Psychology 20Unit 1 - What Is Psychology?

Mr. J. Lehrer - Balfour Collegiate

What Is Psychology?definition: Social psychology is the study of thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals

further: psychology deals with humaninteraction - the way people relate to one anotherand the way people influence one another

What Is Psychology? (continued)

Watch the video one more time: List as many concepts that the video shows, that we MAY be covering in Psychology this semester.

Psychology is:The science of mental life.(William James 1842-1910)

What Is Psychology? (continued)

Immanuel Kant1724 - 1804

Psychology describes:

mental functions: the human mind has knowledge, feelings & desires

'Trilogy of the Mind' (Ernest Hilgard, 1980)

• Cognition (Knowledge & Beliefs)

• Emotion (Moods & Feelings)

• Motivation (Goals, Desires, Needs, Purpose)

- a soft, social, behavioural science: both basic & applied

Lastly ... Psychology is:

 - a biological science: neuroscience, genetics, evolution, bodily systems (cns, endocrine, immune), brain imaging (cat/pet/mri scans)

• basic - how does the mind work?

• social - we live in a society ... try to understand how the individual lives within a social setting - group dynamics

• applied - understanding how the mind works and applying this knowledge

- a way to study mental disorders (schizophrenia, addictions, depression, anxiety, criminal actions, etc.)

Psychology - making a positive difference

Social psychologists have worked to understand such phenomena as economic depression, attitude formation, racial prejudice, adaptation of immigrants, friendships and relationships, the effects of the Canadian multiculturalism policy, social norms of behaviour, group dynamics, propaganda and conformity, the development of racial identity among native children, conflict resolution, cognitive processes such as memory, attention and problem solving, environmental issues, marital conflicts, addiction and aggression (Alcock et al., 1998, p. 9).

What Influences Human Social Action & Interaction?

Life is what happens to you while you’re making plans ... John Lennon

How is it that human beings have dreams, make plans, feel joy or hunger, fall in love, read and understand this page, or remember events that took place ages ago? 

This question is about the relationship between biology, brain, and behaviour and the answer is at once most simple and most complex.  The simple answer is this.  All of our thoughts, feelings and behaviours originate from basic biological processes – more specfically from the brain.

• What is the biological basis for our behaviour?

•What are the various ‘systems of support’ that influence our behaviour?

- family

- school

- community structures (ex. police)

- health care

- employment opportunities

- cultural values

- political systems

- the law

- economic systems

• In what ways do heredity, experience and/or the systems of support influence how we think, feel and behave?

- Psychologists and biologists have long debated whether interaction with the environment—a person’s family and culture, for instance—is more important than genes in shaping disease, character, and behaviour.

NATURE vs. NURTURENATURE = behaviour comes from your

genesNURTURE = behaviour comes from

experiences

- It is becoming more obvious that environment and genes have different degrees of influence, depending on the trait.

Muscle Strength

Music Ability

Academic Intelligence

Height

Activity 3Name some of your traits:★ who did you get them from?★ are they nature or nurture, or both?

Trait Got FromNature/Nurture?

Music Ability My mom ?

Genetics 101• the human body is made up of millions & millions of cells

• inside the middle of each cell is a nucleus that contains genetic information called ‘dna’

• cells have different shapes and functions• all cells come from the original cell that was your mother’s egg, which was fertilized

by father’s sperm

• the genetic information is contained inside the ‘chromosomes’ of each nucleus• we have 46 chromosomes in each cell. 23 that come from our mother and 23

from our father.

• each chromosome carries thousands of ‘genes’

• chromosomes are arranged in pairs (23 pairs)

• the 23rd pair are the ‘sex chromosomes’

• serious problems arise from having too many chromosomes:- Down’s syndrome: have 47 chromosomes instead of 46

- Mental retardation: have an extra Chromosome 21

• a change in function or structure of a gene is called a ‘mutation’

Genetics ... con’t

Interesting Facts about Genetics

• The structure of DNA was discovered in 1953.

• If you unraveled all the chromosomes from all of your cells and placed the DNA end to end, the strands would stretch from the Earth to the moon about 6,000 times!

