Chapter 1 - History, Perspectives, Research

Question 0

Goals of psychology

Answer 0

Describe/define, explain, predict, control

Question 1

Definition of psychology

Answer 1

The scientific study of human and animal behavior and mental processes.

Question 2

Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

E.B. Titchener

Answer 3

Wundt’s student at Cornell University.
Studies nature and mental experiences.
Structuralism with introspection.

Question 4

William James

Answer 4

Focused on functionalism.

Question 5

Sigmund Freud

Answer 5

Developed the psychoanalytic theory of personality.
Emphasized the ways emotional responses to childhood experience and our unconscious thought processes affect our behavior.

Question 6

John B. Watson

Answer 6

A behaviorist who dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as “the scientific study of observable behavior.”

Question 7

Ivan Pavlov

Answer 7

Pioneered the study of learning.

Question 8

Structuralism

Answer 8

Analyze sensations, images and feelings into their most basic elements.
Breaks experiences down (objective/subjective parts) through the use of introspection.

Question 9

Functionalism

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Gestalt

Answer 10

The whole is different from the sum of its parts; looking at the WHOLE picture.
Perception is key.
Insight is important.
Perceptual processes.

Question 11

Introspection

Answer 11

Looking inwards at one’s own mental processes.

Not objective, fails miserably.

Question 12

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

G. Stanley Hall

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Mary Calkins

Answer 14

APA’s first female president.

Question 15

Margaret Floy Washburn

Answer 15

First woman to receive a psychology Ph.D.

Wrote an influential book, The Animal Mind, and became the second female APA president.

Question 16

Behaviorism (perspective)

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic (perspective)

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Humanistic (perspective)

Answer 18

Needs for love and acceptance and achieve self-fulfillment.

Question 19

Cognitive (perspective)

Answer 19

Study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information.

Question 20

Neurobiological (perspective)

Answer 20

Studies the links between biological (including neuroscience and behavior genetics) and psychological processes.

Question 21

Sociocultural/Cross-Cultural (perspective)

Answer 21

How situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking.

Question 22

Evolutionary (perspective)

Answer 22

Study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection.

Question 23

Empirical evidence

Answer 23

Based upon objective, observation, measurement, and/or experimentation. Enables us to draw valid conclusions.

Question 24

Operational definition

Answer 24

Precise description of how the variables in a study will be manipulated or measured.

Question 25

Statistical significance

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Hindsight bias

Answer 26

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome that one would have foreseen it.

Question 27

Surveys

Answer 27

A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.

Question 28

Naturalistic observation

Answer 28

Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.

Question 29

Case study

Answer 29

An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.

Question 30

Longitudinal

Answer 30

Research in which the same people are rectified and retested over a long period.

Question 31

Cross sectional

Answer 31

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.

Question 32

Samples

Answer 32

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

Question 33

4 ethical principles for research

Answer 33

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