Chapter 1 Flashcards
Psychological science
the study of mind and behaviour
Behaviour
Observable actions
Lin Xie
Tested vulnerability to distraction
Ancient Egypt - Edwin Smith Papyrus
Includes early descriptions of the brain and how it works
Judeo-Christian tradition - Dead Sea Scrolls
Note the division of human nature into two temperaments
India
An elaborate theory of ‘the self’ in the Vedanta philosophical writings.
Medieval Muslim physicians
Developed methods aimed to treat patients suffering from “diseases of the mind”
Nativism (Plato)
Children have a predisposition to do certain things (nature)
Philosophical empiricism (Aristotle)
A child’s mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate) - nurture
Descartes
The mind and body are fundamentally different things
Dualism
How do the mind and body communicate with each other? Descartes thought it was through the pineal gland.
What did Hobbes argue?
That the mind and body are NOT different, and the mind is the product of brain activity
Gall
Thought that brains and minds were linked by size, and that the size of bumps and indentations on the skull tell us about the brain region under them..
Phrenology (Gall)
Specific mental abilities and characteristics are localized in specific regions of the brain
Flourens
Removed parts of animal brains to see how actions and movements differed compared to animals with intact brains
Broca
Studied a patient with damage to the left side of his brain (Broca’s area); he could understand language but couldn’t produce it
Wundt
Soul was irrelevant. Psychology must focus on physically observable phenomena and analyzing consciousness (subjective experience of the world and mind)
Structuralism (Wundt)
The analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mind
Introspection
The subjective observation of one’s own experience
Titchener
Brought structuralism to US
William James
Believed that structuralism distorted the true nature of consciousness
Functionalism (James)
The study of the purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment
Who + what inspired functionalism?
Charles Darwin and natural selection - our mental abilities must exist the way they are because they are adaptive
Hysteria
Temporary loss of cognitive or motor functions, usually as the result of emotionally upsetting experiences. Stemmed from repressed painful memories and suggested existence of subconscious.
Psychoanalytic theory
Emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, thoughts and behaviors
Psychoanalysis
Bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness. Aims to link childhood experiences, dreams and fantasies
Maslow and Rogers
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology
Emphasizes the positive potential of human beings and focuses on self-actualization. Humanistic therapists seek to help people reach their full potential.
Behaviourism (John B Watson)
Challenged idea that psychology should focus on mental activity (must be objective, not subjective) and involved analyzing human and animal behaviour.
John B Watson
Goal of psychology should be to predict and control behaviours in ways that benefit society. He was inspired by Pavlov, who focused on stimulus-response learning - like animals, humans elicit responses from stimuli.
Little Albert
Conditioned by Watson to fear white rat and eventually all furry things
Skinner
Was interested in learning and believed that free will is an illusion.
Concept of reinforcement (Skinner)
Organisms repeat behaviors that generate pleasant results and avoid behaviors that produce unpleasant results
Gestalt psychology
Emphasized that we often see the whole rather than the sum of its parts - humans are programmed to see patterns.
Emergence
Image emerges from background
Reification
Group stimuli into meaningful entities
Multistability
Back and forth between 2 or more interpretations
Invariance
Simple geometrical objects are recognized independent of rotation, translation and scale
Cognitive revolution (50s-70s)
The movement that deposed behaviorism. Beginnings can be traced to WWII
Who coined the term cognitive psychology?
Ulric Neisser
Cognitive psychology
It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems. Focuses on processing information.
How does cognitive psychology differ from previous psychological approaches?
- It accepts the use of the scientific method, and generally rejects introspection as a valid method of investigation.
- It explicitly acknowledges the existence of internal mental states
What led to the boom in cognitive psychology?
Computers and advancing technology. Cognitive psychologists believed that the brain is like computer hardware and the mind is like computer software; began programming software to mimic human language.
Miller
Capacity limits in memory - he tested immediate memory via tasks such as asking a person to repeat a set of digits presented
Broadbent
Interested in limits of human multitasking
Behavioural neuroscience
Links psychological processes to physiology - where the mind meets the brain.
Lashley
Trained rats to run mazes and then removed sections of their brains to identify the centre of learning.
Cognitive neuroscience
Records brain activation during cognitive processing and relies on imaging + electrophysiological measures (EEG, MRI, PET, fMRI)
Evolutionary psychology
Looks at adaptive value of abilities that are preserved over time by natural selection - brain is hardwired to be better at solving problems our ancestors faced.
Why do females find certain male traits attractive?
Evolutionary goal: increased reproduction. Testosterone is linked to higher reproductive success and influences certain physical features during maturation, which are more attractive during ovulation.
Casual sex
- Every time a man has intercourse with a woman, he has a chance to increase his genetic heritage - advantageous to have multiple sexual partners.
- It’s more advantageous for a woman to be sexually selective.
Social psychology
A subfield of psychology that studies the causes and consequences of interpersonal behavior
Asch
Conducted studies that look at conformity in groups.
Allport
Studied stereotyping and prejudice - they’re perceptual errors that emerge as a part of our tendency to categorize. Outside groups perceived as more homogeneous than the member’s own group.
Glucksberg
Tested motivation using “the candle problem” - goal was to attach candle to wall without dripping wax on table.
What were the results of Glucksberg’s experiment?
Reward helps motivate when it comes to mechanical + straightforward tasks, but narrow focus and limit creativity.
Cultural Psychology
The study of how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members. Studied by psychologists and anthropologists.
Absolutionism
Culture makes little difference on psychology
Relativism
Psychological phenomena are likely to vary considerably across cultures
Cross cultural mental health
The cultural and ethnic context of mental disorders their treatment.
Wendigo psychosis
- Reported in Northern Algonquin language group
- Usually reported in winter
- Poor appetite, nausea, vomiting
- Delusions of being transformed into human flesh-eating Wendigo (preoccupation with cannibalism)
- Linked to delusional paranoia
Koro
- China + Southeast Asia
- Sexual organs retreat into body which led to premature death
- Caused by unhealthy sex + tainted foods
- Similar conditions in cultures with strong emphasis on fertility and procreation
Amok
- Brooding period, followed by violent behaviour
- Amnesia after violent behaviour, followed by return to premorbid state
- Malaysia
Anorexia and bulimia
- Impacted by Western ideal of female body type
- Girls from Fiji didn’t generally get EDs until exposure to sexy soap operas and seductive commercials
Psychometrics
Development of psychological tests
Personality psychology
How personality affects behaviour
Forensic psychology
Intersection between law and psychology
Developmental psychology
Usually applies to children
Clinical psychology
How to treat mental illnesses
