Psychology - Term 1 2025

what is psychology as a science?

the study that uses a scientific approach to describe, explain, predict and influence thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

what is the difference between philosophy and psychology?

philosophy is a discipline that tries to explain behaviour by using logic and reason, whereas psychology explains behavior through observation and experimental research methods.

what is pseudoscience?

anything that pretends to be science but is not; “fake science”

what do psychologists do?

help individuals and groups find solutions to their everyday problems and offer non-medical approaches to enhance one’s mental health and wellbeing.

what can psychiatrists do that psychologist can’t and why?

prescribe medication because they are a qualified medical practitioner.

what do social workers do?

help people cope with problems related to poverty, legal issues, mental health, human rights, homelessness, abuse, family dysfunction, and help them access social services.

what is the difference between a psychologist and a social worker?

psychologists find solutions to everyday problems, while social workers help people with larger-scale problems requiring social services

what are ethical considerations and why are they important?

precautions taken to protect the health and wellbeing of participants, must be followed while carrying out research

what is the first ethical consideration?

no lasting harm

what is the 2nd ethical consideration?

confidentiality, participants have a right to privacy and must not be identified or named

what is the 3rd ethical consideration?

voluntary participation, people must be willing to take part and cannot be coerced with bribes or pressure

what is the 4th ethical consideration?

informed consent, researcher must give details of study in order for volunteers to consent to participate, must be appropriately documented.

what is the 5th ethical consideration?

withdrawal rights, participants have the right to remove themselves from the study at any time

what is the 6th ethical consideration?

minimal deception, can only be used if it is minimal, will not cause lasting harm, and is necessary (for accuracy)

what is the 7th ethical consideration?

debriefing, aims to identify if participants were harmed and for questions, participants have a right to know the results of experiment, must be informed of true nature, purpose, results and conclusion

what is memory?

an active information processing system that encodes, stores and retrieves information.

What is the first stage of memory processing?

encoding - the process of committing something to memory.

what is the 2nd stage of memory processing?

storage - keeping information for later. can be stored in short-term (seconds) or long term (indefinite) memory.

what is the 3rd stage of memory processing?

retrieval, the process of recalling information for use, accessing stored information

what is sensory memory and how much awareness do we have over it?

the entry point for new information from our senses, have no awareness/control over this information

what does iconic memory do?

receive visual information from the environment

what is the duration of iconic memory?

0.2-0.4 seconds

what is the capacity of iconic and echoic memory?

potentially unlimited

what does echoic memory do?

hold audio information and sounds

what is the duration for echoic memory?

3-4 seconds

what is short-term memory and what does it hold?

information we are consciously aware of and can process, holds stimuli from sensory memory that have been attended to and information received from long-term memory

what is the duration of short-term memory?

12-30 seconds

what is the capacity of short-term memory?

5-9 pieces of information

what is long-term memory and what does it hold?

information that has been encoded by meaning, semantically, and stored. Holds vast amounts of information for a long period.

what is the duration of long-term memory?

relatively permanent

what is the capacity of long-term memory

virtually unlimited

what is the model that shows the 3 stages of memory processing?

multistore model of memory

how does sensory memory turn into short-term memory?

by paying attention

what can occur during short-term memory before it enters long-term memory?

rehearsal

what happens if information in short term memory is not rehearsed?

it becomes lost

how does short-term memory become long-term memory?

encoding

how does long-term memory become short-term memory?

retrieval

what does retrieval mean?

the process of information that is stored in long-term memory being returned into the actively conscious mind.

what allows retrieval to occur?

recognition and recall

what does recognition do (in regards to memory)? give an example.

recognise information from a set of alternatives. For example, selecting an answer on a multiple choice question

what does recall do (in regards to memory)? give an example.

retrieves information without any form of cues/aid. For example, answering a question on a short answer exam.

what is the first strategy to improve memory and what does it do?

chunking, process of grouping items together.

what does chunking (in regards to memory) improve?

capacity of short-term memory

what are the 3 strategies to improve short-term memory?

chunking, rehearsal, mnemonics

what is the second strategy to improve memory and what does it separate into?

rehearsal, separates into maintenance and elaborative rehearsal.

what does maintenance rehearsal do and what does it improve?

repeat information over and over again, increases duration of short term memory

what does elaborative rehearsal do?

