Module 1: Building Blocks Flashcards
Memorize before Test 1 on 9/10
Psychology
The scientific study of thought and behavior
What is the most common or modern view/take on psychology?
Biopsychosocial- the combination of biology (genes), psychology (long-term patterns of thought), and day-to-day social interactions
Clinical Psychology
The study, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders
Cognitive Psychology
Focuses on internal processes like thinking and perception
Counseling Psychology
Helping people deal with short-term problems or less severe disorders, such as grief
Community Psychology
Focuses on how people are connected to their communities
Works to create social environments that promote good mental health
Cultural Psychology
Study of how culture impacts our patterns of thought and behavior
Looks at differences in psych among world cultures
Developmental Psychology
The study of how thought and behavior change and remain the same across the lifespan
Educational Psychology
Focuses on teachers and students
Studies how people learn and what teaching methods are most effective
Evolutionary Psychology
Examines how certain behaviors may have developed as an adaptation to a problem faced by our ancestors (deals with historical things)
Forensic Psychology
Combines psychology and law
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Deals with the workplace
How can we make workers more productive and satisfied with their jobs
Social Psychology
Studies how real or perceived “others” impact our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Also studies how groups work with or against each other
Nativism
People are born with innate knowledge
Aka Nature
Supported by Plato
Philosophical Empiricism
Knowledge comes from experience
Aka Nurture
Supported by Aristotle and John Locke
Trephination
Drilling a small hole in the skull to let demons escape
*Outdated
Phrenology
Bumps/divots in the skull correlate to an excess or lack of certain psych traits
*Outdated
Weber + Fechner
Real vs perceived world
Gestalt
Whole is more than the sum of its parts
Sensation + perception = whole experience
Structuralism
What makes up our consciousness
Functionalism
The function of our consciousness
Based on Darwin’s theories of evolution and natural selection
Wilhelm Wundt
The father of psych as a science
Opened the first psych lab in 1879
William James
Taught the first psych class and wrote the first psych textbook
Psychoanalysis
Assumes that the unconscious mind is the most powerful influencer of our thoughts and behaviors
Founded by Sigmund Freud
Behaviorism
Thoughts/motives don’t matter, only observable behavior
Opposite of cognitive psych
Founded by John Watson
Humanism
All humans have the capacity to be good and strive for personal growth
Kurt Lewin
Wanted behaviorism and cognitive psych to get along
Mind explains behavior
G . Stanley Hall
First American PhD in psych;
First psych lab in USA;
Founded of APA
Margaret Floy Washburn
First woman to get PhD in psych
Francis Cecil Sumner
First Black individual to get a psych PhD
Assumption
Starting point in our thinking
Empirical
Informed by testable science
Theoretically Diverse
There are various viewpoints that are worth discussing
Sociohistorical Evolution
Social and political history influences the psychology of study participants
Multiple Causality
There can be multiple factors causing a psych concept
Confound/Third Variable Problem
There might be a third variable actually causing the change rather than the iv
Cultural Heritage matters
Psych isn’t universal
Cultural background significantly influences it
Subjectivity
Abstract psych concepts can be interpreted differently, leading to disagreements
Basic vs Applied Research
Conducted to expand knowledge without real-world applications vs research that does have real-world applications
Reciprocal Determinism
Individuals influence each other mutually
Skepticism vs Naive Realism
Belief that we can’t believe everything we see vs belief that the world is exactly as we see it
Peer Review
Process where experts in the field evaluate research to determine if it’s worthy of wide-spread support
Hindsight Bias
Seeing results and claiming that you “knew it the whole time”, even if your original hypothesis was different
Overconfidence
Having an excess trust in ourselves despite what evidence suggests
