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Psychology 101- Chapters 1, 2, 9 Chapter 1- Psychology and Scientific Thinking: A Framework for Everyday Life Defining Psychology The scientific study of the mind, brain and behavior Why we do what we do: this is psychology Why is it important to study human behavior? To understand each other, thoughts, and to have support systems. How can we use psychology in everyday life? Parenting, workplace, etc… Five Main Challenges of Studying Psychology- the mind, brain and behavior 1. Human behaviour is difficult to predict -Actions are multiply determined – be skeptical of single variable explanations of behavior Not just one thing (Ex. Depression is caused by multiple factors) 2. Psychological influences are rarely independent -Factors are interrelated -Ex. What could be some causal factors of violence? 3. Individual differences among people – thinking, emotion, personality and behavior
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Defining Psychology The scientific study of the mind, brain and behavior Why we do what we do: this is psychology Why is it important to study human behavior? To understand each other, thoughts, and to have support systems. How can we use psychology in everyday life? Parenting, workplace, etc… Five Main Challenges of Studying Psychology- the mind, brain and behavior
Not all common sense is wrong Intuition can guide us Common sense can help us generate hypotheses that scientists can later test rigorously Learning to think scientifically teaches us when to trust our common sense and when not to Science is an approach to evidence – designed to prevent us from fooling ourselves Why is the general public skeptical of Psychology as a Science?
1. Ruling out rival hypotheses Important alternate explanations should be considered 2. Correlation isn’t Causation Can we be sure A causes B? 3. Falsifiability Can the claim be disproven? 4. Replicability Possible to duplicate scientific findings consistently? 5. Extraordinary Claims Is the evidence as convincing as the claims? 6. Occam’s razor or KISS ( K eep I t S imple S tupid) Does a simpler explanation fit the data equally well? Psychology’s Past and Present Originally psychology was considered a part of philosophy
A means for autistic children to communicate Autism was thought to be a motor disorder – a facilitator could assist children type using a keyboard or letter pad At first, there was stunning progress but soon after there were allegations of sexual abuse against parents, despite no physical evidence Why were there allegations?
Pros Easy to administer Direct (self) assessment of a person’s state Cons Accuracy is skewed for certain groups (narcissists) Potential dishonesty Make ourselves look better than we are: response sets – distort responses to questionnaire items
Boring’s definition: “Intelligence is whatever intelligence tests measure” Sidesteps the issue… of what makes some people smarter than others Intelligence as Sensory Capacity Galton’s theory that people with better senses acquire more knowledge especially vision and hearing Research showed different sensory capacities were only weakly related to each other Also showed that measures of sensory ability are not highly related to intelligence
Researchers agree we vary in intellectual strengths and weaknesses and that intelligent people aren’t all smart in the same way Mixed scientific reaction to this model, because it’s: virtually impossible to falsify – no formal test to measure level of intelligence not clear why certain abilities classify as intelligences, while others don’t
Forcible sterilization and immigration laws were most visible impacts on society IQ Testing Today Most used IQ test for adults is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Consists of 15 subtests that give five scores:
Males tend to do better on spatial ability tests, like mental rotation and geography Most of the sex differences in science and math ability appear to be environmental
Developmental Psychology The study of how behavior changes over the life span Several challenges arise when examining human development
their development. A doesn’t always cause B. two ways children influence parents and parents influence children