Psychology Flashcards
What is psychology?
Psychology is the study of the human brain and how it functions, processes emotions, and how personality differs from person to person.
Behavioural psychology
The study of how people react to their environment. They believe all responses are the result of environmental factors.
Developmental psychology
The study of how we change mentally with age. The study of human mental processes involved in memory, learning, and thinking.
Cognitive psychology
The study of human mental processes involved in memory, learning, and thinking.
Psychodynamic psychology
The process of study to uncover a person’s unconscious thoughts by discussing their feelings and experiences with a trained psychologist.
Humanistic psychology
Evolved from patient relationship idea of theory. They believe clients should be involved in their own recovery.
Psychoanalysis
Method of psychology to treat neurosis.
—> sometimes called the “talking cure”.
Neurosis
Anxiety caused by a memory a person represses because they cannot deal with it in their own conscious mind.
Repression
Memories of an issue/event that a person sends to their unconscious mind to forget.
—> These unconscious memories still influence a person’s thoughts and actions without awareness.
Defense mechanism
Conscious mind’s way of dealing with a repressed memory.
—> Conscious mind distorts reality.
Sigmund Freud’s iceberg
- Conscious mind (above the water) - what we are aware of, what people see, thoughts and perceptions.
- Preconscious mind (just below the water) - what we can recall, memories.
- Unconscious mind (deep underwater) - what we aren’t aware of, hard to recall, fear, shame, selfish desires, aggression.
Freud’s line between individual mind and behaviour
ID: part of unconscious mind, seeks pleasure. The “devil” on your shoulder.
Ego: part of the conscious mind. Reduces conflict between ID and superego. Peacemaker.
Superego: part of the preconscious mind. Follows morals. The “Angel” on your shoulder.
Analytical psychology
Focused on balancing a person’s psyche to help them reach their potential.
What happened between Freud and Jung
They were friends; however they broke apart due to their differences in opinion.
—> Jung did not like Freud’s importance on sexuality.
Archetypes
The ancestral memories in our collective unconscious.
—> Important cultural symbols emerge from this archetypes.
—> Jung argued similar symbols around the world used in similar context is evidence of the collective unconscious.
What are the differences between Jung and Freud’ thoeories?
Jung:
- Believed dreams were the unconscious mind’s symbols and that it was instinctive.
- Dreams allow unconscious to communicate with a conscious mind via symbols.
- Allows person to resolve conflict if analyzed.
Freud:
- Believed dreams represented a person’s sexual desires.
- Wish fulfillment.
—>Dream about waking life and what to do (fulfilling ID’s desires).
Phineas Gage
Studied the relationship between the brain and behaviour.
Why do we study cognitive psychology?
It helps us learn the thoughts and higher mental processes someone goes through like memory, decision making, problem solving, creativity, etc.
Cognitive psychology basic premise:
Human behaviour cannot be understood without learning how people process information.
Cerebrum
Right/left hemisphere (each side controls a side of the body).
—> Left hemisphere: communication, logic, language, decision making.
—> Right hemisphere: spatial awareness, visual memory, facial recognition, creativity.
Corpus callosum
Connects the hemispheres of the brain.
Hippocampus
Controls short and long-term memory.
—> Part of emotional system (correlation between memory and what you remember due to emotions).
Frontal lobe
Speaking and thinking actions.
Temporal lobe
Analyzing sound and what you hear.
—> Makes sense of speech.
Amygdala
Regulates how emotions can affect memories.
—> Fight or flight response to fear.
Nerve proliferation
Forms thousands of new connections in childhood.
Pruning
Nerve cells that are used are strengthened, nerve cells that aren’t will die out.
Hind brain
Develops first in teens.
—> Primal part of the brain.
—> Explains why teens make bad decisions, etc.
Prefrontal cortex
Seat of reason, develops last in teens.
—> Adults use this more.
What is the importance of white and grey matter.
White matter is responsible for communication between the neurons, while the grey matter is where the processing occurs.
—> Rapid white matter development and slower development of grey matter in the teen brain.
—> “Neural Darwinism” - use it or lose it, how a brain knows what to prune.
Giedd’s study
Proved adolescent brain is far from mature.
—> He found there is a second wave of pruning that finishes in adolescence (Effects some of our highest mental functions).
Cerebellum
Higher learning - doesn’t finish developing until mid 20s.
Professor Stephen Gould
Admitted that I.Q. Tests were based on faulty assumptions.
—> Used for scientific racism, questions socially and culturally biased.
Henry Goddard
Created the I.Q. test.
Howard Gardner
Multiple intelligences (beyond academic).
—> Argued people have, of varying degrees, multiple intelligences (being good at art, sports, etc).
—> Academic intelligence is not the only thing that makes a person “smart”.
How is intelligence defined?
Learn from experience.
—> The acquisition, retention, and use of knowledge is an important component of intelligence.
Recognize problems.
—> To put knowledge to use, people must be able to identify possible problems in the environment that need to be addressed.
Solve problems.
—> People must then be able to take what they have learned to come up with a useful solution to a problem they have noticed in the world around them.
