PBSI 107 Exam 1

Scientific Method

1. Ask a question 2. Do background research 3. Construct a Hypothesis 4. Test you hypothesis 5. Analyze the data and draw a conclusion 6. share your results

First psychology lab creator

Wilhelm Wundt

Structuralism

Breaking consciousness down into basic elements of sensation and feeling, developed introspection

Functionalism

How consciousness helps people adapt to their environments

Gestalt

look at the bigger picture, the whole of consciousness is not equal to the sum of its parts

Psychoanalysis

constant unconscious conflicts within a person determines behavior and mental health

Sigmund Freud

Psychoanalysis-- insight therapy for fear and anxiety, believed that many of our problems as adults stem from early childhood experiences

Behaviorism

behavior is primarily the result of learning; personality is conditioned

Cognitive Approach

Emphasizes the influence of thoughts and mental processes and how they relate to behavior

Cognitive Neuroscience and Biopsychology

Links mental processes to activities in the nervous system, brain, and other body functions

Evolutionary Approach

Focus on how behavior and mental processes emerge as adaptations to inc survival

Cultural Approach

Focus on how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members

Variable

a factor or characteristic that is manipulated or measured in research

Operational definition of variable

A description of the exact methods that will be used to measure the variable

Descriptive Research

Used to describe and predict behavior and mental processes

Naturalistic Observation

Observations of behavior in the environment in which it typically occurs

Case study

intensive examination of a specific person or situation

Surveys

Questionnaires or interviews given to many people

Correlational studies

Is one variable related to another? How strong is that relationship?

Experimental Research

To predict, explain, and control behaviors/mental processes

Within-Subjects

everybody gets the meds, you measure before and after (more ethical than giving placebos)

Between-Subjects

participants randomly sorted, control doesn't get meds, experimental group does

Replication Crisis

a systematic problem in which a large proportion of studies are not reproducible

Developmental Psychology

the study of how humans change and/or remain stable across the life span

Teratogens

any substance that causes birth defect

Biological Processes

changes in our physical nature, biological age

Cognitive Processes

changes in how one thinks about and views the world, intelligence, and language, psychological age

Socioemotional processes

changes in relationships with other ppl, social age

Jean Piget

cognitive development happens in stages, children actively seek knowledge

Egocentrism

all see the world how the child sees it

Animism

think objects are alive

Theory of mind

ability to realize that other ppl have minds and those minds represent the world in different ways

John Bowlby

attachment is adaptive bc it keeps you safe and ensures survival

Harry Harlow

attachment is based on feeding and or comforting physical contact; used monkeys to show ppl crave attachment over basic necessities

Secure attachment

balance btwn contact and exploration, happy when mom returns, easily comforted

Avoidant Attachment

ignore or avoid mom after separation, baby untroubled by mother’s movements

Ambivalent/Anxious/Resistant Attachment

Greets mom, but angry and rejects contact, upset when mom leaves and returns

Disorganized Attachment

Infant’s behavior is inconsistent, disturbed

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning

Preconventional-selfish moral judgments

Conventional-choices based on rules and conventions

Postconventional-choices based on personal standards of justice, equality, and respect for human life

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

Believed that development is both a social and a cultural process

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

Human behavior is motivated by social needs