Chapter 1

Question 1

What is psychology?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What does psychology do?

Answer 2

Examines the individual as a product of multiple influences, including biological, psychological, and social factors. (Biopsychosocial model)

Question 3

Psychology from the biological perspective

Answer 3

Focus: genes, brain anatomy and function, and evolution

Ex) Genetics of behaviour and psychological disorders, drug effects

Question 4

Psychology from the psychological perspective

Answer 4

Focus: Behavior, perception, thought, and experience

Ex) Language, memory, personality, decision making

Question 5

Psychology from the social-cultural perspective

Answer 5

Focus: interpersonal relationships, families, group societies, ethnicities

Ex) Attraction, attitudes, stereotypes, conformity

Question 6

What is the scientific method?

Answer 6

A way of learning about the world through collecting observations, developing theories to explain them, and using the theories to make predictions.

Question 7

Theories

Answer 7

Generate hypothesis, explain a phenomenon
(not the same as opinions or beliefs)

Question 8

Hypotheses

Answer 8

A testable prediction about processes that can be observed and measured. Cannot technically be proven…(falsifiable) 

Question 9

What does scientific literacy involve?

Answer 9

-> Knowledge gathering -> scientific explanation -> critical thinking -> application ->

Question 10

How did psychology become a science?

Answer 10

Empiricism: Knowledge about the world is gained by careful observation

Determinism: events are governed by lawful, cause-and-effect relationships
(A -> B = C)

Question 11

What are the 4 temperaments?

Answer 11

1. Sanguine
2. Choleric
3. Melancholic
4. Phlegmatic

Question 12

Earliest known form of psychology

Answer 12

Circa 1500 BCE: ancient Egyptian doctors describe behavioural changes following damage to the head

Question 13

Materialism

Answer 13

Believe that humans and other living things are composed exclusively of physical matter (has become more popular today) 

Question 14

Dualism

Answer 14

There are properties of humans that are not material, such as a mind or soul separate from the body
(less popular today)

Question 15

Gustav Fechner (1801-1887)

Answer 15

Introduced psychophysics: Study of the relationship between the physical world and the mental representation of the world.

Question 16

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Answer 16

Evolution by natural selection:
Genetically inherited traits that contribute to survival and reproductive success are more likely to be passed onto the next generation. (also true for behaviour)

Question 17

Localization of brain function

Answer 17

Idea that certain parts of the brain control specific mental abilities and personality characteristics

Question 18

Phrenology

Answer 18

Mental traits and dispositions could be determined by examining the surface of the skull
Ex) phineas gage-frontal lobe damage = impulsive, childlike behaviour

Question 19

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Answer 19

Introduced psychoanalysis:
attempts to explain how unconscious processes influence behaviour and personality.

Impact:
Recognition or unconscious mental activity, importance of early life experiences

Question 20

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)

Answer 20

Interested in individual differences in people.
(Nature vs. Nurture : how do Hereditary and environment influence behaviour and mental processes?)

Heavily believed nature > nurture

Question 21

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

Answer 21

First laboratory dedicated to studying human behavior. Studied sensation, perception, and reaction times.

Measured how experimental manipulation affected mental events.

Question 22

Edward Titchener (1867-1927)

Answer 22

Introduced structuralism:
Analysis of conscious experience by breaking it down into basic elements, and to understand how these elements work together.

Question 23

William James (1842-1910)

Answer 23

Wrote the first psychology textbook: “The Principles of Psychology”

Studied behaviour in context: Interested in how our thoughts and actions help us adapt to our environment.

Functionalism: study of the purpose and function of behaviour and conscious experience. (Why do you behave the way that we do?)

Question 24

Edwin Twitmyer (1873-1943)

Answer 24

Studied classic conditioning
Ex) the office computer sound/altoid prank

Question 25

Behaviourism

Answer 25

Singular focus on studying only observable behavior. Little or no reference to mental events or instincts.

Question 26

Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)

Answer 26

(Behaviourism)
Behavioural changes based on the type of consequences.

Question 27

John B. Watson (1878-1958)

Answer 27

(Behaviourism)
Only observable changes in the environment and behaviour appropriate for scientific study
(born a blank slate, then nurture)

Question 28

B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

Answer 28

Radical behaviorism:
Foundation of behaviour is the response to reward and punishment.

Question 29

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

Answer 29

(The cognitive revolution)

Studied memory; remembering and forgetting.
Would use himself as a test subject.

Question 30

Frederick Bartlett (1886-1969)

Answer 30

(The cognitive revolution)

Cultural knowledge and previous experience influence our memories.

Question 31

Noam Chomsky

Answer 31

(The cognitive revolution)

Aspects of language (ex. grammar, vocabulary) to complex for behaviourism.
Thought too complex for toddlers in the learning process.

Question 32

Gestalt psychology

Answer 32

Emphasizes the focus on the whole of perception and experience, rather than its parts.

Question 33

Cognitive psychology

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Social psychology

Answer 34

Study of the influence of other people on our behavior.
Behaviour is a function of the individual and the environment.

Question 35

Personality psychology

Answer 35

Study of how different personality characteristics can influence how we think an act.

Question 36

Humanistic psychology

Answer 36

Focusses on the unique aspects of each individual human, beyond their conditioning and unconscious motivations.
Involves freedom to act, rational thought 

Question 37

Donald Hebb (1904-1085)

Answer 37

Hebb’s law: cells that fire together wire together.
(two neurons connection is strong when they communicate back-and-forth)

Question 38

Wilder Penfield (1891-1977)

Answer 38

Brain surgeon

Studies mapping of sensory and movement brain regions and subjective experience represented in the brain.