Introduction to Psychology
What IS Psychology?
Why should I care about it?
Textbook Definition
• “Psychology is the science of human
nature. It’s all about studying the
human mind and behavior so we can
figure out why people think, feel and do
what they do” - Johnston, 4, The
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Psychology
4 goals of Psychology
1. To describe what people do
2. To explain why people think, feel and act
the way they do
3. To predict what, when and how they will do
it
4. To change the parts of human behavior that
cause us pain
Goals taken from:
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Psychology
How do we achieve the 4
goals?
1. Describing what people do
• Not as easy as it looks.
• Why? “No matter how hard we try not
to, we see each other through the filters
of out prior experiences, our cultural
values, and our beliefs” The Complete Idiots
Guide to Psychology.
• Example: After you’ve been dumped…
2. Why do people think, feel
and act the way they do?
• Something has happened to them
“Psychologists look for connections
between things that happen and how
people respond”(Johnston,5).
3. Predicting what people will
do
• The best predictor of future behavior is
past behavior. Why would that be
useful in everyday life?
• Relationships
• Problem: NOT always accurate. Real
life doesn’t always follow theory.
4. Change behaviors that
cause pain
• Psychologists want to help people to
control behavior so they can run their
lives more effectively.
• Therapy
• Example: stop drinking, communicate
more effectively, cope with memories of
a painful childhood etc.
Let’s start to apply some
Psychology on ourselves!
• Think of the most upsetting thing that’s
happened to you in the past 6 months.
• 1. Describe what happened (think about it
like it happened to someone else so you can
be objective. Write down who, what, when,
where and how.
• 2. Explain what happened. WHY do you
think this happened to you? What is the
relationship between your own behavior and
the situation?
Keep on writing!
• 3. Predict. Has this event happened before?
Knowing yourself and those around you, how
likely is it to happen again? How could you
respond effectively if it did?
• 4. Control: What have you learned from this
situation? What could you do to prevent it
from happening again? How could you
respond more effectively if it did?
•
The Complete Idiots Guide to Psychology
We should all know the goals
of Psychology by now

Let’s see
how we can
apply them
to a job
like: Sports
Psychologist
!
http://www.k-state.edu/counseling/newsletter/sportshrink.jpg
Football

Place kicker Scott
Norwood practiced
kicking field goals A
LOT!
http://sports.espn.go.com/i/magazine/new/matt_bryant_a.jpg
BUT when he had a chance to
kick the game winning field goal
for the Buffalo Bills…..

He choked!
http://i.cnn.net/si/fannation/norwood-xxv.jpg
Ask the professionals

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Scott didn’t know why he couldn’t kick
the field goal after he practiced so
many times.
So he went to a Sports Psychologist
to find out.
This is how the sports
psychologist applied the goals of
psychology to help Scott
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1. Observe and describe behavior: Measured
Scott’s heart rate in and out of big game situations.
2. He explained that in game situations Scott has
increased heart rate and nervousness and has too
much anxiety to do his best.
3. Then, the psychologist predicted that if Scott
could control his anxiety he could kick better during
games
4. The psychologist helped Scott to block out the
crowd and use positive thinking to reduce his anxiety
during the game so he can kick more field goals!
So you see how athletes can
benefit from psychologist help

Can you think of other situations where
psychology can help someone fix a
problem?
Psychology as a science

We have already
talked about how
psychology is NOT
an exact science.
BUT it IS like
science in some
ways
http://emily.im/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/science.JPG
Like scientists

Psychologists
follow steps
like the ones
scientists follow
to conduct
experiments,
collect data
and draw
conclusions.
http://www.mghs.sa.edu.au/Internet/Faculties/Science/Year8/Pics/scientificMethod.gif
The difference between
science and psychology
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Is that psychologists concentrate on the
way individual people think and feel.
Thoughts and feelings are unpredictable
and can change! Other sciences aren’t
as unpredictable.
Research

Like scientists, psychologists use
research to study things. Psychologists
use research to study people and learn
more about them.
Psychological theories

Theory: a statement that tries to
explain why things are the way they are
and why things happen the way they do
(Holt, 6).
Principles
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The laws or rules of nature that
psychologists may base theories on.
For example:
Principle: The more sleep you get, the
healthier you are
Theory: The more sleep you get, the
happier you will feel.
Check up
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1. How is psychology like science?
2. What is the difference between
psychology and science?
3. What is the difference between a
“theory” and a “principle”?
What Psychologists do

You have already learned a little bit
about what a sports psychologist
does. Today you are going to learn
about other jobs that psychologists can
do.
Clinical or Counseling
Psychologists
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The types of psychologists you see on
t.v. are usually 1. clinical or 2.
counseling psychologists.
They listen to people’s problems in an
office and try to fix them
Most common type of Psychologist
Other types of Psychologists:
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There are also careers in Psychology
that you may not be aware of. Some of
them are listed on pages 9-15.
HW: Read Chapter 1 and choose one
career in psychology that you are most
interested in. Write a paragraph
explaining what interests you about the
job and be prepared to share!