Psychology Final Exam Review

Wundt founded the first psychological lab in 1879 at Leipzig in Germany. He saw psychology as the study of conscious experience. He did this through introspection, asking the person to describe what was doing on in his mind. His student Titchner brought the idea of structuralism to the United States. It was way too dependent on verbal communication and truthfulness of participant. Introspection was an attempt to study psychology as a chemist would study substances.

Wilhelm Wundt

The first American psychologist. He was more interested in how the mind functions. The mind is a whole and you miss the point when you try to break it down into its parts. Develop functionalism as an answer to the problems encountered in introspection or structuralism

William James

Watson said "You can't see the mind so how can you study it?" All we can see is observable behavior and that is what psychology should study. Skinner is also widely known for this view.

John Watson

First woman to make a career in psychology. But because of prejudices against women in 1895, she never received a Ph.D. The first woman psychologists with a Ph.D. was Margaret Washburn

Mary Calkins

Cognition means thinking. The cognitive perspective holds that to understand how people behave you have to understand how they think, remember, and decide. That is what determines how they act.

Cognitive Perspective

Our brain is a complex biochemical organ that affects how we think and how we behave. To understand behavior you must understand the roots of behavior, the working of the brain and nervous system.

Physiological Perspective

Behavior is strongly influenced by social and cultural factors. To fully understand behavior you have to take into consideration the social and cultural environment in which it occurs.

Sociocultural Perspective

This is based on the work of Sigmund Freud. Freud saw psychology as the study of unconscious because he believed unconscious motivation controlled behavior.

Psychodynamic Perspective

Probably the most dominant perspective today. This is the continuation of Watson's idea that overt behavior is the most important thing to study. A combination of this and the cognitive perspective is also very popular.

Behavioral Perspective

Environmental influences, especially love and acceptance, determine if we become all we can in life.

Humanistic

This is what most people think when they hear the word psychologist. They diagnose and treat mental disorders.

Clinical Psychology

The book says they treat people who do not have mental disorders but in reality they do the same thing as clinical psychologists although they are less likely to work with people with severe psychopathology.

Counseling Psychology

This is the third of the three main applied areas. They diagnose and treat children with learning, behavioral, and emotional problems with and emphasis on the school environment.

School Psychology

They study how people change physically, cognitively, and socially over the lifespan.

Developmental Psychology

They study psychological principles within an educational environment. They are different from school psychologists because they generally do not work with individual children but focus more on instruction, techniques, etc.

Educational Psychology

Their focus is on thinking, reasoning, language, and decision making.

Cognitive Psychology

Studies aspects of behavior in work settings such as personnel selection, employee evaluation, work motivation, and leadership.

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along-phenomenon.

Hindsight bias

the tendency to be more confident than correct.

Overconfidence

thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, and evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Critical thinking

a self-correcting process for asking questions and observing nature’s answers.

The Scientific Method

an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.

Theory

a testable prediction, often implied by a theory. Usually an “if-then” statement.

Hypothesis

an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

Case study

a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.

Survey

all the cases in a group being studied from which samples may be drawn.

Population

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.

Random sample

A subset of the population carefully chosen to represent the proportionate diversity of the population as a whole

Representative sample

A tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors.

False consensus effect

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation. \*doesn’t explain, it only describes.

Naturalistic observation

studying a person or event over a long period of time. Ex. the effects of medications on kids.

Longitudinal study

A study in which people of different ages are compared w/one another. Ex. looking at different age groups and what political topics are more important to them.

Cross sectional study

a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable); makes it possible to study cause and effect relationships.

Experiment

assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups.

Random assignment

experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by administration of a placebo, which the recipient assumes is an active agent

Placebo effect

in an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, to one version of the independent variable.

Experimental group

in an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.

Control group

the experimental factor that is manipulated and tested. Ex. studying the effects of a drug on memory, the drug is the IV.

Independent variable (IV)

the experimental factor that is being measured. Ex. studying the effects of a drug on memory, memory is the DV

Dependent variable (DV)

the measure of central tendency that is the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution.

