Unit 1 Flashcards
psychology
involves study of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
mind
mental activity that results from biochemical processes within brain (includes thoughts, memories, feelings, and perceptual experiences)
amiable skepticism
remain open to new ideas but is wary of new “scientific findings” when good evidence + sound reasoning doesn’t seem to support it
critical thinking
using amiable skepticism (evaluating all facts, being skeptical but still open); looking for holes in evidence + using logic/reasoning, consider biases; what are the assumptions, evidence, and conclusion?
confirmation bias
people are inclined to overweigh evidence that supports their beliefs and tend to downplay evidence that doesn’t match what they believe (ignoring evidence)
coincidence, “synchronicity”
common reasoning error that 2 events that happen at the same time must somehow be connected
hindsight biases
once we know outcome, interpret and reinterpret old evidence to make sense of outcome (accepting after the fact explanations), gives false sense of certainty of ability to make predictions about future behaviors
heuristics
people follow simple rules to make decisions; is valuable because reduces reasonably good decisions without too much effort but can lead to inaccurate judgement (taking mental shortcuts)
Dunning Kruger Effect
explanation to people being unaware of their own weakenesses is people might lack the ability to evaluate own performance where they have little expertise
hypothesis generation
taking a moment to consider some possibilities and occurs at the beginning of the scientific process
mind body problem
are mind + body separate or distinct or is mind simply subjective experience of ongoing brain activity?
dualism
promoted by Rene Descartes, was idea that mind and body are separate but intertwined; argued body was nothing more than organic machine governed by “reflex”; today psychologists reject it and believe mind and brain do not exist separately
nature vs. nurture
psychologists recognize nature (innate knowledge) + nurture (“blank state shaped by experience”) dynamically interact in human psychology development
culture
beliefs, values, rules, norms, customs existing within group of people who share common language or environment
stream of consciousness
William James noted that mind consists of ever changing, continuous series of thoughts, product of interacting + dynamic stimuli coming from inside of head + outside world
functionalism
psychologists examine functions served by mind, how mind operates (early approaches from 1880s - 1900s); adaptive purpose of mind, stream of consciousness
natural selection
some features have evolved through this evolutionary process
localization
different areas of brain are specialized for different functions
human genome
basic genetic code, or blueprint, for human body; map for psychologists represent foundational knowledge for studying how specific genes affect thoughts, actions, feelings, and disorders
epigenetics
study of ways environmental mechanisms can get “under the skin”
gut microbiome
billions of microorganisms that live in our digestive tract + our mind and behavior
gut brain axis
reveals composition + diversity of microorganisms can alter, be alerted, by way our bodies respond to stress, mount immune response, and direct attention
behaviorism
during first half of 1900s, focused on studying observable behavior to exclusion of mental events (wanted to forget role of unconscious),
cognitive revolution
second half of 1900s, led by George A Miller where with computers, where able to build mathematical models of behavior that capture some of important but invisible facts that underlie; also called cognitive psychology
big data
uses tools from computer science word, like data mining and machine learning, to identity complex patterns in large data sets
replicability
results would be same if someone ran study again
open science movement
where psychologists made research plans and designs more transparent, documenting failed studies, and sharing data among researchers among other steps
norms
culture instils certain rules which specify how people should behave in different contexts
biological level of analysis
deals with how physical body contributes to mind and body
individual level of analyssi
focus on individual differences in personality and in mental processes that affect how people perceive and know the world around them
social level of analysis
involves how group context affect way in which people interact + influence each other
biopsychosocial model
biological, individual, and social level of analysis together
cultural level of analysis
explores how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are similar/different across cultures
interdisciplinary
psychologists may collaborate w/ other researchers from other scientific fields
disturbed practice
learning materials in bursts over prolonged time frame, instead of cramming; helps b/ pulling up memory everytime
elaborative interrogation
thinking why fact is true or why it is true in some cases, helps link existing knowledge in mind to integrate it into your understanding of world
self explanation
reflecting on your learning process and trying to make sense of new materials in your own terms
interleaved practice
switching b/w topics during studying instead of completing one topic before moving on to next
Monsim?
