CHAPTER 1: What is

Psychology
Module 1.1 (Psychologists’ Goals)
Definition of psychology: systematic study of behavior and experience
(whereby experience  perceptions without implying that a mind exists independently of one’s
body)
(*Psychologists deal with both theoretical & practical questions)
(overt: behavior can be observed || covert: mental process cannot be observed)

General Points of Psychology

1) “It depends” – behavior depends on various different factor // it’s important to know
what IT is depend on
2) Progress depends on good measurement – with good measurement comes about more
definite conclusions & greater progress
3) Confidence in the conclusions should depend on the strength of evidence – (important
to distinguish opinions based on strong evidences and those less

Major Philosophical Issues in Psychology

1) Free Will vs Determinism
(determinism  belief that everything that happens has a cause / determinant, that someone
could observe/measure)
(free will  belief that behavior is caused by a person’s independent decisions (psychologists
maintain that free will is an illusion))
 2) The Mind-Brain Problem – How experience relates to our brain
 Dualism – holds that our mind is separate from the brain, but it controls the
brain and our body (contradicts law of conservation of matter and energy!!)
 Monism – holds that conscious experience is inseparable from the physical brain
(co-existing and co-dependent)
3) The Nature-Nurture issue – How do differences in behavior relate to differences in
heredity & environment

What psychologists do
1) Service Providers to Individuals
 Clinical psychologists (advanced degree in
psychology, with a specialty in
understanding and helping people with
psychological problems)
 Psychiatry (branch of medicine that deals
with emotional disturbances)
 Other mental health professionals (clinical
social worker, counselling psychologists,
forensic psychologists)

2) Service Providers to Organizations

 Industrial/ Organizational Psychology – psychological study of people at work
 Humans Factor – facilitate an operation of machinery so that ordinary people
can use it efficiently & safely
 School psychology – specialists in psychological condition of students

3) Psychologists in Teaching and Research

 Developmental Psychology – study how behavior changes with age
 Learning and Motivation – study how behavior depends on the outcome of past
behaviors and current motivations
 Cognitive Psychology – how people make decisions, solve problems, and convert
their thoughts into language (study the best and worst of human cognition)
 Biology Psychology – explains behavior in terms of biological factors, such as -
activities of the nervous systems, effects of drugs/ hormones/ genetics/
evolutionary pressures
 Evolutionary Psychology – explains behavior in terms of the evolutionary history
of the species, including why evolution might have favored a tendency to act in
particular ways

