Chapter 1 Flashcards
similarity between psychology and philosophy
psychologists and philosophers ask the same questions
difference between psychology and philosophy
psychologists use science to answer their questions while philosophers use logic and reason to answer their questions
what is psychology?
scientific study of behavior and mental processes
behaviors
things we can see people doing, overt (obvious) actions
mental processes
things we can’t see people doing: emotions and thoughts, they are covert (not obvious)
why are mental processes more difficult to study?
people can lie about their thoughts and emotions, or they don’t know what they feel
how can we study mental processes?
looking at behavior for insight to emotions (crying = sad)
how can a study of mental processes be faulty?
people can lie through their actions, ex: they are smiling but are not happy
what does it mean to be scientific?
using critical thinking / skepticism and the empirical approach
what is the empirical approach?
gathering data using your 5 senses and drawing conclusions using the data
what is an empirical question?
can be answered using the 5 senses (can be tested) ex: will a marker float in water?
what does it mean to be thinking critically?
being skeptical of other people’s claims ex: my gut is telling me this but is it true?
what is the empirical approach NOT?
opinions, logical arguments, personal experience, gut feelings
first person to call himself a psychologist and have a psychology lab
Wilhelm Wundt
a german philosopher in Leipzig
Wilhelm Wundt
psychi
mind
ology
study of
person who thought conscious reality was a bunch of sensations glued together
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt’s movement of trying to understand the mind and structure of human consciousness
structuralism
structuralism
describing the mind by breaking thoughts down into their most basic ideas / elements
person who tried to reverse engineer the mind by looking at the sensations that form the thought “when you see an apple what senses do you feel”
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundt’s psychological methods
if a thought is made up of a lot of sensations, it is more complex, so a longer reaction time. shorter reaction time = less complex thought
cognitive load
how much thought something takes
systematic introspection
Wundt’s term for looking into the mind
what is wrong with systematic introspection?
it is not objective because Wundt is asking people for their opinion and subjective is not scientific
understanding the purpose of thoughts and behavior in an individual’s adaptation to the environment
functionalism
what idea did functionalism incorporate?
natural selection
a famous american philosopher that created the functionalism movement
William James
describing: what is the mind?
structuralism
explaining: what is the mind for?
functionalism
what did William James ask?
why do we have consciousness?
movement that took natural selection and applied it to psychology. emotions, thoughts, and behaviors that give us an advantage stick around
functionalism
movement that thought consciousness gave humans an advantage because it was passed down and humans could pass it down to future generations
functionalism
person who thought that humans being consciously aware must serve some kind of purpose
William James
person who started functionalism at the same time as Darwin published natural selection
William James
emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and the environments that determine those responses
behaviorism
quack psychologists
group of people that called themselves psychologists but weren’t and gave psychology a bad reputation
movement where psychology moved from studying the mind to studying behavior
behaviorism
person who gave psychology a good reputation by writing a paper saying that real psychologists to only use the empirical approach
John B. Watson
person who started the behaviorism movement
John B. Watson
person who believed in nurture, the environment creates a person, and didn’t care about their DNA
John B. Watson
done by John B. Watson
Little Albert Experiment
showed we associate things together and that shapes our behavior
Little Albert Experiment
how are fears created?
a person associates a bad experience with a current event ex: walking away from a dog when you’ve previously been bit by one
goals of psychology
to describe behavior, predict behavior, explain behavior, or to control / change behavior
who uses the control / change behavior goal of psychology?
psychiatrists and clinical psychologists
seven perspectives in psychology
biological approach, behavioral approach, psychodynamic approach, humanistic approach, cognitive approach, evolutionary approach, sociocultural approach
behaviorism / study of learning
behavioral approach
psychodynamic approach
Sigmund Freud
counseling / person-centered approach
humanistic approach
thought processes approach
cognitive approach
modern-day functionalism approach
evolutionary approach
how social relationships / the culture you grew up in shape your behavior approach
sociocultural approach
human and animal behavior is seen as the direct result of events in the body; study behavior as some sort of biological process approach
biological approach
measuring sweat on your skin when you tell a lie, studying brain areas involved when we recall a memory, investigating the brain’s activity while we sleep, the lie detector test
examples of the biological approach
emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and the environments that determine those responses approach
behavioral approach
approach started by John B. Watson
behavioral approach
how we learn to act differently (change our behavior) when in a different environment
behavioral approach
B.F. Skinner
3rd most well-known psychologist, had a very long career
theory of operant learning
the idea that you can modify behavior using various rewards and punishments (training pigeons to play ping pong using treats)
psychoanalysis
only the therapy part; the patient would talk about their problems and Freud used his theory to figure them out
we process some things subconsciously and the things that are processed effect our behavior approach
psychodynamic approach
thought mental problems were caused by unresolved subconscious desires (ex: you want to kill your mom, so there is a subconscious desire that is unresolved) approach
Sigmund Freud / psychodynamic approach
dormitory effect
as we go through different stages of the menst. cycle, we smell different. we can’t consciously perceive it, but it does effect our behavior because everyone’s cycles in the dorm sync up
carl rogers and abraham maslow
created the humanistic approach
we all have a desire to become the best version of ourselves and that motivates our behavior approach
humanistic approach
we have free will that allows us to move to become our best version, and if we feel stuck or there is an obstacle, we become depressed approach
humanistic approach
studies how we think, remember, store, and use information from our environment using a vast array of mental processes approach
cognitive approach
all about thinking NOT feeling approach
cognitive approach
emphasizes the study of information processing, how memory works, how we form concepts approach
cognitive approach
modern day functionalism approach
evolutionary approach
focus on natural selection, adaptation, and the evolution of behavior approach
evolutionary approach
emphasizes social interactions and cultural determinants of behavior and mental processes – specifically ethnicity, religion, occupation, and socioeconomic status as predictors of behavior approach
socio-cultural approach
type: descriptive research
goal: to describe behavior
type: correlational research
goal: to predict behavior
type: experimental research
goal: to explain behavior
three types of descriptive research
naturalistic observation, case studies, survey research
asking (survey) drawback
less accurate: people can lie on it, or they don’t remember
pro of asking as a way to collect data
less time consuming than watching, can get more responses in a shorter amount of time
observe, collect, and record data
descriptive research
pro of watching as a way to collect data
data is more accurate because they can’t lie to you
drawback of watching as a way to collect data
more time consuming than asking
watching organisms in their natural environment
naturalistic observation
type of descriptive research that is often use to observe animals in the wild
naturalistic observation
when doing naturalistic observation, what should you not do and why?
