7 Themes of Psychology Theme One Psychology Is

7 Themes of Psychology

Theme One: Psychology Is Empirical • • Knowledge acquired through observation Research to test ideas Requires skepticism Data, documentation – where is the evidence?

Theme 2: Psychology Is Theoretically Driven • Theory: A system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations. • Theories link unrelated observations and tries to explain them. • Theoretical diversity – no single theory can adequately explain everything about a behavior.

Theme 3: Sociohistorical Context • Trends, events, issues, and values in society influence psychologies evolution • Progress in psychology affects trends • Cultural values can drive psychological study

Theme 4: Multiple Causes of Behavior

5: Behavior Is Shaped By Cultural Heritage • Cultural influences exerts considerable influence over behavior • Culture: widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations

6. Heredity, Environment Influence Behavior

7. People’s Experience is Highly Subjective • Sensation processing can be subjective • People see what they want to see • People see what they expect to see

Types of Psychology • • • Biological Clinical – treatment Cognitive – information processing Counseling Developmental: Prenatal until death Educational Industrial / Organizational Personality Psychometric – measurement Social

Theoretical Approaches To Behavior • • • Psychoanalytic Humanism Behaviorism Evolutionary Cognitive Biopsychosocial

Types of Research • Experimental: empirical, test hypothesis, use of Independent, Dependent, and Control Variable • Correlational Studies: Do Not Test causal relationships, test for relationship between two variables. - No Hypothesis to test • Surveys, Naturalistic Observation, Case Studies

RESEARCH • Random Sample: Randomly choose participants • Random Assignment: Randomly assign participants into Control and Testing Group.