PSYCH 102 Flashcards
What are the two main goals of psychology?
Basic: Description and explanation of behaviour and mental processes.
Applied: Prediction and control of behaviour.
Explain the difference between dispositional and situational factors influencing behaviour.
Dispositional factors are internal or personal causes of behavior. An example would be assuming a waiter who spills coffee on you is mean or did it intentionally.
Situational factors are external or environmental causes of behaviour. For example, the waiter who spilled the coffee may be a single parent struggling with debt.
Name three key characteristics of psychology as a field of study.
Empirical: It is based on observation and experimentation.
Theoretically diverse: It uses various perspectives to explain behaviour.
Operates in a sociohistorical context: It is influenced by social and historical factors.
What is the primary focus of the behaviourism perspective in psychology?
Behaviorism focuses primarily on stimulus-response contingencies, studying stimulus conditions, overt responses, and reinforcement contingencies. This perspective eliminates mental processes, considering them unobservable and unverifiable.
Briefly describe the main idea behind Gestalt psychology.
Gestalt psychology focuses on the organization of cognitive processes, emphasizing that elements alone are insufficient to understand the whole. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
