Test 2 Flashcards
Summarize Wundt’s accomplishments and contributions to psychology
He established the first psychology lab; measured the lag time between people’s hearing and their reaction; studied “atom of the mind”
Summarize Hall’s accomplishments and contributions to psychology
He studied under Wundt and established the first formal U.S. psychology laboratory at John Hopkins Uni.
What is structualism
Early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Titchener, used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind.
What is functionalism
Early school of thought promoted by Jame and influence by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral process function - how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
Introspection
careful, systematic observation of one’s own conscious experience.
Free association
Freud’ theory of personality that attributed thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts
Psychoanalysis
A method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.
Unconscious
Freud - a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories
Psychologists - information processing of which we are unaware
Id
unconscious psychic energy that, according the Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.
Superego
The part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgements (the conscience) and for future aspirations
Ego
the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. Operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.
hindsight Bias
the tendency upon learning an outcome of an event - such as an experiment, a sporting event, a contest - to overestimates one’s ability to have foreseen the outcome
overconfidence
the tendency to overestimate our knowledge and abilities in a certain area
confirmation bias
the tendency of people’s minds to see out information that supports the views they already hold.
Social desirability bias
a type of response bias that occurs when respondents provide answers according to society’s expectations, rather than their own beliefs or experiences.
critical thinking bias
directed, problem-focused thinking in which the individual tests ideas or possible solutions for errors or drawbacks. It is essential to such activities as examining the validity of a hypothesis or interpreting the meaning or research results.
Experimenter or Research bias
expectations about the outcome of the experiment can be subtly communicated to the participants in the experiment
Theory
explains behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize what we have observed.
Theory example
we observe over and over again that people with good sleep habits tend to answer questions correctly in class, and they do well at test time. We might theorize that sleep improves memory.
Hypothesis
a good theory produces testable predictions. Predictions specify what results (behaviors or events) would support the theory and what results would cast doubt on the theory.
Hypothesis example
If people are sleep deprived, Then they will remember less from the day before
Alternative hypothesis
hypothesis states that there is a relationship between the two variables being studied (one variable has an effect on the other)
Null Hypothesis
the statement or claim being made that we are trying to disprove (the two variables do not have an effect on each other)
Operational definitions
carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study
Operational definition example
“sleep deprived” may be defined as X hours less than the person’s natural sleep
Replication
Using exact descriptions and procedures to repeat the research. Other people should be able to recreate the study with different participants in different situations. If they get similar results, we can be confident that the findings are reliable.
Survey
a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.
Sampling bias
a flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample
Population
all those in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn. (usually very specific)
Random sample/selection
a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
random assignment
the likelihood that all participants in a group or a sample have an equal chance of being assigned to the different conditions within the study
Experiment
A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (dependent variable). By random assignment of participants, the experimenter aims to control other relevant variables.
Experimental v. Control Group
- In an experiments, the group exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable
- The group NOT exposed to the treatment, contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.
Placebo Group
A group that receives what, to them, appears to be a treatment, but actually is neutral and does not contain any active treatment
Single-Blind procedure
One of the groups (participants) are unaware as to which group they are in (experiment or control) while the researcher who developed the experiment knows which participants are in each group
Double-blind procedure
An experimental procedure in which neither the subjects of the experiment nor the persons administering the experiment know the critical aspects of the experiment. “A double-blind procedure is used to guard against bother experimenter bias and placebo effects”
Placebo and the Placebo effect
The placebo effect is when a person’s physical or mental health appears to improve after taking a placebo or “dummy treatment”
Independent variable
A variable that is manipulated by a researcher to investigate whether it consequently brings change in another variable
Dependent variable
A variable (often denoted by y) whose value depends on that of another
confinding variable
those that affect other variables in a way that produces false, fake, or distorted associations between two variables.
control variables
Any variable that’s held constant in a research study. It’s not a variable of interest in the study, but it’s controlled because it could influence the outcomes
Locke Empiricism
Wrote series of essays to express his values of empiricism: The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation
superego
Part of the conscious and subconscious mind that controls internalized ideals, and provides standards of judgement
Oedipus Complex
According to Freud, a boy’s sexual desire toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father
Fixation
According to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved
