Test 1 Flashcards
Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Behavior processes
Outward or overt actions that are observable and quantifiable (or measureable).
Mental Processes
internal or covert activity like thinking, feeling, or remembering that is not observable, but is qualitative (can only be measured)
4 Goals of Psychology
Describe, Explain, Predict, and Control
describe
what is happening
explain
why it is happening
Predict
what will happen next
Control
What will happen or when it happens
Elements of Psychology Research
Perceiving the question, forming a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, drawing conclusions, and reporting results
Goals of Psychology Research
Why people act the way they do in their internal environments or why the person is choosing to act the way he or she is.
5 research methods
case study, laboratory observation, survey, correlation studies, and experiments
Case study
individual or a small group of people that you are studying through observation and interviewing to gather in depth knowledge
laboratory observation
running tests on animals such as rats and pigeons in a very controlled setting to observe the result or reaction.
Survey
a questionnaire sent out to a large group of people
Correlation Studies
how are they connected? similar/different
Experiment
putting the scientific method into action. the idea is to try to control as many variables as possible in order to provide the most accurate result.
Variable
something you can change in order to affect the result of an experiment
3 Research Errors
observer effect, observer bias, observer expectancy effect
Observer effect
when someone knows he or she is being watched and then the individual changes his or her behavior
Observer bias
no research is completely unbiased; everyone has a reason for conducting research
Observer expectancy effect
when a certain outcome is expected
Possible Errors in Any Research
confounding variables, observation errors, recording errors, statistical analysis errors, and interpretation errors
Confounding Variables
something that you cannot exactly measure but it has an impact on your subject; can be something you can’t control
Observational errors
when you see something but it is not actually happening
Recording Errors
when you write dow (or record) something wrong
Statistical Analysis
when you mathematically compare your results
Interpretation Errors
when you misread statistics
Plato
Believed the sould could live separate from the body (later known as dualism); believed there was something inside people that needed to be investigated
Aristotle
Body and soul are parts of the same underlying structure; comes from the holistic approach
Gustav Fechner
Studied human perception and formed the basis for psychological research; first to dig into what people were thinking and feeling
Wilhelm Wundt
First to apply scientific laboratory research to psychological principles–objective introspection; believed each individual has their own worldview/interaction style/thinking and that thoughts and emotions where the basics of the human mind
Edward Titchener
structuralism; believed every experience could be broken down into its basic elements
William James
functionalism; didn’t care about how people felt, but interested in how people interacted with each other
Types of Psychology
Psychoanalysis, behaviorism, cognitive psychology, humanistic psychology, sociocultural psychology
personality
the unique way in which each individual things, acts, and feels throughout life
Kluckhohn and Murray
believed that every human is like every other human being, like some other human beings, and like no other human being
Nature
when your personality is determined by DNA
Nurture
when your experiences create your personality
Genetics
strictly nature driven
Traits
can be changed by environment/situation
Sociocultural determination
social norms influenced by culture
Learning
how to interact with people, knowledge, etc.; its from experiences
existential-humanistic considerations
something that can change your worldview
unconcious mechanisms
things we don’t understand or even think about
cognitive processes
thinking; the physical process into thinking critically or the mental process into emotions
Nature vs. Nurture
What makes up our personality?– genetics, traits, sociocultural determinants, learning, existential-humanistic considerations, cognitive processes, and personality as a composite of factors
Sigmund Freud
born in 1856 to father’s 3rd wife who might have been pregnant with him before being married
Sigmund Freud
graduated at the top of his high school class and attended medical school
Sigmund Freud
heavily used cocaine for several years; when it was found out to be detrimental, he lost much of his medical credibility
Sigmund Freud
Worked with Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) to learn hypnotism to treat hysteria; began to theorize that a lot of our physical symptoms can have a psychological influence
Sigmund Freud
Worked with Hippolyte Bernheim (1840-1919), who was creating posthypnotic amnesia in patients and using posthypnotic suggestion to treat hysteria; realized that through hypnosis they could have people forget things
Sigmund Freud
Worked with Josef Breuer (1842-1925) at the University of Vienna. The case of Anna O. started psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalysis
The “therapy” process developed by frued; used with mixed results; received heavy criticism then and today; has mixed support from research.
