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PSYC 1200 > Psychology and the Scientific Method > Flashcards

Psychology and the Scientific Method Flashcards

1
Q

What is the Scientific Method?

A
  • A way of learning about the world through collecting observations
  • Developing theories to explain the observations
  • Using the theories to make predictions about future events
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2
Q

What is a Hypothesis?

A
  • A testable prediction about processes that can be observed and measured.
    • Do NOT prove hypotheses
    • Must be falsifiable
    • Must be stated in precise and relevant terms
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3
Q

What is Theory?

A
  • An explanation for a broad range of observations that also generates new hypotheses and integrates numerous findings into a coherent whole
    • Built from hypotheses
    • Must be falsifiable
    • Can be updated with new information
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4
Q

Theories

A
  • NOT the same as opinions
  • All theories are NOT equally plausible
  • Validity NOT determined by number of people who believe it to be true
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5
Q

What is Scientific Literacy?

A
  • Critical thinking:
    • Exercising curiosity and skepticism when evaluating the claims of others, and with our own assumptions and belief
  • Increasingly important as we sort through the barrage of information in the digital age
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6
Q

What does Critical Thinking mean to Psychologists?

A
  • Applying the scientific method
  • Examining assumptions and biases, both of others and our own
  • Considering alternative viewpoints
  • Tolerating ambiguity when evidence is inconclusive
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7
Q

What is the Principle of Parsimony?

A

The simplest of all competing explanations of a phenomenon should be the one we accept

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8
Q

Explain the Paranormal?

A
  • Abductions, ghost sightings, and other paranormal activity explained by:
    • Alien movies
    • Fantasies and false memories
    • Sleep paralysis and hallucinations
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9
Q

What are the 2 fundamental Beliefs of Scientific?

A
  • Empiricism
  • Determinism
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10
Q

Empiricism

A

Philosophical tenet that knowledge comes through experience

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11
Q

Determinism

A

The belief that all events are governed by lawful, cause-and-effect relationships

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12
Q

Zeitgeist

A

Refers to a general set of beliefs of a particular culture at a specific time in history
- Delayed the science of psychology
- Materialism

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13
Q

Materialism

A

The belief that humans, and other living beings, are composed exclusively of physical matter

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14
Q

Influence from the Ancients

A
  1. Hippocrates (460–370 BCE)
  2. Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
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15
Q

Hippocrates (460–370 BCE)

A

Considered father of Western medicine

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16
Q

What are the 4 humours thoughts to contribute to our health and personality?

A
  1. Blood
  2. Yellow bile
  3. Black bile
  4. Phlegm
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17
Q

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

A
  • Tabula Rasa - Man begins life with a blank slate
  • Para Psyche (‘about the mind’): First text in history of psychology
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18
Q

What is Psyche?

A
  • “The mind” is the source of all human behaviour
    • No differentiation between mind and soul
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19
Q

Ancient Greek

A
  • Thought the brain cools the blood and plays no role in behaviour
    • Memory stored in the heart
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20
Q

Philosophical Influences

A
  • René Descartes (1596-1650)
  • Solution suffered from the ‘Problem of interactionism’
  • Tried to resolve ‘Problem of interactionism’ via the pineal gland
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21
Q

René Descartes (1596-1650)

A
  • Proposed ‘ Cartesian dualism’ as solution to the mind-body problem
  • Both a nonmaterial mind and a material body drive behaviour
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22
Q

Influences from Physics

A
  • Gustav Fechner (1801-1887)
    • ‘Psychophysics’
      • The study of the relationship between the physical world and the mental representation of that world
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23
Q

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Influences from Evolutionary Theory

A
  • Theory of evolution by natural selection
  • Variations of traits make some individuals more likely to survive and produce offspring
  • Over time, surviving traits become more common
  • Evolution can also select for behaviours
  • Emotional expressions
24
Q

Influences from Medicine

A
  • Brain Localization:
    • Certain parts of the brain control specific mental abilities
      1. Phrenology
      2. Brain Injury
  • Franz Mesmer (1734-1815)
  • Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
25
Q

Phrenology

A
  • Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) and Johann Spurzheim (1776-1832)
    • Brain consisted of 27 ‘organs’, each associated with a personality trait
    • Size of organ corresponded to development of trait
26
Q

Brain Injury

A
  • Paul Broca
    • Identified brain region associated with speech production
  • Carl Wernicke
    • Identified brain region associated with speech comprehension
27
Q

Franz Mesmer (1734-1815)

A
  • Believed magnets could redirect the flow of metallic fluids in the body to cure diseases
  • Directed fluids by ‘mesmerizing’ the patient with hand movements, inducing a trance
  • Phenomenon of inducing trances later renamed hypnosis
28
Q

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

A
  • Psychoanalysis:
    • A psychological approach that attempts to explain how behaviour and personality are influenced by unconscious processes
  • Believed the unconscious mind guided our behaviours
    • id: Instincts
    • Super-ego: Morality and critical thinking
    • Ego: Organized part that mediates between the desires of the Id and Super-ego
29
Q

What are the Criticisms of Freud?