let the animal / group you are watching know they are being watched because it will change the way the animal / group behaves
ways to prevent the subject you are watching from knowing you are observing them?
hiding (mostly used when observing in the wild), blend in with your surroundings (be another person in the background), group infiltration (you or someone else pretend to be part of the group you are observing)
in depth study of a single subject or small group of subjects
case study
problems with case studies
small sample size, no comparison group, hard to know if the subjects are behaving differently because of the condition or because people are all different
form of polling to measure a wide variety of psychological behaviors and attitudes
survey research
most used kind of research / way to get research
survey research
asks about your behavior or your future behavior and is a critical step in correlative research
survey research
advantages of survey research
can get a lot of data in a short amount of time, important to collect this data in order to describe behavior and to do correlational studies
disadvantages of survey research
people may lie or not remember accurately, social-desirability response bias, people may not try on the questions (picking random answers)
lying to make yourself seem more desirable (saying I work out everyday when I don’t work out at all)
social-desirability response bias
observing or measuring two or more variables to find the relationship(s) between them
correlational research
slightly more difficult than descriptive research
correlational research
characteristics of a correlation
strength and direction
strength of a correlation
the degree tow which two variables are related
a strong correlation
does not have many exceptions –> happens most of the time
a weak correlation
has many exceptions –> does not happen often
positive correlation
the two variables go up and down together (ex: as A increases, B also increases)
negative correlation
the two variables go in opposite directions from each other (ex: as A increases B decreases)
statistical calculation that indicates the strength and the direction of the correlation
correlation coefficient (r)
strong correlation
correlation coefficient is close to +1 or -1
weak correlation
correlation coefficient is close to zero but greater than 0.19
no correlation
correlation coefficient is almost zero or zero
correlation does NOT necessarily equal causation
true
a is correlated with b
a is related to b
when a is high (or low) b is more likely
with a correlation you can claim
a is causing b (could be a 3rd var causing both)
b is causing a (could be a 3rd var)
an increase or decrease in a causes an increase in b
with a correlation you can NOT claim
experimenter manipulates the variable of interest, while holding all other factors constant
experimental research
research that explains behavior
experimental research
can determine CASUAL relationships
experimental research
experimental research is different than descriptive and correlational research because…
the experimenter manipulates / does something to the subjects (does more than observing)
is the experimenter more active in experimental research or correlational research
experimental research
who determines what happens to the subjects in experimental research
the experimenter
type of research that asks a causational question ex: does sugar cause hyperactivity in children?
experimental research
specific definition used for the purpose of the present experiment
operational definitions
independent variable in experimental research
the “thing” you manipulate (changes from group to group)
dependent variable in experimental research
the “thing” you measure (the outcome that is measured)
experimental group
gets the treatment
control group
gets no treatment / the traditional
every experiment must have at least how many groups or trials
two
problems that may arise in a poorly-designed experiment
experimental hazards
the groups in an experiment are not equivalent before the study begins (ex: does exercise affect weight loss? control group is already at ideal weight and experimental group is overweight)
sample bias / selection bias
how do we minimize sample bias / selection bias
random assignment
the expectancies of the participant influence the results of the study (ex: the placebo effect)
participant bias
how do we minimize participant bias
single-blind experiments
subjects have a certain expectation so they don’t act naturally and act how they think the experimenter wants them to act
participant bias
a researcher’s expectations about the outcome of a study influence the results
experimenter bias
how do we minimize experimenter bias
double blind experiments
single blind study
the subjects do not know what group they are in but the researchers do
double blind study
both the subjects and the researchers don’t know which group the subjects are in
hallmark of a good study
it is a double blind study
