Unit 1: Introduction to Psychology Flashcards
CBT helps us recognize how?
thoughts<> feelings
thoughts<>behaviours
behaviours<>feelings
Scientific Method?
I Have Made Cake And I Rock
Identify the topic> formulate a research hypothesis> Design a Method> Collect the data> Analyse the data> Interpret and evaluate the results> report the research findings
Why is phrenology a pseudoscience?
based on reasoning and anecdotal evidence, due to non evidenced bad approach it started and perpetuated false ideas
legacy of phrenology?
Postive= localising particular functions to certain parts of the brain
Negative= due to non evidenced based approach it started and perpetuated false ideas
What 2 concepts is the Biological perspective based on?
Materialism= mind is based in the brain which is a physical structure
Hereditary= (genetics) behaviour can be inherited
What is Broca’s area
Only on the left, left frontal lobe + involved in motor/physical production + producing fluent/ articulate speech
What is Broca’s aphasia?
defecit in ability to produce lang/ fluent speech, do have comprehension but difficulty forming words
slow, delayed, “um”, stutter, hard to pronuciate, simple words and sentences
Benefits of the Biological perspective?
-only field that explains behaviour in relation to the body
-its popularity has increased with biological research and brain and imaging techniques
-continues to influence understanding of brain functioning, brain chemistry and the impacts of various psychological disorders
-with the study of the nervous system and genetic inheritance many mental and emotional problems maybe be better understood in the future
Limitations of Biological perspective?
-lack recognition of environmental influences on behaviour
-the idea that only internal facotrs influence behaviour is limiting
Operant Conditioning
The learning process by which the likilhood of a particular behaviour occuring is determined by the consequences of that behaviour.
3 stages of Operant conditioning
Antecedant/ Discrimintive Stimulus = what precedes and prompts a parcticular response?
Behaviour= the voluntary response that occurs
Consequences= what happens after the response?
Benefits of behavioural perspective
-emphasises the importance of empirical observation and data collection (good scientific evidence)
-many practical application eg shaping adaptive behaviours, systematic desensitization and aversion therapies
Limitations of Behavioural Perspective
fails to recognise the role of mental processes in determing behaviour (too simplistic)
Biological vs Behavioural
Opposite perspectives
Bio= is abt internal factors influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviour
Beh= external factors influence thoughts, feelings and behaviour
Skinner box
Rat was placed in a box with an electric grid, food cup, signal lights and a leaver. If the rat pulled down the leaver a reward= food, if not a punishment= electric shock
Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)
Characteristics= infants learning about their surroundings through their senses and motor interactions with their environment= leads to movement
Preoperational stage (2-7)
leads to complex thinking
-egocentrism
-animism,
-centration
Concrete Operational stage (7-11) characteristics
Charactersitics=
able to perform mental operations, which involve being able to accurately imagine the consequences of an action without it actually needing to happen
-go from concrete thinking to more fluid thinking by the end
Key achievments of Concrete operational
-Conservation
-Decentering
-Classification
Formal Operational stage (11+)
characteristics
( not everyone reaches the final stage eg if there are intellectual delays)
achieve abstract thinking- the ability to conduct mental operations on concepts that are not experienced through the senses ( don’t have to physically sense things)
Formal Operational
Key achievments
-Deductive reasoning
-Systematic problem solving
-Idealistic thinking
Benefits of Cognitve Perspective
- led to improvement in mental capabilites eg memory and thinking
- led to understanding of how cognition is linked to emotions ( cognitive behavioural therapy)
Limits of Cognitive Perspective
- too much link computer terminology= difficult to apply to humans
- sometimes behaviour and thoughts can be unrelated and have poor predictive value
Similarities of psychologists and psychiatrists
Both work in mental health, often work together in providing mental health services , understand how the brain works, our emotions, feelings, and thoughts
Both can treat mental illness with psychological treatments (talking therapies)
Differences between Psychologists and Psychiatrists
Psychiatrists= attend medical school and become medical doctors, qualified medical doctor who has obtained additional qualifications to become a specialist in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illneses, and can prescribe medication
Psychologists= are an expert pr specialist in the study of psychology but can’t prescribe medication, diagnose mental health disorders and aren’t medical doctors
How to become a psychologist?