Mode

the measure of central tendency that is the arithmetic average of a distribution. It is obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores.

Mean

the measure of central tendency that is the middle score in a distribution (falls at the 50th percentile); half the scores are above it and have are below it

Median

a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other. \*Correlation does not show causation.

Correlation

Is the distance between the lowest and highest numbers in a group.

Range

A measurement of how much the numbers vary from the mean (average). Just realize that if the numbers are all pretty close, the standard deviation will be low.

Standard deviation

states that we have a tendency to give causal explanations for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.

Attribution theory

attributing someone’s behavior, thoughts, beliefs, etc. to the person’s traits and characteristics. Ex. thinking someone is smart, lazy, etc

Dispositional attribution

attributing someone’s behavior, thought’s beliefs, etc. to environments factors outside of the person’s control. Ex. it was the ref’s fault, the test was too hard, etc.

Situational attribution

the tendency to overemphasize dispositional factors and to underestimate situational factors when making attributions about the cause of another person's behavior

Fundamental attribution error

people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them

Mere exposure effect (familiarity principle):

when people focus on factual info, logical arguments, and thoughtful analysis. Ex. buying a car and looking at the gas mileage, safety ratings, etc.

Central route of persuasion

When people focus on emotional appeals in incidental cues. Ex. buying a car based on its color, sound system, etc

Peripheral route of persuasion

the persuasion strategy of getting a person to agree to a modest first request as a set-up for a later, much larger, request

Foot-in-the-door

the tendency for people to adopt the behavior, attitudes, and beliefs of other members of a group

Conformity

obeying the direct orders of an authority or person of higher status

Obedience

a type of conformity involving a person in a situation where s/he is unsure of the correct way to behave and will often look to others for cues concerning correct behavior

Group influence

the tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members

Group polarization

phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome.

Groupthink

putting your own welfare aside to help others

Altruism

individuals are less likely to assist in an emergency situation when other people are present

Bystander effect

studied role playing through the Stanford prison experiment

Philip Zimbardo

ran the conformity experiment involving people

Solomon Asch

ran the obedience experiment with the “teachers” and the “learners” in which the “learners” were “shocked” every time they gave a wrong answer. 2/3 of the “teachers” shocked people to a death level.

Stanley Milgram

attached to the spinal cord and is responsible for many automatic functions such as breathing and heartbeat, as well as some voluntary actions like walking and facial movements.

Hindbrain

area of the brain that serves primarily as a relay station between the forebrain and hindbrain, but does control some bodily movements like the startle reflex.

Midbrain

the largest and most complex region of the brain

Forebrain

The frontal lobe is one of four lobes in the cerebral hemisphere. This lobe controls a several elements including creative thought, problem solving, intellect, judgment, behavior, attention, abstract thinking, physical reactions, muscle movements, coordinated movements, smell and personality.

Frontal Lobe

Located in the cerebral hemisphere, this lobe focuses on comprehension. Visual functions, language, reading, internal stimuli, tactile sensation and sensory comprehension will be monitored here

Parietal Lobe

The temporal lobe controls visual and auditory memories. It includes areas that help manage some speech and hearing capabilities, behavioral elements, and language. It is located in the cerebral hemisphere

Temporal Lobe

The optical lobe is located in the cerebral hemisphere in the back of the head. It helps to control vision

Occipital Lobe

All basic life functions originate in the brain stem, including heartbeat, blood pressure and breathing. In humans, this area contains the medulla, midbrain and pons. This is commonly referred to as the simplest part of the brain, as most creatures on the evolutionary scale have some form of brain creation that resembles the brain stem.

Brain Stem

The medulla or medulla oblongata is an essential portion of the brain stem which maintains vital body functions such as the heart rate and breathing.

Medulla

This portion of the metencephalon is located in the hindbrain, and links to the cerebellum to help with posture and movement. It interprets information that is used in sensory analysis or motor control. The pons also creates the level of consciousness necessary for sleep.

