psya01h3 ch 1, 2

Rene Descartes

• thought that if something moved that it meant it had a soul

• viewed animals as complexed machines with no soul

dualism

• the body is physical, made of matter, and can be studied scientifically

• the mind is non-physical, responsible for thinking and consciousness, and not bound by physical laws 

psychology

“the objective study of the mind.” OR The scientific study of behavior, mental processes, and brain functions.

Behaviour

 any action that we can observe

Aristotle

believed that all knowledge is gained through sensory experience

introspection

the personal observation of your own thoughts feelings, and behaviours

 John Locke

• viewed the mind as a “blank slate” at birth, which then was filled with ideas gained by observing the world.

• - pushed empiricism, precise observation amd manipulate

james hill

• came up with materialism

johannes muller

• doctrine of specific nerve energies, and founder of modern psychology

voluntarism

• the role of will or the ability to determine what to attend to 

• william wundt approach to psychology is known as

Edward Titchener

• expanded on wundt views establishing the theory of structuralism 

Structuralism

theory that mind could be broken down into the smallest elements of mental experience 

Gestalt psychology

means “form” or “whole” 

functionalism

 views behaviour as purposeful because it leads to survival 

who founded functionalism?

William James

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)

Psychologist that founded psychodynamic theory.

psychodynamic theory

• emphasized unconscious mind, sexuality, dream analysis, abnormal behavior.

Humanistic Psychology

• Promoted new approaches focused on the human mind and potential.

Humanistic Therapist Carl Rogers

• developed the client-centred therapy

behaviorism

• The measurement of observable behaviour 

 Ivan Pavlov  (1849–1936)

• started behaviorism and classical conditioning, experiment: Dogs salivating when hearing a bell.

John B. Watson (1878–1958)

• Experiment: “Little Albert” (taught a child to fear a white rat by pairing it with a loud noise).

Edward Thorndike (1874–1949)

• Experiment: Cats in puzzle boxes, Cats learn by trial-and-error.

B. F. Skinner (1904–1990)

• Experiment: Rats and pigeons in ….boxes, studied operant conditioning → behaviour shaped by consequences (reinforcement/punishment).

biological psychology

• Explores the relationships among mind, behaviour and their underlying biological processes, including genetics, biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology

Evolutionary Psychology

• modern extension of James’s functionalism

• Focus: How behaviour and physical structure evolved to aid survival & reproduction.

Cognitive Psychology

• Focuses on Thinking & information processing.

• Has a strong link with memory processes (storage & retrieval).

developmental psychology

• Explores normal changes in behavior that occurs across the life span

• psychologist might look at how memory functions in people of different ages

Objectivity

conclusions are based on facts, without influence from personal emotions or biases.

Confirmation bias

• The tendency to notice and remember instances that support your beliefs more than instances that contradict them.

Critical thinking

• The ability to think clearly, rationally, and independently, is one of the foundations of scientific reasoning. 

post truth

when personal feelings and beliefs are more influential in shaping public opinion than real objective facts

hawthorn effect

tendency of ppl to change their behaviour when they know they’re being observed or watched

internal validity

• confidence in if the results of a study is caused by the researchers change/ was it performed well??

external validity

how well the results of a study can be applied to people

cultural validity

how well a study applies to people from different cultures

theories

sets of facts and relationships between facts that can be used to explain and predict phenomenon

hypothesis

• is a type of inference, or an educated guess, based on prior evidence and logical possibilities 

peer review

• The process of having research examined by scientists who are the experts in the same  before it is published 

Replication

• During peer review research that fits with existing knowledge is typically accepted more rapidly than work that is less consistent with previous reports.

• (scientists) Repeating an experiment and producing the same results.

Descriptive methods

surveys, case studies, observations → describe behaviour.

Correlational methods

• show relationships between variables, not cause.
  
  

Experimental methods

• test hypotheses, identify causes.
  
  

Operationalization - how do psychologists conduct research?

• first step—define how variables are measured.

construct

• Internal attributes that can’t be directly observed but are useful for describing and explaining behaviour 

• Most psychological research involves the investigation of …

• Ex. anxiety, intelligence and extraversion 

operationalization

• The process of taking an abstract construct and defining it in a way that is concrete and measurable 

• Ex. to assess anxiety, psychologists might examine observable behaviour (fidgeting) and have participants complete a self report measure “how do you feel on a scale of 1-10?” 

