Intro to Psychology

Structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt and EB titchener; introspection to understand characteristics of the mind; analyze conscious experience and understanding the basic elements that work together

Functionalism

William James; influenced by theory of natural selection, what the mind does; purpose and function of behaviour and conscious experience

Psychodynamic

Freud; unconscious mind

Behaviourism

John B Watson and BF skinner; focused on only OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOUR

Cognivitism

Piaget and Neisser; thinking affects our behaviour; INTERNAL MENTAL PROCESSES

Scientific method

collecting observations and developing theories to explain them; theories to make prediction

Theory

explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world

Hypothesis

a testable prediction about processes that can be observed and measured

falsifiability

hypothesis must be precise enough that it could be proven false

confirmation bias

tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypothesis

belief perseverance

tendency to stick to our initial belief even when evidence is contradictory

Patternicity

Tendency to detect meaningful patterns in random stimuli

Terror management theory

seeking worldviews that provide meaning, purpose and continuity

not me fallacy

other people have those biases not me

Bandwagon fallacy

lots of people believe it so it must be true

emotional reasoning fallacy

using emotions rather than evidence

Dangers of pseudoscience

opportunity cost, direct harm, blocks critical thinking

experimental psychology

research focused

clinical psychology

treatment, assessment, diagnosis

operant conditioning 

modifying behaviour through reinforcement