Unit 1: History & Approaches Flashcards
Three elements of a scientific attitude
curiosity, skepticism, humility
Rene Descartes
- agreed with Socrates and Plato about the existence of innate ideas and the mind’s being entirely separate from the body
- experimentation ruled that memories formed as experiences that opened nerve pathways important to enable/affect reflexes
John Locke
- British political philosopher
- the mind at birth is a blank slate
- empiricism (along with bacon): the idea that knowledge comes from experience, and observation and experimentation enable scientific knowledge
Wilhelm Wundt
- “father of psychology”
- established the first psychology lab at a German university
- developed experimental apparatus to test consciousness and measure “atoms of the mind”
Mary Whiton Calkins
a pioneering memory researcher and the first woman to become president of the American Psychological Association
Margaret Floy Washburn
the first woman to receive a psychology PhD, second female president of the American Psychological Association
Cognitive psychology
the study of mental processes, such as those that occur when we perceive, learn, remember, think, communicate, and solve problems
Cognitive neuroscience
the inter-disciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)
Nature-nurture issue
longstanding controversy of the relative contributions genes (nature) and our experiences (nurture) make to the development of certain psychological traits and behaviors
Natural selection
the principle that inherited traits that better enable an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment will most likely be passed down to succeeding generations
Behavior genetics
the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior
Positive psychology
the scientific study of human flourishing, with the goal of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive
Biopsychosocial approach
an integrated approach that combines biological, psychological, and socio-cultural viewpoints
Behavioral approach
- how we learn observable responses
- based on observable behaviors and actions; does not pay attention to cognitive processes because they are not observable
Biological approach
- how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
- how genes combine with the environment to influence individual differences
Cognitive approach
- how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information
- how an individual processes the world around them and why they are processing it that way
Evolutionary approach
- how the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes
Humanistic approach
- how we meet our needs for love and acceptance and achieve self-fulfillment
- free will and individual choice; potential for growth
Psychodynamic approach
- how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts
- influences of childhood trauma/unfulfilled wishes
Socio-cultural approach
- how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures
Scientific method
- Theory
- Hypothesis
- Operational definitions
- Replication
Descriptive methods
methods to describe behaviors,
**case studies: a descriptive technique in which one group or individual is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
- strengths: require only one participant, weakness: single cases may be misleading, no control of variables
**surveys: a descriptive technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative sample
- strengths: quick and inexpensive, weakness: no control of variables
**naturalistic observation: observing and recording behavior in a naturally occurring situation without trying to manipulate/control it
- strengths: require only one participant, can be done when inethical to manipulate variables, weakness: single cases may be misleading, no control of variables
Correlational methods
methods associating different factors or variables
strengths: works with large groups of data, may be used in situations where experimentation is inethical/impossible
Weaknesses: does not specify cause and effect
Experimental methods
methods used to manipulate variables to discover their effects
strengths: specifies cause and effect, variables are controlled
weaknesses: sometimes not feasible, results may not generalize to other contexts, not ethical to manipulate certain varibales
Population
all those in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn (survey)
Random sample
a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
Correlation
a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus how well either factor predicts the other
- measured by a correlational coefficient (a statistical index of the relationship between two things from -1.00 to +1,00); a score very close to -1 or +1 means a very obvious positive or negative correlation
Illusory correlation
perceiving a relationship where none exists, or perceiving a stronger-than-actual relationship
Regression toward the mean
The tendency for extreme/unusual scores to fall back toward the average - extraordinary happenings tend to be followed by ordinary ones
Random assignment
assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between different groups
Double-blind procedure
when both the researchers and participants are blind to who is being tested and who receives a placebo
Confounding variable
a factor that is aside from the one being studied that might influence a study’s results
Descriptive statistics
numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups - includes measures of central tendency and measures of variation
Histogram
a bare graph depicting a frequency distribution
Skewed distribution
a representation of scores that lack symmetry around their average value
Standard deviation
a computed measure of how much scores very around the mean score
Normal curve
A symmetrical bell-shaped curve; most scores fall near the mean
About 95 percent of cases fall within two standard deviations. Thus, about 68 percent of any group of people taking an intelligence test will score within one standard deviation.
Inferential statistics
numerical data that allow one to generalize - to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population
3 Principles of reliable generalization
- representative samples are better than biased samples
- less-variable observations are more reliable than those that are more-variable
- more cases are better than fewer
Statistical significance
a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance
