Welcome To Psych 111

Question 1

Define Psychology

Answer 1

The scientific investigation of mental processes (the mind) & behavior

Question 2

Psychology reflects the influences of…

Answer 2

Biological Processes, Individual Differences, & Time + Culture

Question 3

What are the 4 Goals of Psychology?

Answer 3

1. Describe how people & animals behave
2. Understand & explain the causes of behavior
3. Predict behaviors/reactions across situations
4. Control behavior through understanding its causes & consequences

Question 4

Who is Wilhelm Wundt and what is his relationship with Psychology?

Answer 4

• Wundt establish the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany (1879)
• Analyzed Consciousness (a person’s subjective experience of the world & the mind)

Question 5

Define Structuralism

Answer 5

Wundt explored the relationship between the basic elements that constitute the mind
- Isolate & analyze the mind’s basic elements

Question 6

Who is William James and what is his relationship with Psychology?

Answer 6

He built on the principles of introspection & the study of conscious experiences, but instead focused on the why & the adaptive reasons for what and how we perceive in the real world

Question 7

Define Functionalism

Answer 7

The study of the function or purpose conscious mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment
- Influenced by Darwin’s Natural Selection Theory
- Emphasize the adaptive significance of mental processes

Question 8

What is the Psychoanalytic Perspective?

Answer 8

Emphasized the influence of the unconscious on feelings, thoughts, and behaviors
- People could gain insight into the contents of their unconscious minds (psychoanalysis)
- Personality dependent on early life experiences
- Focus on sexual and aggressive impulses
- Psychoanalysis influenced the treatment of mental disorders

Question 9

How do the unconscious mind & conscious mind work according to Psychoanalysis?

Answer 9

The unconscious mind holds repressed thoughts, memories, & emotions. Psychoanalysis brings those things into the conscious mind where they are acknowledged.
- Freudian Slip: elements of unconscious processing revealing itself

Question 10

What is the Behaviorist Perspective?

Answer 10

• Focus on observable behavioral responses
• Emphasize environmental impact on a person’s actions

Question 11

What is Classical Conditioning?

Answer 11

• Exposure to a stimuli leads to a particular response
• Ivan Pavlov’s research on dogs**
  
  • Associative learning’s impact on behavior when neutral stimuli is paired with unconditioned stimuli (Behaviorist Perspective)

Question 12

What is Operant Conditioning?

Answer 12

• Reinforcement & punishment are determinants of behavior
  
  • B.F. Skinner Experiment (Behaviorist Perspective)

Question 13

What is the Principle of Reinforcement?

Answer 13

Any behavior that is rewarded will be repeated and any behavior that isn’t rewarded won’t be repeated (Skinner - Operant Conditioning)

Question 14

What is the Social Learning Theory?

Answer 14

Behavior is influenced by the observation of others (Bandura)
- Behavior may be imitated because of the awareness of the response to another’s actions

Question 15

What is the Cognitive Persepctive?

Answer 15

• How one thinks affects behavior & responses
• Studies mental processes involved in knowing
• Explore memory: how we process, store, & retrieve information
• How one understands & then thinks about solving problems (development process)