Chapter 1 (module 1-3) Psychology

How is psychology a science

attempts to explore and understand without misleading or being mislead

skepticism and application is apart of what

empirical approach

use of experimentation and systematic observations to understand and evaluate

• requires humility

  • awareness of vulnerability to error and an openness to new perspectives

empirical approach

science is a

work in progress

what is the scientific attitude and what does it rely on

curiosity + skepticism + humility

it relies on critical thinking

examies assumptions, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluate evidence, and accesses conclusions

critical thinking

when was the first lab created and who created it

1879 , William Wundt created it because he wanted to measure the “atoms of the mind” using the empirical approach

why is psych and philosophy different

they are different because psychology uses an empirical approach to answer questions

aimed to classify and understand elements of the mind’s attitude

structuralism

asks about the adaptive and functional qualities of thought, emotions, and behaviors

functionalism

who founded structuralism and functionalism (Psychology’s first school of thought)

William James

he taught Calkins who became the first female president of APA in 1905

psychology should 1) be an objective science that 2) studies observable behavior without reference to mental processes

behaviorism

what does science require

direct observation (rejects introspection)

what do we believe behaviorism was taught

by experience (conditioning)

what did Pavlov do

demonstrated conditioning measuring dog’s salivation

what did Watson and Roger do?

“Little Albert” experiment (learned fear by scaring a child)

what did skinner do

used pigeons to understand conditions for learning

influence of unconscious minds and childhood experiences on behavior

psychoanalysis psychology (Sigmund Freud)

focus on growth potential of humans

humanistic psychology

who created humanistic psychology and what did they believe in

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

they believed in love and acceptance are major human needs and motivations

what does humanistic psychology reject

the limited scope of behaviorism, cynicism of psychoanalysis psychology

science of behavior (observable) and mental processes (mind related)

psychology

focus on the cognitive, biology, and experience, culture and gender, human flourishing

• re-emergance of study of mental processes without reliance on introspection

contemporary psychology

integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis

biopsychosocial approach

what does each level of analysis offer

they offer a perspective for analyzing a behavior and mental process (incomplete by itself)

what do some studies do that is different but the same at the same time

some study what makes humans similar and different from animals while others study what makes us different from each other

how humans individually differ because of differing genes

behavior genetics

how humans are alike because we share biology

evolutionary psychology

cluster of subfields that involve different disciplines and wide interests

psychology’s subfields

what are the subfields in psych

• basic research: development, cognitive, personality

• applied research: community psychology

• practitioners: clinical, counseling, school psychologist

selection attention to evidence or tendency to perceive patterns in random events, to support pre-existing belief

confirmation bias

the “knew it all along” effect

hindsight bias

believing you understand behavior more than you know

overconfidence

self correcting process for evaluating ideas with systematic observations, analysis, peer reviews, replication

scientific method

when predictions work…

they strengthen theory with support

when predictions don’t work…

have to revise theories

theories → hypotheses → research / observation

scientific method chart

explain using an integrated set of principles that organize observations / predicts behaviors and events

theory

testable predictions, often implied by a theory

hypothesis

anything that can vary and be measured / manipulated

variable

worded statement of the exact procedures used in research study, or how we define an observed variable in study

operational definition

experts in the field evaluate validity of research and conclusions before allowing publication of the study

peer review

repeating a research study to test the reliability of the finding

replication

systematic observation for the purposes of careful description

• generating theories / hypotheses

descriptive research

what are the methods that are in descriptive research

• case study

  • examines individual in depth

  • truthful ideas

  • identify causes

• naturalistic observation

  • records behavior in natural environments

  • describes behavior

• surveys / interviews

  • cases in less depth

  • random samples, more about humans in general

• big data

  • data available on massive scale (internet)

investigates relationships between variables

inferential research

what are the methods for inferential research

• correlational

  • relies on measurement of variables only

• experimental

  • manipulation of variable(s)

    • hypotheses can be used in correlational and experimental

measures the extent to which 2 factors vary together and how well either factor (variable) predicts the other

correlation (not an experiment)

statistical index of the direction and strength of relationship between two things (-1.00 to +1.00)

correlation coefficient ®

what are the types of correlation

• positive: 0 to +1.00:

  • direct relationship, increase and decrease together

• negative: below 0 to -1.00:

  • inverse relationship, one increase the other decreases

• no correlation: 0:

