Ch1- Psychological Science

Question 1

Define: Psychology

Answer 1

The scientific study of behaviour, thought and experience, & how they can be affected by physical, mental, and environmental factors.

Question 2

Define: the Scientific method

Answer 2

A way of learning about the world through:

• Collecting observations,
• Developing theories to explain them,
• Using the theories to make predictions.

Question 3

Define: Hypothesis

Answer 3

A testable prediction about processes that can be observed and measured.

Question 4

Define: Theory

Answer 4

Explanation for a broad range of observations that also generates new hypotheses and integrates numerous findings into a coherent whole.

Question 5

Define: Falsifiable theory

Answer 5

All scientific theories must be falsifiable; that is, they can be proven false in the presence of new information.

Question 6

Define: Biopsychosocial model

Answer 6

A means of explaining behaviour as the product of biological, psychological, & sociocultural factors.

Question 7

Define: Scientific literacy

Answer 7

The ability to understand, analyse, and apply scientific information.

Question 8

Define: Critical thinking

Answer 8

Exercising curiosity and scepticism when evaluating the claims of others, and with our own assumptions and beliefs.

Question 9

Define: Principle of Parsimony

Answer 9

The most parsimonious, or simplest, of explanations, should be the one accepted.

Question 10

Define: Empiricism

Answer 10

Philosophical tenet: Knowledge comes from experience.

Question 11

Define: Determinism

Answer 11

Belief: All events are governed by logical, cause and effect relationships.

Question 12

Define: Zeitgeist

Answer 12

German: “Spirit of the times”

Question 13

Define: Materialism vs. Dualism

Answer 13

Dualism was the belief that there are properties of humans that are not physical (souls), while materialism is the belief that all living beings are comprised exclusively of physical matter.

Question 14

Define: Psychophysics.
Who's linked to it?
a) Edward Titchener
b) Gustav Fechner
c) William James
d) Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 14

Early study of relationships between the physical world and mental representations of that world.

Pioneered by Gustav Fechner

Question 15

Define: Psychoanalysis.
Who's linked to it?
a) William James
b) Wilhelm Wundt
c) Sigmund Freud
d) Ivan Pavlov

Answer 15

Psychological approach that attempts to explain how behaviour and personality are influenced by unconscious processes.

Pioneered by Sigmund Freud

Question 16

Define: Clinical Psychology

Answer 16

The field of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.

Question 17

Define: Phrenology and Brain localisation

Answer 17

Phrenology is the mid1800s belief that the brain consisted of 27 organs, with skull bumps indicative of each organ. Brain localisation was the idea that certain parts of the brain controlled specific mental abilities and personality characteristics.

Question 18

Define: Psychosomatic medicine

Answer 18

Medicine that operates on patient’s belief i.e. placebo

Question 19

Define: Eugenics and eminence
Who's linked to it?
a) Wilhelm Wundt
b) Edward Titchener
c) Francis Galton
d) Carl Rogers

Answer 19

Eugenics was the idea of “good genes”, while eminence was the idea that ability, morality, and achievement ran in a heredity basis.

Francis Galton.

Question 20

Define: Structuralism
Which 2 below are linked to it?
a) Carl Rogers
b) Abraham Maslow
c) Wilhelm Wundt 
d) Edward Titchener

Answer 20

The analysis of conscious experience by breaking down into basic elements, then understanding how they work together.

Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener.

Question 21

Define: Functionalism
Who's linked to it?
a) Carl Rogers
b) Wilhelm Wundt
c) William James
d) James Willems

Answer 21

The study of the purpose and function of behaviour and conscious experience.

William James.

Question 22

Define: Behaviourism
Which 2 are linked to it?
a) Carl Rogers
b) Edwin "Ignored" Twitmeyer
c) John B. "Extramarital" Watson
d) Arhnorlld Swarszeneger

Answer 22

Behaviourism is the approach that studies observable behaviour, with little to no reference to mental events or instincts as possible influences on behaviour.

Theory left little room for “free will.”

Pioneered by Edwin Twitmeyer and John B. Watson.

Question 23

Define: Humanistic Psychology
Which 2 are linked to it?
a) Wilhelm Wundt
b) John B. Watson
c) Carl Rogers
d) Abraham Maslow

Answer 23

Focus on the unique aspects of each individual human, each person’s freedom to act, his rational thought. Believed that humans were fundamentally different from animals.

Countered Freudian and behaviourism approaches which dispensed with free will.

Pioneered by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Question 24

Define: Engram

Answer 24

Theoretical place in the brain where a memory trace is stored.

Question 25

Define: Herb’s Law

Answer 25

“Cells that fire together, wire together”. Memory occurs at the cellular level.

Question 26

Define: Gestalt Psychology

Answer 26

Emphasis on perception and experience as a whole rather than as parts.

Precursor to cognitive psychology.

Question 27

Define: Cognitive Psychology

Answer 27

Modern psychological perspective that focuses on processes such as memory, thinking, and language.

The mind as the “software” of the brain.

Question 28

Define: social psychology, cross cultural psychology, and personality psychology.

Answer 28

Social: Study of influence of others on our behaviour.
Cross-cultural: Study of comparisons about how individual and group behaviours among cultures vary
Personality: How different personality characteristics affect how we act.