Week 1 Flashcards
Psychology
The science of behaviour
Casual Events
events that cause other events (including behaviour)
Social Psychology
The study of how individuals affect each other through perception, attitudes and opinions)
Personality Psychology
Innate differences in individuals and patterns of behaviours
Evolutionary Psychology
explains cognitive, social and personality aspects of psychology through the adaptive significance of evolution of man
Cross-cultural Psychology
How culture affects the behaviour of an individual
Clinical Psychology
The study of psychological disorders
Reflex
An automatic response to a stimulus
Dualism
The idea that reality has two parts; the mind and the matter
What did Rene Descartes believe?
He believed the mind and body were two different entities and the mind controlled the body. He argued it did so by controlling the flow of fluid to flow to a certain part of a body when certain actions needed to be performed
His theory was disproved by Luigi Galvani who showed electric pulses affect the nerves directly
Model
Simple system based on known principles that is able to perform some things a complex system can do
Materialism (James Mill)
Believes reality can not be understood without understanding the physical world which the mind is part of
He argues the mind and body is a machine which responds to the environment
Doctrine of specific nerves (Johannes Muller)
o Optic and auditory nerves are responsible for sending messages to the brain
o Same electric pulses sent through all the nerves
o Sent over different channels to determine the actions
o Brain interprets pulses from the optic nerves as visual sensations
o Different parts of the brains that receive these pulses have different functions
Experimental ablation (Pierre Flourens)
the removal of a certain part of the brain to determine what each part does
confirmed Muller’s theory
Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig
Mapped out the mind by sending electric shocks to the brain and watching the reaction
Psychophysics (Herman von Helmholtz)
The branch of psychology that deals with the relationships between physical stimuli and mental phenomena.
Determinism
behaviour are a result of prior events
Law of Effect
stimuli is a consequence of a response that will determine if the the action will be repeated again
Rationalism (Renes Descartes)
A belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response.
Empiricism (John Locke)
Pursuit of truth through observation and experience
- Believed all knowledge must come through experience
o Believed the mind was a clean slate, and experience becomes written on it - Knowledge was developed by linking simple ideas together
o For example: Perception is linking our 5 sense together
Structuralism (Wilhem Wundt)
To understand perceptions, one must break it down into smaller blocks so we can understand it as a whole
Functionalism (William James)
focuses on the purpose or usefulness of each trait in regards to survival and reproductivity
- Focuses on mental principles rather than structures (mind remembers, it doesn’t contain memory)
- Mental processes are not studied independently, but linked to the biological activities of the organisms and are part of its evolutionary process (consciousness must have been an adaptive trait)
- The mind and the body are one, functionalism studies the relationship between the environment and the response of the organism
Behaviourism
Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shapes our behaviors.
Humanistic Psychology
An approach to psychology that emphasizes the special qualities and potential of human beings. It emphasizes the positive qualities in people, rather than the characteristics of maladaptive or unhealthy individuals.
