Introduction to Psychology & Research Methods Flashcards
What is pseudopsychology? Give some examples.
Pseudo = false
Any unfounded “system” that resembles psychology and is NOT based on evidence gathered from scientific research.
Examples:
Palmistry: Lines on your hands (palms)predict the future and reveal personality.
Phrenology: Personality traits revealed by the shape of the skull.
Graphology: Personality traits are revealed by your handwriting.
Astrology: The positions of the stars and planets at birth determine personality traits and affect your behavior.
Who is the “Father” of psychology?
Wilhelm Wundt
What is Introspection?
the examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes.
Report experience
________ focused on how mental activities helped an organism fit into its environment.
functionalism
Find which Theory is this:
More interested in the operation of the whole mind rather than of its individual parts.
We have traits & abilities, but rather than trying to figure out the experience of these, we should remember that they serve a purpose.
E.x. Why do we see a red dot? What purpose does color vision serve? How does it help?
Functionalism
______believe that there are elements or structures of the mind that make us behave, think and feel the way we do. (e.x. brain and its parts)
Structuralists
The influence of the unconscious on behavior. The importance of early life experience on personality development.
Techniques of study- individual case study of the patient.
Which theory is this?
Psychoanalytic theory
This theory focuses on the role of a person’s unconscious, as well as early childhood experiences.
Focuses on: the unconscious of the human mind.
Psychoanalytic theory by Sigmund Freud
Who are Neo-Freudians?
New or recent; some of Freud’s students who broke away to promote their own theories.
This theory states that:
Psychology must study observable behavior objectively.
Studied relationship between
Stimuli & responses
Behaviorism
Father of Behaviorism
thought that the study of consciousness was flawed.
Because he believed that objective analysis of the mind was impossible,
preferred to focus directly on observable behavior and try to bring that behavior under control.
Shifted the focus of psychology from the mind –> behavior.
Stimuli & response
John B. Watson
The approach of observing and controlling behavior.
behaviorism
This person concentrated on how behavior was affected by its consequences.
Believed that reinforcement & punishment are the major factors in driving behavior.
B.F Skinner
This theory states that our thoughts influence our behaviors.
Thinking and conditioning are combined to explain behavior.
Cognitive Behaviourism
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
Studied thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not by analyzing experiences into parts
State which theory is this.
Gestalt psychology
Deals with the fact that although a sensory experience can be broken down into individual parts, how those parts relate to each other as a whole is often what the individual responds to in perception.
For example, a song may be made up of individual notes played by different instruments, but the real nature of the song is perceived in the combinations of these notes as they form the melody, rhythm, and harmony.
Contradictory to: structuralism
Which theory is this?
Gestalt psychology
Goal: to study UNIQUE aspects of the person.
Focuses on human experience, problems, potentials, and ideals.
Each person has INNATE GOODNESS and is able to make free choices
Key Names: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
Humanism
A perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate (inborn) to all humans.
Humanism
_________ established the hierarchy of human needs in motivating behavior.
He stated that: “As long as basic needs necessary for survival were met (e.g., food, water, shelter), higher-level needs (e.g., social needs) would begin to motivate behavior”.
Abraham Maslow
Focus on the importance of social and cultural contexts in influencing our behavior
Social Constructionism
All of our behavior can be explained through PHYSIOLOGICAL processes.
Uses brain scans to gather data
Biopsychology
Study of human strengths, virtues, and optimal behavior
Looks at the positive side of human behavior
Positive Psychology
Which theory is this?
People’s emotions, thoughts, behavior, and body sensations, are linked to each other, and whatever people do and whatever they think, affects how they feel.
thoughts - feelings - behavior
Also, changes in one of these will cause changes in the others.
Cognitive Behaviorism
study how the structure and function of the nervous system generate behavior.
Biopsychology
Scientific study of development across a lifespan.
Developmental psychology
Focuses on how we interact with and relate to others.
Social psychology
Focuses on how health is affected by the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.
Health psychology
Subject has an equal chance of being in either the experimental or control group
Random assignment
The group of subjects that gets exposed to the independent variable- _________
The group of subjects that gets all conditions EXCEPT the independent variable. ________
Experimental group, Control group
Condition(s) altered by the experimenter; experimenter sets their size, amount, or value; these are suspected causes for behavioral differences
Independent variable
the variable that changes as a result of the independent variable manipulation.
dependent variable
What are Extraneous variables?
Conditions that a researcher wants to prevent from affecting the outcomes of the experiment (e.g., the number of hours slept before the experiment)
Observing a person or an animal in the environment in which they/ it lives (s)
Naturalistic observation
What is the Observer effect?
Changes in the subject’s behavior caused by an awareness of being observed.
What is Observer bias?
Occurs when observers see what they expect to see or record only selected details
Studies designed to measure the degree of a relationship (if any) between two or more events, measures, or variables
Correlational Studies
_________- Increases in one variable are matched by increases in the other variable
Positive correlation
_________- Increases in one variable are matched by decreases in the other variable
Negative correlation
What is Courtesy bias?
a tendency to give “polite” or socially desirable answers and not be truthful in responses
