understanding psychology

1. INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
MS. SAHER SAEED

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
 History of Psychology
 School of Thoughts
 Research methods used in Psychology
 Ethical Considerations
 Fields of Psychology

3. LEARNING OUTCOMES:
❑ After the completing of this lecture the students will be able to learn
❑ What is the History of Psychology?
❑ Thoughts of philosophers about psychology?
❑ Concepts of Muslim Philosophers of this Era?
❑ Evolution of Psychology to scientific study

4. UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY
Old definitions of Psychology:
 Science of soul (psyche means soul & logos means science)
 Soul can’t be seen or observed so can’t make scientific experiments on soul.
 William James: explained it as a study of science of mental processes (18th
century)
 Modern Psychologists: Science of Psychology
 James Sully: Science of Inner world
 Wilhelm Wundt: Science which studies the internal experiences ( conscious,
subconscious & unconscious).
 J.B Watson: Science of Behavior
 Behavior can be measured scientifically.
 B.F Skinner: Science of Behavior and experiences on human beings

5. Before 1870 psychology was not a separate discipline rather it was studied under Philosophy.
Some of the contributors of psychology were as follows:-
❑ Wilhelm Wundt who noted psychology as a science apart from philosophy and biology,
was the first person ever to call himself a psychologist. He is widely regarded as the 'father
of experimental psychology. In 1879 opened first experimental laboratory in psychology at
the University of Leipzig, Germany. American Psychological Association (APA) was
established in 1892 and the founder was G. Stanley Hall.
❑ In 1896 John Dewey and William James supported the functionalism in Psychology.
❑ In 1896 Sigmund Freud developed the theory of psychoanalysis. On the basis of this
therapy later on he developed the therapy of free association and dream analysis.
❑ In 1905 IQ test developed by Alfred Binet and Thiodore Simon.
❑ In 1913 John B. Watson supported the behavioral aspects
of psychology.
❑ In 1921 Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach devised a personality test based on
patient’s interpretations of inkblots which is named as Rorschach ink blot test.

6. Psychology as a science ( GOALS OF PSY)
 It includes behavior, emotions, thoughts, feelings etc.
 Scientific Method:- systematic and organized series of steps for exploring
phenomena in order to obtain consistent and accurate results.
Steps involved:
 Observation
 Description/explanation
 Control/ prediction
 Replication

7. Historical Perspective
 Hippocrates: physician and raised standard of medical investigation but also
developed the code of ethics for the physician.
 Stressed upon the significance of brain in psychological process and
approached the problems of medicine systematically.
 Plato: Developed theories of knowledge, conduct, state and universe.
 A/c to him, soul has 3 parts (reason-awareness of goal, spirit- action towards
the goal & appetite- desire for things of body)
 Aristotle: Man of universal learning.
 Paid attention to all branches of knowledge except mathematics.
 Developed first systematic treatment of psychology
 Socrates: Soul was the essential man and part of man’s conscious personality.
 The activity of soul is to know and to direct a person’s daily conduct

8.  Early philosophers attempted to interpret the world they observed around them in terms of
human perceptions.
 Greek Philosophers put emphasis on observation as a mean of knowing the world.
 MUSLIM PHILOSOPHERS
 Focused on body and soul.
 Rooh is the main factor that controls our actions and maintains them.
 Soul rule over body: mentally healthy
 Body rule over soul: mentally ill.
 Focused on sentiments of individual. When man is away from God’s love, he is also away from
man’s love.
 Self (Qalb) is the essence of Man. It is the spiritual entity residing in human body and the
center of personality which controls the functions of an individual.
 EXPERIMENTATIONS
 Copernicus: Earth is not the center of universe but revolved around the sun
 Galileo invented telescope to confirm predictions about star positions etc

9.  17th Century period
 Modern concepts and developments in many fields and displaced the older concepts of
soul with mind and body in determining human nature.
 Rene Descartes: most important work- to resolve mind body problem
 He saw human body as a piece of machinery ( intricate and complicated)
 Explained every aspect of physical functioning in mechanical terms.
 Mind-body Dualism: mind and body are separate entities influencing each other.
 Body exerts greater influence on mind (important point)
 John Locke: Existence of innate ideas, arguing that humans are not equipped at birth
with any knowledge.
 Explained innate ideas in terms of habit and learning.
 Tabula Rasa: people are born with empty minds or blank state. The ideas are imprinted
om our minds as a result of experience.