6 years of uni
- 3 years bachelors and 1 honours year and 2 years masters in psychology OR 5 years full study and 1 year apprenticeship
How to become a psychiatrist?
- obtain a medical degree (5-6 years, depending on uni)
- further study into mental health (2+ years)
Fields of employment of psychologists=
Clinical, Counselling, Academic, educational, community
Clinical= Focuses on ppl with mental illness or behavioural disorders e.g anxiety, depression, alcohol or drug misuse are often managed through a combination of medication (through GP) and talk therapy
Counselling= work with ppl with r/s problems e.g educational setting, health, private etc
Academic= conduct research and teach in unis
educational= conduct assessments of learnign disorders, help students manage behaviour, career guidance
community= help ppl achieve goals in areas e.g welfare and community projects
Fields of employment of psychologists=
Forensic, Clinical Neuropsychologist, Health, Sports, Organisational
Forensic= deals with criminal behaviour in legal situations and prisons e.g developing and implementing programs for offenders, risk assessments of prisoners
Clinical Neropsychologist= involved in the diagnosis and rehab of disorders that are associated with some type of brain damage
Health= deals with health issues and diseases e.g health promo. and illness prevention
Organisational= help ppl function effectively in work env. e.g staff recruitment, communication and stress management
Sports= focuses on enhancing sporting performance e.g goal setting and mental preparation
Managing mental health and illness
Psychologist vs Psychiatrists
Psychologist= manage common mental health disorders through medication ( through GP) and talk therapy e.g depression and anxiety
Psychiatrists= severe mental health disorders (after referall from GP) through diagnosis, medication, talk therapy and maybe hospitalization e.g bipolar disorder or schizophrenia
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or “talk therapy” (CBT)?
-is a treatment approach that helps patients to recognise negative or unhelpful thought and behaviour patterns and replace these with helpful or healthy thoughts and behaviours
-CBT aims to help patients identify and explore the way emotions and thoughts can affect our actions
-BOTH psychologists and psychiatrists are trained to use CBT
-cognitive part= replace “I can’t get to sleep” with “it is possible for me to get to sleep as I have done it before”, this will reduce stress and result in sleep
-behavior part= positive sleep hygiene practices
What is ethics and importance?
ethics refer to the standards that guide individuals to identify good, desirable or acceptable conduct
importance= ensures safety of participants, experiment is safe/consistent/orderly, protect reputation of experimenters
What are the ethical guidelines or considerations?
Can Voldemort Win If Dumbledore Dies?
Confidentiality, Voluntary participation, Withdrawal rights, Informed Consent, Deception, Debriefing
What is Voluntary Participation?
the participant is not coerced to participate
Informed Consent?
GMRRSGIV
is a plain language statement which includes the goals and methods of the experiment, the participant rights and risks, signature from the participant and guardian if vulnerable
Ethical deception?
-when info is withholded for a reason to obtain true and not biased results
-where deception is necessary, the participant must be fully debriefed at the conclusion of experiment to ensure no harm
Professional Conduct?
the researcher must act in a professional manner and must follow the ethical guidelines
Ethical Concepts?
these aren’t guidelines, just expected
Beneficence
Integrity
Justice
Non-maleficence
Respect
Integrity?
is the commitment to searching for knowledge and understanding and honest reporting of favourable/unfavourable results to contribute to public understanding and knowledge
Justice?
is the fair consideration that there is no unfair burden on a particular group from an action and fair distribution and access to the benefits of an action
Respect?
treat participants with kindness and like human beings with regard to welfare, liberty and autonomy, beliefs, perceptions, customs and cultural heritage.
Why is psychology a science?
because it involve studying questions using the scientific method which involves using an appropriate research method to collect and anaylse data and interpret the results.
Benefits of Sociocultural perspective?
-relatively new> fresh ideas
-acknowledges an individual’s social context as an important influence
-challenges traditional views that research can be generalised to all ppl
Limits of Sociocultural perspective?
-can reinforce stereotypes of particular cultures
- can exaggerate differences between groups
What is obedience?