  • no relationship between variables

scatterplots

• slope of points = direction of r

• amount scatter = size of r

reveal relationships between variables

correlation coefficient

• do not by themselves demonstrate cause and effect relationship

what is the third variable problem

correlation when things are not involved with the variables but they could cause the variables to act the way they did

researchers can test cause and effect relationships

experimental research

what can you do in an experimental research

• manipulate a variable to test its effects on outcomes

  • group/ conditions = does

  • control groups/ conditions = does not

• isolate the effect of the manipulated variable by:

  • holding constant other factors

  • assign people to each condition to minimize effect of pre-existing differences between individuals

neither those in study nor those collecting the data know groups in receiving treatment

double blind procedure

treatment’s actual effect can be separated from potential placebo effect

• effect involves results caused by expectations alone

placebo effect

manipulated, effect being studied

independent variable

factor measured, may change when independent variable manipulated

dependent variable

might produce effect, try to eliminate with random assignments, blinding, controls

confounding variable

how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences

Neuroscience

how the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes

evolutionary

how our genes and our environment influence ou individual differences

behavior genetics

how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

psychodynamic

how we learn observable responses

behavioral

how we encode, proces, store, and retrieve info

cognitive

how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

social - cultural

• to observe and record behavior

• do case studies, naturalistic observations or surveys

• nothing is manipulated

• no control of variables'; single cases may be misleading

descriptive

• to detect naturally occurring relationships; to assess how well one variable predicts another

• collect data on two or more variables; no manipulation

• nothing is manipulated

• cannot specify cause and effect

correlational

• to explore cause and effect

• manipulate one or more factors; use random assignment

• the independent variables are manipulated

• sometimes not feasible; results may not generalize to other contexts; not ethical to manipulate certain variables

experimental

what is inferential statistics used with

it is used with correlational and experimental research to help guide interpretation of results

• relies on computing “statistical significance”

  • how likely it is that the obtained result (difference between samples) occurred by chance, assuming there is no difference between populations being studied (null hypothesis)

    • tells us nothing about size of observable effect

what is the ethics code of American Psychological Association

• obtain participants informed consent before the study begins

• protects their harm and discomfort

• confidential information

• debrief after the study is over

involves understanding statistics and what they mean

statistical literacy

presenting statistics in ways that distort reality

statistical misinformation

what does the measure of tendency include

includes a single score that represents a set of scores

frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution

mode

arithmetic average of a distribution

mean

middle score in distribution; half go up and half go down

median

_______ of _______ was an attempt to relate the brain (skull) to behavior and mental processes

• some parts do have specialized functions but not reflected in the skull shape

pseudoscience of phrenology

building blocks of the nervous sysme

neurons

produce myelin and support/nourish/and protect neurons

• their role is thinking and learning

glial cells

what do neurons rely on

rely on combination of electrical (within cell) and chemical (between cell) processes

increase in electrical voltage within the axon when a neuron is stimulated that produces electrical impulse

• all-or-none event

action potential

1) is there physical connectuon between neurons

no 1)

what happens when action potential reaches the end of the axon

chemical messengers are released from “terminal buttons” and they 1) attach to receptors onto the next neuron 2) reabsorbed 3) metabolize and or 4) remain in synapse

what is the order in the chart of the Peripheral NS

1) nervous system

2) peripheral

3) automatic or somatic

• auto: self regulating action of internal organs and glands

• somatic: sensory input (controls skeletal muscles)

4) from automatic goes sympathetic and parasympathetic

what is the order in the chart of the Central

1) Nervous system

2) central (brain and spine)

the chemicals that are apart of the messengers are called

neurotransmitters

the space that the messengers are going through is called

synapse

1) are each neuron influenced by other neurons

yes 1)

Neurons can ____ and ___ the next neuron by affecting its voltage. If input passes excitatory, threshold, next neuron will fire (action potential)

inhibit or excite

what do neurons influence and how does it work

influence behavior and mental activity through complex circuits with other neurons

formation (pruning) of networks is highly dependent on experience

neuroplasticity

how do neurotransmitters influence us

1) presents in specialized areas and circuits and have large influence on mental functions

2) others are distributed throughout nervous system and has widespread effect

consists of all nerve cells of central and peripheral nervous systems

nervous system

brain and spinal cord

central nervous system

sensory/ motor nerves connecting CNS ro rest of the body for gathering and transmitting info

peripheral nervous system

what is apart of the peripheral nervous system

somatic and automic

controls body’s skeletal muscles

somatic NS

contains sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

automatic nervous systems