10. Preamble:
❑ In the previous lecture, we have discussed the history of Psychology.
❑ The Greek and Muslim Philosophers concepts regarding the evolution and
understanding of Psychology.
❑ Scientific procedure
❑ Mind-Body dualism interaction

11. School Of Thoughts

12. Learning Outcomes
❑ What is school of psychology?
❑ Describe different types of school of psychology.
❑ Differentiate between structuralism and
functionalism.
❑ How does humanism and cognitive psychology
differs from eachother.

13. Background & Introduction
❖ The formal history of psychology
dates back only 133 years to 1879 –
the year when Wilhelm Wundt
opened the doors of the first
psychology laboratory in Leipzig,
Germany.

14. Definition
A school of thought is the perspective of a group in which
people share common Characteristics, Out look of
Philosophy, Discipline, Belief, Social Movement and
Culture Movement.
 The Different School of Psychology represent the major
theories within Psychology.

15. Schools of psychology :
❑ Structuralism
❑ Functionalism
❑ Gestalt Psychology
❑ Biological Perspective
❑ Psychodynamics
❑ Behaviorism
❑ Cognitive Psychology
❑ Humanism
❑ Eclectic Approach

16.  STRUCTURALISM:
 Wundt’s approach- focuses on uncovering the mental components of consciousness, thinking and other kinds of
mental states and activities.
 He was aimed to study the building blocks of mind.
 He considered psychology to be the study of conscious experience.
 Used a procedure “ Introspection” to understand how basic sensory processes shape our understanding of the
world.
 INTROSPECTION: a procedure used to study the structure of mind in which subjects are asked to describe in
detail what they are experiencing when they are exposed to a stimulus.
 Wundt argued that by analyzing people’s reports, psychologists could come to a better understanding of the
structure of the mind.
 Criticism: it can’t be satisfied that introspection could reveal the structure of the mind. . It was not a scientific
technique.
 Edward Titchener: concerned with studying the brain and unconscious.
 Break down it into basic elements and then construct the separate elements into a whole and understand what
it does.
 We can study perception, emotions and ideas through introspection by reducing them to their elementary
parts.

17. Functionalism
➢ William James is the founder of functional psychology.
➢ Study of function of the human consciousness and how it leads to adaptive behavior.
➢ Function of mind, Stream of consciousness , development of behavior.
➢ He was interested in will, values, religious and mystical experiences.
➢ He said we should study consciousness but should not reduce it into elements, content and structure.
➢ Acts and functions of mental processes need to be focused upon rather than the contents of mind.
➢ John Dewey: Key founders of functionalism.
➢ Stimulus-response phenomena is not an automatic behavior.
➢ The goal of the person performing it has the main role in it ; the stimulus and response determine each
other.
➢ He developed “ School Psychology” and recommended ways for meeting student’s needs

18. Gestalt Psychology
➢ Founded by Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler.
➢ Gestalt psychology looks the human mind and behavior as a whole, rather than on the individual elements of
perception.
➢ Work on Perception
➢ The Whole is different from the sum of its parts. ( Our perception or understanding is greater and more
meaningful than the individual elements that make up our perceptions).
➢ Phi-Phenominon: given by Wertheimer. When 2 lights are in close proximity to each other, flashing
alternately they appear to be one light moving back and forth. Therefore, the whole was different from the
separate parts, movement perceived whereas it never occurred.
➢ Koffka: wrote “ Principles of Gestalt Psychology”. Talked about geographical versus behavioral
environment. People’s behavior is determined by how they perceive the environment the environment
rather than by the nature of environment.
➢ Kohler: gave the concept of “Insight”- spontaneous restructuring of situation . Talked about “
Isomorphism”- changes in the brain structure yield changes in experiences.

