Reading: History of Modern Psychology

development of psychology in America and use the mid-19th century

empiricism

the idea that all knowledge comes from experience (1700s)

mental vs material experience

experiences of the senses is mental; external reality is material

psychophysics

measuring the relationship between physical stimuli and human perception; precursor of psychology

introspection and its goal

the process of examining your own thoughts, feelings, and mental processes. goal is to identify consciousness (awareness of ourselves and the environment)

mental chronometry

reaction time

structuralism

brand of experimental psychology; interested in the contents of the mind—what the mind is

functionalism

brand of experimental psychology; interested in the activities of the mind—what the mind does

tichener’s idea of consicousness vs James’s

James proposed that consciousness is ongoing and continuous; it cannot be isolated and reduced to elements like tichener thought

individual differences

how we differ in behavior, emotion, cognition and development

eugenics

promotion of selective breeding

gestalt psychology

school of thought in psychology that focuses on how people naturally perceive patterns and unity; precursor of cognitive psychology

the Gestalt perspective

the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

cognitive psychology

study of mental processes

behaviorism

study of behavior; ignores mind and consciousness

Flashbulb memory

A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event.

capacity of short term/working memory

7+-2 words from a list for 20 seconds

AAAP

American Association for Applied Psychology; serves those in education, industry, consulting, and clinical work.

APA

American Psychological Association; represents the interests of academic psychologists

Scientist-practitioner model of training

A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes the development of both research and clinical skills.

scholar-practitioner model

A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes clinical practice

Independent variable

The variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiment.

Dependent variable

The variable the researcher measures but does not manipulate in an experiment.

Confounds

Factors that undermine the ability to draw causal inferences from an experiment

• eg placebo effect if trial group knows they have the drug

participant demand

When participants behave in a way that they think the experimenter wants them to behave.

correlational research

to passively observe and measure phenomena. usually cannot infer what causes what. you can examine only two variables at a time, no more and no less.

3 examples of qualitative designs

participant observation, case studies, and narrative analysis

participant observation

the researcher embedding him- or herself into a group in order to study its dynamics.

case study

intensive examination of specific individuals or specific contexts. Hopefully what is learned from this one person can be applied to others; however, even with thorough tests, there is the chance that something unique about the studied individuals limiting generizability

narrative analysis

study of stories and personal accounts of people, groups, or cultures. stories may be written, audio-recorded, or video-recorded, and allow the researcher not only to study what the participant says but how he or she says it.

quasi-experimental design

similar to experimental research, except that random assignment to conditions is not used. Instead, we rely on existing group memberships (e.g., married vs. single) treated as independent variables

problem of quasi experimental design

causal inference is more difficult since you no longer control for relatively equal conditions

Longitudinal study

track the same people over time

reasons for choosing one study method over another

• cost

• time

• availability

• ethics