Psych Terminology

PSYCH 120

Psychology

psyche + logos

Psyche

life; more commonly known as the mind or soul now

Logos

explanations or study

Why Do We Study Psychology?

• to understand ourselves; thoughts, emotions, and behaviour

• to understand others; relationships, culture, and communication

• to improve well being; mental health, resilience, and growth

• to solve real-world problems; in education, work, health, and justice

• to bridge disciplines; linking mind, brain, and society

• to grow personally; fostering self-awareness, empathy, and purpose

Hindsight Bias

the tendency to think that we could have predicted something that has already occurred that we probably would not have been able to predict

our “intuition”

Research Psychologists

use scientific methods to create new knowledge about the causes of behaviour

Psychologist-Practitioners

use existing research to enhance the everyday life of others

Data

any information collected through formal observation or measurement

Empirical Methods

include the processes of collecting and organizing data and drawing conclusions about those data

a study that is not so scientific; still evidence based but can be based on experience

more qualitative

Scientific Method

the set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to conduct empirical research

numerical; more quantitative

Facts

objective statements determined to be accurate through empirical study

Individual Differences

the variations among people of physical or psychological dimensions

Behaviour Is…

multiply determined; produced by many factors at different levels of explanation

probable, not predictable

Predictability

very accurate prediction of what will happen in the future; based on sure factors

like the weather

Probability

statistical chance; not necessarily predictable

most things to do with humans are this because humans are not fully deterministic systems

Nature vs. Nurture

how nature, or our biological makeup, and nurture, the experiences that we have during our lives, work together

“are criminals born criminals?”

Free Will vs. Determinism

the extent to which people have control over their own actions

“alcoholism”

Accuracy vs. Inaccuracy

to what extent are humans good information processors?

“did one really witness the whole car accident? are the events shared really that accurate?”

Conscious vs. Unconscious Processing

to what extent are we conscious of our own actions and the causes of them, and to what extent are out behaviours caused by influences that we are not aware of?

“is the teacher of this course making you think they are a good teacher? or are you basing your opinion on how much you learn throughout the course?”

can be manipulated unconsciously

Differences vs. Similarities

the focus of personality, social, and cross-cultural psychologists

“which of these factors are important for all people? or are the only important for some?”

Aristotle’s Theories

“the mind”; proposed psyche to be responsible for human thoughts, perception, opinions, desires, pain, memory, and reason

the importance of the body and how we perceive the world through it; the mind not the soul

later adopted by christianity

developed mentalism; looked at patterns of behaviour like sensation, perception, attention, imagination, emotion, and memory

Descartes’ Theories

“the mind-body problem”; the body is like a machine and the mind drives it

the mind is nonmaterial and uncontrollable, it decides on how the body as a machine works

proposed the concept of reflex action; some behaviours are out of our conscious control

Mentalism

the meaning of the thinking mind; how you think is much more important than what you think about

Dualism

the mind is fundamentally different from the mechanical body

the pineal gland is the source of the mind; the place where the body and mind are intertwined between the 2 hemispheres and the brain stem

Structuralism

a school of psychology whose goal was to identify the basic elements or structures of psychological experience

observed people in labs instead of daily lives and introduced the idea of introspection

Introspection

asking research participants to describe exactly what they experience as they work on mental tasks

very subjective; reliant on the stories of others

Wundt’s Theories

structuralism; classify the elements of sensation through introspection

William James’ Theories

understand why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects that they currently possess

added animals to the lab to find the relationship between all living beings and how humans may function in relation to them

Charles Darwin’s Theories

theory of natural selection

Theory of Natural Selection

the physical characteristics of animals and humans evolved because they were useful or functional

focus on animals; environment is changing people and animals to allow for them to survive

Evolutionary Psychology

• accepts the functionalists basic assumption that many human psychological systems, including memory, emotion, and personality, serve key adaptive functions

• use evolutionary theory to understand many different behaviours including romantic attraction, stereotypes and prejudice, and even the causes of many psychological disorders

• the brain does not always function the same

Fitness

the extent to which having a given characteristic helps the individual organism survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do there members of the species who do not have the characteristic

Psychodynamic Psychology

an approach to understanding human behaviour that focuses on the role of unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories

Psychoanalysis

it is possible to help the patient if the unconscious drives can be remembers, particularly through a deep and thorough exploration of the person’s early sexual experiences and current sexual desires

empirical, not scientific; research is not replicable and therefore, theories are not completely accepted

Behaviourism

a school of psychology that is based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore that psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behaviour itself

measurable and lit the fire for psychology research

John B Watson’s Theories

the school of behaviourism; inspired by Pavlov

the environment or stimuli could produce specific behaviours or responses

the little Albert experiment; we are conditioned to feel fear and behaviours can be manipulated

Skinner’s Theories

positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment; used the ideas of stimulus and response, along with the application of rewards or reinforcements to train pigeons and other animals

developed a method for studying thoughts and feelings using the behaviourist approach

Positive Reinforcement

helps with the continuity of behaviour

Negative Reinforcement

blocks the response; to function well it must be removed

Punishment

tries stop the response at all

Cognitive Neuroscience

a field go psychology that studies mental processes, including perception, thinking, memory, and judgement

Hermann Ebbinghaus and Sir Frederic Bartlett’s Theories

the memory test; gave people 200 words and asked them to memorize them, tried to count how many words were remembered, faintly remembered, etc.

neuroimaging; asks participants to retrieve memories while in an MRI = allows us to know how they remember, not just what they remember

Biological Psychology

“biopsychology or psychobiology”; the application of the principles of biology to the study of mental processes and behaviour

measures biological, physiological, or genetic variables in an attempt to relate them to psychological or behavioural variables

important to understand how the brain functions in order to understand behaviour

roots in structuralist and functionalist approach

Key Areas of Focus of Biological Psychology

• sensation and perception

• motivated behaviour; hunger, thirst, sex

• control of movement

• learning and memory

• sleep and biological rhythms

• emotion

Founders of Biological Psychology

Wundt and Titchener

explored topics such as attention span, reaction time, vision, emotion, and time perception; used introspection and labs for research

the first people to create a psychology lab

Introspection

training people to concentrate and report on their conscious experiences as the react to stimuli

subjective and not replicable or reliable; still a valid form of research used in psychoanalysis

Criticism of Introspection

lack of reliability; self-analysis is not feasible or replicable

can yield different results depending on the subject

the possibility of retrospection is possible; not a current experiences and therefore may be inaccurate

Retrospection

the memory of sensation; not a current or present experience

hard to measure and tell if information is accurate

Autoethnography

a narrative approach to introspective analysis; conditions are controlled and data is in the present moment

study the phenomenological experiences of the prison world and the consequent adaptations and transformations that it evokes

qualitative data; the accuracy of the experiences is not important, the mental processes to get to the responses are

William James

wrote the first importing book in psychology; The Principles of Psychology

a structuralist; the concern for the anatomy of the mind, matched with a functionalist approach, lead to a greater concern about the functions of the mind and behaviourism

The Brain as an Information Processor

the brain is evolved for the purpose of bettering the survival of its carrier; considered to execute functions similar to those executed by a computer

a belief rooted in functionalism

Reductionist

the simple is the source of the complex; to explain a complex phenomenon like human behavioural, a person needs to reduce it to its elements

the experimental and laboratory approach in various areas of psychology reflects this

Holist

the whole is more that the sum of the parts; reduce a complex behaviour to a simple set of variables that offer the possibility of identifying a cause and an effect

how could certain elements of the human influence each other? uses the many aspects of the person

Frontal Lobe

“motor cortex”; this portion of the brain is involved in motor skills, higher level cognition, and expressive language

Occipital Lobe

“visual cortex”; this potion of the brain is involved in interpreting visual stimuli and information

Parietal Lobe

“somatosensory cortex”; this portion of the brain is involved in the processing of other tactile sensory information such as pressure, touch, and pain

Temporal Lobe

“auditory cortex”; this portion of the brain is involved in the interpretation of the sounds and language we hear

Somatic Nervous System

controls the actions of skeletal muscles

Autonomic Nervous System

regulates autonomic processes such as heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure

• sympathetic nervous system

• parasympathetic nervous system

Sympathetic Nervous System

controls the fight or flight response, a reflex that prepares the body to respond to danger in the environment

Parasympathetic Nervous System

works to bring the body back to its normal state after a fight-or-flight response

Founders of Biological-Physiological Psychology

Wundt and Titchener

Founders of Psychodynamic Psychology

Freud

Founders of Behaviouristic Psychology

Skinner; influenced by Pavlov

Founders of Humanistic Psychology

Rogers and Maslow

Founders of Cognitive Psychology

Neisser

Founders of Evolutionary Psychology

Buss

Behaviourism

focuses on observable behaviour as a means to studying the human psyche; based on measurable behaviour that is quantitative and replicable

Edward Lee Thorndike

introduced the concept of reinforcement and was the first to apply psychological principles to learning; “how do we learn?”

