Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is psychology?
- the scientific study of behavior and the mind
- diverse topics and subfields
What is behavior?
-actions and responses that we can directly observe
What is the mind?
-internal states and processes, such as thoughts and feelings that cannot be seen directly, are inferred by measurable responses
What is clinical psychology?
-the study of mental processes, it is a model that views the mind as an information processor
What is cognitive psychology?
-the study of mental processes, it is a model that views the mind as an information processor
What were the 6 subfields of psychology that were discussed?
- Biopsychology/ neuroscience (focuses on biology side of behavior eg: how brain processes genes, hormones, etc)
- Developmental psychology (examines the physical, psychological, and social development of humans)
- Experimental psychology (focuses on basic processes such as learning, sensory systems, and motivational states-most research involves laboratory experiments)
- Industrial-organizational psychology (examines peoples behavior in the workplace)
- Personality psychology (study of human personality)
- Social psychology (examines peoples thoughts, behaviors, and feelings pertaining to the social world)
How can our own experiences and observations lead to inaccurate beliefs?
- we often take mental shortcuts when forming judgments eg: judging someone’s personality based on stereotypes
- we fail to consider alternative explanations for why a behavior occurred (we assume one behavior caused it, when a less obvious factor could be the true cause)
- confirmation bias (we selectively pay attention to information consistent with our beliefs and downplay information that is not)
What is critical thinking?
-taking an active role in understanding the world around you rather than merely receiving information
What is the cycle of the scientific method?
- literature search (background)
- hypothesis (testable)
- design experiment
- collect data
- analyze data (inferential statistics)
- conclusion-publish in poster/journal (if the alternative hypothesis is confirmed it gets added to literature, if not need to try something different)
What is basic research?
-obtaining knowledge for its own sake
What is applied research?
-designed to solve specific practical problems
What are the 4 central goals of psychology?
- To describe how people and other animals behave
- To explain and understand the causes of these behaviors
- To predict how people and animals will behave under certain conditions (testable)
- To influence and control behavior through knowledge and control of its causes to enhance human welfare
What are Psychology’s levels of analysis?
- Biological level: brain processes, genetic influences, etc
- Psychological level: thoughts, feelings, motives eg: IQ and emotions
- Environmental level: the past and current physical and social environments to which we are exposed: where we are raised, conflict level, income level, type of schooling, etc
What do the levels of psychology being bidirectional mean?
- they are all inter-related
eg: having a low socioeconomic status means having lower nutrition and worse health while having a high socioeconomic status often leads to having a high IQ because those individuals have more resources
What are mind-body processes?
the relationship between the mental processes in the brain and the functioning of other bodily systems
eg: by focusing on positive thoughts when facing a challenge you can keep your body arousal in check, but if you dwell on negative thoughts, you will stimulate the release of stress hormones
What is nature-nurture interactions?
- modern research finds that our behavior is shaped by both nature and nurture
- our biology affects how we behave and experience the world and our experiences influence our biology
eg: epigenetics (environment can change gene expression)
eg: if you don’t have enough nutrients you will never reach your maximum potential heigh no matter what your genes say
eg: mental health is both nature and nurture (an have anxiety gene but not be triggered until put in a certain situation)
What is the mind-body problem?
Is the mind a spiritual entity separate from the body, or is it a part of the body’s activities?
What did Rene Descartes propose as an answer to the mind-body problem?
- mind-body dualism= the mind is a spiritual entity not subject to the physical laws that govern the body
- implied that no amount of research on the physical body could unravel the mysteries of the nonphysical mind
- placed the mind within the brain and proposed that the mind and body interact through the brain’s pineal gland
What did John Locke propose as an answer to the mind-body problem?
- monism=the mind and body are one and the mind is not a separate spiritual entity
- mental events are a product of physical events
- founded the school of British Empiricism (believed that all ideas and knowledge are gained empirically through the sense) so believed the mind can be studied empirically
eg: chemical reactions in the brain produce emotions; decisions etc.
What did Charles Darwin propose as an answer to the mind-body problem?
- the theory of evolution and the idea of natural selection (certain physical traits are passed on to future generations because they are advantageous)
- evolution implies that the mind is not a spiritual entity, it is a product of biological continuity between humans and other species
- the theory also implied that scientists may gain insight into human behavior by studying other species
What is structuralism and which researchers had this theory?
Structuralism=the analysis of the mind by breaking it down into basic components/ elements to better understand the psychology
-is the approach of William Wundt and Edward Titchener
How did structuralists study sensations?
- they used introspection, “looking within”
- this was a method used to study sensations (considered the basic elements of consciousness)
- exposed participants to sensory stimuli and trained them to describe their inner experiences