You are viewing a complimentary preview of this book. For options to unlock the full book, please login or visit our catalog to create a FlatWorld Account and see purchase options.
Introduction to Psychology

v4.0 Charles Stangor and Sue Frantz

Chapter 1 Welcome to Psychology

is the scientific study of mind and behavior. The word psychology comes from the Greek words psyche, meaning life, and logos, meaning explanation. Psychology is a popular major for students, a popular topic in the public media, and a part of our everyday lives. While television may not always accurately depict the work of psychologists, shows such as Hoarders, Summer House, and The Real Housewives of the Potomac feature psychologists who provide personal advice to those with personal or family difficulties. Other shows including The Good Doctor, Sex EducationAtypical, and Insecure deal with the psychological issues of their characters. Crime dramas such as Mindhunter, Criminal Minds, and others feature the work of forensic psychologists who use psychological principles to help solve crimes. And many people have direct knowledge about psychology because they have visited psychologists or counselors—for instance, school psychologists; family therapists; and religious, marriage, or bereavement counselors.

Because we are frequently exposed to the work of psychologists in our everyday lives, we all have an idea about what psychology is and what psychologists do. In many ways, your conceptions are correct. Psychologists do work in forensic fields, and they do provide counseling and therapy for people in distress. But there are many types of work psychologists do. There are hundreds of thousands of psychologists around the world, working together to learn about human behavior and to help people who are in psychological distress cope with their difficulties. Psychology is a fast-growing global effort that aims to understand how people think and act, and to create a better world for all of us.

Most psychologists work in research laboratories, hospitals, and other field settings where they study the behavior of humans and animals. For instance, psychologists study such diverse topics as how college students learn new material, the interpretation of dreams, the effects of caffeine on thinking, how birds recognize each other, how people from different cultures react differently in negotiation, and the factors that lead people to engage in terrorism. Other psychologists study such topics as alcohol and drug addiction; memory; emotion; hypnosis; love; what makes people aggressive or helpful; and the psychologies of politics, prejudice, culture, and religion. Psychologists also work in healthcare settings, schools, and businesses, and they use a variety of methods—including observation, questionnaires, interviews, and laboratory studies—to help them understand behavior.

This chapter provides an introduction to the broad field of psychology and the many approaches that psychologists take to understanding human behavior. We will consider how psychologists conduct scientific research, with an overview of some of the most important approaches used and topics studied by psychologists, and also consider the variety of fields in which psychologists work. We may find that at least some of our preconceptions about psychology will be challenged and changed, and we will learn that psychology is a field that provides us with new ways of thinking about our own thoughts, feelings, and actions.

The COVID-19 health crisis brought dramatic changes to the field of psychology, just as it has affected everyone else’s daily lives. For psychologists who work in university settings, their buildings closed and their students moved online. It was difficult and potentially dangerous to conduct in-person research. The demand for the services provided by psychologists who work in the areas of mental health increased dramatically. Many psychologists started conducting therapy sessions online. It is not yet known how psychology will change as a result of the coronavirus. Will psychologists develop new ways of treating psychological disorders using virtual tools on a mass scale? Will there be more funding for psychological research on stress, coping, and happiness? Will the coronavirus cause a turning point in the history of psychology? We will consider these questions in the chapters to come.

Figure 1.1 The Science of Behavior

Psychology is, in large part, the study of behavior. Why do you think these people are behaving the way they are behaving?

A couple sitting on the couch ignoring each other, each on their phones; a family hiking; coworkers in masks in an office; a woman in a wheelchair at smiling at her physical therapist.

In addition to learning about its content, our study of psychology provides us with another important benefit. Psychologists think carefully and critically about the world around them. They systematically differentiate opinions that are based on values and preconceptions from those that are based on rational, scientific, and empirical evidence. The ability to make appropriate judgments and decisions based on available information is known as critical thinking. According to the American Psychological Association (2013), these are some of the traits good critical thinkers have:

  1. Tolerant of ambiguity

  2. Open-minded

  3. Curious

  4. Amiably skeptical

  5. Persistent

  6. Collaborative

  7. Careful

  8. Inventive

The ability to think critically is a strong predictor of  future success, including performance in postgraduate education and in a career. By the end of this course, we will be stronger critical thinkers.