PSY 111 Flashcards
1
Q
Define Psychology
A
psychology is the scientific study of the mind (not observable) and behaviour (observable)
2
Q
What scientific model does psychology use?
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Scientific practitioner model
3
Q
William Wundt
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First psychologist - introspection
4
Q
Structuralism
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relied on trained observers to report experiences, and stimuli that always produced the same reaction – relied upon reaction time
5
Q
Functionalism: William James
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accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection – as organisms adapt to their environment, psychology studying the function of behaviours.
6
Q
Psychoanalytic theory – Freud
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emphasized the unconscious mind – dream analysis, free association, Freudian slips – controversial but contemporary psychotherapy has found to be effective
7
Q
Gestalt Psychology
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didn’t have a large influence outside Europe – emphasized the whole sensory experience not just individual components – short lived movement as a result of WWII Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), Kurt Koffka (1886-1941) , Wolfgang Köhler(1887-1967)
8
Q
Behaviorism
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rejected study of the mind and conscious experience, focusing entirely on observable behaviour. Pavlov conditioning reflexes through classical conditioning – pairing of neutral stimulus with UCS – NS alone producing the UCR
9
Q
J.B Watson
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focused on learned behaviour, and the conditioning of emotion (Little albert)
10
Q
Skinner
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focused on learned behaviour, studied reinforcement and punishment (operant conditioning)
11
Q
Humanism
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rose from dissatisfaction with dominant perspectives – determinism of behaviour, pessimism of psychoanalysis
12
Q
Abraham Maslow
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behaviour is motivated by human needs, satisfy basic needs and higher needs would motivate behaviour
13
Q
Carl Rogers
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Humanism developed client centered therapy – therapists needing to display: unconditional positive regard, genuineness, empathy
14
Q
Cognitive Revolution
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1950’s: mind became the focus of research (Chomsky)
15
Q
Multicultural psychology
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culture has a major influence upon individual behaviour, dominant psychological theories arising in WEIRD cultures (westernized, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) – these do not generalize well to other cultures. Thus, indigenous psychologies are developing world wide.
16
Q
Biopsychology
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combines psychological methods with physiological and neuroscientific methods – how the function of the nervous system generates behaviour
17
Q
Evolutionary psychology
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how does our evolution, and evolutionary adaptions give rise to behaviour?
18
Q
Sensation/perception
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perceptual psychologists are interested in sensation and the conscious perceptions they give rise to – visual perception a major focus.
19
Q
Cognitive psychology
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study of the mind and mental processes, aims to understand how cognition and thoughts relate to actions and experience
20
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Developmental Psychology
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psychologists study change across lifespan
21
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Personality Psychology
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5 factor model – OCEAN (openness, consciousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
22
Q
Social Psychology
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study of how we interact and relate to others- prejudice, attraction, interpersonal conflict.
23
Q
Health Psychologist
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study the interaction of biological, social and psychological influences on health, contributing to: public policy, research, intervention and education.
24
Q
Clinical psychology
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focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other patterns of problematic behaviour.
25
Forensic psychology
concerned with psychological concepts in context of the justice system: eyewitness testimony, children’s testimony, competency of defendant to stand trial.
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Information as a continuum
Data - information - knowledge - wisdom
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Learning
Learning in the most general sense , the contemporary view of learning is that people construct new knowledge and understanding based upon what they know and already believe. – Bransford.
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Literacy
the quality or state of being literate – the ability to read and write
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Information Literacy
the relationships individuals have with information, the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information
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Information Literacy - Standard 1
Recognition of the need for information - determine the nature and extent of information needed
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Information Literacy - Standard 2
Finding information efficiently and effectively
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Information Literacy - Standard 3
Critically evaluate and process information
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Information Literacy - Standard 4
management of information collected or generated
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Information Literacy - Standard 5
Application of prior knowledge to create new concepts or new understanding
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Information Literacy - Standard 6
Using information with understanding, acknowledging culture, ethical, legal and economical issues surrounding the information
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6 Gaps in Graduate skill sets
contextual skills, Business acumen, filtering and synthesising information, focus on business context, current awareness, people skills
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Research
diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject – worlds biggest industry
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Science
a branch of knowledge dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged, and showing the operation of general laws – science is also a way of thinking.
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Naivee empiricism
denying of existence unless the thing can be physically observed
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Sophisticated empiricism
accept existence of concepts via indirect observation
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Inductive Reasoning
specific to general – data –theory (if it’s true in a particular situation assume it to be true in general) Induction is prone to errors
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Deductive Reasoning
general to specific – theory to data (prediction) if the premises are true then the conclusion is valid.
43
Theory
a well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena. Theories are not mere guesses, although some try to dismiss theories by claiming so.
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What makes a good theory
Parsimony, testability, refutation, functional, valid
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Hypothesis
A testable prediction about how the world will behave if – a theory is correct. Hypotheses apply a theory to a narrow set of conditions and make predictions about the relationships among variables
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Nominal Fallacy
mistaking the name of a phenomenon for an explanation
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All or none bias
assuming statements to be true or false – many scientific findings are probabilistic – good theories will not explain everything under every condition.
