Full notes from the lectures presented by Dr Rosenkranz in 2021. Includes the topics:
Paradigms and Perspectives
The Scientific Method
The Replication Crisis
Two Cultures: Alternatives and Challenges to the Scientific Method
Quality or Quantity
Feminist Psychology
What is Normal Behaviour?
...
PSY2008 – Psychological Enquiry
Lecture 1 – Paradigms and Perspectives
What is psychology?
o Scientific study
o Study of individual
o Study of populations
o "The Science of Mental Life, both of its phenomena and of their conditions" -
William James
o Study of behaviour
o Study of the brain and neural systems
Diversity in psychology
o Range of phenomena and conditions
o Range of perspectives and paradigms
o APA has 54 divisions, each representing an area of research or practice
o Implications - Psychology is not a unified science and encompasses a range of
perspectives and paradigms
o Scientific paradigms
Greek root = pattern and example
Collective shared beliefs, values and techniques of a scientific community
NOT AN EXPERIMENTAL PARADIGM
Determine what the subject matter of a field is
Determine what a satisfactory line of enquiry is/research question
Determine what a satisfactory explanation looks like
Most famous paradigms in psychology are:
Functionalism
Structuralism
Behaviourism
Cognitive revolution -> cognitive neuroscience
o Psych is a collection of different perspectives
Each has a particular way of viewing human beings
Each has arisen for particular historical reasons
Each is satisfied with a different kind of explanation
Each has a different combination of methods
o Major perspectives
Biological/neuroscience
People are viewed as biochemical systems
Arose with development of psychoactive drugs, and later with brain
imaging
Explanation is in terms of actual brain/chemical circuits and
processes
Also includes modern day bio-behaviourism
Methods = EEG, FMRI, TMS, heritability studies, epidemiological
studies, single cell recordings, drug studies
Explanation is often said to be reductionist - not necessarily a bad
thing
Cognitive
People are viewed as information processing systems
Arose with the advent of computers and programming
Explanation in terms of information processing - think flow charts
, Methods are experimental
Cognitive is software, biological is hardware - different levels of
analysis
Developmental
People are viewed as developing individuals, such that later stages
are affected by earlier
Arose with an interest in optimal human functioning, and the
interaction of nature and nurture
Explanation is either in terms of an unfolding genetic programme, or
in terms of the effects of early events on later ones
Methods are observational and experimental
Social
People are viewed as operating within their social context
Arose out of sociological traditions and concern with reducing
conflict, prejudice, ect
Came from historical perspective of WW2 and the Holocaust
Explanation is not so much in terms of what is going on inside the
head, but processes between people (or people and groups)
Methods observational and experimental
How do these fit?
Often different perspectives with the same subject matter
Their explanations are of different kinds
We can think of these as complementing, coexisting or
contradicting.
E.g. origin of depression
Biological - biochemical, neural correlates
Depression responds to serotonergic drugs (d-
fenfluramine, fluoxetine/Prozac) (Meyer et al, 2003)
Post-mortem irregularities in serotonin metabolism
of depressed patients
Imaging of radioactive serotonin receptor suggests
serotonin abnormalities
Therefore depression is caused by abnormalities of
serotonin metabolism, and other related biological
changes
Cognitive - faulty information processing, cognitive bias
Beck (1967) - depressed patients have automatic
negative thoughts
When faced with ambiguous stimuli, patients make
a negative interpretation
Think cognitive triad
Patients attributions for events are catastrophic,
global and stable
Learnt helplessness and hopelessness
Non-depressed people do not have these biases,
and they go away as depression lifts
Therefore, depression is caused by negative
cognitive biases
,
Social - societal influence, the bad barrel metaphor, effect of
social media
Brown and Moran (1997) - risk of depression is
increased if you lack social support, are poor, are a
single mother
Therefore these social factors cause psychosocial
stress which makes depression more likely
Developmental - early childhood experiences, attachment
Bifulco, Harris and Brown (1992) - females
separated from mother before age 17 leads to
childhood helplessness
This in turn relates to greater risk of depression in
adult life
Therefore depression is caused by hopeless loss of
caregiver in childhood
,
o Diversity is not a problem, as psychology is a hub science that has unusually wide
implications for other fields (Cacioppo, 2007a)
o But: different paradigms or perspectives can be problematic or incommensurable -
this is the focus of this course
Role of science
o The scientific method underlies the dominant paradigm within psychology
o Psychology is treated as a science
o The role of science within psychology is the main focus of this module
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