ch 1 Flashcards
Psychology
discipline concerned with behavior and mental processes and how they are affected by physical and mental state and external environment
psychology vs. pseudoscience
psy: based on scientific research and empirical evidence, confirms or challenges exsisting beliefs and prejudices
pseudoscience: no reliance on empirical evidence, confirms out exisiting beliefs. mozart to babies
critical thinking
ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgments on the basis of well-supported reasons and evidence
what should you do to be a critical thinker (5)
- ask questions; be willing to ponder
be curious, wonder and inquire, question prior finding and conclusions and ask new questions about human behavior - Define your terms
frame questions in cleat and concrete terms- vague or poorly defined questions lead to misleading or incomplete answers - Examine the evidence: What evidence supports or refuses this argument?”, how reliable is the evidence
- Analyze assumptions and biases
- Avoid emotional reasoning
gut feelings should not replace clear thinking, which relies on empirical evidence - Do not oversimplify
Look beyond the obvious, resist easy generalizations, reject either or thinking, avoid arguments by anecdote - Consider other interpretations:
generate many explanations, choose explanations that account for the most evidence while making the fewest unverified assumptions
Tolerate uncertainty:
be comfortable with no definite conclusion when little or no evidence is available
assumptions
beliefs that are taken for granted
biases
when assumptions keep us from considering the evidence fairly or cause us to ignore the evidence completely.
EARLY thinkers
Hippocrates
Joseph Gall- phrenology
Wilhelm Wundt
trained in philosophy and medicine
established the first official psychological laboratory in 1879
established the first journal devoted to psychology
research focused on consciousness- the awareness of immediate experience
trained introspection used to study consciousness.
thee early psychological schools
structuralism
functionalism
psychoanalysis
Structuralism
E.B. Titchener (1867-1927)
analyzes sensation, images and feelings into basic elements
investigates how basic elements are related
aSKS what HAPPENS when hearing feeling or being
fUNCTIONALISM
William James (1842-1910)
Emphasized the function or purpose of behavior and consciousness
Ask HOW and WHY
-inspirted by darwin
Psychoanalysis
formulated by sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts
broad theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy
appear in dreams, jokes- uncouncsious wishes
G. Stanley Hall
1883: established Americas first research laboratory in psychology at johns hopkins university
founded the american psychological association
Herman ebbinghaus
1885: conducted classic experiments on memory and forgetting
more names to print out
the major psychological perspectives
biological learning cognitive sociocultural psychodynamic
Biological perspective:12:00
emphasizes bodily events and changes associated with actions, feelings and thoughts
research on hormones, brain chemistry, heredity and evolutionary adaptation
study how biology affects learning, vounerability to emotional disorders, performance, perception of reality.
how body and body interact in health, geners, development ability and personality traits
evolutionanry psychology:
focuses on geneticsally influenced behaviro of the past may reflect us now mentaly processe and traits
we must understand our bodies before we know ourself
Learning perspectives
concentrates on how the environ. and experiences affect a person’s or animal actions
includes behaviroism and social-cognitive learning theories
focus on environmental rewards and punishements that maitian or discourage specific behavirours
they observe and what they can measure directly.
combine theory of behaviorism with a combination of intentions, thoughts, values.
you learn by the enviro and learn by other and what is around them
Cognitives perspective
emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory language problem solving and otehr areas of behavior
reveals how peoples everyday thoughts and explanations of events affect their actions, feelings and choices
Sociocultural perspective
concentrates on the social and cultural influences outside the individual that affect theri behavior
includes social psychology and cultural psychology
look at forces: other people, cultural rules, social contecxt that shape human behaviror
social psychology: focus on social rules and roles, how groups affect attitude/behaviro, why authority exsist, and how we are affected by others
cultural psychology: how culture rules/values affect development behaviros and feelings
important because we are social creatures
Psychodynamic perspective
originated from freuds’s theory of psychoanalysis
tries to dig below the surface of a person’s behavior to get to its uncounscious roots
focuses on uncounscious dynamics within the individual, such as inner forces, conflicts or the movement of instinctual energy
two influential movements
humanist psychology
feminist psychology
Humanist psychjology
1960s
emphasizes the human potential for personal growth
takes an optimistic view of human nature
rejects behaviorism and psychoanalysis
key contributiors were carl rogers, and abraham maslow
capable of free will and able to grow as human being
against psychoanalysis: see it as too pessimistic, overlooks resilience and capacity for joy
against behaviroism: too mechanistic and mindless of human nature- ignores what really matters to most people- their human hops and aspirations
human behaviro is not solely uncounscious conflicts and environ- people have free will determined by
creative and achieve their potential
Feminist psychology
analyzes the influences of social inequities on gender relation and the behavior of the two sexes
spurred growth of research on topics directly relevant to femals such as menstration and motherhood, gender roles and sexist attitudes.
saw that all studies only included white men in middle class- said it wasnt right to generalize to women and other ethnic groups
3 professional activities of psychologists
- Health and mental Health Services
- Academic TeACHING AND research
- Non-academic research
Psychological practitioners
goal is to understand and improve peoples physical and mental health
includes counselling, school and clinical psychologists
Psychological practinioners
3
- counselling psychologists: help people deal with problems of everyday life
- school psychologists: work with parents, teachers, and students to enhance students performance and enhance emotional difficulties
- Clinical psychologists: diagnose, treat and study mental and emotional problems
4 types of psychotherapists
- clinical psychologists: diagnoses, treats, and/or studies mental and emotional problems. Doctorate in clinical psychology
Psychiatrist: Biological approach to diagnosing, treating , and studying mental and emotional probelms, medical degree (MD)
Psychotherapist: Performs psychotherapy, no degree to an advanced professional degree.unregulated term
Psychoanalyst: practices psychoanalysis, training in this approach after advanced degree (MD or PhD)- explore uncouscious motives
Psychological research
basic psychology research: knowledge for its own sake- helps epplied psychology
applied psychology: knowledge for its practical use psychological issues that have direct practical significance on sociaety- human problems
Areas of research psychologists
social: interpersonal behaviro- how they interact with others
physiological: genetic factors and body regulation- study body and chemical
experimental: lab studys of emotion, sensation, perception, cognition
cognitive: mental processes- memory, reasoning, problem solving, decision making
educational: how to improve education system, explain learning
developmental: physicaly, mentally and emotionaly study how people change and grow over time
industrial: studybehaviro in the workplace: group decision making, morale, stre,, motivation
psychmetric: design and evaluate tests of personality tests, mental ability, aptitude, personality
Psychology in the community
sports , advertising, opinion polls, legal issues enviro military training
