Chapter 1 - Psych

📚 Chapter 1 Psychology Flashcards

Q: What is psychology?
A: Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes, focusing on both outer actions and inner experiences.

Q: How is psychology different from common misconceptions?
A: Psychology is not just therapy, not exclusively about people with mental disorders, not all about Freud, not psychiatry, and not just untested ideas.

Q: What are the three big questions in psychology?
A: (1) Nature or nurture? (2) Change or stability? (3) Universal or unique?

Q: What are applied psychology specializations?
A: Areas where psychologists apply expertise to real-world problems.

Q: What are basic research psychology specializations?
A: Areas where psychologists conduct research to further the understanding of behavior and mental processes.

Q: What are examples of applied psychology specializations?
A: Clinical psychology, counseling psychology, community psychology, forensic psychology, educational psychology, and industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology.

Q: What are examples of basic research psychology specializations?
A: Developmental psychology, personality psychology, physiological psychology, comparative psychology, social psychology, and health psychology.

Q: Psychology evolved from which two older fields of study?
A: Philosophy (mind questions) and physiology (biological functioning of brain and body).

Q: What is structuralism?
A: A perspective focused on breaking down mental processes into their structure or basic parts.

Q: What is functionalism?
A: A perspective emphasizing the function of mental processes and behaviors.

Q: What is psychoanalysis?
A: A perspective focusing on unconscious mental activity and the long-lasting influence of childhood experiences.

Q: What is behaviorism?
A: A perspective insisting on studying observable behavior instead of internal processes.

Q: What is humanism?
A: A perspective emphasizing that human nature is generally good and people are motivated to grow toward potential.

Q: What is multiculturalism?
A: A perspective highlighting the influence of culture on behavior and mental processes.

Q: What is evolutionary psychology?
A: A perspective emphasizing Darwin’s theory of evolution as an influence on behavior.

Q: What is cognitive psychology?
A: A perspective emphasizing thinking, language, attention, memory, and intelligence.

Q: What is neuroscience?
A: A perspective studying the link between behavior and the biological functioning of the brain.

Q: What is positive psychology?
A: A perspective emphasizing people’s strengths and successes.

Q: What is the biopsychosocial theory?
A: A comprehensive perspective acknowledging biological, psychological, and social influences on behavior.

Q: What does pseudopsychology refer to?
A: Nonscientific techniques that claim to explain behavior without research.

Q: What is critical thinking?
A: The process of analyzing, evaluating, and forming judgments based on evidence.

Q: What is confirmation bias?
A: The tendency to prefer information that supports what we already believe.

Q: What is belief perseverance?
A: The tendency to maintain a belief even when evidence contradicts it.

Q: What is descriptive research?
A: Research with the goal of simply describing characteristics of a population.

Q: What is correlational research?
A: Research that determines the relationship between two variables.

Q: What is the correlation–causation fallacy?
A: Mistakenly assuming correlation between two variables proves one causes the other.

Q: What is experimental research?
A: Research determining cause-and-effect by manipulating one variable and observing changes in another.

Q: What is an independent variable (IV)?
A: The variable that is manipulated in an experiment.

Q: What is a dependent variable (DV)?
A: The variable that is measured in an experiment.

Q: What is an experimental group?
A: The group exposed to the independent variable.

Q: What is a control group?
A: The group not exposed to the independent variable, used for comparison.

Q: What is random assignment?
A: Randomly placing participants into groups to ensure fairness and reduce bias.

Q: What is a double-blind procedure?
A: An experimental setup in which neither participants nor researchers know who is in the experimental or control group.

Q: What is the placebo effect?
A: A change in behavior due to belief in a treatment, not the treatment itself.

Q: What are the five steps of the scientific method?
A: (1) Pose a question, (2) Conduct a literature review, (3) Develop a hypothesis, (4) Test the hypothesis by collecting data, (5) Analyze data and draw conclusions.

Q: What is a literature review?
A: A summary of previous research on a topic.

Q: What is a theory?
A: A comprehensive explanation of a phenomenon based on evidence.

Q: What is a hypothesis?
A: A testable prediction based on a theory.

Q: What is an operational definition?
A: A precise description of how a variable will be measured or manipulated.

Q: What is a population in research?
A: The full group of people a study aims to understand.

Q: What is a sample?
A: The smaller group actually studied, drawn from the population.

Q: What is replication?
A: Repeating a study to verify its findings.

Q: What is the peer review process?
A: Evaluation of research by other experts before publication.

Q: What are psychologists’ ethical obligations in research?
A: Do no harm, obtain informed consent, allow withdrawal, maintain confidentiality, and debrief participants.

Q: What is informed consent in research?
A: Permission granted by participants after being informed of risks, benefits, and procedures.