PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

 

PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology

Week 1 Lesson

 

Defining Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors, such as behavior, cognition and brain function, emotion, personality, and cultural norms.  There are many different branches of psychology, such as social, cognitive, biological, and psychodynamic psychology. Psychologists fill a variety of roles, including therapists, researchers, and teachers.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

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Psychology and the Scientific Method

The scientific method is a process of developing and testing theories, which may be used in conceptualizing problems. A hypothesis, in turn, is a testable prediction that is arrived at logically from a theory. There are several types of studies that follow the scientific method—experiments, descriptive studies, case studies, surveys, and non-descriptive studies.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Critical thinking is a key component of the scientific method. Without it, you cannot use logic to come to conclusions.

 

Subfields of Psychology

There are a variety of subfields within the larger discipline of psychological study, including behavioral, clinical, cognitive, developmental, educational, social, forensic, evolutionary, and industrial/organizational psychology.  These various subfields differ in many ways, including in their subjects (individuals or groups), their environments (at home, at work, or in a clinical setting), and their orientations (more or less research-driven).  Although all of these subfields are connected by the general goal of learning more about human beings, each attempts to look at different aspects of human life and thought processes.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

History of Psychology

 

Early Roots

From approximately 600 to 300 BCE, Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle conjectured on topics such as pleasure, pain, knowledge, motivation, rationality, and mental illness—topics often discussed in psychology today.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

In the 1600s, French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes theorized that the body and mind are separate entities. This concept came to be known as dualism.

 

Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were English philosophers from the 17th century who disagreed with the concept of dualism, arguing instead that sensations, images, thoughts, and feelings are physical processes that occur within the brain.

 

The first use of the term “psychology” is often attributed to the German scholastic philosopher Rudolf Göckel in 1590; however, the term did not see common usage until German philosopher Christian Wolff popularized it in 1732–1734.

 

Psychology was largely considered a branch of philosophy until the mid-1800s, when it developed as an independent scientific discipline in Germany and the United States.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Early Frameworks: Structuralism and Functionalism

The late 19th century marked the start of psychology as a scientific enterprise. Wilhelm Wundt, often considered the founder of psychology, started the first laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychological research in 1879.

 

Wilhelm Wundt is considered by many to be the founder of psychology. He laid the groundwork for what would later become the theory of structuralism

 

Edward B. Titchener studied under Wundt and expanded upon his ideas to found the theory of structuralism.

 

Structuralism attempted to understand the mind as the sum of varying underlying parts, classifying mental structures much as chemists classified the elements of nature into the periodic table.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Functionalism, founded by William James as an alternative to structuralism, focused more attention on the functions of the mind and the ways in which it adapts to changing situations and environments.

 

The Psychodynamic Perspective on Human Behavior

The psychodynamic perspective focuses on the dynamic relations between the conscious and unconscious mind and explores how these psychological forces might relate to early childhood experiences which, in turn, influence adult psychological health.

 

Psychodynamic psychology originated with Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century. Freud suggested that psychological processes are flows of psychological energy (libido) within a complex brain.  Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis holds two major assumptions: (1) that much of mental life is unconscious, and (2) that past experiences, especially those from early childhood, shape how a person feels and behaves throughout life.  Freud’s structural model of personality divides the personality into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. When these parts are in conflict, the imbalance manifests as psychological distress.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

Carl Jung expanded upon Freud’s theories, introducing the concepts of the archetype, the collective unconscious, and individuation.

 

Most psychodynamic approaches center around using talk therapy to examine maladaptive functions that developed early in life and that are, at least in part, unconscious.

 

The Behavioral Perspective on Human Behavior

Behaviorism emerged in the early 20th century as a reaction to “mentalistic” psychology, such as the psychoanalytic theory of the time, which focused on inner states rather than observable behaviors.

