Midterm #1 Flashcards

1
Q

What is psychology?

A

The study of mental behaviours and processes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are the 4 goals of psychology? Curious George examples?

A

Describe - DESCRIBE an image of Curious George
Explain - WHY does Curious George like the yellow hat?
Predict - WHEN will Curious George put the hat on?
Control - bring desired outcomes (ex. putting Curious George in prison)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are the levels our thoughts are influenced by?

A

Brain - neuronal activity, structure
Person - content of mental processes (ex. intelligence, personality)
Group - social environment/culture

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What did Hippocrates contribute to psychology?

A

suggested physicla and psychological health is determined by 4 bodily fluids, recognized importance of good food/fresh air/rest, identified the brain as the organ of mental life as opposed to the heart

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What did Socrates/Plato contribute to psychology?

A

concluded that the mind and body are distinct and that knowledge is innate, or existing from the time of birth

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What did Aristotle contribute to psychology?

A

one of the first to promote empirical/testable investigations of the world

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What did Francis Bacon contribute to psychology?

A

creator of empiricism (that knowledges originates in experience), mind is distinct from the body

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What did John Locke contribute to psychology?

A

tabula rasa - the mind is a blank slate at birth, acquire all knowledge through experience

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What did Johannes Muller contribute to psychology?

A

researchers need to study relationship between physical stimuli and their psychological effects

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What did Herman van Helmholtz contribute to psychology?

A

first to measure the speed of a nerve impulse and discovered that they occur over time not instantaneously, thought and movement are linked but not the same

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What did Gustav Fechner contribute to psychology?

A

founder of experimental psychology, discovered evidence of the relationship between physical and mental events - moves psychology closer to quantified science

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What did Charles Darwin contribute to psychology?

A

theory of evolution (all life on Earth originated from common ancestral point), natural selection (chance variations are adaptive and beneficial so they thrive and reproduce)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What did Wilhelm Wundt contribute to psychology?

A

opened 1st psych lab, studied consciousness and the idea of will, developed voluntarism and introspection

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is voluntarism?

A

the theory that much of human behaviour is motivated and that attention is focused for a purpose

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What did Edward Titchener contribute to psychology?

A

formed structuralism

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is structuralism?

A

studies the structure of the conscious experience, looking at the individual parts

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is introspection?

A

“looking inward”, careful evaluation of mental processes and the expansions of simple thoughts into ideas through self-observation/reflection

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What are the flaws of structuralism?

A

failed to incorporate animals and abnormal behaviour

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What did William James contribute to psychology?

A

functionalism

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is functionalism?

A

considers how mental process function to adapt to change

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is Gesalt Psychology?

A

“the whole is grater than the sum of its parts”, studied illusions and errors in perception

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What are the scientific principles?

A
  1. the universe operates according to certain laws

2. these laws are discoverable and testable

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What is deductive reasoning?

A

reasoning proceeding from broad principles narrowing down to specific situations (theory - predictions - observation/experiment)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is inductive reasoning?

A

reasoning starting from specific situations broadening to general truths (observation/experiment - predictions - theory)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What is hypothetico-deductive reasoning?

A

process of modern science, starts with an educated guess and then designing observations to support/invalidate hypothesis (hypothesis - observation/experiment - support/invalidate: theory)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What is a theory?

A

an idea about a law that governs phenomena

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What is a hypothesis?

A

general statement about the way variables relate that is objectively falsifiable

28
Q

What is a primary difference between pseudo-psychology and psychology?

A

psychology does not claim to address all human issues

29
Q

What does operationalize mean?

A

to develop a working definition of a variable that allows you to test it

30
Q

What is random selection?

A

identifying a sample in a way that everyone in the population of interest has an equal chance of being in the study

31
Q

What are the 3 types of descriptive research methods?

A

case study, surveys, naturalistic observation

32
Q

What is a descriptive research method?

A

studies that allow the researchers to demonstrate a relationship between variables without specifying a casual relationship

33
Q

What is a case study?

