Welcome

to

GENERAL
PSYCHOLOGY
COURSE
COURSE CODE: CC113
1
 Ground Rules
• 45 minute lecture followed by student
questions and answers
• 15 minute break (get a snack!)
• Another 45 minute lecture followed by
student questions and answers
• Then the end of class for today

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Chapter ONE
Essence of
Psychology

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 Overview
• Definition of psychology and related concepts
• Goals of Psychology
• Historical Background of Psychology
• Major Perspectives in Psychology
• Branches/Sub-fields of Psychology
• Research Methods in Psychology

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 Definition of Psychology
• The word “Psychology "comes from the two Greek
words. These are:
 psyche, which translates as “soul” or “sprit”, ”mind”
and
 logos, which means the study, knowledge or
discourse.
“ the study of the mind/soul/sprit”
represented by the Greek letter ᴪ (psi) which is read
as("sy")
psychology is a scientific study of behavior and its
underlying mental process of human beings and animals.5
 Think
• What does that mean?
• Does it mean the same thing to
everyone? NO!!

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 Key words in the definition
Science
 Follow scientific procedures and use empirical
data to study behavior and mental processes.
 Psychology does not rely on common sense or
speculation
Behavior
 All of our out ward or overt actions and reactions
,such as talking, facial expressions,
movement ,etc.
 There is also covert behavior which is hidden,
non- observable and generally considered as a
mental process
Mental processes
 Refer to all the internal, covert activities of our
 Cont…

Psychologists strive to understand the

mysteries of human nature—why
people think, feel, and act as they do
Why do we do what we do?
Why do we think what we think?
Why do we feel what we feel?
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 Review
• “Scientific study of behavior and
its causes.”
– Overt (directly observable) and
covert behaviors
• Psychologists study:
– How you act (behavior/overt)
– How you think (mental/covert)
– How you feel (covert & overt)
– How your brain and body respond
(physiological/covert)
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Psychologists also study animal
behavior;
It purposes:
It is ethically forbidden to conduct
experiment on human beings.
 Conclusions obtained from experiments
on animal behavior are usually
applicable to human behavior
 To formulate theories, laws &
principles that govern human behavior
To determine laws of behavior that
apply to all organisms
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 Goals of Psychology

Description: what is happening?

Explanation: why it is happening?
Prediction: When will it happen again?
 Controlling: How can it be changed?

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 Description
 it involves observing the behavior and
noticing everything about it.
 Every behaviour has its own way of occurring
 In describing behaviour, a psychologist
focuses on how behaviour occurs.
 It is a search for answers for questions like
• What is happening?
• Where does it happen?
• To whom does it happen?‘ and
• Under what circumstances does it seem to
happen?.
 Explanation
 In explanation of behaviour, a psychologist
becomes concerned about why behaviour
occurs as it does
 Every behaviour has its own causes. No
behaviour occurs without a cause.
 It is about trying to find reasons for the
observed behavior.
 This helps in the process of forming theories
of behavior (A theory is a general
explanation of a set of observations or facts).
 Prediction
 Prediction is about determining what will
happen in the future
 involves forecasting the likelihood of a
behaviour under certain circumstances.
 Prediction of behaviours is possible through
the use of theories or principles

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 Control ( Modification)
 How can it be changed? Control or modify
or change the behavior from undesirable one
to a desirable one).
 involves changing a behaviour which is anti
social or unacceptable.
 For healthy functioning of society and the
individual, these kind of negative
(maladaptive ) behaviours should be avoided
 In psychology, there are psychological
techniques to help an individual avoid a
maladaptive behaviour.
 Historical Roots of Psychology
• Psychology has its roots in philosophy and physiology
• Philosophers had asked questions about human emotions,
thoughts and behavior. They had tried to deduce answers
to their questions by applying logic and common sense
reasoning philosophers did not always make deduction
successfully.
• who contributed to the Development of Psychology
Hippocrates (460-377 B.C)- emotion(body humor)
Plato (428-348 B.C)_intelligence (inborn/inherited)
Aristotle (382-322 B.C)_thinking (heart)
Rene Descartes (1556-1650 A.D)_mind/body
John Locke (English Philosopher)_tabula rasa 16
 Empiricists (a group of philosophers who believed a
pursuit of truth through observation and experience)
Nativism (group of philosophers who believed a
knowledge is inborn or inherited)
• Physiologists were especially influential in
providing a new understanding of the brain and
the nervous system, and the way in which these
structures affect behavior.

