psych midterm

beliefs of socrates and plato

we are who we are and what we know is innate

aristotle's beleifs

Reality is best studied by observations
We are who we are and what we know is acquired from experience
ASSOCIATIONISM: learned connections between two events, objects, ideas

john locke's beliefs

English philosopher
Tabula rosa (blank slate)
We learn from experience

rene descarte's beliefs

French philosopher
“I think, therefore I am”
What we know is innate

wilhelm wundt

“Father of psychology”
Founded the first pscyholoy lab in Germany in 1879
STRUCTURALISM: approach to discovering the elements (basic structures) of the brain
Used introspection

b.f. skinner

freud

Psychodynamic approach
Unconscious thought
Father of psychoanalysis

nature vs nurture controversy

Argument over whether intelligence comes from genetics (nature) or experience (nurture)
Nature = believe that people are born with their intelligence
Nurture= intelligence is gained through experience and the way people are raised

biological approach

Focus on the body, especially the brain and nervous system
Ex. hormones, body’s reaction to phobias, etc.
Phineas Gage!

behavioral approach

Observe behavioral responses and their environmental determinate
Observation and imitation (bandura and the bobo doll)
Kids only have to see/hear once to imitate
John B Watson, Baby Albert, Mary Cover Jones, B.F. Skinner

psychodynamic approach

Emphasize unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives and society’s demands, early childhood experiences
Psychoanalysis (trying to get to the unconscious)

humanistic approach

Created in response to negative aspects of behavioral approach
Emphasize a person’s positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth and freedom to choose any destiny

cognitive approach

Emphasizes the mental processes included in knowing: how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problemse

evolutionary approach

Centered on adaptation, reproduction, natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors
Charles Darwin

sociocultural approach

Examine the ways in which social and cultural environment influence behavior
Ethnicity, religion, gender, social groups, etc.

biopsychosocial approach

Eclectic use of techniques from a variety of approaches
Integrates biological processes, psychological factors, and social forces to provide more complete picture of behaviors and mental processes than a single approach

physiological psychology

interested in the physical processes that underlie mental operations such as thinking and memories

behavioral nueroscience

focuses on the biological processes, especially the brain’s role in behavior (ex. Study teens and why they are so impulsive)

sensation and perception psychology

focuses on physical systems and psychological processes that allow us to experience the world (ex. Listen to a favorite song, smell the roses)

learning psychology

process by which behavior changes in response to changing circumstances (skinner box)

cognitive psychology

examines attention, consciousness, information, processing, and memory, intelligence, problem solving (Jean Pigget)

developmental psychology

concerned with how people become who they are, from conception to death
Look at biological, cognitive, and social domains of live
Ex. maturity in girls vs boys

motivation and emotion psychology

study how individuals persist to attain a difficult goal
Rewards and motivations
Physiological and brain processes that underlie emotional experience
Universal emotion

psychology of women and gender

psychological, social, and cultural influences on development and behavior (ex hormones, stress, role in society, etc.)

personality psychology

study traits, goals, personality, development, well being (ex. shyness)

social psychology

social perceptions, relationships, social cognition attributes

industrial and organizational psychology

(I-O) centers on the workplace – the workers and the organization that employs them (temporary job)

clinical psychology

diagnose and treat those with psychological disorders, see sever cases (psychopathology

counseling psychology

diagnose and treat those with psychological disorders, less severe cases; help those deal with personal problems (anxiety, school, family)

health psychology

emphasizes psychological factors, lifestyle, and the nature of the healthcare delivery system (ex. Study stress and the role of stress in coping)

community psychology

outreach programs to people in need; interested in prevention by identifying high risk groups

school psychology

test children, make recommendations regarding educational placement (resource, gifted); work with children one on one

educational psychology

conduct research on teaching and learning, evaluate educational systems, (ex. Block schedule, late start, head start)

environmental psychology

study interactions between people and their environment (ex. Building designs/ pod set up)

forensic psychology

applies psychological concepts to the legal system (ex. Jury selection, evaluate in person if legally insane)

sport psychology

improving sport performance, newer area, work with athletes one on one

cross - cultural psychology

culture’s role in understanding behavior, thought, and emotion (ex. What is universal? Specific in a particular culture?)

first step of scientific method

observe some phenomonon

second step of scientific method

formulating hypothesis and predictionst

third step of scientfic method

testing through empirical research

fourth step of scientific method

drawing conclusions

fifth step of scientfic method

evaluating theory

types of descriptive research

case studies, surveys, observations

purpose of describitve research

describe the phenomon, not what causes it

naturalist observations

observations of behaviors in a real world setting
Pros: people act like they normally would
Cons: can’t conclude from one observation (baseline)

laboratory observation

observing the behavior of subjects that are in a controlled environment
Bobo dolls, Milgram shock experiment

surveys

research method where questions are asked to subjects who report their own answers
Most common type of study in psychology
Wording is important!
Cheap and fast
People lie or say what they thinking researchers want to hear
Need a good random sample
Low response rate (especially if by mail)

case study

Also referred to as case history
Tells us a great story but is just descriptive research
Does not even give us correlational date
Cannot replicate or generalize

random sample

he process of choosing the research participants from the population
Happens before assignment

random assignment

each participant has equal chance of being placed into any group
Experimental or control

population

entire group about which experimenter wants to draw conclusions (ex. MCA students)

quasi - experiemental design

does not randomly assign participants to conditions because it is impossible or unethical

correlation

Correlation coefficient (r)
Sign refers to direction
Number refers to strength
-1.0 to 1.0
Little scatter = high correlation

positive correlation

variables go in the same direction

negative correlation

variables go in opposite directions

zero correlation

no correlation

correlational research

research that examines the relationship between variables with the purpose of determining whether how 2 variables change together
Relationship but NOT cause and effect

experimental research

a carefully regulated procedure in which the researchers manipulate one or more variable that are believed to influence some other variable (cause and effect)

internal validity

did the experiment measure what it set out to do? Did the IV produce the change in DV?

