Exam 1 Study Set

Quizzes and notes from ch. 1-3

What two key elements did Wihelm Wundt use to help make psychology a science?

1.) carefully measured observations

2.) experiments

What is introspection?

Reporting on sensations and other elements of experience

What is the difference between structuralism and functionalism?

Structuralism: using the introspection reports to build a view of the minds structure (1st school of thought)

Functionalism: the school of thought that psychological processes have a function- helping us survive as individuals and adapt as species

What is the contemporary definition of psychology?

The science of behavior and mental processes

Freud and Psychoanalytic Theory

Studied and helped people with a variety of mental disorders

Wertheimer, Koffka, Koehler, and Gestalt Psychology

Focuses on humans as a whole rather than individual parts

Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, and Behaviorism

• Study and experiment with observable behavior

• Watson experimented with condition responses

• Skinner studied the way consequences shape behavior

Maslow, Rogers, and Humanism

• Studied people who were thriving rather than those who had psychological problems

• Developed theories and treatments to help people feel accepted and to reach their full potential

Noam Chomsky and the Cognitive Revolution

Examined the role of mental processes on behavior

Discuss nature vs. nurture

What traits we have a birth (nature) and how traits develop through our environment (nurture)

What are the bio-psychosocial levels of analysis?

1. Biology

2. Psychology

3. Environment

List and describe the seven current perspectives in psychology

1. Cognitive: How reliable is memory? How can we improve our thinking?

2. Social-Cultural: Could our behavior skills and attitudes be “downloads” from our cultures

3. Behavioral Genetics: Could our behavior, skills, and attitudes be genetically programmed instincts?

4. Neuroscience: What role do our bodies and brains play in emotions? How is pain inhibited? Can we trust our senses?

5. Psychodynamic: Do inner child conflicts still plague me and affect my behavior?

6. Behaviorist: How are our problematic behaviors reinforced? How do our fears become conditioned? What can we do to change these fears and behaviors?

7. Evolutionary: Why are humans prone to panic, anger, and making irrational judgments?

Types of Research (basic)

1. Biological

2. Developmental

3. Cognitive

4. Personality

5. Social

6. Positive Psychology

Types of Research (applied)

1. Clinical Psychology

2. Counseling Psychology

3. Educational Psychology

4. Industrial-Organizational

5. Health Psychology

6. Forensic Psychology

What is the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist?

Psychologist: professionals in social work, counseling, and marriage and family therapy may be trained to do psychotherapy

Psychiatrist: Physicians, M.D.S., or D.O.S., they can prescribe medicine

Assessing the extent to which the predicted behavioral benefits of using a new therapeutic intervention are confirmed by scientific observation best illustrates:

An empirical approach

Checking on the credibility of the sources of information you use in a class report is most indicative of:

Critical thinking

To study inner sensations, images, and feelings, Edward Titchener engaged people in self-reflective:

Introspection

Which early school of psychology was most clearly focused on understanding the adaptive value of complex mental processes?

Functionalism

A study of the relationship between reasoning capacities and brain functions would be of most direct interest to:

Cognitive neuroscience

In debating the origins of human traits, Plato and Aristotle disagreed about the relative importance of:

Nature and nurture

The importance of inherited behavioral traits was most clearly highlighted by:

Charles Darwin

Which perspective is most relevant to understanding the links between hormone levels and sexual motivation?

Neuroscience

Focusing on the extent to which personality is influenced by motives outside our own awareness is most relevant to the ____ perspective

Psychodynamic

The marriage rituals of different ethnic groups are of most relevance to the ____ perspective

Social-Cultural

Professor Helms conducts basic research on the progressive changes in infants’ perceptual skills during the first year of life. Professor Helms is most likely a _____ psychologist

Developmental

Dr. Stevens provides psychotherapy to people who suffer from excessive anxiety. Dr. Stevens is most likely a _____ psychologist

Clinical

Why is research important?

