EXAM 1 Flashcards
Philosophical Empiricism
All knowledge is acquired through experience
Philosophical Nativism
some knowledge is innate rather than acquired
structuralism
approach to psychology that attempted to isolate & analyze the mind’s basic elements
introspection
analysis of subjective experience by trained observers
Wilhelm Wundt
father of experimental psychology
functionalism
approach to psychology that emphasized adaptive significance of mental processes
William James
developed functionalism
psychoanalysis
therapy that aims to give people insight into what’s in their unconscious mind
Sigmund Freud
developed techniques of psychoanalysis
behaviorism
approach to psychology that restricts scientific inquiry to that restricts scientific inquiry to observable behavior
Ian Pavlov
studied classical conditioning
john watson
founder of behaviorism
b.f. skinner
developing theory of behaviorism
neuroscience
any or all of the sciences, such as neurochemistry and experimental psychology, which deal with the structure or function of the nervous system and brain.
cultural psychology
study of how culture influences mental life
empiricism
belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation
scientific method
procedure for using empirical evidence to establish facts
hypothesis
falsifiable prediction made by a theory
falsifiable
capacity for some proposition, statement, theory =, or hypothesis to be proven wrong
what makes humans harder to study than non-human topics?
- reactive
- complex
- highly variable
operational definition
description of a property in measurable terms
observer bias
tendency for observer’s expectations to influence both what they believe they observed and what they actually observed
double blind study
study in which neither the researcher nor participant knows how the participants are expected to behave
correlation
variations in the value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the value of the other
causation
act of causing something
third variable problem
natural correlation between two variables cannot be taken as evidence of a causal relationship between them because a third variable might be causing them both
Independent Variable
a variable whose variation that does not depend on another factor
Dependent Variable
variable whose value depends on that of another
population
complete collection of people
samples
partial collection of people drawn from a population
case method
procedure for gathering scientific info by studying a single individual
replication
experiment that uses the same procedures as a previous experiment but with a new sample from the same population
theory
an explanation of a collection of facts that has itself been repeatedly tested and NOT yet disconfirmed
hypothesis
a falsifiable prediction; also, an informed guess about the state of the world; an informed guess based upon a theory
operational definition
definition of an idea/attribute/concept in terms that are specific and measurable
principle of falsifiability
for a theory to be considered scientific it must be able to be tested and conceivably proven false
observer bias
the tendency for observers’ expectation to influence both what they believe they observed and what they actually observed
confirmation bias
we are inclined to only consider evidence that supports our view of the world, and our tendency to reject, ignore, and not encode data that disrupts our view of the world. We see what we expect to see!
3 broad categories of psychology studies
-descriptive
-correlational
-experimental
case study
intensive study of one individual or unusual person; a great source of hypotheses but no conclusion should be drawn… why? Because researchers lacked the control needed to rule out alternate explanations.
what makes people hard to study?
-reactivity
-complexity
-variability
what is an empirical question?
one that can be answered with data
variable
something that you measure that can have different values
positive correlation
relationship between two variables in which both variables move in the same direction
negative correlation
a relationship between two variables in which an increase in one variable is associated with a decrease in the other
directionality problems
the situation in which it is known that two variables are related although it is not known which is the cause and which is the effect.
correlation
variations in the value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the value of the other
3rd variable problem
natural correlation between two variables that cannot be taken as evidence of a causal relationship between them because a third variable might be causing them both
learning
relatively permanent change in the experience or behavior of an organism
learning
relatively permanent change in the experience or behavior of an organism
behaviorism
theory of learning that suggests that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning processes
classical conditioning
type of learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response
conditioned stimulus (CS)
previously neutral stimulus that produces a reliable response after being paired with unconditioned stimulus
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
reliably produces naturally occurring reaction in an organism
unconditioned response (UCR)
reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditional stimulus
conditioned response (CR)
reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by the conditioned stimulus
extinction
the fading of the CR because the CS is presented repeatedly WITHOUT the UCS
stimulus generalization
where the organism starts responding to things highly similar to the CS
stimulus generalization
where the organisms starts responding to things highly similar to the CS
stimulus discrimination
where the organism distinguishes between the CS and another stimulus (and so does not show the CR)
classical conditioning
type of learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response
Garcia
first to establish biological preparedness (we are inclined to form some associations more readily than others)
-known for demonstrating “1-trial learning”
Thorndike
examined instrumental behaviors
thorndike cat experiment
-hungry cat in the puzzle box
-hungry cat tries getting out of the box in different ways
-after the desired response is shown cat is given food as the reward
-cat is placed in a box for another round
law of effect
behaviors that are followed by a “satisfying state of affairs” tend to be repeated, whereas those that produce an “unpleasant state of affairs” are less likely to be repeated
reinforcer
any stimulus that INCREASES the likelihood of a behavior
punisher
any stimulus or event that DECREASES the likelihood of the behavior
positive
“positive”- something has been added/something happens
negative
“negative”- something is removed or reduced or stopped or avoided
latent learning/implicit learning
process in which something is learned, but it is not manifested as a behavioral change until sometime in the future
observational learning
process in which an organism learns by watching the actions of others
important elements of observational learning (4)
-attention to the behavior which might be learned
-retention (memory) of the observed scene when the opportunity arises later to use the behavior
-motivation to reproduce the observed behavior
-potential/opportunity to reproduce the behavior
2 characteristics that strengthened observational learning
-model is admired or similar to learned
-positive reinforcement is evident
Bandura and the bobo doll
-kids would see adults playing nicely w/ the bobo doll and then see them act aggressively with the doll
-kids who saw the adults being violent were twice as likely to be violent