48
Similarity uniqueness paradox
everything has infinite similarities and differences, errors occurring where similarities or differences become the exclusive focus:
Similarities obscure differences and differences obscure similarities.
49
Barnum Statement
apparently insightful but actual a banal statement.
General characterisations attributed to an individual are perceived to be true of them, even though the statements are such generalizations, they could apply to almost anyone.
50
Behavioural Variables
any observable response of an organism
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Stimulus variables
environmental factors that have actual or potential effects on behavioral variables.
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Organismic Variables
characteristics of an organism that can be used to classify the organism for research purposes
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Dependent Variables
measurable/observable variable eg. Physical performance, speed, force. However, in psychology DV’s are not always directly observable eg. Joy, attention, stress etc.
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Independent Variable
variable manipulated by the experimenter
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True experiment
variables are manipulated by the experimenter
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Quasi-experiment
IV cannot be manipulated, or it would be unethical to do so
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Constructs
phenomena studied by psychologists might not literally exist – psychologists thus use constructs as if they exist. Psychologists cant always directly observe the phenomena they study, thus what can be observed is what is thought to be related to the phenomena.
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Operational definitions
procedures or operations that specific how to manipulate or measure a construct.
59
Control Variable
variables that are factors that are potential IV’s. It is known they may affect the DV. Not of direct interest but are held constant to avoid confounding.
60
Extraneous Variables
variables that are uncontrolled – contributes to random unexplained error (variability) in the data.
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Construct Validity
: extent to which Iv’s and Dv’s measure what they are intended to.
Construct validity is maximized through careful consideration of operational definitions
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Face Validity
do IV’s and DV’s appear to reflect or measure what they are intended to measure – research lacking facial validity may be harshly challenged.
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Internal Validity
extent to which causal statements about the relations among variables can be made
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External validity
the extent to which findings of an experiment can be generalized
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Psychological research goals
description of behaviour, prediction of behaviour, & explanation of behaviour
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Descriptive research
describes phenomena as they exist (what oppose to why)
| This research observes what is (no manipulation) – might be the perfect form of research for a given question.
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Prediction
what is the direction of association among variables?
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Positive association
If one variable increases and the other also increases
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Negative association
If one variable decreases and the other also decreases
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Descriptive research methods
case studies, naturalistic observation, surveys
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Case Study
in-depth observation of 1 person in a small group – useful when a phenomenon is of interest, not well understood, or difficult to produce experimentally (Qualitative research)
Limitations: case may not be representative of the larger population – conclusions lack external validity – cases are carried out as phenomenon is unusual
Subject to researcher bias –researchers are prone to seeing what they expect, difficult to observe free from expectation based on existing theory.
72
Naturalistic Observation
in-depth observation of phenomenon in its natural setting.
Findings often have clear application to the real world as observations are mad ein the real world.
Limitations:
- awareness of being observed may affect ones behaviour
- generalizability – can the observations of one group be applied to another group (unobserved)
- Bias – researcher expectations
73
Surveys
asking questions of a large sample about their attitudes and behaviours, conducted using interviews or questionnaires.
Limitations:
- relies upon honest report from participants
- people may want to present themsleves in the best light possible
- participants may honestly misjudge their attitudes
74
Stratified sampling
involves determining the proportion of total sample that each group will make up and then randomly sampling from each category
75
Correlational Research
identify and describe relationships between variables.
| Research design that investigates the magnitude and direction of association between two or more variables
76
Pearson product moment correlation
strength and direction of association of two variables can be quantified by a correlation coefficient – ‘r’
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Spurious correlations
– associations where none really exist eg. Positive correlation between contraception and buying home appliances….
78
Between subject designs
At least 2 different groups - participants are randomly assigned to 1 group
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Within-subject designs
Two conditions - participants are involved in both conditions
80
Quasi experiment design
Between subjects - lack of random assignment
81
Psychology is the study of variability
characteristics and behaviours of humans are highly variable, the ultimate aim of psychology is to explain causes of variability, by understanding the causes of variability we can predict behaviour
82
Behaviour is probabilistic
studying more predicts better academic outcomes yet does not guarantee anything – depends on what study means –strategies, meta cognition, how much time spent on a task – but lots of other things can predict academic outcomes eg. Things about you, and what you are studying
83
Subjective probability
personal belief in the chance of something happening, the informal probability that has no mathematical formula
84
Objective Probability
probability estimated by using a mathematical equation, based on concrete observations.
