INTRODUCTION TO

PSYCHOLOGY

Radwan Banimustafa
 At the end of this Chapter
you should be able to:

• Understand the scope of psychology

• Different perspectives in psychology

• The scientific research method in

psychology
 Different Approaches in
Psychology
• Psychology is the scientific study of
our thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

• An approach or perspective in
psychology is a particular view as to
why, and how, it is we think, feel, and
behave as we do.
 Behavioral
• Behavioral Psychology is basically
interested in how our behavior results
from the stimuli both in the environment
and within ourselves.
 Biological
• The biological approach believes us to
be as a consequence of our genetics
and physiology. It is the only approach
in psychology that examines thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors from a physical
point of view.
 Evolutionary
• Evolutionary psychology focus on how
evolution has shaped the mind and
behavior.
 Developmental
• Developmental psychology, also known
as Human Development, is the scientific
study of progressive psychological
changes that occur in human beings as
they age.
 Psychodynamic
• Sigmund Freud was the founder of the
psychodynamic approach to
psychology. This school of thought
emphasized the influence of the
unconscious mind on behavior.
 Cognitive
• Focus on our information processes of
perception, attention, language,
memory, and thinking, and how they
influence our thoughts, feelings and
behaviors.
 Breadth of Content
Psychology: the study of ..

• why we do what we do;

• why we feel the way we feel;

• why we think as we think;

 Human behavior
• What is unique about humans?
• What do we have in common with
other species?
• How do we differ from each other?
• How did we come to be who we are?
 Humans alone and in
context:
• How do we act when we are alone?

• How do we act when we are with one

other person?

• How do we act when we are in a

group?
Breadth of Content, cont.
Innate Capacities
Achievement through experience
• We remember what has happened
and alter behavior accordingly
Achievement through innate capacity
• Even seen in infants in areas such
as arithmetic (!)
Breadth of Content, cont.
“Eye witness memory”
 Breadth of Content, cont.
Displays and Communication
– Social topic (Takes two to
communicate)
– Verbal
• Language, sound
– Display
• Body structure (tail feathers in
peacock), behavior or posture
(smile or folded arms)
 Breadth of Content, cont.
Social Behavior in Humans
– Varied as compared to most
animals
– Flexible as compared to most
animals
– Strategic and careful, but also
unconscious and irrational
• Changes when social behavior
occurs around more than one
person (large groups, crowds,
mobs)
 Breadth of Content, cont.

• Why does social behavior change so

much under these circumstances?

• Good question for psychology

 Diversity of Perspectives
• Many perspectives used to study the
breadth of psychology’s content

• Example: Different perspectives that

can be brought to bear on a single
phenomena: EATING
 To study EATING, we can
look at:
• Biological Basis for eating
• Cultural Influences on eating
• Eating and the social world
• Eating Disorders
• Cognitive Control over eating
INTRODUCTION TO
PSYCHOLOGY
The Scientific Method
 What is it That Unites
Psychology?
Two themes give the field coherence:

– The TYPES of QUESTIONS

psychologists ask

– The WAYS we ANSWER those

questions
 Theme 1: Types of
Questions

Why do we do what we do?

Why do we think what we think?
Why do we feel what we feel?
 Theme 2: Ways of
Answering

The Scientific Method; and

that is why
PSYCHOLOGY is a SCIENCE
 Different Research
Methods used in
Psychology
• The goals of psychological studies are
to describe, explain, predict, and
perhaps influence mental processes
or behavior.

• The scientific method is a set of

principles and procedures that are
used by researchers to develop
questions, collect data, and reach
conclusions.
 Research Methods
• Research methods fall into two
“design” categories in psychology.
• Research methods that are
experimental in design include the
laboratory, field and quasi-
experiment.
• Non-experimental methods include
the observational, survey, interview
and case study methods.
 Research Methods
• Experimental methods produce
measurable quantitative data.

• Non-experimental methods can

sometimes give quantitative data but
information is more likely to be
descriptive or qualitative in nature.
 Observation
• Perhaps the simplest form of research
is (Naturalistic) Observation.