4) Social Psychology and Cultural Psychology

 Social Psychologist – study how an individual influences other people and how
the group influences and individual
 Cultural Psychologists – study how culture influences people’s thoughts and
behavior (& vice versa)
Module 1.2 (Psychology Then and Now)
The Early ERA
 Wilhelm Wundt and the First Psychological Laboratory
- 1879 || find elements of experience – sensations & feelings via introspect (to look
within themselves)
- Pendulum experiment (conclusion: people need about 1/8 second to shift attention
due to change in stimulus)
 Edward Titchener and Structuralism
- Used the approach: Structuralism – an attempt to describe the structures that
compose the mind (esp sensations, feelings and images)
- ** NOT UNANSWERABLE – as there’s no way to check the accuracy & cannot analyze
experience into components (of inner experiences of people)
 William James and Functionalism (founding of American psychology)
- Focused on what the mind does rather than what it is – preferred to learn how
people produce useful behaviors (known as functionalism)
- More of inspiration to future researchers than addressing questions^ such as “how
can one strengthen good habits” // “how can intention lead to action”
 Studying Sensation
- Psychiatrists devoted research to study of vision & other sensations (in order to
understand mental experience & more answerable compared to eg: personality)
- “psychological function”: the mathematical description of the relationship between
the physical stimulus and it’s perceived properties
- ^ demonstrated the feasibility of scientific research on psychological questions
 Darwin and the Study of Animal Intelligence
- Argued that humans and other species shared common ancestor = animals have
certain degree of intelligence
- “comparative psychologists”: specialists who compare different animal species
- Did experiments such as 1) delayed-response problem (see how long the animal can
remember a signal) 2) detour problem (animal separated from food – see if they will
take a detour to reach food)
- ^ issue is that a species can do poorly in one test but brilliantly on another 
relative intelligence of animals was then pointless to rank-order them
 Measuring Human Intelligence
- Francis Galton tried measuring intelligence using simple sensory & motor tasks BUT
UNSATISFACTORY
- ^ (concluded that heredity was prominent factor in human achievement)
- Alfred Binet devised the first useful intelligent test (much research goes into making
tests more accurate and fairer)
The Rise of Behaviorism
Early behaviorists focused on simple stimulus-response laws of behavior. They concentrated on
observable behaviors whereas thoughts and knowledge are unobservable and processed within
the individual.
 John B. Watson
- “founder” of behaviorism (a field of psychology that concentrates on observable,
measurable behaviors and not on mental processes)
 Studies of Learning
- Studying animal behavior esp animal learning
- Researcher can control different aspects (diet, sleeping schedules)
- (studied rats in mazes but their behavior was more complicated than expected)
From Freud to Modern Clinical Psychology
- Treatment for mental illness came remained under psychiatry
- Sigmund Freud revolutionized psychotherapy with methods of analyzing patient’s
dreams and early childhood experiences
- Soldiers from WW2 seek help for PTSD  psychologists helped psychiatrists with
the demand and clinical psychology then developed!
Recent Trends
- (a lot of them have big dreams to become the next “Darwin” for psychology but it
has been toned down)
- Basic research: seeks theoretical knowledge for its own sake, such as understanding
the processes of learning and memory
- Applied research: deals with practical problems, such as how to help children with
learning disabilities
- Since 1960s, cognitive psychology (study of thought and knowledge) gain
prominence
- Neuroscience – new techniques of brain scanning & super influential in psychology
- Evolutionary psychology – can infer selective pressures that led to current behaviors
that are passed down as ancestors survived
- Positive psychology – studies the predispositions and experiences that make people
happy, productive and successful
- Health psychologists – study how people’s health is infulenced by behaviors & help
them change their behaviors for better health
- Sports psychologists – apply psychological principles to help athletes set goals, train
& concentrate their efforts
- Women was less recognized in the past in psychology compared to men, but right
now ¾ of new PHDs are women in USA
- **Psychology is now opening up to cultural diversity as most research was done only
at more educated/industrialized areas (only 15% of the world)
CHAPTER 2 Scientific
Methods in Psychology
Module 2.1 (Evaluating Evidence & Thinking
Critically)
Psychological Science
- Psychologists insist that their field is a science
- ^ difference with psychology and other sciences is that sciences came about
naturally after learning the stars/chemicals etc but psychology is “making a new
science”
- Another issue is ethics – psychologists are dealing with people with stringent limits
Gathering Evidence
- Research starts with careful observation & measuring
- ^ they often suggest a pattern that leads to  hypothesis (a clear predictive
statement, often an attempt to explain the observations)
1) Hypothesis – start with observations (can be based on a more general statement) ||
good hypothesis leads to predictions
2) Method – many methods but as methods all point to same conclusion  it increases
confidence in the conclusion (single study is never decisive!)
3) Results – measuring the outcome || important for investigator to set clear rules about
measurements  then determine if results are impressive enough to call for
explanation or if it’s just chance
4) Interpretation – consider what the results mean (if contradicts hypothesis then abandon
or modify the original hypothesis || if match, investigators should consider other
hypotheses that fit the results as well)
5) Replicability – researchers must be *honest with their methods and results (in order to
replicate and hopefully get same results)
- Replicability can be done in two ways – same methods (but tiny changes to
contribute more to the studies) || same exact methods (to do exactly the same to
see if results are the same)
- “Replicable results” – those anyone can obtain, at least approximately, by following
