1

Psychology’s
Roots, Big
Ideas, and
Critical
Thinking Tools

Revised by Pauline Davey Zeece,

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chapter Overview

 Psychology’s roots

 Four big ideas in psychology

 Why do psychology?

 How do psychologists ask and answer

questions?
 Psychology’s research ethics

 Use psychology to become a stronger person—

and a better student
 Psychology’s Roots

 Psychological science’s birth and development

 Contemporary psychology
The Scientific Attitude

 Modern science is
possible due to three
basic attitudes:
 Curiosity
 Skepticism
 Humility

Myers/DeWall, Psychology in Everyday Life, 4e, © 2017 Worth Publishers

The Scientific Attitude: Curiosity

 Research commences with the passion to

explore and understand the world without
misleading or being misled.
 Questions to consider:
 Does the idea work?
 When put to the test, can the idea’s
predictions be confirmed?
The Scientific Attitude: Skepticism

 Skeptical testing can reveal which claim best

matches the facts.
 Sifting reality from fantasy requires a healthy
skepticism.
 Attitude that is not cynical, but not gullible either
 Questions to consider:
 What does one mean?
 How does one know?
The Scientific
Attitude: Humility
 Researchers can
make mistakes and
must be willing to be
surprised and follow
new ideas.
 One’s opinions do not
matter.
 Truths revealed in
response to one’s
questioning matter.
Myers/DeWall, Psychology in Everyday Life, 4e, © 2017 Worth Publishers
Psychology’s Earliest Pioneers: Magellans
of the Mind

Charles
Wilhelm Wundt Ivan Pavlov
Darwin

Sigmund
Jean Piaget William James
Freud

Mary Whiton Margaret Floy

Calkins Washburn
Early Definitions of Psychology
Groups Definition
Early pioneers Science of mental life
Behaviorists Scientific study of observable behavior
Freudian Emphasis on unconscious thought
processes and emotional responses to
childhood experiences
Humanistic psychologists Stress on people’s growth potential
Cognitive psychologists Scientific exploration of how information is
perceived, processed, and remembered

Cognitive neuroscientists Interdisciplinary study of the brain activity

linked with mental activity
Psychology

 Science of behavior and mental processes

 Behavior - Any action that can be observed
and recorded
 Anything a human or nonhuman animal
does
 Mental processes - Internal states that are
inferred from behavior
 Include thoughts, beliefs, and feelings
Retrieve and Remember 1

 Describe the three parts of the scientific

attitude.

 What event defined the start of scientific

psychology?

 How did the cognitive revolution affect the field

of psychology?
 Table 1.1 - Psychology’s Current Perspectives
Perspective Focus Sample Questions Examples of
Subfields Using This
Perspective
Neuroscience How the body and brain enable How do pain messages travel from the hand to Biological; cognitive;
emotions, memories, and the brain? How is blood chemistry linked with clinical
sensory experiences moods and motives?
Evolutionary How the natural selection of How has our evolutionary past influenced our Biological;
traits passed down from one modern day mating preferences? Why do developmental; social
generation to the next has humans learn some fears so much more easily
promoted the survival of genes than others?
Behavior How our genes and our To what extent are psychological traits such as Personality;
genetics environment influence our intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and developmental;
individual differences optimism products of our genes? Of our legal/forensic
environment?
Psychodynamic How behavior springs from How can someone’s personality traits and Clinical; counseling;
unconscious drives and conflicts disorders be explained in terms of their childhood personality
relationships?
Behavioral How we learn observable How do we learn to fear particular objects or Clinical; counseling;
responses situations? What is the most effective way to alter industrial organizational
our behavior, say, to lose weight or stop
smoking?
Cognitive How we encode, process, store, How do we use information in remembering? Cognitive neuroscience;
and retrieve information Reasoning? Solving problems? clinical; counseling;
industrial organizational
Social-cultural How behavior and thinking vary How are we alike as members of one human Developmental; social;
across situations and cultures family? How do we differ as products of our clinical; counseling
environment?
Life After Studying
Psychology
 The study of
psychology and its
critical thinking
strategies have helped
prepare people for
varied occupations.
 Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg majored in
psychology and
computer science
while at Harvard.
Psychology in Court

 Forensic psychologists:
 Apply psychology’s principles and methods in
the criminal justice system
 May consult on witnesses, or testify about a
defendant’s state of mind and future risk
Retrieve and Remember 2

 The _____ perspective in psychology focuses

on how behavior and thought differ from
situation to situation and from culture to culture.

