Unit 1: Welcome To Psychology (Chapter 1) Flashcards
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. (Scientific = Systematically tests their hypotheses about the human mind & behaviour against objective data.)
Psychology is summative in the sense that the knowledge is ever growing (i.e. it builds upon old knowledge).
Mind
All subjective experiences - sensations, perceptions, memories, thoughts, motives, emotions. Also includes cognitive structures and processes shaping experience and behaviour outside of awareness.
Behaviour
Observable actions of people or non-human animals.
Social cognition
Thinking about oneself, other people, and oneself in relation to other people. Ex: Newborn babies.
Folk psychology
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”…
Limitations of personal experience & intuition for understanding human psychology
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.
Inattentional blindness
Failure to perceive event outside the focus of one’s attention.
Illusion of attention
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).
Confirmation bias
Tendency to seek out, pay attention to, and believe evidence that supports what we are already confident we know. Ex: Capital punishment study.
Misattribution of arousal
Attributing physiological arousal to the wrong source. Takeaway: We don’t always know what we are feeling. Ex: Suspension bridge study.
Explaining broader patterns of behaviours: Evolutionary perspective
Identifies aspects of behaviour that are the result of evolutionary adaptations (i.e. genetics).
Explaining broader patterns of behaviours: Cultural perspective
Investigates how cultural context affects people’s thoughts and preferences.
Understanding current thoughts and feelings: Cognitive perspective
Studies the mental processes that underlie perception, thought, learning, memory, language and creativity.
Understanding current thoughts and feelings: Emotional perspective
Examines how the human capacity to feel, express, and perceive emotions plays an important role in decision making, behaviour, and social relationships.
Indemnifying the roles of the body and brain: Biological-neuroscience perspective
Studies the biological underpinnings of how we think, act, and behave.
Acknowledging both stability and change in behaviour across time and situation: Developmental perspective
Examines how people change physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally as they age.
Acknowledging both stability and change in behaviour across time and situation: Personality perspective
Seeks to understand aspects of behaviour that are relatively stable over time and situation.
Acknowledging both stability and change in behaviour across time and situation: Social perspective
Considers the ways in which immediate social contexts influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
Acknowledging both stability and change in behaviour across time and situation: Clinical perspective
Focuses on the causes and treatments of psychological disorders, with the goal of improving human well-being, daily functioning, and social relationships.
WEIRD samples
Research participants from Western, educated, industrialized, rich and demographic backgrounds.
Pseudoscience
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.
Empirical evidence
Based on astute observation and accurate measurement.
Critical thinking
Purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed thinking that seeks to examine evidence, evaluate conclusions, solve problems, make decisions, and formulate reasonable and accurate conclusions.
Culture
The rules, values, customs, and beliefs that exist within a group of people who share a common language and environment.
Unconscious
The part of our mental life that influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions that we cannot directly observe and of which we are unaware.
Growth mindset
The belief that human personality and behaviour can be changed.
Positive psychology
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.
Metacognition
An awareness and understanding of your own thought processes.
Belief perseverance
Maintaining a belief despite new information that firmly contradicts it.
Research-based strategies for effective studying
- 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.
