Introduction Flashcards
What is Psychology?
Psychology is a field that uses scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering and feeling) and human behaviour. It is a discipline that focuses on understanding an individual’s biology, cultural context and psychological experience.
What is Introspection?
The process of looking inward and responding to one’s inner experiences.
How did Wundt conduct Introspection experiments?
Participants were asked to perform tasks and respond to stimuli. Initially the inner reflective experience would describe colours and then these matured into more complex imagery.
What is Structuralism?
The Idea that consciousness can be structured through the task of introspection. Like the periodic table of elements.
Who was the main theorist in Structuralism?
Edward Titchener
What is Functionalism?
Functionalism attempts to explain psychological processes in terms of the role or function in which they serve.
Who is the main theorist of Functionalism?
William James
How did Functionalism differ from Structuralism?
Functionalist were concerned with explaining the mind rather than simply describing it, as was the concern with structuralism. Functionalists wanted to find out how the mind functioned and used introspection as well as experimentation to understand these functions.
What is a Paradigm in Psychology?
A Paradigm is a broad system of theoretical assumptions that is shared by a scientific community, that includes a unique set of research methods, shared metaphors and thought patterns.
What are the 5 introductory perspectives in Psychology?
As there is no one unified paradigm in order to peer through there are a set of perspectives in which psychological events can be understood. Some of the major theoretical perspectives are.
- Psychodynamic
- Behaviourist
- Cognitive
- Humanistic
- Evolutionary
What are the 3 key premisses of the Psychodynamic perspective?
- People’s actions are determined by the way thoughts, feelings and wishes are connected in their mind.
- Mental events occur outside of conscious awareness.
- These mental processes may conflict with one another, leading to compromises among competing motives
What are the two metaphors aligned with Psychodynamic theory?
- Consciousness is like the tip of the iceberg
2. The mind is a battlefield
What is the Behaviourist perspective?
The behaviourist perspective focuses on the way objects or events in the environment come to control behaviour through learning.
What are some common methods used in the Psychodynamic perspective?
This perspective primarily relies on the case study method in order to constitute its theory on how thoughts, actions and feelings manifest in the mind. A psychodynamic psychologist will find information from a patient dreams, desires and fantasies as well as subtle behaviours towards the therapist.
What are some of the metaphors included in Behaviourist theory?
- The mind is a black box
2. Humans and animals are like machines
What is one of the fundamental principles that B.F. Skinner found in Behaviourism?
Organism tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes and tend to not repeat those that lead to negative outcomes.
What is the Humanistic Perspective?
This was a perspective that retaliated the works of behaviourists and stated that they are too deterministic and there is more to a human than behaviour. This came back to the idea of inner conscious thought and stated that humans are able to shape their own destiny’s. Huge emphasis on the unique quality of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth.
What are some of the main premises of the humanistic perspective?
- Focus on the uniqueness of the individual
- We are not powerless victims to external forces – we have an innate drive to improve ourselves.
- People are motivated to reach their full potential (self-actualisation)
- People are innately good and will strive to realise their goals and ambitions.
What is the metaphor used for the humanistic perspective?
Like is like a bottle of milk, the cream always rises to the top.
What is the main method used in the humanistic perspective?
Person-centred approach: Therapist shows empathy, acceptance and respect.
What is the Cognitive Perspective?
- Mental processes
- Studied thinking, learning, remembering and understanding
- Focuses on the way people acquire, store and retrieve information
- Application of scientific methods to study internal mental events.
What are some of the main premises of Cognitive perspective?
Behaviour is the result of information processing
Focus on the way people perceive, process and retrieve information.
What is the main method used in Cognitive perspective?
Experimentation.
What is Gestalt Perspective?
- This is a lens that broke off of cognitive psychology
- Stated you miss something if it is not broken down, you need to focus on the bigger picture
- Psychological phenomena, organised whole, not analysed components elements
- Context influences interpretation
o Back to the study of consciousness
o Experiments in perception and problem solving
