chapter 1 Flashcards by Mackenzie Bradford

definition of psychology (behaviors? mental processes?)

psychology: the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
• behavior: anything an organism does that is directly observable
• mental processes: the internal, private experiences an organism has that cannot be directly observed

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goals of psychology (what are they?)

describe, explain, predict, and

control behaviors and mental processes

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what psychologists do (pure research, applied research, practice, teaching…)

Research
• Pure research: research conducted without
concern for immediate applications
• Applied research: research conducted in an
effort to find solutions to particular problems
• Practice
• applying psychological knowledge to help
individuals change their behavior to accomplish
goals or deal with the world more effectively
• Teaching
• Sharing psychological knowledge in classrooms,
seminars, and workshops

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ancient Greeks (importance to history of psychology?)

Philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle, and
Democritus started making more investigations
into psychological questions (often with more
natural explanations for things!)

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empiricism (what is it? relationship to science?)

Empiricism - the view that knowledge
originates in experience and that science
should, therefore, rely on observation and
experimentation.

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Wilhelm Wundt (importance to history of scientific psychology? what year? first
experiment?)

1879: First psychology experiment
• measuring time lag between hearing a
sound and pressing a key
• First psychology laboratory:
University of Leipzig (Germany)
• Considered one of the founders of
the early branch of psychology
known as structuralism

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structuralism (what is it? main research technique of structuralists?)

Focuses on breaking conscious
experience down its basic
components (basic sensations,
feelings, perceptions, mental
processes, etc)

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Edward Titchener (importance to history of psychology?)

structuralism Founded by Edward Titchener

(student of Wundt) and Wundt

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introspection (what is it?)

Involves “looking inward” (inner
reflection) and examining one’s own
thoughts and emotions in order to break
them down into their basic components.

Primary research technique of the
structuralists

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functionalism (proposed by? main idea?)

Founded by William James
• American psychologist
• Interested in practical applications of
psychology
• Influenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of
natural selection – how our individual
qualities help us to survive in the world
• Focuses on practical applications of
psychology and how they come from
studying the function of behavior and
cognition – how are these things
helping us to survive and live our
lives?

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William James (importance to history of psychology?)

functionalism Founded by William James

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Mary Calkins (importance to history of psychology? connection to William
James? Harvard? Ph.D.?)

1890: William James admitted her to his
graduate seminar in psychology
• She was allowed to attend as a “guest” since
Harvard was all-male at the time
• Fulfilled all requirements for Ph.D. but denied
degree from Harvard since it was all-male.
• Still, she had a distinguished career!
• First psychology lab founded by a female (1891)
• Renowned memory researcher
• First female president of the American
Psychological Association (1905)

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Margaret Floy Washburn (historical significance?)

First female psychology Ph.D. (1894)
• Studied with Titchener (Cornell)
• 2
nd female president of APA (1921)

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scientific method (what is it? self-correcting process?)

– an orderly, systematic process for

investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge

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theory (what is it?)

an explanation of some phenomenon

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hypothesis (what is it?)

a specific, testable prediction based on a theory

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population (what is it?)

complete group of interest to researchers

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sample (what is it?)

the smaller group of actual subjects (chosen
from the population) from whom we actually collect
data

representative sample (what is it? how do we select one?)

random sampling

• stratified sampling

random sampling (what is it? why is it important?)

everyone in population has

an equal chance at being included in the study

stratified sampling (what is it?)

sample drawn so that
identified subgroups in population are
represented proportionately in the sample

volunteer bias (what is it? what is the danger to sampling?)

– people who volunteer to
participate in a certain study may systematically
differ from those who do not – they are likely not
representative of the overall population

descriptive methods vs. experimental methods (difference? cause and effect?)

Observational (Descriptive) Methods
• Case studies
• Surveys
• Naturalistic observation
• Correlational studies
• Data is gathered, but no variables are manipulated by
the researcher
• Experimental Methods
• Variables are manipulated and controlled by the
experimenter
• Allows researcher to probe cause and effect
relationships between variables

case study (what is it? advantages? limitations?)

• Interviews (with subject, family, friends, etc)
• Psychological tests (intelligence, personality, etc)
• Observation of behaviors (at home, at work, etc)
• The hope is that this person’s information can reveal things about the overall
population
• Advantages
• More detailed data gathered than with other methods
• Suggests areas for further (more general) study
• Disadvantages/Limitations
• Only studies one person – there’s no guarantee data will relate to the general
population
• Subject’s memory of their lives/experiences may be faulty
• Doesn’t tell us why anything is occurring

survey (what is it? what kinds of things do we need to watch out for?)

Ask large numbers of people about their attitudes, behaviors, opinions Socially-desirable responding and Wording effects

socially-desirable responding (what is it?)

People are sometimes hesitant to reveal honest personal information that might make them look bad

wording effects (what are they? dangers?)

– wordings of questions can affect results

naturalistic observation (what is it? advantages? limitations?)

Advantages • Behavior of subjects likely to reflect their true behavior, as it takes place in a natural setting where subjects don’t realize they are being observed. • Good source of ideas for future research • It’s the only way certain behavior can be studied • Disadvantages/Limitations • Researcher has no control over the setting, so they may not be able to observe the behavior of interest (i.e. the behavior might not occur while observation is occurring) • Can only look at observable behavior, not attitudes, thoughts, or feelings of subjects

correlational study (what is it? causation?)

• the extent to which two variables vary together • Correlations occur when two variables vary together in some systematic way

positive correlation (what is it?)

variables tend to move in same direction (when one variable increases, so does the other; when one decreases, so does the other

negative correlation (what is it?)

variables tend to move in opposite directions | when one variable increases, the other decreases

scatterplots (identifying negative/positive correlation?)

no correlation

``` correlation coefficient (what is it? range of values? strength of correlation? predictability of one variable from another?) ```

``` Describes strength and direction of correlation • positive correlations have positive correlation coefficients • negative correlations have negative correlation coefficients • Variables that are completely uncorrelated have a correlation coefficient of 0 ```

directionality problem (what is it?)

If two variables are varying together, we can’t say with certainty whether the first variable is causing the change in the second or the second is causing the change in the first

third variable problem (what is it?)

Even though we find that two variables are correlated, it’s possible that neither is affecting the other • It could be that a third variable (that we didn’t even measure) is actually causing changes in BOTH correlated variables

experimentation (what is it? goal?)

• Manipulate the variable(s) of interest while holding other factors constant • Goal: see how manipulating one variable affects some other variable (i.e. look for cause and effect)

experimental group vs. control group (what are they? what is the difference?)

``` • experimental group – the group that receives the treatment (i.e. has the variable manipulation of interest applied) • control group – the group that does not receive the treatment (i.e. our baseline group for comparison) ```

random assignment (what is it? why is it important?)

• each subject has an equal chance at being assigned to the experimental/control group • The statistics of randomness make it very likely that neither group will start out systematically different from the other

independent variable (what is it?)

– the variable that is manipulated in an experiment (i.e. the difference between experimental and control groups)

dependent variable (what is it?)

the variable being measured in an experiment (to check whether the independent variable caused an effect)

confounds (what are they? why are they bad?)

factors other than the independent variable that may affect our results (i.e. an unintended difference between our experimental and control groups)

placebo effect (what is it? how do we guard against it?)

experimental results are caused by | subject’s expectations or beliefs alone.

blind vs. double-blind studies (what are they? why use them?)

neither the subject nor the researcher knows whether the subject has received the treatment