Intro to psych Flashcards
Psychology uses methods which attempt to minimize (4)
1.biases
2.preconceptions
3.personal beliefs
4.emotions
Goals of psych
- Description
- Explanation
- Prediction
- Influence
Description
Must take accurate notes about the behaviours or situations we observe
Explanation
understanding of the conditions under which is given behaviour or mental process occurs
Prediction
Understanding of the conditions under which is given behaviour or mental process occurs
Influence
To prevent unwanted occurrences or to bring about desired changes
Functions of a theory
organizes facts
Guides research
Theory is always
falsifiable
Falsifiable
Contains the seed of its own destruction
Two types of research
Basic and applied
Basic research
Description
Explanation
Prediction
Psychological research types
Descriptive
Correlational
Experimental
Descriptive research
Observational
Case study
Survey
Observational research designs differ with respect to
Degree to which an observer intervenes
Way in which that behaviours is recorded
Application of case study
rare phenomena
Unusual clinical cases
Survey
behavioural science
Correlation does not equal cause
Experimental research method
Manipulate one or two main variables
Isolate the two variables
experimental study contains 4 basic elements
MCMC
Manipulation
Control
Measurement
Comparison
Responsibilities for researchers
individuals who participate
Discipline of science
Nuremberg code
Groundwork for the ethical standards
Nuremberg code requirements
capacity to consent
Freedom fo coercion
Freedom to withdraw from participation
Comprehension of the risk and benefits involved
Structuralism
Analyzing the basic elements or the structure of conscious mental experience
Functionalism
Considers mental life and behaviour in terms of active adaptation to the persons environment
Wundt known as what
founder of psychology
Wundt mental experiences
reduced to basic elements
What did functionalism bring
broadened scope of psychology to include behaviour as well as mental processes
Gestalt objected to structuralism
Gestalt psychology emphasized that individuals
perceive objects and patterns as whole units, and that the whole thus perceived is more than the
sum of its parts.
Bahviorism; never mind the mind
It assumes that all behavior are either reflexes produced by a response to certain stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual’s history, including reinforcement and punishment, together with the individual’s current motivational state and controlling stimuli.
Watson
Methodological béhaviorism
Humanistic / existential perspectives
Primary study of psychology should be experiencing a person
Choice, creativity and self realization, rather than mechanistic reductionism
Only personally ans socially significant problems should be studied- significance, not
objectivity, is the watchword.
* 4. The major concern of psychology should be the dignity and enhancement of people.
Humanistic psych
focuses on uniqueness of human beings and their capacity for choice, growth and psychological health
Cognitive Psychology: focusing on Mental Processes
focuses on mental
processes such as memory, problem solving, concept formation, reasoning and
decision making, language, and perception.
Evolutionary Perspective
examines psychological structure from a modern evolutionary
perspective.
Sociocultural Perspective
describe awareness of circumstances
surrounding individuals and how their behaviors are affected specifically
by their surrounding, social and cultural factors
