Week 1 Different Perspectives Flashcards
Define Psychology
Scientific study of the mind and behaviour
What are the 7 perspectives in Psychology?
Psychodynamic Cognitive Behavioural Humanistic Biological Sociocultural Evolutionary
Define basic research
How and why people think and behave the way they do. Often purely theoretical with the intent to increase our understanding of certain phenomena or behaviour without seeking to solve or treat these problems
Define Psychodynamic
A perspective in which behaviour is influenced by unconscious motives, conflicts, defences, early childhood experiences and unresolved conflicts.
Conscious - Thoughts, perceptions
Preconscious - Memories, Stored knowledge
Unconscious - Fears, selfish needs, shameful experiences
E.g John can’t eat fish because he has a deep rooted fear of fish when he was hit by one in the face as a child
Define Behavioural
A perspective in which behaviour is directly influenced by the environment. Stimuli that is in the current environment.
Behaviourist model: only study observable external behaviour
Stimulus > Black box (can’t be studied) > Response
E.g. John ran away from the local area because he heard gun shots that frightened him
Define Humanistic
A perspective in which humans are seen as agents of free will that seek meaning in the self and have a will to self actualisation and maximal potential.
Study of meaning values and purpose in life.
E.g. John wishes to continually refine his worldview and apply his values to the way he interacts with the world, to find his place in society
Define cognitive
A perspective in which ones behaviour is influenced by thoughts, planning, perceptions, attention and memory processes. It is based on the idea that humans can process and analyse information in the mind to create thoughts
Cognitive model:
Input > Mediational processes > Output
E.g. John changed jobs because he took into account the value the company brought into his life and weighed it against the potentially new job. Leading him to a job change
Define sociocultural
A perspective in which one’s behaviour is tied to the social context of an individual. How they are influenced by norms, social interactions, culture and traditions.
The presence of other people influences our behaviours, thoughts and feelings :
- Actual presence - conformity
- Implied presence - clothing party people will evaluate how you look so you change clothes
- Imagined presence - Driving too fast, thought saw a police car so slowed down
E.g. A large reason a large majority of the older generation is against homosexuality is because they are still solidified by the social norms that they grew up with
Define biological
The perspective that behaviour is influenced by the physiology of the body. The brain, biochemical factors, genetics and evolution. Role of hormones and biochemistry in behaviour
E.g. There was a case of someone turning into a pedophile due to a tumour in their brain. They returned to normalcy and had no pedophilic tendencies after the tumour was removed.
What are the 4 forms of defence mechanisms covered in the unit?
Denial - denying that an action or event has occurred
Projection - attributing unconscious qualities to others and denying them from the self
Displacement - redirecting an emotion from the source to something or someone else
Reaction Formation - controlling anxiety induced emotions and impulses by over exaggeration of the opposite idea or tendency
What is classical conditioning?
Classical conditioning - association of two stimuli that are repeatedly paired to then have the first stimulus elicit a response without a second stimulus being necessary
Neutral stimulus Unconditioned stimulus Conditioned stimulus Unconditioned response Conditioned response
What is operant conditioning?
Operant conditioning is a type of associative learning process by which behaviour is influenced by reinforcement and punishment
Reinforcement - response is strengthened by an event that follows it (frequency of response)
Punishment - response is weakened by the outcome that follows it
Punishment can be positive or negative
Positive - adding stimulus
Negative - removing stimulus
What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
It is a theory of human motivation, the levels in which a human seeks different levels of needs.
Self actualisation - inherent potential and search for meaning
Esteem - status, strength, freedom
Love and Belonging - friendship, intimacy, family, sense of connection
Safety needs - personal security, employment, resources, health and property
Physiological needs - air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing and reproduction
What did Ivan Pavlov do with dogs?
He worked with dogs and observed how they learned to salivate in response to a tone
What do humanistic theorists assume?
That everyone has an innate tendency towards growth and achieving one’s individual potential called ‘self actualisation’