 The _____ perspective emphasizes how

we learn observable responses.
 Four Big Ideas in Psychology

 Big idea 1 - Critical thinking is smart thinking.

 Big idea 2 - Behavior is a biopsychosocial event.
 Big idea 3 - We operate with a two-track mind.
 Big idea 4 - Psychology explores human
strengths as well as challenges.
Big Idea 1: Critical Thinking Is
Smart Thinking
 Critical thinking: Thinking that does not blindly
accept arguments and conclusions
 Examines assumptions
 Uncovers hidden values
 Weighs evidence
 Assesses conclusions
 Critical thinkers ask critical questions
Big Idea 2: Behavior Is a Biopsychosocial
Event
 Biopsychosocial approach: Views human
behavior from three levels
 Biological
 Psychological
 Social-cultural
 Each level’s viewpoint provides valuable insight
into a behavior or mental process.
A Smile Is a Smile the World Around

 People in different cultures vary in when and

how often they smile, but a naturally happy smile
means the same thing anywhere in the world.
Nature–Nurture Issue

 An age-old controversy over the relative influence

of genes and experiences in the development of
psychological traits and behaviors
 Today’s psychological science views traits and
behaviors arising from the interaction of nature
and nurture.
 In most cases, nurture works on what nature
endows.
A Nature-Made Nature–Nurture Experiment

 Identical twins have the same genes.

 This makes them ideal participants in studies
designed to shed light on hereditary and environ-
mental influences on personality, intelligence, and
other traits.
 Fraternal twins have different genes but often share the
same environment.
Big Idea 3: Dual Processing

 The principle that the mind processes

information at the same time on separate
conscious and unconscious tracks
 Vision is a two-track system.
 Visual perception track enables an individual
to think about the world.
 Visual action track guides an individual’s
moment-to-moment actions.
Big Idea 4: Psychology Explores Human
Strengths and Challenges
 Early psychology focused on understanding and
treating difficulties.
 Contemporary psychology continued the
tradition and extended its research to include
human flourishing.
 Positive psychology: Scientific study of
human functioning
 The goal is to discover and promote
strengths and virtues that help individuals
and communities to thrive.
Positive Psychology

 Suggests that happiness is a by-product of a

pleasant, engaged, and meaningful life
 Focuses on building a:
 Good life that engages one’s skills
 Meaningful life that points beyond the self
 Uses scientific methods to explore positive
emotions, character traits, and institutions
 Why Do Psychology?

 The limits of intuition and common sense

Limits of Intuition and Common Sense

 Research shows that thinking, memory, and attitudes

operate on conscious and unconscious levels.
 Most of an individual’s mental life happens
automatically, but intuition can lead him/her astray.
 Flaws in intuitive thinking:
 Hindsight bias
 Overconfidence
 Perceiving patterns in random events
Hindsight Bias

 The tendency to believe, after learning an

outcome, that the outcome could have been
predicted
 Known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon
Overconfidence

 People tend to
think they know
more than they
do.
 Manifests in:
 Field of
academics
 Social
behavior
Perceiving Order in Random Events

 People perceive patterns to make sense of their

world.
 Even in random, unrelated data people find order.
 Random sequences often do not look random.
 People trust their intuition more than they should.
 Intuitive thinking is flawed.
Retrieve and Remember 3

 Why, after friends start dating, do we

often feel that we knew they were
meant to be together?
 How Do Psychologists Ask and Answer
Questions?

 The scientific method

 Description
 Correlation
 Experimentation
 How would you know which research design to
use?
 Predicting everyday behavior
Figure 1.1 - The Scientific Method
The Scientific Method, Part 1

 Helps avoid pitfalls of intuitive thinking by:

 Observing events
 Forming theories
 Refining the theories in light of new observations
 Theory: Explanation using principles that organize
observations and predict behaviors or events
 Can bias one’s observations
The Scientific Method, Part 2

 Hypothesis: Testable prediction, often implied

by a theory
 Specifies those results that support the theory
 Highlights those results that would cast doubt
on the theory
 Operational definition: Carefully worded
statement of the exact procedures used in a
research study
The Scientific Method, Part 3

 Replication: Repeating the essence of a

research study to see whether the basic finding
can be reproduced
 Performed with different participants in
different situations
 Enables confirmation of findings
 Enables one to correct and refine their
knowledge
Features of a Good Theory

Effectively organizes a range of self-reports and observations

Leads to clear predictions that can be used to check the

theory or to create practical applications of it

Stimulates replications and more research that supports

the theory

Leads to a revised theory that better organizes and predicts

what is observed
Ways to Test Hypotheses and Refine
Theories
Descriptive methods

• Describe behaviors by using case studies, naturalistic

observations, or surveys

Correlational methods

• Associate different factors

Experimental methods

• Manipulate, or vary, factors to discover their effects

Retrieve and Remember 4

 What does a good theory do?