the same procedures
- Researchers use “Meta-analysis” – combine results of many studies as if they were
all one big huge study (helps determine variations that increase or decrease effects)
Evaluating Scientific Theories
If replicable data support some hypothesis  propose a theory
- Scientific theory – an explanation or model that fits many observations and makes
accurate predictions
- Good theory starts with few assumptions and leads to many correct predictions
- Scientists generally agree on how to evaluate theories
 Burden of Proof
- “purpose of research is to *falsify the incorrect theories” || that would mean a good
theory is one that withstands all attempts to falsify it
- Good theories should be “falsifiable” as it would then mean concrete & useful
- BURDEN OF PROOF  the obligation to present evidence to support one’s claim (on
those who makes a claim that is the ‘less popularly believed’)
 Parsimony
- Conservative idea  sticks with ideas that work and avoid new assumptions
- Scientists prefer the theory that relies on simpler assumptions or assumptions
consistent with other theories that are already accepted
 Parsimony and Degrees of Open-Mindedness
- The stronger the reasons behind a current opinion, the more evidence you should
need before replacing it
o Applying Parsimony: Clever Hans, the Amazing Horse
- Wilhelm von Osten thought a horse how to do arithmetic and simple ASMD
and even algebra and identify musical notes
- ^ Hans depended on the questioner’s reaction (questioner would give slight
upward jerk & change in expressions)
o Applying Parsimony: Extrasensory Perception
- ^supporters claim that some people sometimes acquire information without
receiving any energy through any sense organ (such as telepathy, clairvoyance,
precognition, psychokinesis)
- Anecdotes – people’s reports of isolated events (dreams/hunch) NOT
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE || People often exaggerate them
- Professional psychics -- uses same kinds of deception commonly employed in
magic acts
- Experiments – eg: ganzfeld procedure: ‘sender’ views a photo or film while the
‘receiver’ is asked to describe the senders thoughts and images || however
there’s a lack of replicability and = skeptical of ESP but also parsimony (scientists
will always search thoroughly for a simple explanation)
Module 2.2 (Conducting Psychological
Research)
Only makes progress when distinguish between strong // weak evidence
General Research Principles
Uses scientific methods but there's a problem: sampling
(people might change behavior unusually since it’s recorded)
1) Operational Definitions
- A definition that specifies the operations used to produce or measure something
ordinarily a way to give it a numerical value
- ^ how to measure something (although they might not equate to it exactly)
2) Population Samples
- Results of one group of people may or may not apply to other groups
- Convenience sample  a group chosen because of its ease of study (eg students)
- Representative sample  one that resembles the population in its percentage
accordingly (must first determine percentage in each category and select people
accordingly)
- Random sample  One in which every individual in the population has an equal
chance of being selected (**random = equal chance // without human interference)
^ advantage: The larger a random sample, the smaller the probability that it's results
substantially differ from the whole population
- Cross-cultural sample  Groups of people from at least two cultures (often difficult)
Observational Research Designs
1) Naturalistic Observations
- Definition: A careful examination of what happens under more or less natural
conditions
- Observe “human behavior” as an outsider
2) Case Histories
- Definition: a thorough description of someone including abilities and disabilities,
medical condition, life history, unusual experiences and whatever else seems
relevant
- ^ rare conditions
3) Surveys
- Definition: A study of the prevalence of certain beliefs attitudes or behaviors based
on people's responses to questions
- Sampling—important to get a representative data || wording plays a huge role in
biasness of answers (eg: award makes people focus on good while deny focuses on
the bad)
- Surveyor Biases – where the surveyor words the questions to encourage their
preferred answer
4) Correlational Studies
- Correlation: A measure of the relationship between two variables (variables is
anything measurable that differs among individuals) (for more than 2 variables
there’s other methods)
- Correlational study – measures the relation between two variables without
controlling either
 The Correlation Coefficient
- A mathematical estimate of the relationship between two variables (coefficient of +1
(increase increase) or -1 (increase decrease) indicates a perfect relationship)
|| if 0 correlation (increase constant) = not related or suggests poor measurement
 Illusory correlations
- Definition: An apparent relationship based on casual observations of unrelated or
weekly related events
- Placebo: a pill with no known pharmacological effects
- Eg: sugar and activities levels are completely not related yet most of us think they do
(we expect what we will experience)
 Correlation /=/ Causation
- Correlation indicates how strongly 2 variables are related to each other
***does not tell us why they are related
- Correlations help us make predictions
- Correlational studies facilitate experimentation to a possible conclusion
- **cannot draw conclusions regarding cause and effect from correlational data!!
(except for rare circumstances eg: weather affects our mood)
- Inferring causation  correlational study cannot uncover cause-and-effect
relationships** experiment can
 5) Experiments
- Definition: A study in which the investigator manipulates at least one variable while
measuring at least one other variable (better to compare results for different group)
- Independent variable: variable that an experimenter changes or controls (cause)
- Dependent variable: variable that an experimenter measures to determine the
outcome (effect)
- Experimental group: Receives the treatment that an experiment is designed to test
- Control group: a set of individuals treat that in the same way as the experimental
group except for the procedure that the experiment is designed to test
- Random assignment: Experiment uses a chance procedure to ensure all participants
have the same probability of being assigned to a given group

