TOPIC 1 Flashcards
What is Psychology?
Study of mind, human behavior, thoughts, emotions
What did psychology emerge from?
Physiology and philosophy
Psychology Controversies
Stability vs. Change
Nature vs. Nurture
Determinism vs. Free Will
Unconsciousness vs. Conscious
Who opened first psychology lab?
Wundt
Research Area: Experimental -focuses on what?
Sensation, perception, conditioning,learning, motivation
Research: Psychology
Study role of brain, nervous system, biochemicals and genetics on behavior
Ex: What is the biological cause of skypsofrenia
Research:Cognitive Psychology
Higher mental -memory, language, reasoning, problem solving, creativity
Ex: How does forgetting occur?
Research: Developmental Psychology
How we change over time -memory, Friendships
Research:Psychmetrics
Statistics and measurments to study behavior
Ex: What is prevelance of depression? Gender biased?
Research:Personality Psychology
What shapes our personality and how to measure it
Ex: What is shyness and how does it develop?
Research: Social Psychology
Group behavior, relationships between people and role of social forces
Ex: What causes us to be attracted to certain people and not others?
Applied/professional areas: Clinical Psychology
Do therapy and assessments and work with people who have major problems (disorders) (serious)
Applied/professional: Counseling Psychology is opposite of Clinical Psychology
Less serious mental issues, should I stay in this relationship or get out of it?
Applied/professional: Education and school psychology
School psychologist who does testing and how do I help them do best in a school environment. Talk to parents, teachers
Applied/professional: Industrial and organization psychology
Apply to workplace. How to be creative in workplace? Should we change workplace setting?
The Scientific Method involves…
Empirical and objective evidence -has to be SCIENTIFIC
Determinism
events that can be predicted (pattern) not random
Objectivity
verified by others and replicated
Data-Driven
findings have to be supported by evidence and have empirical questions
Empirical Questions
can be answered
Psychology as a science must be able to…
Describe, predict, and explain behavior
The Research Process
Research= method of collecting information or data in a systematic, objective way and analyzing it with statistics to see if it was or is significant or meaningful
2 types of research
Basic (adds to our knowledge)
Applied (addresses practical issues and problems)
Why conduct research? 3 Can lead to mistakes…
Hindsight bias: “I knew it all along” after correct answer was given, but did not know before…
Judgemental overconfidence: Think we know more than we do
Tendency to percieve patterns in random events: “well that is because of this… Supersticious”
Steps in Conducting Research:
1) Develop a research question that is specific and testable (empirical question)
2) State hypothesis (specific and testable)
3) Operationally define variables -clear, concrete, specific definitions or variable
4) identify the research design that will be used
Descriptive research design
observe or measure 1 variable at a time (use statistics)
ex) how much sugar is consumed with children with ADHD
Correlational design
Degree to which 1 variable influences another
ex) does more sugar lead to more hyperactivity?
closer to 0=weaker -.93= very strong
As one value of one variable goes up, the other variable goes up. both up or both decrease
NO MATTER HOW STRONG THE CORRELATION IS, IT CAN NEVER TELL YOU CAUSATION
Experimental design
Control all variables besides the one you are studying to see how it affects your dependent variable. Manipulating independent variable
CAN DETERMINE CAUSALITY -ONLY ONE
Random assignment
randomly assign people to groups (control/experimental)
Control group= do not get independent variable
Blind Study
Participants don’t know which group they are in
Double blind study
Participants and researchers don’t know which group the people are in
Case study
Study 1 person
Observation
= observe and code the behavior of the group
Survey
Have participants fill out responses to a variety of questions
Archival
use information that has already been collected by another agency, like school or by another study
Physiological responses
measure bodily responses, such as insulin levels, heart rate, blood pressure
Psychological tests
measures used to assess a specific trait or disorder related to psychology -ADHD or anxiety
Identify the measures that will be used for each variable (relates to operational definition)
The normal curve called the _____ depicts the frequency of many behaviors in psychology
The bell curve
Qualities of a good scientist
open-minded, skeptical, ethical, cautious