 Why is replication important?

Descriptive Techniques

 Case studies: Examine one individual or group

in depth
 Provide fruitful ideas
 Do not uncover general truths
 Naturalistic observations: Technique of
observing and recording behavior in a natural
environment
 Describe but do not explain behavior
 Can be revealing
Freud and Little Hans

 Sigmund Freud’s case study

of 5-year-old Hans’ extreme
fear of horses led Freud to
his theory of childhood
sexuality.
 Freud believed Hans’
intense fear had its roots
in the boy’s unconscious
desire for his mother and
his fear of being castrated
by his rival father.
Descriptive Technique - Surveys

 Techniques for obtaining self-reported attitudes

or behaviors of a group
 Examine many cases in less depth
 Wording effect - Subtle changes in the
wording of a question can have major effects
on the survey crowd.
 Random sample: Sample that fairly
represents a population because each
member has an equal chance of inclusion
Figure 1.2 - Twitter Message Moods by Time
and by Day
Retrieve and Remember 5

 We cannot assume that case studies always

reveal general principles that apply to all of
us. Why not?

 What are the advantages and disadvantages

of naturalistic observation, such as the EARs
study?

 What is an unrepresentative sample, and how

do researchers avoid it?
Correlation

 Measure of the extent to which two events vary

together
 Measure of how well either one predicts the
other
 Correlation coefficient
 Mathematical expression of the relationship
 Ranges from −1.00 to +1.00
 0 indicates no relationship
Correlation - Measures
Positive correlation (above 0 to +1.00)

• Indicates a direct relationship

• Two things increase together or decrease together

Negative correlation (below 0 to −1.00)

• Indicates an inverse relationship

• As one thing increases, the other decreases

Weak correlation

• Coefficient near zero

• Indicates little or no relationship
Retrieve and Remember 6

 Indicate whether each of the following statements describes

a positive correlation or a negative correlation:
1. The more husbands viewed Internet pornography, the
worse their marital relationships (Muusses et al., 2015).
2. The less sexual content teens saw on TV, the less likely
they were to have sex (Collins et al., 2004).
3. The longer children were breast-fed, the greater their
later academic achievement (Horwood &
Fergusson,1998).
4. The more income rose among a sample of poor families,
the fewer symptoms of mental illness their children
experienced (Costello et al., 2003).
Figure 1.3 - Three Possible Cause-Effect
Relationships
Correlation and Causation

 Correlation indicates the possibility of a cause-

effect relationship, but it does not prove
causation.
 Knowing that two events are associated does
not reveal which event causes the other.
Retrieve and Remember 7

 Length of marriage correlates with hair

loss in men. Does this mean that
marriage causes men to lose their hair
(or that balding men make better
husbands)?
Experiment

 A method in which researchers vary one or more

factors to observe the effect on some behavior or
mental process
 Researchers aim to control other factors by
random assignment of participants
 Helps researchers focus on the possible effects
of one or more factors by:
 Manipulating factors of interest
 Holding other factors constant
Random Assignment

 Assigning participants to experimental and control

groups by chance, thus minimizing any preexisting
differences between the groups
 Experimental group: Group exposed to the
treatment, that is, to one version of the
independent variable
 Control group: Group not exposed to the
treatment
 Serves as a comparison with the experimental
group for judging the effect of the treatment
Double-Blind Procedure

 A procedure in which both the participants and

the research staff are ignorant about who has
received the treatment or a placebo
 Placebo: Inactive substance or condition that
is given to those in a control group in place of
the treatment given to the experimental group
 Placebo effect: Results caused by
expectations alone
Retrieve and Remember 8

 What measures do
researchers use to
prevent the
placebo effect from
confusing their
results?
Variables in an Experiment
Independent variable
• Factor that is manipulated
• Variable whose effect is being studied
Confounding variable

• Factor other than the factor being studied

that might influence a study’s results
Dependent variable

• Factor that is measured

• Variable that may change when the
independent variable is manipulated
Figure 1.4 - Experimentation
 Table 1.2 - Comparing Research Methods

Research Basic Purpose How Conducted What Is Weaknesses

Method Manipulated

Descriptive To observe and record Do case studies, naturalistic Nothing No control of variables;
behavior observations, or surveys single cases may be
misleading.

