Disciplines of Psychology

Question 1

Which disciplines inform the biopsychosocial approach?

Answer 1

1. Biological
2. Psychological
3. Socio-cultural

Question 2

What are the four biological influences?

Answer 2

1. Genetic predispositions
2. Genetic Mutations
3. Natural Selection of adaptive traits and behavior passed down through generations
4. Genes responding to the environment

Question 3

What are the three psychological influences?

Answer 3

1. Learned fears and other learned expectations
2. Emotional responses
3. Cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations

Question 4

What are the four socio-cultural influences?

Answer 4

1. Presence of others
2. Cultural, societal, and family expectations
3. Peer and other group influences
4. Compelling models (such as in the media)

Question 5

What does neuroscience study?

Answer 5

Might study “brain circuits” that cause us to feel an emotion.
How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.

Question 6

What does evolutionary psychology study?

Answer 6

Might analyze how an emotion :facilitated the survival” of our ancestors’ genes
How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes

Question 7

What does psychodynamic psychology study?

Answer 7

Might view an outburst as an outlet for “unconscious” hostility
How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts.

Question 8

What does behavioral genetics psychology study?

Answer 8

Might study how “heredity” and “experience” influence our individuals difference in emotion (nature v. nurture)
How our genes and our environment influence our individual differences.

Question 9

What does cognitive psychology study?

Answer 9

Might study how our “interpretation” of a situation affects our emotions and how our emotions affects our thinking
How we encode, process, store, retrieve information

Question 10

What does socio-cultural psychology study?

Answer 10

Might explore how “expressions” of emotion vary across “cultural” contexts
How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

Question 11

What is the difference between basic research and applied research?

Answer 11

Basic Research: builds psychology’s knowledge base (ex: biological psychologists)
Applied Research: tackles practical problems (ex: clinical psychology)

Question 12

What does behavioral psychology study?

Answer 12

Might attempt to determine “what triggers” certain “acts” based off emotion
How we learn observable responses.