Lecture 1 - Introduction Flashcards
behaviour
refers to any action that can be OBSERVED
What does psychology mean
the objective study of the mid
mental processes
include attention, perception, memory, cognition, imagination etc.
brain functions
the cerebral basis of these mental processes
dreams have
themes
hybrid of psychology made of two roots
philosophy and natural science
What was Wilhelm Wundt’s theory
structuralism
structuralism
the mind can be broken down into smaller elements of mental experience
What was Max Wertheimer’s theory
Gestalt (whole) psychology (rejected structuralism)
Gestalt psychology
emphasized the role of context or the”whole”in perception
What was William James’ theory
Functionalism
Functionalism
views behaviour as purposeful because it led to survival instinct (more interested in why behaviour works)
What did Sigmund Freud found?
psychoanalysis
Humanistic psychology
Say that humans are naturally good and behave only badly when corrupted by society (Freud opposes this)
Behaviourists
concentrate on observable measurable behaviours
Thorndike proposed what law?
Law of effect (pleasant behaviours would occur more in the future and unpleasant behaviours would occur less)
Cognitive revolution
the challenge of other scientists towards behaviourism
what are the 5 perspectives of Psychology
biological, cognitive, developmental, social/personality and clinical psychology
biological psychology
focuses on reciprocal relationships between the mind and behaviour looking at underlying biological processes
cognitive psychology
focuses on the processing of information
developmental psychology
explores the normal changes in behaviour that occur across the life span
social/personality psychology
describe the effects of social environment and individual differences of behaviour (attitude, relationships)
clinical psychology
seek to explain, define and treat psychological disorders
what makes science science
objectivity and systematic observation, relying on observable and repeatable evidence
confirmation bias
tendency to notice and remember instances that support our beliefs more than instances that contradict them
descriptive methods
case studies, naturalistic observations and surveys
correlational methods
measure the direction and strength of the relationships between two variables which look at relationships and causes
meta-analysis
statistical analysis of many previous experiments on a single topic
