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UvA Psychology > Introduction to Psychology > Flashcards

Introduction to Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is psychology?

A

Psychology is the science of behavior and the mind. Behavior refers to the observable actions of an person or an animal. Mind refers to an individual’s sensations, perceptions, memories, thoughts, dreams, motives, emotions, and other subjective experiences. Psychology is also an applied science.

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2
Q

What is science?

A

It refers to all attempts to answer questions through the systematic collection and logical analysis of objectively observable data.

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3
Q

What are the three fundamental ideas of psychology?

A
  1. Our behavior and mind can be studied physically.
  2. People change because of what they experience.
  3. The human’s body has changed overtime by evolution.
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4
Q

Dualism

A

According to the church, each human being consists of two entities: a material body and an immaterial soul.

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5
Q

What was Descartes’ version of dualism?

A

As a biologist, he knew that heat can be created by the body itself. He challenged the original theory by using the fact that nonhuman animals have souls, but they can a lot of what we can do, e.g. breathing, eating, moving, etc. The only difference between us and nonhuman animals is that we have thought and they don’t. He claims that our soul is connected to our body through our pineal body. Through this organ, the soul receives information, thinks about it, and wills the body to move and execute other physical actions.

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6
Q

Materialism

A

Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679) argues that spirit, or soul, is a meaningless concept and that nothing exists but matter and energy. All human’s behavior, including the seemingly voluntary choices we make, can be understood in terms of physical processes in the body, especially the brain. Conscious thought is purely a byproduct of the brain’s machinery and therefor subject to the natural law.

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7
Q

Which belief came out as the winner? (Materialism or Dualism)

A

Materialism. The problem with dualism is that the second entity, the soul, does not follow the natural laws. Because of it being immaterial, we are unable to prove it. Materialism, on the other hand, has manage to give us a better understanding of our minds. Thanks to materialism, we managed to make considerable progress: the nervous system and our reflexes.

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8
Q

How did discoveries of localization of function in the brain help establish the idea that the mind can be studied scientifically?

A

Thanks to the evidences of Johannes Muller, Pierre Flourens and Paul Broca, people were able to see a relationship between the mind and the brain.

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9
Q

Empiricism

A

Our knowledge and thoughts are gained from our sensory senses (vision, hearing, smell, touch) according to British philosophers James Mill (1773-1836), John Locke (1632-1704), David Hartley (1705-1759), and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).

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10
Q

Association by contiguity

A

If a person experiences two environmental events (stimuli, or sensations) at the same time or one right after the other (contiguously), those two events will become associated (bound together) in the person’s mind, such that the thought of one event will, in the future, tend to elicit the thought of the other.

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11
Q

Mental Chemistry

A

Complex ideas and thoughts are formed from combinations of elementary ideas, much as chemical compounds are formed from combinations of chemical elements.

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12
Q

Nativism

A

Is the view that the most basic forms of human knowledge and the
basic operating characteristics of the mind, which provide the foundation for human nature, are native to the human mind—that is, are inborn and do not have to be acquired from experience. It is the opposite of empiricism.

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13
Q

Priori knowledge

A

Knowledge built into the human brain and does not have to be learned.

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14
Q

Posteriori knowledge

A

Knowledge that is gained from experience in the environment

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15
Q

What was Charles Darwin known for?

A

He was known for his principles of evolution. Living things evolve gradually, over generations, by a process of natural selection. All the organisms on earth evolve in such ways to promote their own survival and rate of reproduction.

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16
Q

Level of analysis

A

Used in psychology and other sciences, refers to the level, or type, of the causal process that is studied. It has two clusters: biological (consisting of neural, physiological, genetic, and evolutionary explanations) and the effects of experience and knowledge (consisting of learning, cognitive, social, cultural, and developmental).

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17
Q

Neural explanations

A

All behaviors and mental experiences are products of the nervous system.

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18
Q

Physiological explanations

A

The ways hormones and drugs act on the brain to alter behavior and experience, either in humans or non-humans.

