Unit 1: Welcome To Psychology (Chapter 1)

Question 1

Psychology

Answer 1

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. (Scientific = Systematically tests their hypotheses about the human mind & behaviour against objective data.)

Question 2

Mind

Answer 2

All subjective experiences - sensations, perceptions, memories, thoughts, motives, emotions. Also includes cognitive structures and processes shaping experience and behaviour outside of awareness.

Question 3

Behaviour

Answer 3

Observable actions of people or non-human animals.

Question 4

Social cognition

Answer 4

Thinking about oneself, other people, and oneself in relation to other people. Ex: Newborn babies.

Question 5

Folk psychology

Answer 5

Everyday, “common-sense” understanding of the mental states and behaviours of other people (and ourselves). Comes from experience (memory of personal events) and intuition (subjective feelings about what makes sense). Ex: Opposites attract, familiarity breeds contempt, it’s good to “vent anger”…

Question 6

Limitations of personal experience & intuition for understanding human psychology

Answer 6

**1) **Experience has no control group.

**2) **Cannot generalize from a single case.

**3) **We notice much less of our world than we think we do (illusion of attention). Ex: Gorilla video.

**4) **Our prior expectations shape which events we notice, how we construe them, and how we remember them. We see what we expect to see and don’t see what we don’t expect to see. This may lead us to make erroneous causal association. Ex: Monopoly man and monocle, how people view participants in political protests study.

**5) **We are not impartial in the way we seek and interpret information.

**6) **Often unaware of the subtle but powerful influences on our behaviour. Ex: Organ donor study.

Question 7

Inattentional blindness

Answer 7

Failure to perceive event outside the focus of one’s attention.

Question 8

Illusion of attention

Answer 8

We don’t notice how much of our world we don’t notice (i.e. we notice much less of our world than we think we do).

Question 9

Confirmation bias

Answer 9

Tendency to seek out, pay attention to, and believe evidence that supports what we are already confident we know. Ex: Capital punishment study.

Question 10

Misattribution of arousal

Answer 10

Attributing physiological arousal to the wrong source. Takeaway: We don’t always know what we are feeling. Ex: Suspension bridge study.

Question 11

Explaining broader patterns of behaviours: Evolutionary perspective

Answer 11

Identifies aspects of behaviour that are the result of evolutionary adaptations.

Question 12

Explaining broader patterns of behaviours: Cultural perspective

Answer 12

Investigates how cultural context affects people’s thoughts and preferences.

Question 13

Understanding current thoughts and feelings: Cognitive perspective

Answer 13

Studies the mental processes that underlie perception, thought, learning, memory, language and creativity.

Question 14

Understanding current thoughts and feelings: Emotional perspective

Answer 14

Examines how the human capacity to feel, express, and perceive emotions plays an important role in decision making, behaviour, and social relationships.

Question 15

Indemnifying the roles of the body and brain: Biological-neuroscience perspective

Answer 15

Studies the biological underpinnings of how we think, act, and behave.

Question 16

Acknowledging both stability and change in behaviour across time and situation: Developmental perspective

Answer 16

Examines how people change physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally as they age.

Question 17

Acknowledging both stability and change in behaviour across time and situation: Personality perspective

Answer 17

Seeks to understand aspects of behaviour that are relatively stable over time and situation.

Question 18

Acknowledging both stability and change in behaviour across time and situation: Social perspective

Answer 18

Considers the ways in which immediate social contexts influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

Question 19

Acknowledging both stability and change in behaviour across time and situation: Clinical perspective

Answer 19

Focuses on the causes and treatments of psychological disorders, with the goal of improving human well-being, daily functioning, and social relationships.

Question 20

WEIRD samples

Answer 20

Research participants from Western, educated, industrialized, rich and demographic backgrounds.

Question 21

Pseudoscience

Answer 21

Makes claims that are supposedly based on rigorous science and fact but that are not supported by reliable, verifiable, scientific evidence- an available body of facts and information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true and valid.

Question 22

Empirical evidence

Answer 22

Based on astute observation and accurate measurement.

Question 23

Critical thinking

Answer 23

Purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed thinking that seeks to examine evidence, evaluate conclusions, solve problems, make decisions, and formulate reasonable and accurate conclusions.

Question 24

Culture

Answer 24

The rules, values, customs, and beliefs that exist within a group of people who share a common language and environment.

Question 25

Unconscious

Answer 25

The part of our mental life that influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions that we cannot directly observe and of which we are unaware.

Question 26

Growth mindset

Answer 26

The belief that human personality and behaviour can be changed.

Question 27

Positive psychology

Answer 27

The scientific study of the factors that make people happy, keep them healthy, and help them manage stress; includes the study of important human experiences, such as hope, courage, and creativity.

Question 28

Metacognition

Answer 28

An awareness and understanding of your own thought processes.

Question 29

Belief perseverance

Answer 29

Maintaining a belief despite new information that firmly contradicts it.

Question 30

Research-based strategies for effective studying

Answer 30

• Test yourself.
• Take detailed and clear notes while listening to lectures (Cornell note taking method).
• Manage your time.
• Focus on the task at hand.
• Manage your technology.
• Stay motivated.
• Find a study partner or join a study group.
• Learn as you go.