Pons

This is commonly referred to as "the little brain," and is considered to be older than the cerebrum on the evolutionary scale. The cerebellum controls essential body functions such as balance, posture and coordination, allowing humans to move properly and maintain their structure.

Cerebellum

The Thalamus is located in the center of the brain. It helps to control the attention span, sensing pain and monitors input that moves in and out of the brain to keep track of the sensations the body is feeling.

Thalamus

This area of the brain controls the facial neurons as well as the understanding of speech and language

Broca's Area

This portion of the temporal lobe is formed around the auditory cortex. While scientists have a limited understanding of the function of this area, it is known that it helps the body formulate or understand speech

Wernicke's Area

contains glands which help relay emotions. Many hormonal responses that the body generates are initiated in this area. The limbic system includes the amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus and thalamus

Limbic System

Helps the body responds to emotions, memories and fear. It is a large portion of the telencephalon, located within the temporal lobe which can be seen from the surface of the brain.

Amygdala

The hypothalamus region of the brain controls mood, thirst, hunger and temperature. It also contains glands which control the hormonal processes throughout the body.

Hypothalamus

The hippocampus also helps people analyze and remember spatial relationships, allowing for accurate movements. This portion of the brain is located in the cerebral hemisphere.

Hippocampus

Sensation refers simply to your contact with the external world through your sensory receptors. These are the inputs received via our sensory receptors

Sensation

This refers to how we interpret and organize the information we receive from the senses. It is our conscious experience of what our senses are telling us.

Perception

Not all stimulation is received and translated. For example, a dog can hear sounds you cannot. The absolute threshold is the smallest amount of a stimulus that we can detect 50% of the time

Absolute Threshold

This is the amount two stimuli must differ for you to notice that they are different. This is illustrated by listening to your stereo. How much do you have to turn it up for you to notice that it is louder? Basically, the lower the intensity the easier it is to notice a difference.

Difference Threshold

The Gestalt view of perception is that all humans organize or group information into meaningful patterns called gestalts. In other words, we view the whole rather than the parts. We tend to organize data by its proximity (how close together), continuity (is it a continuous grouping?), and similarity (the likeness of stimuli). We also view things in terms of figure and ground. This is our tendency to view something as the region that represents the object and its background.

Gestalt Psychology

This is our tendency to perceive objects as having certain constant, unchanging properties. Size Constancy is our tendency to perceive something as a certain size even though it is further away and makes a smaller image on the retina. Shape Constancy refers to our tendency to perceive a shape as the same even though the image on the retina may differ.

Perceptual Constancy

studies a person or group of people over an extended period of time.

Longitudinal study

compares individuals of various ages at one point in time.

Cross-sectional study

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Schema

the process of absorbing new information into an existing schema.

Assimilation

the process of adjusting old schemas or developing new ones to incorporate new information

Accommodation

the understanding that objects and people continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Develops in the sensorimotor stage.

Object permanence

a parenting style that has rigid rules, enforces strict punishments, and rarely, listens to the kids’ viewpoints. According to Baumrind, kids who grow up under the authoritarian parenting style tend to be moody, aggressive, and often lack good communication skills.

Authoritarian

a parenting style that sets firm rules, makes reasonable demands, and listens to the kids’ viewpoints while insisting on responsible behavior. According to Baumrind, kids who grow up under the authoritative parenting style tend to be well-adjusted, goal oriented, and socially competent.

Authoritative

a parenting style that sets few rules, makes minimal demands, and allows the kids to reach their own decisions. According to Baumrind, kids who grow up under the permissive parenting style tend to be impulsive, immature, and often fail to respect others, especially authority.

Permissive

Swiss developmental psychologist who developed the stages of cognitive development (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational).

Jean Piaget

a developmental psychologist who developed the theory that people enter eight stages of social development

Erik Erikson

specialized in research on moral reasoning. He said people go through 3 stages of moral development (preconventional, conventional, and postconventional).

Lawrence Kohlberg

The Three Stage of Memory

Encoding, Storage, Retrieval