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19
Q

Genetic explanations

A

Psychological differences among individuals in terms of differences in their genes.

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20
Q

Evolutionary explanations

A

All the basic biological machinery underlying behavior and mental experience is a product of evolution by natural selection.

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21
Q

Learning explanations

A

Essentially all forms of human behavior and mental experience are modifiable by learning; that is, they can be influenced by prior experiences.

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22
Q

Cognitive explanations

A

One way to explain any behavioral action or mental experience is to relate it to cognitions (items of mental information) that underlie that action or experience.

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23
Q

What is the difference between cognitive and learning psychology?

A

In general, cognitive psychology differs from the psychology of learning
in its focus on the mind. Learning psychologists typically relate learning
experiences directly to behavioral changes and are relatively unconcerned
with the mental processes that mediate such relationships. To a learning
psychologist, experience in the environment leads to change in behavior.
To a cognitive psychologist, experience in the environment leads to
change in knowledge or beliefs, which in turn leads to change in behavior.

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24
Q

Social explanations

A

One way to explain mental experiences and behavior is to identify how they are influenced by other people or by one’s belief about other people. Social-psychological explanations are often phrased in terms of people’s conscious or unconscious beliefs about the potential social consequences of acting in a particular way. This means that many social-psychological explanations are also cognitive explanations.

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25
Q

Cultural explanations

A

Mental experiences and behavior in terms of a person’s cultural background.

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26
Q

Differences between social and cultural explanations

A

Cultural and social psychology are closely related, but they differ in emphasis. While social psychologists emphasize the immediate social influences that act on individuals and groups, cultural psychologists strive to characterize entire cultures in terms of the typical ways that people within them feel, think, and act. Social psychologists use concepts such as conformity and obedience to explain behavior, whereas cultural psychologists more often refer to the unique history, economy, and religious or philosophical traditions of a culture to explain the values, norms, and habits of its people.

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27
Q

Developmental explanations

A

The typical age differences in how people think, feel, and act.

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28
Q

What are the three main divisions of academic studies?

A

Natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.

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29
Q

Theory

A

An idea, or a conceptual model, that is designed to explain existing observations and make predictions about new observations that might be discovered.

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30
Q

Hypothesis

A

Any prediction about new observation that is made from a theory

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31
Q

What are the three dimensions of research strategies?

A

The research design, the setting and the data-collection method.

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32
Q

What are the tree types of research design?

A

Experiments, correlational studies and descriptive studies.

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33
Q

What are the two basic types of the setting?

A

Field and laboratory.

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34
Q

What are the two basic types of data-collection method?

A

Self-report and observation.

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35
Q

Experiment

A

A procedure in which a researcher systematically manipulates (varies) one ore more independent variables and looks for changes in one or more dependent variables, while keeping all other variables constant.

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36
Q

Subjects

A

Refer to the humans or animals that are being studied in any research study.

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37
Q

Within-subject experiments

A

Or repeated-measures experiments, are experiments where each subject is being tested in each of the different conditions of the independent variable.

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38
Q

Between-groups experiments

A

Or between-subjects experiments, a separate group of subjects each get a different condition of the independent variable.

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39
Q

What’s the advantages and disadvantage of using random assignments?

A

Pros: It prevents bias. Any results that differ among the groups must be a result of chance.
Cons: Confounds can occur.

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40
Q

Correlational studies

A

Observing the relationship between variables. There are no manipulations involved here. We do this when experimental studies are too difficult or are impossible.

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41
Q

Descriptive study

A

Describing the behavior of an individual or set of individuals without assessing relationships between different variables.

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42
Q

Laboratory study

A

Any research study in which the subjects are brought to a specially designated area that has been set up to facilitate the researcher’s collection of data or control over environmental conditions.

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43
Q

Field study

A

Any research study conducted in a setting where the researcher does not have control over the subjects’ experiences.

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44
Q

What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of laboratory studies and field studies?

