Chapter 1 and 2 Flashcards
What is introspection and who invented it?
William Wundt, who is credited with launching psychology as a lab science, used techniques such as introspection; observing something and reflecting on mental experiences.
Example: an introspectionist might ask a participant to look at an apple and report everything they saw.
What is structuralism, who founded it, what were its major problems, and what was its lasting scientific influence?
Structuralism was founded by Edward Bradford Titchener (E.B. Titchener). It aimed to use introspection to identify elements/structures of psychological experience, or consciousness, which structuralists believed consisted of sensations, images, and feelings. Structuralism’s major problems were that it did not align with the element of unconscious thought and introspectionists(observers) often disagreed on their reporting. Structuralists were wrong to believe that introspection was enough to complete psychology as a science. Its lasting scientific influence was highlighting the importance of introspection, or systematic observation as an aspect of psychology.
What is functionalism, who founded it, and who heavily influenced it?
Functionalism’s goal was to figure out the evolutionary/adaptive purpose of psychological characteristics like thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. It was founded by William James and heavily influenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. James rejected structuralism and instead of asking what consciousnesses is, functionalists asked why we were conscious.
What is behaviourism, who founded it, why is it called black box psychology, and what were its lasting effects on psychology as a science?
Behaviourism is the study of human and animal behaviour. It was founded by John B. Watson and it aimed to uncover general laws of learning, which Watson and his followers theorised would explain all behaviours. Behaviourism is called black box psychology because it didn’t aim to look inside the processes of the mind, just at the external factors (rewards and punishments) that motivated behaviour, as though the mind was just a black box that took surrounding factors and produced behaviours. Behaviourism solidified psychology as an objective science.
What is cognitivism, who influenced it?
Cognitivism is the study of the processes of the mind. Psychologists disagreed with behaviourism, arguing that thinking isn’t just another behaviour; it affects our behaviour. Cognitive psychologists don’t just focus on the rewards and punishments, they also focus on the person’s interpretation of them. It was influenced by Jean Piaget and Ulric Neisser.
What is psychoanalysis and who founded it?
Psychoanalysis focused on unconscious mental processes and urges as causes of behaviour. It was the start of psychotherapy (talk therapy) which we still use today. It was founded by Sigmund Freud.
What is naive realism?
The false belief that we see the world exactly as it is. It can lead us to having false beliefs, ex. our memories are always accurate.
What is confirmation bias and belief perseverance and how can you prevent it?
Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out evidence that confirms your hypothesis and ignore evidence that contradicts it. Belief perseverance is the tendency to still believe a false claim even after it has been disproven.
What is reciprocal determinism?
the tendency of people to mutually influence each other.
What is an emic vs. an etic approach to observation?
An emic approach is studying a culture or group with the perspective of someone in the culture, while an etic approach is studying a culture or a group with the perspective of an outsider.
What is psychology?
The study of the mind, brain, and behaviour.
What are the rungs of psychology?
Social/behavioural (highest), mental/psychological, neurochemical/biological(lowest)
What are the 4 main warning signs of pseudoscience and what do they consist of?
ad hoc immunising hypotheses(loophole or excuse defenders of a theory use to keep it from being disproven), lack of self correction(claims are rarely updated, relies on belief perseverance), over reliance on anecdotes(based on subjective impressions), psychobabble
What is pseudoscience?
Set of claims that seems scientific but isn’t.
What is patternicity?
The tendency to spot patterns in random data when there are none.
What is terror management theory?
The theory that the impending thought of death causes us to cling to comforting beliefs with no scientific proof.
What are the 3 major dangers of pseudoscience?
opportunity cost(people miss out on opportunities to get effective treatment)), direct harm(causing physical or psychological damage), inability to think scientifically as citizens.
What are the12 logical fallacies?
emotional reasoning fallacy, bandwagon fallacy, either-or fallacy, not me fallacy, appeal to authority fallacy, genetic fallacy, argument from antiquity fallacy, argument from adverse consequences fallacy,appeal to ignorance fallacy, naturalistic fallacy, hasty generalisation fallacy, circular reasoning fallacy
Emotional reasoning fallacy
Letting your emotions dictate what you choose to believe.
Bandwagon fallacy
Assuming something is true because alot of people believe it. ex. astrology
Either-or fallacy
Framing a question as though it can be only answered with one of two extreme ways.
Not me fallacy
mistake of thinking oneself is immune from error
Appeal to authority fallacy
assuming something is right because an authority figure endorses it.
Genetic fallacy
Confusing the correctness of a claim with its origins or history
Argument from antiquity fallacy
assuming a belief is correct because its been around for a long time.
Argument from adverse consequences fallacy
Confusing the correctness of a claim with its potential real-world consequences.
Appeal to ignorance fallacy
Assuming a claim is true because nobody has/can disprove it
Naturalistic fallacy
Mistake of concluding a moral judgement from a scientific fact
Hasty generalisation fallacy
Mistake of coming to a conclusion based on poor or insufficient evidence
Circular reasoning fallacy
Mistake of basing the validity of a claim on the same claim reworded slightly
multiply determined
produced by many factors ex. human behaviour
What is scientific scepticism?
Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them.
What is critical thinking?
Set of skill for evaluating claims
6 principles of scientific thinking?
Ruling out rival hypotheses (have important alternate explanations been explored), correlation vs causation (are we sure A equals B? or is there factor C?), falsifiability (is the claim disprovable or is it a metaphysical claim), replicability (can the claims be replicated), extraordinary claims (is the evidence as extraordinary as the claims), Occam’s razor (is there a simpler explanation for the findings) FERCOR
Ruling out Rival Hypotheses
Have important alternate explanations been explored?
