The History and Scope of Psychology Flashcards
Why is psychology a science
Psychology is a science because of its findings, that are based on an empirical approach, careful observation, and testing. We need a scientific attitude to answer questions
What are the three key elements of the scientific attitude
Curiosity: How does it work? we have to ask questions to know their answers
Skepticism: To know how to sift fantasy from reality, we have to be nor cynical nor gullible
Humility: We have to be aware of our a vulnerability to error. humans and other animals don’t always behave how we predict
What is critical thinking? What do critical thinkers ask?
Critical thinkers don’t accept immediately arguments and conclusions. They discern bias, examine conclusions and evidences. They ask: How did you get to that conclusion? how do they know that? is the conclusion based on an anecdote or a fact?
WHAT MATTERS IS NOT WHAT THEY “FEEL” IS TRUE, BUT WHAT IS TRUE
What were the two first school of thoughts?
Structuralism (Titchener) and Functionalism (Williams James)
What were the goals of structuralism?
Structuralism ought to find and describe each element of the human’s mind structure, just like they were doing with the periodic table.
Structuralism was based on introspection (looking inward), but it was somewhat unreliable cause introspection relies on the person’s ability to verbalize their feelings, and feelings and experiences vary from person to person.
What is introspection? Which school of thought used it?
Introspection was used by structuralism to make the patient describe what they were feeling at the moment of doing certain actions, they had to describe what was happening with their 5 senses. it proved somewhat unreliable due to its base in personal experience (subjective) and personal ability to verbalize what they were actually feeling.
Why did structuralism decline in popularity?
It decline in popularity due to introspection. It proved somewhat unreliable due to its base in personal experience (subjective) and personal ability to verbalize what they were actually feeling.
What is functionalism? How does it differ from structuralism?
William James thought that the mind was a function that we developed due to natural selection. It helped our ancestors survive and reproduce. It was an evolved function - therefore functionalism.
How did behaviorists redefined psychology?
They changed the focus from mental activity to something we can actually see… behavior.
It changed to the “scientific study of observable behavior”
What did behaviorists think about introspection?
They thought it was not useful because it relied on personal’s abilities and experiences
What did Freudian (psychoanalytic) psychology emphasize?
It emphasize on the effect our unconscious mind and childhood experience on our behaviors.
What was the focus of humanistic psychologists like Maslow and Rogers?
They focused on potential human growth, the need of love and approval and the environments that nurture or limits personal growth
What is the focus of cognitive psychology?
They study processes involved in cognitive activities: perceiving, learning, remembering, thinking, etc.
How is psychology defined today?
It is the study of behavior and mental processes.
behavior - actions, things we can perceive
mental processes - experiences, thoughts, feelings … more subjective
Compare and contrast evolutionary psychology and behavior genetics
Evolutionary psychology is the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind using principles of the natural selection (best genes survived and reproduced, therefore passed the genes onto succeeding generations)
On the other hand, behavior genetics focus more on nurture vs. nature.
They focus on the powers and limtis of genetics and environmental influences on behavior
What is cross-cultural psychology? why is it important to study people from different countries
It is the study of how cultures affect human behavior and thoughts.
Culture is the enduring behaviors, ideas, values shared by a group of people transmitted through generation to generation.
It is important to study people from different cultures we observe our cultural differences. How the place we were born in and its cultures can affect our behavior and thoughts. However, we mainly share the same processes.
What is the focus of gender psychology?
The focus is gender identity - our sense of being female, male, in-between, etc.
Studying gender differences can prevent misunderstandings in everyday interactions
What do biological psychologists study
they study the link between body and mind
What do developmental psychologists study?
They study our changing abilities from womb to tomb
What do cognitive psychologists study?
They study how we perceive, think and solve problems
What do personality psychologists study?
nature vs. nurture. How much is genes and how much is culture and environment ?
What do social psychologists study?
they study how we view and affect one another
What do industrial-organizational psychologists study?
They use psychology’s concepts to help the workplace, boost moral, train employees.
they conduct applied research: scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
What do counseling psychologists do?
they help people to cope with struggles and crises. They assist those with psychological disorders, to improve their personal and social functioning.
THIS BRANCH OF PSYCHOLOGY ASSISTS PEOPLE WITH PROBLEMS IN LIVING (OFTEN SCHOOL, WORK, RELATIONSHIPS RELATED) IN ACHEIVING GREATER WELL-BEING
What do clinical psychologists do? How is this similar to/different from counseling psychology?
They are pretty similar, the can provide therapy, interpret tests, and advice people with all-level of psychological difficulties.
Community psychology
They work to create a better environment for everyone. They study how social interactions and social environments affect individuals and groups
Psychiatry
Psychiatry differs from counsel psychology and clinical psychology. they can treat (medical) the patient. And it is a branch of medicine.
What is testing effect? How can you use it to improve your learning?
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading. (self-testing).
Many studies have shown that frequent testing boosts student’s retention
what is active processing?
it involves active-learning, being involved
Describe each of the five steps of SQR3
Survey: scan the text with a bird’s-eye view.
Question: try to answer the learning objective question
Read: do active reading, take notes, ask questions, etc
retrieve: self-testing to test what you’ve understood
review: read over the notes
What is the difference between massed and spaced studying? Which one leads to better learning?
Spaced learning is organizing studies, short periods with more time in between
massed studying is when you don’t have time and you want to cram texts in one sitting.
epigentics
how experiences can affect how we express
neuroplasticity
the great ability of learning and adapt