• We have 30,000- 40,000 genes, each with coding for important functions.

• The language of the genome is comprised of four letters: A = Adenine, T = Thymine, G = Guanine C = Cytosine

      These letters are scrambled several million times to make the genetic code.• The Human Genome Project has a complete catalogue of the entire human genome. This catalogue is

the size of several hundred average-sized telephone books and has the letters A, T, G, C in various permutations and combinations.• Finding every gene in the human body is like finding details on every person in every country of the

world.• We still don't know the function of more than 80 per cent of our DNA.

http://www.mountsinai.on.ca

Genetics

genes - a unit of heredity in a living organism (Wikipedia, 2011)

DNA - material that contain genetic material for all living organisms. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints/recipe/code. DNA contains the instructions for building cells. (Wikipedia, 2011)

dna is formed as a ‘double helix’

Nature vs. Nurture: killers

Psychopathic killers are the basis for some must-watch TV, but what really makes them tick? Neuroscientist Jim Fallon talks about brain scans and genetic analysis that may uncover the rotten wiring in the nature (and nurture) of murderers. In a too-strange-for-fiction twist, he shares a fascinating family history that makes his work chillingly personal. (TED.com, 2011)

• How does gender influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviours?

definition: the classification of ourselves (and others) as male or female, boy or girl, man or women, etc.

Questions:1. Does gender control behaviour? Why do you say that?2. Do people get treated differently based on their sex?3. If you could swap genders, would you?

GENDER IDENTITY

ARE THESE TRUE?

QuickTime™ and aNone decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

How times have changed ... from 1955.

Homosexuality - Nature vs. Nurture?

The Science of Sexual Orientation (CBS News)

Article:

The Samoan - ‘Fafafini’Families choose whether their male children will grow up as 'fafafini': that is men who live their lives as women.

In Samoa if you act like a woman, you are a woman. Thus when men have a relationship with a fafafini it is considered to be heterosexual.

Assignment #4Choice #1 Choice #2

‘Homosexuality’60 Minutes

‘Samoan Fafafini’National Geographic

• In Microsoft Word, by yourself or with a partner, summarize one of the videos above, touching on the most important points.

• Then give your opinion on the topic, bringing in the nature vs. nurture debate.

Gender - videosTough Guise Video

Gender Stereotypes in Media

Gender Roles - Interview with Kids

Difference According to ‘Friends’

Gender Roles - I Love Lucy

Gender Beer Commercial

Dissolving Gender Roles - pt 2

Dissolving Gender Roles - pt 1

A Fictitious Public Service Announcement

PepsiMax advertisement

Fighting in Hockey

Activity #5?Does Fighting Belong in Hockey?

• What is your personal opinion ... does fighting belong in hockey?

• Interview 3 other people (one must be an adult) ... ask them the same question and

summarize their answer• From interviewing 3 people did your

opinion change?• Is fighting in hockey related to the ‘Tough Guise’ video we watched in class the other

day? Why or Why not?

Premature Sexualisation of Children

Let Girls Be Girls was launched in early 2010, and grew from Mumsnetters' concern that an increasingly sexualised culture was dripping, toxically, into the lives of children.

The campaign aims to curb the premature sexualisation of children by asking retailers to commit not to sell products which play upon, emphasise or exploit their sexuality.

6 Psychological ‘Perspectives’:

•Psychodynamic Perspective

•Behavioural Perspective

•Cognitive Perspective

•Humanistic Perspective

•Evolutionary Perspective

•Socio-cultural Perspective

Possible ways human thoughts, feeling & behaviours are interpreted:

The Psychodynamic Perspective:Advocates of the psychodynamic perspective believe that behaviour is motivated by inner forces, memories and conflicts that are generally beyond people’s awareness and control.

Sigmund Freud

- the unconscious part of our personality contains infantile wishes, desires, demands & needs ... hidden because of their disturbing nature.

- Psychodynamic perspective developed by S. Freud

- Freud believed that our unconscious is responsible for a good part of our behaviour.- Freud believes we have 3 parts to our personality:1. the id2. the ego3. the superego

- other supporters of this perspective: Erikson & Jung ... what were their ideas?