-obedience occurs when we follow the commands of someone with authority or the rules or laws of our society
-although compliance (do what they are told to) involves changing your own behaviour in response to a request, it doesn’t necessarily involve an authority figure
Factors influencing obedience?
social proximity, legitimacy of authority figure and group pressure
Social proximity?
-the closer the social contact between the participants and authority figure= the higher the obedience
- the closer the subject to the person receiving the shocks, the less obedience
Legitimacy of authority figure?
-the greater the status of authority figure, the higher the obedience
-legitimate power e.g a badge, white coat, uniform, documents etc
Group pressure?
-obedience increases if ppl see others obey
-obedience decreases if ppl see others disobey
What is an experiment?
an experiment is used to test a cause and effect relationship between 2 particular variables ( tests the effect of an IV on a DV)
relationship between IV
and DV?
The manipulation of the IV causes an effect on the DV
Correlation vs Causation?
Correlation= exists at the same time
Causation= directly causes it ( what we look for in an experiment)
Extraneous variables
are identified and controlled prior to the research> becomes a controlled variable
Confounding variables
-are like extraneous variables, however, it is not possible to determine which variable caused the change in the DV
-only identified after the experiment and are not controlled (invalidates the experiment)
- extraneous variables become confounding variables if not controlled
e.g environment or experimenter effects ( accidently treat different participants differently)
-can’t be the IV or DV
Controlled variables ensure what?
the validity of the results, because it can be more clearly identified that the results have changed because of the effects of the IV alone, not another factor
Hypothesis template
It is hypothesised that those who are..(IV).. will.. (directional impact on DV ) compared to those who are..(IV).. will.. (directional impact on DV)
Key goals of sampling?
-ensure that the sample closely represents the population so that we can generalise results ( write a generalisation= e.g it can be assumed that 18-60 year old’s in Australia…)
-reflect the population in all personal characteristics (age, gender, culture, religion, job etc) of participants relevant to the study
Law of large numbers?
the law of large numbers says that the greater the sample size the greater the chance that the attributes of the sample are representative of the population.
Sampling procedures
- limitations of random sampling
-no guarantee that the sample is representative
-need a complete list of target population=time consuming
Method for obtaining a random sample
- obtain a sampling frame (e.g class lists of all BCC students)
- employ the lottery method e.g place all students name into a data-base which randomly selects students for the study, ensuring that each member has an equal chance of being selected
Sampling Procedures
- pros and cons of random stratified sampling
pro= ensures that the sample is highly representative of the population and therefore not biased. Participants are randomly selected from each strata
con= need a complete list of target pop, time consuming
Method for obtaining a stratified sample
- population is broken into different strata/ groups based on a variable that you want to control e.g age, IQ, gender etc
- individuals are selected from each group usually in the same proportions that they appear in the population.
- this ensures that the characteristics of the pop are captured leading to a more representative sample
Why are different participation allocation methods used?
to ensure that the participant variables do not affect the results in the experimental and control groups of the experiment and that they are evenly spread
Random allocation importance
-minimising differences between groups ( no bias in how the participants are distributed between groups)
-used to obtain groups that are as alike as possible before introducing the IV.
- important in terms of experimental control and minimising extraneous variables
Counterbalancing
involves systematically changing the order of treatments or tasks for participants in a ‘balanced’ way to ‘counter’ the unwanted effects of order effects (considered to be potential extraneous or confounding variables)
example of counterbalancing
each group of participants receives the same treatments in a different order > the results of all are then combined across the entire experiment to achieve counterbalancing therefore the order effect that impacts on performance as measured by the DV is controlled
Between subjects=
different participants in different conditions
example:
pop>sample> random allocation= EG or CG> effect on DV in both groups are compared
What do Experimental research designs help us with?
-controls for EV, making it easier to determine/ measure cause and effect relationships
-describe how an experiment is organised= how the sample will be divided into Experimental conditions and Control Conditions and in what order they will be exposed to these.
