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PSYCH 101 > Chapter 1 > Flashcards

Chapter 1 Flashcards

1
Q

LO: Define psychological science

A

The study, through research, of mind, brain, and behaviour

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2
Q

Mind

A

Mental activity
- memories, thoughts, feelings, perceptual experiences, etc.

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3
Q

Brain

A

Mental activity is a result of chemical processes within the BRAIN

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4
Q

Behaviour

A

Observable actions

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5
Q

LO: Define critical thinking and describe what it means to be a critical thinker

A

Systematically questioning and evaluating information using well-supported evidence

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6
Q

Q: How do the mind and brain relate?

A

The mind (mental activity) is the result of chemical processes in the brain

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7
Q

Q: What is amiable skepticism?

A

Being open to new ideas but carefully considering the evidence

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8
Q

LO: Identify major biases in thinking, and explain why these biases result in faulty thinking

(4 biases)

A

1) ignoring evidence (confirmation bias)

2) seeing causal relationships that don’t exist

3) Accepting after-the-fact explanations (hindsight bias)

4) Taking mental shortcuts (heuristics, availability heuristics)

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9
Q

Confirmation Bias

A

Only paying attention to evidence that directly supports an argument and ignoring evidence that opposes that view (ex. selective sampling, selective memory)

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10
Q

Seeing causal relationships that don’t exist

A
  • desire to find predictability in the world around us
  • always looking for trends and patterns even when they don’t actually exist
  • giving us a false sense of understanding
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11
Q

Accepting after-the-fact explanations (hindsight bias)

A

Once people know an outcome, they interpret and reinterpret old evidence to make sense of that outcome, giving a false sense of predictability

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12
Q

Taking mental shortcuts (heuristics)

A
  • availability heuristic: (ex. always ordering the same thing at a restaurant because it is familiar and easy)
  • heuristics: mental shortcuts that allow us to make decisions quickly and easily
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13
Q

Q: Why should you be suspicious of after-the-fact explanations?

A

People think that knowing the outcome to one event can help them predict other events which gives them a false sense of security (ex. criminal profiling). This can be problematic: fail to notice the real signs when trying to identify expected trends

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14
Q

Q: Why should you be skeptical of people’s descriptions of their personal strengths?

A

People often aren’t able to accurately evaluate and compare their abilities

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15
Q

Mind/Body Problem

A

Fundamental psychological issue: are mind and body separate and distinct or is the mind the subjective experience of physical brain activity?

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16
Q

Dualism

(Rene Descartes)

A

Rene Descartes promoted the theory of dualism that suggests the mind and body are in fact separate yet intertwined
- psychologists reject this theory because the mind is the result of brain activity

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17
Q

Culture

A

Shared beliefs, values, rules, norms, customs, language, environment etc. within a group of people

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18
Q

Nature/Nurture Debate

A

Are psychological characteristics the result of biological factors or are they gained through experience, education, and culture?

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19
Q

Q: Why is it important for psychologists to pay attention to both nature and nurture?

A

They both contribute to psychological characteristics
- can’t be separated

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20
Q

Who coined the term stream of consciousness and what does it mean?

A
  • William James suggests that the mind is far to complex to be broken down
  • Stream of consciousness: a persons continuous, ever-changing, thoughts
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21
Q

Functionalism

A
  • Also William James - thought psychologists should study the “functions” of the mind and how it operates
  • An approach to psychology concerned with the adaptive purpose, or function, of mind and behaviour
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22
Q

Natural Selection

A
  • evolutionary psychology
  • idea that those who inherit characteristics that help them adapt to their environment have a selective advantage over those who don’t
23
Q

Q: According to William James’ functionalism, why should psychologists focus on the operations of the mind?

