M02 Flashcards
from powerpoint
What is psychology?
The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes
What does the term ‘behaviour’ refer to?
Everything we do that can be directly observed
Examples include actions like two people kissing or a baby crying.
What are mental processes?
The thoughts, feelings, and motives that we experience privately but cannot be directly observed.
What is the origin of the word ‘psychology’?
Psyche (Greek: soul) + -ology (Greek: study of)
What is the active reading method?
Write down headings as questions, read till the next heading, answer out loud, and write down the answer.
Define ‘levels of analysis’ in psychology.
Different levels of different but coexisting explanations and analysis including macro, meso, molar, molecular, and micro.
What is Meehl’s maxim?
The best predicator of future behavior is past behaviour
What does the term ‘multicollinearity’ refer to?
Overlap among different causes of behaviour.
What is ontology?
The search for ‘what is real.’ The study of what ‘is.’
What is the difference between materialism and idealism?
Materialism asserts that only material things exist, while idealism posits that some reality exists separately from the sensible world.
What is epistemology?
The study of knowledge and how individuals gain knowledge.
Who suggested empiricism
Hume
What is empiricism?
The belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience.
Bottom up theorizing
What is rationalism?
The belief that some knowledge can be known independent of the senses.
Who suggested Rationalism
Descartes
Top-down Theorizing
What is the realist view of facts and theory?
Sees theories as soft mental images involving values and beliefs while facts are hard, settled, and observable.
Failing to confirm the null hypothesis = probable truth
Who suggested realist view
Popper
What is the relativist view of facts and theory
The idea that the powerful influence of our thoughts often dictates what we observe as facts. We only know the world through our consciousness, and it is coloured by our language and subcultures
Who suggested relativist view
Foucault
What does logical positivism assume?
- Reality is independent of the knower and unbiased truth can be arrived at.
- if researcher is careful, its possible to arrive at unbiased truth
What does social constructionism assume?
Researchers construct knowledge that is influenced by the social context of inquiry and there is no pure, unbiased truth but rather always from a perspective or point of view
What is objectivity?
A view of truth or reality that is free of any individual’s influence.
independent of mind and belongs to sensible world that can be observed or verified, especially by systemic methods; expressed or involved using facts; derived from sense perception without personal biases, a priori commitments, and emotional involvement.
What is subjectivity?
The condition of being a subject, influenced by perspectives, experiences, and beliefs.
The collection of the perceptions, experiences, expectations, personal or cultural understandings, and beliefs specific to a person that influences and informs the person’s assessments about truth or reality
Who developed the first official psychology laboratory?
William Wundt in the late 1800s.
What did structuralism aim to identify
the basic elements of psychological experience.
What were the 2 major problems of structuralism
- findings lacked reliability, reporducibility
- imageness thought
What did functionalism aim to understand?
the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics (thoughts, feelings, behaviours)
Who founded functionalism
William James
How did evolutionary aspects influence modern psychology
- adaptive vs rigid structres of the mind
- variation, competiton, selective advantage, inheritance
What is psychoanalysis?
Focuses on internal psychological processes of which we are unaware.
Psychodynamic Theory
Psychoanlaysis
- Freud (“parapraxis”, defense mechanisms)
- Conflict between biological drives and demands of society
- Maintains that our everyday lives are filled with symbols, which psychoanalysts must decode
- Emphasis on the role of early experiences
- Continued with Neo-Freudian theorists
What is the problem with pscyhoanalysis
unconscious processes are difficult to verify
What does behaviourism focus on?
Uncovering the general laws of learning by looking outside the organism to rewards, punishments, and behvariour delivered by or present in the environment
Who founded behaviourism
John B. Watson –> B.F. Skinner
What is cognitivism?
Proposes that our thinking affects our behaviour in powerful ways
What does cognitivism seek to understand
mental processes underlying thinking in a variety of contexts
* Rewards and punishments can’t fully explain behaviour because our interpretation of these is a crucial determinant of behaviour
* We also learn by insight (& observation [Lashley; Bandura])
list 2 famous cognitivists
Jean Piaget and Ulric Neisser
What is information processing
The ways that the human mind interprets incoming information, evaluates it, stores it, and applies it to decision making
What is critical multiplism?
The approach of using many different methods in concert.
What is the difference between basic and applied research?
Basic research seeks to expand knowledge, while applied research translates findings into real-world applications.
What do clinical psychologists do?
Assess, diagnose, and treat mental disorders.
What is the role of a counseling psychologist?
Work with individuals experiencing temporary or self contained (situational) problems.
What does a school psychologist do?
Assess children’s psychological problems and develop intervention programs.
What is the focus of developmental psychologists?
Study how and why people change over time.
mostly works with infants and children
What do biopsychologists examine?
The physiological basis of behaviour in animals and humans.
mostly work in research settings
What do forsenic psychologists do
assess, diagnose, and assist with rehabilitation and treatment of prison inmates
others conduct research on eyewitness testimony or jury decision making
What do industrial-organizational psychologists do
work in businesses to assist in employee selection and evaluation, examining the effects of working conditions on employee behaviour, designing equipment to maximize performance and minimize accidents, etc.
Requires extensive statistical and mathematical training
Why do we study psychology in non-human animals?
to better link the brain and behaviour. In order to identify which areas of the brain are responsible for particular behavioural functions, we can manipulate a precise brain area and examine the behavioural response
What concerns do studying psychology in non-human animals upbring
pragmatic, utilitarian, internal validity concern; ethical, ontological and epistemological validities
What is the nature-nurture debate?
Discusses the extent to which behaviour is influenced by genetics versus environment.
What are just-so stories
superficial explanations made up after the fact
e.g., male baldness serves an evolutionary function because women perceive these men as more mature
Free Will - Determinism
to what extent are our behaviours freely selected rather than caused by factors outside of our control?
What do some psychologists argue regarding Free Will - Determinism
argue most behaviours are generated automatically, without conscious awareness, though we perceive them as under our control
Compatibilism
free will and determinism aren’t mutually exclusive
Our genes and environment limit our behavioural choices, but we may still freely select or reject certain options
True or False: Psychology was once indistinguishable from philosophy.
True
Fill in the blank: The _______ debate concerns whether behaviours are freely selected or caused by external factors.
Free Will - Determinism
What is the Mind-Body Debate in psychology?
The question of whether our behaviors are solely due to the actions of our nervous system or if they are influenced by another entity, such as a soul.
Who are mind-body monists?
Scientific psychologists who assert that the mind is the brain and nervous system in action.
Who are mind-body dualists?
Those who believe that the mind is more than just the brain and nervous system.
Is the Mind-Body Debate resolvable scientifically?
No, it is impossible to resolve scientifically.
What is science
Using systematic methods to observe human and animal behaviour and draw conclusions.
What do scientific psychologists do
systemically study the mind, brain, and behaviour
Mysterians
believe that certain questions regarding human nature are unanswerable
Who argued “Materialism”? What about “Idealism”?
Materialism - Marx
Idealism - Hegel
