INTRODUCTION TO

PSYCHOLOGY
OUTLINE
• Definition of Psychology
• Characteristics of science
• The scientific method
• Types of behavior
• The study of animals
• Goals of psychology
• Perspectives in Psychology
• Branches of psychology
• Parapsychology
• Pseudo psychology
What is Psychology?

• Psychology comes from two Greek words; psyche and logos.

• Psyche: mind, spirit or soul • Logos: the subject of study.

• In the late 18th century psychology was defined as the study

of the mind.
What is Psychology?
• Psychology has its roots in physiology and Philosophy.

• The scientific study of human and animal behavior.

• Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and

mental processes and how they are affected by an
organism’s physical state, mental state and
environment (Coon, 2004; Feldman, 2007)
What Is Psychology?
• Psychology is a science because it follows the scientific process in
studying behaviour and mental processes

• The focus is on individual, whether alone or when interacting

with others and the environment

• Animals are also used for psychological studies

• Mental processes include thought, emotions, perceptions,

reasoning processes, memories and biological activities
Characteristics of The Science of Psychology
For psychology to be a science it must meet the following
criteria;
• Empirical backing - This means that the knowledge or evidence
is sought through experimental research and observations but
not only in theory. Consequently, science does not accept
metaphysical explanations.

• Replicability - In data from a psychological research, all details

must be described so that anybody who reads the report of the
research and repeats the manipulations in a comparable group
of subjects should be able to come out with similar results.
Characteristics of The Science of Psychology
• Generalization - The findings gained from the
observation or research should allow for being
generalised to a wider society.
• Quantifiability - The variables to be researched should
be in mostly quantifiable units e.g. 6kgs or 10kms
• Scientific method - series of steps that ensure
maximum objectivity and consistency in researching a
problem.
The Scientific Method
The scientific method is a set of principles and procedures that are
used by researchers to systematically acquire knowledge and
understand behaviour.
The steps involved are:

• Defining or identifying a problem

• Observation: The problem could be identified in the individual’s environment
or through everyday encounter.
• Operationally define terms, constructs and variables that will be used in the
study.
• The problem should be capable of being solved through research.
The Scientific Method
• Review of available data/information in relation to the identified problem.
• Background search on the topic to identify patterns of previous research

• This will involve looking at a considerable amount of written material from both books
and academic journals dating back decades.

• Formulating hypotheses
• The background search helps the researcher to suggest solutions to the problem in the
form of educated guesses – Hypotheses or Research questions.
• Hypotheses should be testable and stated in such a way that they can be refuted
(principal of falsifiability)
• To be testable, a scientific hypothesis must be formulated precisely and the variables
under study must be clearly defined.
The Scientific Method
• Collecting data to test the hypotheses in order to support or refute
them. To achieve this, certain factors should be taken into
consideration.
• Define variables in measurable and operational terms.
• In research, the researcher actively changes or observes changes in one
variable and measures its effects on the other variable(s) while holding other
variables constant so that they will not affect the outcome.
• The variable that is varied by the researcher is known as the independent
variable (IV).
• The variable that is measure or observed is known as the dependent
variable(DV).
• Variables that are controlled or held constant in order to eliminate their effects
on the observed variable are known as extraneous variables.
The Scientific Method
• Analyzing data and drawing conclusions
• The data gathered could be numbers or words.
• Data should be analysed in order to test the hypotheses
• Organise results into tables, graphs etc.
• Conclusions/answer to the hypotheses should be drawn based on the data
obtained.
• Result must be confirmed by retesting
The Scientific Method
• Communicating the results: the results of the study should be
presented to an audience
• Scientific progress can be achieved only if research findings are shared with
one another and the general public.
• Writing a concise summary of the study and its findings.
• This is often done by writing up a description of the study and publishing
articles in an academic or professional journal.
Behavior
• Behaviour refers to the way in which an individual responds to a
stimulus
• Behaviour include both overt and covert ones.
• Overt behavior: observable acts or actions: taking temperature
of a patient, recording the weight of the patient etc.
• Covert behavior: unobservable behavior such as consciousness,
feelings, thoughts sensation and images. This behavior is
inferred from the overt behavior.
Types of Behaviour
• Behaviour can be classified differently
• Reflex Behaviour - This occurs automatically in response to a
stimulus.
• For example producing saliva in response to the taste of food,
and jumping when one gets a pin prick.