Perceiving Patterns
Wanting to find patterns in randomness or chaos
Scientific Method
Observe, theory, hypothesis, study, collect data, analyze using statistics, draw conclusions, report, peer review, revise
Hypothesis
Testable theory
Independent vs Dependent Variables
Causes the change and is manipulated by the experimenter vs what will be changed or what is being measured by the experimenter
Operational Definition
How we measure the variables
Taking something abstract and making it measurable and observable
Replication
Doing studies multiple times and getting the same results
Experiment
The only way to determine causality
Two requirements:
- Experimental groups must be randomly assigned
- Experimenter has to be able to manipulate the iv
Quasi-Experiment
When the iv cannot be manipulated by the experimenter
Ex: age and gender
Longitudinal vs Cross-Sectional Design
Following the same group of subjects across time vs testing different groups of various ages at the same time
Only applies to when iv is age
Naturalistic Observation
Observing participants without their knowledge
Only occurs in public spaces where privacy isn’t an expectation
Survey
Asking questions and recording answers
Between-Subjects vs Within-Subjects Design
Exposing participants to one level of the iv vs exposing participants to each level of the iv
Reliability
Getting the same results across multiple instances
Validity
Making sure you’re measuring the construct that you think you are
Internal vs External Validity
The amount of control that the researcher has over the experiment vs how similar the experiment is to the real world
Sample vs Population
People participating in your study vs the people you’re trying to apply the research to
Want your sample to be representative of your population
WEIRD
The types of countries that people who usually participate in studies are from
Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic
Self-selection
Participants who choose to participate in your study are different than those who choose not to participate in your study
Bias
If your sample is biased, your population must be biased too
Descriptive Stats
Describes your data using the mean (average), median (middle), and mode (most commonly occurring data point)
Inferential Stats
Tells you if there’s a statistical difference between your groups using T-tests (two groups), F-tests (two or more groups), and P-value (how likely it is that the difference is due to chance; set at 0.05 or less)
Qualitative vs Quantitative Research
Asking questions with open-ended or unstructured answers vs collecting info using quantifiable measures (like numerics)
Common Sense
Intuitive ability to understand the world
Experimenter Expectancy Effects
When the researcher’s expectations for how the study should go (their hypothesis) and/or their knowledge of who is in which experimental group unintentionally influences the behavior of the participants
Demand Characteristics
Subtle cues given by the experimenter that communicates their expectations, which signals to the participants that they should behave in a certain way
Hawthorne Effect
People tend to change their behavior when they know they’re being observed
Social Desirability Bias
People tend to present themselves more favorably when they know they’re being observed due to a fear of looking bad or being considered socially unacceptable
Single-Blind vs Double-Blind Studies
When the participants don’t know which experimental group they’re a part of vs when both the researcher and the participants don’t know who is in what group
Bogus Pipeline
Lying to your participants about there being a lie detector test to make them less likely to lie
People would rather tell the truth, even if it’s controversial, than be caught in a lie
Meta-analysis
Combining the results of all the research studies that have been done on a specific question and using them to draw a conclusion
Ethics
Standards of right and wrong
Scientific Misconduct
Intentional ethical violations that includes: plagiarism (passing someone’s work or ideas off as your own), falsification (deleting or altering data that you collected), and fabrication (not collecting any data and making all of it up)
What are the only circumstances in which deception is permissible in a study?