 

The primary tenet of behaviorism is that psychology should concern itself with the observable behavior of people and animals, not with unobservable events that take place in their minds. The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov is widely known for describing the phenomenon now known as classical conditioning in his experiments with dogs.  Edward Lee Thorndike was an American psychologist whose work on animal behavior and the learning process led him to discover what he termed the Law of Effect. John B. Watson, another American psychologist, is best known for his classical conditioning experiment involving an infant. In Watson’s famous experiment, he taught the infant to be afraid of a fur coat through the process of classical conditioning during which he sounded a loud noise, frightening the infant, each time a furry object was placed near him.  Over time Little Abert, as the child became known, “generalized” this fear to anything furry, including rabbits and people in Santa Clause costumes.  Today the Little Albert experiment, like many of its era, would be deemed unethical and could not be conducted.

 

1. F. Skinner coined the term operant conditioning, which describes the strengthening or attenuation of a voluntary response based on association with positive or negative consequences.

 

The Humanistic Perspective on Human Behavior

Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that rose to prominence in the mid-20th century. It draws on the philosophies of existentialism, phenomenology, and Eastern philosophy.

 

Early humanistic psychologists in the 1950s focused on uniquely human issues, such as the self, self-actualization, health, hope, love, creativity, nature, being, becoming, individuality, and meaning.

 

Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) is considered the founder of humanistic psychology and is noted for his pyramid conceptualization of the Hierarchy of Human Needs.  The degree of progress up the hierarchy pyramid that the developing determines how psychologically well-developed people become, with those who haven’t progressed beyond the first two levels of basic physical and safety needs, because they are in survival mode, not likely to exhibit relationship skills needed for establishing friendships and managing family relationships or sexual intimacy and are likely to have low self-esteem and lack confidence and not act on a sense of the “greater good” than persons who have progressed higher on the pyramid possess.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Carl Rogers (1902–1987) is best known for his person-centered approach to therapy as well as his emphasis on the idea of unconditional positive regard.

 

Rollo May (1909–1994) focused on existential ideas, the importance of human choice, and the tragic dimensions of human existence.

 

The aim of humanistic therapy is to help the client approach a stronger and healthier sense of self, known in humanistic terms as a state of self-actualization.

 

The Cognitive Perspective on Human Behavior

Cognitive psychologists are interested in how people understand, diagnose, and solve problems. Major areas of study include perception, memory, categorization, language, and thinking.  Cognitive theory contends that solutions to problems take the form of algorithms, heuristics, or insights.  It is one of the more recent additions to psychological research; it only developed as a separate subfield in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  This perspective had its foundations in the Gestalt psychology of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka and in contemporary advancements in technology and computer science.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

The cognitive perspective values the scientific method over reliance on introspection for which Freudian psychology is known, but still acknowledges the existence of internal mental states, unlike behavioral psychology.

 

Jean Piaget studied intellectual development in children and is most widely known for his stage theory of cognitive development.

 

The Sociocultural Perspective on Human Behavior

Sociocultural factors are the larger-scale forces within cultures and societies (such as attitudes, child-rearing practices, gender roles, race, etc.)that affect the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals.  Sociocultural subfields of psychology seek to examine how society and culture influence human mental states and behavior. These subfields include social psychology, cultural psychology, and cultural-historical psychology.

 

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. The main tenet of cultural psychology is that mind and culture are inseparable and mutually constitutive. This means that people are shaped by their culture, and their culture is shaped by them.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

The theory of cultural-historical psychology was developed by Lev Vygotsky in the late 1920s.This theory focuses on how aspects of culture are transmitted from one generation to the next.

 

The Biological Perspective on Human Behavior

Biological psychology as a scientific discipline emerged during the 18th and 19th centuries, when philosophers such as Descartes and James proposed physical models to explain animal and human behavior.  Biological psychologists attempt to relate biological, physiological, or genetic variables to psychological or behavioral variables.

 

Key focus areas of biological psychology include sensation and perception, motivated behavior, control of movement, learning and memory, sleep and biological rhythms, and emotion.

