Psych by Wade Chapters 1-4 Study Guide. + Terms from textbook

Rational psychology vs POP Psychology

rational psychology is based on empirical evidence

Empirical evidence

• Relying on or derived from observation, experimentation, or measurement.

information we can verify with our senses.

Phrenology

Now discredited theory that different brain areas account for specific character and personality traits, which can be "read" from bumps on the skull

Critical thinking

8 important guidlines:

> Ask Questions

> Define the TERMS

> Examine the evidence

> Analyze biases and assumptions

> Avoid emotional reasoning

> Do NOT oversimplify

> Consider other interpretations

> Tolerate uncertainty

Occam's razor

Critical thinkers make the choice that accounts for the most evidence while making the least unverified assumptions.

• When faced with two arguments, the simplest explanation is more likely to be true

psychobabble/POP Psychology

Unsupported popular opinion

Functionalism

• Emphasized the purpose of behavior as opposed to its analysis and description. Asks how and why.

• Founded by WILLIAM JAMES

• Approach that emphasizes the contributions made by each part of society

Structuralism

• Interpretation and analysis of aspects of human cognition, behavior, culture, and experience that focuses on relationships of contrast between elements in a conceptual system that reflect patterns underlying a superficial diversity.

• Of historical interest and is NOT a modern perspective.

Sigmund Frued

psychoanalysis

William James

Founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment

Willhelm Wundt

• *Established the first psychological laboratory in Germany

• First person to announce that he intended to make psychology a science*

• Father of psychology

• first lab auditory experiment

E.B. Titchener

Studied under Wilhelm Wundt for several years. Titchener is best known for creating his version of psychology that described the structure of the mind: structuralism.

Charles Darwin

Inspired functionalism psychologists with his theory of evolution

and natural selection

Sociocultural perspective

Social and cultural forces outside the individual, forces that shape every aspect of behavior

Learning perspective

How the environment and experience affect a persons or animals actions

Includes behaviorism and social-cognitive learning theories

Developmental psychologists

How people change and grow over time physically, mentally and socially

Cognitive perspective

Mental process in perception, memory language problem solving, etc.

Social-cognitive learning theorists

Combine elements of behaviorism with research on thoughts, values, expectations, and intentions.

• People learn not only from adapting their behavior to the environment, but also by observing and initiating others and thinking about the events that happened around them.

Social psychology

social rules and roles and how groups affect attitudes and behavior, any people obey authority and people affect other people

Cultural psychology

How cultural rule and values, both explicit and unspoken, affect people's development, behavior and feelings

Basic Psychology

Study of psychological issues for the sake of knowledge rather than practical application

Applied psychology

Study of psychological issues that have direct practical significance also, the application of psychological findings

A doctorate

Required to obtain a license to practice clinical psychology

Psychiatrist

Med doc who diagnoses and treats mental disorders, takes more BIOLOGICAL approach than other psychotherapists

Theory

Organized system of assumptions and principles that purports to explain a specified set of phenomena and their interrelationships

Conformation bias

a tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions

Operational definition

Precise definition of a term in a hypothesis, which specifies the operations for observing and measuring the process or phenomenon being defined.

Descriptive methods

Allow researchers to describe and predict behavior but not necessarily to choose one explanation over competing ones.

Psychological tests/ assessment instruments

Procedures for measures and evaluating personality traits, emotions, aptitudes, interests, abilities and values.

• Designed to tap unconscious feelings or motives.

Correlational study

Research into the relationships between variables as they naturally occur.

Effect size

the magnitude of a relationship between two or more variables

Bayesian statistics

Calculating the likelihood of a hypothesis being true and meaningful, taking account past knowledge.

independent variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

e.g. iPhone case

dependent variable

What I observe

e.g. damage to iphone for different cases

Control condition

A condition in which subjects receive a zero value of the independent variable.

Single-blind study

participants do not know whether they are in the experimental group or the control group

Experimenter effects

Unintended changes in study participants behavior due to cues that the experimenter inadvertently conveys.

Informed consent

Advising patient of risks and benefits of treatment

• APA code calls on psychological scients to respect dignity...

Replication

ESSENTIAL for an experiment

Case studies

Illustrate psychological principles in a way that abstract generalizations and cold statistics never can, AND they produce a more detailed picture of an individual than other methods do.

Standardization

//In test construction,// to develop uniform procedures for giving and scoring a test.

Norms

//In test construction// established standards of performance.

Reliability

//In test construction// the consistency of scores derived from a test, from one time and place to another.

Validity

The ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure.

Naturalistic observation

used to find out how animals and people behave in natural environment

Biological Perspective

Emphasizes bodily events and changes associated with actions, feelings and thoughts

Principle of falsifiability

Scientific theory must make predictions that are specific enough tot expose the theory tot the possibility of disconfirmation.