Freud Documentary Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Id • Ego • Superego• Id - the raw, unorganized, inborn part of the

personality that is present at birth. It represents primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression or irrational impulses: called the ‘pleasure principle.’

• Ego - the part of your personality that is rational & reasonable ... also called the ‘reality principle.’ This part restrains you and allows you to be part of society. Sort of acts like a ‘buffer’ between the Id and the outside world.• SuperEgo - the part of your personality that represents a person’s conscience ... ie. distinguishing between right & wrong. Learned around age 5 or 6 ... learned from parents, teachers, etc.

• in this perspective, people do NOT pass through a series of stages.

The Behavioural Perspective:This perspective suggests that the keys to understanding development are observable behaviour and outside ‘stimuli’ in the environment. If we know the stimuli, then we can predict behaviour!

• we are affected by things in our environment

• famous ‘Behavioural’ psychologists: Watson, Skinner & Pavlov

• famous ‘Behavioural’ theories: Classical & Operant Conditioning

Definitions:Classical Conditioning - learning to associate two stimuli and thus anticipate eventsOperant Conditioning - learning to associate a response & its consequence,

Classical Conditioning

Example #1

Pavlov’s DogPavlov’s Dog

Classical Conditioningcontinued

Example #2

So to review theprevious example:

• bell - neutral stimulus• food - unconditioned stimulus

• Rover salivating - unconditioned response• pairing food repeatedly with bell - classical

conditioning• bell - conditioned stimulus

• salivating to bell - conditioned responseSo in this example:- name the neutral stimulus- name the unconditioned stimulus- name the unconditioned response- when does classical conditioning occur?- name the conditioned stimulus- name the conditioned response

Operant ConditioningExample!

In operant conditioning, Skinner demonstrated that individuals learn to act deliberately on their environments in order to bring about desired consequences.  In a sense, then, people operate on their environment in order to bring about a desired state of affairs.  Reinforcement is the process by which a stimulus is provided that increases the probability that a preceding behaviour will be repeated.  In addition, punishment will decrease the probability that the preceding behaviour will occur in the future (Feldman, 2000, p. 18)

‘Using consequences to form behaviour.’

• in this perspective psychologists hope to understand how children & adults process information, and how their ways of thinking and understanding affect their behaviour (Feldman, 2000, p. 20).

• Psychologist Jean Piaget had the largest impact on creating this perspective.

• From his observation of children, Piaget understood that children were creating ideas. They were not limited to receiving knowledge from parents or teachers; they actively constructed their own knowledge. (Wikipedia, 2010)

The Cognitive Perspective:The cognitive perspective focuses on the processes that allow people to know, understand and think about the world.

• Jean Piaget says that all people pass through a series of developmental stages of ‘cognitive development.’

courtesy: Davidson Films

Videos - Cognitive PerspectiveSensorimotor

birth - 2 yrsPreoperational

2 - 7 yrs

Concrete Operational7 - 11 yrs

Preoperational2 - 7 yrs

Preoperational2 - 7 yrs

Formal Operational12 - ?

Surf YouTube and find videos that explain each of Piaget’s 4 developmental stages. Show your favourite one to the class.

The Humanistic Perspective:The humanistic perspective says that people have a natural tendency to make decisions about their lives and control their behaviour. This perspective emphasizes free will.

• Psychologist Carl Rogers suggests that people have a need for positive regard that results from an underlying wish to be loved and respected. (Feldman, 2000, p. 22)

Definitely NOTthe Humanistic Approach!

• Rogers also says our view of ourselves (and our self worth) is a reflection of how we think others view us.

Not the Humanistic Approach!The Humanistic

Approach

The Evolutionary Perspective:In this perspective behaviour is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods. Evolutionary approaches grow out of the groundbreaking work of Charles Darwin (Feldman, 2000, p. 22)• Psychologist Konrad Lorenze

discovered that geese are ‘genetically preprogrammed’ to become attached to the first moving object they see after birth.

