Understanding

People and Behaviour

Unit 11399

LECTURE 1: WELCOME TO
THE WORLD OF PSYCHOLOGY

Dr. Léan O’Brien

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

The University of Canberra acknowledges

the Ngunnawal peoples as the traditional
custodians of the land upon which the
University's main campus sits, and pays
respect to all Elders past and present.
 TODAYS LECTURE
1. Unit details
• Staff
• Questions
• Content
• Textbooks
• Expectations
• Important dates
• Assessment

2. What is Psychology
3. History of psychology
1. UNIT CONTENT
 UNIT CONVENERS
Dr Léan O’Brien
lean.obrien@canberra.edu.au
Virtual Consultation Hours: Monday 12.30--1.30
Just drop into the virtual room for the unit during this time.
Or send an email to arrange a time

Dr Maxime Pelland
maxime.pelland@canberra.edu.au
Consultation Hours: Wednesday: 11.30--12.30
and Thursday: 4.00-5.00
Drop by UC Office: 12D20. Level D. Building 12.
Or send an email to arrange a time
 UNIT DESIGN

• UPB was designed in 2019

• It is a blended unit (what does this mean…)
• We teach you a selection of Psychology theories and ideas
• Then we take real world situations/cases and use psychology to try and figure out
what's happening here
• For example, why do teams excel or fail – or why do our clients not always follow
programs.
• What we are doing is blending traditional textbook type psychology with real
world cases.
 11399 – LEARNING OUTCOMES
After successful completion of this unit,
students will be able to:
1. Analyse and select major theories and
research in psychology;
2. Interpret theories and concepts to
explain why people behave as they do
in a range of situations;
3. Apply this knowledge in practical
exercises and in written assessment.
 COVID-19 CONSIDERATIONS
- Online lectures for class sizes above 100 (currently we have over 820 students in this class)
- More online tutorials than usual.
- In face-to-face tutorials students are strongly encouraged to wear masks.
- Masks will be available to all students & can be collected from the library, ID card required.
- Students and staff are strongly encouraged to use the Check In Canberra App and scan QR
codes on entry to all rooms/spaces where a QR code is displayed.
 LECTURES

• Lectures are conducted live in the Virtual Room and they are RECORDED which means if you
have a clash you can watch them in the Lecture recordings tab, or the Virtual room recordings
section. I also approve you to force enrolment in the lecture in Allocate.
• UPB has a lot of guest lectures so that you can hear from different specialists and get a sense of
different members of the discipline of psychology.
 TUTORIALS

• Tutorials have both face-to-face and online sessions through Canvas.

• If you are not enrolled in a session go to Allocate and enroll now. Student central will help you
do this if you want some support.

• If you miss your tutorial session you can join an ONLINE session. Or you can watch a recording at
a later date (but note that the recording does not include the small group discussions held by
students attending the live tutorials).
• We highly recommend that you participate in tutorials, which give practice with key
assessments and provide the opportunity for you to check in with the staff and other students
about course content.
 TUTORIALS - ONLINE
• Please make sure you have Java installed on your laptop or desktop.
• Use a chrome or firefox browser.
• Download the tutorial materials from the module in Canvas.
• Check your microphone and camera well before the tutorial starts.
• You can use your phone, but you will need to download the Canvas app and the
blackboard app before the tutorial starts.
• This is a link that will help you to learn how to access Blackboard Collaborate
(you must be signed into UC and into Canvas for this link to work):
https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Participant
 TEXTBOOK
The book for this unit is an Ebook from TOPHAT
Details for how to purchase this Ebook for this unit can be found in
the unit outline and in the Canvas FAQ page.

The EBook costs $63, plus a licence for the specific unit content.
The licence is $14 for Semester 1 or $27 for a year (please note if
you are a psychology student – best to buy the $27 year long
subscription as this same EBook that will be used for ‘Foundations
of Psychology’, unit 10444

YOU NEED TO READ THE EBOOK TO PASS THIS UNIT.