>> The theory must predict what will //not//happen.

Alternate-form reliability

Different versions of the same test to the same group on two separate occasions. Similar but not identical.

• to avoid familiarity...

Content validity

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest.

Positive correlation

The values increase together

Negative correlation

high values of one variable are associated with the low values of the other

Coefficient of correlation

Statistic used to express correlation

Replicate

A scientific study must be able of being replicated to prove its validity.

>> It is much better if something is valid rather than just being reliable.

Peer review

That work lives to scientific standards. But individuals are not inherently unbiased so this is not perfect.

Illusory correlation

the perception of a relationship where none exists

e.g. vaccines cause autism

Volunteer bias

Sample made up of volunteers is a biased sample

Meta-analysis

Provides measure the overall "weight: of a finding because it combines data from a number of related studies instead of assessing each study's results separately.

Animal use

Fed regulations governing their housing and care have been strengthened.

Behavior genetics

Interdisciplinary field of study concerned with genetic contributions to individual differences in behavior and personality.

Genes

Functional unites of heredity, they are composed of DNA and specify the structure of proteins

Chromosomes

Rod-shaped and paired structures made of DNA that are located in the nucleus of the cell

• because they are in each cell but each cell have 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46.

Each sperm cell and each egg cell contains 23 chromosomes so when they unite...

Mutations

may occur because of mistakes made when DNA copies itself during cell division or because of environmental factors such as UV radiation from the sun

passing on our genes

Sociobiologists argue that evolution's bred into a tendency to maximize the chances of ____________

Monogamous

Sociobiologists predict that compared to males, females should be more likely to be ____________

women like to stay with one guy as they could only produce so many babies

Longitudinal study in textbook

The cortex develops more rapidly in smart kids and develops longer

Genome

All the genetic information in an organism; all of an organism's chromosomes.

Noncoding DNA

DNA that does not code for any kind of functional RNA

Evolutionary psychology

Field of psych emphasizing evolutionary mechanisms that may help explain human commonalities in social practices, perception emotional responses etc.

Mental module

Hypothetical collection of cognitive abilities

CDC finding of American men relationship

American men today are just as interested in serious family relationships as women are - 68% percent of women and 75 percent of men agreed that "it is more important for a man to spend a lot of time with his family than be successful at his career."

Heritability

• the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes

• Scientists have no way to estimate the heritability of a trait or behavior directly, so they must infer it by studying people who's degree of genetic similarity is known

• Estimates average around .40 or .50l that is genetic differences explain for about half of the variance in IQ scores

•

Middle Class sample population study

HALF of the kind of intelligence that produces in in children is heritable

overlap considerably

Distributions of IQ scores for black children and white children ______

Babies exposed to toxins

Will have reduced mental ability

Genetic diversity

ability of any species to survive depends on ________

Spinal Cord

nervous tissue within the spinal cavity

Spinal reflexes

simple pathways in the nervous system that rapidly generate muscle contractions

Sensory nerves

Carry messages to the brain and spinal cord from a receptor; afferent nerves.

Cerebellum

A large structure of the hindbrain that controls fine motor skills.

• "Lesser brain" is involved in remembering simple skills and acquiring reflexes.

• regulartes movement and balance, is involved in remembering simple skills and acquired reflects and plays a role in cognitive and emotional learning.

Somatic nervous System

voluntary;

the division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's skeletal muscles.

e.g. If you feel a bug crawling on you the somatic nervous system is necessary for you to respond to that, by moving your leg

amygdala

two lima bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion and fear.

Hippocampus

a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage

Old brain

Old part of our brain, the cerebrum and the cerebral cortex are layered on top as they are the newer portions of the brain.

Cerebrum

Area of the brain responsible for all voluntary activities of the body

Cerebral hemispheres

The right and left halves of the cerebrum.

Corpus callosum

a broad band of nerve fibers joining the two hemispheres of the brain.

lateralization

cognitive function that relies more on one side of the brain than the other

Cerebral cortex

The part of the brain where information processing takes place. Divided into four lobes.

• Consciousness, language, motor function problems solving, serial processing, social cognition

Gray matter

mostly neuron cell bodies and nonmyelinated fibers

White matter

Whitish nervous tissue of the CNS consisting of neurons and their myelin sheaths.

Nervous System

a network of cells that carries information to and from all parts of the body

Autonomic nervous system

The part of the PNS that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs.

Central Nervous System

brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

The sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body

sympathetic nervous system

fight or flight

parasympathetic nervous system

rest and digest

Lower part of the brain

medulla

• Shanon blinks as she steps of the school bus and walks into a gust of wind. this AUTOMATIC reaction is regulated by the ______

sensory nerves

Neuron

a nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system

Neurotransmitter

Chemical messengers