LECTURE OUTLINE HISTORY & INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY I. BP = BEFORE “PSYCHOLOGY” A. SIGNIFICANT QUESTIONS ABOUT MANKIND B. RELATIVELY EARLY ANSWERS II. THE “NEW” DISCIPLINE: 130+ YEARS OF PARADIGM SHIFTS A. STRUCTURALISM: WUNDT (1879) & HALL (1883) B. FUNCTIONALISM: JAMES (1890) C. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC VIEW: unconscious processes, basic drives FREUD (1914) & ERIKSON (1950) D. THE BEHAVIORIST VIEW: past learning, rewards & punishments PAVLOV (1905), WATSON (1913) & SKINNER (1938) E. THE COGNITIVE VIEW: thought processes, mental viewpoint PIAGET (1930), MILLER (1960), BANDURA (1982)
F. HUMANIST / PHENOMENOLOGICAL VIEW: subjective experience, personal viewpoint ROGERS (1951) & MASLOW (1954) G. THE BIOLOGICAL VIEW: genetics & body chemistry MULLER (1840), WEBER (1850),von HELMHOLTZ (1860), HEBB (1949), OLDS (1954), ETHOLOGICAL THEORIES III. CURRENT MAJOR PERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHOLOGY A. PSYCHOANALYTIC – unconscious processes, basic drives B. BEHAVIORAL – past learning, rewards & punishments C. COGNITIVE – thought processes, mental viewpoint D. PHENOMENOLOGICAL – subjective experience E. BIOLOGICAL – genetics & body chemistry IV.
RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY A. WHAT IS A THEORY? B. RESEARCH STRATEGIES 1. OBSERVATIONAL [only describes] 2. CORRELATIONAL [only measures] 3. EXPERIMENTAL [manipulates + measures] a. POPULATION & REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE b. CONDITIONS 1. )EXPERIMENTAL 2. )CONTROL c. VARIABLES 1. )INDEPENDENT 2. )DEPENDENT 4. RESEARCH DESIGNS a. CROSS SECTIONAL b. LONGITUDINAL V. CONTAMINATION OF RESEARCH DATA & RESULTS A. CONFOUNDING VARIABLES INFLUENCE THE DATA 1. UNREPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF THE CHOSEN POPULATION 2. WORDING OF SURVEY QUESTIONS 3. GUESSING THE EXPERIMENT’S PURPOSE . UNCONTROLLED VARIABLES B. IMPROPER INTERPRETATION OF DATA 1. NOT RECOGNIZING UNCONTROLLED VARIABLES 2. CORRELATION ( CAUSATION 3. CONFIRMATION BIAS VI. RELIABILITY & VALIDITY OF RESEARCH A. RELIABILITY = DATA ARE CONSISTENT & DEPENDABLE 1. RESEARCH CONDITIONS ARE STANDARDIZED 2. LARGE NUMBER OF OBSERVATIONS 3. IRRELEVANT FACTORS ARE CONTROLLED B. VALIDITY = TEST MEASURES WHAT IS INTENDED VII. STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE & LEVELS OF CONFIDENCE IN RESEARCH A. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT”? B. LEVELS OF CONFIDENCE (“significance”)
