Unit 1 : Flashcards
Structuralism
WUndt and Titchener; uses introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind
Prescientific Psychology
Socrates and Plato believed that the knowledge we now we were born with
Francis Bacon
Knowledge comes from experience and science should rely on observation and experimentation
John Locke
Humans are born with a blank state.
Functionalism
William James through influence of Charles Darwin
Explored how mental and behavioral processes function and allow organisms to adapt, survive, and flourish
William James
Functionalist, introspection; Explored emotions, memories, habits, and consciousness
Mary Whiton Calkins
First APA president
Margaret Floy Washburn
First female to earn Ph.D in psych, second female president and wrote “Animal Mind”
Experimental Psychology
Study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method
Philip Zimbardo
Edward Titchener
Structuralist; backed up Margaret Washburn, wrote “Principles of Psychology”,
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis; emotional responses to childhood experiences and unconscious thought process + effects on behavior
Scientific study of observable behavior
1920s; Flamboyant, Watson, Skinner
Only observes behaviors not feelings or thoughts
Behaviorism
Psychology should be an objective science and should study behavior w/o interference to mental processes.
behaviors are acquired through conditioning, and conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment
Today agree with 1 not 2
Pavlov, Watson, Thornedike
Humanistic psychology
Emphasis of growth potential of healthy people
—> environment influences and importance of love and acceptance
Carl Rogers and Maslow
Cognitive psychology / approach
Explores how we perceive, process, and remember info
Jean Piaget
New ways to understand ourselves and treat disorders
Cognitive neuroscience
Brain activity linked with cognition (perception, thinking, memory, language)
Psychology
Science of behavior (smiling, blinking, sweating, talking) and mental processes (thinking, sensations, perceptions, dreams, beliefs)
Nature-nurture issue
Genetic vs environmental contributions to development of traits and behaviors
Aristotle : “all comes through senses”
Locke : “we are born with a blank state”
Descartes : “some is inborn, most is not” (EXPERIMENT SUPPORTED)
Natural selection
Those animals that continue to survive and reproduce will pass on their traits to future gens.
Levels of analysis
Different groups complementary views, from bio, psych, and social culture to analyze any phenomenon.
—> biopsychosocial
Biopsychosocial
Interaction between biology, psychology, and social-culture factors
Each is important; do not look at seperately
Behavioral perspective w/ anger
Any trigger angry responses / aggressive acts
Biological perspective
Study heredity and experience influence our differences
Cognitive pers
Study of anger and how it affects thinking
Evolutionary pers
Anger facilitated the survival of our ancestors; genes
Humanistic pers
How angry feelings affect someone’s potential growth
Psychodynamic/ psychoanalytic perspective
Views outbursts as an outlet for unconscious hostility
Social-culture pers
Focus on how anger varies in different cultures
Behavioral psychology
Observable behaviors and its explanation by principles of learning
Biological psychology
Link between biological (genetic, neural, hormonal) and psychological processes
Cognitive psychology
All mental activities associated with thought, knowledge, memory, and communication
Evolutionary psychology
Study of evolution of behavior and mind, using natural selection
Psychodynamic psychology
Studies unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that info to treat people with psych disorders
Social- culture psych
Study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking
Psychometrics
Study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits
Basic research
Pure science aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.
Development psych
Study physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span
Educational psych
Study of how psychology processes influence teaching and learning
Personality psych
Individuals characteristics, pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
Social psych
How we think about, influence, and relate to each other
Applied research
Study that aims to solve practical problems
Industrial-organization psych
Application of psych concepts and methods to optimize human behavior in workplaces
Human factors psychologist
Subfield of I/O, explores how people and machines interact and how the environment can be made safe and easy to use
Counseling psych
Assists people with problems in living (school, work relationship) and achieving greater well-being
Clinical psychology
Assesses and treats people with psych disorders
Psychiatry
Medicine dealing with psych disorders, physicians provide medical treatment and psych therapy
Positive psych
discover and promote strengths that help individuals and communities thrive
Community psych
how people interact its their social environment and how social institutions affect individuals and groups.
Hindsight bias
To believe, after knowing the outcome, that you would have foreseen it
“I knew it all along”
Overconfidence
Tend to be more confident rather than correct
Perceiving order in random events
Humans inclined to perceive patterns that may not even have one.
Leads to overestimation of human intuition
Curiosity
Wanted feeling to explore and understand without being mislead.