It was the union between the questions asked by the

philosophers and the careful scientific
experimentation of the physiologists that led to the
field of study we call psychology. 17
Different Definitions of Psychology

- Different people in the past and different

people today hold a wide variety of views as
to what psychology is and what it should
study.

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 Major Perspective in Psychology
Early Schools of Psychology
Structuralism
• developed by Edward Bradford Titchener.
• Wilhelm Wundt, who established the first scientific
laboratory of psychology in Leipzig in 1879, and
believed that human mind could be scientifically
studied.
• Task of Psychology
– is to identify the basic elements of
consciousness (image, feelings & sensation)
– to find out the units or elements,which make up the
mind
• Methods: Introspection (looking in ward into our
consciousness)
Functionalism
• founded by William James (1848-1910)
which proposed that, the function of the
mind, not the structure.
Task of Psychology
is to investigate the function, or purpose,
of consciousness rather than its structure
psychological processes are adaptive.
They allow humans to survive and to adapt
successfully to their surroundings.
Method
questionnaires, mental tests and objective
descriptions of behavior
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 Gestalt psychology
- Founders of this schools of thought are
 Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)
Task of Psychology
mind should be thought of as resulting from the whole
pattern
Psychology as a study of the whole mind
Argued that the mind is not made up of combinations
of elements.
The mind should be thought of as a result of the whole
pattern of sensory activity and the relationships and
organizations within their pattern
Methods
are Naïve Introspection and experimentation
 Behaviorism
- Founder-John B. Watson (1878-1958)
Task of psychology
Behaviorists view psychology as a study of
observable and measurable behaviors.
Three important characteristics; conditioned
response, learned rather than unlearned behaviors,
and focus on animal behavior
Methods
- are Observation and Experimentation
 Psychoanalysis
• founded by a Viennese physician Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939).
Task of Psychology
 psychology studies about the components of the
unconscious part of the human mind.
The unconscious which is the subject matter of
psychoanalys is contains hidden wishes, passions, guilty
secrets, unspeakable yearnings, and conflict between
desire and duty.
Methods
- free association, dream interpretation, analysis of
slip of tongue, jokes, and Transference

The mind is like an iceberg in that only a small

part of its substance is visible
 Modern Perspectives in Psychology
Psychodyn
amic

Humanistic Behavioral

Cognitive Biological

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 Modern Perspectives in Psychology
Psychodynamic perspective

 It has its origins in Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, but many

other psychodynamic theories exist.
 This perspective emphasizes the unconscious dynamics
within the individual such as inner forces, conflicts or instinctual
energy.
 The psychodynamic approach emphasizes:
 The influence of unconscious mental behavior on every
day behavior
 The role of childhood experiences in shaping adult
personality
 The role of intrapersonal conflict in determining human
behavior
• Psychodynamic perspective tries to dig below the surface of a
person's behavior to get into unconscious motives
• Psychodynamists think of themselves as archaeologists of
 Behavioral Perspective
• It emphasizes the role learning experiences play in
shaping the behavior of an organism.
• It is concerned with how the environment affects
the person‘s actions.
• Behaviorists focus on environmental conditions(e.g.
rewards, and punishments) that maintain or
discourage specific behaviors.
• Also called the "black box“ approach in psychology
because it treats the mind as less useful in
understanding human behavior and focus on what
goes into and out of the box, but not on the
processes that take place inside
• This means, behaviorists are only interested in the
effects of the environment (input) on behavior
(output) but not in the process inside the box.
 Humanistic Perspective

 Human behavior is not determined either by

unconscious dynamics or the environment.
 Rather it emphasizes the uniqueness of human
beings and focuses on human values and
subjective experiences.
 This perspective places greater importance on
the individual‘s free will.
 The goal of humanistic psychology was helping
people to express themselves creatively and
achieve their full potential or self- actualization
(developing the human potential to its fullest).
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 Cognitive Perspective
• It emphasizes what goes on in people's heads; how
people reason, remember, understand language, solve
problems, explain experiences and form beliefs.
• This perspective is concerned about the mental
processes.
• The most important contribution of this perspective has
been to show how people's thoughts and explanations
affect their actions, feelings, and choices.
• Techniques used to explore behavior from a cognitive
perspective include electrical recording of brain activity,
electrical stimulation and radioactive tracing of metabolic
activity in the nervous system.
 Biological Perspective

