EXAM 1: CHAPTER 1 & 2 Flashcards
Psychology
The scientific study of mental processes and behaviour
What influences us
We are influenced by our psychobiology and external environments
Psychobiology
Branch of science that deals with the biological basis of behaviour and mental environments
What influences our psychological analysis (3)
- Brain (neuronal activity, structure, genes)
- The person (emotions, ideas, thoughts)
- The group (friends, family, population, culture)
Wilhelm Wundt (5)*
- Father of experimental psychology
- Developed a psychological paradigm called voluntarism
- Founder of the first psychology lab in Germany
- His research was based on actual experiment/observations (hypothesis + experiment)
- Studied consciousness
Experimental psychology
A branch of psychology that tests theories on human thoughts, feelings, actions, memory
Elementarism
Procedure of explaining complex things by reducing it to simple elemental units
Edward Titchener*
- Developed structuralism, a theoretical paradigm as an attempt to try and identify all elements of consciousness
Consciousness
The awareness of immediate behaviors and mental processes
Structuralism (2)
- Branch of psychology that analyzes the human mind and the fundamental units that may be found through introspection
- Structure of mind (i.e., cognitive structure) is the result of evolutionary and genetically determined biological forces
Introspection
“Looking inward”. Careful, reflective and systematic observation of the details of mental processes
William James (4)*
- Developed functionalism
- Established the first psychology lab in the US at Harvard
- Wrote the first psychology textbook (Principles of Psychology)
- Emphasized functions of mind adapting to environment
What ideology is the opposite of structuralism and why
Functionalism because functionalist scientists believed that mental processes were fluid instead of fixed elements
What research method did functionalist scientists use and on who
They used empirical methods and studied on animals, children, and individuals with mental disorders
Functionalism
A philosophical approach that considers how mental processes function to adapt to changing environments
Gestalt Psychology (3)
- School of psychology emerging as a theory of perception that looks at the human mind and behaviour as a whole
- Rejection of basic principles of Wilhelm Wundt’s and Edward Titchener’s elementals and structuralist
- The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Gestalt Psychology beliefs
- Consciousness cannot be broken down into elements
- We perceive things as a whole perceptual units
- Learning is tied to what we perceive
Simon Freud (2)
- Developed Psychoanalysis, which is a form of therapy aimed to resolve unconscious conflicts
- Most interested in patients suffering from hysteria
Psychoanalysis
-Set of theories and therapeutic techniques that deal in part with the unconscious mind, and which together form a method of treatment for mental disorders.
Behaviourism
Psychological research focusing on behaviour that is observable
Edward Thorndike
Functionalist who helped transition the field of psychology by proposing that animal findings could explain human behavior
Ivan Pavlov
Made medical attempts on his dog to understand its reflexes. He trained a hungry dog to salivate at the sound of a bell, indicating it as a sight of food
John B. Watson
Conducted the “Little Albert” experiment. He concluded that caregivers can shape a child’s behaviour and development
Operant behaviour
Associative learning process through which the strength of behaviour is modified by reinforcement or punishment
B.F Skinner (2)
- Developed “Skinner box” to investigate how consequences reinforce behaviour
- Helped expand behaviourism perspective by acknowledging that internal, mental processes play a role in situations
Albert Bandura
Described learning as a social observation of others. For an example, a chimpanzee observing the behaviour of an adult
Carl Rogers*
- Developed humanistic Psychology
Humanistic psychology
- Belief that individual behaviour is connected to inner feelings
- “Client entered therapy”: Client is equal and their thoughts and feelings should be mirrored
- Perspective that emphasizes looking at the whole individual and stresses concepts such as free will, self-efficacy, and self-actualization.
