Lesson 1: Psychology

In Unit 2, Psychology, you will have an opportunity to learn about the theories,
perspectives, and research methods used by psychologists to study human behaviour,
culture and socialization. You will apply different strategies to develop discipline specific
literacy skills and 21st century competency skills as well. Psychology as a social
science is actually a fairly young discipline. The interests and work of the initial
psychologists have shaped psychology as we know it today, in terms of the scientific
study of the human mind, of human behaviour, and of mental conditions. Ultimately, the
goal of psychological study is to describe, understand, and predict human behaviour
and mental processes.

Here’s a hypothetical situation to consider. You are working on some important

homework which is due the next day, and you hear or feel your phone vibrate in your
pocket - you have a message! Do you stop what you’re doing and check the message,
or do you think to yourself, ‘Ah, I had better get this done - I’ll check later?’ Your answer
to this question may say a lot about your self-control. This hypothetical situation is what
many people consider to be a modern marshmallow test. What was the original
Marshmallow Test?

In the late 1960’s, a psychologist named Walter Mischel conducted a very famous
experiment - The Marshmallow Test. Mischel’s experiment was created to study the
significance or importance of a concept called delayed gratification; the ability to resist
the temptation of an immediate reward, and wait for a reward that will come later. Young
children (pre-schoolers) were the subjects (population) in this experiment. They were
put in a room and given one marshmallow, but they were told by the researchers that
they would be given a second marshmallow if they could wait 20 minutes before eating
the first one.

1, Sooroojpal
Activity #1A: Watch This video that describes Mischel’s Marshmallow Test, and his
findings.

Remember the key term reliability; performing consistently the same? Let’s apply it
here. Do you think Mischel’s test is reliable? How can you tell? The Marshmallow Test
has been re-created or replicated all over the world, with many different children. And
the results? Exactly the same! This has allowed researchers to conclude that The
Marshmallow Test is a reliable measure of self-control and delayed gratification.

So what? Why does it matter? Remember that social scientists conduct research to
benefit others and to help make the world a better place. The results of this
marshmallow test can be used by many people (e.g. parents, caregivers, and teachers)
to help others realize the importance of delaying gratification and developing
self-regulation; persevere and make an effort when responding to challenges and
resiliency skills; to be able to recover quickly from adversity or challenges. As you
heard in the video, the results of these experiments can be applied to us all - at any
age.

Activity #1B: Now that you have been introduced to one simple test, we will consider
The Psychology Wall of Fame! Take a look at each of the following people who have
helped shape the psychology we study today. Record your definitions and answers to
the questions in a graphic organizer of your choosing as you will need them later on in
our course. Each image will provide you with a video link as well.

2, Sooroojpal
3, Sooroojpal
4, Sooroojpal
5, Sooroojpal
Activity #2: Class Discussion: Create a Headline - If you were to write a headline (for
a newspaper or magazine article) for this topic or issue right now in order to capture its
most important aspect, what would that headline be?

At this point in the course, you can likely remember some basic knowledge and
understanding of the three social sciences that we are studying. Now, it’s time to push
your thinking, and deepen your comprehension of each of the disciplines - starting with
psychology.

Psychology And Three Main Levels Of Analysis: The Biopsychosocial Approach

What factors contribute to the way you act?

● Do your genetics (e.g., family history, chemicals in the body, hormones)

determine your behaviour?
● The way you think on your own - your mood, personality, or behaviour?
● Does your culture or society’s expectations influence the way you act - family,
friends, socio-economic factors?

6, Sooroojpal
Or, maybe it is a combination of all three of these elements?

The idea that your biology, your own thinking, and past experiences (and how you
process information), and social or cultural expectations collectively (all together)
contribute to explain your behaviour is known as the biopsychosocial model.

Here is a visual that shows the three levels of analysis:

We are made up of these three levels of analysis. No one level can explain our
behaviour on its own. They are all interconnected and they all complement each other.
An interesting thing to note, however, is that a change in one of the levels will have an
impact on the way a person acts. Here's an example. Stop and think: have you ever had
a bad experience with a spider? Did it change your thinking the next time you saw one?
(Ack!) That is an example of how your psychology (or individual thinking) can influence
your behaviour, or the way you act. We all have different past experiences, so it makes
sense that we all may act slightly differently in the same situation.

7, Sooroojpal
There are many examples in media (photos, memes, videos, songs, etc.) that can be
used as examples of how psychologists’ ideas have permeated into our everyday lives.
For example, this photo of a boy taking part in a breakfast program at school can be
used as an example of Maslow’s ideas because it demonstrates how a physiological
need (food) must be met first before a student can be expected to be able to learn.

The following recognizable “like” symbol can be related to both operant and
classical conditioning, as it has had an impact on the behaviour of social media
users. Whose theory do you think fits best: Pavlov or Skinner? Why?

8, Sooroojpal
Advertisers are well known for their use of psychology in their marketing
strategies and campaigns. Take a look at this well-known symbol. What word do
you see spelled out in her collar? How do you think the work of Carl Jung would
relate to this symbol? Why do you think this restaurant chain used this symbol?
Some would argue that this was not purposefully done by the advertiser. If not,
and it appears anyway, how would this unconscious act further strengthen the
ideas of Jung and other psychodynamic theorists?

Activity #3: Watch these two videos to learn more about the biopsychosocial approach
in psychology and how the biopsychosocial approach is applied to mental well-being.

Sometimes our personal experiences or environment (what happens around us

individually) can actually alter or permanently change our DNA or genetic make-up.

Below are two articles that provide examples of research findings from a psychological
study. They are examples of the biological level of analysis and how our biology can
change in response to our environment, which then affects the way we act.

