Chapter 1 - The Science Of Psychology Flashcards
Ancient Greece
Psych originated from Ancient Greece
Socrates, aristole, Plato - 400 bc
They thought about why people did the things they did and why they thought the way they did
Philosophers
They never did research, they just tried to explain human behavior with thoughts
Structuralism
Welhelm Wundt - father of psychology -established psychology as a science I’m 1879
He tried to understand the structure of the mind.
He broke it into components
He used introspection
Trying to research the sensory process, even if it wasn’t a good theory
Titchner brought this to America
Introspection
Inward focusing on mental experiences, such as sensations of feelings.
Teaching someone how to understand how to answer questions to understand someone’s process
Behaviorism
The school of psychology that holds that psychology should limit itself to the study of overt, observable behavior
Created by John Watson and skinner
How does the environment effect behavior
And what traits travel through generations - primal traits
Conscious
Thought mental processes were pointless because they couldn’t be observed
What causes behavior and what changed behavior
Gestalt
Max Wirtheimer
Different perceptions and how different people oraganize different perceptions
The brain structures our perceptions of the world in terms of meaningful patterns and wholes
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
Method of psychotherapy
Focuses on uncovering and working through the unconscious conflicts he believed were at the root of psychological problems
Things outside our awareness make us act the way we do
Behavioral Perspective
Approach to the study of psychology that focuses on the role of learning in explaining observable behavior
Basically how we learn and how we learn about the environment and the world around us
Only theory that believes that we learn the same way as animals
Certain things in our environment teach us certain behaviors
Psychodynamic Perspective
Behavior is influenced by the struggle between unconscious primal impulses and opposing forces that try to keep these impulses out of our mind.
How our unconscious, animal instincts influence behavior
Humanistic Perspective
Focuses on what makes us human
How we overcome obstacles, grow, and develop
Physiological Perspective
Focuses on the relationships between biological processes and behavior
Hormones, neurotransmitters
Cognitive Perspective
Processes by which we acquire knowledge
Academic knowledge and how we understand the world around us on a thought level
Sociocultural Perspective
The role of social and cultural influences on behavior
Eclectic Approach
They diagnosis based on an understanding of all studies of psychology and mixing them
Applying psychology to help people
Positive Psychology
Trying to figure out why some people stay positive in situations where they should have developed helplessness or depression
How do we learn to be optimists
Basic Research
Research for research sake, no direct application
Applied Research
Doing research that has a direct application
Experimental Psychologists
Work at schools doing research
Clinical Psychologists
Diagnose people - more serious problems
Counseling Psychologists
Therapy and counseling, normal people with normal problems
School Psychologists
Work in schools focusing on placement and assessment - helps people
Educational Psychologists
How are students learning and where do they do the best
Developmental Psychologists
Development and how these things effect us
Track different developmental stages in humans
Personality Psychologist
What makes us unique
Social Psychologists
Look at individuals and how other people affect bahvior
Environmental Psychologists
Our immediate environment and how it effects us and also why people recycle, compost, etc.
Industrial/Organizational Psychologists
Focus on business and how people work best, work best together, are best motivated, etc
Health Psychologists
How our psychological factors affect our health
Consumer Psychologists
Look at marketing techniques
Emerging Fields
Geropsychology - age and psychology, especially older age
Forensic Psychology - psychology in the legal system, research, eye witness testimony, insanity, etc.
Sports - help with performance and things that are impacting performance
Diversity
Started as all old white men, more women than men now and a lot more ethnicity
Scientific Method
Research Question
Hypothesis - prediction of what will happen in your studies
Gather evidence, data
Draw conclusions - evaluate theory and develop follow up questions
Replicate
Theory
Explanation about an observation
Case Study Method
Trying to study a select group of people
Small group and find out as much about them as you can, compare info, and find how it relates to the problem
Find what every one has in common
Isn’t a cause and effect result
Survey Method
A series of questions asked to larger groups
Practically demographic info
Not cause and effect
Naturalistic Method
Observing someone in their natural enviorment so there is no bias in behavior
Not cause and effect
Cause and Effect Analysis
You know info, but you don’t know it’s reasons
Correlational Method
Measuring relationships between variables
Can be between any two things
Another cause and effect method
The closer to one, the stronger the relationship.
Minus - one goes up, the other goes down
Plus - both go up, both go down
Simply comparing relationships and then you question the nature of the relationship
Experimental Method
When there is a manipulation
Changing a factor of the experiment to see how it effect behavior and the correlation
Contains groups and variables
Two groups - experimental and control
The control group gives you something to compare to
Dependent variable - how we measure whether or not the independent variable had an effect on the dependent variable
Independent variable - the variable that is manipulated to see if it will have an effect on the dependent variable
Placebo Effect
A belief that if something will happen if does
Experimental can have a placebo group to make sure the dependent variable doesn’t have a placebo factor
Psychology
Studies what a person tends to do
Isn’t about specifics
Related to thoughts, mental processes, behavior
The science of mental processes and behavior