19. Biological Perspective
➢ Charles Darwin first proposed the idea that genetics and evolution both contribute to many human qualities
including personality.
➢ The biological perspective is a way of looking at psychological issues by studying the physical basis for
animal and human behavior.
➢ It states that our actions to events taking place in brain and nervous system.
➢ Focuses on how the inheritance of certain characteristics from parents and other ancestors influences
behavior.
➢ A/c to Darwin variations among individuals of a species would occur by chance, but could in turn be passed
on to the future generations.
➢ Gave the concept of the “Survival of the fittest”

20. Psychodynamics
➢ Founded by Sigmund Freud.
➢ The systematic study of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings, and emotions and
how they might relate to early experience.
➢ Behavior is motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which we have little awareness or control.
➢ Levels of minds ( unconscious, subconscious and conscious. Structure of personality ( id, ego, superego)
➢ By unconscious process- means beliefs, fears, desires.
➢ A/c to Freud many of the impulses that are forbidden or punished by parents and society during childhood
are derived from innate instincts. Each of us are born with these impulses.
➢ All our actions have a cause but that cause is often with some unconscious motive rather than the rational
one.
➢ We are continuously struggling against a society that stresses the control of these impulses.
➢ Personality develops in the starting ages.
➢ Example: If you feel a lot of anger towards someone but you can’t afford to alienate your anger, so it
indirectly reflected in a dream about that person

21. Behaviorism
➢ Established by John B. Watson in 1913.
➢ The study of observable behaviors and the influence of the environment.
➢ Work on Learning and Psychopathology
➢ Define behavior as Stimulus and Response
➢ Strongly believe on observably behavioral activities, rather than to focus on brain and nervous system.
➢ This paradigm grew out of rejection of psychology’s early emphasis on the inner workings of the mind. Instead
they said we should focus on observable behavior.
➢ A/c to Watson, one could gain a complete understanding of behavior by studying and modifying the
environment in which people operate.
➢ By controlling environment, it is possible to elicit any desired type of behavior.
➢ B.F Skinner: influence in the area of learning processes. Operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement
and punishment
➢ Example: Regard to aggression- children are more likely to express aggressive impulses ( like hitting another
child). When such responses are rewarded-other child withdraws
When responses are punished-other child counter attacks.

22. Cognitive Psychology
➢ Neisser was the “father of cognitive psychology”.
➢ Beck , Jean Piaget, Miller, Noam Chomsky, Albert Ellis, Hermann Ebbinghaus.
➢ Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as "attention, language use, memory,
perception, problem solving, creativity, and thinking".
➢ Rational thoughts / irrational thoughts.
➢ Not based on introspection.
➢ Example: simple act of recognizing” who it is” when you receive a call from someone and says hello. Sample
of voices are stored in long term memory- so just match and think that voice with your stored memory.
➢ Focuses on how people understand and think about the world and in interest in describing the patterns and
irregularities in the operation of our minds.
➢ Behavior- internal state- environment.
➢ Compare human thinking with the workings of computer that how it takes information and process it and then
recalls it. So, thinking is information processing.

23. Humanism
➢ Maslow and Carl Rogers
➢ Attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matter
➢ Looking at the whole individual and stresses concepts such as free will, self-efficacy, and self-actualization.
Rather than concentrating on dysfunction.
➢ Emphasis on fulfill the potential and maximize the well being
➢ It developed partly as a reaction to what phenomenologists perceived as the overly mechanistic quality.
➢ They tend to reject the notions that
➢ Behavior is controlled by external stimuli ( behaviorism)
➢ By processing of information in perception and memory (cognitive)
➢ By conscious impulses ( psychodynamic)
➢ More concerned with describing the inner life and experience of individuals than with developing theories.
➢ Called as humanistics because they distinguished between humans and animals.

24. Eclectic Approach
➢ Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold
rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but
instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to
gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies
different theories in particular cases.

