Introduction to Psychology

Question 1

What is the definition of psychology?

Answer 1

The scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, and feeling) and behaviour - and the interaction between them.

Question 2

What is the scientific approach?

Answer 2

The scientific basis for understanding why we do the things we do.

Question 3

What is empirical evidence?

Answer 3

Information gathered through experience and observation (which must be systematic).

Question 4

What are the 5 pitfalls of the scientific approach?

Answer 4

1. Mental shortcuts
2. Failure to consider alternative explanations (fundamental attribution error)
3. Confirmation bias
4. Hindsight bias
5. Perceiving patterns in random events

Question 5

What are the 3 levels of analysis in the biopsychosocial approach?

Answer 5

1. Biological: brain processes and genes
2. Psychological level: thoughts, feelings, motives
3. Environmental level: past experience and cultural norms

Question 6

What are the 4 goals of psychology?

Answer 6

1. Description: how people behave, think, and feel
2. Explanation: understand why people act as they do
3. Control: designing research to test proposed explanations
4. Application: apply knowledge in ways that enhance human welfare

Question 7

What did Wilhelm Wundt study?

Answer 7

Structuralism: using the method of introspection to uncover the basic elements of consciousness.

Question 8

What did William James study?

Answer 8

Functionalism: argued that consciousness is functional and serves a purpose.

Question 9

How would structuralism and functionalism study the human hand?

Answer 9

Structuralism: interested in how the different muscles, bones, and tendons operate.
Functionalism: interested in learning how the hand helps us adapt to our environment.

Question 10

What is a paradigm?

Answer 10

A broad system of theoretical assumptions employed by a scientific community.

Question 11

What methods can be used in the psychodynamic perspective?

Answer 11

• Interpretation of verbal discourse
• Slips of the tongue
• Dreams
• Actions and posture
• Case studies

Question 12

What does the psychodynamic perspective believe?

Answer 12

That conscious and unconscious forces interact to control our thoughts and behaviours.
Key figure: Freud

Question 13

What view does the behaviourist perspective take?

Answer 13

That environmental stimuli control behaviour through learning. Focuses on behaviour rather than internal states.
Key figure: Skinner

Question 14

What does the humanistic perspective focus on?

Answer 14

The uniqueness of the individual and that people are motivated to reach their full potential (self-actualisation).
Key figure: Carl Rogers

Question 15

The cognitive perspective focuses on…

Answer 15

How people process, store, and retrieve information.
Key figure: Descartes

Question 16

Which perspective used experimental methods to infer how mental processes work?

Answer 16

Cognitive

Question 17

What method is used for the humanistic perspective?

Answer 17

Person-centred therapeutic approach that emphasises empathy, acceptance, and respect for the individual.

Question 18

What perspective used experiments on humans and other animals?

Answer 18

Behaviourist

Question 19

What does the evolutionary perspective believe?

Answer 19

That human behaviours evolved because they helped our ancestors survive and reproduce.
Key figure: Charles Darwin

Question 20

Which perspective used cross-species and cross-cultural comparisons?

Answer 20

Evolutionary

Question 21

The sociocultural perspective studies…

Answer 21

Behaviour and mental processes of people in different cultures, using experiments to examine people’s responses to social stimuli.

Question 22

According to the sociocultural perspective in psychology, what are the major causal factors in behaviour?

Answer 22

Social forces (social norms, social interactions, and group processes) in one’s culture and social environment.

Question 23

How would the psychodynamic perspective and cognitive perspective view anger differently?

Answer 23

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