A
  • Used subjective rather than scientific method
  • Dismissed claims of sexual abuse as mere constructions of our unconscious mind
  • Theory suggested a lack of free will
30
Q

What are the Contributions of Freud?

A
  • Introduced the potential for unconscious mental processes
  • Medical model:
    • Use of medical ideas to treat psychological disorders
  • Incorporated evolutionary thinking by acknowledging physiological needs and urges
  • Emphasized that experiences during development influence adult behaviour
31
Q

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)
Influence of Social Sciences

A
  • Influenced by economics, sociology, and anthropology
  • Investigated nature and nurture relationships
    • The inquiry into how hereditary (nature) and environment (nurture) influence behaviour and mental processes
  • Believed heredity explained psychological differences
32
Q

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)
Influence of Social Sciences (Part 2)

A
  • Eminence: Combination of ability, morality, and achievement resulting from good genes
  • Beliefs led him to coin the term ‘eugenics’ and justify its use
33
Q

What are the Primary Contributions of Galton?

A
  • Initiated debate about nature and nurture
  • Promoted use of statistical methods to quantify psychological traits
34
Q

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
Beginning of Psychology

A
  • Setup first laboratory dedicated to studying human behaviour
  • Used introspection:
    • A process of ‘looking within’ to describe psychological sensations
35
Q

What is Structuralism?

A

Analyzing conscious experiences by breaking it down into basic elements and to understand how these elements work together

36
Q

Study of Thought

A
  • Reaction time methods: participants asked to react to the sound of metal balls hitting one another
    • Participants reacted after ~1/8 of a second
    • Metal activity not instantaneous
37
Q

Edward Titchener (1867-1927)
Beginning of Psychology (Structuralism)

A
  • Adopted Wundt’s method of introspection, though criticism of approach was growing
  • Described mental experiences as composed of ‘elements’ much like the elements of the periodic table used in the physical sciences
  • Different combinations of elements responsible for more complex experiences
38
Q

William James (1842-1910)
Beginning of Psychology (Functionalism)

A
  • Wrote first modern textbook in psychology, The Principles of Psychology
  • Influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary principles
39
Q

What is the Proposed Functionalism?

A

The study of the purpose and function of behaviour and conscious experience

40
Q

Discovery of Conditioning?

A
  1. Edwin Twitmyer (1873-1943)
    • Discovered conditioned reflexes
  2. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
    • Trained dogs to salivate in response to a metronome
    • Won Nobel Prize for discovering Classical Conditioning
      • A learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired
41
Q

Who was involved in the Rise of Behaviourism

A
  1. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
  2. John B. Watson (1878-1958)
  3. B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
42
Q

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

A
  • Study of conditioning soon became the focus of:
    • Behaviourism: The study of observable behaviour, with little or no reference to mental events or instincts as possible influences on behaviour
43
Q

John B. Watson (1878-1958)

A
  • Rise of behaviourism in North America
  • Only observable changes in behaviour and the environment should be studied scientifically
44
Q

John B. Watson (1878-1958) (PART 2)

A
  • Revolutionized the principles of marketing
  • Developed ads that formed associations between a product and a desired feeling
  • Methods still used by advertisers
45
Q

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)

A
  • Believed in fundamental rules of learning shared among all animals
  • Operant conditioning: strengthening or weakening a behaviour by rewards and punishment
  • Theory left little room for free will
46
Q

What is Humanistic Psychology?

A

Focuses on the unique aspects of each individual human, each person’s freedom to act, his or her rational thought, and the belief that humans are fundamentally different from animals.

47
Q

What is humanistic Psychology focused on?

A
  • Positive aspects of psychology
  • The meaning of experience
  • Self-actualization
48
Q

Karl Lashley (1890-1958)
Brain and Behaviour

A

Tried to locate the ‘engram’

49
Q

Non-Localization
Brain and Behaviour

A

Exact location of damage not important

50
Q

Principle of Mass Action
Brain and Behaviour

A

Size of damage corresponds with impairment

51
Q

Donald Hebb (1904-1985)
Brain and Behaviour

A
  • Hebb’s Law:
    • “Cells that fire together, wire together”
52
Q

Wilder Penfield (1891-1976)
Brain and Behaviour

A
  • Electrically stimulated brains of patients under local anesthetic
  • Mapped sensory and motor cortices
53
Q

Cognitive Revolution?

A
  1. Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
    • Forgetting curves
  2. Frederick Bartlett (1886-1969)
    • Memory is an interpretive process
54
Q

Gestalt Psychology

A
  • Emphasized the need to focus on the whole of perception and experience, rather than its parts
  • “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
55
Q

Cognitive Psychology

A

Modern perspective that focuses on mental processes, such as memory, thinking, and language

56
Q

Social and Personal Psychology

A
  • Mingling of cognitive psychologists with behaviorists and sociologists after WW2 led to the emergence of Social and Personality Psychology
  • Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
57
Q

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)

A
  • Founder of modern social psychology
  • Behaviour is a function of individual and environment

PSYC 1200 (8 decks)

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