, psychological

researchers strive to:

– discover new phenomena and correct mistaken ideas

– deepen our understanding of an already familiar world

What Psychology Is Not (3 of 4)

• Psychobabble is appealing because it confirms

our beliefs and prejudices.

• In contrast, psychology often challenges them.

• Fully understanding basic human processes that

most people take for granted often involves:

– examining them in a new light

– turning common wisdom on its head for a different

perspective

– shaking up cherished beliefs to see why and when they

hold true

What Psychology Is Not (4 of 4)

Figure 1.1

Psychology: It’s Not Just “Common Sense”

Thinking Critically and Creatively About

Psychology

• LO 1.2.A Explain why critical thinking applies to all

scientific pursuits, and also why it should guide

everyday judgments and decision making.

• LO 1.2.B List eight important critical-thinking

guidelines and give an example of how each

applies to the science of psychology.

What Is Critical Thinking? (1 of 2)

• One benefit of studying psychology is the

development of critical-thinking skills and

attitudes.

• Critical thinking: The ability and willingness to

assess claims and make judgments on the basis

of well-supported reasons and evidence rather

than emotion or anecdote.

What Is Critical Thinking? (2 of 2)

• Critical thinking helps people evaluate competing

findings on psychological issues that are

personally and socially important.

• Critical thinkers are able to:

– look for flaws in arguments

– resist claims that have no support

• Critical thinking is fundamental to all science,

including psychological science.

Guidelines for Critical Thinking (1 of 2)

• One benefit of studying psychology is the

development of critical-thinking skills and

attitudes.

• Critical thinking helps people evaluate competing

findings on psychological issues that are

personally and socially important.

Guidelines for Critical Thinking (2 of 2)

• Eight critical-thinking guidelines:

– Ask questions: be willing to wonder.

– Define your terms.

– Examine the evidence.

– Analyze assumptions and biases.

– Avoid emotional reasoning.

– Don’t oversimplify.

– Consider other interpretations.

– Tolerate uncertainty.

Psychology’s Past: From the Armchair to

the Laboratory

• LO 1.3.A Discuss some of the pre-psychological

approaches to explaining psychological topics,

from ancient times through the early 1800s.

• LO 1.3.B Explain Wilhelm Wundt’s contributions to

the birth of modern psychology.

• LO 1.3.C Compare the three early psychologies of

structuralism, functionalism, and psychoanalysis,

and identify the major thinkers who promoted each

of these schools of thought.

The Forerunners of Modern Psychology

• Psychology’s forerunners made some valid

observations and had useful insights.

• However, they did not use rigorous empirical

methods.

• As such, they made serious errors in the

description and explanation of behavior.

– An example of a terrible blunder is the case of

phrenology.

The Birth of Modern Psychology? (1 of 2)

• The official founder of scientific psychology was

Wilhelm Wundt.

• Wundt formally established the first psychological

laboratory in 1879, in Leipzig, Germany.

The Birth of Modern Psychology? (2 of 2)

• Wundt developed the technique of trained

introspection.

– training volunteers to carefully observe, analyze, and

describe their own sensations, mental images, and

emotional reactions

• Although too subjective for a reliable methodology,

it illustrated the movement toward making

psychology a science.

Three Early Psychologies (1 of 3)

• Structuralism emphasized the analysis of

immediate experience into basic elements.

• It was soon abandoned, in part because of its

reliance on introspection.

Three Early Psychologies (2 of 3)

• Functionalism was inspired in part by the

evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin.

• It emphasized the purpose of behavior and

consciousness.

• One of its leading proponents was William James.

Three Early Psychologies (3 of 3)

• Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis

emphasized unconscious causes of mental and

emotional problems.

• Freud argued that conscious awareness is merely

the tip of a mental iceberg.

• Freudian concepts have been profoundly

influential.

• However, they are rejected by a majority of

empirically oriented psychologists.

Psychology’s Present: The Four

Perspectives of Psychological Science

• LO 1.4.A List and describe the four major

perspectives in psychology.

• LO 1.4.B Describe how feminism influenced

psychology.