Duck ‘imprinting’on dog

Bill Lishmanaka - Father Goose

Are humans ‘preprogrammed’to behave certain ways?

The Socio-cultural Perspective:Every person has his or her individual learning history, but each of us is also embedded in a larger culture that helps shape who we are. (Passer, 2008, p. 25)

• definition: ‘Culture’ refers to the values, beliefs, behaiours, and traditions shared by a large group of people and are passed on from one generation to the next. (Brislin, 1993)

• definition: ‘Norms’ are rules that describe what is acceptable and expected for members of a cultural group. (Passer et al, 2008, p. 26)

Activity #6:1. Why do human form cultures?2. In two paragraphs, describe the ‘Canadian’ culture to an alien who has arrived on earth.3. Make a list of 10 one sentence ‘norms’ that you follow every, or most days.

Methods of Research:Methods of Research:

1. Experimental Methods2. Interviews

3. Observation4. Case Study

5. Topical6. Survey

Making Sense of Our Behaviour

Psychological Research ‘methadological’ issues...

Reliability - the ‘consistency’ of a set of measurements ... the extent to which a measurement gives consistent results.

Validity - the degree to which something measures what it is suppose to measure.

For instance, if we were conducting an observational study of the play behaviours of children during recess, and our findings at the end of one study indicated that the boys were more aggressive than girls, but when we repeated our study at a different school and we found the opposite, that the girls were more aggressive than the boys, then we could not claim that our study was reliable.

Continuing with our example of the play behaviours of young children, is the observational approach a valid means of studying the topic?  Let’s say that we had chosen to do an interview, and we interviewed the children and asked them questions about what happened at recess time.  Would this method be considered valid as a way to gain information from which we could draw a conclusion?  Probably not, or not as valid as directly observing them.

Psychological Research - ‘ethical’ issues...

➡ ConfidentialityThe right of privacy for subjects concerning their participation in research.  All steps must be taken to assure that subjects’ participation is confidential.  If any possibility exists that someone other than the researcher may have access to the data, the subject must be informed of this possibility before they provide their informed consent to participate (Buskist et al., 2002, p. 42)

➡ Informed ConsentRequires that potential subjects understand exactly what is expected of them during the course of the research and that the investigator protects participants from physical and psychological discomfort, harm and danger (Buskist et al., 2002, p. 42).

➡ DebriefingRequires that research participants be given full information about all aspects of the study after they have participated in it, thus assuring that they leave with a full understanding of its purpose, and receive a full disclosure of the information gathered (Baron et al., 1998, p. 31)

➡ BiasesResearchers must be careful to avoid subtle biases that influence results, such as gender (male or female), ethnicity (people’s common traits, background, and allegiances which are often cultural, religious, or language based), and cultural (a person’s racial and ethnic background, religious and social values, artistic and musical tastes, and scholarly interests) bias (Lefton et al., 2000, p. 15).

Milgram ExperimentEthical Psychological Research?

The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. Milgram first described his research in 1963 in an article published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, and later discussed his findings in greater depth in his 1974 book, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View.

The experiments began in July 1961, three months after the start of the trial of German Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Milgram devised his psychological study to answer the question: "Was it that Eichmann and his accomplices in the Holocaust had mutual intent, in at least with regard to the goals of the Holocaust?" In other words, "Was there a mutual sense of morality among those involved?" Milgram's testing suggested that it could have been that the millions of accomplices were merely following orders, despite violating their deepest moral beliefs. (Wikipedia, 2011)

Activity 7 - in Microsoft Word, summarize the Milgram experiment and then give you opinion on whether this is an ethical experiment or not.

The Scientific Method

(4) using the results to confirm, deny or modify the theory (Alcock et al., 1998, p. 17).

Sample size - the number of times an observation is made.

How to make research more valid & reliable

Representative sample - make sure the sample is typical of the general population.‘Blind experimenters’ - people gathering data should be unaware of the purpose of

the research.‘Control’ groups - gather data on two samples that are similar in every way except one.

Statistical significance - when researchers find a difference between two groups, they have to consider the possibility that the differences occurred purely by chance.

