Psychology FINAL Flashcards
What is the definition of psychology?
Psychology is the scientfic study of human behavior
What are the goals of psychology?
To describe, predict, explain, and influence
What did Wilhelm Wundt do?
Set up and used the first psych lab in Germany
What did Sigmund Freud do?
He studied the unconcious mind and how dreams worked
Who was Pavlov?
Dog experiment
What did Watson believe?
Psychology should only be about observable facts of behvior
What did Skinner do?
Concept of reinforcement
Reinforcement
Response to a beahvior that increases the chance that the new behavior will be repeated
What is a case study?
Research that involves and intense investigation of participants
What is naturalistic observation?
Reserch method where the subject is studied in a natural setting where the psychologist does not interfere
What is a survey?
Research method in which information is obtained by asking a fixed set of questions to many people
Correlation
The relationship between 2 variables or sets of data
Double blind experiment
When neither the experimenter or the participants know who recieved the real treatment and which was a placebo
Single blind experiment
When only the participants are unaware of who recieved actual treatment
Placebo effect
A change in a participnts behavior that is from the belief that the treatment will have an effect. All in the mind.
Neurons
Long thin cells of nerve tissue that conveys messages to and from the brain
Neurotransmitters
Chemicals released by the neurons that determine at what reat the neurons fire
Corpus Callosum
Carries messages between the 2 hemispheres of the brain to control human functions
Regions of the cerebral cortex
Parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, frontal lobe, primary motor cortex, and primary somatosensory cortex
Nature vs nurture
Inherited vs environmental “outside” factors
Hypnosis
State of conciousness resultin from a narrowed focus of attention with heightened suggestibility
Absolute threshold
The weakest amount of a stimulus that a person can detect half the time
Kinesthesis
The sense of movement and body position
Classical conditioning
A learning procedure in which associations are made between a natural stimulus and a neutral stimulus
Operant conditioning
Learning in which a certain action is reinforced or punished, resultin in corresponding increases or decreases in occurance
Primary reinforcer
Naturally rewarding stimilus like food or water
Secondary reinforcer
Stimulus that becomes rewarding through its link with its primary reinforcer like money
Negative reinforcement
Increasing the strength of a given response by removing or preventing a painful stimulus when the response occurs
Avoidance Conditioning
Training to withdraw from an unpleasant stimulus before it starts
