general psychology midterm

psychology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

seven unifying themes

1. empirical

2. theoretically diverse

3. evolves in a sociohistorical context

4. behavior determined by multiple causes

5. behavior shaped by cultural heritage

6. hereditary and environment jointly influence behavior

7. people’'s experience of the world is highly subjective

wilhelm WUNDT

• father of psychology

• structuralism

  • consciousness in its basic elements

  • introspection

william JAMES

• functionalist

  • the function or purpose of consciousness

sigmund FREUD

• psychoanalysis

  • 1900s - presnt

  • unconscious motives

john b WATSON

• behaviorism

  • 1913 - present

  • effects of environment on behavior

  • only observable events can be studied scientifically

  • Pavlov’s classical conditioning

• most important influence on psychology until the 1950s

b.f. SKINNER

• radical behavioralism

  • we are influenced by the consequences of our actions

  • no free will

    • behavior is strictly determined by environmental consequences

carl ROGERS

• humanism

  • 1950s to present

  • humans are free, rational beings with the potential for personal growth

    • fundamentally different from animals

cognitive psychology

• 1950s to present

• thoughts and mental processes

• have to examine how people acquire, store, and process information

biological psychology

• 1950s to present

• bodily structures and biochemical processes explain an organism’s functioning

evolutionary psychology

• 1980s to present

• behavior patterns evolved to solve adaptive problems

• natural selection favors behaviors that enhance reproductive success

founder of positive psychology

martin seligman

positive psychology

• positive subjective experiences

• positive individual traits

• positive institutions and communities

goals of science

1. to measure and describe any phenomenon or behavior in our environment

2. to understand and predict the phenomenon or behavior

3. to apply and control

confound variable

the variable that correlates with both the IV and DV

• third unaccounted for variable that affects the results

operational definition

the actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable

• how are you making your variables observable / concrete?

experimental group

• the group that receives the treatment

• uses random assignment

control group

the group with no change

theory

a statement about the probable relationships among a set of abstract variables

hypothesis

allows us to test experimental ideas

• ROT test

advantages of experiments

• precise control over variables

• can draw conclusions about cause and effect relationships

disadvantages of experiments

• often artificial

• ethical concerns

• practical realities

ROT test (what does ROT stand for)

• repeatable

• observable

• testable

quasi-experimental design

• no random assignment !!

• estimates causal impact of X on Y

advantages of quasi-experiments

• easier to set up

• minimize threats to external validity (bc not artificial)

disadvantages to quasi-experiments

• lack of random assignment

• difficult to rule out confounds

qualitative research

people behaving in their natural settings and describing their world in their own words

ethnography

the study of social and cultural conditions

naturalistic observation

observe behaviors under the natural conditions without intervening directly with the subjects

• minimizes artificiality 👍

• when little is known 👍

• unable to draw causal conclusions 👎

• difficult to quantify 👎

• difficult to remain unobtrusive 👎

case study

detailed accounts of the events of an individual subject (a case)

• study of psychological disorders 👍

• provides illustrations to support a theory 👍

• subjectivity 👎

• unable to draw causal conclusions 👎

• samples might not be representative 👎

focus group interviews

:)