Psychology is a science. Science is fundamentally a rational process.

In its simplest form, the model consists of four steps: 

(1) formulating a theoretical problem, which is then translated into testable ‘hypotheses’

(2) selecting the appropriate research method, and designing and carrying out the study

(3) analyzing and interpreting the results

Research MethodsReview questions

1. What are the four steps in the scientific process?2. Name the 6 methods in psychology research ... also, give a one sentence description of each method.3. What does ‘reliability’ mean in relation to research?4. What does ‘validity’ mean in relation to research?5. Briefly explain the 4 ‘ethical issues’ in research.6. Name the 5 ways to make your psychological research more accurate or ‘valid.’

After you watch the movie, in Microsoft Word, type up a three page overview/essay of the movie. • You may use Wikipedia as a reference, but everything MUST be in your own words.• You may quote 3 sentences out of the Wikipedia article.• You must put 4 or 5 pictures from the movie into your essay, using the Microsoft Word ‘text wrap’ feature.• You must outline your essay first. (Mr. Lehrer will help you get going on this.)• Your outline must appear at the end of the essay.• Proofread your essay.• Get a partner to proofread your essay.• Print your essay ... making sure you’ve titled it, and put your name at the top.• You should have two pages of print, in 1.5 spacing using 14 pt font. The pictures will make your essay 2.5 to 3 pages long.

AWAKENINGSBackground Info: Encephalitis lethargica

Four Part Research ActivityPART ONE - AUDIO INTERVIEW

Choose a person in the class to interview.• you will record the interview with your partner,

using the GarageBand software.• you will interview them, and they will interview

you.• you will interview the other person on the topic

of:‘Role Models.’

(With your partner, brainstorm 10 questions you can

ask each other on this topic.)• after you’ve interviewed each other you must ‘transcribe’ EVERYTHING your partner said in

Microsoft Word.Interview FAQ’s

Four Part Research ActivityPART TWO - VIDEO INTERVIEW

• choose a group of two or three

• one person in your group with be interviewed on thea topic of your choice

• with your partner(s), brainstorm 10 questions you canask the ‘interviewee’ on this topic.

• get a quick lesson on how to videotape someone WITH

microphones

• edit the interview in iMovie• export the finished product as a Quicktime

movie

Three Part Research ActivityPART THREE - SURVEY

In a group of 1, 2 or 3:• create a survey using Survey Monkey.com on a topic listed below:

• Should parents be legally permitted to spank their children? • Should the government be launching a national day care program paid for by taxpayers? 

• Should parents be held accountable in some way for the behaviour of their children?• Should we abolish the military and use the money to fund social programs, (e.g., health and education)?

• What, or who, are the primary influences on you?• Should animals be used for scientific research purposes?

• What are the qualities you most admire in a friend?• Should the legal age to drive a car be raised to 18?

• Should the legal age to consume alcohol be raised to 21?• Do you agree with euthanasia (mercy killing)?

• Do you think we should reinstate capital punishment?• Do you believe in fate?

• What is the most important human value?• What is the most important quality in a parent?• If you could swap genders, would you? Why?

• Is it right to steal life-saving medicines that you cannot afford?• Should you tell the police if your best friend committed a crime?

Survey FAQ’s

• email your survey to each member of our class, including Mr. Lehrer

• fill out ALL the surveys you receive through your email• at the end, type up a one page analysis of the results of your survey

due: Wednesday, November 17th

Four Part Research ActivityPART FOUR - OBSERVATION

(‘naturalistic’ observation)In ‘naturalistic research’, the observer does not intervene at all.  For all intents and purposes, the researcher is invisible and works hard to not interrupt the natural dynamics of the situation being investigated.

• choose a location to do a ‘naturalistic’ observation

ex. the mall food court, your kitchen table,your family room, volleyball game, etc.• trying to be as ‘invisible’ as possible,

do a ‘naturalistic observation’ for exactly 10 minutes

• write down EVERYTHING you observe

• practice: Mutch Hall (5 min.)

• due: Friday, November 19th