• It means, observing behavior in their

natural environment. It often involves
counting behaviors, such as number
of aggressive acts, number of smiles,
etc.
 Observation

• Useful for describing behaviour

and for suggesting causal
hypotheses that could be tested in
experiments
 Correlational
Studies

• Correlation means relationship, so the

purpose of a correlational study is to
determine if a relationship exists, what
direction the relationship is, and how
strong it is. It can not make any
assumptions of cause and effect (no
causation).
 Correlational
Studies
• In Correlational Studies, the relationship is
between two variables. There are three
possible results of a correlational study: a
positive correlation, a negative correlation,
and no correlation. These are usually
shown in graphs.
• The correlation coefficient is a measure of
correlation strength and can range from –
1.00 to +1.00.
 Correlational
Studies
• Positive Correlations: Both variables
increase or decrease at the same time. A
correlation coefficient close to +1.00 indicates
a strong positive correlation.
• Negative Correlations: Indicates that as the
amount of one variable increases, the other
decreases (and vice versa). A correlation
coefficient close to -1.00 indicates a strong
negative correlation.
• No Correlation: Indicates no relationship
between the two variables.
Correlational
Studies
 Correlational Studies

The more years

The more hours a of education a
high school student person receives,
works during the the higher his or
week, the fewer F’s her yearly
he or she gets in income is.
class.
 Experimental
Studies

• Unlike correlational research

methods or psychological tests,
experiments can provide
information about cause-and-
effect relationships between
variables.
 Experimental
Studies
• In an experiment, a researcher
manipulates or changes a
particular variable under
controlled conditions while
observing resulting changes in
another variable or variables.
 Experimental
Studies
• Variable: A factor or element that can
change in observable and measurable
ways.
– Independent Variable (IV) – the
variable that is manipulated by the
experimenter (input variable)-effects
the experimenter wishes to examine.
– Dependent Variable (DV) – the
outcome variable (results of the
experiment)-experimenter wants to
find out if this variable depends on
some other factor.
 Experimental
Studies
• The control group: made up of individuals
who are randomly assigned to a group but do
not receive the treatment. The measures
taken from the control group are then
compared to those in the experimental group
to determine if the treatment had an effect.
• The experimental group: made up of
individuals who are randomly assigned to the
group and then receive the treatment. The
scores of these participants are compared to
those in the control group to determine if the
treatment had an effect.
 Experimental
Studies

• Experimental Hypothesis: By
defining our variables that we will use
to test our theory we derive at our
hypothesis, which is a testable form of
a theory that guess about the possible
relationship between two or more
variables.
 Experimental
Studies

• The researcher manipulates the

independent variable and observes the
dependent variable. The dependent
variable may be affected by changes in
the independent variable. In other
words, the dependent variable depends
(or is thought to depend) on the
independent variable.
 Example
• Hypothesis: The success of students
in Mathematics course can be
increased, by the use of praisal
motivation technique.
 Example cont’d...
• First, two groups should be formed,
which are equal to eachother in terms
of age, intelligence, education and
math competence; Group A and
Group B
 Example cont’d...
• Then, the same instructor, teaches the
same Math topics to each group, with
the same method.
 Example cont’d...
• The students in Group A are praised
for their work, whereas the students in
Group B do not receive any words of
motivation at all...
 Example cont’d...
• A couple of days later the same test is
given to both groups, and the results
show that students in Group A
(praised) are more successful than the
students in group B (not praised)
For this example:

• Dependant variable is ....

• The success level of students
• Independant variable is ....
• Praisal
• The Experimental group is...
• Group A; which was motivated by
praisal
• The Control group is...
• Group B; which did not receive any
praisal
 Comparison
OBSERVATION
• Advantages
– high degree of realism because are in natural
environments
– data on large number of variables can be
collected at the same time
– researcher doesn't have as great an impact
on the study as he/she may in other
strategies
• Disadvantages
– variables not manipulated by the researcher
– unable to infer causality
– measurement of variables less precise than
in laboratory
 Comparison
CORRELATIONAL STUDIES
• Advantages
– shows if two or more variables are
related
– allows general predictions
– used both in natural and laboratory
settings
• Disadvantages
– Does not permit identification of cause
and effect
 Comparison
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
• Advantages
– allows researcher to control the
situation
– Permits researcher to identify cause
and effect
• Disadvantages
– situation is artificial and can not be
always generalised to the real world
– sometimes difficult to avoid
experimenter effects