Positive Psychology
A psychological movement that focuses on positive events and influences in life
Ulric Neisser
Developed cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology
Field of psychology studying internal mental processes; things that work in your brain such as memory, perception, thinking, language
Donald Hebb
- Father of neuropsychology
- Defined psychology as a biological science by identifying thought as the integrated activity of the brain
FoMO
Fear of missing out
Statistic on young adults experiencing FoMO
About 3 quarters of young adults report experiencing feeling worse because of Snapchat and Facebook usage
Define mattering
The belief that you are valuable to others and/or that you provide value to others
Define mental processes
Describes the activity of our brains when we engage in thinking, imagining, observing, and remembering
Importance of myths
it is important to know about myths because they can be harmful, can create indirect damage, and by accepting myths in one area will impede thinking in other areas
Goals in studying mental processes and behavior (4)
- Description
- Explanation
- Prediction
- Control
Description in studying mental processes and behaviour
Psychologists seek to describe very specifically what they observe. (eg. how babies learn to talk, how we fall in love, how we make decisions, etc)
Explanation in mental processes and behaviour
Psychologists seek to answer the question of “Why?”. They have developed hypotheses and theories to explain phenomenon (eg. why people develop addictions, etc)
Prediction in mental processes and behaviour
Psychologists also seek to predict the circumstances under when certain behaviors and mental processes occur
Control in mental processes and behaviour
We encounter situations when we either want to limit or increase certain behaviors or mental processes. Psychology can give students advice on controlling our behaviors. (eg. how to limit unhealthy stress/how to increase what we remember in class, etc)
3 factors involved in coordination of our thoughts and action
Brain, person, and group
3 factors involved in coordination of our thoughts and action
Brain, person, and group
Brain in the 3 factors of coordination (2)
- Focuses on the structure of the brain and the genes that guide the information
- Can look at what parts of the brain are activated by drugs, or changes due to mental health
The person in the 3 factors of coordination (2)
- Analyzes how the content of mental processes such as emotions, thoughts and ideas can form and influence behavior
- Includes ideas such as consciousness, intelligence, personality, and motivation
The group in the 3 factors of coordination (2)
- Researches how humans are shaped by their social environment and that the environment changes over time
- Groups can be made up of friends, family members, or population
Myths
Stories of forgotten origin that seek to explain or rationalize fundamental mysteries of life that are universal
Rituals
Solemn ceremonies related to myths that involve sacred ways of celebrating important religious/social occasions
Significance of rituals
Reflect a way for humans and their needs to understand and make sense of people and the world
Philosophy
Study of knowledge, reality, and the nature and meaning of life
Hippocrates beliefs (4)
- Believed that disease had a physical and rational explanation and was not caused by evil spirits
- Believed that a balance of bodily humors such as blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile determines a person’s personality and character
- First to recognize the importance of good food, fresh air, and rest
- Identified the brain as the organ of mental life and argued that thoughts, ideas, and feelings originated in the brain and not the heart
Humorism
System of medicine about the makeup and workings of the human body
Plato beliefs (2)
- Believed that the human mind was imprinted with all relevant knowledge, meaning that that we are born with the knowledge we have
- Healthy mind represented a balance among intellect, emotion, base desires, and appetites
Aristotle (4)
- Contributed to the foundation of psychology Researched theories about sensations, dreams, sleep, and learning
- First to promote empirical, or testable investigations
- Closely examined environments to find basic purpose of objects and creatures
- Formed ideas about how living things are hierarchically categorized
Francis Bacon (2)
- English philosopher, scientist, and statesman who was fascinated by the human mind and the creator of empiricism
- Established and popularized the scientific methods of gathering data, analyzing data, and performing experiments
Empiricism
The view that all knowledge originates in experience
Rene Descartes
Created concept of dualism, which suggests that there are two realms to existence
John Locke
His work was influenced by Bacon and Descartes, who believed that we learn by our experiences. Locke argues that the mind at birth is a TABULA RASA - A BLANK STATE - which contradicts plato’s views
Johannes Muller
Maintained that researches needed to study the relationship between physical stimuli and their psychological effects
Psychophysics field of study
Examines questions such as how much sound or light needs to be presented to be detected, and how much sound or light must be added
Herman Von Helmhotz
First to measure speed of nerve impulses and that nerve impulses occur over time rather than instantaneously
Charles Darwin
Proposed the theory of evolution and stating that all life on earth was related and that human beings were just one outcome of many variations from a common ancestral point, and also suggested natural selection
Natural Selection
Purposes that chance variations are passed down from parent to offspring, and that some of these variations are adaptive - better suited to an organism’s environment
Voluntarism
Voluntary and willful acts of decision in human behavior
Structuralism concern
its emphasis on gathering knowledge for its own sake without any further agendas such as a desire to apply our knowledge of the mind
Unconscious
Hypothesized repository of thoughts, feelings, and sensations outside human awareness, thought in some theories to have a strong bearing on human behavior
Hysteria
Condition where you suffer a transient loss of perceptual, cognitive, or motor function without any known physical cause
Reinforcement
Learning process that increases likelihood a given response will be repeated
Punishment
