Chapter 1 - History, Perspectives, Research Flashcards
Goals of psychology
Describe/define, explain, predict, control
Definition of psychology
The scientific study of human and animal behavior and mental processes.
Wilhelm Wundt
Father of Psychology, built the first psychology lab.
From Leipzig, Germany.
Most experiments on sensation and perception.
Did not think that high order mental processes could be studied experiment ally.
Trained in medicine and philosophy.
E.B. Titchener
Wundt’s student at Cornell University.
Studies nature and mental experiences.
Structuralism with introspection.
William James
Focused on functionalism.
Sigmund Freud
Developed the psychoanalytic theory of personality.
Emphasized the ways emotional responses to childhood experience and our unconscious thought processes affect our behavior.
John B. Watson
A behaviorist who dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as “the scientific study of observable behavior.”
Ivan Pavlov
Pioneered the study of learning.
Structuralism
Analyze sensations, images and feelings into their most basic elements.
Breaks experiences down (objective/subjective parts) through the use of introspection.
Functionalism
Focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.
Underlying causes and practical consequences of certain behaviors and mental strategies: “stream of consciousness”, a broader view, looks at functions of mind
Gestalt
The whole is different from the sum of its parts; looking at the WHOLE picture.
Perception is key.
Insight is important.
Perceptual processes.
Introspection
Looking inwards at one’s own mental processes.
Not objective, fails miserably.
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
Focused on humanistic psychology rather than Freudian psychology and behaviorism.
Emphasized the importance of current environment influences on our growth potential, and the importance of having our needs for love and acceptance satisfied.
G. Stanley Hall
First president of the APA, established the first psychological lab in the U.S. at John Hopkins University.
Started the American Psychological Journey now the American Journal of Psychology.
Mary Calkins
APA’s first female president.
Margaret Floy Washburn
First woman to receive a psychology Ph.D.
Wrote an influential book, The Animal Mind, and became the second female APA president.
Behaviorism (perspective)
The scientific study of observable behavior, and it’s explanation by principles of learning.
- Reinforcement of behavior (rewards & punishment)
- Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner
- Human nature is nurtured
- Tabula Rasa
- Credible
Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic (perspective)
Studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that information to treat people with psychological disorders.
- Sigmund Freud
- Urges, secret desires, things you’re unable to face consciously are considered bad
- Humans are evil
- From childhood experiences
- Not credible
- Free association: hypnosis, dream analysis
Humanistic (perspective)
Needs for love and acceptance and achieve self-fulfillment.
Cognitive (perspective)
Study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information.
Neurobiological (perspective)
Studies the links between biological (including neuroscience and behavior genetics) and psychological processes.
Sociocultural/Cross-Cultural (perspective)
How situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking.
Evolutionary (perspective)
Study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection.
Empirical evidence
Based upon objective, observation, measurement, and/or experimentation. Enables us to draw valid conclusions.
Operational definition
Precise description of how the variables in a study will be manipulated or measured.
Statistical significance
Mathematical indication that research results were not likely due to chance.
odds of it’s occurring by chance are less than 5%, for it to be credible.
Needs to be repeated many times.
Hindsight bias
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome that one would have foreseen it.
Surveys
A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.
Naturalistic observation
Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.
Case study
An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
Longitudinal
Research in which the same people are rectified and retested over a long period.
Cross sectional
A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.
Samples
Representative of the population.
Random - each member has an equal chance of being selected; easier, but less accurate
Stratified - identified sub groups are represented proportionately; more accurate
4 ethical principles for research
Obtain the informed consent of potential participants
Protect them from harm and discomfort
Treat information about individual participants confidentially
Fully debrief people: explain the research afterward
