Psychological Science Vocabulary

Chapter 1

Syllabus Review

• Read the entire syllabus to understand the course structure, grading policies, and expectations.

• Pay close attention to the policies for assignments, grades, and class expectations, as they will be strictly followed to ensure fairness and consistency.

History and Scope of Psychology

What is Psychology?

• Psychology is defined as the science of mental processes and behavior, encompassing a broad range of topics from cognitive functions to social interactions.

• Empirical Approach: Psychology relies on an evidence-based method, drawing on systematic observation and experimentation to gain insights into human behavior and mental processes. This approach emphasizes objectivity and verifiable evidence.

• The Scientific Attitude: This involves a combination of curiosity to explore new questions, skepticism to critically evaluate claims, and humility to accept when our understanding is incomplete or incorrect. This attitude is crucial for advancing psychological knowledge.

• Engaging with Psychology: You might be engaging in psychological thinking if you find yourself overthinking situations, asking numerous questions about why people behave in certain ways, or questioning commonly held beliefs and knowledge.

Psychology vs. Psychiatry vs. Counseling

• Psychologist: Typically holds a Ph.D. or PsyD, specializing in psychotherapy, psychological testing, and research. Psychologists focus on understanding and treating mental health issues through therapy and assessment.

• Psychiatrist: Holds an MD and can prescribe medications, focusing on the biological aspects of mental health. Psychiatrists often combine therapy with medication management to treat mental disorders.

• Counselor: Holds a Masters or Bachelors degree, providing counseling services across a wide range of issues, such as relationships, career, and personal development. Counselors work in various settings, including schools, community centers, and private practices.

History of Psychology

• Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920): Established psychology’s first laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879, marking the formal beginning of psychology as a science.

  • Structuralism: Focused on identifying the basic elements or structures of conscious experience, aiming to understand the components of the mind.

  • Introspection: Used introspection, the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings, as a method to explore inner sensations and mental processes.

• William James (1842–1910): A key figure in the development of functionalism, emphasizing the purpose and adaptive functions of mental processes and behavior.

  • Functionalism: Influenced by Darwinian thinking, functionalism explored how mental and behavioral processes enable organisms to adapt and thrive in their environment.

• John B. Watson (1878–1958): The founder of behaviorism, which focused on observable behavior rather than internal mental processes.

  • Behaviorism: Advocated for stimulus-response psychology, emphasizing that behavior is learned through interactions with the environment and can be studied objectively.

• Women in Psychology

  • Mary Whiton Calkins: Mentored by James, she made significant contributions to memory research and became the first female president of the American Psychological Association (APA).

  • Margaret Floy Washburn: The first woman to receive a PhD in psychology, she made valuable contributions to animal behavior and motor theory.

Schools of Psychology

Behavioristic

• Associated with Watson, Pavlov, and Skinner, behaviorism focuses on studying observable behaviors and how they are learned through interactions with the environment.

• Behavior is primarily shaped through associations, reinforcements, and punishments.

Psychoanalytic

• Psychoanalysis, developed by Freud, emphasizes the role of the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences in shaping behavior.

• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Focused on the unconscious, exploring how unconscious motives and conflicts influence our thoughts and actions.

• Emphasized the impact of early childhood experiences on personality development and the importance of bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness through techniques like dream analysis and free association.

Humanistic

• Emphasizes the importance of self-actualization, personal growth, and the fulfillment of individual potential.

• Focuses on our growth potential, our needs for love and acceptance, and the environments that nurture or limit personal growth.

• Motivation is based on a hierarchy of needs, with basic needs like food and safety needing to be met before higher-level needs like love and self-esteem.

• Person-Centered Therapy: A therapeutic approach where the patient directs the therapy session, fostering self-awareness and personal growth.

• Important figures in humanistic psychology include Maslow, Erikson, and Rogers.

Cognitive

• Examines how we perceive, process, and remember information, as well as how thinking and emotion interact in various psychological disorders.

• Cognitive Neuroscience: Studies the brain activity underlying mental activity, seeking to understand the neural mechanisms of cognitive processes.

Evolutionary Psychology

• Explores the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection to understand how certain traits and behaviors have evolved over time to enhance survival and reproduction.

• Nature vs. Nurture: Considers the interplay between genetic inheritance (nature) and environmental influences (nurture) in shaping behavior.

• Behavioral Genetics: Investigates the extent to which our genes and our environment influence our individual differences, such as personality traits and cognitive abilities.

Biological

• Focuses on the biological and physiological processes that underlie behavior and mental processes.

• Investigates how specific physiological processes explain individual differences in behavior, thoughts, and feelings.

• Describes how internal biological events, such as brain activity and hormone levels, interact with the environment to influence behavior.

Cross-Cultural and Gender Psychology

• Examines the influence of cultural and gender factors on behavior and mental processes, exploring both similarities and differences across cultures and genders.

• Culture: Shared ideas and behaviors that one generation passes on to the next, shaping values, beliefs, and norms.

• Considers the role of gender identity and how gender roles influence behavior and social interactions.

Integrated Approach: The Biopsychosocial Model

• Combines biological, psychological, and social factors to provide a comprehensive understanding of behavior and mental processes.

• Bio: Genetic predisposition (e.g., mood disorder).

