PSYCH SEM 1

Willhelm Wundt

-Father or Psych
-Opened 1st ever psych lab
- 1st topic of study was consciousness

G. Stanley Hall

-opened first american psych lab
- founded APA

Edward Titchener

Student of Wilhelm Wundt; founder of Structuralist school of psychology.

William James

founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment

Mary Whiton Calkins

First female president of the APA
Was supposed to get PHD but could not because of gender barriers

Margaret Floy Washburn

First female to be awarded a PhD in psychology; 2nd president of the APA (1921)

Leta Stetter Hollingworth

One of the first psychologists to focus on child development and on women's issues

Sigmund Freud

Psychoanalytical approach

Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner

Behavioral Approach

Rogers and Maslow

Humanistic Approach

Pschology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Nature vs. Nurture

Nature: Genetics (innate)
Nurture: Environmental influences (parenting)

Empiricism

Knowledge acquired through observation, gathering/analyzing data which serves as evidence to support

Willhelm Wundt

"father of psych"
set up first psych lab
1st topic of study was consciousness

G. Stanley Hall

Opened first american psych lab
Founded APA (American Psychological Association)

Edward Titchener

Studied structuralism (Introspection)

Structuralism

Examined the elements/pieces of the conscious experience
Inward-looking/introspection/self reflection

William James

Studied Functionalism

Functionalism

Interested in the purpose/use/value of the conscious experience
Focused more on application
Asks the question "Why?"

Gestalt Psychology

Emphasizes our tendencies to integrate pieces of info into meaningful wholes

Mary Whiton Calkins

First Female president of the APA
Would have been first woman to have PHD in psych but could not because of gender

Margaret Floy Washburn

First female to earn PHD in psych
Second female APA president

Leta Stetter Hollingworth

All of work was with gifted children and was of the first people to do this

Psychoanalytic Approach(Freud)

Unconscious urges/impulses and or repressed memories of early childhood trauma that influence behavior

Behavioral Approach (Pavlov, Watson, Skinner)

Behavior is learned through observation/rewards/punishments and making associations

Humanistic approach (Roger, Maslow)

Behavior is explained using the following beliefs:
Humans are inherently good; we are striving to reach our potential; we each have a unique perception and self concept; we all have free-will

Cognitive Approach

Mental processes such as thoughts, memory, decision making, problem-solving, etc. which all influence behavior

Biological Approach

Brain chemistry and structure; genetics; memories etc. which influence behavior

Sociocultural approach

Societal/cultural factors influence behavior
(e.g norms/expectations from family, peers, media, gender, religion, ethnicity, etc.)

Individualist vs Collectivist cultures

Individualist- focus on taking care of self and own goals
Collectivist- good of group, setting aside yourself for good of family

Evolutionary Approach

Adaptive value of behavior which explains behavior
(e.g survival of the fittest; passing on genes)

Positive Psychology

Tries to better understand positive, adaptive, creative, and fulfilling aspects of human nature

Eclecticism

Combining more than one approach to explain behavior (Biopsychosocial mental health)

Applied Psychology

Using known psychological theories and principles to solve everyday, practical problems like a therapist

Clinical Psychology

Concerned with diagnosis and treatment of mental illness

Developmental Psychology

Looks at human development across the lifespan
(anything regarding children)

Social Psychology

focuses on interpersonal behavior and the role of social forces in governing behavior like conformity or attraction

Educational Psychology

How people learn the best practices for teaching
Looks at teaching style, motivation, and achievement testing

Health Psychology

How do we promote and maintain physical health and healthy behaviors like work-life balance

Experimental Psychology

Are the ones running experiments, doing research, and gathering data

Cognitive Psychology

Mental processes like memory, thought, and really understanding memory

Psychometrics & Quantitative

Developing Psychological test and analyze statistical data

Personality Psychology

Understand and explain personality traits
Like why personalities are different
Like the difference between introverts and extroverts

Counseling Psychology

Therapists that are not focused on diagnosing and treating mental illnesses such as marriage counseling

Industrial/organization (I/O) Psychology

Blends business and technology
They look at companies and they observe then offer suggestions

Human Factors Psychology

Explores how people and machines interact and how physical environment can be made safe/easy to use

Informed consent

Participants must know that they are involved in research and give there consent or permission

Deception

If the participants are deceived in any way about the future of the study, the deception must not be so extreme as to invalidate informed consent

Confidentiality/anonymity

This identifies and actions of participants must not be revealed in any way by the researcher

Risk/harm

participants cannot be placed at significant mental or physical risk. This clause requires interpretation by the review board.