If you are in the UC Bruce Campus library you can follow

instructions in the FAQ on Canvas to access the site for free. (But
dependent on the campus remaining open).
 GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LECTURES AND TUTORIALS
• Come with an open and enquiring mind.

• Bring a notebook to lectures and tutorials. Take notes throughout the lecture.

• It is easier to learn if you use multiple methods to learn – writing notes,

discussing and listening.

• Do your reading.

• Do your course work and quizzes every week – it ensures you do

not fall behind
 ASSESSMENTS
• In total there are 3 forms of assessment:
• 30%: 11 multi-choice quizzes
• 35%: Case study assessment
• 5%: Research participation
• 30% Exam
• To pass the unit you must:
• obtain a minimum total grade of at least 50%.
• complete at least 1 quiz
• submit the case study assessment Source: totalprosports.com
• complete the final exam
 CASE STUDY ASSESSMENT (35%)
• To help you apply your knowledge to real-life scenarios, you will give written
answers to multiple scenario-based problems.
• Scenarios and questions for this assessment will be released 9am Wednesday 24th
March. Answers are due Wednesday, 31st March 4pm.
• You are required to select 3 scenarios and provide short-answer solutions to the
problems they raise. For each scenario:
• Part 1: Asks you to identify which you think are the most relevant theories to best explain what
is occurring in the scenario, and explain why these theories are relevant. (200 words max)
• Part 2: Asks you to develop a solution to the issue described in the scenario using the
knowledge you have gained from the readings, the lectures and the tutorials (200 words max).
• More details on Canvas. /
 EXTENSIONS
• Email upb@canberra.edu.au your request as soon as possible and attach:
1. An assignment extension form: https://www.canberra.edu.au/content/myuc/utility/forms.html

2. A copy of documentation for your extension request, for example:

• Doctors sick note

• Children’s unscheduled school closure

• Funeral notice

• You have to apply for extensions before the due date!

• Some reasons for requested extension require 5 days advance notice – check the form.

• Poor time management, or work commitments, or assessments items due for other units at the same time are not valid
grounds for extension.
• If registered with inclusion and welfare you must still request an extension by email, they are not automatically granted.
 CANVAS QUIZZES (30%)
Designed to help you learn continuously and monitor progress throughout the semester.
• Practice quiz: open now - you can try as many times as you like and this quiz does not count
towards your final mark
• Graded quizzes: 10 questions, 15-minute time limit. 3 attempts for quiz 1, then only 1 attempt
for quizzes 2-11.

• They are due fortnightly, on Mondays of odd weeks:

• Quiz 1 & 2: Monday 22nd February, by 4 pm
Quiz 3 & 4: Monday 8th March, by 4 pm
•
Do your weekly
• Quiz 5 & 6: Monday 22nd March, by 4 pm
• Quiz 7: Monday 5th April, by 4 pm
quiz every week!
• Quiz 8 & 9: Monday 19th April, by 4 pm
• Quiz 10 & 11: Monday 3rd May, by 4 pm
 EXTENSIONS FOR QUIZZES ARE RARELY GRANTED.

• Treat it like “homework” that makes the other assessment items easier.

• Do your reading early.

• Do your quiz in the same week as its lecture.