Correlational To detect naturally occurring Collect data on two or more Nothing Does not specify cause
relationships; to assess how variables; no manipulation and effect.
well one variable predicts
another

Experimental To explore cause and effect Manipulate one or more factors; The independent Sometimes not possible for
use random assignment variable(s) practical or ethical reasons.
Retrieve and Remember 9

 In the rental housing experiment discussed in this

section, what was the independent variable? The
dependent variable?

 Why, when testing a new drug to control blood

pressure, would we learn more about its
effectiveness from giving it to half the participants
in a group of 1000 than to all 1000 participants?
Retrieve and Remember 10

 Match the term a. Helps researchers generalize

below with the from a small set of survey
correct description responses to a larger population
on the right.
b. Helps minimize preexisting
1. Double-blind differences between
procedure experimental and control groups

2. Random
sampling c. Controls for the placebo
effect; neither researchers nor
3. Random participants know who receives
the real treatment
Assignment
Predicting Everyday Behavior

 The purpose of an experiment is to test

theoretical principles.
 Resulting principles, not specific findings, help
explain everyday behaviors.
 Psychological sciences:
 Focus less on specific behaviors
 Focus more on revealing general principles
that help explain many behaviors
 Psychology’s Research Ethics

 Studying and protecting animals

 Studying and protecting humans
 Values in psychology
Animal Research

 Conducted by psychologists to:

 Understand how different species learn, think,
and behave
 Learn about people
 Helped develop treatments for human diseases
 Examples: insulin for diabetes, vaccines for
polio and rabies, and transplants to replace
defective organs
Studying and Protecting Animals

 Animal protection movements protest the use of

animals in psychological, biological, and medical
research.
 Use of animals for research is debated among
psychologists.
 Is it right to place the well-being of humans
above that of other animals?
 What safeguards should protect the well-
being of animals in research?
Protecting Animals

 British Psychological Society (BPS)

 Requires animals to be housed under reasonably
natural living conditions
 Social animals provided with companions
 American Psychological Association (APA)
 Requires researchers to:
 Ensure comfort, health, and humane treatment
of animals
 Minimize infection, illness, and pain
Benefits of Animal Research for Animals

 Invention of handling and stroking methods to

reduce stress and ease dogs’ move to adoptive
homes
 Improvement of care and management in
animals’ natural habitats
 Increased empathy and protection for other
species
Animal Research
Benefiting Animals
 Psychologists have
helped enrich zoo
animal environment.
 Thanks partly to
research on the
benefits of novelty,
control, and stimulation,
these gorillas have
enjoyed an improved
quality of life in New
York’s Bronx Zoo.
Studying and Protecting Humans

 APA and BPS ethics codes urge researchers to:

 Obtain the participants’ informed consent to
participate
 Protect participants from out-of-the-ordinary
harm and discomfort
 Keep information about individual participants
confidential
 Fully debrief participants
Values in Psychology

 Values impact:
 The material that is being studied
 How the material is being studied
 How results are interpreted
 Applied psychology contains hidden values.
 Psychology has the power to deceive, though its
purpose is to enlighten.
Psychology Speaks

 In making its historic 1954 school

desegregation decision, the U.S. Supreme
Court cited the expert testimony and research
of psychologists Kenneth Clark and Mamie
Phipps Clark (1947).
Retrieve and Remember 11

 How are animal subjects

and human research
participants protected?
Use Psychology to Become a Stronger
Person—and a Better Student
Tips to Live a Happy, Thriving Life

Manage time to get a full night’s sleep

Make space for exercise

Set long-term goals, with daily aims

Maintain a growth mind-set

Prioritize relationships
Psychological Principles

 Testing effect: Enhanced memory after

retrieving, rather than simply rereading,
information
 Known as retrieval practice effect or test-
enhanced learning
 SQ3R: Study method that incorporates five
steps
 Survey, question, read, retrieve, and review
Strategies That Help to Learn and
Remember

Use self-testing and rehearsal

Implement the SQ3R study method

Distribute study time

Learn to think critically

Actively process class information

Overlearn
Retrieve and Remember 12

 The _____ describes the improved memory

that results from repeated retrieval (as in self-
testing), rather than from simple rereading of
new information.

 What does SQ3R mean?