26. Learning Outcomes
In this lecture we will learn
1. What is Qualitative method of research?
2. What is Quantitative method of research?
3. Basic Difference between two methods of psychological researches.
4. What is Content Analysis Method?
5. What are types of research methods?

27. • A form of a social inquiry which used to discover and gain an in-depth
understanding of individual experiences, thoughts, opinions, and trends,
and to dig deeper into the problem at hand.
• A form of social inquiry which is used to quantify the problem by way
of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into
usable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors,
and other defined variables.

28. Qualitative Research
 The purpose is detailed
description.
 The researcher has a rough
idea of what he will be
going to ask.
 Conducts inquiry in
subjective, biased manner.
 Data is in form of words or
pictures.
Quantitative Research
 The purpose is to classify
features, count them and to
represent them as a statistical
data.
 The researcher knows exactly
what details are to be found.
 Conducts inquiry in objective
form, unbiased manner.
 Data collected is in form of
numerical data.

29. Research Method In
Psychology
Observation method & its kinds

30. OBSERVATION METHOD
In observation method, we use vision as the data collection tool
There are different types of observation methods
• Controlled Observation
• Naturalistic Observation
Above two types can further be distinguished into either
• Participant
• Non Participant

31. Kinds of Observation
Participant
Observation:
 Researcher is himself
involved.
 He is part of
environment.
 He might be hidden or
not hidden.
Non-Participant
Observation:
 Researcher is behind
camera or audio tape
recording.
 Subject being observed
doesn’t know that
researcher is present.

32. Controlled Observation:
Carried out in a psychology laboratory
Researcher decides:
1. Where the observation will take place.
2. At what time.
3. With which participants.
4. In what circumstances.
5. Uses a standardized procedure.
6. It is usually non- participant kind of research.
7. Lacks validity as people being observed know they are under
observation.

33. Naturalistic Observation:
• involves studying the spontaneous behavior of participants
in natural surroundings.
• are less reliable as other variables cannot be controlled so
repeated experiments cannot be done.
• No control over extraneous variables which means cause and
effect relationships cannot be established.
• It is Participant Observation.

34. Experimental Method
• To know the behavior , we study independent and dependent variable.
• Independent Variable is a variable which the researcher can change.
• Dependent variable is the effect that researcher is measuring.
• A hypothesis is a tentative statement or guesses about the possible
relationship between two or more variables.
• The purpose of the experiment is then to either support or fail to support
this hypothesis.
• We study cause and effect relationship.
• Example : If a researcher was investigating how sleep influences test
scores, the amount of sleep an individual gets would be the independent
variable.

35. The four basic steps of the Experimental
Research are:
• Forming a Hypothesis.
• Designing a Study and Collecting Data.
• Analyzing the Data and Reaching
Conclusions.
• Sharing the Findings.

36. Interview Method
• Structured Interview
There is a list of questions already decided that are to be asked.
• Semi Structured Interview
There is a list of question along with reason behind the answers.
• Un-structured Interview
Only topic is already decided ,no pre-planned questions are there.
In-depth information can be found.

37. Questionnaire Method
• Open-ended Questions
➢ Subjective questions are asked.
➢ Answers are elaborate.
• Close-ended Questions
➢ Objective questions are asked.
➢ Answers are in form of limited options.

38. What is to be observed ?
• Qualitative Research : Observe qualities, behaviors and complexities
• Quantitative Research : Observe quantities, scales and trends
What types of question are to be asked ?
• Qualitative Research : Why ? , How?
( un-structured interview)
• Quantitative Research : How many ? What?
( structured interview)

39. ▪ Qualitative Method :
▪ Open ended questions.
▪ Subjective questions.
▪ Answers are elaborate.
▪ Quantitative Method :
▪ Close ended questions
▪ Objective questions
▪ Few specific options are given for answer
▪ This is quantitative research method.

40. Content
Analysis
Content analysis is research method used
to analyze qualitative data (non-
numerical data).
In its most important form it is a
technique that allows a researcher to
take qualitative data and transform it
into quantitative data (numerical data)
For example: interview transcripts, films
and audio recording.

