Continued on next slide DF 01 1 a

Continued on next slide.

DF 01 -1 a Answers: 1. Examples are hunger, thirst, and sleep. 2. He is trying to finish his work by the deadline. 3. Examples include stress, fatigue, and anger. 4. cognitive needs, because they are internal, more complex and unobservable Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answers.

Objective- I can Describe the range of topics that are covered in introduction to psychology and cite the goals and scientific basis of psychology EQ- Why Study Psychology? Agenda- August 30 th, 2016 1. 2. 3. 4. Bell Ringer Intro Notes Sponge Bob Case Study Summarizer- Journal Logs

Define Psychology: • The scientific study of behavior and mental process • Can involve both animal and human behaviors • When applied to humans, psychology covers everything that people think, feel, and do The Greek letter “ psi”

• Some psychologists believe that you should study only behavior that you can see, observe, or measure directly • Some psychologists believe that our thoughts, feelings, and fantasies are also important • What is the value in each of these?

Psychologists are interested in… What is intelligence? Whe re thou do come ghts from ? How d bra oes th in e fun really ctio n? Why d o we act in certai n ways? How d o we learn? How d o we think? What mo us to d tivates o things certain and no t others ? Are we product s of nature or nurture ? Wh em at are otio ns?

Avoiding False Conclusions • We all study people through observations within our daily interactions. Sometimes the conclusions we draw are not accurate because we are not systematic in our efforts. • The use of a systematic method of asking and answering questions about why people think, act, and feel as they do reduces the chances of coming to false conclusions • Why is this important?

four primary goals of Psychologists To predict… To explain… And to influence the behavior of people and animals To describe… Psychologists seek to do four things as they go about their systematic and scientific study of humans and animals – describe, explain, predict, and influence behavior

Description • Describe or gather information about the behavior being studied • What’s going on? • What are some behaviors you think would be studied? How would those behaviors be described?

Explanation • Explain why things are happening the way that they are. • Usually called psychological principles • Start as hypothesis (researcher’s prediction about what the results of a study are to be) and after much study, can become theories (proven explanations from a large number of experiments)

Prediction • Want to make a scientific guess as to what will happen based off of past experience • How will humans think or feel in various situations?

What do you think? • Hypothesis – What do you think will happen if I give a student $500 to sweep my floor? What do you think will happen if you study every day? How do you think a random student at PC would respond if they were given free tickets to a Justin Bieber concert? • Can we make a theory about either of these? • Can we predict what will happen if these scenarios happen again in the future?

Influence • Psychologists seek to influence behavior in helpful ways • Some psychologists use basic science (research) with a long-term goal of finding out more about human or animal behavior • Some psychologists are more interested in using what we already know to help benefit others, which is an applied science

Examples • Studying infants to perceive visual patterns while watching Spong. Bob – basic or applied? • Toy makers have looked at past research and found out that babies that are read to earlier develop at a faster rater, therefore they want to make a toy that “reads” to babies – basic or applied?

Principles vs. Theories Principle • Generally valid ideas about a topic • Agreed upon to be true/fact • Examples – Humans/animals need social interaction to fully develop and survive. – Humans/animals need to feel a sense of control over their environment to prosper. Theory • A complex explanation based on the findings of experimental studies – Organize data – Predict future data • Contested, not proved to be true/fact • Examples – Personality theories – Developmental theories How do we develop principles and theories?

The Scientific Method • A general approach to gathering information and answering questions so that errors and biases are minimized ne or … to Ge ad Le re rat fin e e… 1) Theories 3) Research and Observations • Why is it important all psychologist follow the same general approach when doing research? 2) Hypothesis Lead to… • Although the scientific method is used to test and support many theories, many questions just cannot be answered.

Psychological Research Basic Research • pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base – Biological psychologists – explores links between mind and brain – Developmental psychologists – studies changing abilities from birth to death – Cognitive psychologists – experiments with how we perceive, think, and solve problems – Personality psychologists – investigates our persistent traits – Social psychologists – explores how we view and affect one another Applied Research • scientific study that aims to solve problems – Research on the brain to help treat Alzheimer’s disease – Research on how to best solve problems with cognitive strategies – Clinical drug tests