Psych 101 Exam 1 IU

Psychology

scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Nativism

the view that certain skills or abilities are "native" or hard-wired into the brain at birth.

Dualism

the human mind and body are two distinct entities that interact with each other to make a person

empiricism

The Philosophical school of thought that real knowledge comes from the senses.

William Wundt

Founded first psychology labratory in 1879 (Structuralism).

Structuralism

trying to understand the mind by breaking it down into basic parts. Wundt.

Functionalism

Stresses the function of behavior in adaptation, stream of consciousness through experimentation

Mary Witten Calkins

American psychologist who conducted research on memory, personality, and dreams; first woman president of the American Psychological Association - studied under William James

B.F. Skinner

Emphasized the psychology should be about what people do and not concerned with things that people can't see. (Behavioral)

Behavioral approach

An Approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants.

John Watson

Behaviorist

Humanistic Psychology

Positive potential of human beings is assumed.

Emphasis on self-determination, free will and importance of choice.

A reaction to negative implications of Freudian and emphasis on external influences of the behaviorist school.

4 Characteristics of good research

Testable (can be measured in some way)

Falsifiable (the limits can be identified)

Replicable (someone else can do the

same study to test your results)

Contains an operational definition of a variable (what will be tested/measured).

Descriptive

Description of people's behaviors, thoughts, attributes

Benefit: can be a source of ideas about human nature in general

Danger: Does not generalize

Correlation

Relationships between two variables

Correlation Coefficient is ALWAYS between -1.00 ≤ r ≤ 1.00

Danger - drawing incorrect conclusions

Experiment

manipulating one factor (IV) in a situation to determine its effect on another (DV).

Independent Variable

The variable we are able to manipulate independently

Dependent Variable

The variable we expect to experience a change

Confounding Variables.

The other variables that might have an effect on the dependent variable

Experimental Group

Group with manipulated variable

Control Group

a group that is the same in every way except the one variable we are changing

Placebo Effect

experimental effects that are caused by expectations about the intervention

Double Blind

neither participants nor research staff knows which participants are in the experimental or control groups.

Samplings

Small group that helps represent population

Descriptive Statistics

The branch of statistics that provides a means of summarizing large amounts of data, and presenting the data in a simple form.

Benefit: Can describe a large amount of data in a simple way

Weakness: May distort the original data or lose important detail.

Mean

the average of all scores, arrived at by adding scores together and dividing by the number of scores

Median

the point in a distribution of scores that divides the distribution exactly in half.

Mode

the most frequently occurring score in a set of scores.

• IRB (institutional review board)

• protects participant's rights

• cannot collect data without IRB approval and informed consent (from participants)

• Peer Review process (in PPT)

researchers get approval, collect data, analyze data and write up their results (in an article), which is submitted to a journal. 3 reviewers (experts in that field) are assigned to review anonymously. They can recommend publication, rewrite/edit, or not to publish. This makes peer reviewed publications much more respected and valued in the field.

Functionalism Psy (ppl)

James/Calkins

Structuralism Psy (ppl)

Tichenor

Behaviorism Psy (ppl)

Watson/Skinner

Informed consent

agree to participate (without coercion) with full knowledge of experiment

Scientific method

multistep technique that generates empirical knowledge - knowledge derived from systematic observations of the world

Reactivity

when behavior changes as a result of the observation process

External validity

the extent to which results generalize to other situations or are representative of real life

Internal validity

the extent to which an experiment has effectively controlled for confounding variables; internally valid experiments allow for determination of causality

Descriptive research

observes and describes behavior, 4 approaches:

- naturalistic observaton

- self-report/survey

- psychological assessment

- case studies

Gestalt psychology

a movement proposing that certain organizing principles of perception are innate and cannot be altered by experience

systematic introspection

an early technique used to study the mind; required people to look inward and describe their own experiences

Psychoanalysis

term used by Freud to describe his theory of mind and system of therapy

Sigmund Freud

originated "talk therapy"

Psychodynamic approach

based on psychoanalysis, we are the product of conflicts between:

- unconscious and conscious thought

- biological drives (sex;food)

- early childhood experiences

(difficult to test scientifically)

Cognitive approach

the mind takes an active role in controlling behavior

(cognitive revolution of 1900s)

Evolutionary approach

behaviors evolved due to environmental demands placed on early humans

(extension of functionalism/Darwinism)

3 Major Approaches to Research

1. Descriptive

2. Correlational

3. Experiments

Barak, Lipson, & Lerman (2006)

Procedure:

- Descriptive study

- computer science students at MIT, one class

- Amount of time spent on laptop on class-related material

- Walked around the room to observe and record use (reactivity?)

- Found that students spend most of time on class related material

Limitations:

- possible that subjects changed behavior because of observers

- study limited by sample size ( single class, one school) (external validity)

-only one variable (internal validity)

Social Psych

interested in peoples' interactions

-How groups influence individuals

Physiological Psych

physical processes that underlie mental operations such as memory or vision

Clinical Psych

tend to be interested in psychopathology

- scientific study of psychological disorders

Educational Psych

assess children's learning & adjustment in school

Health Psych

multidimensional approach to human health that emphasizes psychological factors, lifestyle, & the nature of the healthcare system

I/O Psych

studies the workplace - both workers & organizations

Developmental Psych

concentrate on the biological and environmental factors that contribute to an individual's changes over the lifespan

Biological Approach

mind has a physical basis in the brain

-neuroscience

Nature via Nurture

concept that experience (nurture) determines how genetic material is expressed

Belmont Report

"Respect for persons" clause

-autonomy

-Tuskegee syphilis experiment

Mind-Body Problem

are the mind and body separate and distinct or are they one in the same.

-body=material

-mind=spiritual

-mind is what the body does

Localization

question of where is the mind located