 

Behavioral neuroscience contributes to the understanding of medical disorders, including those that also fall under the realm of clinical psychology.

 

The Evolutionary Perspective on Human Behavior

Evolutionary psychology is an approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as memory, perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective.  This field of psychology has its historical roots in Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, but it has also been heavily influenced by other fields, such as ethology, evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, genetics, and anthropology.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Just as evolutionary physiology has worked to identify physical adaptations of the body that represent “human physiological nature,” evolutionary psychology works to identify evolved emotional and cognitive adaptations that represent “human psychological nature.”

 

According to evolutionary psychology, the brain has evolved specialized neural mechanisms that were designed for solving problems that recurred over evolutionary time.  Evolutionary psychologists hypothesize that humans have inherited special mental capacities for adaptations such as acquiring language, inferring others’ emotions, discerning kin from non-kin, identifying healthier mates, and cooperating with others.

 

Careers in Psychology

The most common areas of applied specialization within psychology are biological, clinical, cognitive, comparative, developmental, school, evolutionary, industrial-organizational, personality, and social psychology.

 

Biological psychology focuses on the biological aspects of behavior and mental processes. There are different specialties within this subfield, including physiological psychology, which uses animal models to study the neural, genetic, and cellular mechanisms that underlie specific behaviors; cognitive neuroscience, which investigates the neural correlates of psychological processes in humans, using neural imaging tools; and neuropsychology, which uses psychological assessments to determine specific aspects, and the extent of cognitive deficits, caused by brain damage or disease.

 

Cognitive psychology focuses on the mental processes underlying mental activity, including: perception, attention, reasoning, problem solving, memory, learning, language, and emotion. Classical cognitive psychology is associated with the theoretical approach of cognitivism, which argues for an information processing model of mental function. On a broader level, cognitive psychology is a highly interdisciplinary field comprised of cognitive psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, researchers in artificial intelligence, linguists, researchers in human-computer interaction, computational neuroscientists, logicians, and cognitive social psychologists.

 

Clinical psychology involves the study and application of psychology for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and treating psychologically based dysfunction. Clinical psychologists use various treatment methods to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Although clinical psychologists may engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development, many clinical psychologists focus on using psychological assessment and psychotherapy to treat individuals with psychological disorders. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession. There are four major theoretical approaches within clinical psychology, including the psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, existential-humanistic, and systems therapy approaches.

 

Comparative psychology refers to the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals, especially as they relate to adaptive significance and the development of behavior. This subfield researches many different species from insects to primates.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Developmental psychology focuses on the development of the human mind across the life span. Developmental psychologists seek to understand how people come to perceive, understand, and act within the world, and how these processes change as they age. Areas of particular interest include cognitive, affective (emotional), moral, social, and neural development. Researchers study changes across the life span, but tend to focus on ages where rapid change is seen, such as infancy, adolescence, and old age.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Educational and school psychology are related subfields.  Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the study of schools as organizations. School psychology combines principles from educational psychology and clinical psychology to understand and treat students with learning disabilities; foster the intellectual growth of gifted students; facilitate prosocial behaviors in adolescents; and to otherwise promote a safe, supportive, and effective learning environment.

 

Evolutionary psychology examines psychological traits, such as memory, perception, or language, from a modern evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary psychologists seek to identify which of these traits are evolved adaptions – in other words, how they are the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection.

 

Industrial-Organizational (I-O) psychology applies psychological concepts and methods to optimize human potential in the workplace. One subfield of I-O psychology, personnel psychology, applies the methods and principles of psychology in selecting and evaluating workers. Another subfield of I-O psychology, organizational psychology, examines the effects of work environment and management styles on worker motivation, job satisfaction, and productivity.

 

Personality psychology is concerned with enduring patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion in individuals.  There are several different approaches to personality theory including Neo-Freudianism, trait theory, and social cognitive theory.