A

Laboratory and field settings offer opposite sets of advantages and disadvantages. Laboratory settings might be too strange or artificial for the subjects, causing behaviors to occur that might act as confounds.

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45
Q

Introspection

A

One form of self-report. The personal observation of one’s thoughts, perceptions, and feelings.

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46
Q

Self-report methods

A

Procedures in which people are asked to rate their own behavior or mental state in some way.

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47
Q

Observational methods

A

All procedures by which researchers observe and record the behavior of interest rather than relying on subjects’ self reports.

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48
Q

What are tests and naturalistic observations?

A

Both are sub categories of observational methods. With tests, researchers deliberately presents problem, tasks, or situations to which the subject responds. With naturalistic observations, researchers avoid interfering with the subjects’ behavior.

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49
Q

Hawthorne effect

A

Changes in subjects’ behavior as a result of knowing they are being watched.

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50
Q

What’s one way of minimizing the Hawthorne effect?

A

By taking advantage of the phenomenon of habituation: a decline in response when a stimulus is repeatedly or continuously present.

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51
Q

Disadvantage of naturalistic observations

A

It takes a long time, you cannot change anything, operationalizing the data so it can be used for statistical analysis is difficult too.

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52
Q

How do we make sense of the data collected in a research study?

A

By using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.

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53
Q

Descriptive statistics

A

Statistical procedures used to summarize sets of data. It involves using numbers and uses the terms mean, median and a measure of variability.

54
Q

Inferential statistics

A

Statistical procedures which help researchers decide how confident they can be in judging whether the results observed are due to chance.

55
Q

Variability in statistics

A

The degree in which the numbers in the set differ from one another and from their mean.

56
Q

Standard deviation

A

A common measure of variability.

57
Q

Correlation coefficient

A

A statistic that indicates the direction of the correlation (negative or positive). It produces a result ranging from -1.00 to +1.00. When the cc is 0, it means that there are nor relation at all between the variables.

58
Q

What does it mean to say that a result from a research study is statistically significant at the 5% level?

A

To say that results are statistically significant is to say that the probability is acceptably small (generally less than 5%) that they could be caused by chance alone

59
Q

How is statistical significance affected by the size of the effect, the number of subjects or observations, and the variability of the scores within each group?

A

A large observed effect, a large number of observations, and a small degree of variability in scores within groups all reduce the likelihood that the effect is due to chance and increase the likelihood that a difference between two means, or a correlation between two variables, will be statistically significant.

60
Q

Bias

A

It refers to nonrandom (directed) effects caused by some factor or factors extraneous to the research hypothesis.

61
Q

What is the difference between bias and random viariation?

A

Imagine two archers, one is a novice and the other an expert. The novice is expected to shoot around and near the target (random variation). They are not experienced enough. An expert however can shoot more accurately. But let’s say the expert got a misaligned bow. All of the shots would be very close to each other, but not near the bullseye.

62
Q

Why is bias the more serious problem than random variation?

A

Because statistical techniques cannot identify or correct for it. Error only reduces the chance that researchers will find statistically significant results (by increasing the variability of the data).

63
Q

Biased sample

A

The members of a particular group are initially different from those of another group in some systematic way, or are different from the larger population that the researcher is interested in.

64
Q

How can we prevent bias in an experiment?

A

By using random assignment. Their individual differences are now merely a source of error.

65
Q

Why do bias samples occur in descriptive studies?

A

The human subjects who are easily available to be studied may not be the representative of the grater population.

66
Q

What is reliability?

A

Reliability has to do with measurement error, not bias. Because it is a source of error, low reliability decreases the chance of finding statistical significance in a research study.

67
Q

Interobserver reliability

A

Or interrater reliability: the same behavior seen by one observer is also seen by a second observer. To ensure interobserver reliability, most investigations require that at least two independent observers record the target behavior, and these recordings are then compared statistically to determine if the two people are seeing the
same things.

68
Q

Operational definition

A

An operational definition defines something in terms of the identifiable and repeatable procedures, or operations, by which it can be observed and measured.