A

The mind is too complex to be able to examine it as a whole without understanding the separate parts

24
Q

Diversity and Inclusion

A

The value and practice of ensuring that psychological science represents the experiences of all humans

25
Q

Clinical Psychology

A

Seeks to understand, characterize, and treat mental illness

26
Q

Cognitive Psychology

A
  • lab research aims to understand basic skills and processes that are the foundations of mental life and behaviour (ex. attention, memory, sensation, perception, etc.)
27
Q

Cultural Psychology

A

Studies how cultural factors effect mental life and behaviour

28
Q

Developmental Psychology

A

Studies how humans grow and develop

29
Q

Health Psychology

A

How psychological processes influence physical health and vice versa (ex. does experiencing discrimination increase the likelihood of heart disease?)

30
Q

Industrial/Organization Psychology

A

Explores how psychological processes play out in the workplace

31
Q

Relationship Psychology

A

Research on close relationships
- why do they succeed/fail?
- how they effect/play a role in our lives

32
Q

Social-Personality Psychology

A

Study of everyday thoughts, feelings, and behaviours and what factors impact them

33
Q

SQ: Describe the two scientific revolutions that occurred in psychology in the 20th century

A

1) Behaviourism
2) The Cognitive Revolution

34
Q

The First Revolution: Behaviourism

A

Popularized by John Watson
- a psychological approach that emphasizes environmental influences on observable behaviours

35
Q

What is The Cognitive Revolution and who launched it?

A

George A. Miller launched it at Harvard
- suggests that psychologists need to study mental functions as opposed to only looking at observable actions to understand behaviour

36
Q

Cognitive Revolution: What did B.F. Skinner do?

A
  • idea of radical behaviourism
  • suggests that unobservable mental events are simply a part of behaviour and not the cause of it
37
Q

Cognitive Revolution: What did Ulric Neisser think and what did he do about it?

A

Information processing approach
- idea that humans are information processors (stimulus -> response ex. observing how WW2 pilots respond to environmental changes when flying planes)
- wrote the textbook “Cognitive Psychology”

38
Q

Big Data

A

Science using very large data sets and advanced computational methods to discover patterns that would be difficult to see with smaller data sets

39
Q

Data Ethics

A

Branch of philosophy that examines the ethics around data collection, use, and sharing of human data
(ex. privacy)

40
Q

Replicability

A

The likelihood that the results of a study would be similar if it was run again

41
Q

Open Science Movement

A

Social movement among scientists to:
- improve methods
- increase research transparency
- promote data sharing

42
Q

SQ: Describe each of the four levels of analysis used by psychological science

A

1) biological

2) cultural

3) social

4) individual

43
Q

Biological Analysis

A

How the physical body contributes to mind and behaviour
- brain systems
- neurochemistry
- genetics

44
Q

Cultural Analysis

A

How people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are similar or different across cultures

45
Q

Social Analysis

A

How group contexts affect the ways people interact and influence each other
- social cognition
- interpersonal behaviour

46
Q

Individual Analysis

A

Individual differences in personality and mental processes that affect how people perceive the world
(ex. researchers study the effects that music has on mood, memory, and decision making)
- perception and cognition
- emotion, behaviour

47
Q

Biopsychosocial model

A

Combining the three (biological, individual, and social) levels of analysis
- how they all shape mental life and behaviour together

48
Q

Q: Suppose a research study explores people’s memory for song lyrics. What level of analysis are the researchers using?

A

Individual

49
Q

Distributed Practice

A
  • learning in several bursts over a longer timeframe
  • taking breaks
50
Q

Retrieval-based Learning

A
  • learning new info by repeatedly recalling it from long-term memory
    (ex. bell curve)
51
Q

Elaborative Interrogation

A

Learning by asking yourself “why”

52
Q

Self-Explanation

A
  • reflecting on what you’ve learned
  • putting it in your own words
53
Q

Interleaved practice

A

Switching between topics

54
Q

Q: What learning technique would explain why teachers give quizzes that are not worth many points?

A

Retrieval-based learning

PSYCH 101 (13 decks)

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