An experience that produces a decrease in a particular behavior
What did psychologists find in behaviour
Psychologists showed that people can learn without any apparent change in behavior
Abraham Maslow
Prioritized numerous needs and believed that we must satisfy basic physiological and safety needs first
Goal for humanists
To jolt people from a psychological rut and help them realize innate potential for growth
Information processing
Means by which information is stored and operates internally
Cultural psychology
Study of how culture practices shape psychological and behavioral tendencies and influence human behavior
Cross-cultural psychology
Study of what is generally or universally true about human beings regardless of culture
Neuroscience
Study of psychological functions by looking at biological foundations of those functions
Behavioral genetics
Studies influence of genes on cognition and behavior
Sociobiologist theory
Humans have an innate concept of how social behavior should be organized
Evolutionary psychology
Field of study believing that the body and brain are products of evolution and that genetic inheritance plays an important role in shaping the range of thoughts and behavior
Goal of evolutionary psychology
To identify culture universality, human behaviors and practices that occur across all cultures
Culture Universality
Behaviors and practices that occur across all cultures
Psychoanalytic major emphasis
Interactions between the conscious and unconscious mind
Behavioural major emphasis
Only observable behavior that can be studied scientifically and focuses on stimulus-response relationships, as well as consequences
Humanistic major emphasis
People can be helped to realize their full and grand potential
Cognitive major emphasis
Mental processes are studied using an information-processing mode
Psychobiology/neuroscience major emphasis
Psychobiological functions are explained primarily in terms of biological foundations
Evolutionary major emphasis
Behavior and mental processes are explained through evolution, inheritance, and adaptation
Socio-cultural major emphasis
Norms and rules of society are learned through interacting with others
Significance on positive emotions
Positive emotions can have a profound impact on development and behaviour
Resilience
Ability to bounce back in the face of adversity
Positive psychotherapy goal
Its goal is to not target specific symptoms of mental dysfunction, but instead focuses on increasing positive emotions and sense of engagement
What is common in science
The use of a scientific method
2 core beliefs of science
- The universe operates according to certain natural laws - Things happen in and around us in some orderly fashion that can be described using rules or laws (Cause and effect)
- Such laws are discoverable and testable - By carefully observing what happens in the natural world, we can figure out the laws governing those events
Deductive reasoning
Reasonings starting with big, general ideas and apply them to specific situations
Sir Francis Bacon’s opinions on deductive reasoning
Questioned deductive reasoning approach and felt that it was too susceptible to the thinker’s bias
Bias
Distorted beliefs based on a person’s subjective sense of reality
Inductive reasoning
Reasonings started with small, specific ideas
Sir Francis Bacon’s opinions on inductive reasoning
Argued that inductive reasoning approach avoids bias and can generate broader conclusions
How do psychologists using inductive reasoning start their research
They would begin by searching for natural laws making empirical or objectively testable observations which would then develop into theories
Empirical
Able to be tested in objective ways
Theories
Ideas about laws that govern phenomena
What was created to build on both deductive and inductive approaches
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
Process of modern science where scientists begin with an educated guess, and then set up small controlled observations to support or invalidate the hypothesis
Hypothesis
Prediction in a way that can be tested and found to be either true or false
Variables
Condition, event, or situation that is studied in an experiment
Independent variable
Condition or event that is thought to be a factor in changing another condition or event
Dependant variable
Condition or event that you can expect to change as a result of variations in the independent variable
Operationalize
To develop a working definition of a variable that allows you to test it
Sample
Group of people studied in an experiment, used to stand in for an entire group of people
Random selection
Identifying a sample in such a way that everyone in the population of interest has an equal chance of being involved in the study while avoiding sampling bias
Descriptive research methods
Researches to describe a population or a phenomenon by addressing the “What” question through case studies, observations, and surveys
Survey
Study in which researchers give participants a questionnaire or interview them
Advantage and disadvantage in surveys
- Advantage 1. Allows researchers to obtain information that cannot be gathered using case studies/naturalistic observations
- Disadvantage 1. Data can sometimes be unreliable because people answer in ways that are socially acceptable rather than their own attributes, or do not understand themselves as well as they think
Experiment
A controlled observations in which researchers manipulate levels of one variable - the independent variable - and then observe changes in another variable - the dependant variable - that result from their manipulation
Experimental group
Group that is exposed to the independent variable
Control group
Group that has not been or will not be exposed to the independent variable
Random assignment
Assigning individual research volunteers to experimental and control groups using random process so that uncontrolled variables are evenly distributed
Why is random assignment used
To ensure that any differences between and within the groups are not systematic at the outset of the experimence
Double blind procedure
Study in which neither the participant nor researcher knows what treatment or procedure the participant is receiving
Advantage to double blind procedure
To help keep researchers from observing or creating what they want to observe and participants from intentionally acting in ways that confirm a researcher’s hypothesis
Case study
Study focusing on a single person
