1.1 What is psychology? Flashcards
What is psychology?
Scientific study of human behaviour, cognitive processing and attitudes
What is the mind?
The mind is defined as the part of us that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives and judges
What is behaviour?
Behaviour is the coordinated responses of whole living organisms to internal and/or external stimuli (external observable processes)
What are examples of behaviour?
Can include gestures, facial expressions, verbal responses or endocrine reactions
What are mental processes?
(internal patterns of information processing) can influence behaviour
A result of both internal and environmental factors
What are cognitive processes?
explain how the mind works
what are examples of cognitive processes?
Processes include; memory, perception, attention, decision-making and thinking/reasoning
What is physiology?
Physiology - refers to our biological system, particularly the role of our brain and nervous system, hormones and genetics in behaviour
What are attitudes?
Attitudes - feelings of liking or disliking towards an object, person or idea
Can affect behaviour in both a positive and negative way
What are emotions?
Emotions - combination of psychological and cognitive processes
What 3 main approaches are used in psychology?
biological
cognitive
sociocultural
What does the biological approach focus on?
focuses on physiology, e.g genetics
What does the cognitive approache focus on?
focuses on mental processes e.g memory, thinking or perception
What does the sociocultural approach focus on?
focuses on how environment and culture affect behaviour
What is a theory?
an explanation for a psychological phenomenon
What can theories be used for?
Used to summarise, organise and explain observations
Make predictions on human behaviour
What are theories built on?
Built on concepts (hypothetical constructs) which scientists need to develop tools to measure them
What 7 characteristics does a good theory need?
Testable Evidence Application Concepts Unbiased Predictive
What does it mean if a theory is testable?
needs to be able to be proved wrong and able to test the validity
If not able to do so, theory deemed unfalsifiable
What type of evidence can be used to prove/disprove theories?
Anecdotal data (personal experiences) can support or challenge the theory In order to test theories, empirical evidence is used
May be in the form of an experiment, observation, interviews or case studies
Must be replicated