It is empirical grounded in objective and has tangible evidence that can be observed over time, regardless of who is observing

Hindsight Bias

“Crystal ball” that we use to predict the past

Overconfidence error

Overestimate our performance, our rate of work, our skills, and our degree of self-control

Coincidence error

Perceiving order in random events

Belief perseverance

Tendency to hold onto our beliefs when facing contrary evidence

Confirmation bias

Tendency to search for information which confirms our current theory, disregarding contradictory evidence

Components of the Scientific Attitude

• Curiosity: Always asking new questions

• Skepticism: Not accepting a ‘fact’ as true without challenging it, seeing if ‘facts’ can withstand attempts to disprove them

• Humility: seeking the truth rather than trying to be right; a scientist

Discuss the important of critical thinking and ways to engage in critical thinking:

Critical thinking uses a more careful style of forming and evaluating knowledge than simply using intuition; decides if information, arguments, and conclusions to decide if they make sense, rather than simply accepting it

Describe the six principles of scientific thinking:

1. Ruling out rival hypothesis: have important alternative explanations for the findings been excluded?

2. Correlation vs. causation: can we be sure A causes B?

3. Falsifiability: can the claim be disapproved?

4. Replicability: can the results be duplicated in other studies?

5. Generalizability: do these findings and conclusions reflect the diversity of the human experience?

6. Extraordinary claims: is the evidence as strong as the claim

Describe the scientific method process

1. Turning our theories into testable predictions

2. Gather information related to our predictions

3. Analyzing whether the data fits with our ideas

4. If the data doesn’t fit our ideas, then we modify

What is a theory?

A set of principles, built on observations and other verifiable facts, that explains some phenomenon and predicts future behavior

What is a hypothesis?

Testable prediction consistent with our theory

What is an operational definition?

Descriptions of what actions and operations will be used to measure the dependent variables and manipulate the independent variables

What is replication?

Trying the methods of a study again, but with different participants or situations, to see if the same results happen

What is descriptive research?

A systematic objective observation of people

1. Case study

2. Naturalistic observation

3. Surveys and interviews

Describe three other types of descriptive research:

1. Archival research

2. Longitudinal research

3. Cross-sectional research

What is random sampling and why is it important?

Technique for making sure that every individual in a population has an equal chance of being in your sample.

Selection of participants is driven only by chance.

What is correlation? What type of research can provide evidence of correlation?

Observation that two traits or attributes are related to each other.

A measure of how closely the two factors vary together

What is a correlation coefficient?

Number representing how closely and in what way two variables correlate

Discuss how correlation coefficients are described

A number representing how closely and in what way two variables correlate (change together)

Describe the type of study design that can investigate a casual relationship

Experimentation: manipulating one factor in a situation to determine its effect

What is the difference between an experimental and control group?

Experimental group: variable you manipulate

Control group: the group that is the same in ever way except the one variable we are changing

What is the difference between random sampling and random assignment?

Random sampling: how you get a pool of research participants that represents the population you’re trying to learn about

Random assignment: participants to control or experiment groups is how you control all variables except the one you’re manipulating

Discuss how expectations can affect research and how studies can be designed to avoid this issue

Placebo Effect: experimental effects that are caused by expectations about the intervention

Many studies are double-blind which means neither participants nor research staff knows which participants are in the experimental or control groups

What is the difference between an independent and dependent variable? What are confounding variables?

Independent Variable: the variable we are able to manipulate independently of what the other variables are doing

Dependent Variable: the variable we expect to experience a change which depends on the manipulation we’re doing

Confounding Variable: the other variables that might have an effect on the dependent variable

What is the difference between correlation and causation?

Correlation: an observation that two traits/attributes are related to each other (co-related); a measure of how closely two factors vary together

Causation: the action of causing something

Basic purpose of descriptive research:

To observe and record behavior

How descriptive research is conducted:

Perform case studies, surveys, or naturalistic observations

What is manipulated in descriptive research:

Nothing

What are the weaknesses of descriptive research:

No control of variables and single cases may be misleading

Basic purpose of correlational research:

To detect naturally occurring relationships and to assess how well one variable predicts another

How correlational research is conducted:

Compute statistical association, sometimes among survey responses

What is manipulated in correlational research:

Nothing

What are the weaknesses of correlational research:

Does not specify cause-effect; one variable predicts another but this does not mean one causes the other

Basic purpose of experimental research:

To explore cause-effect

How is experimental research conducted:

Manipulate one or more factors; randomly assign some to control group

What is manipulated in experimental research:

Independent variable (s)

What are the weaknesses of experimental research:

Sometimes not possible for practical or ethical reasons; results may not generalize to other contexts

What are some important considerations for ethics in research with human participants?

