Chp 1 and 2

Clinical Psychology

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

• thoughts, behavior, emotions and how each affect the other

Psychology

scientific study of mind and behavior

• psych means soul

Emperical method

• acquiring knowledge based on observation or experiments (no logical arguments)

• method for acquiring knowledge based on observation, including experimentation, rather

  than a method based only on forms of logical argument or previous authorities

structuralism

• understanding the conscious experience through introspection

functionalism

• how mental activities help an organism adapt into its environment

Psychoanalytic theory

the role of a person’s unconscious and early childhood experiences in affecting the conscious behavior

Behaviorism

• focus on observing and controlling behavior

Humanism

• the potential good that is innate to all humans

Reliability

• the ability to consistently produce a result

Validity

• the extent to which an instrument or tool accurately measures what it is supposed to measure

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

• researchers must get approval from this group first before conducting studies on human participants

• 
  

Goal of psychology

• to understand, explain, and predict behavior and mental processes

Behaviorism

focus on observing and controlling behavior

Humanism

perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans

Biopsychology

• how biology influences our behavior

Cognitive Psychology

• study of cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to experiences and actions

Development Psychology

• scientific study of development across a lifespan

Personality Psychology

• study of patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique

Social Psychology

• area of psychology that focuses on how we interact with and relate to others

Industrial-Organization Psychology

• subfield of psychology that applies psychological, theories, principles, and research findings in industrial and organizational settings

Health Psychology

• tied to the biopsychosocial model

• the psychologists in this field are interesting in helping people achieve better health through public policy, education, intervention, and research

Biopsychosocial model

• perspective that asserts that biology, psychology, and social factors interact to determine an individual’s health

Sport and exercise Psychology

• area of psychology that focuses on the interactions between mental and

  emotional factors and physical performance in sports, exercise, and other activities

Forensic Psychology

• area of psychology that applies the science and practice of psychology to issues within and related to the justice system

Inductive Reasoning

• real word observations lead to new ideas

• conclusions are drawn from observations

Deductive Reasoning

• ideas are tested in the real world

• begins with a generalization to reach logical conclusions about the world

hypothesis

testable prediction of how the world will behave

Generalizing

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

Naturalistic Observation

observing behavior in its natural setting

Observer Bias

• people who act as observers in a research project may unconciously skew their results

archival research

• using existing records to answer research questions

Longitudinal Research

• research designed where data gather occurs over a long time

Cross Sectional research

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

attrition

• reduction in number of research participants (dropping out of study)

Correlation

• there is a relationship between two or more variables

Correlation coefficent, positive correlation, negative correlation

• correlation coefficient- is a number from -1 to +1

  that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between variables

• positive correlation

  • variables move in the same direction

  • as one variable rises, the other variable rises as well

• negative correlation

  • variables move in the opposite direction

  • as one variable rises, the other falls

Confounding variable

• another unaccounted for variable is affecting the result

Illusory Correlations

• false correlations

• (like phase of moon affects human behavior)

Confirmation Bias

• we have an idea on how something works and then look for evidence suporting that idea and ignore evidence against that idea

operational definition

• precise description of our variables

single-blind study

• one of the group of participants are unaware if they are the control or experimental group while the researcher knows

double-blind study

• researcher and particpants are blind to group assignments

Independent Variable

• variable that is controlled in the experiemtn

Dependent Variable

• variable that researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had on it

Deception

involves purposely misleading experiment participants in order to maintain the integrity of the experiment, but not to the point where the deception could be considered harmful

debriefing

complete, honest information about the purpose of the experiment, how the data collected will be used, the reasons why deception was necessary, and information about how to obtain additional information about the study.