2 disadvantages of case studies
- Disadvantage 1. case study is that it can be affected by researcher bias when the researchers only see what they expect to see
- Disadvantage 2. Researchers cannot generalize to other situations from the study of a single person
Naturalistic observations
Study in which researchers directly observe people in a study behaving as they normally do
3 disadvantages of naturalistic observations
- Disadvantage 1. Researcher bias
- Disadvantage 2. Observations can be compared because no one else is observing at the same time
- Disadvantage 3. Presence of researcher can change behavior of participant
Hawthorne effect
What happens when people are being observed in studies or at their workplace improve or change their behavior because they are being watched/studies
Steps of a scientific approach (4)
- Observation
- Hypothesis
- Test hypothesis
- Build theory
Social Darwinism
Idea of improving the human race by encouraging reproductive by people with desirable genetic traits (natural selection)
What do people usually misinterpret
The difference of psychology and pseudopsychology
Why is psychology and pseudopsychology different
Because Pseudopsychology is not based on a scientific method (crystal therapy, astrology). Psychology does not claim to address all human issues, whereas pseydoscientists argue that psychological principles can provide answers to all life major questions
Fraser Mustard
(Canadian Physician) who researched on the early years study to represent the importance of the first six years of life for children’s intellect
Brenda Milner
Studied under Donald Hebb who specializes in brain functioning
Stan Coren
Cognitive psychologist from UBC who wrote several textbooks and is a vert well known practitioner
Medicine wheel
Symbolic depiction for balancing four aspects or being; spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental in Indigenous culture
Correlation
Predictable relationship between two or more variables
Correlation coefficient
Statistic expressing the strength and nature of a relationship between two variables
Range of correlation coefficient
-1.00 to +1.00
Positive correlation
Relationship in which, on average, scores on two variables increase together
Negative correlation
Relationship in which, on average, scores on one variable increases as the score on another variable decreases
Perfect correlation
When two variables are exactly related, such that low, medium, and high scores on both variables are the same (Correlation of -1.00 or +1.00)
Why is descriptive approach to psychological research also called correlational research
Because it involves looking at the relationships among variables using correlation statistics
2 categories of experimental analysis
- Descriptive statistics: Describe or summarize data gathered from a study
- Inferential statistics: Tells researchers what they can conclude or infer, more broadly from their results
Mean
Calculated average of a set of scores
Standard deviation
Statistical index of how much scores vary within a group
T-tests
T tests tell you how significant the differences between group means are
Significance of statistical procedures
Statistical procedures are important because they measure whether the differences found in the groups are statistically significant or are by chance
Replication
Repeated testing of a hypothesis to ensure that results you achieve in one experiment are not due by chance
How do you read a journal article (7)
- Read the abstract, introduction, discussion, and conclusion and summarize the article in 2 sentences.
- After that, re read the entire paper and take notes
- Title: What does this tell you about the problem?
- Abstract: What does this general overview tell you about the current paper?
- Methods: Do the methods seem to effectively test the authors’ hypothesis?
- Related work: How does the current work relate to the past work? What is new or different about the current study?
- Conclusion: What were the study’s results, and do they make sense? Did what the researchers have to say about their results make sense to you? What were the study’s limitations? What do the authors propose for future research? How does the study contribute to a better understanding of the problem?
Research ethics board (REB)
Research oversight group that evaluates research to protect the rights of participants in the study
Guidelines of The Research Ethics Boards (REB) (6)
- informed consent
- Protection of participants from harm
- Protect confidentiality
- Make participation voluntary
- Do not use deception of incomplete disclosure; researchers must be completely open about methods and purpose of research
- Providing complete debriefing; To avoid participation bias, researchers balance giving enough information to protect their rights, while withholding information that may affect responses
The Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC)
Ethical guidelines for research involving animals
Guidelines of The Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) (4)
- The use of animals in research/testing is only acceptable if it promises to contribute to understanding fundamental biological principles or development
- Animals should be used only if the researcher’s best efforts to find an alternative have failed
- Those using animals should employ the most humane methods
- Limit pain, distress, ensure proper recovery periods
Steps in conducting research (6)
- Identifying question of interest
- Develop a hypothesis
- Select research method and participants
- Analyze data and accept/reject hypothesis
- Seek scientific review
- Build theory
Mode
Most frequently occurring score
Median
Score falling in exact centre of distribution
Experimental group
Group exposed to the independent variable
Control group
Group not exposed to the independent variable
Goal of William Wundt when discovering discipline of Psychology
His goal was to examine pure knowledge and behaviour (Academic Psychology)
Academic Psychology
Branch of psychology focusing on research and instruction in the various areas or fields of study in psychology.
Applied psychology
Branch of psychology applying psychological principles to practical problems in other fields, such as education, marketing, or industry.
Clinical and counselling psychology
The study of abnormal psychological behaviour and interventions designed to change that behaviour.
Similarities of the 3 branches in Today’s Psychology
- Theory drive
- Empirical
- Multi-level
- Contextual
