Introduction to Psychology: Understanding the Basis of Psychology and Scientific Methods

The report is an attempt to understand psychology. The report helps to understand the basis of psychology. Beginning with the introduction of the subject and the reason it is referred to as science the report discusses the scientific methods. The report examines the idea that makes psychology a science. The report talks about two scientific methods that are used by a psychologist which are field method and case study. In the report, two case studies are included that helps to understand the various approaches of psychology and the ethics of psychological research.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
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1INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Executive summary:
The report is an attempt to understand psychology. The report helps to understand the basis of
psychology. Beginning with the introduction of the subject and the reason it is referred to as
science the report discusses the scientific methods. The report examines the idea that makes
psychology a science. The report talks about two scientific methods that are used by a
psychologist which are field method and case study. In the report, two case studies are included
that helps to understand the various approaches of psychology and the ethics of psychological
research.

2INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Section 1:.........................................................................................................................................3
The scientific method..................................................................................................................3
The reason that makes psychology a science:.............................................................................3
The benefit of scientific research for psychological validity:.....................................................4
Section 2:.........................................................................................................................................4
Experimental method...................................................................................................................4
Non-experimental method...........................................................................................................5
Section 3:.........................................................................................................................................6
Section 4:.........................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................9
References:....................................................................................................................................10

3INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Introduction:
The human mind is the most complicated part of the human body. It is yet to discover the
ultimate capability of the human mind (Hume 2016). The study of the human mind is has been
performed in various ways and psychology is one of it. Psychology is a scientific study that
studies the impact of human mind specifically that affect human behavior. The report is a
demonstration of the understanding of psychological research. The report consists of four
sections that each separate explaining parts regarding psychology and the knowledge of its
research procedure.
Section 1:
The scientific method
The scientific method can be defined as an empirical method of knowledge acquisition in
which the development of natural science since the 17th century is characterized. The scientific
method is a systematic process that is organized to help to answer a question or solve a problem.
Collectively over time by the usage of the scientific method a reliable, consistent and non-
arbitrary representation of any aspect is constructed. More straightforwardly the scientific
method is a systematic way of learning about the world and answering questions. The way
scientific method differs from the other ways of acquiring knowledge is the forming of a
hypothesis followed by an experiment to test it (Hair et al. 2015).

4INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
The reason that makes psychology a science:
The reason that makes psychology a science is due to the fact that it follows the empirical
method. Any endeavour’s scientific status is determined by its method of investigation regardless
of what is studied, by whom it is studied and when it was studied (Csikszentmihalyi 2014).
Every science uses empirical methods, and it emphasizes objectives and precise measurement.
Although like other social sciences psychology does not give out a precise measurement, it has
its ways of using empirical evidence and its findings are referred to as scientific (Kaplan 2017).
The benefit of scientific research for psychological validity:
The science of psychology is beneficial to society, and it helps in enhancing human lives.
Psychologist relies on scientific methods to create new knowledge in regard to human behavior.
Also, the emphasis made on the empirically observable compelled psychology to change its
name from ‘the study of mind’ to ‘the study of behavior’. Data and theory are important
components of scientific knowledge. Psychology is based on theory as well as data to make
complete sense of human behavior therefore, it minimizes the influence of bias or prejudice of
the researcher. The goals psychology tries to achieve are to describe, explain, predict and control
behavior and a mental process can be achieved by scientific methods (Horvath, Lodge and Hattie
2016).
Section 2:
Several Common methods are used in a scientific research which mainly depends on the
question that the researcher wishes to find and the philosophy that is underpinned with the view
of research. In this report, two scientific method has been discussed that are under the broad
concept of experimental methods and non-experimental.

5INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Experimental method
Experimental method is the usage of logic and principles found in natural sciences
researches.. The method of manipulating conditions for some research participants by the
researchers but not others and then compares the group in order to observe any occurrence of
change is called the experimental research (Cohen, West and Aiken 2014).
Field experiment is one of the experimental methods that are adopted while conducting
psychological research. The field experiments are performed in everyday environment of the
participants (Denzin 2017). In a field experiment, due to the natural setting the behavior
observed in a natural experiment is expected to reflect real life. The researcher directly observes
the participants, records notes for an extended period of time. It is hard to demand particular type
of behavior as the participants may not know that they are being studied. The field experiment
has some drawbacks such as the cost involved in conducting a field research might be very high.
Also, there is no control over the variables and while the observation is conducted the researcher
might develop a bias perception (Ferraro and Price 2013).
Non-experimental method
Non-experimental method is referred to the study that cannot be controlled, manipulated
or altered by the researcher. In non-experimental method researchers relies on interpretation,
observation or interaction to reach the conclusion (Rockers et al. 2015).
One of the non-experimental methods widely used in research is case study. Case study
examines various features in a particular case. It can be either individual or group. Case study
can be of organization, movements, events or geographical units as well (Kratochwill et al.
2013). Case study can be defined as the research that is an in-depth examination of information

6INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
of an extensive amount that deals with limited units and cases. The study can be n a specific
duration of time or across multiple period of time.
Section 3:
According to the case study, the 13 years old child is acting in an aggressive manner
which is making her mother worried. Along with her son she is seeing behavioral changes in her
daughter as well. Here the element that can be found are the aggressive behavior of Luke and the
behavior change observed in Kate.
There are various approaches adopted by psychologist to explain human behavior.
Biological, psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive and behavioral are the approaches that are
mostly adopted. Each approach is scientific methods and tried depending on the type of cases. In
the present case of Luke and his behavior three of the approaches can be used to understand his
behavior.
Luke is 13 years old, the reasons for his behavior could be his environment by which he
learns that getting aggressive is appropriate. Environment plays a significant role in human
behavior. The aggressive nature of Luke can be due to biological reasons or the reason for his
aggressive behavior is related to his inner self. It is possible that biological reasons are the cause
of his aggressive behavior that he seem to manifest.
Behaviorist approach: according to behaviorist approach, a human is controlled by its
environment and it is the impact that has a strong impact on the way a person behaves. It is
important to analysis the environment of Luke which includes the places where he spends most
of his time. Observing the environment can help explaining if Luke is impacted by his
environment or not for his aggressive behavior (Glenn et al. 2016).

7INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Since behaviorism believes in scientific methodology the strength of this approach is that
it will measure the observable behavior. However the only negative part of this approach is that
it does not belive that human can have free will. Therefore Luke’s behavior cannot be seen as his
free will of being aggressive in nature but it is the environment that will have the answer for his
behavior.
Humanism: according to humanistic perspective, an individual’s behavior is connected to
the self-image. Although Luke is only 13 years old, it is possible he has built his self-image as an
aggressive person. The building of self-image will require further investigation such as what
made him build his self-image as an aggressive person which could be the games he play, people
he mingle or any other reason (Parker 2014.).
The benefit for using this approach to analyses Luke’s behavior is that it will help in
finding out the self-image Luke have built within himself about himself. It will help identifying
the negative images that he has of himself and eliminate them accordingly.
Biological approach: the biological approach is considered for Luke is for the reason that
there can be possibilities of his genetics to play the key role in his behavior. According to
biological approach humans behaviors are inherited and the genes tend to affect the behavior.
Therefore, it is important to consider the genetics factors approaching Luke’s behavior pattern
(Inhelder Sinclair and Bovet 2014).
Biological approach explains behaviors in neurological terms which involve the structure
of the brain and how it influences behavior. The biological approach is one of the most scientific
method and gives reliable information. Usages of the biological approach help understanding if
the behavior of Luke is inherited or if he possesses any mental illness.

8INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Section 4:
The field experiment was conducted by Professor Rosenthal of Harvard University and
Jacobson who is the principal of an elementary school. The experiments were conducted to
determine the impact of teachers’ expectation on students’ performance. However, the
experiment was successful and the results were obtained as per the expectation.
The study conducted was not ethical. There are several unethical acts that were
performed by the researchers there are several guidelines that are needed to be followed while
conducting any psychological research (Gelso, Nutt Williams and Fretz 2014). Ethics in
psychological research are:
 Rights and well-being of the participants: The rights and well-being of the participants
should be weighed against the value of the study to science.
 Participants should be informed about the study as they are the subject that would
represent the behavior.
 Deception must be justified.
 Participant should be able to make decisions regarding being the participant of the study
 Protection of the participants from any kind of explicitly of risk
 Participants must be informed by the investigators about the true nature and purpose of
the study.
 Data must remain confidential (Allan 2016).
In this study, violation of several ethics has been observed. The researchers randomly
selected the participants without the consent of the participants. Every participant have the right
to be informed. Therefore, it was unethical of the investigators to carry out the study without
informing the participants. The experiment conducted on the participants has explicitly of risks.

9INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
The students were mentally pressured by showing that their teachers have too much hope on
them which is why the result was positive. This was an unethical decision made by the
investigators. Participants were not allowed to leave the study since they were not informed
about the study.
Conclusion:
At the end of the report, it can be concluded that the learning outcomes regarding
psychology were interesting. Psychology is a scientific study of the human mind. It studies the
human mind in term of human behavior. Psychology is referred to as the science on human mind
since it studies the impact of the human mind human behavior. It uses scientific methods of
analyzing and finding information regarding human behavior along with testing them. There are
various approaches used by psychologists to understand the behavior of humans. In this report as
mentioned above, there are essential approaches that are used to understand human behavior. It is
also important to undertake ethical guideline before any psychological experiments are
conducted.

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References:
Allan, A., 2016. Law and ethics in psychology: An international perspective.
Cohen, P., West, S.G. and Aiken, L.S., 2014. Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis
for the behavioral sciences. Psychology Press.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., 2014. Toward a psychology of optimal experience. In Flow and the
foundations of positive psychology (pp. 209-226). Springer, Dordrecht.
Denzin, N.K., 2017. The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods.
Routledge.
Ferraro, P.J. and Price, M.K., 2013. Using nonpecuniary strategies to influence behavior:
evidence from a large-scale field experiment. Review of Economics and Statistics, 95(1), pp.64-
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Gelso, C.J., Nutt Williams, E. and Fretz, B.R., 2014. Counseling psychology. American
Psychological Association.
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Todorov, J.C., Tourinho, E.Z. and Vasconcelos, L.A., 2016. Toward consistent terminology in a
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11INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Hume, D., 2016. An enquiry concerning human understanding. In Seven Masterpieces of
Philosophy (pp. 191-284). Routledge.
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(Psychology Revivals). Psychology Press.
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