Debriefing

Participants must be told of purpose of study and provided with ways to contact researchers about results

Hypothesis

A testable, educated prediction about the relationship between two variables (Before research)

Theory

A tentative explanation of behavior/phenomenon (After research)

Operational Definitions

Defining variables in specific, measurable ways for scientific testing

Correlation Research

Investigating the relationship between variables (NOT CAUSE-EFFECT)

Naturalistic Observation

Observing Behavior in a natural setting without influence

Reactivity

Subjects alter their behavior because they know they are being observed

Demand Characteristics

Acting in a way we think research expects/wants us to act

Screw-You Effect

Acting opposite of what we think researcher expects/wants

Observer Bias

Subjectivity;how the researcher interprets what they see

Case Studies

Intense examination of one person, small group, or unique situation using a variety of methods including surveys and interviews. Allows us to investigate rare behavior/occurrences are topics that are impossible/unethical to test in other ways

Surveys

Questionaire used to learn about participants opinions, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors

Framing

How questions are worded can affect responses

Experiment/Experimental Design

-Experiments are only research that isolates cause and effect
-Controlled Setting
- Trying to Explain Behavior

Population

What larger group or category of people are you researching (Target group of interest)

Sample

Members of population who are chosen to participate in research (Smaller than population)

Random Sample

Every member in population has an equally likely chance of being chosen to participate in research

Representative Sample

When demographics of the sample are proportional to demographics of population (generalized to the population)

Sampling bias

When a sample is not representative of target population

Independent Variable (IV)

Factor is manipulated by experimenter and the affect of this is being studied

Dependent Variable

Factor that may change in response to independent variable, in psych usually behavior or mental process

Experimental group

Group that receives the "Special Treatment"

Control Group

Comparison group that do not receive the "Special Treatment"

Extraneuous/Confounding Variables

Any variables other than the IV that may influence DV. Can also be known as a third variable that is directly linked to IV and DV like personality.

Quasi Experiment

Experimental design that does NOT use random sampling or assignment because it is impossible or unethical

Replication

Replication of a study; helps to determine whether results are reliable (consistent)

Meta-Analysis

Statistical methods for combining multiple studies on a topic (compare/contrast what has been found thus far by other researchers)

Placebo Effect

When participants don't know they are getting placebo and they think they are getting treatment and they have affects as if they are having it

Regressing Towards the mean

The tendency for initial extremely high or extremely low scores to become more moderate/ closer to mean over time

Response set

A tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of questions

Halo Response

When someones overall evaluation of a person influences more scientific findings

Single-Blind Design

Only participants unaware of what group they are in/which variable they recieve

Experimenter bias

The influence of an experimenters observation results

Double-Blind Design

Both participants and researchers are unaware of which group participants are in

Measures of central tendency:

Mean- Average (sum of scores divided by number of scores)
Median- Middle of numbers when in numerical order
Mode- Most frequent score

Measures of Dispersion:

Range: Highest through lowest Score
Standard deviation: Average distance between each score and mean of data set (helps show how clustered or spread out scores are)

Positive Correlation

The 2 variables head in the same direction

Negative correlation

2 variables going in opposite directions

Illusory Correlation

Seeing a relationship between two variables when no such relationship exists

Correlation Coefficient

Statistical number that measures the relationship between two variables, combines directions of relationship + and - and with strength of relationship (0.0-1.0)

Statistical Significance (inferential)

-Statistically significant\= confident that IV causes changes in DV
- Statistically insignificant- we are not confident that IV caused the change to DV (could have been due to chance)

Dendrites

Receive messages from other cells

Soma

Cell Body, which maintains the health of a neuron

Axon

passes messages away from the cell body to the other neurons, muscles or glands

Terminal buttons

form junctions with other cells

Action potential

electrical signal traveling down the axon

myelin sheath

fatty substance that covers the axon, some of the neurons, and helps speed natural impulses

Synapse

space/gap between neurons

Glial Cells

Support neurons (stimulate growth, repair damage, and keep them in place)

Neurotransmitters & Receptors

these are chemical messages released by the presynaptic neuron and these neurotransmitters then bind to receptors on postsynaptic neuron like a "lock and key"