PSYA01 Midterm 1

biopsychology

biological mechanisms underlying behaviour/mental processes

biological psychology entails…

* biopsychology/neuroscience
* sensation
* consciousness

cognitive psychology

understanding mental processes and how people process info in general

cognitive psychology entails…

* perception
* thinking
* intelligence
* memory

developmental psychology

describing and understanding how behaviour changes across the lifespan

developmental psychology entails…

* learning
* lifespan development

social psychology

the scientific attempt to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others

personality psychology

the scientific study of individual differences, investigating how and why people act differently based on their enduring characteristics or traits

social & personality psychology entails…

* social
* personality
* emotion
* motivation

mental & physical health entail…

* abnormal
* therapies
* stress, lifestyle, and health

tabula rasa

“blank slate” as a description of the mind (Pinker)

trephination

the process of creating a hole in the skull

humourism

a system of medicine detailing a person’s temperament (personality) and the makeup and workings of the human body

the 4 humours

* black bile (melancholic)
* yellow bile (choleric)
* phlegm (phlegmatic)
* blood (sanguine)

bloodletting

the practice of withdrawing blood for therapeutic reasons

de anima

the nature of thought, sensation, and imagination

allegory of the cave

reality is a construction

first recorded psychological experiment was done by

the egyptians

the first documented psychological thoughts was done by

the greeks

empiricism

the view that all knowledge arises directly from what we observe and experience

dualism

the philosophical position that the mind and the body are completely separate from one another

descartes believed that the mind could exert influence over the body through…

the pineal gland

the work psychologists do are divided into 3 primary areas: …

* basic research
* application
* clinical work

basic research

work done by psychologists to understand the fundamental principles of behaviour and mind

primary basic research areas

* abnormal
* behavioural genetics
* cognitive
* comparative
* developmental
* behavioural neuroscience
* personality
* social

abnormal psychology

research that is interested in explaining how and why unusual and maladaptive behaviour patterns develop by examining thoughts, emotions, and the underlying biology of mental illness

behavioural genetics psychology

linking individual differences in behaviour to genetic factors

comparative psychology

studying non-human animal behaviour, often looking for commonalities with humans

behavioural neuroscience

linking specific behaviour patterns to underlying physical components or activities in the brain

applied psychology

the use of psychological principles to solve practical problems, typically by influencing behaviour or changing the environment to match existing behaviour

applied research

research done in an effort to discover a new or more effective wat to solve a specific practical problem

applied practice

the actual application of discovered techniques to solve practical problems

translational research

research that attempts to take basic research findings and turn them into solutions for practical problems

fields of applied psychology

* consumer behaviour
* educational
* human factors
* forensic and legal
* health
* industrial and organisational
* political
* school

consumer behaviour psychology

understanding the decisions consumers make about products and services

educational psychology

improving learning in the classroom and other educational settings

human factors psychology

designing products or processes in ways that improve usefulness or comfort for the people using them

forensic and legal psychology

applying psychological principles to features of the legal system

health psychology

improving physical health and healthcare by applying psychological principles

industrial and organisational psychology

helping organisations improve member performance, motivation, or other role-related outcomes

political psychology

understanding the role of psychology in the political process, and the role of politics in psychology

school psychology

using psychology to improve the academic and special experiences of children in school

clinical psychology

a form of applied psychology that focuses on identifying, preventing, and relieving distress or dysfunction that is psychological in origin

clinical psychologists required training

PhD or PsyD

psychiatrist

a medical doctor who is trained to assess and treat psychological disorders

psychiatrist required training

MD

counselling psychologist

psychologist who focuses on helping people deal with ongoing situations, or the adjustment from one situation to another

counselling psychologist training

PhD, EdD, or a master’s program in a specific specialty

nativism

the view that some forms of knowledge are innate

biological determinism

the view that all human behaviour is controlled by genetic and biological influences

natural selection

the principle that traits which contribute to improvements in survival and reproduction are more likely to be passed down to later generations

Darwin’s 4 basic principles

1. variations of phenotypes
2. heritability
3. struggle for existence
4. survival and reproductive rates

phenotype

describes physical traits

genotype

describes genetic structure

modes of selection

* directional
* stabilising
* disruptive
* sexual
* artificial

phrenology

the pseudoscientific study of the shape of the human skull in an attempt to associate brain areas with specific characteristics, thoughts, or abilities