 

Positive psychology derives from the humanistic approach. It is a discipline that utilizes evidence-based scientific methods to study factors that contribute to happiness and mental balance. Unlike clinical psychology, which often focuses on mental illness, positive psychology is concerned with maintaining the mental well-being of healthy clients.

 

Social psychology is the study of how humans think about each other and how they relate to one another. Social psychologists study such topics as social influence (e.g. conformity, obedience), attitudes, prejudice, group dynamics, and social justice. There are many subtypes of social psychology, including social cognition and social neuroscience. This subfield has been referred to as a bridge between psychology and sociology.

 

Educational Requirements

Only people with doctoral degrees are called “psychologists,” but people with master’s or bachelor’s degrees can still work in the field.

 

A few of the most common careers for individuals with doctorates in psychology include:

 

Clinical psychology includes the study and application of psychology for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists may also engage in research, teaching, and consultation.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Counseling psychology focuses on assessment and treatment of emotional and behavioral disorders. These range from short-term crises, such as difficulties resulting from adolescent conflicts, to more severe, chronic conditions, such as schizophrenia. Some clinical psychologists treat specific problems and/or populations exclusively.

 

Education psychology is devoted to the study of how humans learn in educational settings, especially schools, and the effectiveness of educational interventions (e.g., phonics versus whole language instruction in early reading attainment).

 

Forensic and legal psychology is concerned with the application of psychological methods and principles to legal questions and issues. Most typically, forensic psychology involves a clinical analysis of a particular individual and an assessment of some specific psycho-legal question.

 

Industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology focuses on the psychology of the workforce, including issues such as recruitment, selecting employees from an applicant pool, performance appraisal, job satisfaction, work behavior, stress at work, and management.

 

School psychology applies principles of clinical psychology and educational psychology to the diagnosis and treatment of students’ behavioral and learning problems.

 

Sports psychology seeks to understand psychological/mental factors that affect performance in sports, physical activity and exercise and to apply these to enhance individual and team performance.

 

Individuals with a master’s degree in psychology may qualify for positions in areas such as school and industrial organizational (I/O) psychology.  Master’s degree holders with several years of experience in business and industry can obtain jobs in consulting and marketing research, while others can find jobs in government, at universities, and in the private sector as counselors, researchers, data collectors, and analysts.

 

People that have earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology are often excellent problem solvers, pay close attention to detail, have good research and writing capabilities, and are capable of higher-order thinking, analyzing, and distilling of information.   They are good candidates for careers in administrative support, public affairs, education, business, sales, service, health, the biological sciences, and computer programming.  Career opportunities in the mental health care field include employment as psychometricians, behavior technicians and supervised counselors.

 

Current Issues and Debates

Psychological debates have spanned the decades and change over time. What people find important changes, so knowing what is currently piquing the interest of psychologists is important if you are choosing to major in psychology.

 

How Do We Define “Healthy”?

One of the ongoing debates in psychology is how to define the concepts of “normal” and “healthy.” Psychologists often rely on these terms to diagnose, treat, and counsel individuals who are experiencing mental health difficulties; however these terms are often subject to interpretation. What is normal or healthy behavior for one person may be unhealthy or ineffective for someone else. Behavior can be normal for an individual (intra-personal normality) when it is consistent with the most common behavior for that person. Normal is also used to describe when someone’s behavior conforms to the most common behavior in society (known as conforming to the norm). Definitions of normality vary by person, time, place, and situation—they change along with changing societal standards and norms. What’s more, someone being seen as “normal” or “not normal” can have social ramifications, including being included, excluded or stigmatized by larger society. The question of what is “normal” is often discussed in psychology and, if not explored carefully, is subject to value judgments, biases, and assumptions.