- it’s justified by it’s scientific value
- it’s part of the research design
- there is no alternative
Debriefing
Must be conducted after any study that involved deception, in which you must: come clean about what you lied about, restate the purpose of the study, and give them the chance to ask questions
Institutional Review Boards (IRB’s)
Evaluate proposed research to see if its methods are valid and ethical
Informed Consent
Participants of a study must be informed of what it’s about and if there are any potential risks or dangers involved. You must also tell them that they have the right to withdraw at any time
Respect for Persons
The dignity and autonomy of participants must be protected. This means that they cannot be coerced into participating, including through monetary compensation
Beneficence
Maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of participating
Done through cost-benefit analysis
Privacy and Confidentiality
The privacy of the participants must be protected. This means that their identity cannot be directly linked to the data collected in the study
Justice or Fairness
The benefits and costs of a study must be distributed equally among the participants
Correlation Strength and Direction
Statistics that range from +1.0 to -1.0 that assess the strength of correlation between two variables
Further from 0 = stronger correlation
Positive number = direct relationship
Negative = inverse relationship
Normal Distribution
The goal of a study is to have the mean, median, and mode (the measures used in descriptive stats) be the same
Universal vs Ecological Perspective
All humans develop in a similar path vs the role of culture/environment on development
Teratogens
Things that a pregnant mother is exposed to that could negatively affect the development of the fetus, such as alcohol or the flu
Critical vs Sensitive Periods
Time period in which a trait has to be learned or else it can never be learned vs a period when it is easier to learn a trait, but still possible to learn it later after the period has ended
Post Hoc Thinking
Making connections that you shouldn’t
“B comes after A, so A must have caused B”
Stage vs Shift Theories
Must complete one stage before moving on to the next and there is no going back vs development that occurs in a series of shifts that can happen either simultaneously or not
Habituation
When a baby directs its attention to new stimuli
Social Referencing
Babies tend to look to their caregivers after being presented with new stimuli to understand how they should react to it
Authoritarianism
Parenting style characterized by strict rules and strong consequences for breaking them
Permissive Parenting
Parenting style characterized by no rules being placed on the child and no punishments even if its warranted
Negligent Parenting
Parenting style characterized by being completely uninvolved and not providing your child with the basic amount of sensory and mental stimulation that they need
Authoritative
Parenting style characterized by rules that are expected to be followed, but that are communicated about if they’re broken. Parents will take into account context and try to understand the “why” when coming up with consequences.
Attachment
Emotional bond between a child and their caregiver
The Strange Situation
How we understand infant attachment
Examines the differences between how a child responds when their caregiver leaves and when they return
Secure Attachment
Caregiver leaves = child upset or not
Caregiver returns = child acknowledges them or is consoled
Generally has the best outcomes
60% of infants
Avoidant Attachment
Caregiver leaves = child not upset
Caregiver returns = child doesn’t acknowledge them
20% of infants
Ambivalent/Anxious Attachment
Caregiver leaves = child is upset
Caregiver returns = child is still upset and cannot be consoled
15% of infants
Disorganized Attachment
No clear pattern of response
5% of infants
Temperament
Biological tendency to behave in a certain way
Generally appears in the toddler age
Can be either easy, slow to warm, or difficult
Prenatal Programming
The process by which events that occur in the womb alter the development of the fetus
Pruning
The dying off of certain synapses or neural connections due to a lack of stimulation
Jean Piaget
Created two important theories: the stages of cognitive development and the shifts of moral development
Sensorimotor Stage
The first stage of development from ages 0-2, in which infants learn about the world through experience, movement, and the senses
Piaget believed that they did this largely independently
Children in this stage struggle with object permanence
Preoperational Stage
Second stage from ages 2-6, in which we see the emergence of symbolic thinking
Children in this stage struggle with egotism and lack of conservation
Concrete Operational Stage
Third stage from ages 6-11, in which children understand how to manipulate objects that are directly in front of them, but still struggle with abstract thinking
Formal Operational Stage
Fourth and final stage from ages 12 to adulthood, in which logic, abstract thinking, and understanding hypotheticals become possible
Critiques of Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory
- underestimated the ability of a lot of kids
- assumed universality
- saw the stages as independent rather than capable of stage mixing
Object Permanence
The understanding that objects still exist even when they cannot be seen
