LECTURE 1 SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology → study of soul (from greek)
Humans are ‘intuitive psychologists’
Psychological science → study, through research, of mind, brain, and behavior
Aimed at understanding and predicting
• Behavior (actions)
• Mind (mental activity)
What is mind? Stuff of thought, mental activity, perceptual experiences (smell, sound etc), memories thoughts &
feelings
What is behavior? Totality of observable actions
Psychological science
Many levels at which you can study psychology
• Groups vs individuals
• Behavior vs brain activity
• Nature vs nurture
→ these are complementary, resulting in fascinating insights
History of psychology
Early roots:
Dualism (descartes → mind/body are separate and intertwined) à speaks of separation of mental life and body
Nature / nurture debate à about origin of mental life
Structuralism
Complex mental processes can be reduced to simpler processes (e.g., perception of orange reduced to color and
shape)
• Methods used: reaction times, introspection (try to recall own thoughts)
• Looks at building blocks and separate elements
Functionalism
Concerned with adaptive purpose/function of mind and behavior → mind is more complex than its elements
• We don't look at separate elements, but at the functions
First psychologists:
• Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) → prof physiology
• William James (1842-1910) → prof philosophy. First prof to welcome questions from students
First psychology labs from 1875/1878
James à ‘mind if more complex than its elements and therefore cannot be broken down’
- Noted that mind = stream of consciousness (ever-changing, continuous series of thoughts)
- à functionalism. Helps humans adapt to environmental demands
Evolution: focus on functions of behavior, ways our behavior helps us to survive and reproduce (Darwin)
• Genetic diversity → (mutation/variation), benefits of sexual reproduction
• Environmental pressures → evolution has no foresight
• Sexual selection: traits that aid in reproduction (eg bird songs/dance)
Psychology and evolution?
• Psychology = behavior and brain
• Evolution provides answer to ‘why’ questions Is there a function in mental disorders?
Psychoanalytical approach → mental processes operate below the level
of conscious awareness (ego, superego, ID)
• Unconscious drives
• Freud, psychoanalysis
• Influential outside of psychology
Behaviorism → building on work of Pavlov
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, • Only observable behavior can be subject of scientific investigation
• Psychology’s focus should be on how environment affects observable behavior (Watson, Skinner)
Gestalt → few basic principles guide visual perception
• Explain how visual input is grouped into a coherent whole
• ‘’The whole is bigger than the sum of its parts’’
Humanistic psychology → approach focusing on basic goodness in people, achieving goals, and fencing
fulfilment
• Positive psychology (values, creativity, quality relationship, gratitude, faith)
Cognitivism
Cognitive revolution
• Exploring mental process
• Influences by progress in computer science
Cognitive neuroscience
• We can infer how the mind works by looking at behavior
• Neuroimaging made the mind observable
Studying of ‘soul’
The scientific method
Based on experience, observation, existing theories, etc. come up with question and prediction → test that
prediction against real measurement from physical world → make conclusions with regard to your questions,
show support / lack of it for your prediction
Optimism bias: we tend to think we are better than others
• majority of drivers rated themselves as better than median driver
Availability heuristic
• If something is easier to bring to mind/imagine
• If we hear about something more often
We judge it as more probable
Birthday paradox
• Difficulty with exponential growth
• ‘Rare’ events given importance
• Self-identity
Importance of scientific method → our intuitions and perception can be biased. Bias occur bc we are motivated
to use our intelligence. We want to make sense of events that involve us / happen around us.
Critical thinking and psychology
• How to consume psychological science? With amiable skepticism (open-minded, curious, but still
skeptical)
Amiable skepticism = open to new ideas but carefully considering evidence
Contemporary psychology (what’s new in psychology)
Biology (evolution)
• Big data, computational modelling
• Culture
• Interdisciplinary influences (crossing levels of analysis)
Some biases: ignoring evidence, seeing causal relationships that do not exist, accepting after-the-fact
explanations (hindsight bias), taking mental shortcuts (e.g., availability heuristic)
Hypothesis generation: people are unaware of their weaknesses bc they cannot judge them (example with
student grades)
Replicability: likelihood that results of a study would be similar if ran again
Open science movement: social movement among scientists to improve methods, increase research
transparency and promote data sharing
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, Culture plays large role in shaping how people view and reason about the world around them
- Norms (how people should behave)
Biopsychosocial model
• biological level of analysis à how physical body contributes to mind and behavior
• individual level of analysis à focus on individual differences in personality and in
mental processes that affect how people perceive and know the world
• social level of analysis à how group contexts affect the ways people
interact/influence on each other
• extra: cultural level of analysis à how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are
similar or different across cultures
Q1: dr bakker wants to describe basic parts of conscious mind. Approach is similar to:
a. Structuralism
b. Cognitive psychology
c. Functionalism
d. Gestalt theory
Q2: todd says psychologists should instead study how stimuli in the environment make us behave the way we do.
Todds beliefs are most similar to:
a. cognitive psychology
b. Social psychology
c. Functionalism
d. Behavioralism
Q3: which approach to study risk-taking would an evolutionary psychologists most likely use
a. Examine people who have suffered damage to brain reas that ae thought to play a role in risk-taking
b. Explore forms and consequences of risk-taking to identify possible benefits for reproductive success
c. Identify how risk-taking behaviours that are effective in obtaining rewards may increase in frequency with experience, and how
ineffective behaviours may decrease
Q4: tim does not know personally anyone who has been in a car accident. When he is asked to estimate the
number of people who have been involved in traffic accident in NL, very few instances come to mind, so he
underestimates. … has influenced tim’s conclusion
a. Availability bias
b. Confirmation bias
c. Deterministic fallacy
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