Introduction to Psychology Flashcards
What is the definition of psychology?
The scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, and feeling) and behaviour - and the interaction between them.
What is the scientific approach?
The scientific basis for understanding why we do the things we do.
What is empirical evidence?
Information gathered through experience and observation (which must be systematic).
What are the 5 pitfalls of the scientific approach?
- Mental shortcuts
- Failure to consider alternative explanations (fundamental attribution error)
- Confirmation bias
- Hindsight bias
- Perceiving patterns in random events
What are the 3 levels of analysis in the biopsychosocial approach?
- Biological: brain processes and genes
- Psychological level: thoughts, feelings, motives
- Environmental level: past experience and cultural norms
What are the 4 goals of psychology?
- Description: how people behave, think, and feel
- Explanation: understand why people act as they do
- Control: designing research to test proposed explanations
- Application: apply knowledge in ways that enhance human welfare
What did Wilhelm Wundt study?
Structuralism: using the method of introspection to uncover the basic elements of consciousness.
What did William James study?
Functionalism: argued that consciousness is functional and serves a purpose.
How would structuralism and functionalism study the human hand?
Structuralism: interested in how the different muscles, bones, and tendons operate.
Functionalism: interested in learning how the hand helps us adapt to our environment.
What is a paradigm?
A broad system of theoretical assumptions employed by a scientific community.
What methods can be used in the psychodynamic perspective?
- Interpretation of verbal discourse
- Slips of the tongue
- Dreams
- Actions and posture
- Case studies
What does the psychodynamic perspective believe?
That conscious and unconscious forces interact to control our thoughts and behaviours.
Key figure: Freud
What view does the behaviourist perspective take?
That environmental stimuli control behaviour through learning. Focuses on behaviour rather than internal states.
Key figure: Skinner
What does the humanistic perspective focus on?
The uniqueness of the individual and that people are motivated to reach their full potential (self-actualisation).
Key figure: Carl Rogers
The cognitive perspective focuses on…
How people process, store, and retrieve information.
Key figure: Descartes
Which perspective used experimental methods to infer how mental processes work?
Cognitive
What method is used for the humanistic perspective?
Person-centred therapeutic approach that emphasises empathy, acceptance, and respect for the individual.
What perspective used experiments on humans and other animals?
Behaviourist
What does the evolutionary perspective believe?
That human behaviours evolved because they helped our ancestors survive and reproduce.
Key figure: Charles Darwin
Which perspective used cross-species and cross-cultural comparisons?
Evolutionary
The sociocultural perspective studies…
Behaviour and mental processes of people in different cultures, using experiments to examine people’s responses to social stimuli.
According to the sociocultural perspective in psychology, what are the major causal factors in behaviour?
Social forces (social norms, social interactions, and group processes) in one’s culture and social environment.
How would the psychodynamic perspective and cognitive perspective view anger differently?
Psychodynamic: outbursts as an unconscious outlet of hostility
Cognitive: how does our interpretation of a situation affect our anger and how does our anger affect thinking
