Chapter 1 Flashcards
Scientific observation
An empirical investigation structured to answer questions about the world in systematic and inter subjective (observation can be reliably confirmed by multiple observers) fashion.
Psychology
The scientific study of overt behavior and mental processes (COVERT behavior)
Research Method
A systematic approach to answering scientific question.
Description
In scientific research, the process of naming and classifying.
Understanding
In psychology, understanding is achieved when the causes of a behavior can be started.
Prediction
An ability to accurately forecast behavior.
Control
Altering condition that influence behavior.
Critical thinking (in psychology)
A type of reflection invoking the support of beliefs through scientific explanation and observation
Pseudopsychology
Any false and unscientific system of beliefs and practices that is offered as an explanation of behavior.
Superstition
unfounded belief held without evidence or in spite of falsifying evidence
Uncritical acceptance
the tendency to believe claims because they seem true or because it would be nice if they were true
Confirmation bias
The tendency to remember or notice information that fits one’s expectations, while forgetting discrepancies.
Barnum effect
The tendency to consider a personal description accurate if it is stated in very general terms.
Scientific method
A form of critical thinking based on careful measurement and controlled observation.
Hypothesis
A statement of the predicted outcome of an experiment or an educated guess about the relationship between variables.
Operational definition
Defining a scientific concept by stating the specific action or procedures used to measure it. FOR EXAMPLE, “hunger” might be defined as “the number of hours of food deprivation.”
Theory
A system of ideas designed to interrelate concepts and facts in a way that summarizes existing data and predicts future observations.
“Father of Psychology”
Wilhelm Wundt, 1832- 1920. Wundt is credited with making psychology an independent science, separate from philosophy. Wundt’s original training was in medicine, but he became deeply interested in psychology. in his laboratory, Wundt investigated how sensations, images and feeling combine to make up personal experience.
Stimulus
Any physical energy sensed by an organism.
Introspection
To look within; to examine one’s own thoughts, feelings, or sensations.
Dependent variable
In an experiment, the condition (usually a behavior) that is affected by the independent variable.
Independent variable
In an experiment, the condition being investigated as a possible cause of some change in behavior. The values that this variable takes are chosen by the experimenter.
Behaviorism
The school of psychology that emphasizes the study of overt, observable behavior.
Sigmund Freud
1856-1939. for more than 50 years, Freud probed the unconscious mind. In doing so, he altered modern views of human nature. His early experimentation with a “talking cure” for hysteria is regarded as the beginning of psychoanalysis. Through psychoanalysis, Freud added psychological treatment methods to psychiatry.
B. F. Skinner
Believed mental events were unnecessary to study behavior
Studied relationship between actions, rewards, and punishments
Emphasized positive reinforcement vs. punishment
Worked with animals