Informed consent: process of informing a research participant about what to expect during an experiment, then obtaining the person’s consent to participate

Psychological theories help to:

• Generate hypotheses

• Organize scientific observations

• Explain observed facts

Which research method runs the greatest risk of collecting evidence that may be unrepresentative of what is generally true?

Case Study

Every 25th person who subscribed to a weekly news magazine was contacted by market researchers to complete a survey of opinions regarding the magazine’s contents.

The researchers were applying the technique known as:

Random sampling

A correlation of +0.70 between children’s physical height and their popularity among their peers indicates that:

Higher levels of popularity among peers are associated with greater physical height in children

To test the potential effect of hunger on taste sensitivity, groups of research participants are deprived of food for differing lengths of time before they engage in a taste-sensitivity test.

This research is an example of:

An experiment

In a study of factors that might affect memory, research participants were assigned to drink either an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic beverage prior to completing a memory test. Those who drank the nonalcoholic beverage were assigned to the ______ group.

Control

Researchers control factors that might influence a dependent variable by means of:

Random assignment

In an experimental study of the effects of dieting on weight loss, dieting would be the:

Independent variable

In a well-controlled experiment, researchers seek to minimize:

Confounding variables

Which of the following processes typically takes place shortly after people complete their participation in a research study?

Debriefing

Through _____, every person in the population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate in the study.

Random selection

Dr. Malinois uses random selection in her study to investigate the effects of stress on health. Because she is using random selection, these results should be more _______than if she chose not to use random selection.

Generalizable

Dr. Wilcoxen conducts a study using a questionnaire that measures aggression. Just to be sure he has confidence in his data, he also has observers watch people who participate in his study and rate their levels of aggression as they wait in a long line to turn in their questionnaire.

Dr. Wilcoxen is trying to confirm the ______ of his questionnaire

Validity

_______ refers to the consistency of measurement in a study

Reliability

_______ is the extent to which a measure assesses what it purports, or claims, to measure.

Validity

Which of the following statements is TRUE about naturalistic observation?

It involves observing behavior in its real-world context.

A researcher is interested in determining how frequently bullying behavior occurs in real-life settings. This researcher would best be advised to use the __________ design.

naturalistic observation

A group of student researchers divide up the different times and buildings on their campus to attempt to observe when people will hold a door open for another person. These student researchers are most likely to use which research method design when conducting their study?

naturalistic observation design

Jason was conducting an evaluation of elementary school teachers. He sat at a desk in their classroom with a list of things to observe in front of him, and the teachers noticed that he was assessing their every move. Jason noticed that the teachers began acting more professionally around him, were more animated in the classroom, and gave their students a lot of extra attention.

Why would Jason have been better off using naturalistic observation for this assessment?

So that his observations would not have changed the teachers' behaviors.

Naturalistic observation involves watching behaviors take place without influencing them. This way the researcher can get a true and objective "picture" of how those behaviors take place.

The extent to which it is possible to draw cause-and-effect conclusions from a given research project describes the study's __________ validity.

Internal

The extent to which the findings of a given research study can generalize to a population of people beyond that study and the laboratory is called __________.

external validity

One difficulty of survey research is that people may not answer questions with complete honesty, and thus may skew the results of the study. If people give different answers to a survey question that is asked on different occasions, this would be a particular problem for the critical thinking concept of __________.

replicability

If people give different answers to survey questions asked at different times, the outcomes of the research would be inconsistent. This would present a problem for replication, as the research will not give the same picture from study to study.

Which of the following represents the strongest correlation?

-.87

As the average daily temperature in Des Moines, Iowa, decreases, the number of persons who are observed wearing sweaters in the workplace increases. This is an example of a __________ correlation.

negative

A correlation coefficient will always range between __________.

-1.0 and +1.0

__________ studies allow us to make predictions about one variable based on the knowledge of another but do not allow us to draw conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships.

Correlational

The only research design that allows one to make cause-and-effect inferences is the __________ design.

experimental

In an experiment, the __________ group receives no manipulation of an independent variable.

control

The __________ variable is what the researcher "manipulates," or varies, in an experimental study.

independent

The variable that an experimenter measures to determine whether or not the manipulation has had an effect is the __________ variable.

dependent

What is a neuron?

The building block (cells) of the nervous system

What are neural networks?

Complex webs of interconnected neurons form with experience

Dendrites

Receives messages from other cells

Cell body

The cells life-support center