Reducing the Influence of Expectations

1) Experimenter Bias
- Experimenter is a person who administers an experiment
- Definition: The tendency of an experimenter to influence *unintentionally the
participants based on his expectations
- Blind experimenter: An experimenter who doesn't know the hypothesis nor the
experimental condition of each participant
- Double-blind study: Both participant and experimenter are not aware of who
received what procedure
- Note that experimenter bias can happen during observation & judgement as well.
 2) Demand Characteristics and Blind Studies
- Whereby people in the psychological experiment act differently due to expectations
- Even people’s guess influences their behavior
- Demand characteristics: Cues that tell participants what is expected of them and
what the experimenter hopes to find
- ^ experimenters often try to conceal purpose of experiment (often difficult)
- “suggestion” is powerful and a must yet difficult to avoid
Problems with a Before-and-After Study
- Can we conclude cause and effect? – no, possible that many improved over time
without treatment (be careful of generalizing results too far)
- Better design is to compare two groups (experimental group || control group) –
randomly assigned
 Experiment on rats (belief that acquired characteristic can be inherited) || for the first
few generations showed results but it flatulated years after
- ^there was no control group || second study was done and found results similar to
first = no evidence for inheritance of acquired characteristics
1) When results seem unlikely -- look for a more parsimonious explanation
2) Beware of before and after studies in psychology, a need for control group
3) Explanation might not have to be genetic (for behaviors – might be
environmental factors)
Evaluating the Results
1) Descriptive Statistics
- Definition: Mathematical summaries of results
- Three ways: mean, median, mode
- Mean  Sum of all the scores divided by the total number of scores (can be rather
misleading at times due to extreme numbers) (average)
- Normal distribution (normal curve)  A symmetrical frequency of scores clustered
around the mean
- Median  Arrange the scores in order from the highest to the lowest, the middle
score is the median (middle score)
- Mode  The score that occurs most frequently (calls attention to a common score)
- Standard deviation  a measurement of the amount of variation among scores in a
normal distribution
2) Inferential Statistics
- Definition: Statements about a large population based on an inference from a small
sample
- ^ results is summarized via “p”  indicates the probability that randomly generated
results would resemble the observed results
- If p < 0.05 (means ^is less than 5%) || it will be statistically significant/reliable is p is
less than 0.05 (the smaller p value, the more impressive the results)
- Statically significant/reliable: Results that chance alone would be unlikely to produce
- ^ depends on 3 factors 1) size of the difference between the groups 2) number of
research participants in each group 3) amount of variation among individuals
 - Objections to “p” as it implies all-or-nothing judgement  growing trend for “95%
confidence intervals”: the range within which the true mean lies, with 95% certainty
- ^ enables readers to judge how large and impressive the difference is between
groups (small 95% confidence interval indicates high confidence in results)
3) Replicability issues
- Results should be able to be replicated as results can be just random fluctuations in
data (if unable to replicated  original result possibly was an accident / error)
- Note that subtle changes can make a huge difference
- If cannot find conditions where result consistently occur  ignore it in theory &
practice
Ethical Considerations in Research
Bound by both law and conscience to treat participants ethically
1) Ethical Concerns with Humans
- Unethical to perform procedures that pose serious risks to participants
- A need for “informed consent”: A statement that they have been told what to
expect and that they agree to continue
- ^ participants have right to quit (ps people with mental retardation/ depression
might not be able to provide informed consent)
- IRB: Institutional Review Board  judges the proposed studies / procedures /
consent / confidentiality of participants / reduce risk / embarrassing or degrading
/**decide about the temporary deception
- APA: American Psychological Association  have book on proper ethical treatment
of volunteers in experiment
2) Ethical Concerns with Nonhumans
- Used when need to control aspects of life (eg: who mates with who || studying
behavior in long run || poses health risks)
- Essential for preliminary testing for new drugs || surgical procedures || methods of
relieving pain
- APA has guidelines for proper use of animals in research
- ^ keep their pain & discomfort at a minimum & should consider alternatives before
imposing potential painful procedures