This document provides an overview of Chapter 1 of an introductory psychology textbook. It discusses the goals of psychology as description, explanation, prediction, and influence. It also summarizes the major schools of thought in psychology, including behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanism, cognitivism, evolutionary psychology, biological psychology, and the sociocultural approach. Descriptive research methods like observation, case studies, surveys, and correlation are outlined. The chapter also explains the experimental method, potential biases, and its limitations. Finally, it notes that ethics are important in psychological research.

1. Chapter 1
Introduction to Psychology
1

2. Chapter 1 Overview
 An introduction to Mastering the World of
Psychology
 Exploring psychology’s roots
 Schools of thought in psychology
 Descriptive research methods
 The experimental method
 Ethics in psychological research
 Thinking about theories and research
 Psychologists at work 2

3. An introduction to Mastering
the World of Psychology
 Students can study the textbook
effectively by using the SQ3R method
3

4. How can the SQ3R method
help you study more
effectively?
 The SQ3R method involves five steps
– Survey
– Question
– Read
– Recite
– Review
 This provides a systematic approach to
studying the text, and helps maximize
learning
4

5. What process do scientists use to
answer questions about behavior
and mental processes?
 Psychology: The scientific study of
behavior and mental processes
– Instead of relying on common sense,
psychologists use the scientific method
 Psychologists propose and test
theories to explain behavior and
mental processes
– Theory: A general set of principles that
explains how separate facts are related
5

6. What are the goals of
psychology?
 Description
– Identifying and classifying behaviors and mental
processes
 Explanation
– Proposing reasons for behaviors and mental
processes
 Prediction
– Offering hypotheses about how a condition or
set of conditions will affect behavior and mental
processes
 Influence
– Using research results to solve practical 6
problems

7. What are the goals of
psychology?
 Two types of research are done to
accomplish psychologists’ four goals
– Basic research
 Research that seeks new knowledge to
advance general scientific understanding
– Applied research
 Research conducted to solve practical
problems and improve the quality of life
7

8. Exploring Psychology’s
Roots
 Psychology’s roots can be traced to
the beginning of recorded history
 But psychology as a formal academic
discipline began in the 1800s
8

9. What did Wundt and Titchener
contribute to psychology?
 Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
– The “father” of psychology
– Used introspection to analyze basic elements of
conscious mental experience
 Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927)
– Wundt’s student
– Established a psychological laboratory in the USA
 Structuralism
– Wundt and Titchener’s school of thought
– Structuralism was criticized because of its methods
– But structuralists established psychology as a science
9

10. Why is functionalism important
in the history of psychology?
 Functionalism
– Focused on how humans and animals use mental
processes in adapting to their environments
– Broadened the scope of psychology to include
behavior as well as mental processes
 William James (1842-1910)
– Functionalism’s most famous proponent
– Believed that the “stream of consciousness”
functions to help humans adapt to their
environment
10

11. Schools of Thought in
Psychology
 The major schools of thought in psychology
today include
– Behaviorism
– Psychoanalytic psychology
– Humanistic psychology
– Cognitive psychology
– Evolutionary psychology
– Biological psychology
– The sociocultural approach
11

12. How do behaviorists explain
behavior and mental
processes?
 Behaviorists view observable,
measurable behavior as the only
appropriate subject matter for
psychology
 Behaviorism also emphasizes the
environment as the key determinant of
behavior
12

13. What do psychoanalytic
psychologists believe about the role
of the unconscious?
 Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality
and his therapy for psychological
disorders is called Psychoanalysis
 According to this theory, an individual’s
thoughts, feelings, and behavior are
determined primarily by the
unconscious
13

14. According to Maslow and Rogers,
what motivates behavior and
mental processes?
 Humanistic psychology
– Focuses on the uniqueness of human beings and
their capacity for choice, growth, and
psychological health
 Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation
– The need for self-actualization is the highest
need in the hierarchy of needs
 Carl Rogers developed client-centered
therapy
– An approach in which the client directs a
discussion on his or her own view of the problem
14

15. What is the focus of cognitive
psychology?
 Cognitive psychology focuses on
mental processes such as memory,
problem solving, decision making,
perception, and language
 Information-processing theory
– An approach within cognitive psychology
that uses the computer as a model for
human thinking
15

16. What is the main idea behind
evolutionary psychology?
 Evolutionary psychology focuses
on how human behaviors necessary
for survival have adapted in the face of
environmental pressures over the
course of evolution
16

17. How do biological psychologists
explain individual differences in
behavior and mental processes?
 Biological psychologists look for
connections between specific
behaviors (such as aggression) and
specific biological factors (such as
hormones) to help explain individual
differences
17

18. What kinds of variables interest
psychologists who take a
sociocultural approach?
 The sociocultural approach focuses
on how factors such as cultural values
affect behavior
– Proponents of this approach believe that
these factors are as important as
evolutionary and physiological factors in
affecting behavior and mental processes
18

