psych1 midterm1

what is science

a systematic method to generate knowledge, which is capable of resulting in a relaible outcome or an accurate prediction

what are margins of error

how much uncertainty there is in the data

science is both what and what

a body of knowledge and a process

what is psychology

the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour

what are the levels of analysis in psychology

biological, psychological, socal

psychological analysis

cognition and emotions

social analysis

macroscopic interactions in society

biological analysis

molecular or neurochemical level: involces molecules and brain structure

what is the goal of psychological research

understand the human behaviour or explain the why of individual actions

how do psychologists explain behaviour

describing it, categorizing it, measuring it

what are the 3 great debates in psychology

nature - nurture, evolutionary psychology, free will vs determinism

nature - nurture definition

are our behaviours a result of our genes (nature) or our environment (nurture)

evolutionary psychology definition

the study of how human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors have been shaped by natural selection over millions of years.

free will vs determinism definition

do we have free will or is our behaviour caused by environmental influence

the historical roots of pschology

philosophy and biology

what are the two main questions of philosophy

are the body and the mind connected or distinct, and are we born with our abilities or do we acquire them

what is the theory of specific nerve energies

it believes that each sensory nerve has its own characteristic, which tells us about the source of the stimulus

what is localization of function

the principle that specific behaviors, thoughts, and cognitive processes are located in distinct, specialized regions of the brain

what is ablation

removal of part of biological tissue, by either surgery or taking a toxic substance

what is monism

the idea that everything in the universe is made of one single substance or comes from one single source

the mind and body are connected

what is dualism

the belief that things are divded in two fundamental separate parts. the mind is separate from the body

what philosophers believed in dualism

socrates, plato, rene descartes

what philosopher believed in monism

aristotle

what is nativism (nature)

the idea that learning is based on innate predisopositions and genetic preprogramming

what is empircism (nurture)

the idea that we are born a blank sheet and experience is the only factor that determines our life (tabula rasa)

what are epigenetics

the study of how our environment influences our genes by changing the chemicals attached to them (turning genes on or off)

who is johannes muller

he invented the theory of specific nerve energies

3 parts of specific nerve energies theory

all nerves send an identical message, different kinds of information travel on different channels, different brain areas have different functions

what did marie-jean-pierre flourens do

he performed experimental ablation. he removed parts of the brains of animals to observe which functions are lost

who was patient tan

he was a patient who had a stroke and left him with only saying the same word. his autopsy revealed which area of the brain was responsible for speech. “broca” area

what did sir francis galton believe and come up with

believed that human abilities are genetically determines, phrase “nature vs nurture”, eugenics, psychometrics, concept of correlation in statistics, the concept of regression towards the mean in statistics

what is eugenics

the practice that aims to improve the genetic quality of the human population thru methods like discouraging reproduction in people with “undesirable” traits like genetic defects

what are psychometrics

the science of measuring mental faculties

what is regression towards the mean

the phenomenon that if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average on the second time you measure it

what are the five primary schools of thought in psychology

structuralism, functionalism, behaviourism, psychoanalysis, cognitivism

what is the aim and focus of structuralism

to identify the most fundamental elements of psychological experience. focuses on the structure of the human mind/study of the mind

who invented structuralism and is considered the father of psychology

william wundt, he separated psychology from philosophy

what method does structuralism use

introspection

what is introspection and its limits

technique that requires trained observers to relfect and report their mental experience. limits are that its not measurable, hard tot test, no way to compare

what is the aim of functionalism and who invented it

william james

investigate the function, or purpose of consciousness rather than its structure

who invented behaviourism and what is its aim

john watson and b.f skinner. aim: uncovering the general laws of learning by focusing on external observable elements. it rejected introspection and focused on behaviour

what is classical conditioning

learning associations between stimuli

what is operant conditioning

learning associations between stimuli and responses

who invented cognitivism and what is its aim

jean piaget and neisser

to understand the mental processes in different aspects of thinking

what did piaget and neisser do in terms of developing cognitivism

piaget: observed his kids to understand development and came up with the stages of cognitive development

neisser: researched perception and memory

who invented psychoanalysis and what is its aim

sigmund freud and jung

aim: unconver internal (unconscious) processes that we are unaware of

what are the types of psychologists

clinical, counselling, school, developmental, experimental, biopsychologists, forensic, industrial-organization

what is clinical psychology

assess, diagnose, and treat people with mental disorders

what is counselling

for those experiencing temporary or situational problems (like marriage counselling)

what do school psychologists do

work in school w teachers, parents, and children to overcome learning, behaviour, and emotional challenges

what do developmental psychologists do

they work with infants and children (but also any age) examine how people change over time

what is basic research

examines how the mind works

what is applied research

utilize the basic research to solve real world problems

what is an independent variable

a variable that is actively manipulated by the researcher to see what its impact will be on other variable

what is a dependent variable

a variable that is measured because its hypothesized it would be affected by the iv; we expect it to change as we alter or manipulate the iv

what is the control variable

any variable outside the iv that might affect the dv. needs to be a constant variable or else it messes with the results

what are the 7 steps of the scientific method

1. theory

2. hypthesis

3. design study

4. run test/record observation

5. analyze data

6. draw conclusion

7. communicate results

difference between theory vs hypothesis

theory is broad while hypothesis is specific

what is a theory

a set of principles or fact-based ideas that explain a phenomenon

what is a hypothesis

a testable prediction

what is designing the experiment

selecting the design of the study, planning and describing stats, sample, procedure, measures, and allow for replciation

what is replication

repitition of an experiment to ensure that similar results will be obtained

what is analyzing the data

measuring the central tendency, the mean, median, and mode, and examing the distribution

what is central tendency in statistics

the central score in a dataset

what is the mean, median, and mode

mean: the average in a set of data

media: the middle number

mode: the number that occurs the most

what is empircal rule

a statisitcal rule which states that in a normal distribution, about 68%, 95% and 99.7% will be in the 1,2, and 3 standard deviations of the mean

what are the measures of dispersion

standard deviation, variance, and range