Chapter 1 Flashcards
what is psychology
it involves the study of thoughts, feelings, and behaviour
what is psychological science?
the study through research of mind, brain, and behaviour
what does it mean when we say mind
mental activity - the mind includes the memories, thoughts, feelings, and perceptual experiences we have while interacting with the world.
what is behaviour
describes the totality of observable human/animal actions
what is amiable skepticism
a way of critically weighing and evaluating information using well-supported evidence
what is confirmation bias
when people overweigh evidence that supports their beliefs and downplay evidence that does not match what they believe
what is “seeing casual relationships that do not exist”
there is a common reasoning error where there is a misconception that two events that happen at the same time are somehow related. Sometimes people see order that does not exist to try to find predictability in our world
what is “accepting after the fact explanations” or hindsight bias
where people see many signs of a probably outcome but nobody takes any action
what is “taking mental shortcuts”
taking simple little rules called heuristics to make decisions - taking things that are widely available to be more probable and forgetting the more blatant things
what is the dunning kruger effect
People lack the ability to evaluate their own performance in areas where they have little expertise
what is the mind/body problem
the quintessential question: are the mind and body separate and distinct, or is the mind simply the subjective experience of on-going brain activity
what is dualism and who promoted this theory
Dualism is where the mind and body are separate but intertwined
Rene Descartes
what is the nature/nurture debate?
another quintessential question of whether psychological characteristics are biologically innate or are they acquired through education, experience, and culture.
who is John stuart mill
a philosopher, writer of “A system of logic” (1843) who declared that psychology should leave philosophy and become its own science of observation and experiment
how does john Stuart mill define psychology
the science of the elementary laws of the mind
who is is william james
the first major overviewer of psychology, is credited with the idea of the stream of consciousness of the human mind
what is stream of consciousness
the product of interacting and dynamic stimuli coming from both inside our heads and the outside world
what is functionalism and who began this theory/ way of thinking
William James began it
he argued that psychologists should examine the functions served by the mind - how the mind operates
what is natural selection
where features that are adaptive are passed along and those that are not adaptive are not passed along
what is clinical psychology
area of psychology that seeks to understand, treat, and characterize mental illness
what is cognitive psychology
it aims to understand the basic skills and processes that are tge foundation of mental life and behavious
Topics: memory, attention, sensation, perception
what is cultural psychology
the study of how cultural factors (geographical regions, national beliefs, religious values) can have profound effects on mental life and behaviour. Most closely linked to sociology and anthropology
what is developmental psychology
study of how humans grow and develop from the prenatal period through infancy and early childhood, through adolescence and early adulthood, into old age.
what is health psychology
how psychological processes influence physical health and vice versa
what is industrial/organizational psychology
explores how psychological processes play out in the workplace. Blends social-personality psychology approaches with principles from management, marketing, and communication
What is relationship psychology
the study of our intimate relationships, properties that make them succeed or fail, and the two-way effects between intimate relationships and other aspects of our lives.
what is social personality psychology
the study of everyday thoughts, feelings, and behaviours - and the factors that give rise to them. Focuses on the situational and dispositional causes of behaviour and the interactions between them
how has brain imaging helped further psychology and what is an example of brain imaging
Brain science and psychology are hand in hand - fMRI is an example of brain imaging that helps scientists understand what locations in the brain control certain behaviours
what is localization of function in the brain?
localization is where different areas of the brain are specialized for different functions such as language, control over behaviour, and abstract thinking.
what is the human genome
the basic genetic code/ blueprint for the human body
how does studying the human genome help psychologists
it represents the foundational knowledge for studying how specific genes affect thoughts, actions, feelings, and disorders
what is epigenetics
the study of biological/environmental influences on gene expression that are not part of inherited genes
what is the gut brain axis
the two way relation between our gut microbiome and our mind and behaviour
who is George A Miller and around when was he active
a psychologist who launched the cognitive revolution in psychology in the 1950’s
what is replicability
a feature of a good scientific study where there is a high probability of the results being the same if it were run again
what is the open science movement
a social movement among scientists to improve methods, increase research transparency, and promote data sharing
social psychologist Richard Nisbett found this fundamental difference in westerners and easterners
westerners- tend to be independent and autonomous, stressing individuality. They break complex ideas up and use logic and rules to explain behaviours
easterners - more holistic thinking, tend to be more interdependent, stressing their sense of being part of a collextive
what is the biological level of analysis
Deals with how the physical body contributes to mind and behaviour
What is the individual level of analysis?
focusses on individual differences in personality, and in the mental processes that affect how people perceive and know the world
What is the social level of analysis?
Involves a group contexts affect the ways in which people interact and influence with each other
what is the cultural level of analysis
Explores how people’s thoughts, feelings and actions are similar or different across cultures
what is distributed practice (study technique)
learning material in bursts over a prolonged timeframe
what is retrieval/self testing
Retrieval-based learning is repeatedly recalling content from memory which makes that content stick in your mind longer and better
what is elaborative interrogation
Thinking through wire fact, is true or why is true in some cases, but not others
