modules 1-2 - history, scope, and research strategies Flashcards
What is involved in critical thinking?
Examining personal assumptions; appraising the source; discerning hidden biases; and assessing conclusion.
What event defined the start of scientific psychology?
Scientific psychology began in Germany in 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory.
Why did introspection fail as a method for understanding how the mind works?
People’s self-reports varied, depending on the experience and the person’s intelligence and verbal ability.
The school of __________ used introspection to define the mind’s makeup; __________ focused on how mental processes enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.
structuralism; functionalism
From the 1920s until the 1960s, the two major forces in psychology were __________ and __________ psychology.
behaviourism; Freudian
How did the cognitive revolution affect the field of psychology?
It recaptured the field’s early interest in mental processes and made them legitimate topics for scientific study.
What is natural selection?
Natural selection is the process by which nature selects from chance variations the traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.
What is contemporary psychology’s position on the nature-nurture issue?
Psychological events often stem from the interaction of nature and nurture, rather than from either of them acting alone.
What perspective has for focus how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences?
Neuroscience
What perspective has for focus how the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes?
Evolutionary
What perspective has for focus how our genes and our environment influence our individual differences?
Behaviour genetics
What perspective has for focus how behaviour springs from unconscious drives and conflicts?
Psychodynamic
What perspective has for focus how we learn observable responses?
Behavioural
What perspective has for focus how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information?
Cognitive
What perspective has for focus how behaviour and thinking may vary across situations and cultures?
Social-cultural
What advantage do we gain by using the biopsychosocial approach in studying psychological events?
By incorporating three different levels of analysis, the biopsychosocial approach can provide a more complete view than any one perspective could offer.
__________ works to create social and physical environments that are healthy for all.
Community psychology
__________ studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorder but usually does not provide medical therapy.
Clinical psychology
__________ is a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders.
Psychiatry
How is psychology a science?
Psychology’s findings, based on an empirical approach, are the result of careful observation and testing. Sifting reality from fantasy requires a scientific attitude.
What are three key elements of the scientific attitude, and how do they support scientific inquiry?
The scientific attitude equips us to be curious, skeptical, and humble in scrutinizing competing ideas or our own observations. Curiosity triggers new ideas, skepticism encourages attention to the facts, and humility helps us both discard predictions that can’t be verified by research and be open to surprises.
How does critical thinking feed a scientific attitude, and smarter thinking for everyday life?
Critical thinking puts ideas to the test by examining assumptions, appraising the source, discerning hidden biases, evaluating evidence, and assessing conclusions.
What were some important milestones in psychology’s early history?
Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Germany. Two early schools of though in psychology were structuralism and functionalism. Mary Whiton Calkins and Margaret Floy Washburn were two of the first women in the field.
How did behaviourism, Freudian psychology, and humanistic psychology further the development of psychological science?
Early researchers defined psychology as “the science of mental life.” In the 1920s, under the influence of John B. Watson and the behaviourists, the field’s focus changed to the “scientific study of observable behaviour.” Behaviourism became one of psychology’s two major forces well into the 1960s. However, the second major force of Freudian (psychoanalytic) psychology, along with the influence of humanistic psychology, revived interest in the study of mental processes.
