Introduction to Psychology Flashcards
what is pyschology
the scientific study of behaviour of overt and internal activities of an organism
historical disciplines
philosophy + physiology
previous historical interpretations of pyschology
- Egyptians= heart as the organ of reasoning
- Greek philosophers= artisostolte thought heart was center of intelligence adn theat the brain cooled blood
- Up untill the Renaissance= human heart believed to be where the mind is
evidence used to justify historical intepretations of pyschology
if heart center= death by injury there
emotional responses ‘felt’ in the chest’
many capillariies in head for ‘cooling blood’
Plato
mind+ body dualism (mind controls body)
what is cartesian dualism
mutual interaction between mind and body occurs in the pineal gland
decartes
body as ‘interface for the soul’
matieralism
all mental phenomena can be explaiend in physical terms
psych= studied scientifiically
positivism
regonize only positive facts and observable phenomena (according to comte)
empiricism
sensory experiences are the source of all knowleudge
locke, hume + tabula rasa
Hermann Von Holtz influences on pyschology
investigated the speed of neural impulses (siginifance ot TIME in study of perception)
Ernst Weber influences on pyschology
smallest diference can be noticed between 2 stimuli is relative and not absolute (we adapt conetxtually)
i.e. relative brightness of a light in a room
Gustac Feschner influences on pyschology
he developed pyschophysics; measured the efects of changes in the physical world in their relation to perception
what is Phrenoology and how does it contribute to pyschology
Franz Gall: a pseudoscience suggesting a link between personalities and the morphoplogy of the brain
it suggests that the brain is an organ of the mind with localized functions
what is functional localization
The idea that different parts of the brain do different things
examples of famous cases of functional localization
Paul Broca + Brocas Aphasia+ Patient Tan
Phigneas Gage
Wernicke
structurualism
deconstruction of sensory processes into the consitutet elements
william wundt
developed structuralism in Leipzig University
he used introspection to study mental state (not v scientific)
behaviorism
developed in response to ‘non-scientific’ disciplines in the USA; all behaviour can be reduced to a stimulus-response association and should be studied objectively as it is the only observabe/controlalble/measurable thing
John Watson
developed Behaviourism by focsing on pyschology as an objective science
examples of other behaviourist
Skinner and Pavlov
cognitive pyschology
- 1950s; created in response to oversimplicaition of behaviourism
- inferences of mental procesees by objecive study of behaviour
- sees brain as a ‘computer’ (input to storage to output)
computaitonal pyschology
subdiscioplince of cognitive pyschology
looks at ‘selfridge-nesser pattern recognition machine’ or ‘brain preception stimuli’
cognitive neuroscience
investiages neural processes in cognition using techniques such as neuroimagine (fmri, eeg, meg, pet)
how does pyschology defy the common sense view
- findings of studies SOMETIMES unexpected
2. peoples views often reflect their OWN experinces instead of objective reality (CONFIRMATION BIAS)
aim of the scientific method
aims to establish lawful relationships in objective study
process of scientific method
objective/goal-> theory-> hypothesis-> experiment-> observation
if observation supports experiment= replicate
if observation doesn’t support experiment= revise hypothesis/theory
theories MUST be..
- testable (explicit and clear)
2. falsifiable (karl popper)= finding events where hyopthesis can be wrong
falsiability and freud
freuds ideas= aren’t falsiable as he used observation (went directly to obsrevation as opposed to starting with a theory)
case= his studies of unconscious and conscious minds influencing behaviour in pyschoanalysis
6 steps to designing an experiment
- state the question/hypothesis
- identify the independent variable
- identify the dependent variable
- identify the control and confounds
- identify the populatin/subjects of study
- determine how you will analyze the data
dependent variable
what you manipulate
independent variable
what you change
what does data acolleciton need
- be systematic= multiple obsrvations, objective measrument, unbiased
- clear and measruable variabes
- if findings dont support theory= start again
- if findings support theory= replicate experiment (if not replicable= reject)
pyschoanalysis
by sigmuned freund; our personaltities are shaped by unconscious motives
william james developed…
functionalism
measures to DESCRIBE behaviour
- case studies
- naturalistic observation
- surveys and questtionatires
how to EXPLAIN behaviour
experiments such as:
- double blind procedures
- placebos
- ethics/replication considerations
experimental pyschology
collects data (not case studies) statistically correts information in experements
behavioural measurment tools
- cognitive tests
- animal conditions
- infant habituation
- quesstionatirs
pyschophysiological measurement tools
- galbanic skin conductance
- salivary hormones
- eye tracking
- electro-myographs
neurophysiological measurment tools
- eeg
- optogenetics
- brain manipulators
