Chapter 1: Introducing Psychological Science Flashcards
1
Q
what are the steps of the scientific method?
A
- theory
- hypothesis
- test hypothesis
EITHER - confirm hypothesis (generate another new hypothesis, confirm and strengthen original theory) or
- reject hypothesis (discard/modify original hypothesis, revise og theory)
2
Q
what are the qualities of good scientific hypotheses?
A
- must be testable
- must be falsifiable (needs to be able to be proven false)
- Must be stated in precise and relevant terms
3
Q
what are qualities of good scientific theories?
A
- built from hypotheses
- must be falsifiable
- can be updated w/ new info
4
Q
what is the difference btwn hypothesis and theories?
A
- hypothesis is a testable prediction about processes that can be observed and measured
- theory is an explanation for a broad range of observations, generates new hypotheses, integrate findings into a whole
- Not the same as opinions - has been Repeatedly tested and supported by data
- Not all theories are equally plausible
5
Q
what is critical thinking?
A
- exercising curiosity and skepticism when evaluating the claims of others + w/ our own assumptions and beliefs
- Important w/ digital age where info can be skewed/manipulated
6
Q
what does scientific literacy involve?
A
- Applying the scientific method
- Examining assumptions and biases (of others and our own)
- Considering alternative viewpoints
- Tolerating ambiguity when evidence is inconclusive
7
Q
what are examples and violations of the principle of parsimony?
A
- ex. you drop something, someoe says the reason why it dropped is bc of gravity (causal factor). someone else says that the reason is bc there’s invisible entities that push the item to the ground. which of these explanations should we resort to? one explanation has 2 causal factors, and the other only has 1.
- violation: when psychologists attribute complex behaviour to complex brain processes
8
Q
what is the principle of parsimony?
A
idea that the simplest of all competing explanations of a phenomenon should be the one we accept
9
Q
what is empiricism?
A
idea that you can gain knowledge through experience (ex. Religious based schools of thought)
10
Q
what is determinism?
A
all events can be explained through lawful cause-and-effect relationships (ex. If we have enough info about a behaviour, we should be able to make predictions), free will
11
Q
what is zeitgeist? give example.
A
- general set of beliefs of a particular culture at a specific time in history, delaying science of psychology
- ex. ppl believed that earth is centre of the solar system and everything rotated around the earth
12
Q
what is materialism? give example.
A
- belief that humans and other living beings are composed exclusively of physical matter
- ex. idea of a soul that isn’t physically based
13
Q
what are the 4 early ideas that contributed to psychology becoming a science?
A
- ancient influence
- philosophical influences
- physic influences
- influences from evolutionary theory
14
Q
what were the ancient influences to psychology becoming a science?
A
- hippocrates and the 4 humors (black bile, yellow bile, blood, phlegm)
- artistotle’s tabula rasa (when people are born, they’re not born bad/good but are born neutral and whether they turn out bad/good is based on their experiences (early form of empiricism)
- idea of psyche (“the mind”) being the source of all human behaviour
15
Q
what were the philosophical influences to psychology becoming a science?
A
- Descartes proposed “cartesian dualism”, solution to mind-body problem (Is our mind apart of our body or diff from it?)
- believe mind and body are diff - body is material and physical, mind is nonmaterial/spiritual but both drive behaviour
- Problem is that his theory couldn’t explain how a nonphysical mind could interact and influence a physical material body (problem of the interactionism)
- Said that the pineal gland in the brain was the seat of the soul - allows our spirit to interact w/ the rest of our body
16
Q
what were the physic influences to psychology becoming a science?
A
- Gustav fechner
- Developed psychophysics: study of the relationship btwn physical world and mental representation of that world
17
Q
what is the difference btwn response expansion and response compression?
A
- we seem less sensitive (double the stimulus but we don’t double it in our own perceptions)
- Orange line: shows that w/ small changes in the actual objective intensity of a pain stimulus, we’re over exaggerating the pain experience
18
Q
what does the stimulus intensity an magnitude estimate study find?
A
- found that our objective sense =/= objective reality
- Magnitude estimate: how bright a participant thinks a light is
- Stimulus intensity: how bright the light actually is
- Doubling the intensity of light doesn’t double the person’s subjective experience of how bright the light is
- At first, there’s a subjective impression that the stimulus is changing rapidly but it starts to level out (Red line)
- Orange line: shows that w/ small changes in the actual objective intensity of a pain stimulus, we’re over exaggerating the pain experience
19
Q
what were the Influences from evolutionary theory that contributed to psychology becoming a science?
A
- Charles darwin
- Theory of evolution by natural selection
- Noticed that certain traits were advantageous for certain organisms and were more likely to survive and produce offspring
- Over time, surviving traits become more common
- The Descent of Man book explained how evolution can also select for behaviours
- Ex. Emotional expressions - seeing someone who is very angry you may not approach them, but if you do they might kill u lol
20
Q
what are the different historical approaches to brain localization (when certain parts of the brain responsible for certain functions)?
A
- phrenology:
- Gall & spurzheim
- If you had a lot of a certain trait there’d be a lot of a specific personality trait and show a bump on the head
- Believed brain consisted of 27 organs w/ an associated personality trait - brain injury
- broca: Identified brain region assoc. w/ speech production (broca’s area), If someone has damage to a part of a brain and loses a behaviour, safe to say that that part of brain was responsible for that behaviour
- Wernicke: Found that damage to left hemisphere of brain = couldn’t understand speech, couldn’t speak properly in sentences but could speak words
21
Q
what are the medical ideas that contributed to psychology becoming a science?
