Exam 1 Content - PSYC

Milgram Experiment

performed by Jewish psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1963 in response to the testimonies of Nazi soldiers in the Nuremberg trials; ultimately sought to test people’s obedience to authority; participants held the role of “teachers” who, under the instruction of an experimenter, administered shocks increasing in lethality to a confederate “learner” if a question was answered incorrectly; despite pleas from the “learners” 65% of participants administered shocks to the maximum voltage, even after the “learners” stopped verbally responding

confederate

an actor playing a role in a psychological experiment; appear as another participant to the actual participants

behaviorism revolution

a movement in psychology and political science that took place in the early 1960s, emphasizing the study of observable behavior as a consequence of reward or punishment

psychology

scientific study of behavior and mental process

behavior

everything we do that is directly observed

mental processes

privately experienced thoughts, motives, and feelings that are not directly observed

critical thinking

reflecting deeply and actively, asking questions, and evaluating evidence

pseudoscience

information without scientific research that uses scientific terminology

empirical method

gaining knowledge through observation, collecting data, and logical reasoning

positive psychology

a branch of psychology that emphasizes human strengths

philosophy

the rational investigation of underlying principles of being and knowledge

Wilhelm Wundt

one of the fathers of psychology who combined philosophy and the natural sciences; performed an experiment to measure the lag between hearing sound and pressing a key

structuralism

an idea from Wundt that focused on identifying structures of the human mind

introspection

the practice of looking in one’s own mind by focusing on one’s own thoughts

William James

one of the fathers of psychology who developed the idea of functionalism; is known as the father of experimental psychology

functionalism

studying what the mind is for, its purpose and how it adapts to the environment, especially as it pertains to natural selection

natural selection

an idea from Charles Darwin that there is an evolutionary process where organisms that are better fit to survive the environment produce more offspring

Inez Beverly Prosser

the first Black American woman to get a PhD in psychology in 1933

biological

an approach to psychology that focuses on biology and the body, including the brain and nervous system

neuroscience

the study of the function, development, genetics, and biochemistry of the nervous system

behavioral

a psychological approach that focuses on observations of behavioral responses and their environmental determinants

John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner

psychologists who practiced the behavioral approach; the latter believed that behavior was determined by rewards and punishment

psychodynamic

a psychological approach that focuses on unconscious thought, conflict between biological drives, society’s demands, and early childhood family

Sigmund Freud

a psychologist who believed early parental relationships shaped personality; believed human nature and human behavior was from dark, unpleasant, and unconscious impuses

psychoanalysis

unlocking unconscious conflicts by talking about one’s childhood memories, dreams, thoughts, and feelings

humanistic

a psychological approach that focuses on humans’ positive qualities, capacity for growth, and freedom to choose destiny

cognitive

a psychological approach that focuses on the mental processes involved in knowing

informational processing

how the mind interprets, weights, stores, and applies information in decision making

consciousness

the experience representing the inner, mental life

evolutionary

a psychological approach that focuses on evolutionary ideas a basis of human behavior

sociocultural

a psychological approach that focuses on how social and cultural environments influence behavior

practitioners

individuals who focus on helping others, often in clinical settings, and offer guidance

evidence-based practice

using psychological tools that are supported by empirical research

physiological psychology

the study of the physical processes that underly mental operations

behavioral neuroscience

the study of biological processes and the brain’s role in behavior

sensation and perception

the study of the physical systems and psychological processes that allow humans to experience the world

learning

the process of behavior changing in response to changing circumstances

cognitive psychology

the study of attention, consciousness, information processing, memory, and skills and abilities

developmental psychology

the study of the biological and environmental factors that influence human development

motivation and emotion

the study of how humans persist towards a goal and the effect of rewards; the physiological and brain processes in emotion, emotion’s role in health, and the possibility of universal emotion

women and gender

the study of psychology, sociology, and culture on women’s development and behavior

personality psychology

the study of the relatively enduring characteristics of individuals

social psychology

the study of interactions, relationships, social perceptions and cognition, and attitudes

industrial-organizational psychology

the study of workplace interactions including personnel and HR management and social influences in organizations and organizational leadership

clinical/counseling psychology

a field that focuses on diagnosing and treating people with psychological problems

health psychology

the study of human health emphasizing psychology, lifestyle, and the nature of the healthcare system

community psychology

the study of how to improve quality of relationships, community, and society

school and education psychology

the study of children’s learning and adjustment

environmental psychology

the study of people’s interaction with the physical environment

forensic psychology

a field where psychological concepts are used in the legal system

sports psychology

a field where psychological principles aide in sport performance and enjoyment

cross-cultural psychology

the study of cultural influence on behavior, thought, and emotion

purpose of psychology

discovering mental shortcuts and tendencies that are common to all healthy humans and using that knowledge to optimize ourselves and society

