Chapter 1: introducing psychology
People who practice psychology can be broken up into two categories:
1. Research psychologists: use scientific methods to create new knowledge about the causes of behaviour
2. Psychologist-practitioner: use existing research to enhance the everyday life of others.
therapy
scientific & empirical methods
• All sciences use empirical methods to study the topics that interest them
• Empirical methods: include the processes of collecting and organizing data and drawing conclusions
about those data.
• Scientific method: is the set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to conduct
empirical research.
o look at journal and you will see the abstract – how to get to the conclusion
facts vs. values
• scientists therefore draw a distinction between values and facts.
• Values: are personal statements
o “Abortion should not be permitted in this country,”
o “I will go to heaven when I die”
o “It is important to study psychology”
• Facts: are objective statements determined to be accurate though empirical study, such as
o “There were more than 21,000 homicides in Canada in 2009,”
Examples of values and facts in scientific research
Personal value Scientific value (fact)
The environment should be protected The Canadian government has reduced
environmental funding by $200 million but
annually pays more than $1.4 billion in
subsidies to the oil and gas industry
Practical work experience helps to develop More than $100 million for interest-free
skilled workers loans will be available in 2014. Through the
Canada Apprentice Loan program, an
expansion of the Canada Student Loans
program
Technology is increasingly necessary The federal government in Canada will invest
$305 million over five years to extend high-
speed broadband to some 280,000 homes in
2014
Levels of explanation in Psychology
• Levels of explanation: the perspectives that are used to understand behaviour
• lower levels of explanation are more closely tied to biological influences, such as genes, neurons,
neurotransmitters and hormones
o what’s going on internally
• middle levels refer to the abilities and characteristics of the individual
• high levels relate to social groups, organizations, and cultures
levels of explanation in Psychology
Level Underlying process Examples
Lower Biological • depression is in part
genetically influenced
, • depression is
influences by the
action of
neurotransmitters in
the brain
middle Interpersonal • people who are
depressed may
interpret the events
that occur to them
too negatively
• psychotherapy can be
used to help people
talk about and
combat depression
o what does it look like
for you
Higher Cultural and social • women experience
more depression than
men
• the prevalence of
depression varies
across cultures and
historical time
periods.
Challenges of studying psychology
1. people vary and respond different in different situations
2. almost all behaviour is multiply determined (processed by many factors).
a. These multiple causes are not independent of one another
b. They are associated such that when one cause is present, other causes tend to be present as
well.
3. Human behaviour is caused by factors that are outside our conscious awareness.
a. Making it impossible for us, as individuals, to really understand them
i. Genetically
ii. Family history
iii. Almost impossible to know cause and of concern
Section 2: the evolution of psychology: history, approaches, and questions
Structuralism
• A school of psychology whose goal was to identify the basic elements or structures of psychological
experience.
o Goal was to create a periodic table of the elements of sensations
§ Big map on what’s going on in the brain
o Structuralists used the method of introspection
§ Asking research participants to describe exactly what they experience as they work on
mental tasks) to attempt to create a map of the elements of consciousness
Functionalist
• Influenced by Charles Darwin theory of natural selection.
o Must have adapted to serve a particular function in human experience
People who practice psychology can be broken up into two categories:
1. Research psychologists: use scientific methods to create new knowledge about the causes of behaviour
2. Psychologist-practitioner: use existing research to enhance the everyday life of others.
therapy
scientific & empirical methods
• All sciences use empirical methods to study the topics that interest them
• Empirical methods: include the processes of collecting and organizing data and drawing conclusions
about those data.
• Scientific method: is the set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to conduct
empirical research.
o look at journal and you will see the abstract – how to get to the conclusion
facts vs. values
• scientists therefore draw a distinction between values and facts.
• Values: are personal statements
o “Abortion should not be permitted in this country,”
o “I will go to heaven when I die”
o “It is important to study psychology”
• Facts: are objective statements determined to be accurate though empirical study, such as
o “There were more than 21,000 homicides in Canada in 2009,”
Examples of values and facts in scientific research
Personal value Scientific value (fact)
The environment should be protected The Canadian government has reduced
environmental funding by $200 million but
annually pays more than $1.4 billion in
subsidies to the oil and gas industry
Practical work experience helps to develop More than $100 million for interest-free
skilled workers loans will be available in 2014. Through the
Canada Apprentice Loan program, an
expansion of the Canada Student Loans
program
Technology is increasingly necessary The federal government in Canada will invest
$305 million over five years to extend high-
speed broadband to some 280,000 homes in
2014
Levels of explanation in Psychology
• Levels of explanation: the perspectives that are used to understand behaviour
• lower levels of explanation are more closely tied to biological influences, such as genes, neurons,
neurotransmitters and hormones
o what’s going on internally
• middle levels refer to the abilities and characteristics of the individual
• high levels relate to social groups, organizations, and cultures
levels of explanation in Psychology
Level Underlying process Examples
Lower Biological • depression is in part
genetically influenced
, • depression is
influences by the
action of
neurotransmitters in
the brain
middle Interpersonal • people who are
depressed may
interpret the events
that occur to them
too negatively
• psychotherapy can be
used to help people
talk about and
combat depression
o what does it look like
for you
Higher Cultural and social • women experience
more depression than
men
• the prevalence of
depression varies
across cultures and
historical time
periods.
Challenges of studying psychology
1. people vary and respond different in different situations
2. almost all behaviour is multiply determined (processed by many factors).
a. These multiple causes are not independent of one another
b. They are associated such that when one cause is present, other causes tend to be present as
well.
3. Human behaviour is caused by factors that are outside our conscious awareness.
a. Making it impossible for us, as individuals, to really understand them
i. Genetically
ii. Family history
iii. Almost impossible to know cause and of concern
Section 2: the evolution of psychology: history, approaches, and questions
Structuralism
• A school of psychology whose goal was to identify the basic elements or structures of psychological
experience.
o Goal was to create a periodic table of the elements of sensations
§ Big map on what’s going on in the brain
o Structuralists used the method of introspection
§ Asking research participants to describe exactly what they experience as they work on
mental tasks) to attempt to create a map of the elements of consciousness
Functionalist
• Influenced by Charles Darwin theory of natural selection.
o Must have adapted to serve a particular function in human experience
