Week 1 Flashcards
1
Q
Define Psychology
A
Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes.
2
Q
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
A
- Transformed Psychology from philosophy to science
- First psychology lab
- Lab was in Germany in 1879
- Used scientific methods to study consciousness.
3
Q
Wundt’s Approach
A
Look at the basic elements that make up consciousness
-led to Structuralism
4
Q
Stucturalism
A
The task of psychology is to break down consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related
5
Q
Structuralism - Introspection
A
- Careful observation of conscious experience
- Subjects trained to be self aware
- Exposed to stimulus like sounds & Images
- asked to objectively describe their experiences
6
Q
Criticisms of Introspection
A
- static, bitsy
- consciousness flows, changes and responds
- sensations are interpreted in terms of existing knowledge
- function of consciousness more important than structure.
7
Q
Who developed Functionalism?
A
William James (1842-1910)
8
Q
Who is the father of modern psychology?
A
William James.
- James wrote the book The Principles of Psychology in 1890.
9
Q
Define Functionalism
A
Argues that psychology should study the function or purpose of consciousness, not it’s structure
10
Q
Structuralism vs Functionalism
A
Structuralism says - break down consciousness into parts and see how the parts work together.
Functionalism says - The parts are less important; the importance is the purpose and what consciousness does.
11
Q
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939
A
- Developed Psychoanalysis
- Focused on the unconscious mind
- Developed id, ego & super ego
- suggested the idea that early experiences determine later adult experiences
- Was a physician using case studies
12
Q
Criticisms of Psychoanalysis
A
- Theory based on small number of subjects, mostly women with sever psycholgical distress
- Dream analysis is not empirical
- highly controversial focus on sexual content.
13
Q
Who was John B Watson (1878-1958)
A
- Was known as the father of behaviourism
- wanted psychology to be scientific and focus on observable behaviour.
14
Q
Behaviourism
A
- Developed by John B Watson
- Theorised that Psychology should only study observable behaviour.
- Had the view that psychology was not the study of the mental process
- Inspired the rise in animal research to observe behaviour
15
Q
Classic Behaviorism Studies
A
- Pavlov’s Dogs - 1904
- Little Albert - 1920
- Skinner Box - 1953
16
Q
Classical Conditioning
A
- a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.
- demonstrated by Pavlov’s Dog experiment
- Learned conditions can be reinforced and also reversed
- any stimulus that can be perceived is capable of eliciting any reaction we are capable of making.
17
Q
Operant Conditioning
A
- a learning process where an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior. reward or punishment response. eg: Skinner box with pigeons
18
Q
Behaviourism
A
- The Nature vs Nurture debate.
- Developed by Walter Skinner
- behaviour is predictable and follows lawful principles (just like physics)
- People are controlled by their environment not by their choices
- therefore, free will is an illusion.
19
Q
Radical Behaviourism
A
- Free will is dead
20
Q
Criticisms of Behaviourisn
A
- Too simplistic and minimalist
- avoids the question of why some behaviours are driven by what appear to be different motivations.
- dehumanising - suggests humans are not masters of their own destinies
21
Q
Humanism
A
- Focus on uniqueness of human qualities
- individual freedom and potential for personal growth
- optimistic about human potential
22
Q
Who developed Humanism
A
Abraham Maslow - Heirarchy of Needs, Self Actualisation
Carl Rogers - Person-Centred Therapy, Empathy, congruence, unconditional positive regard
23
Q
Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs
A
- Physiological Needs - Water, sleep, food, breathing, homeostasis, excretion, sex
- Safety - Health, family, employment, housing, mobility, resources
- Love & Belonging - family, , friendship, Sex, intimacy
- Esteem - Confidence self esteem, respect , respect for others,, achievement
- Self Actualisation - lack of prejudice, morality, creativity, problem solving, acceptance of facts, spontaneity.