69
Q

Validity

A

A measurement procedure is valid if it measures or predicts what it is intended to measure or predict. Lack of validity can be a source of bias.

70
Q

How can we assess the validity of a measurement procedure?

A

A more certain way to gauge the validity of a measurement procedure is to correlate its scores with another, more direct index of the characteristic
that we wish to measure or predict. In that case, the more direct index is called the criterion, and the validity is called criterion validity.

71
Q

Observer-expectancy effect

A

The expectation of a researcher might be conveyed/noticed by the subjects, causing them to behave differently than normal.

72
Q

Subject-expectancy effects

A

Subjects’ expectation may also cause them to behave differently.

73
Q

What can we do to minimize observers and subjects expectancy effect?

A

By using a double-blind placebo experiment: both the observer and the subjects are kept blind about the treatment subjects are receiving. While one group receives the real treatment, the other get a placebo (an inactive substance that looks like the drug).

74
Q

Evolution

A

The long-term adaptive process, spanning generations, that equips each species for life in its ever-changing natural habitat.

75
Q

How can genes affect behavioral traits through their role in protein synthesis?

A

All the effects that genes have on behavior occur through their role in building and modifying the physical structures of the body. Those structures, interacting with the environment, produce behavior.

76
Q

What is a gene?

A

A segment of a DNA molecule that contains the code that dictates the particular sequence of amino acids for a single type of protein.

77
Q

What does it mean to say that genes can influence behavioral traits only through interaction with the environment? How are genes involved in long term behavioral changes derived from experience?

A

Food supply genes with amino acids, which are needed to manufacture proteins. Experiences activate genes, which produce proteins, which in turn alter the function of some of the neural circuits in the brain and thereby change the individual’s behavior.

78
Q

Genotype

A

The set of genes that the individual inherits.

79
Q

Phenotype

A

Observable properties of the body and behavioral traits

80
Q

Mitosis

A

The process that divides cells to produce new cells other than egg or sperm cells. Each chromosome precisely replicates itself and then the cell divides, with one copy of each chromosome moving into each of the two cell nuclei thus formed.

81
Q

Meiosis

A

The process that divides cells to produce egg or sperm cells. Each chromosome replicates itself once, but then the cell divides twice.

82
Q

Zygote

A

When a sperm and egg unite, the result is a single egg, that contains 23 paired chromosomes.

83
Q

What is the advantage of producing genetically diverse offspring?

A

It reduces the risk that all of the offspring will die as a result of some unforeseen change in the environment.

84
Q

What is the difference between a dominant and a recessive gene (or allele)?

A

An dominant gene will produce its observable effect in either the homozygous or the heterozygous condition, while a recessive gene will only produce it in the homozygous condition.

85
Q

Who came up with the idea that the units of heredity come in pairs and that one member of a pair can be dominant over the other?

A

Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel.

86
Q

Why might a disease caused by two recessive genes persist in the gene pool?

A

In the situation that people have that gene in the heterozygous position, that’s when the benefit will be found.

87
Q

How do genes and the environment interact to affect individuals with PKU?

A

Genes has caused the inability to process phenylalanine. Food (comes from the environment) can cause excessive phenylalanine.

88
Q

Polygenic characteristics

A

Characteristics that vary in a continuous (when characteristics do not fall into two or more distinct group but can lie anywhere within the observed range of scores) way are generally affected by many genes.

89
Q

How are the characteristics of animals shaped through selective breeding?

A

For single-gene characteristics the effects of selective breeding are immediate, but for polygenic characteristics the effects are gradual and cumulative over generations.

90
Q

Epigenetics

A

Changes in gene function that do not alter its underlying structure of DNA but result in genes being switched on or off in a reversible way. How genetic material is activated or deactivated—that is, expressed—in different contexts.

91
Q

Artificial selection

A

Human-controlled selective breeding

92
Q

Natural selection

A

Selective breeding in nature is dictated not by the needs and whims of humans but by the obstacles to survival and reproduction that are imposed by the natural emvironment.

