Chapter 1 Flashcards
(23 cards)
What is empirical evidence?
Evidence gathered by careful observation, experimentation, and measurement
What is the definition of psychology?
The discipline concerned with behaviour and mental processes and how they are affected by an organisms physical state, mental state, and external environment
What is critical thinking?
The ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgements on the basis of well-supported reasons and evidence
What’s the main way to distinguish pyschobabble and serious psychology?
By critically thinking
What are the 8 critical thinking guidelines?
Ask questions Define your terms Examine the evidence Analyze assumptions and biases Don’t oversimplify Avoid emotional reasoning Tolerate uncertainty Consider other interpretations
(Look at table on page 14 to review)
What is Occam’s Razor?
One there have been several explanations of a phenomenon presented, a critical thinker chooses the one that accounts for the most evidence while making the fewest unverified assumptions
Who established the first psychological laboratory? And ultimately is credited with initiating the movement to make psychology a science?
What year?
Wilhelm Wundt
1879
What are the three early psychologies?
- Structuralism
- Functionalism
- Psychoanalysis
What is structuralism?
What was its fate?
Analyzed sensations, images, and feelings into basic elements
(Used introspection)
Describe consciousness
Eventually ended because it was reductionistic (reduced everything to simple sensations) Elemental and mentalistic
What is functionalism?
What was its fate?
Emphasized the function or purpose of behaviour
How and why questions
Inspired by Darwin
Eventually ended too but influenced modern day psychology
What is psychoanalysis?
Sigmond Freud’s ideas on the early side of therapeutic psychology
Theory of personality
Iceberg metaphor where conscious is above water and unconscious is below
Listens to patients depression issues and was concerned on the origin
What are the five lenses that predominate in psychology today?
(Major perspectives)
- Biological- influence of bodily events and processes (genes, brain)
- Learning- effects of environment and experience
Behaviourism- environmental rewards and punish influence behaviour - Cognitive- what goes on in your head
- Sociocultural- social and cultural forces, looks in context of where behaviour takes place, with focus on social rules Norms and roles
- Psychodynamic- unconscious dynamics in the individual
(Review chart on page 21)
Why is psychodynamic psychology the thumb on the hand on psychology?
It differs radically from the other approaches in its language, methods, and standards of acceptable evidence
But it’s still psychology
What is humanist psychology?
Rejected psychoanalysis and behaviourism
Viewed human behaviour as not completely determined by either unconscious conflicts or the environment
People have free will
We always have a choice, not always like the choice but still have it
What is feminist psychology?
Women were more active in psychology and pointed out bias experiments towards men and introduced other aspects that affect psychology like menstruation
What are the three categories of the professional activities that psychologists do?
- Teaching and doing research in colleges and universities
- Providing health or mental health services (psychological practice)
- Conducting research or applying its findings in non academic settings (business, sports, government)
What is the difference between basic psychology and applied psychology?
Basic- pure research, gaining knowledge for knowledges sake
Applied- practical uses of knowledge, solving problems
What are the two major divisions of psychology?
Research- applied and pure/basic
Therapy- clinical psychologists
Counselling psychologists
Educational psychologists
What is a psychotherapist?
Anyone who does any kind of psychotherapy
Requires no education
What is a psychoanalyst?
A person who practices one particular form of therapy
Requires specialized training
What is a psychiatrist?
A medical doctor who has completed a five year residency in psychiatry
What is the CPA
Canada Psychological Association
Formed at the time to help with war efforts
Now helps advance psychological research
What is introspection?
Describing an experience