• It focuses on studying how bodily events or functioning

of the body affects behavior, feelings, and thoughts.
• It holds that the brain and the various brain chemicals
affect psychological processes such as learning,
performance, perception of reality, the experience of
emotions, etc.
• This perspective underscores that biology and behavior
interact in a complex way; biology affecting behavior
and behavior in turn affecting biology.
• It also emphasizes the idea that we are physical
beings who evolved over along time and that genetic
heritage can predispose us to behaving in a certain
way.
Socio-cultural Perspective

• It focuses on the social and cultural

factors that affects human behavior.
• Cultural psychologists also examine how
cultural rules and values (both explicit
and unspoken) affect people's
development, behavior, and feelings.
• This perspective holds that humans are
both the products and the producers of
culture, and our behavior always occurs
in some cultural contexts.
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 Branches of Psychology

Psychology
Developmental
Educational
Counselling
Personality
Industrial
Forensic
Health
Social
Clinical 31
 Branches of Psychology

Psychology is a broad field, there are many specialization

under its umbrella

Developmental Psychology
 Studies how people develop overtime thorough the
process of maturation and learning.
 studies age related changes through the life span
 Aspects of Development( Physical, Cognitive, Social, etc)
 Stages of Development (Infancy, Babyhood, childhood,
adolescence, adulthood, old age)
 It attempts to examine the major developmental
milestones that occur at different stages of development.
 Cont…
Educational Psychology
• Concerned with the application of psychological
principles and theories in improving the
educational process including curriculum,
teaching, and administration of academic
programs.

Counselling Psychology
• Helps individuals with less severe problems
than those treated by clinical psychologists.
• Assists people on issues of personal adjustment,
vocational and career planning, family life and
may work in schools, hospitals, clinics or offices
 Cont…
Personality Psychology
• It focuses on the relatively enduring traits and
characteristics of individuals.
• Study topics such as self-concept, aggression,
moral development, etc.
• Studies individual differences in personality and
their effects on behaviour

Industrial (Organizational) Psychology

 Studies human behaviour in the workplace and
how behaviour affects production
 Applies psychological principles in industries and
organizations to increase the productivity of that
organization.
 Cont…
Social Psychology
 It studies the role of social forces in
governing individual behaviour.
 Examines the ways in which the pattern of
a person’s feeling, thinking and acting is
affected by others
 Deals with people‘s social interactions,
relationships, social perception, and
attitudes.
 Cont…
Cross-cultural Psychology
 Examines the role of culture in
understanding behavior, thought, and
emotion.
 It compares the nature of psychological
processes in different cultures, with a
special interest in whether or not
psychological phenomena are universal or
culture-specific.
Forensic psychology
 Applies psychological principles to improve
the legal system (police, testimony, etc..).
 Cont…
Health Psychology
 Applies psychological principles to the
prevention and treatment of physical
illness and diseases.

Clinical Psychology
 Is a field that applies psychological
principles to the prevention, diagnosis,
and treatment of psychological disorders.
 Research Methods in Psychology

Definition of Terms
• Research: Is a scientific method of
gathering and testifying data by applying
different methods and making conclusion
and prediction of the phenomenon.
• Theory: is a statement which is
generalized from scientific study and
which explains the relationship among
variables.
– It is an integrated set of principles
helpful to organize, explain and predict
events. 38
• Hypothesis: is any statement or assumption
that serves as a possible but tentative
explanation of certain observation.
– It is an educated guess that can be tested.
– It is a statement of cause and effect
relationship.
– It is useful to guide a study.
• Variables : are constructs that vary or
change.
– There are two events or constructs.
– The variation of one construct may be
followed by the variation of another
construct. 39
• Population: is a group of subjects
(universe) under study.
– For example, children under 5 year of
age; primary school children in Sidama
Zone.

