Chapter 1 Flashcards
Psychology
The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior
Levels of Analysis
Rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences
Multiply determined
Caused by many factors
Anorexia nervosa
Psychiatric condition marked by extreme weight loss and the perception that one is overweight even when one is massively underweight
Individual differences
Variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior
Naive realism
Belief that we see the world precisely as it is
Scientific theory
Explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world
Hypothesis
Testable prediction derived from a scientific theory
Confirmation bias
Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them
Belief perseverance
Tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them
Metaphysical claim
Assertion about the world that’s not testable
Pseudoscience
Set of claims that seems scientific but isn’t
Ad hoc immunizing hypothesis
Escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification
Patternicity
The tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in their absence
Terror management theory
Theory proposing that our awareness of death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural worldviews
Scientific skepticism
Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them
Critical thinking
Set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open minded and careful fashion
Correlation-causation fallacy
Error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other
Variable
Anything that can vary
Falsifiable
Capable of being disproved
Replicability
When a study’s findings are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators
Decline effect
Fact that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time
Introspection
Method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences
Functionalism
School of psychology that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics
Natural selection
Principal that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at higher rate than do other organisms
Natural selection
Principal that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at higher rate than do other organisms
Behaviorism
School of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking largely at observable behavior
Cognitive psychology
School of psychology that proposes that thinking is Central to understanding behavior
Cognitive neuroscience
Relatively new field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking
Psychoanalysis
School of psychology, founded by Sigmund freud, that focuses on internal psychological processes of which we are unaware
Basic research
Research examining how the mind works
Applied research
Research examining how we can use basic research to solve real-world problems