• Goal-Directed behaviour - This is where there is a need in an

individual and he tries to satisfy it with a certain behavioural
pattern.
• For a child who is hungry will cry until he is fed.
Types of Behaviour
• Conditioned Behaviour - This consists of behaviour patterns exhibited
by the individual due to long standing habitual practices adapted by
the individual.
The Use Of Animals In Psychological Research
• Christensen (1994); roughly 7% of researches done by Psychologists
involve the use of animals whilst 93% is on human participants.
• Reason:
• Darwin’s Theory of Evolution:
• all known animals have a common ancestor and therefore all human beings
have similarities because of the common ancestry
• Similar Principles of Learning and Motivation of Lower Animals and
Humans
• Psychologists believe that many of the principles governing functions like
perception, motivation and learning are similar for both human beings and
animals.
The Use Of Animals In Psychological Research
• Structure & Functions of the Central Nervous System:
• evidence to show that the structure and functions of the central nervous
system of both animals and human beings are the same
• Cost of the Research
• Attrition is high in the use of humans
• Involuntary participation of humans
• Test the efficacy and side-effects of New Drugs
• Ethical Reasons
• issues of informed consent, debriefing etc.
• To understand Animals Better
Argument Against Animals Use In Research
• Knowledge gained from animal not useful to human beings
• Information gained from animal research cannot be used for humans because
the two species are not the same
• Similarities in Central Nervous System Challenged
• even though CNS of animals and humans might be the same in structure,
when it comes to behaviour there are still differences
• The Issue of Culture
• Violation of the Rights of Animals
• Differences between laboratory and wild animals.
When can animals be used?
• When there are no other alternatives.

• When confirmation has been made that research activities are not
unnecessarily duplicating previously conducted experiments.

• Experiments involving animals are relevant to human or animal

health, will advance scientific knowledge, or will be for the good of
society.
Goals of psychology
• Describe: What is the nature of behavior?
• Through observation
• Measuring the observed behavior (psychological tests).
• Operationally define terms to avoid any form of vagueness or
ambiguity.
• To describe behaviour, psychologists use different research
methods, including, observation, surveys and case studies, etc.
Goals of psychology

• Explain/ Understand: Why does the behaviour occur?

• The reason for the occurrence of the act.
• Under what circumstances do they occur.
• To establish cause and effect, or a correlation.
Goals of psychology
• Predict: Can we predict the behaviour?
• Once a researcher assumes cause and effect, or a relationship,
it is likely to make predictions.
• Formulate hypotheses
• How a behaviour will appear again in the future: whether or
not other people will exhibit the same behaviour under
similar circumstances.
Goals of psychology

• Control: Can behavior be manipulated?

• Practical ways of solving problems or influencing them.
• Altering conditions that influence the event in predictable
ways.
• In order to make constructive and lasting changes in
human lives.
Schools/ Perspectives In Psychology
• Development in psychology, right after the birth of psychology as a
scientific study.
Perspective Principal contributors Subject Matter

Structuralism Wilhelm Wundt, Study of conscious experience

Edward B. Titchener and mind.
Functionalism William James, Concerned with functions of
John Dewey conscious experience.
Psychoanalytic Sigmund Freud,
Carl Jung, Unconscious determinants of
Erik Erikson behavior.
Behaviorism John Watson, Effects of environment on the
Ivan Pavlov, overt behavior of humans and
B.F. Skinner, animals
Schools/ Perspectives In Psychology

Perspective Principal contributors Subject Matter

Humanistic Carl Rogers, Humans are free, rational beings

Abraham Maslow with the potential for personal
growth and
Cognitive Jean Piaget, Noam Human behavior cannot be fully
Chomsky
understood without examining
how people acquire, store
Gestalt Aristotle, John Locke The whole is better than the
sum of its part.
Eclectic - -
 Field of psychology
Specialties in the discipline of psychology. Areas one can work when the person
studies psychology.
• Developmental psychology
• Social psychology
• Experimental psychology
• Physiological psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Personality psychology
• Psychometrics
• Clinical psychology
• Counseling psychology
 Cont’d
• Educational psychology
• School psychology
• Industrial or organizational psychology
• Environmental psychology
• Comparative psychology
• Health psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Physiological /biological psychology
 Parapsychology
• Any study or assertion beyond the field of science or
observation.
• Any discipline that does not constitute a body of scientific
knowledge, lacks coherent rationale or framework and
merely a collection of anecdotal evidence.
• e.g. telepathy, psychokinesis, clairvoyance,precognition
 Telepathy

• Transfer of thoughts from one person to another

without using any sensory channel or physical contact.
 Precognition
• Acquisition of future information that cannot be deduced
from presently
• available and normally acquired sense-based information.
• Also called future sight, premonition or
• second sight
• e.g. predicting the scores of a football match, prophesies etc
 Psychokinesis

• Is an alleged psychic ability, allowing a person

to influence a physical system without physical
interaction.
 Clairvoyance

• the ability to gain information about an object,

person, location or physical event through
means other than the known senses.
 Pseudo psychology

• Pseudo psychology simply means false psychology.

• Pseudopsychology does not adhere to the standards of

formal scientific, academic or practice-based discipline.

• E.g. graphology, astrology, phrenology and palmistry.

 Graphology
• Making claims about a person’s personality
based on the person’s handwriting.

• use of handwriting analysis to attempt to

divine personality traits.
 Astrology

• The study of a person’s personality based on the

signs, number and portions of stars at a time.
 Phrenology

• the use of skull size measurements and bumps on

the head to determine personality traits and
intelligence.