PS102 Lecture 1 Flashcards
Sigmund Freud
People’s behaviours are based on unconscious desires and conflicts.
Developed a form of therapy, psychoanalysis that aimed to resolve unconscious conflicts.
Behaviourism
Physiological research should only focus on the behaviour you can observe.
Edward Thorndike
Proposed research findings from the study of animals
could help explain human behaviour.
Ivan Pavlov
Found that dogs could learn to associate a bell with an automatic behaviour, such as salivating for food.
* This is called classical conditioning.
John B. Watson
Conducted the “Little Albert” experiment demonstrating that children (people) could be classically conditioned.
B.F. Skinner
He developed operant conditioning to shape behaviour.
* a mechanism of learning through which humans and animals come to perform or avoid performing behaviours in response to the presence or absence of certain environmental stimuli
* Used reinforcement to change the frequency of the expression of a behaviour.
* Positive reinforcement increases and negative reinforcement decreases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring.
Albert Bandura
- He described learning by social observation in children.
- We now know that this type of learning can be
observed in several species of primates.
Behaviourism – Study of Observable Behaviour
Humanistic Psychology
- Humanisitic Psychologists stressed that a personhas a capacity for personal growth and the freedom to choose his or her destiny, and positive qualities.
- Our subjective perceptions of the world are unique and are more important than behaviour itself.
Carl Rogers
Developed “client-centred therapy,” which
said that people are innately good.
Abraham Maslow
- He developed a theory of motivation that
consists of a hierarchy of needs
Ulric Neisser
coined the term cognitive psychology as the study of information processing.
* The role of mental processes in how people process information, develop language, solve problems, and think.
* Cognitive psychologists initially compared the human mind to a computer.
Psychobiology/Neuroscience
The study of brain structure and activity and
how this relates to and controls behaviour
Karl Lashley
Attempted to determine which areas of the
brain responsible for memory, learning,
and other functions.
Donald Hebb
Canadian scientist that developed the
concept of a cell assembly.
- Neurons (the cells in the brain) develop networks of connections based on our experiences as we develop and interact with our environments.
Behavioural genetics
the study of the influence of gene expression on the development of the brain and its control of human behaviour
Evolutionary psychology
the study of how the
process of evolution has shaped our brain and expression of behaviour
Three Main Branches of
Psychology
- Clinical and counselling psychology
- Work as therapists
- Academic
- Work as professors, both teaching and doing research
- Applied
- Work in schools, marketing firms, research institutions, etc.
applying psychological skills to real-life situations
Psychology
- Theory-driven: uses theories to explain behaviour
- Empirical: based on research
- Multi-level: explained by the brain, the individual, and social influences
- Contextual: based on cultural context
Trends
- Growing diversity in the field with more women and members of minority
groups - Advances in Technology: Development of computers and brain imaging has led to new research in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and social neuroscience
- New Schools of Thought: Positive psychology and positive psychotherapy focus on happiness and other positive emotions.
- Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is a term that was added to the Oxford English
Dictionary in 2013. - Chronic anxiety or apprehension that an exciting or interesting event may be occurring elsewhere.
- Experienced by three quarters of young adults and is exacerbated by social media.