24
Q
Alfred Binet
A
Alfred Binet developed intelligence test for identifying mentally disabled children. (1905)
25
Personality Assessment
The Big 5: OCEAN
- Openness
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neruoticism
26
Evolutionary Psychology
- 1980's
- Examines behavioural process and their adaptive value over generations
- natural selection, mating preferences, aggression, altruism and reciprocity
27
Positive Psychology
Epiphany = positive focus in psychology research and practice
28
Eclecticism
Choosing a combination of approaches to explain behaviour
29
Five major perspectives of psychology
- Psychoanalytic
- Behavioural
- Humanistic
- Cognitive
- Biological/Neuropsychological
30
Context Dependent Memory
Using a stimulus to recreate memory triggers such as Chew gum while you study then chew gum during the exam
31
Bystander Effect
Diffusion of Responsibility
| Studies have found that people are less likely to help if they think other people can be of help instead of themselves
32
What is stress in psychological terms?
Our bodies ability to respond and adapt to change.
| Can be positive or negative change.
33
Milgram Experiment
- 1963
- investigates how far someone is prepared to go if ordered to harm another person
- found ordinary people will likely follow orders from an authority figure even if instructed to inflict deadly force.
- obedience of authority is ingrained in human nature.
34
What is consciousness?
a person's awareness or perception of their surroundings.
- there are different consciousness levels
- psyche is where we would have started
- awareness is where we are now.
35
what can alter our consciousness
- Alcohol or Drugs
- Medications
- Yoga & meditation
- mindfulness
- sleep & tiredness
36
Who was Edward Titchener
- Early advocate of structuralism
- create first psychology lab in England at Cornell University
- focused on the structure of consciousness
37
adaptive necessity
Responding to change from an observable stimulies. ie.
when observing a ball we can be objective, once it is thrown to us we have an adaptive necessity to catch the ball or duck.
- moves from objective to subjective to reaction.
38
Functionalism and our mental world.
The concept of the "mental world" is taken as a given these days, but in William James time considering the function of consciousness was revolutionary
39
Freud's unconscious thoughts
- slips of the tongue
- dreams seemed to express feelings.
- the mind is like an iceberg; the tip is the conscious but the greater part is unconscious
40
Psychoanalytic Theory
three parts; Conscious, Pre-conscious and Unconscious
41
Defense Mechanism: Repression
- Anxiety Evoking thoughts kept in unconscious
| - having no conscious awareness of your innermost fears because you can't remember them
42
Defense Mechanism: Sublimation
- converts unacceptable impulse into socially Acceptable activity
- channeling aggressive drives in to sport
43
Defense Mechanism: Displacement
- Directs their emotions away from real target to a substitute.
- nodding at your boss in agreement then yelling at family at home.
- slamming tennis racket on the ground when you lose a point.
44
id - ego - super ego
EGO = Direction
ID = Energy & Drive
SUPER EGO = Rules
45
Who was John B Watson (1878-1958)
- Developed Behavioursim
- said psychology should remain scientific and based only on observable behaviour
- moved focus from study of conscious to study of behaviour
46
Behaviouralism
- not a mental process
- black box problem
- Nature vs Nurture
47
The Cognitive Revolution (50's and 60's)
- asks how does cognition influence behaviour
| - Seeks scientific methods to study cognitive processes
48
What is cognition?
all the processes involved in acquiring, storing, and using infomation
- thought processes and how the cogs in the brain work together to keep running
49
Biopsychology
| and Neuropsychology
Psychology returns to its roots.
- the relationship between the brain, body and behaviour
- assumption that human behaviour can be explained in terms of brain structure and biological chemical processes.
50
Five major Psychological Perspectives
```
1 Psychoanalytic
2. Behavioural
3. Humanistic
4. Cognitive
5 Biological/Neuropsychological
```
51
Five major Psychological Perspectives
```
1 Psychoanalytic
2. Behavioural
3. Humanistic
4. Cognitive
5 Biological/Neuropsychological
```
52
Influential perspectives of psychology
1. Social
2. Cultural
3. Evolutionary
4. Positive
53
Social Psychology
- Individual behaviour in a social context
| - Milgram experiment and Zimbardo Prison Experiment
54
Humanism
- Studies the whole person and uniqueness of the individual
- often called the third force of psychology after psychoanalysis and behaviourism
- begins with the existential assumptions that people have free will
- People are basically good, and have an innate need to make themselveCogns and the world better
- people are motivated to self-actualize
55
Cognitive Approach
- Assumes that our thought processes affect the way we behave
- Human behaviour can be explained as a set of scientific processes.
- Our behaviour can be explained as a series of responses to external stimuli.
- Behaviour is controlled by our own thought processes, as opposed to genetic factors.
