Module I Foundations of Psychology: Methods of Psychology

Flashcards covering the major approaches to psychology, methods, and tools described in the notes.

What does the Biological Approach focus on in understanding behaviour?

Biological structures and phenomena (brain, genes, hormones, endocrine system, neurotransmitters) and how they regulate feelings, memories, emotions, and other aspects of behaviour.

Name a subdiscipline within the Biological Approach that studies genetic determinants of behaviour.

Behaviour genetics.

Who is considered the father of the Psychoanalytic Approach?

Sigmund Freud.

What is the central idea of the Psychoanalytic Approach about human behaviour?

Most behaviours are triggered by unconscious motivation; analysis of unconscious mental contents is crucial.

What are the layers of consciousness described by Freud?

Conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

Who is the father of the Humanistic Approach?

Carl Rogers.

What does the Humanistic Approach emphasize about the person?

Conscious experiences, present situation, growth toward psychological maturity, and the person as an active, self-actualizing agent.

What is the core idea of the Behaviorist Approach?

Explicit, objective overt behaviour and its relation to environmental stimulation; behaviour is shaped by stimulus–response associations.

Which figure is closely associated with Behaviorism and what does it stress?

John B. Watson; stress on objective analysis of behaviour and stimulus–response relations.

What is the main focus of the Cognitive Approach?

Information processing capacity: perception, remembering, thinking, language, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making.

What is Observation as a method of enquiry in psychology?

Systematic registering of events without deliberate interference; can be naturalistic or laboratory; can be participant or non-participant.

What is naturalistic observation?

Observation in the natural environment with no control over extraneous variables.

What is laboratory observation?

Observation conducted in a controlled setting by the observer.

What are the two types of observational roles?

Participant observation and non-participant observation.

What is the basic idea of the Experimental method in psychology?

Manipulate the independent variable and observe the effect on the dependent variable, using experimental and control groups.

Name the three kinds of relevant variables considered in experiments.

Organismic, situational, and sequential variables.

List techniques used to control extraneous variables in experiments.

Elimination; making conditions constant; matching; counterbalancing; random assignment.

What is a field experiment and what is a quasi-experiment?

Field experiment: conducted in natural life conditions with manipulation of the IV. Quasi-experiment: IV manipulated in natural settings using naturally occurring groups, often without random assignment.