Descriptive methods ?

• Research method designed to make careful, systematic real world observations 

• Include case studies naturalistic observations, surveys, focus groups and interviews 

What is a case study?

• Provides an in-depth analysis of the behaviour of one person or a small number of people

naturalistic observation

• In depth study of a phenomenon in its natural setting, looking at a larger group of people 

• example: Jane Goodall’s long-term study of chimpanzees in Gombe (1960).

• Key discovery: Chimps are not strictly vegetarians (Goodall, 1971).

Surveys

• A descriptive method in which people are asked the same question 

Sample

• Primary requirement for as good survey, a subset of a population being studied

Population

• An entire group from which a sample is taken 

What are Focus groups and interviews ?

• Participants are asked to respond to specific questions BUT participants are not constrained to preselected choice options but free to provide any sort of response they wish 

• Used to gather more detailed, nuanced information from research participants

What is correlation?

• measures the direction and strength of the relationship of two variables or factors that have values that can change, or factors that have values and can change 

variable

• has a range of values 

Measure

• Describes a variables quantity 

• answers the simple question of “how much” of a variable we have observed. 

• 3 possible outcomes between the comparison of two variables: positive, negative or zero correlation

Third variable??

• A variable that is responsible for a correlation observed between two other variables of interest 

• Case study (Dittrick): a study of Canadian children (ages 10–17) found a positive correlation between preferring violent video games and engaging in cyberbullying

experiment

• researcher has a great deal of control over it, allows us to talk abt cause

• research method that tests hypotheses and allows researchers to make conclusions about causality

Independent variable 

• The variable that is controlled and manipulated by an experimenter, “if A happens” part of a hypothesis

Dependent variable 

• the outcome or result that is measured in an experiment, and its value depends on the changes made to another variable

Control group 

• A group that experiences all experimental procedures except the independent variable

Experimental group

• Exposed to the independent variable   

Confounding variable

• Variable that is irrelevant to the hypotheses being tested and can alter or destroy a researchers conclusions/ experimental results 

• Ex. Situational confounds, such as time of day or noise levels in a laboratory, also could affect the interpretation of an experiment.

meta-analysis

• A statistical analysis of many previous experiments on the same topic 

Publication bias

• the possibility that published studies are not representative of all the work done on a particular problem. 

Cross-sectional study:

type of research design used in psychology, health, and the social sciences where data is collected at a single point in time

Longitudinal study

An experimental design for assessing age-related changes in which data are obtained from the same individuals at intervals over a long period of time.

Mixed longitudinal study

• combines the cross-sectional and longitudinal methods. Participants from a range of ages are observed for a limited time (usually about five years).

• approach is faster and less expensive than the longitudinal method and avoids some of the cohort effects of the pure cross-sectional method.

Reliability

• refers to the consistency of a measure. 

Validity

• means that a measure leads to correct conclusions or evaluates the concept that it is designed to do. 

• Ex. your bathroom scale is supposed to measure how much you weigh. The data obtained from your bathroom scale can lead you to a valid conclusion (“this is how much I weigh”) or an invalid conclusion (“wow, I’m much lighter than the doctor’s scale said I am”).

descriptive statistics

• helps us organize individual bits of data into meaningful patterns and summaries. 

• Ex. Ff we wanted to investigate trends of female postsecondary students enrolled in STEM fields over time. Descriptive data tell us only about the sample we have studied

Standard deviation

• A measure of how tightly clustered around the mean a group of scores is.

Normal distribution 

• A symmetrical probability function 

inferential statistics

• Statistical methods that allow us to draw inferences or conclusions from data samples to larger populations 

• Note: descriptive data does NOT allow us to extend our results to larger groups

Null hypothesis

• A hypothesis stating the default position that there is no real difference between two measures.

Statistical significance

• Deciding whether an observed result is due to chance

• Observe this by repeating a study, throwing dice multiple times

Informed consent 

• Permission obtained from a research participant after the risks and benefits of an experimental procedure have been thoroughly explained.

field experiment

• is an experiment that takes place outside of a laboratory setting, ex. In the field/ residential neighborhood

• These experiments involves manipulation of an independent variable and measuring of defendant variable

three R’s in animal testing

replacement, reduction, refinement

william wundt

founded structuralism