Chapter 1 - What Is Psychology Flashcards
Critical and creative thinking, what psychologists do, defining psychology
What is psychology
scientific study of mind and behaviour
Research psychologist
use scientific methods to create new knowledge about the causes of behaviour
psychologist practitioners
use existing research to enhance the everyday life of others
Creative and critical thinking (8 guidelines)
- Ask questions and be willing to wonder
- define the problem
- examine the evidence
- analyze assumptions and biases
- avoid emotional reasoning
- avoid over-generalizing
- Consider other explanation
- tolerate uncertainty
facts
objective statements determined to be accurate through empirical study
values and beliefs
personal statements that have not been evaluated using the scientific method
social-cultural psychology
study of how the social situations and the cultures in which people find themselves influence thinking and behaviour
Phrenology
Gall; read from shape of skull
Structuralism; Introspection
Wundt; self-examination of conscious thoughts, feelings, and sensations
uses introspection as a method to map the elements of consciousness
introspection - asking research participants to describe exactly what they experience as they work on a mental task
Psychodynamic
Freud; role of unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories
used the process of psychoanalysis - dream analysis and talk therapy
Functionalism
James; attempts to understand why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects that they currently possess
- natural selection
Empirical methods
the processes of collecting and organizing data and drawing conclusions about those data.
scientific method
the set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to conduct empirical research.
cognitive psychology
studies mental processes, including perception, thinking, memory, and judgment
Levels of psychology
lower - biological
middle - interpersonal
higher- cultural and social
Individual differences
variations among people on physical or psychological dimensions
multiply determined behavior
produced by many factors
repressed
memories that remain outside our consciousness (forget without knowing)
behaviourism
Based on that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore that psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behaviour itself
cognitive
The study of mental processes, including perception, thinking, memory, and judgments
social-cultural
The study of how the social situations and the cultures in which people find themselves influence thinking and behaviour
free will vs determinism (heritability of intelligence)
what is the extent to which people have control over their own actions?
accuracy vs inaccuracy (heritability of intelligence)
to what extent are humans good information processors?
conscious vs unconscious processing (heritability of intelligence)
to what extent are we conscious of our own actions and the causes of them, and to what extent are our behaviors caused by influences that we are not aware of?
Differences vs similarities
to what extent are we all similar and/or different?
