Psychology Unit One

Psychology

The science of behavior and mental processes.

Major research perspectives

Biological, Behavioral, Cognitive, Socio-cultural.

Internal research perspectives

Biological and Cognitive.

External research perspectives

Behavioral and Socio-cultural.

Complementary

Work together to give a complete picture of why humans behave as they do.

Two types of conditioning

Classical and Operant.

Classical Conditioning

Explains how we learn emotional responses, taste aversions, and other behaviors.

Operant Conditioning

The relationship between our behavior and its environmental consequences.

Operant model

ABC: Antecedents, Behavior, Consequences.

Reasons for staying depressed (behavioral perspective)

Reinforcement, attention for depressed behaviors, escape from responsibilities, learned helplessness.

State where psychologists can prescribe medication

New Mexico.

Research methods used by psychologists

Descriptive methods, correlational studies, experimental research.

Observational techniques

Researcher directly observes the behavior of interest.

Who conducted chimp research?

Jane Goodall.

Who conducted gorilla research?

Dian Fossey.

Case studies

The researcher studies an individual in depth over an extended period of time.

Survey (questionnaire) research

Uses questionnaires to collect information about behavior, beliefs, and attitudes.

Correlational studies

A measure of the relationship between two variables (X & Y).

Correlation coefficient

Statistical measure of the relationship between two variables.

Degree (strength) Scale

Indicated by the number, ranges from 0.00 to 1.00.

Positive correlation

X up Y up or X down Y down (same direction).

Negative correlation

X up Y down or X down Y up (opposite direction).

Visual depiction of correlational data

Scatterplot.

How culture contributes to depression

Cultural acceptance levels, reinforcement, or punishment from others.

Biological perspective

Focuses on the brain and nervous system as the causes of behavior

Behavioral perspective

Explains that we behave as we do because of our past history of conditioning by our environment.

Cognitive perspective

Emphasizes how our mental processes, such as perception, memory, and problem solving, work and impact our behavior.

Socio-Cultural perspective

Focuses on the impact of other people and culture on our behavior and mental processing.