Psychology 2000 Exam 1

psychology

refers to the scientific study of the mind

behavior

anything an organism does

ex: yawning & taking notes

mental processes

internal, personal experiences that we infer from behavior; cannot directly see these but we can make educated guesses

ex: sensations, perceptions, dreams, feelings, beliefs

critical thinking
effective communication
understanding themselves and others

why is psychology important?

critical thinking

the active application of a set of skills to information for the understanding and evaluation of that information

curiosity - to have the willingness to question and explore the world around us

skepticism - not immediately reject or accept ideas because of how they appear

humility - be able to accept that our opinions can be wrong

what are the three main characteristics of critical thinking?

wilheim wundt

what researcher dealt with structuralism?

edward titchener

what researcher dealt with introspection?

structuralism

an attempt to understand the structure or characteristics of the mind

introspection

a process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible, making the human mind like any other aspect of nature that a scientist observed

the limitations of introspection
the subjectivity of the structures of the mind
the lack of reliability in results of introspection
not directly observable or easily measured

what caused Wundt's views to fail?

functionalism

study the function of behavior in the world; focused on how mental activities helped an organism fit in its environment; interested in adaptive value of behaviors and processes

William james

what researcher dealt with functionalism?

charles darwin

what researcher dealt with evolutionary theory?

to explain why we see so much variation in the natural world

what was charles darwin's goal?

sigmund freud

what researcher dealt with psychoanalytic psychology?

psychoanalytic theory (freudian psychology)

focuses on the role of a person's unconscious, as well as early childhood experiences

max wertheimer
kurt koffka
wolfgang köhler

what researchers dealt with gestalt psychology?

gestalt psychology

deals with the fact that although a sensory experience can be broken down into individual parts, how those parts relate to each other as a whole is often what the individual responds to in perception

ivan pavlov
john b watson
b.f. skinner

what researchers dealt with behaviorism?

behaviorism

the thought that a focus on internal processes was unscientific, as they could not be directly observed, so this studied observable behavior

should be an objective science based on research
studies behavior without reference to mental processes

what two elements are included in behaviorism?

abraham maslow
carl rogers

what researchers dealt with humanistic psychology?

humanistic psychology

a perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans - people are innately good and that mental and social problems result from deviations from this natural tendency

cognitive psychology

the area of psychology that focuses on studying cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and our actions

cognitive neuroscience

interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition - the neural basis of behavior

culture

enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and passed onn from generation to generation

family is defined differently
concept of an exact is not used or reinforced
stress the veneration of ancestors
eye contact varies
physical distance during social interactions

what are some examples of multicultural psychology?

the field of psychology that examines the impact of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and similar factors on our behaviors and thoughts and focuses on how such factors may influence the origin, treatment and nature of abnormal behavior

what is multicultural psychology?

biological psychologists

want to understand how the structure and function of the nervous system is related to behavior

evolutionary psychologists

study the ultimate biological causes of behavior - how behavior is impacted by genetics

developmental psychology

the scientific study of development across a lifespan

developmental psychologists

interested in what changes about people as a function of development - changes in both childhood and adulthood

personality psychology

focuses on patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique

social psychology

focuses on how we interact with and relate to others

industrial-organizational psychology

applies psychological theories, principles, and research findings in industrial and organizational settings

health psychology

focuses on how health is affected by the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors

biological influences

includes areas like genetic predispositions and the influence of hormones/neurotransmitters on thoughts and behaviors

psychological influences

includes areas like our emotional responses and how our perceptions of the world around us influences thoughts and behaviors

social-cultural influences

includes how culture and social structures influence how we think and behave

biopsychosocial approach

suggests that health/illness is determined by an interaction of three factors - psychological, biological, and social

sport & exercise psychology

study the psychological aspects of sport performance - including motivation and performance anxiety and the effects of a sport on mental and emotional well-being

clinical psychology

the area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior

counseling psychology

focuses on emotional, social, vocational, and health-related outcomes in individuals who are considered psychologically healthy

clinical psychologists

do clinical or counseling psychologists deal with more serious issues?

