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Gen Psych Midterm > Ch 1: Psychology and Scientific Thinking > Flashcards

Ch 1: Psychology and Scientific Thinking Flashcards

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1
Q

Founder of American Psych

A

William James (1842-1910)

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2
Q

Psychology

A

The study of the mind, brain, and behavior

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3
Q

Levels of Analysis

A

(from top to bottom)
1. Culture/environment
2. Social/relationships
3. Behavior
4. Thoughts and feelings
5. Physiology
6. Chemistry/DNA

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4
Q

5 Challenges to Psychology

A
  1. human behavior is difficult to predict
  2. psychological influences are rarely independent of each other
  3. people are different from each other
  4. people often influence each other (reciprocal determinism)
  5. people’s behavior is often shaped by culture
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5
Q

W.E.I.R.D.

A

W-Western
E-Educated
I-Industrialized
R-Rich
D-Democratic

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6
Q

Naive Realism

A

“seeing is believing”

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7
Q

Common Sense

A
  • often contradicting
  • sometimes wrong
  • sometimes right
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8
Q

Scientific Method

A
  1. observation (empiricism)
  2. generate and test hypotheses
  3. does data confirm hypothesis?
  4. repeat
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9
Q

Hypothesis

A

a scientific prediction based on a theory of experience, which can then be tested

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10
Q

Theory

A
  • an organized set of ideas that explain many findings
  • explains/predicts behavior, but is NOT truth
  • involves rigorous methods, multiple studies and tests, etc
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11
Q

Limits of science

A
  • CAN test observations bout the natural world
  • CANNOT test metaphysical claims
  • science is testable w/ data (nature)
  • religion is not (morals)
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12
Q

Science is imperfect. Why?

A
  • confirmation bias: tendency to favor information that confirms one’s beliefs
  • belief perseverance: failing to update your beliefs based on new evidence
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13
Q

Pseudoscience

A

a set of claims that seems scientific, but isn’t

warning signs:
- ad hoc immunizing hypothesizing (hypothesizing loopholes)
- lack of peer review
- psychobabble

ex: “patternicity” - tendency to detect patterns that do not exist

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14
Q

Why pseudoscience?

A

Terror Management Theory - when people realize the inevitability of death, they seek symbolic and literal meaning

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15
Q

Logical Fallacies

A
  • emotional reasoning
  • bandwagon
  • “not me”
  • either or
  • appeal to authority
  • argument from antiquity
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16
Q

Emotional Reasoning

A

basing your view of situations, yourself, or others, on the way you are feeling

17
Q

Bandwagon

A

assuming something is true or right just because many people believe it is

18
Q

“Not me”

A

tendency to think that a claim does not apply to yourself or people in your world, but rather to outsiders

19
Q

Either or

A

when someone claims there are only two possible options or sides in an argument

20
Q

Appeal to authority

A

thinking something is true or untrue just because an authority figure said it was

21
Q

Argument from antiquity

A

relies on tradition and customs to justify a pov (rather than logic)

22
Q

Why is pseudoscience problematic?

A
  • opportunity cost
  • direct harm
  • inability to think scientifically

scientific thinking is our best bet against human error!

23
Q

Scientific thinking

A

involves thinking critically and being skeptical

24
Q

6 principles of scientific thinking

A
  1. ruling out rival hypotheses
  2. correlation is NOT causation
  3. falsifiability
  4. replicability
  5. extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
  6. Occam’s razor (or Parsimony)
25
Q

Occam’s Razor

A

the simplest explanation is preferable to one that is more complex

26
Q

Major Historical Frameworks

A
  1. Structuralism
  2. Functionalism
  3. Psychoanalysis
  4. Behaviorism
  5. Cognitivism
27
Q

Structurlaism

A

People: E.B. Titchener (and Wundt)

  • maps out elements of consciousness
  • “what” types of questions
  • importance of systematic observation in studying conscious experience
  • introspection
28
Q

Functionalism

A

People: William James (influenced by Charles Darwin)

  • adaptive purposes of thought and behavior
  • evolutionary adaptation/natural selection
  • “why” questions
29
Q

Psychoanalysis-

A

People: Sigmund Freud and Carl Jang

  • focuses on internal, hidden/unconscious psychological processes, deep-seated conflicts (and surfacing them)
  • id (instinct), ego (reality), superego (morality)
30
Q

Behaviorism

A

People: Pavlov, Watson, Skinner

  • general laws of learning that explain all behaviors
  • purely through observable behaviors
  • classical/operant conditioning
31
Q

Cognitivism

A

People: Piaget and Neisser

  • reaction to behaviorism
  • thought affects behavior in powerful ways
32
Q

Basic Research

A

understanding the principles of behavior

33
Q

Applied Research

A

how to apply the principles to solve important problems

34
Q

Nature vs Nurture

A

Genes vs Environment

35
Q

Free-will Determinism

A
  • do we decide how we behave?
  • biological vs. social/institutional constraints
  • automaticity (automatic responding)

Gen Psych Midterm (8 decks)

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