Choose one of these two articles to read. Both articles provide examples of how the
environment can change people’s genetic make-up or biology. This is called
epigenetics.

9, Sooroojpal
Perspectives or Schools Of Thought
You can likely recall that all psychologists study individual behaviour and mental
processes. But the term ‘psychology’ is an umbrella term - a big or overarching term -
under which are sheltered by many different approaches.

PERSPECTIVE/FOCUS/SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Current Focus of Study Sample Questions

Perspective

Neuroscience This perspective examines how How do hormone levels affect our
the parts of our brain interact moods? What parts of our brain store
with our body parts (e.g., our memories?
nervous system) and chemistry
(e.g., neurotransmitters) to allow
us to experience different
emotions.

Evolutionary This perspective examines the How has anger helped humans live
different traits that have helped longer? Love? Joy?
humans survive over time
(through a process called natural
selection).

Behaviour This perspective examines how Is a personality trait, such as

Genetics our genes interact with our intelligence, influenced more by our
environment to influence our genes or our environmental factors?
behaviour.

Psychodynamic This perspective examines how Do relationships that we have had with
our past (early) experiences and our family in the past affect us today?
the different parts of our mind Can aggressive tendencies be blamed
(e.g., subconscious) influence on poor relationships with others
how we act today. during our childhood?

Behavioural This perspective examines how Does praise change the way we act in
our environment changes the school? Can we learn simply by
way we learn to act and feel and watching others?
behave.

Cognitive This perspective focuses on the What methods do we use to solve

way we get information into our problems in our lives? How can we
brain (encode), process, store, improve our memory?

10, Sooroojpal
 and retrieve information from our
brains.

Social-cultural How do our individual How are we (different groups in the

behaviours change between world) alike? How are we different?
groups in society and between What facial expressions represent
different cultures? happiness in various cultures?

(When you completed the Venn

Diagram comparing your/our culture to
the Maasai people - in the previous
unit - you applied this perspective!)

Let’s apply your new knowledge by looking at a specific behaviour - anger.

Current Perspective Question Asked About Anger

Neuroscience Why do people’s faces turn red when they get angry?

Evolutionary How could being angry have protected species in the past and
helped them to survive?

Behaviour Genetics Does their environment or do their genes influence how much
people can take before they get angry?

Psychodynamic Do people who are always angry behave this way when they
have not dealt with problems in their past?

Behavioural Are children more likely to be angry adults if they grow up in a

family that is always angry?

Cognitive Do people make good decisions when they are angry?

Social-cultural How do people in different cultures express their anger?

Research Methods In Psychology

In the last unit, you had the opportunity to learn about the different research methods
that are used by social scientists. We can further categorize psychology’s research
methods into descriptive methods (methods that aim to describe human behaviour and
mental processes) such as the case study, the survey, and natural observation, and
experimental methods (that aim to explain human behaviour and research methods)
through an experiment.

11, Sooroojpal
So, what is the main difference between describing human behaviour and mental
processes and explaining it? Investigating two key concepts in psychology - correlation
and causation - will give us the answer.
Correlation Versus Causation
Correlation
A correlation describes a relationship between two factors or variables. Here are a few
examples of variables that correlate.

● The more you brush your teeth, the less plaque you will have. (There is a
relationship between teeth brushing and plaque).
● Putting sunscreen on reduces sunburns. (There is a relationship between
sunscreen and sunburns.)
● Getting a good night’s sleep helps you focus the next day. (There is a relationship
between more sleep and improved focus.)

Using descriptive methods, such as surveys, observations, and case studies gives
psychologists opportunities to collect data, so that they can analyse it (recall the Social
Science Inquiry Method!) and describe relationships, or correlations that they find
between variables. Incidentally, the strength of a correlation is displayed as a correlation
coefficient (e.g., r=+0.37). The closer the correlation coefficient is to (+ or -) 1, the
stronger the relationship.

Here is the catch! Correlations are nice because they describe behaviour and they allow
us to predict behaviour. For example, many people believe there is a correlation
between time spent studying and good grades. If you know that Joe studied for 10
hours and Jazz studied for 2 hours, you might predict that Joe will perform better on a
test. But, what if Jazz out-scored Joe? A Causation AKA third variable or factor may
explain the result (e.g., Joe was not feeling well on the day of the test). So, you see,
correlations cannot - with 100% certainty - explain behaviour. They allow us to predict
and describe human behaviour, but not necessarily explain it. To do that, we need to
perform an experiment.

Experiments to figure out CAUSATION

The goal of an experiment is to go beyond being able to describe relationships, to being
able to explain them. Psychologists who use the experimental approach want to be able
to say that Variable A causes Variable B.

To conduct an experiment, researchers need to be able to control factors. This means

that they need to be able to hold some variables constant (not changing) so that they
can eliminate the chance that a particular variable caused the end or resulting
behaviour.

12, Sooroojpal
Sometimes researchers may control for (or hold constant) age, height, weight, political
views, religious affiliation, etc. so that they can say those variables did not influence the
results of the study.

The variable that does not change is called the independent variable, whereas the
variable that does change is the dependent variable. The variable that was held
constant, or the independent variable, was the amount of social interaction the child
received (either a lot - the children in the nursery in the prison, or a little bit - the children
in the orphanage).

Spitz could say with certainty that depriving someone of social interaction does cause
damage to that individual’s healthy development.

Understanding that correlation does not prove causation will also help you improve your
critical thinking skills. The next time you read or hear a headline that makes a claim,
such as ‘Teenagers are more likely to eat poutine,’ stop and ask yourself whether this is
a correlation or a causation - and why?

Activity #4: Complete Activity on Google Classroom labelled Lesson 1: Action #4 -

Marshmallow.

13, Sooroojpal