PSYC1001 Exam 1: Chapters 1-3 (Abuirqeba)

Psychology follows the empirical method. What is the empirical method?

a method based on observation and experimentation, rather than forms of logical argument or previous authorities

What is introspection?

a process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible (internal perception)

Explain functionalism:

- a psychological theory created by William James

- emphasized how mental activities contributed to basic survival

- the study of function and behavior

- functional adaptability leading to adaptation in behavior

What three psychological theories were concerned with describing and understanding inner experiences?

Structuralism, Psychoanalysis Theory, and Gestalt Psychology

What was John B. Watson concerned with, and what did he do to the field of psychology?

- concerned with how objective analysis of the mind was impossible and preferred to focus directly on observable behavior, and how you could control that behavior

- shifted psychology from a focus of the mind, to a focus on behavior

Explain Classical Conditioning

- discovered by Ian Pavlov

- unconsciously reflexes could overtime be conditioned to reproduce the same response to a different stimulus

Who was Margaret Floy Washburn?

- the first woman to get her PhD in psychology in the US (1894)

- researched animal behavior

- wrote the animal mind: a textbook of comparative psychology

What is the american psychological association?

professional organization representing psychologists in the United States

what is perception?

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

What is innate behavior?

a behavior that is inherited rather than learned

the "big five" proposed personality traits

Openness

Conscientiousness

Extroversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

What is stanely milgram famous for?

his research on obedience and social psychology

What did Jane Goodall study, and how?

chimpanzee behavior via naturalistic observations

What is archival research?

research that relies on looking t past records or data sets to look for interesting patterns

what is longitudinal / cross-sectional research?

longitudinal = study of the same population over time; cross-sectional = study of different populations at one time

what is the biological perspective of psychology

psychological disorders are associated with imbalances in one or more neurotransmitter systems

define cerebral cortex

the surface of the brain characterized by sulci and gyri

what is the forebrain?

the largest part of the brain containing the cerebral cortex, subcortical structures, and limbic system

What are the subcortical structures?

hypothalamus, thalamus, and pituitary gland

what is the cerebral cortex?

a part of the forebrain associated with higher level processing including consciousness, thought, emotion, reasoning, language, and memory

what is the limbic system?

involved in processing emotion and memory

- located beneath the cerebral cortex

- sense of smell projects directly to the limbic system

- made of the hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus

what is the hippocampus?

an essential structure for learning and memory

- apart of the limbic system

what is the amygdala?

involved in our experience of emotion and typing emotional meaning to memories

- apart of the limbic system

what is the frontal lobe?

involved in reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language

- contains the motor cortex and Broca's area

what is the auditory cortex?

responsible for processing auditory information

What is the hindbrain?

medulla, pons, cerebellum

What is the pancreas?

a large gland behind the stomach that secretes digestive enzymes into the duodenum

what are the gonads?

sex organs

What is psychology?

definition: the scientific study of the mind and behavior

- how the mind takes in stimuli and responds

Psyc =

soul

Ology =

the scientific study of

What do psychologists study?

MCMRWLP: memory, consciousness, mental health, reasoning, workings of the brain, personality

When was psychology accepted as an academic discipline?

late 1800s

Explain mentalism

- a psychological perspective by Aristotle

- focused on the non-material mind

- asked, "what is consciousness?"

- considered the mind versus the psyche

Explain dualism

- a psychological perspective by Descartes

- cognito ergo: I think therefore I am

- viewed the mind and the body as distinct

Explain structuralism

- a psychological perspective by William Wundt

- focused on the contents of mental processes rather than their functions

- focused on the parts of the mind rather than the whole mind

What did William Wundt believe? What psychological perspective did he create? What was he the first?

- he believed the goal of psychology was to identify components of consciousness and how those components combine to result in our conscious experience

- created the idea of structuralism

- the first to be considered a psychologist

Explain psychoanalytic theory

- a psychological theory created by Sigmund Freud

- focus on the role of the unconscious in affecting conscious behavior

- focused on how childhood experiences impacted the rest of a person's life

What were the 6 ideas popularized by Freud?

1) the unconscious drives behavior

2) the importance of childhood experiences

3) mental representations of ourself and others influence and guide our behavior

4) personality develops over time

5) psychosexual development and oedipus complexes

6) dreams have hidden meanings that reveal psychological truths

Explain Gestalt Psychology

- a psychological theory created by Max Weirthiaemer. Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Hojler

- considered the human as a whole rather than the sum of individually measured parts

- based on the idea that although sensory experiences can be broken down into individual parts, how these parts relate to each other as a whole is what the individual responds to n perception

Gestalt=

whole

Explain Behaviorism

- a psychological theory created by John B. Watson

- a focus directly on the observable behavior of an individual, and the control of that behavior

- focused on observable and quantifiable stimulus and response patterns

- shifted psychology away from the mind and onto the behavior

In the early 20th century, what fields dominated American psychology?

Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis

Explain Humanism

- a psychological theory created by Abraham Maslow and Carl rogers

- a perspective within psychology that emphasized the potential for good that is innate within all humans

What did Abraham Maslow believe?

he asserted that so long as basic need necessary for survival were met, higher level needs would begin to motivate behavior

What were the three features developed by Carl Rogers that he proposed all therapists needed to display in order to maximize the effectiveness of client-centered therapy

1) unconditional positive regard

2) genuineness

3) empathy

What is a conditioned reflex

a condition where an animal produces an unconscious reflex in response to a stimulus

What did B.F. Skinner create and what did he believe?

