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Learning objectives

When you have mastered the material in this chapter you will be able to:

1. Define the terms psychology and behavior and identify the major goals of psychology. (p. 3)

1. Identify the similarities and differences in the training and specialization of psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychoanalysts, (p. 5)

1. Identify the kinds of psychologists working in the various subfields of psychology, describe some of the specific job opportunities available in psychology, and make a distinction between the primary concerns of experimental and applied psychologists. (P-7)

1. Describe the five traditional approaches to psychology and identify the approach used by most modern psychologists, (p. 13)

1. Make a distinction between cause-and-effect relationships and correlations and identify the conditions that must be met when determining causality, (p. 16)

1. Describe the typical psychology experiment, (p. 18)

1. Describe four techniques that psychologists use to gather information about no causal relationships among variables, (p. 21)

1. Give some examples of how knowledge obtained through basic science has contributed to psychologists' understanding and ability to help with day-to-day behavior problems, (p. 24)

1. Explain why the application of research findings requires time and caution, (p. 25)

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What is psychology?

Jared Burger was an easygoing, likeable fellow. A ready smile, a fast joke, and a genuinely warm personality characterized his day-to-day interactions. Most people assumed that Jared's inner life was tranquil. Indeed, until he reached his late twenties, it was calm. But on his twenty-ninth birthday he began to question whether perhaps his sales position was getting boring. It was just after his thirtieth birthday that he began to question his feelings about developing the large family he and his wife Lydia had always planned. He was beginning to feel that his two children were more than enough. There were other doubts. Jared's easy jump shot on the court was fading; he developed occasional backaches after raking the lawn. His increasing boredom at his job was showing in his monthly sales reports. Accordingly, his salary stayed about the same from year to year. Jared had always felt confident about himself and his future; now, he began to feel a sense of despair and lacked his usual hopeful attitude.

Jared's inner doubts were beginning to show; his wife noticed that he was growing grumpy. He wasn't eating well and often couldn't sleep. His kids found that he was always putting them off. Lydia urged him to talk about his irritability, but Jared always denied that anything was wrong. Lydia was persistent - eventually Jared disclosed some of his fears and doubts, and his growing sense of inadequacy. After a couple of months thinking about his past and his future, feeling confused and trying to "get his head together," Jared realized that he needed some help from an objective outsider. Jared knew that he had personal and career problems which were not easily resolved. In many ways he was facing a turning point in his life.

Everyone has problems to solve through life. Sometimes the problems are minor ones, like which stereo system to buy. In some ways, that's a fun problem. But people face decisions that sometimes alter the course of their future in important and permanent ways. Like Jared, people often face career decisions. Often these decisions

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are not easily resolved and the help of outside professionals is sought - for Jared, the professional of choice might be a licensed counseling psychologist.

The process of self-discovery and change can be difficult, as it was for Jared. Some people may find it tempting to put aside uncomfortable problems, thoughts, and feelings. But everyone eventually needs insight into behavior and a way to share feelings, hopes, and aspirations as well as problems. Humans have the unique ability to observe their own behavior and to think about the past and future. This capacity for self-reflection sometimes makes us uncomfortable, but it can also produce positive change. As we learn through life. Sometimes and grow, we can, like Jared, go on to new and more fulfilling experiences.

To help people better understand themselves, psychologists study behavior to discover facts and underlying patterns and to infer principles of behavior. Psychology is the science of behavior. Behavior refers to every aspect of an organism's functioning - overt actions, mental, emotional, and physiological functioning. Human behavior is complex; no single rule, theory, or explanation can account for everything a person feels, thinks, or does. But having some basic principles of behavior to go by can help people understand themselves better and thus exert some control over their lives, making their lives happier and more productive. Later chapters will show how these principles of behavior have been put to practical use in everyday life. For example, treatment procedures for tension headaches, devised by clinical psychologists in the laboratory, are widely used (as discussed in Chapters 4 and 15); and research in laboratories and hospital settings has shown that a special bond formed between parents and newborns can promote healthy emotional growth in children (as discussed in Chapters 5 and 7).

Many psychologists consider their field to be an applied discipline. They see psychology as a problem-solving science. People have problems with their behavior and they need help; others would like to better manage their life-styles through

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changes in behavior. In either case, these psychologists view psychology as an applied science, a problem-solving science. For other psychologists, psychology is a research discipline - one that aims through research to uncover scientific principles of behavior. There is no question that, to understand behavior, the discipline of psychology has become heavily research oriented. The aim of researchers is to uncover, explore, and understand principles of behavior. Psychologists try to measure and describe behavior in a scientific way, using verifiable observations and carefully controlled research methods. Because behavior is not always directly observable, they must sometimes infer the thinking processes, emotions, and motivations behind the behavior they observe, using both human and animal subjects to obtain controlled observations. From their research, psychologists have developed many theories and models to explain various aspects of behavior. These theories are examined in the research profile found in each chapter of this text. As you study these theories, try to evaluate them: do they help people understand behavior and cope with life and its demands?

Whether they view psychology as an applied science or as a basic research science, psychologists study behavior. In doing so, they gain information about basic behavior processes and about behaviors that will help practitioners solve day-to-day problems. In many ways, you can consider psychology a problem-solving science that is rooted in research and scientific principles.