Chap 1 Flashcards
Adjustment
Psychological process of people managing/coping with demands and changes of every day life (like adaptations in animals)
Point 1 - time saving devices
Counterpoint - People complain about not having enough time
Point - increased life choices
Counter point - choice overload which leads to post decisions regret/ depression and anxiety levels have gone up
Point - technology has increased control of the world around us
Counterpoint - modern tech has had negative impact on the environment
Point - technology has increased control of the world around us
Counterpoint - modern tech has had negative impact on the environment
Paradox of progress
Technology advancement has not led to noticeable improvements to health and happiness
Basic challenge of modern life
The search for meaning and sense of direction
Flawed choices for seeking guidance
- joining cults (simple solution to complex problems)
- enroll in self realisation program scientology
- popularity of media figures e.g Dr luara
Not flawed choice for seeking guidance
- inner desire to spend time with loved ones
Self-help books shortcomings
- psychobable (you have to get in touch w/ yourself)
- emphasis on sales than scientific soundness (loose 30kg in a week)
- don’t provide explicit directions on how to change behaviour (only gives out common sense advice)
- encourage narcissistism (you have to look out for you)
Psychobable
Hip vague language it’s ill-defined at best and meaningless at worst
Narcissism
Personality trait makes by inflated sense of importance, need for attention, and tendency to exploit others
What should be in self help book
- clarity in communication
- some mention of authors’ credentials and expertise
- some mention of research or theoretical basis that underlines the advice they give
- detailed explicit directions on how to alter behaviour
- books should not promise too much
- books should focus on one problem
Behaviour
An observable response/activity by an organism
Psychology (science)
Studies behaviour and psychological/mental processes that underlines it
Empiricism
The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation
advantages to scientific apporach
- Clarity and precision
- relative intolerance or error
Empirical technique examples
measuring the speed with which a patient performs a fine motor activity
observing children playing at recess and writing down every type of bullying observed as they play
weighing rats after the rats have been on a special diet for two months
Two types of research methods
- Experimental
- correlational
Experimental
Looking for cause and effect
How X affects Y
Independent variable (X)
The condition or event that changes
dependent variable (Y)
affected by independent variable
experimental groups
subjects who receive special treatment in regards to independent variable
control group
have normal conditions no special treatment (no change)
Advantage of Experiments
draw cause and affect conclusions
Disadvantage of experiments
some effects of variables that cannot be manipulated (as independent variables) because of ethical concerns
Correlational
Looking for relationships
researchers cannot manipulate any of the variables that they’re interested in.
correlation coefficient
Numerical index of degrees of relationship that exists between two variables
-1 to 0 negative
0 to +1 positive
closer to 1, the stronger the relationship regardless of neg and pos
positive Correlation
Two variables co-vary in the same direction
–>
–>
negative correlation
Two variables co-vary in opposite directions
–>
<–
Naturalistic observation
careful observation of behavior w/o intervention
case study
In-depth investigation of individual subject (generally not empirical)
Surveys
Structured questionaires designed to solicit info
Advantage correlation
explore questions that they could not examine with experimental procedures
disadvantage correlation
cannot demonstrate conclusively that two variables are causally related.
a third variable could have cause both
Subjective well-being
personal assessment of individual happiness/life satisfaction
Not important to happiness
- Money
- Age
- Parenthood
- Gender
- Intelligence
- Atractiveness
Somewhat important for happiness
- Health
- Social activity
- Relgion
- Culture
Very important
- Love/relationship satisfaction
- Work
- Genetics/ personality
best predictor of individuals’ future happiness
Past happiness
Religion - happiness (note)
In poorer societies where circumstances are difficult and stressful, people with heartfelt religious convictions are happier than people who are non-religious.
In affluent societies where circumstances are less threatening, religious people are neither more happy nor less happy than people who are non-religious.
Religion seems to help people who live with adversity feel happier, but religion may not be as much of an important factor when it comes to the overall happiness of people who live in a society where adversity is low.
affective forecasting
efforts to predict one’s emotional reactions to future events
hedonic adaptation
(Raising the bar) mental scale that is used to judge happiness shifts
hedonic
related to pleasure
Study habits
Set up schedule for studying
Find an area where you can concentrate
Reward your studying
Improve reading
Highlighting if focusing on the main ideas
read than practice recall
Get more out of lectures
- use active listening
- read ahead
- write lecture notes in own words
- look for (non)subtle cluesabout what is considered important
- ask questions
Intimacy deficit
Traditional sources of emotional security community has change spend more time with tech than people
Overlearning
Continued rehearsals after mastering
Overlearning
Continued rehearsals after mastering
Memory principles
- practice (overlearning)
- distribute studying (don’t cram)
- organise info outline important parts
- go over material in depth
- mnemonic devices
Negative affects or cramming
strain your memorization capabilities, can tax your energy level, and may stoke the fires of test anxiety.
Mnemonic device
- Acronyms
- link method
- method of loci