Two principles of psychoanalysis
free association and dream analysis
3 parts of personality
id, superego, and ego
Id
the pleasure principle that is contained in humans from birth–oriented toward basic biological drives: food, water, sex, safety, etc.; its all about us
superego
the ego ideal and conscience–enables people to think and desire to behave in ideal terms: the moral center of the personality; moral compass; helps to determine right and wrong
ego
the reality principle that attemps to satisfy demands of the id, only in ways that will not lead to negative consequences
3 parts of mind
conscious, preconscious, and unconcious
conscious mind
all of the things of which a person is aware any given moment; similar to short term memory in which you have immediate access
preconscious mind
level of the mind where all the information, events, and concerns are kept; where super ego lives; long term memory; like a filing cabinet
unconscious mind
the part of the mind that remains hidden–surfacing only symbolically through dreams and in obsure ways; a lot of trauma is put here
defense mechanisms
denial, repression, rationalization, reaction formation, displacement, regression, identification, compensation, sublimation
denial
refusal to recognize or acknowledge a threatening situation
repression
“pushing” threatening or conflicting events or situations out of conscious memory
rationalization
making up acceptable excuses for unacceptable behavior
reaction formation
forming an emotional reaction or attitude that is the opposite of one’s threatening or unacceptable actual thoughts
displacement
expressing feelings that would be threatening if directed at the real target onto a less threatening substitute target
regression
falling back on childlike patterns as a way of coping with stressful situations
identification
trying to become like someone else to deal with one’s anxiety
compensation
when a person tries to make up areas in which a lack is perceived by becoming superior in some other area
sublimation
turning socially unacceptable behavior into acceptable behavior
Freud’s psychostages of development
each stage features a different erogenous zone. if the stage is not successfully negotiated, fixations may result
Oral stage
occurs from birth to 1 or 1.5, focuses upon the mouth, and is dominated by the id; satisfies basic desires
anal stage
occurs from 1, 1.5 to 3 and focuses upon withholding and releasing feces; ego develops here; potty training–if done appropriately will have balanced life, but if not then the child will rebel
phallic stage
occurs from 3 to 6 and focuses on the penis; superego develops here; girls want one and boys are afraid of losing it
latency stage
age 6 to the onset of puberty sexual feelings are repressed; cooties stage
genital stage
puberty through adulthood–sexual feelings are manifest but aimed at peers and societal sex symbols
free association
when Freud just had people talk about what was on their mind; tends to be on the idea of resistance (i.e. what they don’t talk about)
dream analysis
consists of condensation, displacement, secondary revision, manifest content, and latent content
condensation
all of our thoughts, feelings, etc. is combined
displacement
when a fear or anxiety is replaced by an object
Freud in everyday life
consists of parapraxes that is an accident that was caused by our unconcsious mind and when Freudian slips are verbal
Freud on religion and human nature
survival mechanism for the ignorant, outdated, humans are mainly biological organisms; our id would take over and goes back to the victorian era
behaviorism
based on the thory of learning; everything learned is still in the mind somewhere; only considers external behavior
learning
any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice; you experience something, practice it, and you’ve learned how to do it
learning processes
classical conditioning and operant conditioning,
classical conditioning
learning to make a reflex response to a stimulus other than the natural stimulus that normally produces it
Components of Classical Conditioning
(1) Unconditioned stimulus: naturally occuring stimululs; (2) unconditioned response: reflexive response to unconditioned stimulus; (3) conditioned stimulus: when a neutral stimulus, through repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, begins to cause the same kind of reflexive response; and (4) conditioned response: nearly identical (though sometimes a little weaker) than the conditioned response
Principles of Classical Conditioning
(1) CS must precede UCS; (2) CS and UCS must come close together in time; (3) the neutral stimulus must be paired with the UCS repeatedly for conditioning to take place; and (4) the CS must be distinctive from other stimuli in order for conditioning to occur
stimulus generalization
tendency to respond to a stimulus similar to original conditioned stimulus
stimulus discrimination
learning to differentiate between conditioned stimuli and similar stimuli
extinction
when the CS is presented without the UCS, eventually CR dies out
spontaneous recovery
after extinction occurs, if you wait long enough and reintroduce the CS, the CR reappears (often briefly and weakly)
higher-order conditioning
creating a second conditioned stimulus
conditioned emotional resopnse