93
Q

Darwin’s concept of natural selection

A
  1. More individuals are born in a generation than will survive.
  2. Not all members of generation are the same.
  3. These individual differences are inherited, passed from one generation to the next.
  4. Individuals with collections of traits that fit well with the local environment are more apt to survive and have more offspring than individuals whose traits do not fit as well with the local environment.
94
Q

How are genes involved in evolution? What are the sources of genetic diversity on which natural selection acts?

A

Genes that improve an individual’s ability to survive and reproduce in the existing environment increase from generation to generation, and genes that impede this ability decrease over the generations. The genetic variability on which natural selection acts has two main sources: the reshuffling of genes that occurs in sexual reproduction (already discussed) and mutations.

95
Q

Mutations

A

Errors that occasionally and unpredictably occur during DNA replication, causing the ‘replica’ to be not quite identical to the original.

96
Q

How does change in the environment affect the direction and speed of evolution?

A

Environmental change spurs evolution not by causing the appropriate mutations to occur but by promoting natural selection.

97
Q

Misconceptions of evolution

A
  1. Natural selection can only lead to changes that are immediately adaptive; it cannot anticipate future needs.
  2. There is no preset pathway for evolution.
  3. The naturalistic fallacy is the error of equating “natural” with “moral” or “right.” Natural selection is not a moral force.
98
Q

Funtionalism

A

The study that attempts to explain behavior in terms of what it accomplishes for the behaving individual.

99
Q

How does an understanding of evolution provide a basis for functionalism in psychology?

A

The mechanisms underlying behavior are products of natural selection; they came about because they promoted survival and reproduction.

100
Q

Distal explanations of behavior

A

(as in “distant”) are explanations at the evolutionary level. They are statements of the role that the behavior has played in the animal’s survival and reproduction over evolutionary time. Viewed from the vantage point of the gene, they are statements of how the behavior helped the individual’s ancestor’s genes make it into the next generation. Distal causation is sometimes referred to as ultimate causation.

101
Q

Proximate explanations of behavior

A

(as in “proximity”) are explanations that deal not with function but with mechanism; they are statements of the immediate conditions, both inside and outside the animal, that elicit the behavior.

102
Q

How are the distal and proximate explanations of the behavior complementary?

A

The distal explanation states the survival or reproductive value of the behavior, and the proximate explanation states the stimuli and physiological mechanisms through which the behavior occurs.

103
Q

Vestigial characteristics

A

Remaining traits that evolved because they served the need of our ancestors and are no longer functional today.

104
Q

What are four reasons for the existence of traits or behaviors that do not serve survival and reproductive functions?

A
  1. Some traits are vestigial.
  2. Some traits are side effects of natural selection for other traits- like the navel.
  3. Some traits result simply from chance-genetic drift.
  4. Evolved mechanisms cannot deal effectively with every situation.
105
Q

Species-typical behaviors

A

Or more commonly called instincts, certain characteristics of behaving.

106
Q

How do the examples of two-legged walking and language in humans, and singing in white-crowned sparrows, illustrate the point that species-typical behaviors may depend on learning?

A

If the environment did not allow them, they won’t display species-specific behavior.

107
Q

How is the concept of biological preparedness related to that of species-typical behavior?

A

The body has to come with appropriate mechanisms to be able to act in some way. Dogs do not have the appropriate muscles and skeletal system to walk on two legs without practising.

108
Q

Homology

A

Any similarity that exists because of the different species’ common ancestry.

109
Q

Analogy

A

Any similarity that stems not from common ancestry but from convergent evolution.

110
Q

When does convergent evolution occurs?

A

When different species, because of their similar lifestyle and context, independently evolve a common characteristic.

111
Q

How are homologies used for learning about (a) the physiological mechanisms and (b) the evolutionary pathways of species-typical traits?

A

a. Because convergent
evolution can produce similar behaviors that operate through different
mechanisms, researchers use animals to understand the physiological mechanisms of humans.
b. By comparing the different forms of a particular species-typical behavior in closely related species, it is often possible to reconstruct how the more complex of these forms evolved through a series of steps from the simpler form.

