Midterm 1 Flashcards
(179 cards)
Pyschology
Scientific discipline concerned with behaviour and mental processes and how they are affected by physical state, mental state, and external environment
Empirical evidence
- what physiological science based on
- evidence based on research and experiment
“Pop psych” and pseudoscience
- hard to access and misleading
- not based on actual hard evidence or science
- often mistaken for empirical based psychology
Examples of pseudoscience
- fortune telling
- astrology
- numerology
Why do people still believe in pseudoscience and psychic abilities?
- Gives us easy answers to unknown things
- try to believe its true when something challenges our beliefs
T or F: science and psychology is always changing
True
Critical thinking
- ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgements on the basis of reasons and evidence rather than emotion or anecdote
- important as we sort through information in the digital age
- check sources to make sure its true
Steps to being a good critical thinker
- Ask questions, be willing to wonder
- Define your terms
- Analyze assumptions and biases
- Examine the evidence
5.Weigh conclusions
2 scientific fundamental beliefs
- Empiricism: philosophical tenet that knowledge comes through experience
- Determinism: the belief that all events are governed by lawful, cause-and-effect relationships
Zeitgeist
Refers to a general set of beliefs of a particular culture at a specific time in history
- delayed the science of psychology
Materialism
The belief that humans, and other living things, beings, are composed exclusively of physical matter
Case of phrenology
- terrible blunder
- brain was made up of a bunch of different organs and the size and shape of the bumps/organs made up personality traits
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
- setup first lab dedicated to studying human behaviour
- used introspection: a process of ‘looking within’ to describe psychological sensations
- volunteers would come in and describe sensations/emotions they felt
T or F: introspection and structuralism are subjective
True
Structuralism
- analyzing conscious experience by breaking it down into basic elements and to understand how these elements work together
- all the things together created a whole
William James (1842-1910)
- wrote the first modern textbooks in psychology “the principles of psychology”
- influenced by Darwins Evolutionary principles
- proposed functionalism: the study of purpose and function of behaviour and conscious experience
Sigmund Freud’s theory
- theory of psychoanalysis emphasized unconscious causes of psychological problems
- focuses primarily on unconscious thoughts
- argued that conscious awareness is the tip of a mental iceberg
- everybody has an ego, superego and ID
-evolved into a broad theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy - rejected by majority of empirically oriented psychologists
Behaviourism
Classic vs operant conditioning
- study of observable behaviour
Classical conditioning
Associate an involuntary response and a stimulus
Operant conditioning
Associate a voluntary behaviour and a consequence
Pillars of modern psychology
- Biological
- Cognitive
- Developmental
- Social and personality
- Mental and physical health
Biological pilar
- emphasizes bodily events associated with actions, thoughts and feels as well as genetic contributions to behaviour
- electrical impulses, hormones, brains ability to sense sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches - biological psychologists study how these events interact with events in the external environment to produce perceptions, memories and behaviour
The cognitive pillar
- memory and conscious
- emphasizes how people: reason and remember, comprehend language, solve problems, explain experiences, acquire moral standards
- cognitive research explores: insight, false memory and “thinking” outside of conscious awareness
Developmental Pillar
- perspective explores ways in which preferences, attitudes, identities and social patterns change over a lifetime
- developmental researchers: ask questions about how we come to gain the skills and tendencies we have now and how these processes continue to evolve for the rest of our lives
- ex. How watching violent TV effects someone personality growing up