Hoofdstuk 1 Flashcards
The principle question of psychology:
- Why do people feel, think and behave the way they do?
- Are we the result of our genes, or of our experiences?
- How important are our goals vs. our past in determining what we do?
- Is there a separation between mind and body?
Psychology
The science of behaviour and the mind.
Behaviour
The observable actions of a person or animal.
Mind
An individual’s sensations, perceptions, memories, thoughts, dreams, motives, emotions and other subjective experiences. All of the unconscious knowledge and operating rules that are built into or stored in the brain and that provide the foundation for organizing behaviour and conscious experiences.
Science
All attempts to answer questions through the systematic collection and logical analysis of objectively observable data.
Dualism
The church maintained that each human being consists of two distinct but intimately conjoined entities: a material body and an immaterial soul.
Materialism
The spirit or soul is meaningless, nothing exists but matter and energy.
French psychologist Francois Magendie demonstrated that nerves entering the spinal cord contain two separate pathways:
- One for carrying messages into the central nervous system from the skin’s sensory receptors.
- One for carrying messages out to operate muscles.
Reflexology
Every human action, can in theory be understood as a reflex.
Empiricism
The idea that human knowledge and thought derive ultimately from sensory experience. Came about in England.
Association by contiguity
If a person experiences two environmental events at the same time, or one right after the other, those two events will become associated in the person’s mind such that the thought of one event will tend to elicit the other.
Nativism
The view that the most basic forms of human knowledge and the basic operating characteristics of the mind – that is, are inborn and do not have to be from experience. The opposite of empiricism. It is derived from Germany.
A priori knowledge
Is built into the human brain and does not have to be learned.
A posteriori knowledge
One gains from experience in the environment.
Level of analyse
Refers to the level, or type, of causal process that is studied.
The nine levels where a person’s behaviour or mental experience can be examined:
- Neural -> The brain as cause.
- Physiological -> Internal chemical functions as cause.
- Genetic -> Genes as cause.
- Evolutionary -> Natural selection as cause.
- Learning -> Individual’s prior experiences with the environment as cause.
- Cognitive -> individual’s knowledge or beliefs as cause.
- Social -> The influence of other people as cause.
- Cultural -> The culture in which the person develops as cause.
- Developmental -> Age-related changes as cause.
The two clusters:
- Biological -> Neural, physiological, genetic and evolutionary.
- Effects of experience -> Learning, cognitive, social, cultural, developmental.
Sexual jealousy
The set of emotions and behaviours that result when a person believes that their relationship with a (potential) sexual partner is threatened by the partner’s involvement with another person.
Behavioural neuroscience
The research specialty that centers on the nervous system.
Biopsychology
Study the ways hormones and drugs act on the brain to alter behaviour and experience.
Behavioural genetics
The research specialty that attempts to explain psychological differences among individuals in terms of differences in their genes.
Evolutionary psychology
The research specialty concerned with natural selection.
Learning psychology (behavioural psychology)
The psychological specialty that is most directly and exclusively concerned with explaining behaviour in terms of learning.
Cognition
Information in the brain.
Cognitive psychology
The specialty focussing on cognition.
Social psychology
The specialty focussing on others.
Social pressure
Influences of conformity to social norms, obedience to authority, or living up to others’ expectations.
Cultural psychology
The psychological specialty that explains mental experiences and behaviour in terms of the culture in which the person is developed.
Developmental psychology
The specialty that documents and describes the typical age differences that occur in the ways that people feel, think, and act.
Sensory psychology
The study of basic abilities to sense the environment.
Perceptual psychology
The study of how people and animals make sense of or interpret the input they receive through their senses.
The two major specialties that are devoted to the task of understanding individual differences among people:
- Personality psychology
- Abnormal psychology
Personality psychology
Concerned with normal differences in people’s general ways of thinking, feeling and behaving -> personality traits.
Abnormal psychology
Concerned with variations in psychological traits that are sufficiently extreme and disruptive to people’s lives as to be classified as mental disorders.
Clinical psychology
The specialty that is concerned with helping people who have mental disorders or less serious psychological problems.
The main settings in which psychologists work, and the kinds of services they perform in those settings:
- Academic departments in universities and colleges
- Clinical settings
- Elementary and secondary schools
- Business and government
Academic departments in universities and colleges
Academic psychologists are employed to conduct basic results.
Clinical settings
Clinical and counseling psychologists work with clients who have psychological problems or disorders, in independent practice or in hospitals, mental health centers, clinics, and counseling or guidance centers.
Elementary and secondary schools
School psychologists administer psychological tests, supervise programs for children who have special needs, and may help teachers develop more effective classroom techniques.
Business and government
Psychologists are hired by businesses and government agencies for such varied purposes as conducting research, screening candidates for employment, helping to design more pleasant and efficient work environments, and counselling personnel who have work-related problems.
