Module A

Contents

	Orientation		Task 4: Psychological beliefs
	Task 1: Data for assignment 2		Activity A: 1 Survey on perceptions of psychology
	Task 2: Defining psychology		Activity A: 2 Summary of perceptions of psychology
	Task 3		Task 5 What is psychology?

Orientation, overview and using this study support

Well let's get started. The main goals this opening week are to familiarise you with the textual materials and to start to get a handle on psychology - what it is and what it does.

The suggested work patterns are set out here as a series of tasks on a weekly basis. Whether you do these tasks week-by-week as outlined is up to you. Some thought has gone into the selection of these and they represent some of the emphases that we think are important to meet the various objectives the foundations course has.

There is no grade for work done in this Workbook but issues will be discussed week-by-week on the CSU PSY101 forum. (See Activity A:2 for a suggested activity on the Forum.)

Your first commitment is to read the chapter - see Subject Timetable for suggested progression. Next attend assignment tasks (essay and report) and finally

Remember you are working for yourself and your future. We outline in other material how important it is that you plan your study, production and social use of time and where and how you do what needs to be done. It would certainly be sensible at the outset to put some time aside to design and plan how you are going to most efficiently accomplish your personal goals. Time is like money and can easily be dissipated. A plan is like a budget that will assist you meet your academic aspirations. The Student Services Division of the University has put together a valuable web resource for your assistance in this matter.
 
 

The high school system does engender some biases in knowledge acquisition (the emphasis on the 'proven' fact base, the 'best' answer, the utility of memory) but the tertiary sector is more designed to make you an effective practitioner in life including whatever field of employment you end up in. To some extent, especially with an introductory course and where there are high numbers of students it is difficult to move away from some of the problems alluded to in high school. We do use so-called objective tests and marking criteria and you may be unhappy with how we and the text contextualise some issues that you have strong feelings about. You may even be in the situation where you face the quandary of having to decide whether you will answer a question in a way that goes against your beliefs because the text says otherwise or you anticipate the prejudice of the marker. In multiple choice tests you have to make the decision and face the consequences. For written work I would hope the power of your argument would prevail.

Here I have made an argument for full immersion in the course rather than deciding how best to minimise effort though I fully understand no-one has unlimited time. And further I have tried to address the thorny issue of how we try to do our best to monitor your progress given the many constraints that are in place. Here there is no ideal answer though we will be interested in any comment you may wish to make in our pursuit of a realistic solution. You can make comments and suggestions (without prejudice) in the Feedback Questionnaire which is mailed in with the experimental report in Week 14. Yes, we do use this information.

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Task 1: Data for Assignment 2

Read Part A: Data mail-in under Assignment 2.

Here you are to practice the 3-page questionnaire identified YOU then following directions give the questionnaire to two subjects - S1 and S2.

Read instructions very carefully and follow them to the letter so that we collect information more or less exactly the same. Mail soonest (for data entry) to Vern Tupper as directed.

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What do you think psychology is about? Without reference to any other material write down a brief account of your understanding.

How does your text define psychology? Some historical definitions

Psychology is the Science of Mental Life, both of its phenomena and their conditions. [James, 1890, p. 1]

Psychology is the science of mind ... the science of that which thinks, feels, and wills, in contrast with physics as the science of that which moves in space and occupies space [Hoffding, 1893, p. 1]

Psychology, the science of mental facts or mind, ... deals with the thoughts and feelings of human beings and seeks to explain the facts of intellect, character and personal life. [Thorndike, 1907, p. 1]

Psychology is more exactly defined as science of the self in relation to, or conscious of, its environment. [Calkins, 1919, p. 1]

Psychology is that division of natural science which takes human activity and conduct as its subject matter. It attempts to formulate through systematic observation and experimentation the laws and principles which underlie man's reactions. [Watson, 1919, p. 1]

Psychology is the science which deals with the activities commonly known as mental, the processes of perceiving, of remembering, of thinking, and particularly with the acts of the individual. [Pillsbury, 1922, p. 1]

James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. London: Macmillan.
Hoffding, H. (1893). Outlines of psychology. London: Macmillan.
Thorndike, E.L. (1907). The elements of psychology (2nd edn). New York: A.G. Seiler.
Watson, J.B. (1919). Psychology from the standpoint of a behaviourist. Philadelphia: Lipincott.
Pillsbury, W.B. (1922). The fundamentals of psychology (2nd edn). New York: Macmillan.
 
 

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Using the Survey on Perceptions of Psychology forms provided in Activity A:1 , interview 3 people (not in course) on their perceptions of what psychology is. (Make 3 separate copies of the form.)
 
 

Complete the summary section in the Summary and Analysis of Perceptions of Psychology form in Activity A:2 below.
 

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For interest read through the Survey of Psychological Beliefs form and mark each item T (true) or F (false) as you believe. This material is from Kohn (1990). His answers and comment are provided immediately following the form.
 

Activity A:1
 
 

Activity A:2 Summary of analysis of perceptions of psychology
 

Please answer the following questions based on the interviews you conducted. For each question, please comment on how people's gender, age and education might have influenced their answers.

For this activity, I would like you to use the forum to write your summaries. The forum is an electronic discussion group or to use the hip technology terms: it is a virtual tutorial. (You can find out more about the features of CSU's online service in the brochure: CSU Online: Information technology services 1999.)

In this subject the forum is your area for discussion. It is a self support essentially for you to exchange ideas. But I will visit it occasionally for comment.
 
 

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Many people assume that psychologists deal only with commonsense ideas. And while this may be true in many cases, lessons from the other sciences teach us that there is still good reason to carefully measure exactly how people respond to stimuli. Furthermore, many psychological discoveries are quite counter-intuitive, as Kalat illustrates with a list of thought-questions.

Record your answers and the reasons for the answers.
 

Demonstration: Common misconceptions in psychology

Although psychologists are often accused of dealing with commonsense issues, it is important to point out to students that one person's common sense is another person's absurdity. For example, I once surveyed my class with the following question:

"Do you think some people have the ability to foretell the future using ESP?"

The important thing here is that commonsense issues are often so clear once they are carefully examined. To make this point more dramatically, check your responses to the above survey with these answers and the explanations.
 
 

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