Chapter 1: Psychology and Research Flashcards
Why do research psychologists use scientific methods?
To discover new knowledge about the causes of human behavior.
Why do psychologist-practitioners use existing research?
To enhance the lives of others.
What is data?
Information collected through formal observation or measurement.
Why do psychologists use data?
To answer questions about, and predict human behavior.
Define Intuition
Personal feelings and experiences about what the right answer should be.
Define Hindsight Bias
The tendency to think that we could have predicted something that has already occurred that we probably would not have been able to predict.
Define empirical methods
The processes of collecting and organizing data and drawing conclusions about those data.
Define scientific method
The set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to conduct empirical research
Define value statements
A statement that cannot be measured objectively or tested for truthfulness, it cannot be evaluated using scientific inquiry.
Define values
Personal statements or beliefs
Define Facts
Objective statements verified by empirical evidence.
How can facts be used?
To help develop or determine their values
How can values impact research?
By determining what research is appropriate or important
Define Levels of Explanation
Perspectives that are used to understand behavior
Identify the 3 levels of explanation?
Lower Level
Middle Level
Higher Level
Define Lower Level
Related to biological influences.
Define Middle Level
Related to characteristics and abilities of individuals
Define Higher Level
related to social groups, organizations, and cultures
Define Individual Differences
the variations among people on physical or psychological dimensions.
define multiply determined
Behavior that is caused by many factors, often interrelated causes, which occur at many levels of explanation.
Define Repressed
outside our conscious awareness.
All psychologists use:
scientific method
Define Psychology
The scientific study of behavior
Behavior
Anything a human does that can be measured; how someone acts
Overt Behavior
Activity that can be seen and observed by others.
Covert Behavior
Activity that cannot be seen or observed by others.
Science
The systematic method of discovering and verifying knowledge
Operational Definition
Defining subject matter in objective and measurable terms.
Empirical Method
Using numbers and observations that are publicly observable.
Validity
Whether what is being measured is real.
Pseudoscience
May appear to be scientific but is not based on an objective measure of data.
Data
Countable, objective measure of an event.
What are the four goals of psychology?
Description
Explanation
Prediction
Modification
Mechanism
Belief that complex human behaviors operate essentially like machines.
Reductionism
Any phenomenon, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a lower, simpler state.
Psychophysics
The study of the relationship between mental and physical processes.
What are the early schools of psychology?
Structuralism
Functionalism
Gestalt
Structuralism
To discover and analyze the structure of the mind
Introspection
Analyzing one’s own perceptions and experiences.
Functionalism
Emphasizing the actual functioning of the mind as it performed an activity or solved a problem.
Stream of Consciousness
The mind is ever changing fluid and motion
Gestalt
Consciousness can never be broken down into parts because it can only be understood as a whole.
Mental Chemistry
The focus of the combination of individual elements as they are synthesized into the whole unit.
Phi Phenomenon
The perception of motion based on two or more stationary objects.
Law of Proximity
The tendency to see items that are close together as items in a group
Law of Closure
The tendency to see an object as complete even if it contains gaps in the lines.
What are the perspectives of human behavior?
Biological Cognitive Psychodynamic Humanistic Behavioral/Learning Social/Cultural
Perspective
Ways of looking at human behavior
Biological Perspective
Assume that all human behavior and functioning have their origins in biological processes in the body.
Cognitive Perspective
The way humans think and know about the world around them.
Psychodynamic Perspective
Focus on the unconscious, which contains thoughts, desires, wishes, and motivations that affect what we do, although we are unaware of the influence.
Id
Primitive part of our personality that seeks pleasure and immediate gratification.
Ego
Part of our personality that operates within the bounds of reality to seek acceptable ways to satisfy the unreasonable demands of the id.
Superego
Part of our personality that is the seat of our moral and elements of conscience.
Humanistic Perspective
Assumes that all human functioning is known to us, everyone has the power to reach their goals and achieve healthy functioning, and people have the ability to make positive decisions about their life and to control their behavior.
Learning Perspective
How a person behaves due to the influence of experience and the environment.
Applied Behavior Analysis
The systematic application of principles that either increase or decrease the behavior of individuals through the control of the environment
Vicarious Learning
Learning how to act by watching the successes or failures of people’s actions.
Social Learning Theory
Personality is learned through observation of the environment.
Social/Cultural Perspective
People act the way they do because of their social and cultural context
Eclectism
Using and embracing many perspectives
Pre-paradigmatic
An early state when a science cannot agree on basic points.
Ph.D
Doctorate in philosophy
Psy. D
Doctorate in psychology
Psychiatry
A medical degree that qualifies the psychiatrist to prescribe drugs and treat the physical causes of psychological disorders.
M.D.
Medical Degree
October 22, 1850, is important because ___________________ was developed.
psychophysics
The founder of psychology is considered ___________________ in the year at the University of ___________________.
Wilhelm Wundt
Leipzig
What are the three roles for psychologists in a university setting?
Teach classes to undergraduate and graduate students.
Perform research investigations and conduct scholarship.
Practice psychology with clients in a clinic-type setting or to perform other types of services in the university or community.