Within subjects design=
-same participants undergo all conditions
-example:
with counterbalancing
pop>sample> random
allocation= EG then CG=group A or
CG then EG=group B >effect on DV
in both groups compared
without counterbalancing
pop>sample>EG>CG (
could be different order)
Mixed design=
-2 separate conditions
-the researcher examines not only the potential differences between 2 or more groups of participants but also assesses change in the individual members of each group over time
Mixed design examples
- may test the effect of one IV at two time periods e.g pre and post test
- may involve 2 IV whereby 1 IV is tested through a between subjects design and another is tested through the within subjects design.
Key achievements of sensorimotor stage
Key achievements=
-sensory and motor coordination
-increased goal directed behaviour=successfully completing sequences of actions with a particular purpose in mind
-acquire object permanence= the understanding that objects still exist even when they can’t be seen
What is centration?
inability to focus on more than one feature of an object at a time, can only focus on most visible/physical aspect > kids unable to grasp mass/volume/number
what is egocentrism?
tend to perceive world from own point of view
What is animism?
belief that everything that exists has some kind of consciousness (related to egocentrism)
What is Conservation?
-Conservation ( of mass, volume and number): knowing that these properties remain the same despite changes in the appearance of an object (conservation is a result of decentering)
What is Decentering?
the ability to consider more than one characteristic of an object or problem
What is Classification?
-Classification= the ability to organise objects or events into categories based on common features that set them apart.
What is deductive reasoning?
-Deductive reasoning= the ability to draw conclusions from pieces of information that are believed to be true.
What is idealistic thinking?
-Idealistic thinking= ability to envisage better alternatives to reality ( best possible outcome)
What is systematic problem solving?
-Systematic problem solving= the ability to test solutions to problems in an orderly way, not randomly ( manipulate one variable at a time in order to work out which variable has the greatest effect)
Benefits of Within Subjects design?
- Reduces differences between groups as the same participants are used in both groups.
- Less participants are required
Limitations of Within Subjects design?
- Order/practice effects - participant may perform better the second time around due to practice (control using counterbalancing or change to between subjects design)
- Fatigue effect - participant may perform worse the second time around due to fatigue or boredom
- High drop-out rates
- less cost effective and more time consuming compared to between subjects design
Benefits of Between Subjects design?
- Avoids order/practice effect and fatigue effect ( as an extraneous variable) - each participant only does the experiment once
- Cost effective and less time consuming
Limitations of Between Subjects design?
- Participants are not matched on characteristics (participant differences= an extraneous variable, might be bias)
- You need more participants compared to repeated measures.
Benefits of Mixed Subjects design?
- Differences in participant variables (extraneous variable) between groups are controlled in the within subjects design element
- Can test the effect of multiple IVs on a DV in one investigation
- Testing multiple IVs in one investigation can be time and cost effective compared to completing two or more separate investigations
-mixed design should be used when you have access to multiple participants and want to get as much data as possible
Limitations of Mixed Subjects design?
- Higher participant withdrawal rate from the study than using a between subjects design alone- can affect internal validity
- Less control over participant knowledge of the study- prior participation in the first condition may influence behaviour in the second condition (more than when using between subjects design alone)
- Less control over differences in participant variables in the between subjects element, can lower validity.
conclusion template
It can be concluded that..(provide an overall statement about what the data is showing- must have a direction). This is demonstrated by.. (compare the results across all groups and operationalise the DV)
population
refers to the entire group of research interest, and to which the researcher will wish to apply/generalise their research findings
sample
is the research participants who were selected from the larger population
What is meant by the term representative in relation to the sample?
refers to representing the whole pop of interest in all personal characteristics and traits e.g skill, education level, knowledge, sleep habits, age, location etc
Convenience sampling?
- easiest way to get a sample, most convenient
-not likely to be representative b/c no equal chance of being selected, no random allocation or sampling
Difference between placebo and placebo effect?
placebo= fake treatment w/a a placebo effect refers to one’s expectations abt the treatment which influences their performance on the DV t/f could be an extraneous variable.
when might you choose a between subjects design over a within subjects design?
-when order effects might influence the results and participation differences are deemed not to be a confounding variable due to the availability of a large sample size
What is a double blind procedure?
when participants and experimenters don’t know the conditions of an experiment this controls the placebo effect (participant expectation) and experimenter effects
