CHAPTER 1

Introduction to
Psychology & Its
Research Methods

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Lecture Overview
 Introducing Psychology

 Origins of Psychology

 The Science of Psychology

 Research Methods

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Introducing Psychology
 What is psychology?
The scientific study of
behavior (what we do) &
mental processes (our
sensations, perceptions,
beliefs, thinking and feelings).
 Psychology focuses on critical
thinking and is scientific.

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Psychology studies mental
process…

 Why we do what we do?

 Why we feel the way we feel?

 Why we think as we think?

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Psychology studies human
behavior…
 What is unique about humans?

 What do we have in common with other

species?

 How did we come to be who we are?

 How do we differ from each other?

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 Pause & Reflect:
Psychology at Work

 Why psychology is a scientific?

 Psychology helps us to scientifically evaluate
common beliefs & misconceptions about
behavior & mental processes.
 For example, can you identify which of the
beliefs on the following slide are true or false?

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 True or False?

1. In general, we only use about 10% of

our brain.
2. Most brain activity stops during sleep.
3. People who threaten suicide seldom
follow through with it.
4. Similarity is the best predictor of long-
term relationships.

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 Answers to These (& Other Common
Beliefs) are Found Throughout
Psychology in Action (9e)
1. In general, we only use about 10% of our brain.
 False—(See Chapter 2)
2. Most brain activity stops during sleep.
 False—(See Chapter 5)
3. People who threaten suicide seldom follow through
with it.
 False—(See Chapter 15)
4. Similarity is the best predictor of long-term
relationships.
 True—(See Chapter 16)

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 Introducing Psychology: Four Goals
of Psychology
1. Description: tells “what” occurred
2. Explanation: tells “why” a behavior or
mental process occurred
3. Prediction: identifies conditions under
which a future behavior or mental
process is likely to occur
4. Change: applies psychological
knowledge to prevent unwanted behavior
or to bring about desired goals
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 Introducing Psychology: Applying
Psychology to Work (Sample Specialties)
• Biopsychology/ • Cognitive
Neuroscience Psychology
• Clinical • Developmental
Psychology Psychology
• Counseling • Experimental
Psychology
Psychology
• Educational
Psychology

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 Applying Psychology to Work
(Sample Specialties Continued)
• Forensic Psychology
• Gender/Cultural
Psychology
• Health Psychology
• Industrial/Organizational
Psychology
• Social Psychology

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Careers in Psychology: Percentage of
Psychology Degrees by Specialty

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Introducing Psychology: Ethnicities of
Doctorate Recipients in Psychology

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 Origins of Psychology: Schools
and Perspectives in Psychology
 Wilhelm Wundt: “father
of psychology”, opened
the first psychology
laboratory at the
University of Liepzig
(c. 1879)

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 Functionalism: studied
how the mind functions to
adapt organisms to their
environment
 focused on how behavioral
processes function, i.e.
how they enable organism
to adapt, survive, and
flourish
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 Structuralism:
used introspection
(looking in) to
explore the
elemental structure
of the human mind

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 Psychoanalytic/
Psychodynamic
Perspective :
emphasized the
influence of the
unconscious mind on
behavior and
unresolved past
conflicts
 Freud = founder Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

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  Behavioral Perspective :
focus on how our behavior
being affected by the
stimuli in the environment
and within ourselves.
 Environmental influences
on overt behavior
 Watson, Pavlov, & Skinner
were key figures
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

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  Humanistic Perspective: free will, self-
actualization, & a positive, growth-seeking
human nature
 Rogers & Maslow were key figures

+ =
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

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 Cognitive Perspective:
Focus on our
information processes of
perception, attention,
language, memory, and
thinking, and how they
influence our thoughts,
feelings and behaviors.

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Neuroscience/
Biopsychology Perspective:
study about genetics & other
biological processes in the
brain & other parts of the
nervous system and how they
affect our behavior and mental
processes

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  Evolutionary Perspective:
focus on how evolution has
shaped the mind and
behavior. Includes natural
selection, adaptation, &
evolution of organism

Natural selection is a principle that those inherited trait

variations contributing to survival will most likely be
passed on to succeeding generations.

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 Sociocultural
Perspective: social
interaction & cultural
determinants of
human behavior and
thoughts

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 Pause & Reflect:
Critical Thinking

 Why do psychologists need to look

into something from multiple
perspectives?