Correlation vs. causation
Are we sure A equals B and there isn’t a factor C that explains the findings?
Falsifiablility
Can the claim be scientifically disproven?
Replicability
Can the findings be replicated?
Extraordinary claims
Is the evidence as extraordinary as the claim?
Occam’s razor
Is there a simpler explanation for the findings?
What are the 8 types of psychologists?
“Cancer bitches can surley deliver exceptionally fucking insane orgasms” clinical, counselling, biological, school, developmental, experimental, forensic, industrial-organizational.
Clinical psychologist
Do assessments, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders
Do research
Work in universities, mental health services or private practice
Counselling psychologist
Work with people experiencing temporary life problems
work in counselling centres, hospitals, or private practice
School psychologist
Work with teacher, students and parents to solve problems
Developmental psychologist
Study how people change as they age
work in research settings
Experimental psychologist
research and study memory, language, thinking and social behaviours of people
Biological psychologist
research the physiological reasons for behaviour in humans and animals
Forensic psychologist
Work with criminals to help diagnose and treat them
Industrial - organizational psychologist
Work in companies and businesses to maximise worker productivity and satisfaction
Explain both sides of the nurture/nature debate
One side believes our behaviour is due to genetics, the other thinks its due to our environment and life experiences
Explain both sides of the free will/determinism debate
One side believes that our behaviours are freely selected, the other side believes they are due to outside factors outside of our control.
determinism
The belief that our behaviour is caused by outside factors.
basic research
examines how the mind works
applied research
examines how we can use basic research to solve real world problems
Evolutionary psychology
Applies Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human and animal behaviour.
System 1 thinking
Intuitive unconscious thinking
System 2 thinking
Analytical conscious thinking
heuristics
mental shortcuts
Internal validity
The ability to draw cause and effect inferences
External validity
The extent to which we can generalise/apply findings apply in the real world
Naturalistic observation
Watching real world behaviour without manipulating anything.
Advantages- high in external validity
Disadvantages- low in internal validity
Case study
research design that studies a person or group of people over time.
advantages- can provide existence proofs
disadvantages- are anecdotal, don’t allow us to infer causation
Self report measures
surveys and questionnaires
advantages- can
response sets
tendency of participants to lie on surveys or questionnaires
malingering
tendency of people to exaggerate their problems usually in order to get something in exchange (sympathy, money)
rating data
when someone else answers questions about a person
halo effect
When one good trait spills over and causes better overall ratings on other characteristics
horns effect
When one negative trait spills over and causes worse overall ratings on other characteristics
illusionary correlation
perceived statistical correlation where there is none
correlational designs
Research design that examines the extent to which 2 variables are correlated, are on a scale of -1 to 1, with negative correlations meaning when one variable changes the other goes in the opposite direction, 0 meaning there is no correlation, and a positive correlation meaning when one variable goes up or down, so does the other.
advantages- can predict behaviour
disadvantages- can’t infer causation
Experimental designs
Research design characterised by random assignment and the manipulation of an independent variable (measures for a control group)
advantages - high in internal validity (can infer causation)
disadvantages - can be low in external validity
Independent variable
The manipulated variable
Dependent variable
The measured variable
confounding variable
unmeasured variable that may unintentionally affect the outcomes of a study
between subjects design
when there is a control group and experimental group
within subjects design
when each subject acts as both the control and experimental group
placebo/nocebo effect
perceived improvement or harm based on the expectation of improvement or harm
Rosenthal effect/experimenter expectancy
researcher’s hypothesis lead them to accidentally bias the outcomes of a study
double blind experiment
neither experimenter or participants know which group is the control and which group is the experimental
demand characteristics
Participants pick up on cues that allow them to guess the researcher’s hypothesis and act accordingly
reliability
consistency of measurement
validity
extent to which a measure assess what it claims to asses.
operational definition
the working definition of what a researcher is measuring
What are the moral obligations of psychologists conducting research on people?
they must weigh the potential scientific benefit of their research against potential harm it may cause the participants. They must have informed consent, participant protection from harm/discomfort, and debriefing.
How does culture effect ethics?
Because the ethical principles of the TCPS(tri-council policy statement) are rooted in Western knowledge and values
Describe the pro side of the animal research debate
No replacement for it, gives us valuable knowledge, guidelines enforced by CCAC enforce humane treatment of animals
Describe the anti side of the animal research debate
Possibly low external validity(doesn’t necessarily apply to humans), animal cruelty
What are descriptive statistics and what are the 2 types?
Descriptive statistics describe data and the 2 types are:
central tendency - central score, where the group clusters. The measures are mean, median, and mode
variability/dispersion - how loosely or tightly bunched values in a dataset are. The measures are range and standard deviation(average amount each data point differs from the mean)
What are inferential statistics?
The measure of generalisability of the findings, does the statistical significance translate to practical significance?
statistical significance
when the findings would have occurred by chance less than 5/100 times; p<0.5
practical significance
real world importance (the generalizability of statistical findings)
meta analysis
an inferential statistic; analysis of a set of studies that statistically evaluates the strength of patterns
How do people misuse statistics to be deceptive?
Using misrepresentative measures of central tendency, visual representations that exaggerate effects, and not taking base(how common a trait or characteristic is in a population) rates into account
What are some flaws in research design?
Not having a complete experiment (random assignment, manipulation of an independent variable, and a control group), placebo/nocebo effect, and experimenter expectancy
What are the skills needed for assessing psychological claims in the media?
Consider the source, lookout for sharpening(tendency to exaggerate central message of a study) and levelling (tendency to minimise other details of a study), pseudo-symmetry/balanced coverage (faking a scientific controversy by juxtaposing opposing sides to a hypotheses with no scientific evidence backing it to create the appearance that it had credibility)
