Prof Knowles Study guide

Identify the 5 foundations of psychological science

evolution

materialism

idealism

modularity

empiricism

evolution

(genes make brain) - the brain is shaped by genes which influences behavior, survival instincts, and mental capabilities

materialism

(brains make mind) - our thoughts and emotions are a product of physical processes in the brain

idealism

(minds make reality) - the brain constructs our reality and we don’t interact with the world directly

modulism

(the mind is a collection of parts) - the brain is made up of modules that have different functions

empiricism

(believe only what you can count) - in psychology, we trust only what can be tested and quantified, not what we assume

3 special problems of psychological science

complexity - human behavior is extremely complex

variability - ethnicity, personality, and how you’re raise creates more diversity

reactivity - humans react differently, compared to a rolling ball, the ball will always roll the same. It is difficult to observe “natural” behavior when the subject knows they are being observed

abstract property

an idea or principle that's based on general ideas, rather than real things or events (happiness)

operational definition

specifies observable conditions that define the concept

abstract property, operational definition, measure relationship

operational definition makes an observable definition for abstract property, measure the operational definition

reliability vs validity

reliability - tendency for a measure to produce the same result

validity - how accurate the measure is to the actual

construct validity

tendency for a clear conceptual relation to exist between abstract property and operational definition

convergent validity

tendency for the operational definitions to be related to other operational definitions

discriminant validity

tendency for measure to produce different results when used to measure different thing

relation between theory and hypothesis

theory is used to derive a testable hypothesis

relation between sample and population

sample is a small part of population, and sample results are used to generalize to population

importance of mean and variability in looking at differences between groups

???

define and give example of observer bias

esearcher’s expectation influence what they record in a study (researcher knows that the numbers should say index is the most common, but some subjects were using index first then moving to the pinky instead, research is tired of this study and puts index as data even though the subject used pinky eventually)

ways to avoid observer bias

double-blind study, study where observer and subject are not aware of the nature of the study

define and give example of subject bias

the subject will change behavior to help the observer or make it more difficult for the observer (researcher says they are seeing if index finger is the preference finger for nose picking, subject knows they use pinky usually, but uses index to “help” the observer)

ways to avoid subject bias

single-blind study

define and give an example of demand characteristics

cues in an experiment might indicate the research objective, causing participants to change behavior

identify what can and cannot be concluded from correlational studies

can conclude correrlation relationship

cannot conclude a causational relationship

key ingredients for an experimental study

1. manipulate independent variable

2. control (conditions are consistent in every other way except manipulation)

3. random assignment

4. measure

experimental vs observational studies

evolution

a process that results in changes in the genetic material of a population over time

Mechanisms by which Darwinian evolution takes placw

???

4 basics of natural selection

Variation, competition, survival/reproduction, heritability/adaptation

Fallacies of evolution

naturalistic fallacy

deterministic fallacy

nature vs nurture

teology

naturalistic fallacy

things are right because they are natural

ex: it is not right to kill someone for food even when we have instinct drive for food, we have evolved to have morals

deterministic fallacy

things are inevitable because they are natural, or predetermined because of our genes

ex: can’t get over smoking addiction because it’s in my genes to be addicted to nicotine. this denotes the idea of free will

nature vs. nature

it is not one or the other, it’s both that contributes

teleology

evolution is on the way to perfection, but this is a fallacy because there is no end state to evolution, it is random and related to environment and natural selection

evolutionary adaptation

evolved solutions to problems, contributed to reproductive success

3 basic theories of how the brain relates to the mind

dualism - mind and brain are separate, sees mind as one element and the body as one element (mind and body exists, mix of materialism and idealism)

materialism - mind and brain have a causal relationship, the mind is what the brain does (mind is from brain chemicals like happiness)

idealism - reality is a mental construct (everything is created from mind)

what is the placebo effect an example of

dualism. because the placebo effect shows that the mind and the physical exists. the mind is tricked by sugar pill there in turn the physical body feels it

Globalization vs. localization

the brain is just one whole thing or it is made up of parts

What was shown by the case of Phineas Gage?

that different parts of the brain are responsible for different things. his frontal cortex was severely damaged but he was able to breathe still and function, just had bad impulse control

3 methods of localization and examples

accidents (Phineas Gage)

surgery (seeing the effects of brain surgery done on people with severe seizures)

manipulation (electrical stimulation)

brain stem basic function

basic life function

cerebellum basic function

basic motor programs

limbic system basic function

emotion, motivation, simple judgement

cerebral cortex basic function

voluntary action, complex judgement, symbolic thought

Basic brain organization 4 parts

frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital

frontal function

reasoning

language

executive control

parietal function

attention

objects in space

counting

temportal function

audition

language

object recognition

occipitical function

vision