emotional responses can be conditioned the same way as physical responses
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
if an event is followed by a pleasant consequence it will tend to be repeated. if an event is followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will tend to not be repeated
operant conditioning
the kind of conditioning that happens with voluntary behavior
principles of operant conditioning
(1) operant conditioning depends upon developing voluntary behavior; (2) reinforcement is essential; (3) primary and secondary; and (4) positive and negative
4 operant conditioning concepts
shaping, extinction, generalization, and spontaneous recovery
shaping
small steps toward some ultimate goal are reinforced until the goal itself is reached
extinction
involves the removal of the reinforcement
generalization
when stimuli similar to the conditioned stimuli, trigger similar responses
spontaneous recovery
the reoccurance of a conditioned behavior after extinction
3 reinforcement schedules
(1) variable ratio schedule of reinforcement; (2) variable interval schedule of reinforcement; and (3) partial reinforcement effect
variable ratio schedule of reinforcement
the number of responses prior to reinforcement changes every time
variable interval schedule of reinforcement
the interval of time between when the organism responds and is reinforced varies
partial reinforcement effect
behaviors that are rewarded only some of the time are more resistant to extinction
punishment
any event or stimulus, that when following a response, causes that response to be less likely to happen again
types of punishment
punishment by application, punishment by removal, and difference between punishment and negative reinforcement
latent learning
learning that occurs but is not demonstrated until the organism is motivated to demonstrate it
learned helplessness
the tendency to refuse to escape from a negative situation because of a history of repeated failures
insight learning
the sudden perception of relationships that allows a problem to be suddenly solved
observational learning
learning that can take place without actual performance
Cognition
mental information that goes on in the brain when a person is organizing and attempting to understand information and communicating information to others
components of cognition
mental images, concepts, heuristics, and problem solving
mental images
every word heard is associated with an image in the mind
Concepts
start to group things or organize things into a class of objects (groups or categories)
Heuristics
rule of thumb or educated guess; quick way to do problem solving
problem solving
final part of the process; where you go to organize and communicate
Albert Bandura
wanted to understand why abuse carries on from generation to generation
Walter Mischel
studied the importance of environmental exposure to learning; found that situational variable affected problem solving
reciprocal determinism
personality is determined by the give and take interaction of three factors: behavior, environment, and personal/cognitive factors; came out of Bandura’s work
personal learning variables
competencies, encoding strategies and personal constructs, expectancies, subjective values, and self-regulatory systems and plans
observational learning
attentional, retentional, motor reproduction, and motivational
self-regulated behavior
performance standards; self-efficacy: a person’s perception of how effective a given behavior will be in any particular circumstance; moral conduct; and delay gratification
Humanistic Perspective
focuses upon things that make people uniquely human–such as emotion and the ability to choose; human beings are always striving for growth and fulfillment
Abraham Maslow
believed traditional psychology concentrated on only the dark, negative, sick, and animalistic aspects of humans; said that if we want to discover the best in humans, we have to study the best humans–so he focused on “exceptional” subjects
Humanistic Psychology
designed to focus on the positive aspects and provide a more balanced picture of human personality
reductive-analytic approach of traditional psychology
reduces humans to a collection of habits and conflicts
holistic-analytic approach of humanism
studies the person as a thinking and feeling totality; driven by the fullfillment of needs through choice, not as a puppet of the environment
principles of humanistic psychology
the primary study of psychology should be the experiencing person; choice, creativity, and self-realization, rather than mechanistic reductionism, are the concern of the humanistic psychologist; only personally and socially significant problem should be studied; the major concern of psycholgy should be the dignity and enhancement of people
self-concept
our ideas about ourselves as reflected to us by others through their words and actions
real self
our evaluations of our characteristics, traits, and abilities
ideal self
our perceptions of what we should be or would like to be
unconditional positive regard
feeling loved and supported unconditionally
fully funcitoning person
a person in the process of self-actualizing who actively explores potentials, abilities, and experiences a match between real and ideal selves
Carl Rogers’ Theory
Abraham Maslow Theory
