SCIENCE OF
PSYCHOLOGY
GOALS OF
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychological knowledge is based on the scientific method
1. Describe
• Emphasis on observable data
• Mental processes - observable?
• Observe and describe
• Objectivity
• Operational definition
• Many terms lack scientific precision
• Operational = measurable
Black box analogy
Ask the box – reliability?
Open – parts not mechanism?
Observe – bias?
Discover how it works?
2. Explain
Hypotheses
Inferences or logical assumptions
Intervening variables
Requires a test
GOALS OF
PSYCHOLOGY
ROOTS OF
PSYCHOLOGY
3. Predict
Philosophy
• Important and source of criticism
• Theory
• Never completely proven
• Enough evidence to support
4. Control
• Plato – introspection, logic, and
reason, rationalism
• Aristotle – observation, study,
empiricism
Modern science and especially
psychology is a mixture of both, with a
little more emphasis on empiricism
Engineering
May frighten some people
Clinical psychology – therapy to help
Marketing, and applied fields
How many people whisper in Barnes and Noble?
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SCHOOLS OF
PSYCHOLOGY
SCHOOLS OF
PSYCHOLOGY
Structuralism
Behaviorism
Wilhelm Wundt
Physiologist
First psychology lab in Leipzig
Elements of immediate experience
Table of elements
• Self-observation is unreliable
• Science requires objectivity
• Emphasis on the environment
Clinical Psychology
Functionalism
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North American
Darwin
William James
Adaptive nature of psychology
Why do we have memory?
400 different types
Psychodynamic
Behavioral
Cognitive
Systems theory
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MODERN
PERSPECTIVES
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MODERN
PERSPECTIVES
Biological Perspective
Sociocultural Perspective
• Brain function
• Biochemical activity
• Determinism
• Influence of others and culture
• How does our behavior depend on the society we belong
to?
• Cross-cultural
• Physical, behavioral, and mental events are
determined by specific causal factors
• Evolutionary psychology
Personality/Clinical/Health Perspectives
Cognitive Perspective
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• Focus on the behaviors and cognitions of people society
believes to be “abnormal”
• Health psychology is part of the focus on pathology and
how psychology is related to outcomes
• Mental processes = thoughts, perceptions, and
memories
• Structuralism (components of thought)
• Functionalism (adaptive purpose of thought)
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TATTOOS
Why do people get tattoos?
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What would each area of psychology say about tattoos?
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