external validity

can the findings be generalized to other situations outside the experiment/situation

experimental bias

experimenter’s expectations influence the outcome of the research

research participant bias

the influence of participants expectations and of their thoughts on how they should behave (placebo effect)

between subjects design

each participant participates in one and only on condition of the experiment

within subjects design

all participants participate in all of the conditions of the experiment

APA ethical guidelines

IRB: institutional review board
College and universities
Informed consent
Confidentiality
Debriefing
Deception

APA ethical guidelines for animal research

Weigh potential benefits of research against possible harm to animal
Avoid unnecessary pain
Feed, give water, cage, etc.
Subject to as little stress as possible
5% of APAP members use animals in their research
90% of all psychological research with animals is done on rates and mice

measures of central tendency

mean, median, mode

mean

the measure of central tendency most often used to describe a set of data

median

a measure of central tendency represented by the score that separates the upper half of the scores in a distribution from the lower half (not affected by extreme scores)

mode

a measure of central tendency which represents the score that occurs the most often

range

difference between the highest and lowest scores

standard deviation

a measure of variability that indicates the average distance between the scores and their mean
A low standard deviation indicates that the data paints tend to be very close to the mean, whereas a high standard deviation indicates that the datea are spread out over range of values
****KNOW 68%, 95%, and 99%****

skewed distribution

The first distribution has a positive skew - has a long tail in the positive direction
Negative skew has a long tail in the negative direction (left -skewed)
No skew = standard bell curve (pg 69)

inferential statistics

Mathematical methods that are used to indicate whether the date sufficiently supports a research hypothesis
The purpose is to discover whether the finding can be applied to the larger population from which the sample was collected
P VALUE: equal to or less than .05 for statistical significance
5% likely the results are due to chance
The lower the p value, the less likely the results were due to chance

descriptive statistics

mathematical procedures used to describe and summarize sets of data in a meaningful way
Measures of central tendency

histeria

physical symptoms with no physical cause

unconscious

a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. Freud asked patients to say whatever came to their mind (free association) to tap the unconscious

id

unconsciously strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, demanding immediate gratification
Works on the “pleasure principle”

ego

functions as the “exectuive” and mediates the demand of id and supergo
Works on the “reality principle”

supergo

provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations; the last one to develop in a person
Works on the “more principle”

first psychosexual stage

ORAL STAGE (birth to 18 months)
Feeding is the main source of pleasure
Conflict is over weening
Oral aggressive - sarcastic
Oral dependent - chew on things, overeater, smoker, etc.s

second psychosexual stage

Pleasure from defecation
anal stage (18 - 36 months)
Conflict is potty training
Anal retentive - if you potty train too quickly; routine/structure/neat
Anal expulsive - if you potty train too slowly/not strict enough; laid back, messy, rebellious

third psychosexual stage

PHALLIC STAGE (3-6 years)
Pleasure from the genitals
OEDIPUS COMPLEX: refers to a boy’ sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father
Electra complex in girls (penis envy)
Resolution of oedipus and electra complex: children cope with threatening feelings by repressing them and identifying with the rival parent
Superego gains strength by incorporating parents’s values

fourth psychosexual stage

LATENCY STAGE (6 years to puberty)
All interest in sexuality is set aside
Earlier conflicts are dormant

fifth psychosexual stage

GENITAL STAGE (puberty - on)
Sexual reawaking
Sexual pelasure to someone outside the family
Maturity in terms of love and work

repression

to forget; the defense mechanism that removes anxiety - arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from one’s consciousness

rationalization

to make excuse; the defense mechanism in which an individual finds justifications for unacceptable thoughts, impulses, or behaviors

displacement

to redirect anger; the defense mechanism that shifts negative impulses toward a more acceptable object or person

regression

: to go backwards; teh defensive mechanism in which an individual retreats to an earlier stage of development when faced with anxiety

projection

to point the finger; the defense mechanism in which people attribute their own unacceptable impulses onto others

reaction formation

to express feelings opposite your own; defense mechanism in which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposite

denial

to not admit; defense mechanism in which the individual refuses to admit that a problem exists

sublimation

to channel impulses; the defense mechanism by which people channel their socially unacceptable impulses into more acceptable impulses

intellectualization

to stifle emotions; the process of removing our feelings about an event and discussing it in a cooly rational and unemotional way

identification with the aggressor

to adopt another’s characteristics; the process of taking on characteristics of someone who has mistreated us in order to psychologically avoid the abuse

neo-freudians

horney, junge, adler

horney

Believed in the social and cultural aspects of childhood growth and development
Need for security (not sex) could lead to basic anxiety
Mother-child relationship was paramount
She countered Freud’s assumption that women have weak superegos and suffer “penis envy” with the idea that men have “womb envy”
Studied psychology of women

carl jung

Freud’s protege and meant to continue Freud’s work
Humans share a COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS: impersonal deepest layer of the unconscious mind, shared by all human beings because of their common ancestral past
Collect unconscious contains ARCHETYPES: images and ideas that have symbolic meaning for all people (wise old man, mother, hero, etc.)
PERSONA: mask we wear to hide what we truly think or feel

alfred adler

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY: people are motivated by purposes and goals (not pleasure) key motivator in life
A child struggles with the INFERIORITY COMPLEX: during growth and strives for superiority and power (compensation)
Also studied birth order and sibling rivalry

projective tests

Individuals project meaning onto ambiguous stimulus