19. What are psychological
perspectives, and how are they
related to an eclectic position?
 Psychological perspectives are
general points of view used for
explaining people’s behavior and
thinking
 Many psychologists take an eclectic
position, using a combination of
approaches to explain a particular
behavior
19

20. Descriptive Research
Methods
 Methods that yield descriptions of
behavior
 These methods include
– Naturalistic and laboratory observation
– Case study
– Survey research
– The correlational method
20

21. How do psychological researchers
use naturalistic and laboratory
observation?
 Naturalistic observation
– Observation of behavior in its natural
setting, without attempting to influence it
 Laboratory observation
– Studying behavior in a laboratory setting
– This allows more control and more
precise measurement of responses
21

22. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of the case study?
 Case study
– Studying a single individual or small number of
persons in depth
 Advantage
– Appropriate for studying rare psychological
disorders or brain damage
 Disadvantages
– Cannot identify the cause of behavior
– Potential for bias
– Results can lack generalizability
22

23. How do researchers ensure
that survey results are useful?
 Survey research
– Uses interviews and/or questionnaires to gather
information about the attitudes, beliefs, or
behaviors of a group of people
– Instead of studying the whole population,
researchers survey a sample
 To be useful, surveys must involve a
representative sample
– A sample that mirrors the population of interest
23

24. Why are experimental and
control groups necessary?
 Experimental group
– The group that is exposed to the independent
variable
 Control group
– A group that is exposed to the same
experimental environment but is not given the
treatment
 Comparing experimental and control groups
allows researchers to judge the effects of
the independent variable compared to
outcomes that occur naturally
24

25. What kinds of factors introduce
bias into experimental studies?
 Placebo effect
– Response to a treatment caused by a person’s
expectations, not the treatment itself
 Experimenter bias
– Occurs when the researcher’s expectations
influence the experiment’s results
 These effects can be controlled by using the
double-blind technique
– In which neither the experimenter nor
participants know who is in the experimental and
control groups 25

26. What are the limitations of the
experimental method?
 Experiments are often conducted in
unnatural settings, limiting the
generalizability of the results
 This method may also be unethical or
impossible to use for some research
26

27. Ethics in Psychological
Research
 Researchers are ethically obligated to
protect the rights of all study
participants
27

28. What ethical rules must
researchers follow when humans
are involved in studies?
 Legality
– Research must conform to applicable laws
 Institutional Approval
– Must be approved by all institutions involved in a
study
 Informed Consent
– Participants must be informed of the purpose of
a study and any potential harm
 Deception
– Only used when necessary
– If deceived, participants must be debriefed
28

29. What ethical rules must
researchers follow when humans
are involved in studies?
 Clients, patients, students, and
subordinates
– Must not be negatively affected by participating
 Payment for participation
– Is ethical
– But participants must be fully informed about
what is expected
 Publication
– Researchers must report findings in an
appropriate forum, and make their data available
to others for verification 29

30. Why are animals used in
research?
 Animals provide a simpler model for
studying similar processes in humans
 Researchers can exercise more control over
animals and use a wider range of medical
and other manipulations
 But, ethical guidelines must be followed
– Legality
– Supervision by experienced personnel
– Minimization of discomfort
30

31. How can critical thinking be used to
interpret media reports of
psychological research?
 Critical thinking involves objectively
evaluating claims and conclusions to
determine whether they follow logically from
evidence
– It includes independent thinking, suspension of
judgment, and willingness to modify or abandon
prior judgments
 Critical thinking can be used to evaluate
media reports
– Such as an alleged cause-effect link between TV
watching and ADHD that was widely reported in
the media
 Which was based on correlational research 31

32. What factors limit the
generalizability of a study?
 Generalizability
– The degree to which a study’s findings
can be applied to the general population
 A study’s generalizability is limited
when the characteristics of the
participants do not reflect those of the
whole population
32

33. Psychologists at Work
 Psychologists specialize in a number of
different areas
33

34. Who are some of the specialists
working within psychology?
 Clinical psychologists
– Specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and
behavioral disorders, such as anxiety, phobias, and
schizophrenia
 Counseling psychologists
– Help people who have adjustment problems (marital,
social, or behavioral) that are generally less severe
 Physiological, or biological, psychologists
– Study the relationship between physiological processes
and behavior
 Experimental psychologists
– Conduct experiments in most areas of psychology,
including learning, memory, and perception 34

35. Who are some of the specialists
working within psychology?
 Developmental psychologists
– Study how people grow, develop, and change
throughout the lifespan
 Educational psychologists
– Specialize in the study of teaching and learning
 Social psychologists
– Investigate how individuals feel, think, and
behave in social settings
 Industrial/organizational
psychologists
– Study the relationship between people and their
work environments 35