A
- mesmer’s theory: believed that metallic fluids were in our blood and could use magnets to redirect fluids to correct various medical ailments
- Would put patients in a trancelike state w/ hand movements (lead to hypnosis)
- freud’s theory of psychoanalysis
- Used hypnosis and dream analysis as a tool to access people’s unconscious mind
- Believed that we have conscious experiences but thought most of our mind was made up of the unconscious mind
- Also believed that early childhood experienced were influential to development of the unconscious mind
22
Q
what is psychoanalysis?
A
psychological approach attempting to explain how behaviour and personality are influenced by unconscious processes
23
Q
what are freud’s 3 unconscious components?
A
- Id: instincts, tells you to act on every impulse esp sexual and aggressive urges
- Superego: morality and critical thinking, tells you to do the right thing and follow rules
- Ego: organized part that mediates btwn desires of the id and superego
24
Q
what are some criticisms of freud’s approach?
A
- Ideas aren’t testable - Used subjective rather than scientific method
- Dismissed claims of sexual abuse as constructions of the unconscious mind
- Theory suggested lack of free will
25
what are some contributions of freud's approach?
- Introduced potential for unconscious mental processes
- Medical model: use of medical ideas to treat psychological disorders
- Incorporated evolutionary thinking; acknowledge that we’re influenced by physiological needs and urges
- Emphasized that early childhood experienced during development influence adult behaviour
26
what is the diff btwn nature and nurture?
- Nature: our genetics
| - Nurture: our environment
27
what are the limitations of Galton’s views on eminence?
it Didn’t consider alternative explanations to his thinking, ignored arguments that people that come from rich families bc their offspring have a leg up in life
28
what is eminence?
combination of ability, morality, and achievement resulting from good genes
29
what is eugenics?
true genes, idea that some people just have better genetics so they should be able to breed and others shouldn’t and be restricted
30
what are the defining features of each historical school of psychology?
1. structuralism
- analyzing conscious experience by breaking it down to basic elements and to understand how these elements work together
- wanted to be lab based
2. functionalistm
- study of the purpose and function of behaviour and conscious experience
- want to study behaviour in natural environments
3. behaviourism
- study of observable behaviour, w/ little-no reference to mental events or instincts as possible influences on behaviour
4. cognitive psychology
- modern perspective focusing on mental processes (ex. Memory, thinking, and language)
5. social and personal psychology
31
what are the Primary contributions of galton?
- Initiated debate about nature and nurture
| - Promoted use of statistical methods to quantify psychological traits
32
what is introspection?
process of looking within to describe subjective inner mental experiences/self-report/psychological sensations
33
what did twitmyer discover?
- Accidentally discovered conditioned reflexes
- Put participants in a chair w/ a mechanism that when activated, would cause a bolt to hit someone’s knee
- Didn’t want subjects to be biased bc they were scared of the device so they’d give them a warning before activating the mechanism (a bell)
- One day the mechanism broke and still rang the bell and the person’s knee still kicked
34
what did pavlov discover and how?
- Discovered Classical conditioning, won nobel prize for it
- Learning process that occurs when 2 stimuli are repeatedly paired
- Trained dogs to salivate in response to a metronome before given food (salivation reflex)
- Dogs were able to anticipate and learn association btwn technicians’ putting on lab coats with them getting food
- Used screens so dogs couldn't see what was going on and used a metronome as a stimulus
- At first, dog dripped saliva into cheek tube when food appeared but then the sound alone of the metronome made the dog drip as much saliva as it would when eating food (aka conditioned reflex)
- Whatever stimulus he chose, the dog could be conditioned to produce saliva
35
what are the core beliefs of behaviourism?
- thought that only observable behavior was worthy of being studied scientifically
- Thought all behaviour could be described by principle of conditioning
- Thinks that nurture is all important - doesn’t matter what their genetics are
36
what was john b watson's contribution to behaviourism?
- Revolutionized principles of marketing
- Developed ads that formed associations btwn a product and a desired feeling to make people buy the product - the methods are still used today by advertisers
37
what is operant conditioning?
- strengthening or weakening a behaviour by reward and punishment
- How do our behaviours change based on the feedback we get about those behaviours? Reward - behaviour more likely in future, punishment - less likely in future (Aka positive and negative reinforcement)
38
what was bf skinner's contribution to behaviourism?
- Believed and helped develop fundamental rules of learning shared across all animals
- wanted to know How do our behaviours change based on the feedback we get about those behaviours? Reward - behaviour more likely in future, punishment - less likely in future
39
what was ebbinghaus' interested in during the cognitive revolution?
- Interested in how we forget information
- Developed “forgetting curves” - tested himself trying to memorize long list of words and would test himself being able to recall the list at varying delay periods
- Noticed a pattern of forgetting - in the short term within the first hour, even though he thought he knew all the words he was losing ½ of the info, after an hour it leveled out and were retained in his memory
40
what was bartlett interested in during the cognitive revolution?
- Studied how memory is an interpretive process and can be influenced by our culture
- Would give his participants a story and get them to remember details of the story
- People were bad @ remembering specific details but remembered general story arc, would also change details of the story to fit their experiences
41
what is gestalt psychology?
- Believe that in order to understand our experiences, you can’t add up individual parts - “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
- Emphasis on focusing on the whole of perception and experience rather than its parts
42
what is cognitive psychology?
- modern perspective focusing on mental processes (ex. Memory, thinking, and language)
- Popularized when computer was invented and gave scientists an analogy for our mind (a computer has “invisible” software to run similar to “invisible” process in our brain
43
who was kurt lewin?
- Founder of modern social psychology
| - Believed behaviour is a function of the individual and environment
