What is Your Definition of Psychology?

1			React: Define the science of psychology.

How Do You Use Psychology?

2			React: Explain the major issues confronting psychologists conducting psychological research.

Types of Psychologists
Many people are fascinated with serial killers. TV shows such as CSI, Criminal Minds, and Dexter are primetime hits. Psychologists, like many people, want to know what causes such disturbing behavior. Psychologists disagree as to why. Referring back to the list of types of psychologists, list key questions about serial killers each type of psychologist would want to answer:

3			Remember: List the major specialties in the field of psychology. Come up with a question that each of the following psychologists would want to ask a serial killer. Behavioral Neuroscientist Experimental Psychologist 2Cognitive Psychologist Developmental Psychologist Personality Psychologist Health Psychologists Clinical Psychologist Counseling Psychologist Social Psychologists Cross-Cultural Psychologists Evolutionary Psychologists Behavioral Geneticists Clinical Neurophysiologist

Why Do Kids Shoot Each Other?

4			Relate: Summarize psychology's key issues and controversies. List the major specialties in the field of psychology. Psychologists now have a much different approach to studying behavior. Like all people, each psychologist often has a specific perspective on human behavior. Pretend you are a psychologist trying to determine the cause of school shootings. For each perspective listed below, list what you would be interested in investigating. The Neuroscience Perspective The Psychodynamic Perspective The Behavioral Perspective The Cognitive Perspective The Humanistic Perspective

Psychologist for a Day

5			Relate: Define the scientific method and list the steps involved. Human beings have the ability to study human behavior. It is what allows humans to survive within the social environment. People use research to find answers to the perplexing behavior of fellow human beings. People ask questions like "Why doesn't s/he do the dishes?" and find answers such as "Because s/he wasn't specifically asked to." However, sometimes there are serious mistakes in our assumptions about human behavior. Let's test this! STEP ONE: Ask a question For example: Why doesn't my husband/wife do the dishes? 1) YOUR QUESTION: STEP TWO: Construct a broad explanation for your answer. For example: S/He will not do the dishes because s/he thinks I will do them. 2) YOUR THEORY: STEP THREE: Form a prediction or guess that can be tested be and measured. Make sure that you "operationalize" your statement (make each element something that can be easily identified and measured). For example: If I do not do the dishes for 1 week, then s/he will do them. 3) YOUR HYPOTHESIS: STEP FOUR: Test your prediction! For example: I will not do the dishes for one week and will record my results. 4) YOUR RESULTS: STEP FIVE: What happened? Were your assumptions correct? Remember, psychologists, like all people are wrong more than they are right. You can learn as much from your mistakes as your successes. 5) EVALUATE YOUR FINDINGS:

Are You a Good Scientist?

6			Relate: Describe how psychologists use theory and research to answer questions of interest. People make observations about human behavior. But often they do not adequately test their conclusions. For example, it is very common for someone to conclude that a person does not care about him or her if s/he does certain things, or that another person is lazy if s/he does not do certain things. Evaluate your assumptions and theories about people's behavior. Which assumptions or theories may be incorrect?

To Study or Not to Study?

7			Remember: Summarize the research methods used by psychologists. Because there is potential to cause psychological harm when conducting research, researchers must follow several important guideline. These four guidelines are:

To Study or Not to Study?

8			Remember: Summarize the research methods used by psychologists. The other primary safeguard for ethical principles in psychological research is called _______________ ____________. It means that all participants are informed of risks and had all of their rights explained. What three questions should you ask about all research?

Your Internal Review Board

9			Relate: Summarize the research methods used by psychologists. As we disused earlier in this chapter, you research human behavior 24 hours a day. Like all psychologists, you can often fall subject to experimental bias, or only see the result that you believe to be true. You may also encounter participant bias, or find that people react only in the ways you expect. Looking back at the previous Modules answer the following questions: How are your observations in daily life affected by experimental bias? How might they be affected by participant bias?

Do Something Different!

10			React: Explain how psychologist establishes cause and effect relationships in research. There are always situations and circumstances that we would like to change in our lives. Identify a situation you would like to change. Sometimes changing just one element of your behavior changes the reaction you get. Using the techniques discussed in this chapter, identify one thing you could do differently in one of your key relationships. Then, do something different for one entire week! Record your results below:

the case of...confusion

Alexis Dempsey had often wished that she could understand herself better. But the fight with her boyfriend the previous night really made her wonder what was driving her behavior. For no real reason at all, she had gotten annoyed with him at a party and had begun to criticize him. When he responded by asking her what her problem was, she had gotten really angry. She shouted at him that he was a total loser and that she didn't want to see him again. She stormed out of the party and had gone home. By the time she reached home, though, she was miserable. She really did like her boyfriend, and she didn't want to end the relationship. She wondered why she'd gotten into the fight and why, in generally, she was acting more and more aggressively with others.

She wished she could find a way to reduce her combativeness and strengthen her relationships with important people in her life. She has gotten some random insights from browsing the Web and looking at some of the self-help books her local bookstore, but mostly she ended up being confused.

11			1. What subfields of psychology might be of greatest relevance to Alexis's problem, and why? 2. If Alexis were to seek practical advice about making changes in her own life, which perspectives on psychology do you think would be most helpful, and why? 3. What do you think about Alexis's strategy of surfing the Web and looking at self-help books at the bookstore to better understand herself? What are the dangers of this approach? 4. What advice would you give Alexis to help her solve her problem?