Ivan Pavlov

investigated classical conditioning

John B. Watson

rejected introspective methods and sought to restrict psychology to experimental methods

the little Albert experiment

B. F Skinner

conducted research on operant conditioning

Classical Conditioning

as we learn, we alter the way we perceive out environment, the way we interpret the incoming stimuli, and therefore the way we interact or behave

responses to certain stimuli that are not naturally occurring; by manipulating the environment, we can make people have different responses to stimuli = Pavlov

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

regardless of what happens in the environment, the same typical response would occur based on this stimulus

the meat powder

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

the typical response to an unconditioned stimulus; always the same

salivation

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

in general, this stimulus would not receive the same response without conditioning

the bell

Conditioned Response

the response created via conditioning

salivation at the bell

Operant Conditioning

how an organism operates in the environment or how it response to what is presented to it in the environment

• reinforcement

• punishment

Reinforcement

“to strengthen”; any stimulus which strengthens or increases the probability of a specific response

• positive

• negative

Positive Reinforcement

involves adding something in order to increase a response; happens after the response

ex: a treat

Negative Reinforcement

taking something negative away in order to increase a response

ex: not raising voice

Punishment

adding something aversive in order to decrease a behaviour

• positive

• negative

Positive Punishment

adding a noxious stimuli following behaviour

ex: spanking a child for cursing

ex: pain when burning hand = won’t do it again

Negative Punishment

removing appetitive stimulus following bahviour

ex: telling the child to go to his room for cursing

ex: time limit on screen = won’t do it again

Extinction

removing something in order to decrease a behaviour; the process of eliminating

Thorndike’s Puzzle Box

• trapped a cat in a box

• cat accidentally pushed down the lever when exploring the cage and the box opened

• tried to measure the moment he learned how to push the lever over multiple trials; increase quickness in learning

• pressing the lever = escaping the cage

Thorndike’s Theory of Learning

• learning is incremental; increases as you get more exposure

• learning occurs automatically

• all animals learn the same way

Law of Effect

if an association is followed by satisfaction, it will be strengthened; if it is filled by annoyance, it will be weakened

choices you make and responses must make you feel happy

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Law of Use

the more often an association is used, the stronger it becomes

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Law of Disuse

the longer an association is unused, the weaker it becomes

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Law of Recency

the most recent response is the most likely to reoccur; retain the materials that are the most recent

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Multiple Response

an animal will try multiple responses (trial and error) if the first response does not lead to a specific state of affairs

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Set or Attitude

animals are predispose to act in a specific way

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Prepotency of Elements

a subject can filter out irrelevant aspects of a problem and focus on and respond to significant elements of a problem

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Response by Analogy

responses from a related or similar context may be used in a new context

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Identical Elements Theory of Transfer

the more similar the situations are, the greater the amount of information that will transfer; categorize situations to one another

similarly, if the situations have noting in common, information learned in one situation will not be of any value in the other situation

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Associative Shifting

it is possible to shift any repose form occurring with one stimulus to occurring with another stimulus

maintains that a response is first made to situation A, then to AB, and then finally to B, this shifting the response form one condition to another by associating it with that condition

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Law of Readiness

a quality in responses and connections that results in readiness to act

behaviour and learning are influenced by the readiness or unreadiness of responses as well as by their strength

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Identifiability

identification or placement of a situation is a first response of the nervous system which can recognize it; then connections may be made to one another or to another response, and these connections depend on the original identification

a large amount of learning is made up of changes in the identifiability of situations

Thorndike’s theory of learning

Availability

the ease of getting a specific response

ex: it would be easier for someone to learn to touch their nose with their eyes closed then to draw a line five inches long with closed eyes

Thorndike’s theory of learning