Key Terms Flashcards
(22 cards)
Replicable
Replicability is obtaining consistent results across studies aimed at answering the same scientific question. If they obtain consistent results.
Reliable
Reliability is the consistency of the findings or results of a research study. If findings or results remain the same or similar over multiple attempts, it is often considered reliable.
Predictability
Predictability is being able to know what tot expect (the likelihood at which an event is going to occur)
Systematic
Concerning or having impact on an entire system. Systematic study believes that patterns can be identified and cultivated to improve individual performance.
Cause & Effect
Cause & Effect is the relationship between two events or situations when one of the two is the cause of the other. The cause is the even or situation that triggers or creates the effect. If the cause is eliminated, the effect is as well.
Scientific Method
Stating the method, offering a theory & then constructing rigorous laboratory or field experiments to test the hypothesis.
Tripartite Personality Structure
Freud believed that personality was split into 3 sections: ego, id and superego. The id develops first and acts based on pleasure (pleasure principle). At 2 years old the ego develops and follows the reality principle, balancing out the id & superego. The superego develops at around 4-5 years and is concerned about sticking to moral norms.
Denial
Denial is a defence mechanism where a threatening thought is ignored or treated as if it were not true. For example, a wife might find evidence that her husband is cheating on her but dismiss it and provide other reasons/explanation for her husband’s behaviour.
Defence Mechanisms
Defence mechanisms are unconscious strategies used by the ego to manage anxiety by redirecting psychic energy. Examples include repression (burying an unpleasant thought or desire in the unconscious) and displacement (where emotions are directed away from their source or target, towards other things).
Psychosexual Stages
Freud believed that humans progress through these stages during the development of the psyche. 5 stages: oral behaviour (0-18 months); anal (18 months-3.5 yrs); phallic (3.5-6 yrs); latency (6 yrs-puberty) and genital (puberty onwards). Freud claimed that during development a child could become fixated on one of these stages, which could lead to specific psychological disorders.
Displacement
Displacement is where emotions are directed away from their source or target, towards other things.
Repression
Repression is burying an unpleasant thought or desire in the unconscious mind.
Oedipus Complex
Freud proposed that during the genital stage of personality development, boys experience this complex. At around age 3 or 4, the young boy begins to desire his mother and wants her complete attention. This means he sees his father as a rival and wishes him dead. This then creates anxiety and the repressed feat that his father will castrate him. The complex is eventually resolved by the boy’s identification with his father. The superego is then formed.
Electra Complex
The electra complex was proposed by Carl Jung (a neo-Freudian). During the phallic stage, a little girl desires her father and realises that she does not have a penis. This leads to the development of penis envy and desire to be a boy. She represses that desire and wants a baby instead. Freud claimed that little girls blame their mothers. This is then repressed to remove tension and identifies with her mother and internalises her mother’s gender identity so it becomes her own.
Objective
Objective means not influenced by private emotions, perceptions or biases.
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a testable prediction about the variables in a study. The hypothesis should always contain the independent variable (IV) and the dependent variable (DV). A hypothesis can be directional (one-tailed) or non-directional (two-tailed).
Subjective
Subjective means it is affected by personal feelings, prejudices and interpretations.
Introspection
Introspection refers to observing and examining your own conscious thoughts and emotions. Wundt first used this method in the earliest psychology laboratory, set up in Germany in 1879.
Unconscious
The unconscious mind consists of mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but still influence us. Freud believed that the unconscious mind was the primary source of human behaviour and stated that like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see (beneath the surface of the water/consciousness).
Ego
The ego is the part of the personality that acts rationally, balancing the id and the superego. It develops at 2-4 years old and acts according to the reality principle.
Superego
The superego is the part of personality concerned with keeping to moral norms. It develops around 4-5 years old and acts according to the morality principle, attempting to control a powerful id with feelings of guilt.
Id
Id is the primitive part of the personality and gets what it wants and demands instant gratification. The id is a seething mass of unconscious drives and instincts. The id follows the pleasure principle and develops from birth-18 months.