- crated the operant conditioning chamber

- concentrated on how behavior was effected by consequence

What was the cognitive revolution?

an intellectual movement beginning in the 1950s as an interdisciplinary study of the mind and its processes, later becoming known collectively as cognitive science

Who was Mary Whiton Calkins?

- refused a psychology degree from Harvard (mid 1890s)

- studied dreams

What is the association for psychological science?

an association to advance the scientific orientation of psychology

explain biopsychology

- a contemporary field in psychology focused on exploring how biology influences behavior, focusing on the immediate cause of behavior based in the psychology of an animal

- a component of neuroscience

- based on how the structure and function of.the nervous system generate behaviors

- research includes sensory/motor systems, sleep, drug use/abuse, ingestive behavior, reproductive behavior, neurodevelopment, neural plasticity, and biological correlations of psychological disorders

explain evolutionary psychology

- a contemporary field in psychology focused on the ultimate biological causes of behavior

- psychologists typically predict the outcome of a behavior based on evolutionary theory

what is sensation?

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

explain cognitive psychology

- a contemporary field in psychology focused on studying cognition, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and actions

explain developmental psychology

- a contemporary field in psychology that studies the development across the lifespan and the physical and mental attributes of aging and maturation

- interested in processes related to physical maturation, moral reasoning, cognitive skills, and social skills

- encapsulates the ideas of object permanence, and innate versus learned behavior

What is object permanence?

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

What is learned behavior?

behavior learned from environment

What was Jean Piaget's theory?

theory of cognitive development

- changes in cognitive ability occur as we move from infancy to adulthood

what is personality psychology?

- a contemporary field in psychology that focuses on the patters of thought and behaviors that make each individual unique

ex: a stimulus may trigger one thing for one individual but nothing/or something completely different for another

Who contributed to early theories of personality?

Gordon Allport

What were Freuds perspectives on personality>

- believed adult personality would result from the resolution of various conflicts that centered on the migration of erogenous (or sexual pleasure-producing) zones from the oral to the anus to the phallus to the genitals

- proposed that personality arose as conflicts between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind that were carried out over the lifespan

what is social psychology?

- a contemporary field in psychology that focuses on how we interact with, and relate to, others

what is industrial-organizational psychology?

- a contemporary field in psychology that focuses on the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimize human behavior in workplaces

what is health psychology?

- a contemporary field in psychology that focuses on how individual health is affected by the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors; known as the biopsychosocial model

- this model suggests health is determined by an interaction between the three factors above

What is sport and exercise psychology?

- a contemporary field in psychology that focuses on the psychological aspects of sports performance including motivation and performance anxiety, and the effects of sports on mental and emotional wellbeing

What is clinical psychology?

- a contemporary field in psychology that focuses on the assessment, and treatment of people with psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior

- involving clinical therapy and counseling

- counseling psychology focuses on emotional, social, vocational, and health related outcomes in individuals considered psychologically health

Scientific research is empirical. What does this mean?

scientific research is grounded in objective, tangible evidence that can be observed repeatedly, regardless of who is observing it

What is deductive reasoning?

reasoning that uses general premises to make specific predictions

What is inductive reasoning?

reasoning that uses specific cases to generate general conclusions

when do scientists use deductive reasoning

to form ideas (the hypothesis)

when do scientists use inductive reasoning

to form conclusions

how are hypothesis tested?

through empirical observations

what are clinical/case studies?

when scientists focus on one person or a few individuals to study some phenomenon/behavior

an example of a clinical/case study

Genie: was studied by psychologists after having suffered severe abuse and social isolation

what are naturalistic observations/observational studies?

- the observing of behavior in its natural setting

- has been proven best to study the most accurate and genuine behaviors

- observer bias can arise when people who are closely involved in the research unconsciously skew their observations to fit their research goals or expectations

what are surveys?

list of questions to be answered by research participants either in the form of paper-and-pencil, electronically, or verbally conducted questionnaires

what is attrition?

reduction in number of research participants as some drop out of the study over time

define correlation

a relationship between two or more variables

define correlation coefficient

a number from -1 to +1 that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between variables

define positive correlation

the variables moving the same way, both becoming either larger or smaller

define negative correlation

variables moving in opposite directions, one variable becoming larger and the other becoming smaller

define cause-and-effect relationships

changes in one variable cause the changes in the other variable

- only determined through experimental research

define confounding variable

an unanticipated outside factor that affects both variables, often giving the false impression that change in one variable causes change in the other variable

define illusionary correlation

correlation that occurs when people believe a relationship exists between two things when no such relationship exists

define confirmation bias

the tendency to ignore evidence that disproves ideas or beliefs

what is the operational definiton

a description of what actions and operations will be used to measure the dependent variable and manipulate the independent variable

define experimental bias

researcher expectations skew the results of the study

define participant bias

participant expectations skew the results of the study

what is a double-blind study

both the researcher and the participant are blind to the group assignments

what is a single-blind study?

the participants are unaware of their group assignment while the researcher is aware

define placebo effect

people's expectations or beliefs influencing or determining their experience in a given situation

define the participants, sample, and population

participants: those subject to the psychological research

sample: a subset of individuals selected from the larger population

population: the overall group of individuals that the researchers are interested in

define random sample

a subset of a larger population in which every member has an equal chance of being selected

define random assignment

a method of experimental group assignment in which all participants have an equal chance of being assigned

what is a quasi-experiment

an experimental design that lacks random assignment

- a cause-and-effect relationship cannot be determined

what is statistical analysis

determines how likely any difference between experimental groups is due to chance

define reliability

refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result

define inter-rater reliability

a measure of reliability that assesses the consistency of observations by different observers

validity

refers to the extent to which a given instrument or tool accurately measures what it is supposed to measure