evolutionary mismatch

the inconsistency between the cognitive behavioral instincts humans are evolved (optimize society to a hunter-gatherer and nomadic lifestyle) and the drastic difference of modern society in comparison to that world

cognitive behavioral theory

the study of learning to notice self-undermining patterns of behavior

meta analysis

a statistical analysis of several prior studies on the same topic; one of the strongest forms of scientific evidence

left hemisphere

the side of the brain that is performs most activity related to the production and recognition of words and object recognition

right hemisphere

the side of the brain that is most associated with visual processing and facial recognition

corpus callosum

the part of the brain that connects the left and right hemisphere; when cut the left and right hemispheres operate independently of each other

self fulfilling prophecy

the idea that expectations others have or one has of themself can lead to that individual to producing that behavior

growth mindset

believing that talent is fluid and can be changed based on work and effort put in

fixed mindset

believe that talent is innate and something one is born with or without

preferred learning styles

a myth that many believe where certain people respond better to certain learning styles; in reality everyone learns best from visual and hands-on styles

memory

many people incorrectly believe that this is generally accurate and reliable; in reality it is manipulable and unreliable, with others being able to plant false ______ and false news still having an impact on logic even after it is corrected; many are prone to being overconfident in this though it does not correlate to accuracy

mental illness

a common myth is that this is a major cause of violence; in reality this alone is not a predictor of violence though there are some risk factors for violence that are more common amongst those with _________

persecutory delusions

a symptom of violence where one falsely believes someone or something is after them

command hallucinations

a symptom that is a risk factor for violence where one hears a voice that is commanding them to do something

gradiosity delusions

a symptom of violence where one has an increased sense of entitlement

mania

a symptom that is a risk factor for violence where one has a decrease in empathy

psychopathy

a symptom that is a risk factor for violence where one has an underactive amygdala such that they do not experience emotions as extremely as others; this leads to them lacking empathy in general, which is a sign of an antisocial personality trait

astrology

a psychological myth that claims that one’s personality can be predicted based on their birthday; it seems to work due to the Barnum/Forer effect, self-fulfilling prophecies, selective attention, and the general human impulse to think about oneself

criminal psychology

a psychological myth where people tend to believe that those with this profession assist in crime solving; in reality these professionals do interviews of criminals who pledge insanity, perform psychological tests, and sometimes serve as expert witnesses

therapy

data supports the effectiveness of this practice, but many practitioners in this field believe it to be more of an art than a science; studies demonstrated that the top predictor for if someone would continue with this practice was if they liked the professional they had sessions with

Barnum Forer effect

tending to believe vague and generalizable statements apply specifically to oneself

descriptive research

a method that focuses on finding the basic dimensions of a variable; can not establish cause and effect relationships

naturalistic observation

a type of descriptive research method that involves observing people/phenomena in their regular locations

surveys

a type of descriptive research method that involves asking a standard set of questions; only measures what the people think of themselves

case study

a type of descriptive research method that involves looking in depth at one individual

Phineas Gage

a famous psychological case study known to be the first case of traumatic brain injury survival

was a construction foreman who suffered a gruesome brain accident but survived with full memory and ability to perform human tasks; people around him reported extreme personality differences after the accident

correlational design

a type of research method that involves determining the relationship between two different variables and how they change with each other

correlation coefficient

a numerical value that describes the correlation between two variables as a number from -1 to +1

third variable problem

an issue in correlational studies where a separate variable that was not measured accounts for the relationship between the two variables of interest

confounding variable

a third variable that is built into the experiment design

independent variable

the variable that influences the dependent variable, is manipulated by experimenters

dependent variable

the variable that depends on the independent variable, changes with manipulations of the independent variable

experimental design

a research method that involves randomly assigning participants to different conditions to establish a cause and effect relationship between two variables

ecological validity

the extent to which research represents the real world situation it is trying to model

placebo effects

a phenomenon that occurs when a participant’s expectations (not the experimental treatment) produce a particular outcome

validity

the accuracy of results; soundness of conclusions a researcher draws from an experiment

reliability

the consistency of results; how consistently the results are produced

Myers' Briggs

a popular personality test with little to no scientific basis that is privately owned, has poor re-testability and low predictive ability; is believable because it feels good to think about the self, it leverages humans’ natural cravings for shortcuts in social judgements, fitting in feels good, Barnum Forer statements are used, and the results are often flattering

Forer

a psychologist who performed an experiment in which participants took a personality test with “personalized results” that were the same for everyone; participants reported that the results were highly accurate

Enneagram test

a personality test that also utilizes Barnum Forer statements and plays into people’s desire to think of the self especially for positive results