Chapter 1 Psychology

Psychology

The study of the psyche of “soul”, scientific study of behavior and the mind.

Empiricism

Knowledge arises from what we observe and experience.

Behavior

Actions words, response times or even measures of brain activity.

Describe

Painting a picture of what we see. “What is”.

Explain

What’s the motivating behavior? “Why it is?” .

Predicting

What is likely to happen given a situation “what it may be”.

Influencing

Change what people are doing or how they perceive the world.

Structuralism

Breaking down immediate conscious experience to its most basic components.

Introspection

Relies on trained participants' self-reports of their thoughts, feelings, and mental images to understand the components of mental processes.

Systematic Introspection

Method developed to combat introspection accuracy. Standardized method for reporting experiences.

Functionalism

Psychologists must first understand the function of a behavior or a mental process to understand how it works. Heavily influenced by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.

Behaviorism

Uses behavior analysis to make observations.

Psychoanalysis

A system for understanding the unconscious mind.

Cognitive Revolution

Shift from strict behaviorism to a renewed interest in mental processes and the mind

Freudian Slip

Analysis of minor errors of speech

Free Association

Analysis of letting patients talk about their fantasies freely.

Humanistic Psychology

People have free will and the capacity to realize their own potential. It focuses on positive aspects like creativity, choice, and the potential for growth. People have free will.

Positive Psychology

Studies how humans flourish and how positive outcomes can be achieved.

Darwin’s Theory

Traits that are more advantageous to a species are more likely to be carried over to more generations more quickly than those that are not.

Adaptive Traits

Traits that are advantageous for survival and reproduction. Spread through means of natural selection.

Directional Selection

Stabilizing Selection

Disruptive Selection

Sexual Selection

Organisms (particularly males) fight over mating rights.

Artificial Selection

Humans dictate what animals mate.

Evolutionary Psychology

Explains how mental processes and behaviors have developed over time.

Classical Conditioning

Two stimuli are repeatedly paired together to create a new response.

Operant Conditioning

Organisms learn from patterns of reward and punishment in their environment.

Culture

A shared set of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and customs belonging to a specific group or community. These groups are usually organized around a shared characteristic: race, ethnicity, nationality, etc.

Social Psychology

Studies how social groups affect us as individuals: prejudice, discrimination, leadership, etc.

Intersectional Approach

An individual’s sense of belonging to a specific social or cultural group is often fluid.

Biological Influences

Seeks to examine how the brain, the nervous system, hormones, and genetics influence the way we think, feel, and act.

Cognitive Psychology

Studies process-oriented explanations of our internal mental states. Also studies how people process information.

Nativists

Those who believe in innate knowledge from birth.

Empiricists

Those who believe that the mind begins as a blank slate, completely shaped by our own experiences.

Phrenology

The shape of the skull was the result of the size of the brain structures beneath it. Knowing the shape of an individual’s skull could uncover information regarding the person’s personality.

Conversion Disorder

Individuals suffer from a mental illness that is characterized by the physical manifestation of a condition without an accompanying physical problem.

Free Will

We have the power to dictate our own destiny.

Determinism

Our path is set for us.

Humanists

Believed in individual freedom of choice.

Personal Agency

Ability to make one’s own choices.

Dual Process Model

There is a conscious and an unconscious divide.

System 1 Processes

Processes that are fast, automatic, relatively effortless, and unconscious. Flow state.

System 2 Processes

Slow controlled, effortful, and conscious. Goal directed thinking.

Fixed Mindset

Ability is inborn and not changeable. I CANNOT improve.

Growth Mindset

Optimistic sense of life. I CAN improve.

Desirable Difficulties

Learning conditions that are intentionally difficult to make learning more effortful which results in greater, long term memory retention.

Experimental Research

Attempt to understand the fundamental processes that govern behavior and the mind.

Psychopathology

The study of maladaptive behavior patterns also studies the underlying biology of mental illnesses.

Behavioral Genetics

Research regarding individual differences in behavior patterns in terms of genetic structure and expression.

Comparative Psychology

Study of nonhuman animals to find universal characteristics between species.

Developmental Psychology

Studies how people develop their thoughts and processes as they age.

Behavioral Neuroscience

Studies how different regions of the brain produce behavior, tying physical to psychological.

Personality Psychology

How people behave based on their enduring characteristic traits.

Social Psychology

Studies how people think based on the social environment.

Applied Research

Conducted to discover a new or more effective way to solve a problem.

Applied Research

Refers to the actual application techniques to the problem themselves.

Retrieval Process

Information is better remembered if it repeated tested.

Clinical and Counseling Psychology

Focused on identifying, preventing, and relieving distress or dysfunction that is psychological in origin.

Counseling Psychologist

Focused on helping people with ongoing life situations.

Psychiatrist

Focused on the treatment of mental illnesses. Has an MD.