“father of modern psychology”,, what did he do

Wundt,, established the first psychological lab in Germany,, structuralism

structuralism

first major movement in the history of psychology, which focused on breaking down immediate conscious experience into their constituent parts

systematic introspection

one of the first strategies to make inferences about the contents of the mind, it was an effort to standardise the way people reported their own experiences

“father of American psychology”,, what did he do

William James,, first person to offer a course on experimental psychology in the states,, functionalism

functionalism

an early movement in psychology whose proponents believed that an understanding of a behaviour or process’ function was critical to understanding its operation

behaviourism

an approach to psychology that suggests observable behaviour should be the only topic of study, ignoring conscious experience

perspective behaviourism

the mind and internal states are beyond the scope of psychology (Watson)

Gestalt psychology

understanding how people perceive a unified whole out of many chaotic elements of sensation

psychoanalysis

a form of psychotherapy that seeks to help clients gain more insight into their unconscious thoughts, behaviours, and motivations (Freud)

humanistic psychology

an approach to psychology that emphasises the ability of humans to make their own choices and realise their own potential (Rogers, Maslow)

person-centred approach to therapy

focusing the clinical environment to the needs of the client rather than the expertise of the clinician

positive psychology

an outgrowth of humanistic psych, it studies specific virtues of the human experience, including topics such as happiness, trust, charity, and gratitude (Seligman)

eclectic approach

an approach to clinical psychology that uses different therapeutic techniques based on their effectiveness for the current situation

levels of explanation

the acknowledgement that different explanations for a phenomenon can complement one another

ultimate explanations

explanations that seek to describe reasons why a trait, behaviour, or mental process exists by appealing to its role in the process of evolution

proximate explanations

explanations that seek to describe an immediate cause of a trait, behaviour, or mental process

functional explanation

describing why a behaviour manifests differently based on a person’s cultural background or specific situational demands

process-oriented explanation

a kind of proximate explanation that focuses on how a specific mental or physical process directly explains a trait or behaviour

evolutionary psychology

the study of psych from an evolutionary perspective, it proposes that many mental processes have developed in response to natural selection to solve adaptive problems

culture

the shared set of beliefs, attitudes, behaviours, and customs belonging to a specific group or community of people

feminist psychology

an approach to psych that is critical of cultural influences on gender and gender differences in behaviour

intersectional approach

an approach to studying cultural influences that emphasises examining how multiple social identities intersect at the level of the individual person to alter their experiences

imaging techniques

offers clinicians and researchers a view of the brain to see its structures and functions

pupillometry

eye-movement recordings

electrodermal activity (skin conductance)

an indirect measurement of nervous system activity that is associated with both emotion and attention

cardiovascular measurements

measuring changes in heart rate as a response to different stimuli

computer-related metaphors of information processing in the brain

working memory = RAM; long-term memory = hard drive storage

rationalism

the belief or theory that reason is the key source of knowledge (Aristotle)

scientific method

a six-step method of acquiring knowledge and methodologically answering questions

steps of the scientific method

1. identify the problem
2. gather information
3. hypothesis
4. design and conduct experiments
5. data analysis and conclusions
6. restart the process

types of scientific methods

* descriptive
* correlational
* experimental

descriptive methods

any means to capture, record, or otherwise describe a group

methods of describing groups

* naturalistic observation
* participant observation
* case studies
* surveys

naturalistic observation

observation of behaviour as it happens, without an attempt to manipulate or control the subjects’ natural environment

ecological validity (EV)

whether a study’s finding and conclusions are relevant to its population

reactivity/Hawthorne effect

a change in a person or animal’s behaviour that is the result of being observed by others

operational definition

how a researcher decides to measure a variable

interrater reliability

the extent to which 2+ observers agree with each other about their observation

participant observation

research method where a researcher becomes part of the group under investigation

case study

in-depth analyses of a unique circumstance or individual

ablation

medical procedure to remove or otherwise destroy tissue

procedural memories

memories whose contents pertain to how something is done

surveys

a method using questions to collect info on how people think or act

sampling error

a sample that deviates from a true representation of a population