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Psychology: Biology & Cognition > Week 1 > Flashcards

Week 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

Define Psychology

A

Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes.

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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.
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3
Q

Wundt’s Approach

A

Look at the basic elements that make up consciousness

-led to Structuralism

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4
Q

Stucturalism

A

The task of psychology is to break down consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related

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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
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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.
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7
Q

Who developed Functionalism?

A

William James (1842-1910)

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8
Q

Who is the father of modern psychology?

A

William James.

- James wrote the book The Principles of Psychology in 1890.

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9
Q

Define Functionalism

A

Argues that psychology should study the function or purpose of consciousness, not it’s structure

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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.

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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
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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.
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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.

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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
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15
Q

Classic Behaviorism Studies

A
  • Pavlov’s Dogs - 1904
  • Little Albert - 1920
  • Skinner Box - 1953
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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.
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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
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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.
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19
Q

Radical Behaviourism

A
  • Free will is dead
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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
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21
Q

Humanism

A
  • Focus on uniqueness of human qualities
  • individual freedom and potential for personal growth
  • optimistic about human potential
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22
Q

Who developed Humanism

A

Abraham Maslow - Heirarchy of Needs, Self Actualisation

Carl Rogers - Person-Centred Therapy, Empathy, congruence, unconditional positive regard

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23
Q

Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs

A
  1. Physiological Needs - Water, sleep, food, breathing, homeostasis, excretion, sex
  2. Safety - Health, family, employment, housing, mobility, resources
  3. Love & Belonging - family, , friendship, Sex, intimacy
  4. Esteem - Confidence self esteem, respect , respect for others,, achievement
  5. 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
Q

Personality Assessment

A

The Big 5: OCEAN

  • Openness
  • Conscientiousness
  • Extraversion
  • Agreeableness
  • Neruoticism
26
Q

Evolutionary Psychology

A
  • 1980’s
  • Examines behavioural process and their adaptive value over generations
  • natural selection, mating preferences, aggression, altruism and reciprocity
27
Q

Positive Psychology

A

Epiphany = positive focus in psychology research and practice

28
Q

Eclecticism

A

Choosing a combination of approaches to explain behaviour

29
Q

Five major perspectives of psychology

A
  • Psychoanalytic
  • Behavioural
  • Humanistic
  • Cognitive
  • Biological/Neuropsychological
30
Q

Context Dependent Memory

A

Using a stimulus to recreate memory triggers such as Chew gum while you study then chew gum during the exam

31
Q

Bystander Effect

A

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
Q

What is stress in psychological terms?

A

Our bodies ability to respond and adapt to change.

Can be positive or negative change.

33
Q

Milgram Experiment

A
  • 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
Q

What is consciousness?

A

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
Q

what can alter our consciousness

A
  • Alcohol or Drugs
  • Medications
  • Yoga & meditation
  • mindfulness
  • sleep & tiredness
36
Q

Who was Edward Titchener

A
  • Early advocate of structuralism
  • create first psychology lab in England at Cornell University
  • focused on the structure of consciousness
37
Q

adaptive necessity

A

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
Q

Functionalism and our mental world.

A

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
Q

Freud’s unconscious thoughts

A
  • 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
Q

Psychoanalytic Theory

A

three parts; Conscious, Pre-conscious and Unconscious

41
Q

Defense Mechanism: Repression

A
  • Anxiety Evoking thoughts kept in unconscious

- having no conscious awareness of your innermost fears because you can’t remember them

42
Q

Defense Mechanism: Sublimation

A
  • converts unacceptable impulse into socially Acceptable activity
  • channeling aggressive drives in to sport
43
Q

Defense Mechanism: Displacement

A
  • 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
Q

id - ego - super ego

A

EGO = Direction
ID = Energy & Drive
SUPER EGO = Rules

45
Q

Who was John B Watson (1878-1958)

A
  • Developed Behavioursim
  • said psychology should remain scientific and based only on observable behaviour
  • moved focus from study of conscious to study of behaviour
46
Q

Behaviouralism

A
  • not a mental process
  • black box problem
  • Nature vs Nurture
47
Q

The Cognitive Revolution (50’s and 60’s)

A
  • asks how does cognition influence behaviour

- Seeks scientific methods to study cognitive processes

48
Q

What is cognition?

A

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
Q

Biopsychology

and Neuropsychology

A

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
Q

Five major Psychological Perspectives

A 
1 Psychoanalytic
2. Behavioural
3. Humanistic
4. Cognitive
5 Biological/Neuropsychological
51
Q

Five major Psychological Perspectives

A 
1 Psychoanalytic
2. Behavioural
3. Humanistic
4. Cognitive
5 Biological/Neuropsychological
52
Q

Influential perspectives of psychology

A
  1. Social
  2. Cultural
  3. Evolutionary
  4. Positive
53
Q

Social Psychology

A
  • Individual behaviour in a social context

- Milgram experiment and Zimbardo Prison Experiment

54
Q

Humanism

A
  • 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
Q

Cognitive Approach

A
  • 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.

Psychology: Biology & Cognition (20 decks)

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