A

study focused on one person

34
Q

What is naturalistic observation?

A

researchers directly observe people in a study behaving as they normally would?

35
Q

What is the Hawthorne Effect?

A

people who are being observed in studies change their behaviour because they are being watched

36
Q

What are 3 flaws of surveys?

A
  1. can’t display the direction of the relationship between variables
  2. can’t guarantee the understanding of the question identically to each participant
  3. people may answer in a socially acceptable way (participant bias)
37
Q

What is the double-blind procedure?

A

study in which neither the participant or the researcher knows what treatment/procedure the participant is receiving

38
Q

What is the correlation coefficient?

A

statistic expressing the strength and nature of a relationship between 2 variables

39
Q

What is positive vs negative correlation?

A

positive correlation - 2 variables increase together

negative correlation - 1 variable increases while the other decreases

40
Q

What is replication?

A

repeated testing of a hypothesis to ensure that the achieved results are not by chance

41
Q

What are things that research ethics boards require that psychologists do to protect participants?

A

obtain informed consent, protect from harm/discomfort, protect confidentiality, voluntary participation, no use of deception, provide debriefing

42
Q

What is the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics?

A

descriptive stats are used to describe and summarize data, inferential statistics are used to draw conclusions about data

43
Q

What is ungrouped vs group frequency distribution?

A

ungrouped - a count of the times each specific data point appears in a set
grouped - a count of the times specific data points fall into a range of values in a set

44
Q

What are measures of central tendency?

A

numbers used to summarize data sets

45
Q

What is the mean?

A

average (sum of numbers divided by # of numbers)

46
Q

What is the median?

A

the midpoint of a set of data

47
Q

What is the mode?

A

most frequently occurring value (can have multiple)

48
Q

What are measures of variability?

A

indicators to tell how different the values are within a data set

49
Q

What is the range?

A

the difference between largest and smallest value in the data set

50
Q

What is positively skewed distribution vs negatively skewed distribution?

A

positive- mostly lower values

negative - mostly higher values

51
Q

Who is credited as the founder of psychology?

A

Wilhelm Wundt

52
Q

What are 2 founding disciplines for psychology?

A

philosophy and science

53
Q

What are the 2 Schools of Thought?

A

structuralism and functionalism

54
Q

What is the difference between a research question and a hypothesis?

A

research question - don’t know the cause/effect relationship, exploring variables
hypothesis - cause/effect relationship between variables

55
Q

What is an extraneous variable?

A

variable that affects someone’s judgement that is not a part of the experiment

56
Q

What is the placebo effect?

A

response to manipulation due to expectations not manipulation

57
Q

What is the difference between a full experiment and a quasi experiment?

A

a full experiment draws from the full population whereas a quasi experiment draws from a limited group

58
Q

What does the correlation research method give us?

A

relationship between variables but not cause and effect

59
Q

What is variance and how do you calculate it?

A

the degree to which values in data differ from the mean value - (score-mean)^2

60
Q

What is normal distribution?

A

a symmetrical bell shaped curve in which scores are mostly in the middle with fewer on the extreme ends

61
Q

What are measures of association?

A

descriptive statistics that quantify and summarize the degree of association between variables

62
Q

What is the product-moment correlation coefficient?

A

a statistic indicating the degree of association or relationship between 2 variables, ranging from -1 - +1

63
Q

What is the coefficient of determination?

A

the degree to which values on one variable can be predicted knowing the values of the other variable

64
Q

What is standard deviation?

A

a statistical index of how much scores vary within a group (square root of variance)

65
Q

What is the difference between an alternative hypothesis and a null hypothesis?

A

an alternative hypothesis is where it is found that there is a difference in average performance between groups, a null hypothesis is when there is no difference in performance between groups

66
Q

What is the significance level?

A

the level of risk researchers would be willing to take in terms of making an incorrect conclusion

67
Q

What is effect size?

A

size of the difference between two or more variables