This document discusses several major approaches in psychology, including biological, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive, evolutionary, and sociocultural approaches. It also covers different types of psychological research methods like descriptive research, correlational research, experimental research, and discusses key aspects of conducting ethical research.

1. Contemporary Approaches
• Biological
• Behavioral
• Psychodynamic
• Humanistic
• Cognitive
• Evolutionary
• Sociocultural
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2. Biological Approach
• Focus on brain and nervous system
• Neuroscience
• Structure, function, development, genetics, bioch
emistry of nervous system
• Brain and nervous system are central to
understanding behavior, thought, and emotion
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3. Behavioral Approach
• Emphasis on observable behavioral responses
and their environmental determinants
• Chapter 5
• Notable behaviorists
• John B. Watson (1878-1958)
• B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
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4. Psychodynamic Approach
• Emphasis on:
• Unconscious impulses
• Conflict between biological drives and society
• Childhood family experiences
• Founding father:
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
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5. Humanistic Approach
• Emphasis on:
• Positive human qualities
• Capacity for positive growth
• Freedom to choose any destiny
• Notable humanistic psychologists
• Carl Rogers (1961)
• Abraham Maslow (1971)
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6. Cognitive Approach
• Emphasis on mental processes involved in
knowing
• How we:
• Direct attention
• Perceive, remember, think
• Solve problems
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7. Evolutionary Approach
• Use of evolutionary ideas such as:
• Adaptation
• Reproduction
• Natural selection
• Used as a basis for explaining specific human
behaviors
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8. Sociocultural Approach
• Examination of ways in which social and
cultural environments influence behavior
• Focus on comparisons of behavior across:
• Countries
• Ethnic and cultural groups within countries
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9. Types of Psychological Research
• Descriptive research
• Finding out about some variable
• Correlational research
• Discovering relationships between variables
• Experimental research
• Establishing causal relationships
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10. Descriptive Research
• Describing some phenomemon, without
answering questions of how and why
• Observation
• Surveys and interviews
• Case studies- also known as case histories
they are an in-depth look at a single individual
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11. Correlational Research
• Examining whether and how variables are
related and change together
• Correlation Coefficient: -1.00 ≤ r ≤ 1.00
• Strength: Number
• Direction: Sign
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12. Figure 1.4 - Scatter Plots Showing
Positive and Negative Correlations
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13. Correlation and Causation
• Correlation ≠ causation
• Third variable problem
• Some other variable accounts for relationship
between two variables
• Third variables also called confounds
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14. Longitudinal Designs
• Obtaining measures of variables of interest in
multiple waves over time
• Can suggest potential causal relationships
• Causal variable would come first in time
• Causal relationships are not completely clear
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15. Experimental Research
• Determining whether causal relationship
exists between variables
• Experiment
• Manipulation of one or more variables that are
believed to influence some other variable
• Random Assignment
• Researchers assign participants to groups by
chance
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16. Experiments and Causation
• Random assignment helps establish causation
• Independent variables  manipulated
• Dependent variables  measured
• Experimental groups
• Experience manipulation
• Control groups
• Serve as baseline for comparison
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17. Experimental Research: Validity
• External validity
• Do experimental results apply, or generalize, to
real world?
• Internal validity
• Are changes in dependent variables due to
independent variables?
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18. Experimental Research: Bias
• Experimenter bias
• Demand characteristics
• Research participant bias
• Placebo effect
• Double-blind experiment
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19. Research Samples
• Population: entire group of individuals of interest
• Sample: a small selection of the population chosen
by the researcher for the study.
• Random samples likely to be representative of
population
• To allow generalizing of research results
• Every member of the population an equal chance
of being selected.
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20. Research Settings
• Laboratory research
• Control, but with some drawbacks
• One major drawback is that it is difficult to
generalize findings to real world
• Naturalistic observation
• Real-world setting
• Major drawback is that it is difficult to control and
view the behavior of interest
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21. Ethical Research
• History: World War II
• Research participants have certain rights
• Human participants
• Animal research
• Institutional review board (IRB)- must go
through each institutions review board and be
approved before conducting research.
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22. APA Ethics Guidelines
• Informed consent- participants must be aware of what
they are getting into
• Confidentiality- participants private information must be
protected and secure
• Debriefing- informing participants of the purpose of the
research and the methods used as well as answering any
questions
• Deception- when you lie to a participant, before or
during the study, about something being done in the
study. This is allowed but only under special
circumstances and always when the research is
concluded a debriefing follows.
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document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or 22
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23. Participation Activity
• You may leave when your group finishes the activity.
• Remember if someone is not present in your group
then do not place their name on the assignment.
• Write 2 multiple choice questions from the
lecture and answer the questions.
• Provide an explanation as to why it is the
correct answer.
• Questions need to be from different topics
covered today.
© 2013 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized
instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This
document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or 23
posted on a website, in whole or part.