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Do See a Vase & /or Two Faces?

One possible answer

is multiple
perspectives allow
psychologists to
better understand
research & complex
behavior & mental
processes.

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 The Science of Psychology

Basic Research:
 conducted to advance scientific knowledge; the
process of researching,

Applied Research:
 designed to solve practical problems; the
application of the research finding into real life and
real world

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 Psychology’s Perspectives : Depends
on your viewpoint

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To study EATING, we can look at
several perspectives…:
• Biological Basis for eating
• Cultural Influences on eating
• Eating and the social world
• Eating Disorders
• Cognitive Control over eating
• Humanistic Perspective about eating

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 Pause &
Reflect:
Is this an
example of
basic
research or
applied
research?

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 The
Scientific
Method

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 The Science of Psychology:
Ethical Guidelines
 Ethical Guidelines for Human Research
Participants:

1. Informed consent
• Obtain voluntary participation; written or
oral
• Restricted use of deception in research

2. Debriefing
• Confidentiality of the research
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 The Science of Psychology:
Ethical Guidelines (Continued)
 Rights of Nonhuman Participants:
Advocates believe nonhuman research offers
significant scientific benefits. Opponents question
these benefits & suggest nonhuman (animals)
cannot give informed consent.

 General Guidelines:
Psychologists must maintain high standards for
both human & nonhuman animal research.

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 Pause & Reflect:
Assessment

1. What are the four major goals of

psychology?

2. The ________ perspective focuses

on natural selection, adaptation, &
evolution.
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Research Methods in Psychology

 Four key research

methods:

1. Experimental
2. Descriptive
3. Correlational
4. Biological

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 Four Key Research Methods
(Continued)

1. Experimental Research:
scientific procedure that manipulates
variables to determine cause & effect of
the variables

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 Key features of an experiment:

 Independent variable (factor that is

manipulated) versus dependent variable
(factor that is measured)

 Have two groups: Experimental group

(receives treatment) versus control group
(receives no treatment)
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Does TV
increase
aggression?
Only an
experiment can
determine cause
& effect.

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 Experimental method has potential for
researcher problems:

 Experimenter bias : researcher expectation and

influences that affect the result of a research

 Ethnocentrism: believing one's culture is typical

of all cultures

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 Experimental method has potential for
participant problems:

 Sample bias: participants in a research are

unrepresented the larger population,
(overrepresent or underrepresent)

 Participant bias: research participants are

influenced by the researcher or experimental
conditions, caused them not acting or
responding naturally for the research
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Research Methods—Experimental
(Continued)

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 Research Methods—Descriptive

2. Descriptive Research:
The action of observes and records behavior
without producing causal explanations

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 Research Methods—Descriptive
Three types of descriptive research:

i. Naturalistic Observation: observation &

recording of behavior in natural state or habitat

ii. Survey: assessment of a sample or population

iii. Case Study: in-depth study of a single

participant

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 Pause & Reflect:
Psychology at Work

 What is the advantage of studying

psychological research methods like
naturalistic observation?

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 Research Methods—Correlational

3. Correlational Research:
observes or measures two or more
variables to find relationships between
the variables

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Research Methods—Correlational

 Correlational has 2
directions; Positive
direction and negative
direction

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Research Methods—Correlational

 Positive Correlation:
two variables move in
the same direction —
either up or down
 One variable goes up,
the other also goes up
and vice versa

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Research Methods—Correlational

 Negative Correlation:
two variables move in
the opposite direction—
either up or down
 One variable goes up,
the other move down

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Research Methods—Correlational

 Zero Correlation: no
relationship between
two variables (when
one variable increases,
the other can increase,
decrease, or stay the
same)

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Research Methods—Correlational

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Research Methods—Correlational

 Can you see

why correlation
can never
show cause &
effect?

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Research Methods—Biological

4. Biological
Research:
scientific studies of
the brain & other
parts of the nervous
system

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 Pause & Reflect:
Assessment

1. Why is an experiment the only way we

can determine cause & effect?

2. What is the difference between a

positive correlation & a negative
correlation?
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 End of CHAPTER 1
Introduction to
Psychology & Its
Research
Methods

PowerPoint  Lecture Notes Presentation

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010