Whatever Unit 1 Was Flashcards
Psychology
The study of behavior and mental processes; both a combination of biological and mental
Mental Processes
Internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior— sensations, perception, dreams, thoughts, and feelings
Sensations
Senses— body receiving signals and stimulus
Perception
Brain interprets information (perceive things as emotions)
Socrates and Plato
Minds born with certain, innate knowledge needing to be unlocked. Nature.
Aristotle
Knowledge and habits through observation and experience. Nurtutre
Descartes
Animal brains had “animal spirit” that traveled and commanded muscle movement— element dictated behavior (unit 1 me really loved m dashes). Nature
Bacon
We organize and make patterns of everything— even random things. Nurture
Loke
We are blank slates and our surroundings and experiences shape us. Nurture
Nature
We are innately born with our knowledge and/or mind
Nurture
Our knowledge and mind are shaped by our environment
Wilhelm Wundt
Turned psych into a field of science by studying reaction time— speed of sand
Structuralism
Finding the structural elements of the mind. Mental processes. Wundt started it
Functionalism
Ideas influenced by evolution and biological inheritance on mind and behavior. Functions/purpose of consciousness. Williams James
Sigmond Freud
A physisian and heard about colleagues curing mental illness by listening to their thoughts and problems. Made the whole psychoanalytic thing. The whole unconscious mind. The ID. The Ego. The Superego. Defense Mechanisms. More on this in a later unit.
Behaviorism
Learning behaviors in response to stimuli and situations. Started with Ivan Pavlov and his doggy
John B. Watson
Sherlock’s sidekick. Experimented on animals’ and children’s behavior and responses to stimuli
BF Skinner
Scary name. Trained animal and human behavior through controlled stimuli and their consequences
Classical Conditioning
Subject taught to associate two things that aren’t normally linked
Ivan Pavlov
Dog guy. Associations could be learned
Operant Conditioning
Adding or taking away things to change a behavior. Positive and negative reinforecement and punishment
Carl Rogers
Humanistic
Humanistic Psychology
acceptance and introspection could alleviate many of the issues that plagued patients who were lacking in emotional & social needs. perception and behavior were driven by internal, human motives. human emotional and basic needs, such as love and a sense of belonging
Cognitive psychologists
focused more on the mental processes of the brain:
how we process and retain information (sometimes called the Cognitive Rev.)
Domain: Biological
how brain activity and circuits affect our behaviors or causes emotion, and how these emotions & moods can affect behaviors (i.e., you act differently when happy)
Domain: Clinical
assess and treat mental, emotional, and behavior disorders (e.g. clinical psychologist: Dorothea Dix opened up the first mental asylums)
Domain: Cognitive
study of all the mental abilities associated with knowing, remembering, thinking, and communicating (often analyzes brain activity with equipment)
Domain: Counseling
professionals who help people to cope with crises and/or help people adjust to life transitions or make lifestyle changes (i.e., divorce, marriage, loss)
Domain: Developmental
study of changing abilities from womb to tomb (how we progress from infancy, to childhood, to adolescence, to adulthood mentally and behaviorally)
Example: Jean Piaget (most renowned developmental psychologist)
Domain: Educational
the methods and influences on teaching and learning
Domain: Experimental
a diverse group of scientists who study behavior via experimental and observation in humans and animals
Domain: Positive
seeks to encourage acceptance of one’s past, excitement and optimism about one’s future experiences
Domain: Industrial-organizational
the use psychological concepts and methods to select employees, boost morale, design products, and better business functioning
Domain: Personality
deals with investigating and logging persistent traits and consistent characteristics / behaviors of people across time (i.e., temperament, interests, etc.)
Domain: Psychometric
a domain that can be applied to any domain or field as it is a form of measurement for the abilities, attitudes, and traits of human beings
Example: intelligence and personality tests
Domain: Psychodynamic
the study of how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and use of that info to treat psychological disorders (i.e., modern Freudians)
Domain: Psychodynamic
the study of how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and use of that info to treat psychological disorders (i.e., modern Freudians)
Domain: Social
how expressions of emotions vary across cultural and situational contexts (i.e., cataloging and explaining how or why people act in different social and cultural situations)
Contemporary Psychology
shifted towards studying the interactions of physiological (biological) and cognitive processes
Evolutionary
some behaviors are inherited
Biopsychosocial
the interactions of genes, mood and personality, and social factors (culture, family, socioeconomic status) all interact to determine behavior
Cognitive
understanding how the brain and its mental processes work (memory, learning, etc.)
Gestalt Principles
our drive to group things into larger parts, and see in sequence or as a whole
Experiments
confirm consistent, repeatable results
Intuitions
our internal feelings or compulsions
that are usually wrong
Biases
tendency to favor or support only our narrow views
Theories
explanations that organize observations and predict outcomes (an overarching idea)
Hypothesis
a testable prediction related to a theory (confirmed or unconfirmed by experiment)
Operational Definitions
exact procedures so the experiment can be replicated
Correlation Studies
how two factors are linked, and can predict one another
Cross-Sectional Study
a type of observational study that analyzes data from a population, or a representative subset, at a specific point in time. For example, a cross-sectional study can be conducted on males and females between the ages 24-35 to check for spending or purchase trends
Longitudinal Study
observational research method in which data is gathered for the same subjects repeatedly over a period of time
Surveys
a questionnaire that self-reports the anonymous behaviors and characteristics of a certain group
Naturalistic Observations
unhindered observations of animals or people in their natural environment
Case Studies
one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing some universal truth
Experimental Group
group exposed to the treatment
Control Group
group NOT exposed to the treatment in an experiment
Double-Blind
where both research participants and staff are unaware of which group has the placebo (sugar pill), and which has the treatment (zinc)
Bar Graphs
bar graph with gaps representing categories and numerical values
Histogram
bar graph with no gaps depicting frequency distribution (all numerical)
Scatterplots
a graph cluster of two variables, w/ slope suggesting relationship (positive, negative, or none)
Descriptive Statistics
numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups
Inferential Statistics
to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population
Positive Skew
a right skew distribution due to a long tail on the positive direction on a number line.
Negative Skew
represented by a skew in data to the left
Bimodal
frequency distribution is a dataset that
contains two peaks
Hindsight Bias
“I knew it all along”
Central Tendencies
central or typical value for a probability distribution.
Mode
most frequently occurring score
Mean
Average score
Median
the middle score in a distribution (half above, half below)
Range
difference between highest and lowest scores
Standard Deviation
measure of how much scores vary around the mean (square root of sum of deviations divided by the number of scores)
Confounding Variables
undesired variables that can impact the data, and, unless controlled for, skew and/or ruin the research findings
Control Variables
anything that remain constant or controlled by the experimenter
Statistical Significance
the likely probability that chance was not responsible for the results of a study
Randomly Selected
A representative sample must be this. From a diverse population
Psychological Institutions
The American Psychological Association and British Psychological Society determine the ethics and procedures, and requires compliance from any prospective experimenters
Federal Regulations
While many piece of legislation dictate the interactions of medical information, the HIPAA Privacy Rule requires that physicians (mental & physical) keep patient information confidential
Universities
Local institutional review boards – screen research proposals and safeguards participant’s well-being at each institution, adhering to the policies of the APA, BPS, and federal gov.
Animal Rights
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee - a federally mandated committee in the United States that oversees its institution’s animal program, facilities, and procedures. Every institution that uses animals for federally funded laboratory research must have an IACUC
Requirements for Experimentation
1) Obtain informed consent (APA and BPS)
2) Protect from physical harm or discomfort
3) Keep information about participants confidential
4) Fully debrief people afterwards