• Social: Recent stress or loss can trigger or exacerbate psychological issues.

• Psycho: Negative thoughts and feelings contribute to the development and maintenance of mental disorders.

Psychology’s Theoretical Perspectives

• Neuroscience: Focuses on how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.- Sample Question: How do pain messages travel from the hand to the brain? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?

  • Examples of Subfields Using This Perspective: Biological; cognitive; clinical

• Evolutionary: How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes.- Sample Question: How does evolution influence behavior tendencies?

  • Examples of Subfields Using This Perspective: Biological; developmental; social

• Behavior genetics: How our genes and our environment influence our individual differences.- Sample Question: To what extent are psychological traits, such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression, products of our genes? Of our environment?

  • Examples of Subfields Using This Perspective: Personality; developmental; legal/forensic

• Psychodynamic: How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts.- Sample Question: How can someone’s personality traits and disorders be explained by unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas?

  • Examples of Subfields Using This Perspective: Clinical; counseling; personality

• Behavioral: How we learn observable responses.- Sample Question: How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say, to stop smoking?

  • Examples of Subfields Using This Perspective: Clinical; counseling; industrial-organizational

• Cognitive: How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information.- Sample Question: How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Solving problems?

  • Examples of Subfields Using This Perspective: Cognitive neuroscience; clinical; counseling; industrial-organizational

• Social-cultural: How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures.- Sample Question: How are we affected by the people around us, and by our surrounding culture?

  • Examples of Subfields Using This Perspective: Developmental; social; clinical; counseling

Research Strategies

The Scientific Method

• Scientific attitude: Involves curiosity, skepticism, and humility, which are essential for conducting rigorous and objective research.

• Peer reviewers: Experts in the field evaluate a study’s theory, originality, and accuracy to ensure that research meets high standards of scientific rigor.

• Operational definitions: A clear and precise statement of the procedures used in a research study, allowing for replication and verification of findings.

• Replicable: Able to repeat a study and reproduce the results, providing support for the validity and reliability of the original findings.

• Builds support for a theory by providing evidence that is consistent and replicable.

• Theory: Explains behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize observations and generate testable predictions.

• Hypotheses: A testable prediction, often derived from a theory, that specifies the relationship between variables.

• Research and observations: Results will either support our theory, leading to increased confidence in its validity, or lead us to revise or reject it, prompting further investigation.

Human Error: Why We Need Good Research

• Hindsight Bias: The “I knew it all along” phenomenon, where events seem obvious and predictable after they have already occurred.

• Overconfidence: An inflated sense of our ability to predict outcomes, leading to inaccurate judgments and decisions.

• Pattern-seeking: The tendency to find patterns and meaning in random sequences, which can lead to erroneous conclusions.

Gathering Data

• Case Studies: In-depth analyses of individuals or groups, often used for exploratory research.

  • Revealing; often suggest directions for further study by providing detailed insights into complex phenomena.

  • Sometimes misleading/poor generalizability because findings may not be applicable to broader populations.

• Naturalistic Observation: Recording the natural behavior of many individuals in their natural environments.

  • Describes, not explains, behavior, offering valuable insights into real-world phenomena.

• The Survey: Asking people questions to gather information about their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

  • Sampling and wording effects: The way questions are worded and how samples are selected can significantly influence survey results. To avoid sampling bias, we want to create a representative sample! A random sample represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion, ensuring that the sample accurately reflects the characteristics of the population.

Correlation

• The extent to which two factors vary together, indicating how well either factor predicts the other (but cannot say one causes the other).

• Ranges from +1 to -1, with values closer to +1 or -1 indicating stronger relationships.

• Correlation coefficient: A statistical measure that quantifies the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables.

• Positive correlation (above 0 to +1.00): A direct relationship where two things increase together or decrease together.

  • Example: Height and weight are positively correlated, as taller people tend to weigh more.

• Negative correlation (below 0 to −1.00): An inverse relationship where as one thing increases, the other decreases.

  • Example: The amount of adolescents’ screen time and their grades may be negatively correlated, as more screen time may be associated with lower grades.

• Predicts, does not explain à CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION! Just because two variables are correlated does not mean that one causes the other.

• Strength (magnitude) is indicated by the absolute value of the correlation coefficient, with higher absolute values indicating stronger relationships.

• Direction (positive/negative) is indicated by the sign (+/-) of the correlation coefficient, indicating whether the variables move in the same or opposite directions.

Experimentation

• Independent Variable: The factor that is manipulated by the experimenter to see its effect on another variable.

• Dependent Variable: The factor that is measured to determine if the independent variable had any impact.

• Experimental Group: The group of participants who receive the treatment or manipulation being studied.

• Control Group: The group of participants who do not receive the treatment, serving as a baseline for comparison.

• Random Assignment: Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, minimizing preexisting differences between the groups.

• Double-Blind Procedure: A procedure in which both the participants and the researchers are unaware of the group assignment, reducing bias and expectancy effects.

• Placebo Effect: Thinking you are getting treatment improves outcome due to expectations alone.

  • Example: A sugar pill can sometimes lead to perceived improvements in symptoms due to the participant’s belief that they are receiving medication.

• ONLY way psychologists can establish control for all possible influences on a result, allowing for causal inferences to be made.

Comparing Research Methods