 

Changes to and Controversies in the DSM-V

Many of the current debates in psychology can be seen in the recent developments and changes to the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V), the publication which psychologists and psychiatrists used to diagnose psychological disorders. One major change is within the Autism Spectrum Disorders category, which no longer contains Asperger’s Syndrome as a diagnosis. Rather, all children are classified under the term “Autism Spectrum Disorder” (ASD) and given a rating or either mild, moderate or severe. Autism is a neurological disorder that has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, currently affecting about 20 per 1,000 children in the United States in 2012. These disorders are characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and by restricted or repetitive behavior. Many people have tried to find the cause of autism, and everything from vaccines to maternal depression have been cited but never proven. While the general treatment for autism is behavioral therapy, many people look for alternative ways to treat autism, such as diet or supplements. Controversies surrounding the diagnosis and its treatment include the relevance of “rating” the severity of the disorder, and whether or not to include children with varying severity of ASD in the general education population.

 

Another recent change to the DSM-V is the renaming of “gender identity disorder” to “gender dysphoria.” The change separates adults, children, and adolescents appropriately by developmental stages, and was moved from the sexual disorders category to be given a separate category of its own. One of the major impacts of this change is the reduction of stigma in changing the language from “disorder” to “dysphoria,” which serves as a step toward “de-pathologizing” people who identify as transgender or differently-gendered. At the same time, transgender people seeking surgical or hormonal treatment have historically been forced to rely on the diagnosis of gender identity disorder in order to access the appropriate treatment, however stigmatizing the diagnosis may be. It is unclear what effect this change in language will have on individual’s ability to access appropriate medical care.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Electroconvulsive therapy, a controversial approach to treatment that involves inducing minor seizures through electric impulses, with the purpose of treating specific areas of the brain that are thought to cause mental illness is also a hotly debated topic. Popular in the 1940s, this approach to therapy is generally used as a last resort for disorders such as major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar mania and catatonia. Much controversy surrounds ECT due to its side effects of memory loss and amnesia, as well as for its impact on a person’s general cognition after treatment. Studies have shown that up to 42 percent of people who receive ECT experienced some loss of intelligence when tested with standardized testing instruments; however it has been shown in cases to drastically improve symptoms.

 

Since issues and debates in psychology change over time, it is important to read relevant literature and stay up to date on new topics in the media.

 

Relevance to Students

Psychology plays an important role in what we do on a day to day basis.  How we think, feel and behave, both individually and socially, are literally matters of the mind.  How we learn and incorporate information is directly influenced by psychology, whether we know it or not, and is particularly relevant to students.  Several theories, such as behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism, explain the ways in which we learn and understand our world.

 

Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. It is concerned with how students learn and develop, often focusing on subgroups such as gifted children and those subject to specific disabilities.

 

Behaviorism is based on both classical conditioning (in which a stimulus is conditioned to create a response) and operant conditioning (in which behavior is reinforced through a particular reward or punishment). For example, if you study for your psychology test and receive a grade of “A”, you are rewarded; this makes it more likely that you will study in the future for your next test.

 

Cognitivism is the idea that people develop knowledge and meaning through the sequential development of several cognitive processes, including recognition, reflection, application and evaluation. For example, you read your psychology textbook (recognition), you ponder what the ideas mean (reflection), you use the ideas in your everyday life (application) and then you are tested on your knowledge (evaluation). All of these processes work together to help you develop prior knowledge and integrate new concepts.

 

Constructivism is the concept of constructing new ideas based on previous knowledge. For example, our prior experiences with a situation help us to understand new experiences and information. Piaget is most famous for his work with constructivism, and many Montessori schools are based on the constructivist school of thought.

 

People also learn in a variety of ways. Styles of learning are generally grouped into three primary categories: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Although most people are a combination of these three types, we tend to have a particular strength in one area. Knowing what our strongest learning type is helps us to approach how we learn in the most effective way; depending upon your learning style, you’ll want to tweak your study skills to get the most of your education.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Visual learners usually use objects such as flashcards or take and reread lecture notes. Visual learners will highlight important passages in books or draw pictures/diagrams of ideas to help better understand the concepts.

