Psychology Test Flashcards
What is the definition of psychology?
The scientific study of behaviours and mental processes is called psychology.
There are 4 goals of Psychology, what are they?
Describe, Explain and Predict, Control/Influence
What is describing?
Describing is describing what we see and behaviours observed.
What is explaining?
Explaining is understanding what we see and why they’re experiencing these behaviours or mental processes happening.
What is Predicting?
Predicting is determine if it will happen again- if yes, do something.
What is Control/Influence?
The end goal is to improve our quality of life and mental health so we should apply the knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviours to happen again.
What did Plato believe?
Nativism, the idea that we are born with certain kind of knowledge.
What did Aristotle believe?
Believed Tabularasa, we get certain knowledge through experience.
What did Rene Decartes believe?
believed in Dualism, the idea that the mind and body are separate.
What is Structuralism?
Based on study on basic elements of the mind.
Who is Wilhem Wundt?
He is the “father” of psychology and the founder of the first psychological lab.
Who is Edward Titchener?
a British psychologist known for introducing structuralism, he also was a student of Wundt. He used introspection (subjective observation of one’s experience- feelings, sensations, images) and believed that understanding these elements could explain more complex mental processes.
What did William James introduce?
He introduced Functionalism- how the mind functions to adapt to environment and why, also the father of modern psych and focused on conscious activity rather than components of consciousness.
What is Gestalt Psychology?
It’s perceiving the whole rather than analyzing parts which is opposite of structuralism, leader is Max Wertheimer.
What is Psychoanalysis?
behaviour of the unconscious mind, thoughts, impulses and desires, theory of personality. Leader was Sigman Freud.
What is Behaviourism?
Observable influences on behaviour (focus on what were able to see).
John B. Watson in Behaviourism
observable, measurable, objective scientific behaviour
What did B.F Skinner do?
Operant Conditioning- believed that humans do everything based on their environment and to avoid being punished.
What is Humanistic Psychology?
Uniqueness, choice, growth, psychological health, free will and self actualization.
What is Cognitive Psychology?
study of mental processes (what goes on in your head), also perception, learning, memory, thinking and language.
What is Cognitive Neuroscience?
Study of brain functioning - attempts to understand the links between cognitive processes and brain activity.
What is Biopsychology (Physiological Perspective)?
Genetics and biological processes in the brain and other parts of the nervous system.
What is Evolutionary perspective?
How do our genes adapt to our environment- natural selection, genetics, adaptation, and evolution of behaviour and mental processes.
What is sociocultural perspective?
It is the social interactions and the cultural determinants of behaviour and mental processes.
What are the 2 psychologies for sociocultural perspective?
social psychology- causes and consequences of interpersonal relationships
cultural psychology- values, beliefs and traditions that are shared by a group of people.
What is developmental psychology?
Physical and mental attributes of aging and maturation.
what is Personality psychology?
Focuses on patterns and behaviours and the ways of thinking that are unique to each person.
What is the cerebrum?
Two cerebral hemispheres.
What is the use of the corpus callosum?
thick band of nerve fibres that supports communications of info
What is the frontal lobe?
Speech production (Broca’s area) and voluntary movement (Motor Cortex) activate the frontal lobes.
what is the parietal lobe?
It’s responsible for sensory information: touch, temperature, pain, body position.
What is the temporal lobe?
It’s responsible for processing auditory information (hearing).
what is Wernicke’s area in the temporal lobe?
For understanding verbal and written material and putting words into meaningful sentences. Damage: speech is fluent but incomprehensible to others.
What is the occipital lobe?
It processes visual (seeing) information.
In the occipital lobe, what is primary visual cortex?
It is for basic sensations: lights, lines, colours and textures.
what is visual association area?
Its meaningful perceptions- person, object, animal.
What is visual agnosia area?
difficulty in combing parts of an object due to damage of the area.