• Sample: is a small portion of a population

that is expected to be representative of
the population (universe).
– Sample is better required than
population for different reasons.
– Why sample? 40
 Cont…
• Scientific method: a process of testing
ideas through systematic observations,
experimentations, and statistical analysis.
• Theory: is an integrated set of principles
about observed facts that is intended to
describe and explain some aspects of
experience.
• Hypotheses: is a tentative proposition
about the relationship between two or
more variables or phenomena.
E.g. Males have high self-confidence in
making decisions than females.
 Major Types Of Research Methods
Descriptive research methods
 In this type of research, the researcher simply
records what she/he has systematically
observed.
 Include naturalistic observation, case studies,
and surveys.
Correlational research methods
 Is are search method that measures the
relationship between two or more variables
Experimental Research
 It is are search method that allows researchers
to study the cause and effect relationship
1. Naturalistic Observation
• A researcher engages in careful observation of
behavior without intervening directly with the
subjects.
• A research method in which various aspects of
behavior carefully observed in the setting where
such behavior naturally occurs.
• it allows researchers to study behavior under
conditions that are less artificial than in
experiments.
2. Case Study
• is an in-depth investigation of an individual
subject.
• is an intensive study of a person or group. Most
case studies combine long-term observations with
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3. Survey
• use questionnaires or interviews to gather
information about specific aspects of participants’
background and behavior.
• One of the most practical ways to gather data on
the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of
large numbers of people is through surveys.
4. Longitudinal Studies
• It studies the same group of people at regular
intervals over a period of years to determine
whether their behavior and/or feelings have
changed and if so, how.
5. Cross-Sectional Studies
• People studied from different age groups at same
time point. 44
 6. Correlations
• studying the relationship between two variables
such as between weight and height, chewing chat
and score, and age and academic achievement.
• The correlation coefficient is a numerical index of
the degree of relationship between two variables. A
correlation coefficient indicates
(1) the direction (positive or negative) of the
RXnship
(2) how strongly the two variables are related.
(1)
• A positive correlation indicates that two variables
co-vary in the same direction.
• A negative correlation indicates that two variables
co-vary in the opposite direction.
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• the size of the coefficient indicates the
strength of an association between two
variables. The coefficient can vary
between 0 and 1.00 (if positive) or
between 0 and 1.00 (if negative).
• A coefficient near 0 indicates no
relationship between the variables.

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 7. Experimental Method
• allows researchers to detect cause-and-
effect relationships.
• the investigator manipulates a variable
under carefully controlled conditions and
observes whether any changes occur in
a second variable as a result.
• There are two types of variables:
independent and dependent.

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• The independent variable : is a
condition or event that an experimenter
varies in order to see its impact on
another variable.
• The dependent variable: is the
variable that is thought to be affected by
manipulation of the independent
variable.
Example
1) the number of hours you study affects
your performance on an exam.
2) the effect of watching violence TV
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program on children behavior.
• In an experiment the investigator
typically assembles two groups of
subjects who are treated differently
with regard to the independent
variable. These two groups are
referred to as the experimental group
and the control group.
a) The experimental group consists of
the subjects who receive some
special treatment in regard to the
independent variable.
b) The control group consists of similar
subjects who do not receive the 49
 Steps of Scientific Research
Step One- Defining the Problem
 Noticing something attention catching in
the surrounding for which one would like to
have an explanation.
Step Two-Formulating the Hypothesis
 after having an observation on
surroundings (perceiving the problem),you
might form an educated guess about the
explanation for your observations, putting it
into the form of a statement that can be
tested in someway.
 Cont..

Step Three-Testing the Hypothesis

 At this step, the researcher employs appropriate
research methods and collects ample data
(information) to accept or reject the proposed
statement.
Step Four- Drawing Conclusions
 This is the step in which the researcher attempts
to make generalizations or draw implications
from tested relationship
Step Five-Reporting Results
 At this point, the researcher would want to write
up exactly whats he/he did, why she/he did, and
what she/he found.
 Reading Assignment
• What were the chief tenets of structuralism and
functionalism?
• What did Freud have to say about the
unconscious and sexuality, and why were his
ideas so controversial?
• What was the main idea underlying behaviorism?
• How do clinical psychology and psychiatry differ?
• Why study psychology? Why is psychology
important for medicine?
See you next week…