gives meaning to information and links it to other information already in memory, creates cues to help locate/retrieve information

what are the 2 types of long term memory?

explicit (declarative) and implicit (non-declarative)

what is explicit memory?

recalling previously learned information that requires conscious effort to receive

what is implicit memory?

memory expressed through behaviour, unconscious and effortless recollection

what can implicit memory be divided into?

procedural and emotional conditioning

what is procedural memory?

memory of skills and actions

what is an example of procedural memory?

riding a bike after not riding one for 10 years

what can explicit memory be divided into?

episodic and semantic

what is episodic memory?

memory of experienced events

what is semantic memory?

memory of knowledge and concepts

what does eyewitness testimony mean?

an account given by people of an event they have witnessed

why can eyewitness testimony be sometimes unreliable?

the brain tends to fill in details that cannot be recalled to make the situation make more sense, can be influenced by misinformation/bias/expectation

what does enviromental factors mean? (in regards to factors affecting eyewitness testimony)

the context of an event (ie: car crash, criminal event) may cause focus to be drawn to a particular thing and other details to be missed.

what are some example of physical factors that may affect eyewitness testimony?

distance from offender, fatigue of witness, age of witness (young child and elderly more likely to make errors), etc

what does learning mean in the context of psychology?

the process of acquiring new knowledge, behaviour, skills, or values resulting in relatively permanent change in behaviour or mental processes

what are the two types of conditioning humans learn?

classical conditioning and operant conditioning

what does classical conditioning do?

links an existing, normally involuntary action with a new stimulus, builds an association between a neutral stimulus and an existing unconditioned stimulus

what are the 5 key terms in classical conditioning?

unconditioned stimulus (US), unconditioned response (UR), neutral stimulus (NS), conditioned stimulus (CS) conditioned response (CR)

what is the unconditioned stimulus (US)?

stimulus that elicits a specific response without prior learning

classical condition - in an apartment building, every time someone flushes the toilet, the shower becomes very hot and causes the person to jump back. Over time, the person begins to jump back automatically after hearing the flush, before the water temperature changes. Classify each stimulus/response.

unconditioned stimulus - hot water, unconditioned response - jump, neutral stimulus - sound of toilet, conditioned stimulus - sound of toilet, conditioned response - jump

what is operant conditioning?

method of learning that uses rewards and punishments to either encourage a behaviour to continue or remove a behaviour

what does reinforcement mean? (operant conditioning)

any event that increases the strength of response and/or the likelihood that it will be repeated

what does positive reinforcement mean (operant conditioning)?

a reward or pleasant consequence that follows a response and increases the probability that the response will be repeated

what is an example of positive reinforcement (operant conditioning)?

receiving an A on a well-written paper

what does negative reinforcement mean? (operant conditioning)

the termination of an unpleasant stimulus after a response in order to increase the probability that the response will be repeated

what is an example of negative reinforcement (operant conditioning)?

putting on a seatbelt to stop the ‘dinging’ in your car

what does punishment mean? (operant conditioning)

any event that decreases a particular behaviour

what does positive punishment mean (operant conditioning)?

an unfavourable or negative outcome that weakens the response it follows, given a consequence

what is an example of positive punishment (operant conditioning)?

receiving detention for not doing homework

what does negative punishment mean (operant conditioning) ?

the termination of a favourable outcome or event to decrease a particular behaviour

what is an example of negative punishment (operant conditioning)?

grounded because you came back home past curfew

what is social learning theory?

a theory proposed by albert Bandura that suggests learning occurs by observing actions through others.

as per social learning theory, how do learners acquire new behaviors/knowledge?

by observing a model

what does a model mean (social learning theory)?

a person who demonstrates a behaviour

what is the Bobo doll experiment?

an experiment conducted by Albert Bandura, where a video of an adult woman hitting a bobo doll and being aggressive was shown to children. Children were allowed to play in the same room with the doll, where they imitated the model by beating up the doll and using similar, aggressive words.

what do mirror neurons allow us to do?

allow us to learn through imitation, enable us to reflect body language, emotions and facial expressions

what does reliability measure?

how consistent the data is, whether each data point is similar

what does validity mean?

whether the experiment measured what it was intended to measure, how it compares to theoretical