Midterm 1 - Section 1 (Intro to Psych)

Psychology

The scientific study of human behaviours and mental processes

Biological psych

Most basic level - brain, genes, neurotransmitters, etc. internal roles on external functions

Psychoanalytical/ psychodynamic

The unconscious controls behaviors (Freud) - oldest perspective on psych (1890’s) - thoughts and desires affect behaviour

Behavioural/ learning

Reinforcement, punishment, and imitation

Cognitive

Mental processes - learning, remembering, decision making, etc.

Humanistic/ phenomenological

All are born with a desire to maximize full potential - rarely believed to be fulfilled (self development)

Sociocultural

Culture impacts behaviour (social loafing effect)

Social Loafing

Expectation that others will put effort into a group society, so they don’t put effort in themselves - mainly western culture

Sigmund Freud

Psychoanalysis and exploring the existence of the unconscious, created the psychoanalytic theory

Psychoanalytic theory

Attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders with unconscious determinants

Wilhelm Wundt

“Father of psychology,” established first lab, associated with structuralism

Structuralism

Analyzing conscious into basic elements - senses

Functionalism

Investigation of the purpose/ function of consciousness, not structure

William James

Established American psych as a formal discipline and established school of functionalism

Behaviourism

Science observing behaviour

John B Watson

Founded the concept of behaviourism

B.F Skinner

Believed internal mental events couldn’t be studied (nurture over nature, environment molds behaviour)

Ivan Pavlov

Studied classical vs. operant conditioning (rewards and punishments)

Edward Tichener

Established structuralism under Wilhelm Wundt

Scientific method

1. Identify problem

2. Collect data

3. Analyze data

4. Theorize

Research methods

Observations, surveys/ questionnaires, and correlational research (used when it is impossible/ unethical to manipulate variables)

Experimental method

Allows conclusions to be drawn

Independent variable

manipulated variable by researcher

Dependent variable

Measured variable to observe impact of independent variable

Hawthorne effect

Participants acting differently when they know they’re being observed

Unobtrusive vs. naturalistic observations

• doesn’t interfere

• observed in natural environment

Observer bias

The observer focusing on only certain (experected) behaviours

The wording effect

In surveys, “loaded” words effect response (solution: ask the same question with different wording)

Correlation coefficient

r : -1 to +1, can be zero

Positive correlation

Variables move in the same direction, r greater than 0

negative correlation

Variables move in different directions, r is less than 0

Zero correlation

when r = 0, no relationship

Demand characteristics

Clues to the point of the research

Extraneous variable

Explanations other than the independent variable

Law of large numbers

More people participate = higher accuracy of representation of population (flawed because educated people are more likely to participate)

Statistical significance

Chance - when p is less than or equal to 0.05 (5%) results are not by chance (statistically significant), when p is greater than 0.05 it can be chance (statistically insignificant)

Bystander effect

More people present = less likely to help

Inductive fallacy

Just because something works for someone else does not mean it will work for you (common in pseudoscience)

Reductionism/ absolutizing

Assuming a theory explains something universally (especially with humans) - reducing a theory to one basic explanation

Social desirability bias

Eliminates honesty as people lie on surveys to have a “normal” opinion

Central tendency bias

The tendency to rate everything at the centre of a scale

Measures of central tendency

Mean, median, and mode

What makes a good theory?

• Completeness

• Fruitfulness

• Simplicity

• Falsifiability