psych unit 1

psychology

psychology

the study of behavior and mental processes

empiricism

Francis Bacon’s theory that all of our knowledge comes from past experiences

structuralism

the act of using self-reflection to study behavior; very hard to interpret/inconsistent

functionalism

the study of how behavior and thinking work (function); we can’t function without these

humanistic psych

focused on only positives and potential; fixing bad behaviors by emphasizing positive ones

nature-nuture issue

biggest debate in psych; whether biology or upbringing affects our behavior more

3 levels of analysis

various ways of observation in psych; biological, cognitive, and sociocultural

biopsychosocial approach

a combination of biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors to determine solutions/study psychologies

clinical psychology

branch of psychology concerned with assessment and treatment of mental illness and psychological problems

psychiatry

branch of medicine concerned with study, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness

hindsight bias

a common tendency for people to perceive past events as more predictable than they actually were

theory

a scientific statement explaining certain phenomena, in order to organize our observations

operational definition

a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study

replication

repeating the essence/goal of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations to see if the basic findings can be reproduced

case study

in depth analyses of individuals or groups

survey

asking people questions

population

the total number of individuals/groups in a specific area/category

false consensus effect

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

naturalistic observation

recording the natural behavior of an individual(s) without trying to manipulate the situation

correlation

two or more variables that have naturally occurring relationships; a technique to describe these relationships

illusory correlation

the perception of a relationship, where no relationship actually exists

double-blind procedure

when patients and experimenters remain unaware of who had real treatments and who had placebos

placebo effect

beneficial effect produced by a placebo (inert/useless) which can’t be attributed to the drug, so must be patients belief in treatment

experimental condition

group of patients exposed to the independent variable

control condition

group that lacks any treatment/manipulation of the independent variable

statistical significance

whether or not the difference between groups (experimental and control) can be attributed to chance or if the difference is the result of the manipulation

Wilhelm Wundt

established first psych lab in 1879 in Germany

Titchener

created theory of structuralism with wundt

William James

created theory of functionalism

John Watson and BF Skinner

created theory of behaviorism (rewards/punishments shape behavior)

Sigmund Freud

developed field of psychoanalysis, wanted to open the unconscious mind and address repressed, uncomfortable thoughts

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

developed humanistic psychology- focused on only positives and potential

the wording effect

the way you word a question and how it can (mostly negatively) affect the results of a survey

random sampling

each person having an equal chance of inclusion into sample, making for an unbiased sample; used in SURVEYS

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control groups randomly to take bias out of the experiment: used in EXPERIMENTS