The Major Perspectives in

Psychology (1 of 6)

• Four points of view predominate today in

psychological science:

– biological

– learning

– cognitive

– sociocultural

• In addition, various movements have emerged

that don’t fit neatly into one of these perspectives.

– feminist psychology

The Major Perspectives in

Psychology (2 of 6)

• The biological perspective emphasizes bodily

events associated with actions, thoughts, and

feelings, as well as genetic contributions to

behavior.

– electrical impulses

– hormones

– chemical substances

• Biological psychologists study how these events

interact with events in the external environment to

produce perceptions, memories, and behavior.

The Major Perspectives in

Psychology (3 of 6)

• Within the biological perspective, a popular

specialty, evolutionary psychology, is following in

the footsteps of functionalism.

• The message of the biological approach is that we

cannot really know ourselves if we do not know

our bodies.

The Major Perspectives in

Psychology (4 of 6)

• The learning perspective emphasizes how the

environment and a person’s history affect

behavior.

• Within this perspective, behaviorists reject

mentalistic explanations.

• Social-cognitive learning theorists combine

elements of behaviorism with the study of:

– thoughts

– values

– intentions

The Major Perspectives in

Psychology (5 of 6)

• The cognitive perspective emphasizes:

– mental processes in perception

– problem solving

– belief formation

– other human activities

• It is focused on how people’s thoughts and

explanations affect their:

– actions

– feelings

– choices

The Major Perspectives in

Psychology (6 of 6)

• The sociocultural perspective explores how an

individual’s beliefs and behavior are affected by:

– social contexts

– cultural rules

• Cultural psychologists examine how cultural rules

and values, both explicit and unspoken, affect

people’s:

– development

– behavior

– feelings

Feminist Psychology (1 of 2)

• Feminist psychology is a psychological approach

that analyzes the influence of social inequities on:

– gender relations

– the behavior of the two sexes

• Feminist psychology has influenced:

– the questions researchers ask

– the methods they use

– their awareness of sexist biases in the field

Feminist Psychology (2 of 2)

• As members of minority groups entered

psychology, they too raised awareness of issues

specific to different groups by virtue of their:

– ethnicity

– culture

– sexual orientation

• The result has been to make psychology more

representative of all human beings.

What Psychologists Do

• LO 1.5.A Distinguish basic psychology and applied

psychology, and summarize the kinds of research

that various psychologists might conduct.

• LO 1.5.B Compare the training and work settings

of different psychological practitioners, such as

counselors, clinical psychologists,

psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and

psychiatrists.

• LO 1.5.C Give examples of three ways in which

psychologists contribute to their communities.

Psychological Research (1 of 2)

• Most psychologists who do research have:

– doctoral degrees (PhDs) or

– doctorates in education (EdDs)

• Some, seeking knowledge for its own sake, work

in basic psychology, doing “pure” research.

• Others, concerned with the practical uses of

knowledge, work in applied psychology.

Psychological Research (2 of 2)

• Among the many psychological specialties are:

– experimental

– educational

– developmental

– industrial/organizational

– psychometric

– counseling

– school

– clinical psychology

Psychological Practice (1 of 3)

• Other psychologists provide mental health

services (psychological practice).

• Practitioners now account for over two-thirds of:

– new psychology doctorates

– members of the American Psychological Association

(APA)

Psychological Practice (2 of 3)

• Psychotherapist is an unregulated term for anyone

who does any kind of psychotherapy.

• The term includes people who have no credentials

or training at all.

• Licensed therapists differ according to their

training and approach.

Psychological Practice (3 of 3)

• Clinical psychologists have a PhD, an EdD, or a

PsyD.

• Psychiatrists have an MD.

• Psychoanalysts are trained in psychoanalytic

institutes.

• Licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) and

marriage, family, and child counselors (MFCCs)

may have various postgraduate degrees.

Psychology in the Community (1 of 2)

• Psychology has expanded so rapidly that the

American Psychological Association now has

more than 50 divisions.

• Some psychologists conduct research and apply

findings in a variety of nonacademic settings.

• Today, psychologists contribute to their

communities in about as many areas as you can

think of.

Psychology in the Community (2 of 2)

• These professionals work to:

– make their communities a better place to live

– contribute to the mental, social, and physical health of

people in those communities