AIM: What are some Important Psychological Experiments?

1. AIM: What are some Important Psychological Experiments? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_mIEnnlF4

2. What is Experimental Psychology? • Experimental Psychologyis the use of the scientific method to understand behavior and the processes that cause a behavior. • The Scientific Method involves creating a hypothesis (explanation for why things happen), testing the hypothesis by performing an experiment and analyzing the data from the hypothesisto draw a conclusion • Psychological Experiments are important because they help psychologists understand the functions of the mind.

3. What are the Ethics of Experimentation? • Ethics are defined as a series of moral principles and rules of conduct. • Experiments have a series of conditions that they must follow to be deemed “ethical” • In modern psychology; subjects must be asked if they want to participate, debriefed (interrogated) about the experiment at the end, subjects cannot be deceived to cause distress, experiments must be confidential and be able to leave the experiment at any time.

4. What was the Little Albert Experiment? • In 1920, psychologist John Watson tried to teach a very young child to have phobias. • The child was shown animals and objects once without showing fear. The second time the animals and objects were introduced, a loud noise was made, causing the child to cry. Every time after, when the child was introduced to the animals and objects, the child would cry. • Watson was unable to desensitize the child to the objects before he was removed from the hospital, so he kept his phobias for his entire life.

5. Aim: What is Classical Conditioning?

6. What was the Milgram Experiment? • The Milgram Experiment measured the willingness of test subjects to obey an authority figure. • The test subject was then told that they would give the learner electric shocks for giving wrong answers to word associations. • In reality, the learner received no shocks, but the “generator” played sounds that intensified as the number of volts “increased.” • If at any time the subject indicated his desire to halt the experiment, he was given a succession of verbal prods by the experimenter, such as “You have no other choice, you must go on.” • 65% of people delivered incredibly high shocks simply because they were ordered to.

7. Milgram • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdb20gcc_Ns • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr5cjyokVUs

8. What is Classical Conditioning? • Ivan Pavlov was a Russian Psychologist who devised the idea of the Conditioned Reflex and Classical Conditioning. • Classical Conditioning is a form of learning in which the conditioned stimulus(CS), comes to signal the occurrence of a second stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus(US) • A Conditioned Reflex is an acquired response that is under control of a particular stimulus. • Pavlov believed that animals and people could be trained to perform an action through a stimulus.

9. What was Pavlov’s Experiment? • Pavlov noticed that dogs salivate when they are shown food. • By ringing a bell and showing a dog food, Pavlov was able to get the dog to recognize that the bell meant food. • Eventually Pavlov was able to get the dog to salivate only by ringing the bell. • Since the experiment was performed, it has been observed in humans and numerous other animals. • This has helped psychologists understand learning, drug addiction and contributed to behavioral therapy.

12. What is the difference between conditioned and unconditioned responses? • An unconditioned response is something that is responded to naturally: in Pavlov's experiment the unconditioned response is the dog salivating when being shown food. • A conditioned response is something that you respond to after Classical Conditioning: In Pavlov’s experiment, the dog salivating after hearing the bell.

13. Pavlov • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpoLxEN54ho

14. What is Operant Conditioning? • A psychologist named B.F. Skinner built on Pavlov’s work by devising Operant Conditioning. • Operant Conditioning is a type of learning in which an individual’s behavior is changed by its consequences. • An example of this would be receiving a reward for doing something good or being punished for doing something wrong. • This is the punishment/reward method most individuals use when raising children or training animals.

15. What is Mental Health? “What a man can be, he must be” - Abraham Maslow

16. What is Mental Health? • Mental Health is defined as a state of well-being in which an individual can deal with the changing demands of everyday life. • Characteristics include: • Ability do deal with stress • Can work productively • Able to contribute to work/school/community etc.

17. What is “normal?” • Able to cope with stress and change • Ability to express self • Ability to express emotions

18. What is Maslow’s Hierarchy? • Abraham Maslow was an American Psychologist who came up with the concept of Self Actualization, as well as a Hierarchy of Needs. • He believed every person had a similar set of needs and desires that needed to be met. • Needs are “something necessary for an organism to live a healthy life” • Self Actualization is the motive to reach your full potential. Maslow defined it as “the need to be good, to be fully alive and to find meaning in life.”

19. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs • The Hierarchy of Needs is organized into three categories: Basic Needs, Psychological Needs and Self-Fulfilling Needs. • The three categories are broken down even further into Physiological Needs, Safety Needs, Belonging/Love Needs, Self Esteem Needs and Self Actualization Needs. • The needs become more complex as you move up the hierarchy.

21. What are Basic Needs? • The lowest tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy is made up of basic needs. • Basic needs include: food, water, and shelter as well as safety and security. • You cannot proceed to the next level without all of these requirements being filled.

22. What are Psychological Needs? • Maslow thought that Psychological Needs were made up of the next two levels. • Your psychological needs include: friendship, love and self esteem

23. What are Self-Fulfillment Needs? • Self Fulfillment needs are the highest level of needs. • You can only be at this level if EVERY need before this is fulfilled. • Self Fulfillment needs include: creativity, problem solving, self acceptance and morality.

25. Physiological Needs • Physiological needs are the physical requirements for human survival. • These are the first needs that must be met if an individual is going to survive and move up the hierarchy of needs. • Some physiological needs are food, water, shelter, and sleep

26. Safety Needs • After meeting the physiological needs of an individual, safety becomes most important. • Safety needs include personal, financial, and job security as well as health and well being. • Without physical safety, people often suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. • This level is a child’s natural state, because children need to feel safe in order to survive.

27. Belonging Needs • The third need to be addressed is the need to belong. • This level includes the need for friendship, love, and family. • Without this need being fulfilled, an individual may have depression, social anxiety and loneliness. • Deficiencies in this particular need during childhood can impact an individuals ability to form relationships and attachment.

28. Esteem Needs • Esteem is the basic human need to be accepted and valued by others. • This need is fulfilled by working or participating in clubs and hobbies, as this makes a person feel as though they contribute something. • There are two types of esteem, “lower esteem” which is the need to be respected by others; and “higher esteem” in which a person values and respects themselves. • Not having all of these needs met can lead to depression and low self esteem.

29. Self Actualization Needs • This level of need refers to what a person’s full potential is and reaching their full potential. • “What a man can be, he must be.” • Every person’s self actualization needs are different depending upon the person.