Psych Chapter 1

All the information from chapter 1 of lessons

psychological science

The study through research, mind, brain, and behavior.

Mind: mental activity

Behavior: the totality of observable human/animal actions

critical thinking

systemically questioning and evaluating information using well-supported evidence

conformation bias

ignoring evidence that contradicts what you already believe

false causal relationships

assuming one thing caused another without sufficient evidence

after-the-fact explanations

creating an explanation for something after it happened

mental shortcuts

quick ways of thinking that can sometimes produce errors

Dunning-Kruger

people with lower skill may overestimate their ability and may have difficulty recognizing their won errors.

Debates: Mind - body

Side 1: Dualism - Mind and body are seperate

Side 2: Monism - mind is the brain’s subjective experience

Debates: Free-Will

Side 1: Free will - behavior is caused by independent decision-making

Side 2: Determinism - everything has a determinant / cause in the observable world

Debates: Nature - Nurture

Side 1: Nature - biological / innate influences

Side 2: Nurture - education, experience, culture. Modern view: they influence each other

Functionalism

Focus: The adaptive purpose / function of the mind and behavior

William James: Strongly associated with functionalism: wrote Principals of psychology (1980); coined “stream of consciousness”

Natural Selection: Adaptive psychological features are more likely to be passed to future generations

Mary Whiton Calkins

First woman to set up a psychological laboratory; first woman APA president.

René Descartes

Cartesian dualism.

Paul Broca

Left frontal-lobe damage linked to changes in speech/language.

Dunning and Kruger

Inaccurate self-assessment / overestimating ability.

George A. Miller

Cognitive Revolution

Ulric Neisser

Cognitive Psychology; wrote Cognitive psychology

Sigmund Freud

Unconscious component of the mind; psychoanalysis

Areas of Psych: developmental

How behavior, personality, and performance change with age

Learning and Motivation

How behavior relates to past outcomes and current motivations.

Cognitive

Thinking, acquiring knowledge, memory, language, intelligence, and decision-making

Biological / Neuroscience

Behavior in terms of brain/nervous system activity, drugs, hormones, genetics, evolution.

Evolutionary

Behavior in terms of natural selection, survival, and reproduction.

Social

How individuals influence and are influenced by other people

Cross-Cultural

Compares behavior of people from different cultures

Levels of Analysis

1. Biological: Brain, nervous system, hormones, genetics

2. Individual: individual thoughts, feelings, and behavior

3. Social: interactions and influence between people

4. Cultural: beliefs, values, customs, and norms of groups

Biopsychosocial Model

Integrates biological factors + psychological processes + social-contextual influences to understand human mental life and behavior

Who does what:

Clinical Psychologist

Advanced psychology degree; helps with mental/emotional problems; testing.

Who does what:

Psychiatric

Medical doctor; can use prescription drugs to treat psychological distress.

Psychiatric Nurse

Nursing education + specialized care for emotionally troubled individuals

Psychiatric / Clinical Social Worker

Social work + treatment and advocacy

Psychoanalyst

Uses approaches based on Freud and the unconscious mind

Counseling psychologist

Helps with educational, career, health, marriage, and other life decisions

Forensic psychologist

Advice / consultation within the criminal justice system

I/O psychologist

Studies behavior in the workplace.

School psychologist

K–12 students; uses developmental, learning, motivational and testing principles to create educational plans

EEG

Measures changes in electrical activity during brain activity

fMRI

now this Measures brain activity based on changes in blood flow to active areas

Localization of function

Some brain areas are especially important for specific feelings, thoughts, and actions

Genome

Basic genetic code / blueprint for the human body

Epigenetics

Biological/environmental influences on gene expression that are not part of inherited genes

Gut Microbiome

Billions of microorganisms living in the digestive tract

Gut-Brain Axis

Two-way communication between digestive system and brain

Behaviorism

Psychology focused largely on observable behavior. It could not explain everything, such as language learning

Cognitive Revolution

Movement that re-integrated the study of mental functions into psychology

Cognitive Psychology

Study of mental functions such as intelligence, thinking, language, memory, and decision-making

Big Data

Uses computer-science tools like data mining and machine learning to identify complex patterns in large datasets. Benefits include new topics and increased sample diversity; a challenge is ethical questions about data use

Replicability

the likelihood that a study’s results would be very similiar if it were run again

Open Science

movement to improve methods; increase research transparency, and promote data sharing

Culture

Beliefs, values, rules, and learned ways of behaving shared within a group. Culture affects thought and behavior, and is transmitted across generations through learning

Cultural Norms

Rules about behavior that are learned within a culture

Strategy: Distributed Practice

Study in several bursts over a prolonged period rather than one big screen

Strategy: Retrieval-based learning

Repeatedly recall information from long-term memory

Strategy: Elaborative Interrogation

Ask yourself why a fact is true or why a process works

Strategy: Self-Explanation

Explain / Reflect on new material in your own words

Strategy: Interleaved Practice

Switch between different topics while studying