Topic 1 (Psychology: Mental Processes and Behaviour)

Question 1

Positive Psychology

Answer 1

Harnessing positive emotions.
Encouragement to flourish.

Question 2

Psychology

Answer 2

The scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, feeling) and behaviour.

Question 3

At which intersection does psychology lie?

Answer 3

Micro-level of biology and macro-level of culture.

Question 4

Triple-bookkeeping

Answer 4

Tracking biological events, psychological experience and cultural/historical context.

Question 5

What do psychological anthropologists study?

Answer 5

Phenomena in other cultures by observing people in their natural settings.

Question 6

Cross-cultural psychology

Answer 6

Examining the patterns of behaviour across different cultures.

Question 7

Biopsychology

Answer 7

Behavioural neuroscience which investigates the physical bases of psychological phenomena.

Question 8

What do biopsychologists do?

Answer 8

Examine behaviour through genetics, neurological and nervous system processes.

Question 9

Localisation of function

Answer 9

The extent to which different brain parts control different aspects of functioning.

Question 10

Broca’s Aphasia

Answer 10

Involves difficulty producing speech

Question 11

Wernicke’s Aphasia

Answer 11

It involves difficulty comprehending language.

Question 12

Sociocultural perspective

Answer 12

Social interaction and cultural determinants of behaviour and mental processes.

Question 13

Cultural psychology

Answer 13

Patterns in behaviours and how culture influences them.

Question 14

Free will

Answer 14

People make free choices

Question 15

Determinism

Answer 15

Forces outside our control determine our actions.

Question 16

Father of psychology.
Found that the basic elements of human consciousness were sensations and feelings.

Answer 16

Wilhelm Wundt

Question 17

Introspection

Answer 17

Looking inward and reporting one’s conscious experience.

Question 18

Who am I? Student of Wundt. Advocated for introspection. Hoped to devise periodic table of human consciousness.

Answer 18

Edward Titchener

Question 19

School of thought influenced by interest in the structure of consciousness.
Only believed in experimentation.

Answer 19

Structuralism

Question 20

Interested in the whole mind and function of psychological processes and holistic research.

Answer 20

Functionalism

Question 21

Behaviour is largely the result of unconscious processes, motivation and early experiences.

Answer 21

Psychodynamic

Question 22

Interpretation of verbal discourse, slips of the tongue, dreams, fantasies, actions and postures; case studies; limited experimentation.

Answer 22

Psychodynamic methods

Question 23

Consciousness is like the tip of an iceberg; the mind is like a battleground for warring factions.

Answer 23

Psychodynamic metaphors

Question 24

Behaviour is learned and selected by its environmental consequences.

Answer 24

Behaviourist perspective

Question 25

Humans and other animals are like machines; the mind is like a black box.

Answer 25

Behaviourist metaphor

Question 26

Experimentation with humans and other animals

Answer 26

Behaviourist method

Question 27

Pioneered American behaviourism.

Answer 27

John Watson

Question 28

A broad system of theoretical assumptions that a scientific community uses to make sense of its domain of study.

Answer 28

A paradigm

Question 29

What are the main elements of a paradigm?

Answer 29

Theoretical model, shared metaphors and set of methods.

Question 30

Behaviour and experience are shaped by the need to self-actualise, to fulfil one’s inner potential.

Answer 30

Humanistic perspective

Question 31

Life is like a bottle of milk — the cream always rises to the top. This is an optimistic view of behaviour, emphasising that everyone aims to be the ‘best’ person they can be.

Answer 31

Humanistic metaphor

Question 32

Person-centred therapeutic approach that emphasises empathy, acceptance and respect for the individual.

Answer 32

Humanistic method

Question 33

Behaviour is the product of information processing: storage, transformation and retrieval of data

Answer 33

Cognitive perspective

Question 34

The mind is like a computer; enduring patterns of thought are like software.

Answer 34

Cognitive metaphor

Question 35

Experimentation with humans; computer modelling.

Answer 35

Cognitive method

Question 36

Psychological processes reflect evolutionary process of natural selection.

Answer 36

Evolutionary perspective

Question 37

Life is like a race for survival and reproduction.

Answer 37

Evolutionary metaphor

Question 38

Deduction of explanations for traits and behaviours; cross-species and cross-cultural comparisons; limited experimentation

Answer 38

Evolutionary method

Question 39

When does Freud believe personality behinds to emerge?

Answer 39

Childhood

Question 40

What are the major criticisms of psychodynamic perspective?

Answer 40

Reliance on retrospective accounts, the falsifiability criterion and the unconscious can't be measured.

Question 41

What is involved in learning?

Answer 41

Biochemical changes in brain cells and neural circuits.

Question 42

Cartesian dualism?

Answer 42

The natures of mind and body are completely different from one another.

Question 43

What perspective uses biofeedback?

Answer 43

Behavourism

Question 44

People are motivated to reach their full potential.

Answer 44

Self-actualisation

Question 45

Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Question 46

Adaptive traits

Answer 46

Characteristics that help organisms to adjust and survive in their environment.

Question 47

An early school of thought using introspection to uncover elements of consciousness.

Answer 47

Structuralism

Question 48

A field exploring evolutionary and biological bases of human social behavior.

Answer 48

Sociobiology

Question 49

What do rationalist philosophers emphasize?

Answer 49

The role of reason in creating knowledge.

Question 50

What do psychologists examine?

Answer 50

Why people behave as they do, considering underlying thought processes.

Question 51

What is person-centred therapy?

Answer 51

Carl Rogers’ therapeutic approach focusing on the individual’s phenomenal world.

Question 52

A theory stating that natural forces select traits that help organisms adapt to their environment.

Answer 52

Natural selection

Question 53

The transformation, storage, and retrieval of environmental inputs through thought and memory.

Answer 53

Information processing

Question 54

What is inclusive fitness?

Answer 54

Natural selection favours organisms that support the survival and reproduction of their kin.

Question 55

What does Gestalt psychology focus on?

Answer 55

The active experience of imposing order on details by seeing them as parts of a larger whole.

Question 56

An early school of thought looking for explanations of psychological processes in terms of their function in adaptation.

Answer 56

Functionalism

Question 57

What is the falsifiability criterion?

Answer 57

The requirement that hypotheses must be framed to allow for them to be proven false.

Question 58

What does ethology study?

Answer 58

Animal behaviour from a biological and evolutionary perspective.

Question 59

What is empiricism?

Answer 59

The belief that scientific knowledge comes from systematic observation and experimental observation.

Question 60

What is cognition?

Answer 60

Thought and memory

Question 61

Who pioneered the behaviourist perspective?

Answer 61

John Watson and B. F. Skinner.

Question 62

What does behavioural genetics study?

Answer 62

Genetic and environmental bases of psychological differences.

Question 63

Who developed structuralism?

Answer 63

Edward Titchener

Question 64

What did structuralism attempt to uncover?

Answer 64

The basic elements of consciousness and their combinations.

Question 65

What are the earliest schools of thought in psychology?

Answer 65

Structuralism and functionalism

Question 66

What therapy did Carl Rogers develop?

Answer 66

Client-centered

Question 67

Who was a founder of functionalism?

Answer 67

William James