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VPSYC > Introduction > Flashcards

Introduction Flashcards

1
Q

What is psychology?

A

Understanding the causes of mental processes (eg. thoughts) and behaviour by using a scientific approach

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2
Q

What is the history of psychology?

A
  • Aristotle said to understand the mind, you must look into your biology
  • Wilhelm Wundt carefully measured observations that relied on introspection
  • Titchener had people report on sensations in reaction to stimuli
  • William James wrote principles of psychology
  • Skinner founded behaviouralism
  • Jean Plaget founded cognitivism
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3
Q

What is structuralism?

A

Founded by Titchener, used introspective reports of sensations in reaction to stimuli to build a model of mind’s structure

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4
Q

What is functionalism?

A
  • Opposing structuralism, William James
  • Focuses on outcome of mental processes and behaviour
  • What function might thoughts have served to help our ancestors survive?
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5
Q

What is behaviourism?

A
  • Focus on behaviours as the only way to derive general principles of psychology
  • Founded by Skinner
  • Reinforcement from stimuli causes actions
  • Takes away idea of free will or thoughts
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6
Q

What is cognitivism?

A
  • Founded by Plaget

- Return to mental processes but using other approaches than introspection

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7
Q

Why did psychology emerge?

A

Search for causes of mental processes and behaviour which requires systematic approach as introspection is not that reliable

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8
Q

Why do we need scientific approach?

A
  • Intuition is coloured by cognitive biases (hindsight bias or explaining things afterwards, or single cases that aren’t generalizable to entire population
  • We are constantly missing sensory information
  • Needs systematic approach to organize multiple causal factors of mental processes
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9
Q

Why are we biased?

A
  • Biases help us function (simplify our thinking, helps us make decisions, protects how we view the world)
  • Brains designed to survive
  • Genes, and social environment work together to shape expectations
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10
Q

What is the scientific approach?

A
  • Understanding a phenomenon even if it means putting aside your own ideas
  • Curiosity, skepticism, humility are needed to understand and create knowledge
  • Combine with critical thinking
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11
Q

What are the traits of critical thinking?

A
  • Be able to assess the nature and quality of source of information
  • Be able to question own assumptions and biases
  • Be able to avoid emotional reasoning
  • Be able to avoid over simplification
  • Be able to tolerate ambiguity
  • Be able to generate and compare alternate explanations
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12
Q

What are the steps to scientific approach?

A
  • Somebody observes a phenomenon
  • Theory to explain the large number of findings and to predict behaviour or events
  • Hypotheses are testable predictions about an observable phenomenon derived from the theory
  • Data collection and analyses is the research method and if supports, then theory is supported
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13
Q

How do you write a hypothesis?

A
  • True or false, yes or no question format

- Operational definition: statements that describe the procedures and specific measures used to record observations

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14
Q

What are the key principles of scientific thinking?

A
  • Falsifiability (can claim be disproved?)
  • Replicability
  • Extraordinary claims (is the evidence as strong as claim?_
  • Occam’s razor (could a simpler explanation fit data just as well?)
  • Ruling out rival hypotheses (such as placebo)
  • Correlation vs causation
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15
Q

What are the good research characteristics?

A
  • Based on measurements that are objective, valid, and reliable
  • Generalizable (or at least the generalizability across groups of people has been considered)
  • Concern to reduce bias
  • It can be replicated
  • Shared with others (ideally made openly accessible)
  • Done ethically, balancing risks and benefits
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16
Q

What does objective mean and how do you measure it?

A
  • The measure of variable that within a margin of error is consistent across instruments and observers
  • Measured with self report, third part observation, physiological measure
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17
Q

What does reliable mean and how do you measure it?

A
  • When a measure provides consistent and stable answers across multiple observations and points in time
  • Test re-test reliability (score on test today and tomorrow is same)
  • Internal consistency (a measure with high internal consistency the answers should converge on variable trying to measure)
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18
Q

What does valid mean and how do you measure it?

A
  • The degree to which an instrument or procedure actually measures what it claims to measure
  • Construct validity: the extent to which the variables in a study truly represent the abstract concept of interest to the research
19
Q

What does generalizable mean and how do you ensure it?

A
  • The degree to which one set of results can be applied to other situations, individuals, or events
  • Random sample is how you get a pool of participants that represents the population you are trying to learn about
20
Q

What are the types of bias and how do you reduce it?

A
  • Experimenter bias: the experimenter’s expectations may influence the results (double-blind procedure)
  • Placebo effect: observation of behaviour change because the participant believes in the effectiveness of the manipulation (control group with double-blind)
  • Hawthorne effect: a behaviour change that occurs as a result of merely being observed (anonymity, confidentiality, unobtrusive measure)
21
Q

What does replicated mean?

A

The process of repeating a study (by different researchers) and finding a similar outcome each time

22
Q

What does knowledge mobilization mean? What does peer reviewed article mean?

A
  • Knowledge mobilization: act of putting knowledge generated through research to active use
  • Peer reviewed article: process of subjecting researchers’ works to scrutiny of others who are experts in same field before paper is published in journal
23
Q

What is the issue with secondary sources?