 

Auditory learners understand concepts best by listening; many will tape record a lecture and play it back to further understand the lesson. Many auditory learners will read aloud and do well on oral, rather than written, exams.

 

Kinesthetic learners (related to kinesthesia) do best when they act out or repeat something several times. Role-plays are a great way for a kinesthetic learner to understand and remember concepts. Experiments and hands-on activities are other ways people who are kinesthetic learners can remember concepts.

 

Source: Exploring Psychology in Modules. https://www.boundless.com

CC BY-SA 4.0 Licensed

 

More on this week’s focus of study:

Week 1 Lecture PowerPoint

 

WEEK 1: What is Psychology?

Forums

 

Directions: Go to the Forums and select the Week 1 Forum and Topic and follow the instructions.

 

Initial Post Due: Wednesday by 11:55 PM Eastern Time

 

Responses Due: Sunday by 11:55 PM Eastern Time

 

Per University policy, students who do not complete the Week 1 Forum work by its deadlines are auto-dropped from the course.  Instructors don’t have authority to re-enroll auto-dropped students, so it is critical that you post on time to the Week 1 Forum.

 

Below are the Week 1 Forum Topic instructions.  General posting requirements can be viewed by clicking the Week 1 Forum “View Full Description” link on the Forums screen.

 

This forum has two parts, both of which need to be posted in a single post.

 

Part 1

Before responding to the questions below, review in Chapter 1 of the course textbook the five major theoretical perspectives on the causes of behavior that are present in psychology today, which include the biological, learning, cognitive, sociocultural, and psychodynamic. After completing this reading assignment, using the “Post New Conversation” link at the top of the discussion Topic screen, respond to the following questions.  After completing Part 1, continue to Part 2.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.

 

Part 1 Topic Questions

Who are you and what name do you prefer to be called (first, second, nickname)?

Where are you from and currently residing or stationed?

What are your current and/or future educational aspirations and goals?

What are your learning goals for this course? Learning goals should be more than doing your best and earning a satisfactory grade.   Everyone should have those goals. Share what you hope to take away from the course as learning you can use.

What prior knowledge do you have about the field of psychology and on what sources is it based? It’s okay to say TV, movies, magazines, and other popular media if it has been your source. We want to candidly share here because this can be great baseline measure for comparing before- and after-course knowledge and insight.

 

Which of the theoretical perspectives that you read about in Chapter 1 of the textbook do you believe does the best job of explaining human behavior and why? You don’t have to be a psychologist or other behavioral science expert to respond to this question. It is asking you to answer based on the meaning you have made of the assigned readings.

How can knowledge of psychology benefit you in either your personal or professional life?

 

Part 2 Topic Questions

The course textbook discusses several research approaches, including case studies, observational studies, surveys, and experiments.  Think of a research topic you are interested in learning more about.

Based on your reading describe what method you would undertake in researching this topic and briefly outline how this methodology works and how you would use it to research your topic of interest.

What drew you to this method?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of this type of research?

Then, when responding to your classmates for the minimum of two replies requirement, take their research topic of interest and apply another type of research approach to the study of the topic they chose and explain why you chose the approach you did.  Be sure to choose classmate topics for which you can identify two different types of research; replying twice with the same type of research isn’t permitted.

Which do you think would work better and why?

To help jump start this part of the discussion, here is an example:  Say you are interested in the research question of whether men or women approach each other first in social situations where they do not know one another.  You might have an opinion based on personal experience but you want to avoid the likely unintentional bias toward one’s own experience and ideas that such might cause, so you are going to conduct a research study.  To research this, one might choose naturalistic observation, which could require going into nightclubs and taking note of what you observe men and women doing.  Another approach to this question would be to give out a survey to see how men and women respond to the question of whether they approach the other.  There are no right or wrong answers but all posts should include concepts from and source credit course material as support for the method selected.PSYC101 Introduction to Psychology Week 1 Lesson Essay.