Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology

Psychology

The science of behavior and mental processes.

Science

The use of systematic method’s to gain knowledge and draw conclusions.

Behavior

Everything we do that can be directly observed.

Mental processes

Thoughts, feelings, and motives that cannot be directly observed.

Critical thinking

A scientist thinks deeply while evaluating evidence.

Empirical method

Mary gains knowledge though observation, data, and logical reasoning.

Wihelm Wundt

The “Father of Psychology” who created the first psychology lab and showed that mental processes could be measured.

William James

Approached psychology by asking about the purpose of the mind.

Structuralism

Penny wants to research the structure of the brain.

Functionalism

Ron wants to research why the mind exists and what its purpose is.

Biological approach

Quincy is a psychologist who believes the mind can be understood by studying the body, brain, and nervous system.

Behavioral approach.

Micheal studies how behavior changes when the environment changes.

Psychodynamic approach

Dr. Khan believes that people’s behaviors are affected by unconscious thought, early childhood experiences, and the conflict between society’s demands and biological motives.

Sigmund Freud

Creator of the psychodynamic approach

Humanistic approach

Selena believes that people have the freedom to choose their destiny and express their positive qualities.

Cognitive approach

Valerie looks into how children solve problems, think, and preform cognitive tasks.

Evolutionary approach

Finny strongly believes that behaviors can be explained by evolutionary ideas like natural selection.

Sociocultural approach

On Jolly’s trip to Europe, she researched how different societies and cultures influenced behaviors.

Biopsychosocial approach

Kelly argues that behavior is affected by biological, psychological, and sociological factors.

Variable

Anything that can change.

Independent; dependent

John is researching whether color has an effect on stress. He does this by conducting an experiment where he places participants in different colored rooms and measures their heartbeat. The color of the room is the _____ variable and their heartbeat is the _____.

Theory vs. hypothesis

A broad set of ideas that attempts to explain an observation vs. a testicle prediction than is logically derived from that broad set of ideas.

Operational definition

For John’s experiment, he decides that stress will by measured by how fast the heart is beating.

Descriptive research

Lilly wants to find out how many people get sick each month. She should use ______.

Case study

An in-depth study on an individual

Correlational research

Audrey wants to find out how closely the weather and amount of people who buy ice cream are related. She does not want to establish causal relationships yet, so she should use _____.

Positive correlation

As the time spent studying goes up, so do test scores.

Negative correlation

As the time spent playing outside goes up, screen time goes down.

Experiment

A procedure where researchers manipulate one variable that is believed to affect another.

Random assignment

In order for the experimental and control groups to be fair, Dr. Smith uses _______ to randomly assign participants.

Experimental; control

Dr. Smith is testing the effects of a drug. The ______ group receives the drug while the _____ group receives a placebo.

Placebo effect

Willa recently started taking a medication that she believed would make her headaches go away. Even though the medication had no active ingredients, Willa reported that she no longer experienced headaches.

Random sample

A sample that gave every member of the population an equal chance to be selected.

Population; sample

Dr. Brown is studying Americans and the likelihood of diabetes. He looks at all the results and then picks a subgroup to look into. All Americans would be the ______ and Americans living in Ohio would be the ______.

Naturalistic observation

Tinker observes children and bullying at her local playground.

Francis Cecil Sumner

First African-American to earn a Ph.D in Psychology and showed that all people could contribute to this field.