112
Q

How can we use analogies to make inferences about the distal functions of species-typical traits?

A

Analogies, in contrast, are not useful for tracing evolutionary origins, but are useful for making inferences about the distal functions of species-typical behaviors. If different species have independently evolved a particular behavioral trait, then comparing the species may reveal commonalities of habitat and lifestyle that are clues to the distal function of that trait.

113
Q

Polygyny

A

When one male mates with more than one female.

114
Q

Polyandry

A

When one female mates with more than one male.

115
Q

Monogamy

A

When one male mates with one female.

116
Q

Promiscuity

A

Members of a group consists of more than one male and more than one female mates with one another.

117
Q

Parental investment

A

The time, energy, and risk to survival that are involved in producing, feeding, and otherwise caring for each offspring.

118
Q

Trivers’s version of paternal investment

A

The sex that invests more in parenting will be more selective in choosing a mate than the less-investing sex, whereas the less-investing sex will compete more vigorously for access to the more investing sex.

119
Q

Based on Trivers’s theory of parental investment, why does high investment by the female lead to (a) polygyny, (b) large size of males, and (c) high selectivity in the female’s choice of mate?

A

a. Because of the female’s high investment, the number of offspring she can produce in a breeding season or a lifetime is limited.
b. The male’s involvement with offspring is, at minimum, simply the production of sperm cells and the act of copulation. These require little time and energy, so his maximum reproductive potential is limited not by parental investment but by the number of fertile females he mates with.
c. Because she invests so much, risking her life and decreasing her future reproductive potential whenever she becomes pregnant, her genetic interests lie in producing offspring that will have the highest possible chance to survive and reproduce.

120
Q

What conditions promote the evolution of polyandry? How do sex differences within polyandrous species support Trivers’s theory?

A

Polyandry seems to come about in cases where the female can produce more eggs during a single breeding season than either she alone or she and one male can care for. Consistent with Trivers’s theory, females of polyandrous species are the more active and aggressive courters, and they have evolved to be larger, stronger, and in some cases more brightly colored than the males

121
Q

What conditions promote the evolution of monogamy? Why are sex differences in size and strength generally lacking in monogamous species?

A

Equal parental investment is most likely to come about when conditions make it impossible for a single adult to raise the young but quite possible for two to raise them. Because neither sex has a much greater likelihood of fighting over mates, there is little or no natural selection for sex differences in size and strength, and, in general, males and females of monogamous species are nearly identical in these characteristics.

122
Q

For what evolutionary reasons might monogamously mated females and males sometimes copulate with partners other than their mates?

A

From the female’s evolutionary perspective, copulation with a male that is genetically superior to her own mate (as manifested in song and feathers) results in genetically superior young, and copulation with any additional male increases the chance that all her eggs will be fertilized by viable sperm. For the male, evolutionary advantage rests in driving neighboring males away from his own mate whenever possible and in copulating with neighboring females whenever possible. Genes that build brain mechanisms that promote such behaviors are passed along to more offspring than are genes that do not.

123
Q

Helping

A

Any behavior that increases the survival chance or reproductive capacity of another individual

124
Q

Two categories of helping

A

Cooperation and altruism

125
Q

Cooperation

A

When an individual helps another while helping itself.

126
Q

Altruism

A

When an individual helps another while decreasing its own survival chance or reproductive capacity.

127
Q

The kin selection theory of altruism

A

Behavior that may seem altruistic came about through natural selection because it preferentially helps close relative, who are genetically most similar to the helper.

128
Q

The reciprocity theory of apparent altruism

A

The reciprocity theory provides an account of how acts of apparent altruism can arise even among nonkin.

129
Q

Hormones

A

Chemical messengers that are secreted into the blood. They are carried by the blood to all parts on the body, where they act on specific target tissues.

130
Q
A

UvA Psychology (4 decks)

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