42. Strength & Weaknesses of Content
Analysis
STRENGTHS OF CONTENT
ANALYSIS:
➢ It is reliable way to analyze
qualitative data as coding units
are not open for
interpretation.
➢ It is an easy way to use and
not time consuming.
➢ It allows a statistical analysis
to be conducted if required.
WEAKNESSES OF CONTENT
ANALYSIS:
➢ Causality can not be
established as it merely
describes the data.
➢ As it merely describes data it
can not extract deeper
meaning or explanation for
data patterns arising.

43. Ethical Issues in Psychological
Research
Goals of Psychology

44.  After the completion of this lecture the student will be able to learn
 How to define the term ethics?
 What are ethical issues in psychological research?
 What are the ethical principles that needs to be considered?
 Why it is important in research?
 What are the areas of specific dishonesty?
 What are the rights in research
Learning Outcomes

45.  Defining ways of ‘ethics’ focuses on the
disciplines that study standards of conduct
such as philosophy, theology, psychology, law,
or sociology.
 We can define Ethics as a method, procedure,
or perspective for analyzing complex problems
and issues. For instance, in considering a
complex issue like global warming, one may
take an economic, ecological, political, or
ethical perspectives on the problem
Introduction

46.  In Psychology some of the most contested
issues are ethical issues. Many of the greatest
psychological studies have been hugely
unethical.
 The British Psychological Society (BPS) and
the American Psychological Association (APA)
have provided an ethical framework for
psychologists to attempt to adhere to when
conducting psychological research.

47.  While conducting psychological research, it is important to know these
ethical principles:
1. Protection From Harm - the most important ethical
principle is that participants should be protected from
harm, psychological or otherwise.
2. Right to Withdraw - Giving participants the right to
withdraw does not just informing them that they can
leave the study at any time, but also informing them that
they have the right to withdraw their results from the
study at any time.
Ethical Principles

48. 3. Confidentiality- Ensuring that results are
anonymous and also no one from outside of the
experiment and ideally in the experiment too, should be
able to identify the participants from the results.
4. Informed Consent- Informed Consent is a voluntary
agreement to participate in research. It is not merely a
form that is signed but is a process, in which the subject
has an understanding of the research and its risks.
Informed consent is essential before enrolling a
participant and ongoing once enrolled.
Continued….

49.  Honesty
 Objectivity
 Integrity
 Carefulness
 Openness
 Legality
 Competence
 Respect for intellectual property
 Social responsibility
 Human subject protection
Other includes:

50. There are several reasons why it is important to
adhere to ethical norms in research:
 To promote the aims of research i.e.
knowledge, truth and avoidance of error.
 To promote the values that are essential to
collaborative work i.e. trust, accountability
and mutual respect.
Why it is important in Research?

51.  To promote moral and social values i.e.
social responsibility, human rights, animal
welfare, compliance with the law, and
health and safety.
 To build public support for research i.e.
people are more likely to fund research
project, if they can trust the quality and
integrity of research.
Continued….

52. Ethical Issues Regarding Copyright
➢ You need permission to use figures and tables
from other published sources.
➢ Quotes are okay if properly referenced.
➢ Usually it is no problem getting permission for
educational purposes.
Bottom line is that bad things may happen to you if you are intentionally
unethical.

53. ❖ Plagiarism: using other people’s work without
acknowledging their contribution.
❖ Fabrication and Falsification: Fabrication is making up
results and recording or reporting them. Falsification is
manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes
by omitting data or results such that the research is not
accurately represented in the research record.
❖ Poor data storage and retention: should be available for
the verification of others
Areas of Specific dishonesty

54. ❖ Faculty data-gathering: it occurs if machines are not
calibrated correctly, if subjects do not follow procedures
correctly and if untrained research assistants are used.
❖ Misleading Authorship: people take credit who really
make very little contribution to study. If fellow graduate
students assist you should not expect to be named. The
same is true with faculty advisors unless they have made
a significant contribution to the study.
Continued….