• Remember that each quiz is worth 2.73 marks towards your final grade.
• If you miss or do poorly in one quiz it will not seriously impact your grade, but it will
point out where you may need to work on your study plan and do some more
revision. The important thing is to keep doing the quizzes consistently because it is
when taken all together that they can make a big impact grade.
 RESEARCH PARTICIPATION (5%)
• Involvement in active research projects gives insight into the way research is
conducted.
• Participate in 2 hours worth of research projects listed on the SONA system.
• A SONA account will be set up for you in Week 2.
• More information in the SONA User Guide for Students posted on Canvas.
• Alternative assessment: Contact Léan for two research articles, then write a 400
word summary of each article (i.e. 800 words total). Email
upb@canberra.edu.au if you prefer this option.
 FINAL EXAM (30%)
• Due date will be during the university’s Exam Period: 10th-21st May
• Install Proctorio software and complete with your own device.
• Closed book.
• Focus on short scenarios and 'select the best option' questions to assess your understanding
of material presented in this unit.
• This exam only covers content from weeks 9 to 12.
• More detail closer to time.
• Unit Conveners CANNOT approve a deferred final exam. The process and applications for
deferred exams are contained on this webpage:
https://www.canberra.edu.au/content/myuc/home/course/exams/deferring-an-exam.html.
 WHAT IS EXPECTED OF YOU
• Read the unit outline and ‘Modules’ section of Canvas.
• Listen to lectures
• Read the Ebook
• Prepare for tutorials - BEFORE tutorials make sure you have:
• Looked over the tutorial materials online
• Listened to the associated lecture and done the reading
• Participate in tutorials.
• Complete assessments on time.
• Make sure assessments are all your own work (we look for plagiarism and report it
for disciplinary action).
 WORKLOAD

• This is a 3 point unit

• Over a semester a 3 pt unit = 10 hours per
week or 150 hours over the semester
• The 10 hours per week attending lectures,
tutorials, reading and preparing assessments
• Full-time university enrolment is roughly 40
hours a week (akin to a full time job)
• Keep track of Census date: 5th March
 WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT

• Sharing knowledge and experience

• Feedback and consultation
• Adherence to University policies and procedures
• Advice on where to go for help
• Enthusiasm and a sense of humour!
 WHERE DO I GO IF I HAVE A QUESTION?

• Check through the unit outline and the Canvas Unit 11399 site,
including the FAQ on the modules page.
• Ask a question on the Canvas discussion forum (if you have a
question, it’s possible other students have similar questions).
• Questions about this unit contact upb@canberra.edu.au.
• Come to one of our consultation times.
 GETTING HELP
• Use the study skills centre: http://www.canberra.edu.au/current-students/canberra-
students/student-support/study-skills

• Try joining a PALS study session: Check Canvas for the session times
• General queries about your study plan and degree contact Tanika or Christie on
health.student@Canberra.edu.au
 CENSUS DATE

• Friday Wk 4, 5th March is Census date – last day to

withdraw without a financial penalty and without a fail
– withdraw by 5pm

• International students please contact International

Office for your important dates
 CANVAS
• Unit outline
• Lecture handouts and tutorial materials
• Lecture & tutorial recordings
• Important announcements and forums
• Electronic assessment submissions
• See: http://learnonline.canberra.edu.au/
• Let’s take a tour…
Source: https://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/tangled.html?sti=o8d5rkjoq06v0wj0kf|&mediapopup=52763504

2. WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
I STUDIED PSYCHOLOGY THEREFORE….
 WHAT PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT
It is not pseudoscience (“psychobabble” – Cosmo and Men’s Health etc, are not
always accurate).

It is not just common sense or the opinions of yourself & others.

• Only about ½ of clinical psychologists see clients
• Red couches are not used
• Though Hollywood would like you to think otherwise
• Psychologists are not psychics
 SOME TRUTHS

• Psychiatrists have a medical degree and can prescribe.

• Psychologists have a scientific degree and, if they are in clinical practice, a focus
on therapy.
• Rorschach tests are merely a relic of psychology's past, a pseudoscience on par
with phrenology and parapsychology.
• In Australia, becoming a registered psychologist requires a minimum of six years
university study (in an accredited program) plus post university internship and
ongoing professional development each year to maintain your registration.
 PSYCHOLOGY IS…
• Psychology as a science is based on the scientific method.
• The scientific study of mind, brain and behaviour
• Psychology as a science means that its propositions can be empirically tested.
• Sometimes this means that our beliefs are mistaken – scientific findings may be
counter-intuitive.
• Findings used to inform future research, practice and policy
• Psychology is both a science and a profession
• An academic discipline of professionals – who prepare others for professional practice
 PSYCHOLOGY IS…