forensic psychology

a branch of psychology that deals questions of psychology as they arise in the context of the justice system - involves trial competency tests

hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one should have foreseen it - makes situations appear more predictable than they really are. also known as the "I-knew-it-all-along theory"

overconfidence

the tendency to think you known more than you actually do

the tendency to see pattern where they don't exist

what is the perceiving order in random events?

apophenia

tendency to perceive meaningful connections among unrelated phenomena

pareidolia

The tendency to interpret a vague stimulus as something known to the observer, such as interpreting marks on Mars as canals, seeing shapes in clouds, or hearing hidden messages in reversed music

fact

observable realities that can be established only using evidence collected through empirical research

opinion

personal judgements, conclusions, or attitudes that may or may not be accurate

scientific method

a systematic process for evaluating ideas with observation and analysis

deductive reasoning

ideas are tested against the empirical world; begins with a generalization - one hypothesis - used to reach logical conclusions about the real world

inductive reasoning

empirical observations lead to new ideas - uses empirical observations to conduct broad generalizations

theory

well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena - repeatedly checked against the world but tend to be too complex to be tested all at once

must describe a behavior
make predictions about future behaviors

what two components must theories have?

hypothesis

a testable prediction about how the world will behave if our idea is correct, and is often worded as an if-then statement

they bridge the gap between the realm of ideas and the real world

why are hypotheses important?

falsifiable

capable of being shown to be incorrect

allows for great confidence in the information that it produces

why is falsifiability important?

descriptive methods

seek to describe what already exists in a group or population - do not measure the effect on a variable

case/clinical study

when scientists focus on one person or just a few individuals in observational research

generalizing

refers to the ability to apply the findings of a particular research products to larger segments of society

naturalistic observation

observing behavior in its natural setting - not limited to humans

hawthorne effect

increase in performance of individuals who are noticed, watched, and paid attention to by researchers or supervisors

observer bias

people who act as observers are closely involved in the research project and may unconsciously skew their observations to fit their research goals or expectations

inter-rater reliability

a measure of reliability that assesses the consistency of observations by different observers

survey research

lists of questions to be answered by research participants and can be delivered on paper, electronically, or verbally. good for large populations

wording effects

The effect that subtle changes in the words or order of words can have on a study participant

population

the overall group of individuals that researchers are interested in

sample

a subset of individuals selected from a population

representative sample

has the same characteristics as the population as a whole - same demographics

random assignment

all participants have an equal chance of being assigned to either group, critical for experimental design, helps keep groups balanced

convenience sample

uses people who happen to be on hand

archival research

gain access to large amounts of data without interactive with a single research participant - use existing records to answer various research questions

longitudinal design

a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time

what are the benefits and downfalls of longitudinal design?

benefits - gives us individual and developmental trends

downfalls - long time to run, costly, loss of participants over time (attrition)

cross-sectional design

a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time

benefits - cost & time efficient, developmental trends, limited drop outs

downfalls - no individual trends, changes in results due to when someone is born, not the developmental process (cohort effects)

what are the benefits and downfalls of cross-sectional design?

sequential designs

study individuals of different ages over an extended period of time (combination of longitudinal & cross-sectional)

correlational research

A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other

correlation

a relationship between two or more variables - this relationship does not necessarily imply cause and effect

correlation coefficient

a number from -1 to +1 that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between variables (r)

negative correlation

means that the variables move in opposite directions

positive correlation

means that the variables move in the same direction

confounding variable

some other factor that is actually causing the systematic movement in our variables of interest

illusory correlation

false correlations that happen when people believe that relationships exist between two things when no such relationship exists

confirmation bias

when someone has a hunch about something and they search for evidence to support their thoughts, ignoring evidence that would prove it to be false

experimental method

involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable

independent variable

variable that is manipulated or controlled by the experimenter - is the only important difference between experimental and control groups

dependent variable

is what the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had

operational definitions

a description of how we will measure our variables, important in allowing others to understand exactly how and what a researcher measures in a particular experiment

experimental group

gets the experimental manipulation - the treatment or variable being tested

control group

group that is measured with no experimental manipulation

random assignment

assigning people to groups by chance

placebo effect

occurs when people's expectations of beliefs influence or determine their experience in a given situation

double-blind design

both researchers and the participants are blind to the group assignments

single-blind design

the participants are unaware of which group they are in, while the researcher who developed the experiment knows which participants are in each group