Egotism
Assuming that everyone in the world has the same mental abilities and mental world that you do, making it difficult to picture the world from another person’s perspective (aka lacking in theory of mind)
Conservation
Understanding that changing an object’s shape does not necessarily change it’s mass or volume
Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development
Occurs in three shifts:
Realism to Relativism
Prescription to Principle
Outcomes to Intentions
Realism vs Relativism
There are rules and there is no reason to break them vs there are rules but sometimes they have to be broken, but only for a good reason
Prescription vs Principle
The letter of the law is the law vs understanding the meaning or intention behind a rule
Outcomes vs Intentions
Right and wrong are determined by whether they have good or bad outcomes vs understanding that intentions or the reasoning behind what someone did is important
Assimilate vs Accomodate
Another aspect of Piaget’s theory of moral development
Taking a new experience and incorporating it into your current understanding of the world vs taking a new experience and using it to change your world view
Lawrence Kohlberg
Proposed a three-stage theory of moral development that moved from self-focus to selflessness
Preconventional Level
First level of moral reasoning as defined by Kohlberg, in which right and wrong are determined by what is rewarded and punished
Conventional Level
Second level of moral reasoning as defined by Kohlberg, in which right and wrong is based on rules set worth by caregivers
Postconventional Level
Third and final level of moral reasoning as defined by Kohlberg, in which you come up with your own ideas of right and wrong (aka your moral code)
Lev Vygotsky
Different from Piaget in that he believed cognitive development occurs through social interactions
He also though that language was critical to development whereas Piaget though it was simply a consequence of it
Zone of Proximal Development
Idea created by Vygotsky, which states that when a child’s in their “zone of potential”, they will learn better and faster if they’re aided by someone more experienced. This is similar to scaffolding, also defined by Vygotsky
Scaffolding
When an older individual extensively aids a younger individual as they’re learning a concept, but then backs off as the younger individual gets better
Private Speech
The language that we speak to ourselves. Kids tend to say these things out loud, but internalize them more as they get older
Theory of Mind
Understanding that each person has their own mental abilities and mental world, which is critical to understanding other people’s behavior
Deficits can occur in kids with autism and deaf kids of hearing parents
Advancement can occur in kids with older siblings, kids with higher socialization, and kids born into higher socioeconomic status
Erik Erikson
Proposed a model of personality development occurring in 8 stages: trust vs mistrust, autonomy vs shame, initiative vs guilt, industry vs inferiority, identity vs confusion, intimacy vs isolation, generativity vs stagnation, integrity vs despair
Initiative vs Guilt
Am I good or am I bad?
Industry vs Inferiority
Am I competent or am I worthless?
Intimacy
The ability to fuse one’s identity with another’s without fear of losing yourself
Generativity vs Stagnation
Did I create new ideas, people, or products? A legacy?
Or am I too self-focused to contribute productively to society or family?
Individuation
As defined by Carl Jung: the process by which someone’s personality becomes whole and balanced. Those who do not do this, instead clinging to their youth and underdeveloped selves, can spiral into midlife crisis
Emerging Adulthood
Ages 18 to 25, defined by identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities
Developmental Norms
The median age at which specific traits develop
Reflexes in babies include:
Rooting, palmar (grasping), sucking, babinski, moro (falling)
Cephalocaudal vs Proximodistal Control
Development of control begins at the head and moves downwards vs begins at the trunk and moves outwards
How does the most important element of a child’s social development change throughout their lifetime?
Birth to school age = parents
Childhood to Puberty = same-sex peers
Puberty and onwards = mixed sex peers
Emotional Competence
The ability to control emotions and know when it’s appropriate to express certain ones
Fluid vs Crystallized Intelligience
Raw mental ability, including pattern recognition, problem solving, working memory, and abstract reasoning vs knowledge that has been gained through experience, education, learning, and practice
Semantic Memory
Recalling facts and information
What are some ways of measuring age besides years?
Biological- how functional is the body
Psychological- mental attitudes and competency
Functional- ability to function within your given role in society
Social- willingness to follow social norms
Socioemotional Selectivity
Younger people tend to seek information relating to the future while older people tend to seek information that is emotionally satisfying
Types of Grief
Absent- low before and after
Chronic Grief- low before, high after, long-lasting
Chronic Depression- high before, high after, long-lasting
Common Grief- low before, spikes after, gradually decreases over time
Depressed-Improved- high before, lowers after
