INTRODUCTION TO Chapter 1 PSYCHOLOGY What is psychology

INTRODUCTION TO Chapter 1 PSYCHOLOGY

What is psychology? Science of mind? What is it? Experience perceptual, emotional, knowledge, memory (cognition) ○ * the world as we experience it Interactions things we do with other things; subject-object* distinction Processes bringing in information (sensation & perception), reasoning about it, storing it, making decisions and initiating actions

Experiential Approaches Phenomenology (Brentano, Husserl) Study of internal meaningful experiences Refined introspection techniques Gestalt psychology Study of how perceptual experience comes to have meaning (stay tuned for Ch 5) Humanistic psychology Used introspection: Rogers and “how does that make you feel? ”

Subject-Object distinction Mind is defined as being “intentional” Voluntary, has a will Intentional means “having meaning” ○ What is the meaning of meaning? ○ Directedness: ideas in mind refer to something beyond themselves ○ Objects are just things-in-themselves and do not represent anything ○ Idea = subject thing-in-itself = object

Intentional Approaches The following have used intentionality as an underlying assumption Philosophy of Mind ○ Descartes’ mind-body dualism Wundt’s Voluntarism ○ First psychology research ○ Studied will, perception and apperception ○ Used introspection as a “scientific” method

How do we really know intentions exist? Introspection tell us: “I have intentions” aka “I have thoughts, feelings, desires, plans, etc” Is it valid to assume that other people must have these too? And what about animals? Problem of Other Minds Can we “observe” other minds? Ask people what they are thinking about…? Observe behavior and assume there is some intelligence behind it? ○ Artificial Intelligence and the Turing test Is any of this scientific?

Psychology without intentions Unintentional = uncontrolled = no mind, no will, involuntary, reflexive, robotic Reductionism: Simplify the study of behavior by eliminating unnecessary constructs like “mind”

Process Approaches The following have used “unintentionality” as underlying assumption Philosophy of Mind John Locke’s blank slate empiricism ○ All knowledge is just accumulation of perceptual experience Mind-Body materialism ○ Mind as we know it does not exist, only “body” which is physical matter. “Mind” is matter too.

Process Approaches Behaviorism Explain behavior using only “Stimulus” and “Response” S R Complex behavior is just a sequence of many S R chains

Philosophy of Science Note: philosophy of science (positivism) states that only things that can be objectively observed can be scientific S and R can be observed and measured “Mind” and psychological constructs (attention, memory, emotion, motivation, personality, intelligence, etc) cannot be directly observed Introspection is “subjective observation” and is unscientific ○ Akin to mysticism

Philosophy of Science Positivism only allows discussion of things observed Theories are, by definition, general statements that go beyond the data of observation Are theories unscientific? Logical positivism Distinguish between scientific and unscientific theories ○ Scientific theory must be logically consistent with the data ○ Hypothetico-deductive hypotheses ○ Verificationism ○ Falsificationism

Logical Positivism in Psychology Cognitive Psychology Claim: “mindless” behaviorism fails to explain the most complex behaviors (language, skill acquisition, reasoning, problem solving, etc. ) Need to invoke psychological constructs to explain these processes ○ Ushers in new era of research on perception, memory, attention, etc. Cognitive neuroscience Using neuroscience methods (imaging, EEG) to link brain areas with cognitive processes

Paths and Careers in Psychology Clinical Psychology B. S. in Psych: psych tech, applied behavior analyst M. Sc. or M. A. in Clinical Psych or Counseling Psych: provide assessment and therapy under supervision M. A. in Social Work: Licensed Clinical Social Worker, provide therapy in private practice Psy. D. : a new degree that trains you to be a licensed clinical psychologist, focuses on clinical training Ph. D. : training to be a licensed clinical psychology with emphasis on research ○ Can also work as an academic research (i. e. , Psychology professor)

Paths and Careers in Psychology Experimental Psychology M. S. : Work as researcher in industry, lab manager in academic setting, or stepping stone to… Ph. D. : Work as researcher in industry or academia aka Psych professor ○ Teach and conduct research in specialty area *the majority of the research you will read about in this class was conducted by academic experimental psychologists

Paths and Careers in Psychology Applied Psychology M. S. or Ph. D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology ○ Work in industry (MS, Ph. D) or academia (Ph. D) ○ Specializes in personnel selection, training, management, organizational culture and structure ○ Typically highest paying career path in psych M. S. or Ph. D. in Human Factors & Ergonomics ○ Work in industry (MS, Ph. D) or academia (Ph. D) ○ Specialize in human-technology interaction Designing controls and displays in cars, planes, industrial settings Human-computer interaction (designing computer interfaces, user experience)