55. You have a right to information about:
✓ Why research study is being done?
✓ What will happen during the research study?
✓ Whether any study procedures, drugs or devices are different from standard
medical care?
✓ The risks, side effects and side effects and discomforts from taking part in the
study.
✓ Medical treatment incase of complications.
Rights in Research

56. You also have a right to:
✓ Decide not to take part in the study, or decide to drop out, at any time.
✓ Decide whether to take part without any pressure.
✓ Ask questions at any time.
✓ Receive a copy of consent form.
Rights in Research

57. Goals of psychology
DESCRIPTION
➢First goal is to describe or gather information about the
behavior
being studied and to present what is known.
EXPLAINANTION
➢ Second goal is to explain why people or animal behave as they
do.
➢ Such explanation can be called psychological principles

58. PREDICTION
➢ Third goal is to predict , as a result of accumulated knowledge ,
what organisms will do and , in the case of humans, what they will
think or feel in various situations
➢ By studying descriptive and theoretical accounts of past behaviors ,
psychologists can predict future behaviors
CONTROL
➢ Individual behavior can be modified and control with the help of
prediction
➢ For example: how to control anger and over eating with the help of
psychology

59. Fields Of Psychology Their
Applications

60. Learning Outcome
 After the completion of this lecture students will be able
 To understand concept of Psychology
 To analyze the applications of psychology
 To understand the goals of psychology
 To differentiate between different fields of psychology

61. Psychology
 Psychology
 applied and academic discipline involving scientific study of mental process, behavior , and cognition
 Applied psychology

➢ application of psychological principles
➢ To solve problems of the human experience, including the
➢ Workplace Health , product design, law and more. This study is just one
example of issues.

62.  Clinical psychology
 deals with study, diagnosis, and
 treatment of psychological disorders. Problems
may range from crises of
 every day life to extreme conditions
 Counseling psychology
 pays attention to the emotional ,educational,
 social and career adjustment problems that
normally impacts on daily life

63.  Educational psychology:
 concerned with teaching and learning processes,
such as the relationship between motivation and
school performance.
 Social psychology
 seeks to understand the nature and causes of
individual behavior in social situations.
 Cross -cultural psychology
 study of similarities and difference in behavior
among individuals who have develop in different
cultures

64. ➢ Environmental psychology:
➢ Environmental psychologists apply their knowledge in many different ways, including: Conducting research
on messages that motivate people to change their behavior.
➢ Encouraging people to rethink their positions in the natural world
➢ Health psychology:
➢ Health psychologists apply psychological research and methods to prevention and management of disease,
the promotion and maintenance of health, the identification of psychological factors

65. ➢ Psychopharmacology psychology:
➢ study of drugs effects on mood and behavior
 Criminal psychology
➢ study of the mentality ,motivation and the
social behavior of criminal. thesis, in order to
assess what an offender is going to do next used
to do investigative work,
➢ like examine photographs of a crime, or
conduct an interview with a suspects
 Forensic psychology
 focuses on legal issues ,such as determining
the accuracy of witness memories

66. ➢ Evolutionary psychology:
➢ theoretical approach in the social and natural
sciences that examines psychological structure
from a modern evolutionary perspective
➢ Biological psychology:
➢ Field in which the mind- body
connection is explored through scientific research
and clinical practice

67. Cognitive psychology:
involved in running
psychological experiments involving human
participant with the goal of gathering information
related to
➢ how the human mind takes in processes, and act
upon inputs received from the outside world
➢ related to positive and negative thoughts
Personality psychology:
understanding personality
Allows psychologists to predict how people will
respond
➢ To certain situation and the sort of things they
prefer their Values
➢ deals with the personality of a person
and its variation among individuals

68. Child psychology:
➢ study of subconscious and
➢ conscious childhood development.
Abnormal psychology :
➢ concerned with mental and
➢ emotional disorders (such as depression)
➢ and with certain incompletely understood
normal phenomenon

69. THANK YOU