A
  • No proper regulations and often affected by a lack of competencies and skills
  • Researchers (report accurate data) and media (sensationalism) often have different goals
24
Q

What are some knowledge mobilization changes from the past?

A
  • New peer reviewed outlets that publish replication studies are open access (eg. Frontiers)
  • Voluntary registries to register studies (Eg. Open Science Framework)
  • Federal research must be made open access within 12 months of publication
25
Q

What are the principles to ethical research? What is minimal risk?

A
  • There has to be clear benefits of the research to society and those have to outweigh the risks imposed on participants
  • Minimal risk: in everyday life you could be faced with the same type of situation
  • Participants need to have the opportunity to provide informed consent
26
Q

Why should we do ethical research?

A
  • Well-being of participants
  • Maintain the public’s trust
  • Ensure the proper advancement of science
27
Q

How do we do ethical research?

A
  • Regulated by Tri-Council Policy
  • When researchers want to do studies with human/animal participants, they must submit the research protocol to committee called Research Ethics Board (REB) which assesses benefit to society
  • Projects that are not minimal risk can still be conducted, just will be done under tight monitoring (consent, procedure to monitor risks)
28
Q

What are the 3 research methods? Give the definitions.

A
  • Descriptive: the observation of two variables x and y, primary goal is to describe
  • Correlational: is there an association between variable x and y?, primary goal is to observe extent variables co-occur
  • Experimental: is the variable x having a causal effect on the variable y?, primary goal is to examine causes
29
Q

What are the types of descriptive research methods?

A
  • Case study: observing and gathering information to compile an in-depth study of one individual
  • Naturalistic observation: recording behaviour in the environment without control or manipulation
  • Survey: a method of gathering information about many people’s thoughts or behaviours through self-report
30
Q

How do you use the correlational research method? Define any key terms.

A
  • Often will use surveys, in this case to look for a corelationship between two or more variables
  • Correlation coefficient: measure of association between two variables that vary in direction (+ or -) and in strength
31
Q

How do you use the experimental research method? Define any key terms.

A
  • Manipulate one specific factor to determine its effect
  • Randomization: random assignment of participants to experimental and control groups is how you control all variables except the one you’re manipulating, on average across multiple studies
  • Standardizing procedures: control all external variables
32
Q

How do researchers in psychology statistically test hypotheses?

A
  1. Can we use these results to generalize or predict the future behaviour of the broader population?
  2. Is the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable statistically different than 0
  3. What is the size of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable (effect size)?
33
Q

Explain the 2nd step of statistically testing hypotheses. Define any key terms.

A
  • Statistical inference; start with assumption that there is no difference between conditions (null hypothesis: all differences are equal to 0)*
  • Given you are expecting no differences, what is the probability that you will find the same differences (or bigger ones) as you have observed in future studies
  • If the probability is smaller than 5% (rule of thumb) we deem it worthy of a second look or “statistically significant”
  • If not smaller than 5% then we cannot reject the null hypothesis
  • We conclude that the results do not suggest the hypothesized effect of the independent variable is supported by the data
  • We are interested in what is not there
34
Q

Explain the 3rd step of statistically testing hypotheses. Define any key terms.

A
  • Effect size allows us to look at how much an independent variable influences the dependent variable
  • An independent variable can have statistically significant effect on a dependent variable, but does not necessarily mean it is significant or influences it a lot
35
Q

What is empiricism? What is determinism?

A

Empiricism: philosophical tenet that knowledge comes through experience

Determinism: belief that all events are governed by lawful, cause-and-effect relationships

36
Q

What is pseudoscience?

A

an idea that is presented as science but does not actually utilize the basic principles of scientific thinking or procedure

37
Q

What is the biopsychosocial model?

A

Means of explaining behavior as a product of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors

38
Q

Why did psychology not immediately benefit from the scientific revolution? Talk about dualism.

A
  • People at the time didn’t want to believe in the philosophy of materialism (the belief that humans and other living beings are composed exclusively of physical matter)
  • Dualism: belief that some properties of humans are not material (a mind or soul separate from the body)
39
Q

What is psychophysics?

A

Study of relationship between physical world and mental representation of that world)

40
Q

How did Charles Darwin contribute to psychology?

A
  • Behavior is shaped by natural selection
  • The modern behaviours that we engage in every day were the same behaviours that allowed our ancestors to flourish
  • Recognition that behaviours are subject to hereditary influences
41
Q

What is clinical psychology?

A
  • Field of psychology that concentrations on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
42
Q

What did Freud develop?

A
  • Psychoanalysis (psychological approach that attempts to explain how behavior and personality are influenced by unconscious processes)
    o Unconscious mental activity
    o Use of medical ideas to treat disorders of emotion, thought, and behavior (medical model)
    o Early life experiences influence our behavior as adults
43
Q

What did Galton believe?

A
  • Galton believed that heredity explained achievements tended to run in families

VPSYC (13 decks)

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