Scientists need to be doubtful before believing
Critical thinking
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions, but examines assumptions, assesses the source, discerns hidden values, evaluated evidence and assesses conclusions
Theory
An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events
Have to be put to a test, can be a useful summary
Hypothesis
A testable prediction often implied by a theory
Operational definition
Carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in a research study
INCLUDE SPECIFIC MEASUREMENTS AND VARIABLES
Replication
Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations to see whether the basic finding is generalized (extends to other participants and circumstances)
Reliable
When the study has similar results across multiple experiments
Correlational studies
Use different factors and variables (movement of two variables together), can show correlation, but not cause and effect
Experiments
Manipulate a variable and discover their effects, can show cause and effect and explains behavior
Case study
Analysis of specific individual(s) in depth
Gathering data as an experiment wouldn’t working because its unethical
Can be hard to generalize if an abnormal example is present, people are all different
Naturalistic observation
Watching and recording the natural behavior of many individuals without interfering
Real world data, change in behavior if they are being watched
DESCRIBES NOT EXPLAINS
Observer effect
People or animals behave differently from normal when they know they are being observed
Illusory correlation
Perception of a relationship where none actually exists
Population
Group of people being studied
Survey
self reported attitudes or behaviors of a group, acquired by questioning a sample of the group
Questionnaire to get info
Sampling bias
Flawed sampling procese that produces an unrepresentable sample
Random sample
Sample that fairly represents a pop because each member has an equal chance of inclusion (random selection)
Larger representative samples > small representative samples > large unrepresentable samples
Wording effect
How a question is prompted to the person, can result in differences in answers
Correlate
Measure of the extent to which 2 variables change together, shows how well either variable predicts the other
Correlation coefficient
Statistical index of the relationship between 2 variables (from -1.0 to 1.0)
LOOK AT NATURALLY OCCURING RELATIONSHIPS
Scatter plots
Graphed cluster of dots, represents value of 2 variables/ values. Slop shows direction (+ / -) amount of scatter suggests strength of correlation
Perfect Positive correlation
Both values both up together (+1.0)
Closer moves to +1.00 the stronger the correlation
DOES NOT PROVE CAUSATION
No relationship
Dots have no pattern
0.00
Perfect Negative correlation
One variable moves up one moves down
(-1.00)
Closer to -1.00 the stronger the correlation
DOES NOT PROVE CAUSATION
Experiment
Research method where factors can be manipulated in order to observe the effect on some behavioral or mental processes.
Random assignment of participants aims to control the confounding variables
LOOK AT EFFECTS
Experimental group
Group exposed to treatment in an experiment (independent variable)
Control group
Group that does not receive treatment; contrasting with the exp group serving as a comparison to evaluate the experiment
Random assignment
Assigning participants to experimental or control groups by chance, minimizing pre-existing differences between different groups
Double blind procedure
Experiment procedure where nether the participant more researching staff know if the participants received the treatment or placebo
Commonly used in drug evaluation
Avoids observer bias
Single blind study
Only the participants dont know which group they were assigned to
Observer bias
Researchers expectations, beliefs, feelings influence what they perceive and record for the study
Placebo effect
Results that can come due to expectations alone, any effect that seems to change behavior the recipient thinks its the drug
Independent variable
Factor in experiment that is manipulated
What is being studies
Confounding variables
Outside Factors that can produce an effect on the experiment
Dependent variable
Outcome factor; can change in response to manipulations of IV
Validity
Experiment measures, predicts, tests what it is supposed to.
Difference significance
When avg from 2 samples are each reliable measures of representative pops then difference is likely reliable as well
When sample avg is large, means difference between them reflects real diff in a pop
Descriptive statistics
Measures describes and summarizes our data like central tendency and variation
Histogram
A bar graph depicting a frequency distribution
Measures of central tendency
Mode
Mean
Median
Skewed distribution
Mode
Most frequently seen score in a distribution
Mean
Average of a distribution
Add then divide by # of scores
Median
Middle score when put in numerical order, half below and half above
Skewed distribution
Representation of scores that lack symmetry around their average value
Measures of variation
Range
Standard deviation
Range
Highest - lowers
Standard deviation
Avg distance from mean
Outliers
Score way high or way low
Impacts the mean, better to look at median
Positively skewed distribution
Outliers have pulled the mean to the right, outliers are extremely high
Negatively skewed distribution
Outliers have pulled mea to the left, outliers are extremely low
Longitudinal studies
Takes place over a long period of time
Standard variation
Avg off how scores differ from mean
Large bell curves = scores vary and are not similar
Small bell curves = scores are tight together and similar
68% fall between 1 deviation
95% fall between 2 standard deviation
Normal curve
Normal distribution, symmetrical curve , scores fall between 68% in 1st deviation
Inferential statistics
Numerical data that allows to generalize probability of something being true of a pop.
Statistical significance
Statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance
P≤.05
Results are less than 5% due to chance
Cannot generalize results if not present
Culture
Enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a group of people that gets passed down to gens.
Ethical guidelines
- Have to get approval from IRB
- Informed consent
- Debriefing
- Confidentiality
- Protection from mental, physical, and emotional harm
- Only experiment on animals and harm animals if it benefits humans
Informed consent
Inform participants about the study, ability to withdraw any time
Debriefing
After exp is over reveal the results including possible deception.
