PSYC 201

Ch 1: What is Psychology?
Page 1 of 4

Chapter 1

what is psychology?

Chapter Outline
I. THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY
A. Psychology, pseudoscience, and common sense
1. Psychology is based on rigorous research
2. Its claims are testable
3. Common sense is sometimes wrong
B. The birth of modern psychology
1. Early philosophers speculated on psychological questions--often insightful, but
sometimes terribly wrong
2. Wundt established the first psychological lab in 1879
3. Functionalists emphasized how behavior helps the individual adapt to the
environment
4. Freuds theory of psychoanalysis described how the causes of many problems
are psychological and have their roots in childhood
C. Psychologys present--Five major approaches
1. The biological perspective emphasizes how bodily processes interact with the
environment to produce psychological events
2. The learning perspective is concerned with how environmental events affect our
actions
a. Behaviorists focus on how rewards and punishers affect behavior
b. Social-cognitive learning theorists combine classic behaviorism with research
on the influence of mental events
3. The cognitive perspective emphasizes mental processes such as thinking and
remembering, and how these affect behavior and feelings
4. The sociocultural perspective focuses on how social and cultural forces affect
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
5. The psychodynamic perspective uses unconscious inner forces to explain
behavior and emotional states
6. More recently, positive psychology has revisited some of the spirit of the earlier
humanist movement.
II. WHAT PSYCHOLOGISTS DO
A. Psychological research
1. Basic researchers seek knowledge for its own sake
2. Applied researchers focus on the practical uses of their findings

PSYC 201
Ch 1: What is Psychology?
Page 2 of 4

B. Psychological practice
1. Practitioners work to understand and improve physical and mental health
2. They work in hospitals, schools, and counseling centers
3. Types of practitioners
a. Counseling psychologists help people deal with problems of everyday life
b. School psychologists work to enhance students performance
c. Clinical psychologists diagnose, treat, and study mental and emotional
problems
4. Differences between therapists
a. The term psychotherapist is unregulated; anyone can claim to be one
b. A psychoanalyst is a person who practices psychoanalysis. This requires an
advanced degree and specialized training
c. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor with training in psychiatry; psychiatrists
often focus on biological causes and treat them with medication
d. Social workers and counselors usually have a Masters degree in social work
or psychology
C. Psychology in the community--psychologists contribute to the welfare of their
communities by helping out within their areas of expertise
III. CRITICAL AND SCIENTIFIC THINKING IN PSYCHOLOGY
A. Critical thinking is the ability and willingness to assess claims and make judgments
on the basis of well-supported research
B. Eight guidelines for critical thinking
1. Ask questions; be willing to wonder
2. Define your terms
a. A hypothesis is a statement that tries to describe or explain a given behavior
b. Operational definitions specify how the phenomena are to be measured
3. Examine the evidence
4. Analyze assumptions and biases: falsifiability is a good practice!
5. Avoid emotional reasoning
6. Dont oversimplify
7. Consider other interpretations
8. Tolerate uncertainty
IV. DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES: ESTABLISHING THE FACTS
A. Although psychologists would like to measure representative samples, obtaining
them can often be a tall order
1. Much research is based on convenience samples
B. Case studies
1. Detailed descriptions of individuals
2. A drawback is that the person studied may not be representative of the

PSYC 201
Ch 1: What is Psychology?
Page 3 of 4

population, therefore strong conclusions cant be drawn using only this method
C. Observational studies involve nonobtrusive, systematic measurement of behavior
1. Naturalistic observation takes place in the organisms normal environment
2. A laboratory observation allows the researcher to control the environment
3. A drawback is that we cant infer cause and effect because we dont know why
the people or animals are acting the way they are based only on observation
D. Tests are procedures for measuring traits, states, interests, abilities, and values
1. Objective tests measure characteristics of which the individual is aware
2. Projective tests tap unconscious feelings or motives
3. Qualities of a good test
a. Standardized
b. Normed
c. Reliable
d. Valid
E. Surveys are questionnaires and interviews that ask people about themselves directly
1. A representative sample is essential--watch out for volunteer bias
2. People sometimes lie, especially if the information if sensitive and anonymity is
not guaranteed
3. Think about how the questions are phrased
V. CORRELATIONAL STUDIES: LOOKING FOR RELATIONSHIPS
A. A positive correlation means that high values of one variable tend to go with high
values of the other
B. A negative correlation means that high values of one variable tend to go with low
values of the other
C. The coefficient of correlation varies between +1.00 (perfect positive) and -1.00
(perfect negative)
D. Correlation does not mean causation
VI. THE EXPERIMENT: HUNTING FOR CAUSES
A. All studies must meet ethical guidelines
1. Informed consent, humane treatment, etc., are all good ideas
B. Experimental variables
1. Independent variables are manipulated by the researcher
2. Dependent variables are a measure of the reaction of the participants to the
independent variable
3. Everything but the independent variable is held constant (to as great an extent
as possible)
C. Experimental and control conditions
1. In the control condition, participants are not exposed to the treatment, whereas
they are when in the experimental condition

PSYC 201
Ch 1: What is Psychology?
Page 4 of 4

2. In the control condition, participants may receive a placebo--a fake treatment

(e.g., no active ingredients)
3. Control groups are important for both experimental and nonexperimental studies
D. Experimenter effects
1. Participants responses may be influenced by the experimenters subtle cues
2. One solution is to use double-blind studies
VII. EVALUATING THE FINDINGS
A. Why psychologists use statistics
1. Descriptive statistics summarize the data
a. The arithmetic mean is the sum of scores divided by the number of scores
b. The standard deviation tells how clustered or spread out the scores are
2. Inferential statistics allow the researcher to draw inferences about the results.
a. If the likelihood of getting the result by chance is very low, the result is
statistically significant
B. From the laboratory to the real world
1. Choosing the best explanation--the hypothesis may need to be tested in different
ways (e.g., cross-sectionally and longitudinally)
2. Judging the results importance
a. Researchers may disagree on its relevance for theory or practice
b. Meta-analysis is a technique that combines data from many studies
Taking Psychology with You: What Psychology Can Do for You--and What It Cant
A. What psychology can do for you
1. Make you a more informed person
2. Satisfy your curiosity about human nature
3. Help you increase control over your life
4. Help you on the job
5. Give you insights into political and social issues
6. Help you become a more critical thinker
B. What psychology cant do for you
1. Tell you the meaning of life
2. Relieve you of responsibility for your actions
3. Provide simple answers to complex questions