no separation b/w mind and body, Dennett: mind is product of physical matter (brain)
Structuralism
early approaches (1880s-1900s); break down unconscious into component parts, trained introspection where person looked inward at own mental processes, was highly subjective and unreliable
Psychodynamic theory
role of unconscious (1900s - 1950s); was pioneered by Freud, believed there were mental processes below level of conscious awareness, made progress but not scientifically rigorous
Social Psychology
capturing social influences (1950s - present); was after WW2 and wanted to understand human behavior like prejudice, stereotyping, etc
theory
has to be testable through data + observable; explanation or model of how phenomenon works; should be falsifiable, should be able to test hypothesis that show theory is wrong
Occam’s razor or Law of Parsimony
tend toward simplicity for theory
hypothesis
prediction based on theory, tested hypothesis should lead to structured empirical data; cannot quantify wish fulfillment like Freud’s theory, narrower than theory is based on
research
tests hypothesis, test yields data that leads to conclusion, careful collection, analysis, and interpretation of data
empiricism
observing world and measuring aspects of it; involves data collection + analysis + careful planning
scientific method
what scientists follow systematic procedure
variable
something in world that can vary + that researcher can manipulate, measure, or both
operational definition
qualify (define) and quantify (measure) variable so variables can be understood objectively
Scientific Method Process
pose testable specific research question -> educate yourself on what is already known about theory -> form hypothesis -> design a study -> conduct study -> analyze data -> report resulsts
peer review
process by which other scientists w/ similar expertise evaluate + critique research reports
false positive
occurs when hypothesis under investigation is false but study produces seemingly trustworthy results by chance
questionable research practiecs
unintentionally made studies less likely to replicate (small samples; HARking (after the fact prediciton), P-hacking (running stats tests over until get results want), Underreporting null effects)
preregistration
researchers lay out their hypothesis, method, analysis plan ahead of time, publish it w/ time stamp; includes power analysis which helps determine if sample size is big enough
meta analysis
type of study that is analysis of multiple analyses
descriptive research
involves observing behavior to describe that behavior objectively + systematically (lowest level of casual inference), researcher doesn’t interfere; can have observation bias, reactivity if human knows they are being observed
case study
intensive observation, recording, description of typical person or organization (cannot usually generalize)
participant observational study
where researcher is involved in situation
naturalistic observation
where observer is passive, remains separated from situation and makes no attempt to change or alter ongoing behavior
self report method
like surveys or questionnaires can be used to gather data from large number of people in short time (better than average effect where people think they are better than they really area, self report bias; may tell what is socially exceptable)
correlational studies
examine how variables are naturally related in real world, w/o any attempt by researcher to alter them or conclude that one variable causes other (cannot determine casual relationship: affect of one directly affects other), used when not possible to perform experiment
correlation coefficient
descriptive statistic b/w -1 and +1 that indicates strength of relationship + direction b/w two variables
directionality problem
knowing direction of relationship b/w variables (did A lead to B or did B lead to A)
third variable problem
possible that variable C is responsible for both variable A and B, and is not variable A producing variable B as researchers assume
experimental
researcher manipulates one variable to measure effect on second variable, highest level of casual inference (confounds can limit inference)
independent variable
variable that is being manipulated
dependent variable
variable that is being measured (dependent measure)
experimental group
group of study participants that receive treatment
control group
consists of similar participants who experience everything experimental group recieves except treatment
repeated measures designed
same people receive both treatments
control
steps taken by researcher to ensure manipulation of IV is only difference b/w experimental and control group
confound
anything that affects dependent variable and that might unintentionally vary between studies different experimental conditions
random assignment
assign participants to experimental and control groups, gives each potential participant equal chance of being assigned to any level of independent variable; guards against systematic differences b/w groups
population
group ultimately want to know about
sample
subset of population you are using to study
sampling
process by which you select people from population to be sample
random sampling
sample should represent population and best method to do this is
convenience sample
sample consists of people who are conveniently available for study, almost certainly biased
informed consent
is ongoing process of ensuring that participants understand what they are asked to do and actively agree to do it
anonymity
researchers don’t collect personal, identifiable information in first place from particpants
experimentation averse
generally think that implementing either A or B, even if both are untested, is more acceptable than randomizing A/B testing to determine which option