85
Conditional probability
the probability of an event occurring given that some other condition is true
86
Categorical/Nominal Data
things that can be counted, how many things are there
87
Measurements
things that can be measured, how much of something is there
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Ordinal Scale
inherent order (ranks), some information about quantity, moving along the scale means a change in how much of something there is, steps may not be equal
89
Interval Scale
order + equal intervals, mathematical operations (addition or subtraction) – measures how much of something there is, and can calculate the difference between scores (does not have a true 0 – 0 on the scale does not mean absence of the thing, and scores can be less than 0) eg, Temp
90
Discrete data
specific values, typically whole numbers eg. Categorical data – smoker vs non smoker. Ordinal data such as place in a race, or level of education is also discrete.
91
Continuous Data
unlimited resolution between minimum and maximum eg. Volume of beer drunk at the beach on a hot day 0ml, 350ml, 750ml vs none, some, or too much (likert scales) continuous data can be converted into discrete categories but not vice versa.
92
Descriptive statistics
describe or summarize sets of data – primary use is to describe central tendency and variability.
93
Central Tendency
observations cluster around a fixed point – different measures of central tendency have different definitions of the center of the data set, eg. Mean, median, mode.
94
Data presented by text
data is described using text and relevant statistics, used for results that are important to the major hypotheses and that demand full description
95
Data presented by Table
simplify text and are useful when summarizing a large amount of related data in a compact form – often used for inferential statistics, such as multiple regression. Tables require a brief title that explains what the table is showing.
96
Data presented by graphs
eg. bar graph, histograms, pie charts
97
How graphs can be misleading
Omitting the baseline, manipulating the Y axis, cherry-picking data, using the wrong graph, going against conventions
98
Culture
shared rules that govern behaviour of a group of people and enable the members of that group to co-exist and survive
Culture is shared, culture is learned, culture has a powerful influence on behaviour, culture is systematic and organized, culture is largely invisible, may be loose or tight.
99
Terror Management theory
culture as a buffer against general anxiety of our morality - being a member of a culture reduces this feeling
100
Creation of shared reality theory
human need to feel that others feel that same way about things (Culture)
101
By product of human interaction theory
by interacting, we share beliefs and behaviour, culture resulting from repeated interactions.
102
Enculturation
Culture is transmitted from generation to generation through the process of enculturation:
- indirect process of learning the rules, norms, and behaviour of a culture.
- Socialization which is direct is also important for cultural learning
103
Cultural Psychology
studies the way people are affected by the culture they live in (individual psychological processes are shaped by cultural context)
104
Cross Cultural psychology
compares similarities and differences in behaviour across different cultures and societies.
105
Theoretical issues in cross-cultural psychology
Absolutism – assumes psychological phenomena is identical across all cultures
Relativism – assumes that all human behaviour is culturally determined
Universalism – assumes there a basic principles of underlying behaviours, but culture determines the display of these principles – dominant perspective
106
Emic
insider perspective, culture specific involves focusing on one group and examining particular psychological aspects of that group
107
Etic
outsider perspective – cross cultural and involves the search for commonalities and differences amongst different cultures.
108
Types of cross-cultural studies
comparison studies, validation studies, unpacking studies
109
Tight vs Loose cultures
= refers to the extent to which people are required to conform to social norms eg. Japan = tight, Canada = Loose
110
Culture Shock
moving from one culture to another can lead to dis-orientation and anxiety as they try to adapt the rules, practices and expectations of another culture
111
Acculturation
Research on the cultural adaptation scale. It is suggested people will find adaptation easier if: people have culture specific knowledge, fluency of language, more extensive contact with host nationals, residents rather than sojourners (short-term temporary resident), home culture is similar to host culture.
Adaptation follows a steep learning curve with increases in the first 6 months tapering off.
112
Multiculturalism
the presence of several or multiple ethnic groups within a society
Australia has a long history of multiculturalism – 700 tribe nations, 200-250 different spoken languages (tribe nations have separate political systems and laws)
113
ethnocentrism
tendency for one persons own culture to influence the way they see the rest of the world
114
Reasons to understand misconceptions about psychology
- psychologists can prepare themselves to counter perceptions
- counter objections from policymakers
- understand human nature
- explain the significance of findings
115
Criticism 1
Psychology is just common sense
116
Criticism 2
Psychology doesn't use research methods
117
Criticism 3
Psychology cannot yield meaningful generalisations as everyone is unique
118
Criticism 4
Psychology doesn't yield repeatable results
119
Criticism 5
Psychology cannot make precise predictions
120
Criticism 6
Psychology is not useful to society
121
Animal research
7-8% of published research in research areas of; learning, memory, emotion, brain response to injury or disease, drug efficacy
122
National Health & Medical Research Council – Scientific code for the use of animals in experiments
Replacement: must actively search and develop alternative methods
Reduction: must use no more than the minimum number of animals required to obtain statistically reliable results
Refinement: procedure should be constantly refined to minimize pain and distress
123
The national statement (2007) consists of 5 parts:
| Ethics
- values and principles of ethical conduct
- themes in research ethics
- Ethics considerations specific to research methods or fields
- Ethical considerations to specific participants
- Process of research governance and ethical review.
124
Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islanders
spirit, integrity, cultural continuity, equity, reciprocity, respect, responsibility
