Test 1 Flashcards
What is Psychology?
The scientific study of behavior and mental process
Clinical Psychologist
diagnose and treat people with mental struggles (ex: therapist)
William James
First UNITED STATES psychologist
-believed that psychology should look at function and not just structure
-thought psychology should explain how people adapt or fail
Wilhelm Wundt
The first psychologist
-father of experimental psychology (first)
- founded the first formal laboratory for psychological research
Sigmund Freund
Founder of psychology
-thought behavior came from unconscious drives conflicts and experience that we have not have thought of due to REPRESSING the TRAUMATIC event
Gestalt psychology
that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. That is, the attributes of the whole are not deducible from analysis of the parts in isolation.
Behaviorism
our actions in the environment stimuli, rather than in inner mental process
-we learn thorough reward, punish, observing
Why is behaviorism important
laid the groundwork for understanding how we learn (ex: parenting techniques, teaching standards)
Humanistic Psych
emphasizes ability, growth, potential, free will
Cognitive view
our actions are a direct result of the way we process information (ex: thoughts, expectation, perception)
cognitive shifted psychology focus back to mind
focusing on the internal mental processes driving human behavior
Diversity and foci
considers how individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behavior are intertwined with their diverse social environments.
career options outside of academic setting
social worker, therapist, psychologist
educational requirements for careers in academic setting
Psychologist
-Doctorate degree
-4-6 years of school
-Doesn’t prescribe meds
merits of an education in psychology
gain a deeper understanding of how humans develop relationships and resolve complex issues through psychology course topics like development in different life stages
applied psychology
the knowledge developed by experimental psychologist to address human needs (ex: doctor, therapist)
Biological View
how our physical make up and the operation of our brains influence
-HEREDITARY AND GENETIC
Psychodynamic
the part of our brain we are unaware of
-suggest we are motivated by the energy of irrational desires generated in our unconscious minds
Experiment
the researcher controls and manipulates the condition including the independent variable
Ex post facto study
research in which we choose subjects based on preexisting condition (ex:cancer research)
correlation study
researchers try to show the RELATIONSHIP between the two variables
-largely statistics based
survey
questions are asked to subjects who report their own answers
naturalistic observation
longitudinal study
one group of study is studied for a long time to observe long term
cross-sectional study
look at cross section of the population and study studies them at one point in time
cohort sequential
use to cut down time and expense
socioculture
emphasizes importance of social interaction social learning and cultural perspective
evolutionary
view of psychology looks at natural individuals behaviors through a lens of natural selection
falsifiable
is the possibility that an assertion can be shown fake by an observation or experiment. That something is “falsifiable” does not mean it is false; rather, if it is false then this can be shown by observation or experiment
observational device
a specific description of the concepts involving the scientific study
-“to be measured”
independent variable
stimulus condition that the experimenter changes independently of all other carefully controlled condition
-STIMULUS OR CAUSE
dependent variable
measured outcome of a study or the responses of the subject in the study
-RESPONSE OR EFFECT
confounding variable
have unwanted influence on the outcome of an experiment
random selection
everyone has an equal chance being chosen for the experiment (ex: picking from hat)
personal bias
when the researcher allows his or her personal beliefs affect the study
double-blind study
both subject and person administrating doesn’t know the independent variable of the study
random sample
selected by chance or without biased selection techniques
representative sample
age, sex, ethnicity, education
explanation of psychology
why people behave the way they do
