Intro to psychology Flashcards
Define “Psychology”
The scientific study of the mind, brain and behavior
Define “Multiply Determined”
All actions are produced by many factors
Reasons for psychology being hard
1) Multiply Determined
2) psychological influences are rarely independent of each other
3) Individual differences
4) social influence
5) culture
How does East and West cultures differ?
Western: Single minded, focus on individual
Eastern: group minded, focus on group
Motivational Triad
1) Pleasure seeking
2) Pain avoidance
3) Law of least effort
Define “Naive Realism”
(Seeing is believing), The belief that we see the world exactly as it is
Define “Confirmation Bias”
The tendency to seek out evidence that supports our belief’s and deny/ dismiss evidence that contradicts them
What’s wrong with Definitive language?
it sounds like proof but has nothing to back it up
Warning signs that something is pseudoscientific
-(Esp.) loopholes or escape hatches( Cant do it right now)
-lack of self control
-Overreliance on anecdotes (my friend says it happened to him)
Define “Pareidolia”
Seeing meaningful images in meaningless stimuli
Why do people see things in images that do not contain anything?
Our brains are wired to make order of disorder and find sense in nonsense.
Explain correlation of 0,1, and -1
0-one variable is not related to another
-1-one variable goes up and other goes down in harmony
1-both variables go up in harmony
Define Scientific skepticism
to judge scientific claims with an open mind
What to do when evaluating a psychological claim
keep in mind of other causes/ keep an open mind
Define falseability
can the claim be disproved
why should psychological research not be done by the same group twice
bias, doesn’t prove anything
Traits associated with conspiracist
lower analytical thinking, intelligence, psychological projection, paranoia, manipulativeness, indifference to morality.
“knowing more information does not make a child’s thinking more advanced” what does that mean?
from birth -2 years a child knowledge is constructed by sensory experiences. from 2-7 they are mostly based on patterns and primitive symbols, then forth they learn how to use mental actions
Define “Terror management theory”
The awareness of our death leaves us with wit terror that we cope with by adopting reassurance culturally/ world views.
Define “Correlation does not cause causation”
Correlation between variables does not mean that when one is changed the other will be affected e.g. ice-cream and Crime rate
Define “Dunning Kruger effect”
Believing that they are smarter than they actually are. is a combination of lack of self awareness with low cognitive ability, and tend to overestimate themselves.