• The scientific study of human behavior and mental processes

• Etymology
• From Greek words Psyche “soul” or “mind” and logos “the study of”
• Goals are to
• Describe,
• Explain,
• Predict, and
• Control behaviour
 SOME MAJOR SUB-DISCIPLINES OF PSYCHOLOGY
(SEE TEXTBOOK)
• Clinical • Industrial / Organisational
• Biopsychology • Educational
• Developmental
• Health
• Social
• Counselling
• Community
• Sport
• Cognitive
• Personality • Forensic
3. HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
 HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

• “Psychology has a long past but only a short history” (Ebbinghaus, 1908)
 PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE

• Originally interconnected
• Unable to study phenomena directly
• The objects that science were either
• too small to see (cells, molecules, atoms, electrons),
• too far away to see (galaxies), or
• required reorganizing available information to see (genes, structure of DNA,
geotectonic plates, the ionosphere)
• Albert Einstein knew the solution to the general relativity problem 8 years before
he was able to describe it in math
 PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY

• While psychology did not emerge as a separate discipline until the late 1800s, its
earliest history can be traced back to the time of the early Greeks.
• Socrates (399 BC)
• Socratic questioning - asking a series of graded questions to define problems,
assist in the identification of thoughts and beliefs, examine the meaning of events
or assess ramifications of behaviour
• Still important in cognitive therapies (e.g. CBT)
• Aristotle (384-322 BC)
• Made assumptions about human behavior
• Asserted that humans have rational souls
• Theorized about learning, memory, emotion, perception and personality
 PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY

• Epicurus (341 BC-270 BC)

• Established a school of philosophy dedicated to attaining happiness
• Foundations of positive psychology
• Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
• introduced the idea of dualism
• Argued for innate knowledge
• Darwin (1809-1882)
• Theory of evolution still important in evolutionary psychology today
 HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

• Wilhelm Wundt
• “Father of modern psychology”
• Set up the first lab in Germany 1879
• Studied immediate conscious experience
 BEHAVIOURISM
Who?
• John B. Watson
• B.F. Skinner

What?
• Reaction to introspection and the “unknowable” mind
• Focused on only observable behavior
• Helped discover principles of behavior change, reinforcement, and extinction
• When?
• Became dominant in the 1920’s, waned after the 1950s
• "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to
bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to
become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-
chief, and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants,
tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”
John B Watson
 FREUD AND PSYCHOANALYSIS
Who?
• Sigmund Freud, a neurologist out of Vienna

What?
• The first major movement in clinical psychology in modern history
• Focused on the influence of the unconscious mind
• Used psychoanalysis to help patients solve psychological problems through insight
• Free association, dream analysis, etc.
• When?
• Early 20th century, began to wane in the 60s
 THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION
• Who?
• Many, including Donald Hebb, Noam Chomsky, Ulric Neisser
• What?
• Study mental processes using new methods and new models
• E.g. Hebb’s synaptic theory of learning and memory
• When?
• Emerged in the 1950s.
• Considering mental processes in some way is now the dominant approach to
studying psychology
 HUMANISM AND POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Who?
• Carl Rogers
• Abraham Maslow
• Martin Seligman
(positive psychology)

What?
• A reaction to Freud’s pessimistic view of human nature
• Focused on positive aspects of the human condition and capacity for change
• When?
• Emerged in the 1950s, continues to be influential.
 CRITICAL, FEMINIST, INDIGENOUS & QUEER PSYCHOLOGY

What?
• Reactions to hegemonic (mainstream) approaches
• Focused on questioning assumptions and identifying how historical power
imbalances affect what is ‘known’
• When?
• 1920s onwards, increasingly influential today
 PSYCHOLOGY TODAY

• Less emphasis on behaviourism

• Rise of information processing models
• New brain imaging techniques and Neuropsychology
• Positive psychology
• Genetics and Environment
• Cultural influences
• Lifespan development
 NEXT WEEK - HOW DO WE STUDY PSYCHOLOGY?

• The scientific method

• Role of theory in developing hypotheses and the systematic study

of behaviour and mind

• Our findings can be counterintuitive (be prepared to be surprised)