Exam 1 - Ch. 1 Flashcards

Ch. 1

1
Q

Psychology

A

scientific study of mind, brain and behaviour

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2
Q

Mind

A

The mental activity results from biological processes within the brain. (e.g. perception, thoughts, memories, feelings).

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3
Q

Behaviour

A

observable actions (human or animal)

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4
Q

Nativism

A

knowledge is innate

Plato

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5
Q

Empiricism

A

All knowledge is acquired through Experience
Belief in “Tabula rasa”, “blank slate”
(Aristotle)

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6
Q

Nature or Nurture? Which affects psychological development more?

A

Both nature and nurture interact in psychological

development

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7
Q

Dualism

A

The mind and the body are separate but intertwined
- Suggested that mind was unique to humans, who are the only animals with one (soul)
(Renee Descartes)

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8
Q

Mind or Body? Are the distinct?

A

Modern psychologist reject dualism
• The mind arises from brain activity.
• Cannot separate the mind and the brain

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9
Q

Phrenology

A

specific characteristics and knowledge are in specific regions of the brain
- Each section has different behaviours and traits
• e.g. mechanical ability, talent for poetry, love of
property, colour perception, language, affection

Franz Joseph Gall - Creator

Discredited as theory

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10
Q

Wilhelm Wundt

A

Founder of Psychology as a discipline
• Opens a first psychology lab
- Uses reaction time as method
- Deveolped Introspection

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11
Q

Reaction time

A

how quickly people can respond to events

  • faster when the task is easier
  • slower when the task if harder
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12
Q

consciousness

A

a person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind

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13
Q

Introspection

A

systematic examination of
mental experiences that require people to
think about and report the content of their
thoughts

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14
Q

Structuralism

A

the analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mind - like chemical elements
Edward Titchener developed it; was Wundt’s student
Used introspection as well

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15
Q

Introspection flaws?

A
  1. Experience is subjective

2. Reporting changes the experience itself

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16
Q

Functionalism

A

the study of how mental processes enable people to
adapt to their environments
Inspired by evolutionary theory; traits are adaptive and naturally selected by fitness

Functionalism argued that mental
abilities must have evolved because they
were adaptive.
• Therefore, psychologists should study
how the mind operates in the context of
human evolution
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17
Q

William James

A

Founder of Functionalism
Criticized structuralism - mind is not that simple
Believed single moment of consciousness is impossible to capture

18
Q

Stream of consciousness

A

mind consists of continuous

series of thoughts that cannot be broken down

19
Q

G. Stanley Hall

A

• Functionalist
• His work focused on development and education
as informed by evolutionary thinking
• As children develop, they pass through stages
that repeat the evolutionary history

20
Q

Sigmund Freud

A
Father of psychoanalytic theory
• Found that some of his patients with
neurological disorders had few
medical reasons.
• Built on the idea of unconscious
21
Q

Unconscious

A

the part of the mind that
operates outside of conscious awareness
but can influence conscious thoughts,
feelings and actions

22
Q

Psychoanalytic theory

A

Understand how unconscious thoughts can lead
to psychological disorders
approach that emphasizes importance of unconcious in shapping feelings, thoughts, and behaviour

23
Q

Psychoanalysis

A

therapeutic method that focuses on bringing

unconscious material into conscious awareness

24
Q

Behaviourism

A

emphasizes environmental effects on observable
behaviour
idea that environmental stimuli predicts behaviour - “skinner baby”
Inspired by Ivan Pavlov

25
John B. Watson
Founder of Behaviourism Believed that if psychology was to be objective, it should study observable behaviour not mental processes Believed that animals, including humans, learn all behaviour through environmental experience - therefore study stimuli instead
26
Stimulus
A Sensory input from the | environment
27
Behaviour
An action or physiological | change elicited by a stimulus
28
B.F. Skinner
Wanted to develop behaviourist principles to explain how animals learned to act in their environment reduced all human behaviour to reinforcement of responses with reward (or punishment)
29
Skinner box
Conditioning chamber
30
Reinforcement
consequence of an action that can increase the chance of the action happening again in the future
31
Problems with behaviourism
1. It ignored mental processes (e.g. memory, consciousness etc) 2. It ignored evolutional history of the organism • (E.g. some behaviours cannot be explained by reinforcement alone) 3. Couldn't explain learning by observation, or infant learning of grammar
32
Gestalt Theory
the whole of personal experience is not simply the sum of its constituent elements.
33
Max Wertheimer
Founder of Gestalt | psychology
34
Humanistic psychology
Focused on the Goodness of people and how people should accept themselves and think positively Abraham Maslow & Carl Rogers
35
Cognitive psychology
study of mental or cognitive processes such as perception, memory, subjective experience, attention and language
36
George A. Miller
Initiated the study of the mind | One of founders of cognitive psychology
37
Magic # 7
People can only hold 7 plus or minus 2 bits of information in their short term memory, or a “Chunk”
38
Cognitive Neuroscience
aims to understand the links between cognitive processes and brain activity i.e. the physical mechanisms, such as neural firing, that leads to mental processes created in Montreal neurological institute
39
Donald Hebb
Developed theory of the neural basis of learning (Cognitive neuroscience contributor)
40
Wilder Penfield
Pioneered surgical removal of brain tissue to alleviate seizure (Cognitive neuroscience contributor)
41
Brenda Milner
Discovered the neural basis of long-term memory (Cognitive neuroscience contributor)