PSYC 2000 - Exam 1 - LSU Brossoit

LSU Brossoit's Intro to Psychology Exam 1, Ch. 1 - Ch. 3 + Ch. 5

psychology

scientific study of the mind and behavior

empirical method

method for acquiring knowledge based on observation

behavior

outward actions that are directly observable

mental processes

perceptions, thoughts, feelings; latent structures; cannot be observed or measured directly

structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt, Edward Titchener; focuses on the contents of mental processes rather than their functions

Wilhelm Wundt

structuralism; “father of psychology”; published Principles of Physiological Psychology

introspection

process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible; remained highly subjective

Edward Titchener

structuralism; translated many of Wundt’s works into English; expanded/developed structuralism

functionalism

William James; focuses on how mental activities help an organism adapt to its environment

William James

functionalism; first American psychologist; advanced scientific rigor of psychology

psychoanalytic theory

Sigmund Freud; focuses on the role of the unconscious in affecting conscious behavior

unconscious

part of our mind outside of our awareness where we push down our dark urges and desires

psychoanalysis

therapy focusing on childhood development; goal to understand unconscious desires/conflicts

Sigmund Freud

neurologist who theorized patients’ problems arose from the unconscious mind

gestalt psychology

Kohler, Koffka, Wertheimer; focuses on the whole rather than individual parts

behaviorism

Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner; focus on observing and controlling behavior

Ivan Pavlov

discovered concept of classical conditioning; foundation for moving away from the study of consciousness

John Watson

“father of behaviorism”; believed objective analysis of the mind was possible; focused on observable behaviors

B.F. Skinner

concentrated on how behaviors was affected by its consequences

humanism

Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow; focuses on the potential for good that is innate to all humans

Carl Rogers

humanism psychology; developed client-centered therapy methods

Abraham Maslow

humanism psychology; developed a hierarchy of human needs in motivating behavior

Noam Chomsky

influential in the cognitive revolution; refocused psychology on the mind

feminist psychology

Margaret Floy Washburn, Martha Bernal; re-evaluated and discovered contributions of women to the history of psychology

multicultural psychology

develop theories and conduct research with diverse populations

cross-cultural psychology

compare populations across countries

Mamie Phipps Clark, Kenneth Clark

known for their research on doll preference, exposing internalized racism and the harmful effects of segregation

biopsychology

study how the structure and function of the nervous system generate behavior

biopsychosocial model

asserts that biology, psychology, and social factors interact to determine an individual’s health

cognitive psychology

study of cognition (thoughts) and their relationship to experiences and actions

developmental psychology

scientific study of development across a lifespan

personality psychology

study of patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique

personality trait

consistent pattern of thought and behavior

social psychology

focuses on how interact with and relate to others

clinical psychology

focuses on diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and problematic patterns of behavior

industrial-organizational psychology

theories, principles, and research applied to workplace settings

forensic psychology

science and practice of psychology applied to issues within and related to the justice system

theory

well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena

hypothesis

tentative and testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables

scientific method

1. theory

2. generate hypothesis

3. collect data

4. analyze data

5. summarize data and report findings

case studies

study of one individual in great detail

advantages: tremendous amount of detail, rich source for hypothesis generation

limitations: findings may not generalize to others

naturalistic observation

observation of behavior in normal environment

advantages: realistic picture of behaviors

limitations: difficult to set up and control

observer effect

tendency of people or animals to behave differently from normal when they know they are being observed

observer bias

tendency of observers to see what they expect/want to see

blind observers

people who do not know what the research question is

laboratory observation

observing behavior in a laboratory setting

advantages: control over environment, allows use of specialized equipment

limitations: artificial situation that may result in artificial behavior, can be difficult to generalize findings to “real world” situations

survey

technique for identifying the attitudes, opinions, or behaviors of people through a series of questions

advantages: quick + easy to administer, data from large/diverse groups of people, data from hard to reach populations, study private behaviors

limitations: people are not always accurate, small variations in wording or order can affect outcomes, have to ensure representative sample if interested in generalizing findings

archival research

use past records to answer various research questions

cross-sectional research

compare multiple segments of a population at a single time

longitudinal

study the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time

correlation

relationship between two or more variables

correlation coefficient

indicates strength and direction of the relationship between variables (-1 to +1)

positive correlation

two variables change in the same direction, both becoming either larger or smaller

negative correlation

two variables change in different directions, with one becoming larger as the other becomes smaller

no correlation / zero correlation

changes in two variables are not related to each other

cause-and-effect relationship

changes in one variable cause the changes in the other variable

confounding variable

unanticipated outside factor that affects both variables of interest, often giving the false impression that changes in variable cause changes in the other variable

illusory correlations

false correlations occurs when people believe a relationship exists when it does not

confirmation bias

tendency to notice, seek out, and interpret information in a way consistent with or that confirms your own prior beliefs

experiment

a researcher manipulates on variable and measures the effect of the manipulation on another to determine causality between two variables

independent variable

variable that is influenced/controlled by the experimenter

dependent variable

variable that the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had

experimental group

participants that experience the manipulated variable

control group

participants that do not experience the manipulated variable

population

entire group of individuals that the researcher is interested in

sample

subset of individuals selected from the larger population

random sample

subset of a larger population in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected

random assignment

method of experimental group assignment in which all participants have equal chance of being assigned to either group

confounds

extraneous variable that affects the variables you are interested in studying

experiment bias

researcher expectations skew the results of the study

participants bias

participant expectations skew the results of the study

single-blind study

experiment in which the researcher knows which participants are in the experimental group and which are in the control group but participants do not

double-blind study

experiment in which both the researchers and the participants are blind to group assignments

placebo effect

people’s expectations or belief influencing or determining their experience in a given situations

reliability

consistency and reproducibility of a given result

inter-rater reliability

measure of agreement among observers on how they record and classify a particular event

validity

accuracy of a given result in measuring what it is designed to measure

glial cells

provide scaffolding for nervous system, facilitate neuronal communication, insulate neurons, transport nutrients and waste products, and mediate immune response

neuron

central building blocks of the nervous system

soma

cell body of the neuron responsible for maintaining the life of the cell

nucleus

contains genetic material which is the basic information to manufacture all the proteins characteristic of that cell

dendrites

receive messages from other neurons

axon

carries the neural message from the cell body to the axon terminals for communication with other cells

axon terminals

ends of axonal branches of the neuron, specialized for communication between cells

myelin sheath

fatty substances that coat the axons of neurons to insulate, protect, and speed up the neural impulse

somatic nervous system

relays sensory and motor information to and from the central nervous system

autonomic nervous system

nerves that control all the involuntary muscles, organs, and glands

sympathetic

responsible for reacting to stressful events and bodily arousal

parasympathetic

restores the body to normal functioning after arousal and is responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the organs and glands

spinal cord

delivers messages to and from the brain

brain

comprised of billions of interconnected neurons and glia

lateralization

concept that each hemisphere of the brain is associated with specialized functions

corpus callosum

connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain

parletal lobe

touch, taste, temperature, somatosensory cortex

somatosensory cortex

essential for processing sensory information from across the body

occipital lobe

vision, visual cortex

visual cortex

responsible for interpreting incoming visual information

temporal lobe

hearing, meaningful speech, auditory cortex

auditory cortex

strip of cortex in the temporal lobe that is responsible for processing auditory information

frontal lobe

reasoning, decision making, fluent speech, personality, motor cortex and prefrontal cortex