chapter 1 Flashcards
what is psychology?
the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes
what does psychology value and focus on?
empirical evidence and critical thinking
are pseudopsychologies scientific?
no
what makes psychology challenging?
- behaviour is difficult to predict
- people differ from one another
- many psychological concepts are difficult to define
- people react when they are studied
- culture influences behaviour
what are psychology’s four goals?
description, explanation, prediction, change
who was Wilhelm Wundt?
father of psychology
what is structuralism?
human activity and its products, even perception and thought itself, are constructed and not natural and that everything has meaning
what is introspection?
where subjects describe what they are experiencing, when you examine your own thoughts and feelings
who created functionalism?
James key leader
what is neuroscience?
views behaviour from the brain, nervous system
what is psychodynamic?
behaviour comes from the inner, unconscious forces that a person has little control over (dreams)
what is cognitive?
how people think and understand the world
what is behavioural?
observable behaviour
who were the leaders of behavioural?
Watson, pavlov and skinner
why did behaviouristic critique freud?
because their theories lacked scientific rigour and were difficult to study. the focus of the study should be measured
what is humanistic?
people can control their behaviour and try and reach their full potential
who were the key leaders in humanistic?
rogers and maslow
what is the cognitive perspective?
how people think and understand the world and it includes memory, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, judging decision making and language
what is the biopsychosocial model?
a model that shows the connection between biology, psychology and socio-environmental factors
what is clinical psychology?
deals with the study, diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
what is health psychology?
deals with relationships between psychology and physical
what is evolutionary psychology?
deals with how behaviour is influenced by genetics from our ancestors
what are developmental studies?
how people grow and change from birth to death
what are personality studies?
people’s behaviour over time and the traits that make up a person
what is an observation?
objective, directly experienced with our senses
what is an inference?
subject to interpretation, private internal mental activities
what is basic psychological research?
conducted to advance scientific knowledge
what is applied psychological research?
conducted to solve practical problems
what are the four major research methods?
experimental, descriptive, correlational, biological
- what is experimental research?
manipulation and control of variables, identify a cause and effect
what are the advantages of experimental research?
allows researchers to have control over variables and can identify a cause and effect
what are the two groups in experimental research?
experimental (receiving the treatment) and control group (no treatment)
what is the independent variable and dependent ?(experimental research)
independent: being manipulated
dependent: being measured
what is experimental bias?
factors that change how the independent variable affects the dependent variable
what is experimental manipulation?
the change that an experimenter produces
what are disadvatanges of experimental research for the researcher?
experimenter bias and ethnocentrism (one culture is all cultures)
what is opetional definition?
hypothesis into a testable procedure that can be measured and observed
- what is descriptive research?
investigating a person, group or behaviour (naturalistic observation, surveys, case studies)
how to protect your research?
- random assignment to condition (participants are assigned to different experimental groups)
- confound: any variable that could affect the dependent variable and the validity of the experiment
what are the two potential participant problems in descriptive research?
sample bias: participants are not representative of larger population
participant bias: participants are influenced by the researcher or experiment conditions
what are advantages of descriptive research?
easier to collect Data, description of events that happened
what are disadvantages of descriptive research?
no control over variables. biases, cannot explain cause or effect
what are ethical guidlines for human participants in research?
informed consent, voluntary participation, restricted use of deception, debriefing, confidentiality, alternative activities
why are animals used sometimes in research?
tehy have a shorter life span, greater experimental control
what is placebo?
a false treatment
what is the double blind procedure?
the person who gives the drug shouldnt know if its a true drug or placebo
what is naturalistic observation?
observing some naturally occurring behaviour and does not make a change in the situation
what is a survey?
people are chosen to represent a larger population are asked a series of questions
what a case study?
an in depth, intensive investigation of an individual or small group of people
what is correlational research?
relationship between variables
what is a positive correlation?
two variables moving in the same direction. how are they related and in what way
what is a negative correlation?
two variables move in opposite direction
what is zero correlation?
no relationship between two variables
what are the advantages of correlational methods?
shows relationship between variables
what are the disadvantages of correlational methods?
cannot identify cause and effect
what is biological research?
studies the brain and other parts of the nervous system
