Psychology: Human Behavior Flashcards

Question and answer flashcards based on lecture notes from Psychology: Human Behavior.

How is psychology formally defined?

A discipline within the sciences that uses scientific methods to understand mental and behavioral processes.

What are the multiple domains of influence that shape the mind and behavior?

Biological influences, psychological factors, social, cultural, and environmental influences.

How did William James describe psychology?

The science of mental life.

Who is generally cited as the founder of scientific psychology, and why?

Wilhelm Wundt, who established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Germany.

Where can we find the beginnings of psychology?

Classical Greek philosophy.

According to Thomas Kuhn, what happens in scientific fields progress?

The concept of truth undergoes radical change as new information and understanding is achieved.

Which central figure is the most widely known perspective outside of psychology?

Sigmund Freud.

According to behaviorists like John Watson and B.F. Skinner, how can our behavior be explained?

Our behavior can be fully explained as the result of learning through association.

Who was the scientist that first demonstrated how learning can arise in response to environmental stimuli?

Ivan Pavlov.

What are some classic examples of methods in psychodynamic psychology?

Dream analysis, fantasy journaling, and the Rorschach test.

Besides Rorschach test, what are another some examples of methods in psychodynamic psychology?

Dream analysis or fantasy journaling.

What experiment is John Watson known for relating to the fear response in a toddler?

The Little Albert experiments.

How did the behaviorists approached the study of psychology?

They focus on what can be objectively observed and manipulated in behavior.

Who are some of the researchers that contributed to developing the cognitive perspective?

Jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky, and Donald Broadbent.

Who is considered most central to the founding of the cognitive perspective in psychology?

Ulric Neisser, who wrote the first book on cognitive psychology in 1967.

Who are some of the well known figures that promoted the humanistic perspective?

Rollo May, Abraham Maslow, and Carl Rogers.

From whose pioneering work does evolutionary psychology's notions of natural selection stem?

Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.

Who were instrumental in founding the field of evolutionary psychology as a cohesive perspective?

Leda Cosmides and John Tooby.

Name three key people in the history of Psychology who've already been mentioned in this lecture series.

Wilhelm Wundt, William James, and B.F. Skinner.

What are the distinct domains of influence on the individual in psychology?

Biological, psychological, social, cultural and environmental.

What concepts within humanistic psychology have been critiqued for their cultural and individual biases?

Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the concept of self-actualization.

Name three activities that people engage with in the process of critical thinking.

Observation, gathering information, analyzing and interpreting.

What is the first phase in the critical thinking process?

Identifying the problem and framing it as a question.

Name three of the main barriers that impact every person's critical thinking.

Age, memory, and attention.

Name three of the avoidable barriers to critical thinking.

Confirmation bias, salience bias, and availability heuristic.

What must you do first and critically to ensure any solutions are well thought out and meaningfully related to our evidence?

Identify assumptions that are at play.

What did John Watson argue about psychology as a science?

Psychology as a science should in fact abandon the concept of mind altogether.

What are the two components that needs to be evaluated when forming an argument?

Premises and conclusion.

When evaluating an argument's structre, what question do we ask to measure the argument's strength?

If we accept the premises as true, would we go ahead and accept the conclusion?

What are the two broad types of arguments?

Deductive and inductive.

What are the two particular types of cultures defined in the lecture notes?

Individualistic and collectivist.

Besides the difference between how the individual relates to the group, how else can cultures be different?

Monochromatic and polychronic.

Name three countries from the lecture that are multicultural.

Australia, Singapore, US, UK, Europe, Malaysia.

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, what creates inequitable opportunities and outcomes for people based on race?

Systems and policies, actions and attitudes.

Name three identities that may come together to increase or decrease someone's disadvantage in intersectional theory.

Age, ethnicity, sexuality.

Name three approaches for reducing prejudice and discrimination mentioned in the lecture notes.

Legislative action, co-operative tasks, and the contact hypothesis.

What are some examples of the historic traumatic events that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have experienced?

Colonization, systemic racism, and disposition of land.

What are some of the key stated objectives and outcomes of the Closing the Gap agreement?

Shared decision making, building a community controlled sector.

What are three of the six core values of ethical research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?

Responsibility, equity and respect.

Name three suggestions that the lecture notes has made around improving or increasing cultural responsiveness.

Being aware of your own biases, delivering healthcare awareness, demonstrating respect.

Where does psychology has its roots?

From the ancient world through the Renaissance and into the modern era.

Name three of the first things we do in a critical thinking process.

Observation, imagination, and gathering information.

What is the definition of an argument in human behavior lecture series?

A structured set of statements where one or more premises are presented to support a conclusion.

How has cultural psychology be described?

Social practices and how those influence members of the cultural group.

What did Kurt Levine's field theory of human behavior propose, what's the most important idea from it?

Understanding behaviour as a dynamic interaction between the persons and their environment.

What are some of the essential individual characteristics in critical thinking?

Skepticism, creativity, open mindedness.

What years did Freud's life span?

1856 to 1939.

What times period did Ivan Pavlov work in?

1800s through to the early 1900s.

During what times can cognitive psychology considered virtually revolutional?

1950s and 60s.

Throughout what time frame was Leda Cosmides and John Tooby instrumental in fonding the field of evolutionary psychology?

Late 80s and early 90s.

What year did Walter Mischel publish his book calling to question the traditional trait theories?

1968.

How can attention be useful during unavoidable barrriers?

This helps us focus on and select relevant information, so that we can then process and plan out solutions to problems.

What did Kurt Lewin did in the early days of 20th century?

He developed a comprehensive field theory of human behaviour in which behaviour is seen as a function of various person environment interactions.

What can be considered as pros of thinking demonstrated the complexity of human behaviour mapped onto a variety of functions that the human system performs in its process of interacting with the environment?

The individual psychology very well, uh, but it doesn't explicitly contain interpersonal processes.

What is the purpose of physical characteristics such as greater or lesser levels of melanin, along with cognitive or emotional characteristics?

They confer advantages that improve individual and group capacity to survive in the various environments.

What is the Standford experiment?

An experiment that that shows how quickly people can abuse power when it’s given to them