Chapter 1 Flashcards
(44 cards)
what is psychology
it involves the study of thoughts, feelings, and behaviour
what is psychological science?
the study through research of mind, brain, and behaviour
what does it mean when we say mind
mental activity - the mind includes the memories, thoughts, feelings, and perceptual experiences we have while interacting with the world.
what is behaviour
describes the totality of observable human/animal actions
what is amiable skepticism
a way of critically weighing and evaluating information using well-supported evidence
what is confirmation bias
when people overweigh evidence that supports their beliefs and downplay evidence that does not match what they believe
what is “seeing casual relationships that do not exist”
there is a common reasoning error where there is a misconception that two events that happen at the same time are somehow related. Sometimes people see order that does not exist to try to find predictability in our world
what is “accepting after the fact explanations” or hindsight bias
where people see many signs of a probably outcome but nobody takes any action
what is “taking mental shortcuts”
taking simple little rules called heuristics to make decisions - taking things that are widely available to be more probable and forgetting the more blatant things
what is the dunning kruger effect
People lack the ability to evaluate their own performance in areas where they have little expertise
what is the mind/body problem
the quintessential question: are the mind and body separate and distinct, or is the mind simply the subjective experience of on-going brain activity
what is dualism and who promoted this theory
Dualism is where the mind and body are separate but intertwined
Rene Descartes
what is the nature/nurture debate?
another quintessential question of whether psychological characteristics are biologically innate or are they acquired through education, experience, and culture.
who is John stuart mill
a philosopher, writer of “A system of logic” (1843) who declared that psychology should leave philosophy and become its own science of observation and experiment
how does john Stuart mill define psychology
the science of the elementary laws of the mind
who is is william james
the first major overviewer of psychology, is credited with the idea of the stream of consciousness of the human mind
what is stream of consciousness
the product of interacting and dynamic stimuli coming from both inside our heads and the outside world
what is functionalism and who began this theory/ way of thinking
William James began it
he argued that psychologists should examine the functions served by the mind - how the mind operates
what is natural selection
where features that are adaptive are passed along and those that are not adaptive are not passed along
what is clinical psychology
area of psychology that seeks to understand, treat, and characterize mental illness
what is cognitive psychology
it aims to understand the basic skills and processes that are tge foundation of mental life and behavious
Topics: memory, attention, sensation, perception
what is cultural psychology
the study of how cultural factors (geographical regions, national beliefs, religious values) can have profound effects on mental life and behaviour. Most closely linked to sociology and anthropology
what is developmental psychology
study of how humans grow and develop from the prenatal period through infancy and early childhood, through adolescence and early adulthood, into old age.
what is health psychology
how psychological processes influence physical health and vice versa
