Module 1 Flashcards

Question

forensic psychology

Answer 1

applying psychological principles to features of the legal system * Ex., assessing the accuracy of fingerprint analysis (before the use of technology), or assessing eye-witness testimonies

Answer 2

using psychological knowledge and skills to address optimal performance and well-being of athletes * Ex., maintaining the mental health of athletes living in an Olympic or NHL “bubble”, or helping the Leafs cope with loss

Answer 3

the scientific study of human behaviour in the workplace * Ex., assessing workplace sexual harassment

Answer 4

the process of creating a hole in the skull for a variety of purposes Mental illness or epilepsy  spiritual/demonic possession * Headaches * Dates back 7,000-10,000 years ago * The oldest surgical procedure

Answer 5

(the four humors): a system of medicine detailing a person’s temperament (personality) and the makeup and workings of the human body * Have origins in Ancient Egyptian medicine or Mesopotamia * Ancient Greek thinkers (particularly, Hippocrates) systemized the four humours, which were further developed by Galen * For the body to be healthy, all four humors needed to be balanced in amount and strength

Answer 6

black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood treatment = purging, starving, bloodletting, vomiting

Answer 7

the practice of withdrawing blood from a person’s veins for therapeutic reasons 17th century France  Jacques Ferrand believed bloodletting would cure heartbreak * 18th century London  bleeding patients at the infamous St. Mary of Bethlehem (“Bedlam”) institution

Answer 8

Ancient Egypt  Psamtik I (664-610 BC) * Interested in the origin of language * Isolated 2 newborns with a shepherd who was instructed not to speak to them * Believed that if children had no opportunity to learn a language from people around them, they would spontaneously speak the primal, inborn and innate language of humankind * Hypothesis: the first word uttered would be the root language of all humankind

Answer 9

Aristotle: * De Anima  the nature of thought, sensation, and imagination * Tabula Rasa: “blank slate,” theory that people are born without innate mental content and that all knowledge comes from lived experience/perception * Plato: * Duality of the psyche and the relationship between the mind and body * Allegory of the cave (reality is a construction)

Answer 10

Ali ibn al-Majusi: * The Complete Art of Medicine described the neuroanatomy, neurobiology, and neurophysiology of the brain * Sleeping sickness, memory loss, hypochondriasis (now called “somatic sensory disorder”), vertigo epilepsy, love sickness, ...

Answer 11

Structuralism – Wilhelm Wundt, Edward Titchener * Functionalism – William James * Gestalt psychology – Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka * Behaviourism – Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner * Psychodynamic – Sigmund Freud * Humanistic psychology – Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow

Answer 12

founded the first psychology laboratory in Germany (1879) * The father of modern psychology * Sensation and perception * Interested in breaking down immediate conscious experience into its basic elements and understanding how those basic elements combine to create experience * Response time  how quickly people could respond to a sound

Answer 13

the first movement in the history of psychology, which focused on breaking down immediate conscious experience (such as sensations and feelings) into their constituent parts

Answer 14

method to understand the components of mental processes by relying on trained participants’ self-reports of their thoughts, feelings, and mental images

Answer 15

one of the first strategies to make inferences about the contents of the mind in an effort to standardize the way in which people report their own experiences

Answer 16

an early movement in psychology whose proponents believed that an understanding of a behaviour or process’ function was critical to understand its operation * Resulted as a critique of structuralism (introspection and systematic introspection) Breaking down conscious experiences into basic elements and studying these basic elements without an understanding of their function provides no insight into how the mind works * Inspired by Darwin’s theory of evolution Understanding how traits evolve and what their adaptive functions are

Answer 17

Understanding how people perceive a unified whole out of many chaotic elements of sensation * “The whole is more than the sum of its parts” * Resulted as an opposition of structuralism (introspection and systematic introspection)

Answer 18

Behaviourism: an approach to psychology that suggests observable behaviour should be the only topic of study, ignoring conscious experience * Psychology should focus solely on behaviour * Resulted from skepticism of structuralism (introspection and systematic introspection) * How can we study the mind in a scientific way? We can’t * Instead, we should scientifically study what we can see  behaviour * Studying animal psychology starts to emerge

Answer 19

Psychoanalysis: a form of psychotherapy coined by Sigmund Freud that seeks to help clients gain more insight into their unconscious thoughts, behaviours, and motivations * Influenced by personality psychology, developmental psychology, and abnormal psychology * Believing patients need to gain insight into the unconscious factors causing them distress * Freudian slips – saying the wrong name by accident * Free association – stating thoughts and words as they pop in your head * Listening to fantasies

Answer 20

Humanistic psychology: an approach to psychology that emphasizes the ability of humans to make their own choices and realize their own potential * People have free will * Focus on creativity, choice, potential for growth * Focus is shifted away from the unconscious mind and onto the capacity for change * Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: * Once basic needs are met, people are motivated to fulfill their psychological needs

Answer 21

The start of modern psychology today * Arose due to advances in technology/methodology and realizing the limits of behaviourism * New perspectives in linguistics, computer science, and neuroscience * Cooperation with other fields * The rise of cognitive psychology * Accepting the use of the scientific method * Generally rejecting introspection as a valid methodology * Acknowledging internal mental states (belief, desire, motivation)

Answer 22

There are still distinct (but connected) fields of psychology * Most psychology research uses behaviour to make inferences about processes happening in the mind * We heavily rely on the scientific method * Psychology research is very interdisciplinary * Ex., cognitive psychologists working with computer scientists, or social psychologists working with linguists, or abnormal psychologists working with neuroscientists

Answer 23

- Ultimate and proximate explanations * Evolutionary influences * Cultural influences * Biological influences * Cognitive influences

Answer 24

explanations that seek to describe the reason why a trait/behaviour/mental process exists by appealing to its role in the process of evolution * The high caloric content of sweet treats promotes physical survival in resource-scarce environments (regardless of whether or not we live in a resource-scarce environment, our bodies want those sweet sweet calories)

Answer 25

explanations that seek to describe an immediate cause of a trait/behaviour/mental process

Answer 26

a kind of proximate explanation that focuses on how a specific mental or physical process directly explains a trait/behaviour * We have a physiological tendency to desire and enjoy foods that are higher in sugar content

Answer 27

The discovery of DNA and genetic transfer was monumental in helping scientists understand evolution * Thanks, cognitive revolution! * The role of context * Sweet treats were important sources of nutrition for our ancestors, so we evolved to prefer sweet and calorie-dense food * Nowadays, we have much easier access to calorie and nutrient dense food * Is every behaviour rooted in evolutionary theory? Nope! * Writing and written language don’t seem to have a genetic origin

Answer 28

Functional explanations: describing why a behaviour manifests differently based on a person’s cultural background or specific situational demands * Ex., Feminist psychology: an approach to psychology that is critical of cultural influences on gender and gender differences in behaviour

Answer 29

a shared set of beliefs, attitudes, behaviours, and customs belonging to a specific group or community * Groups/communities are organized around a shared characteristics/set of characteristics

Answer 30

an approach to studying cultural influences that emphasizes examining how multiple social identities intersect at the level of the individual person to alter their experiences

Answer 31

imaging techniques: offers clinicians and researchers a view of the brain to see its structures and functions * fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) * EEG (electroencephalography) * CT scan (computed tomography) * PET scan (positive emission tomography) * Eye-movement recordings * Electrodermal activity * Cardiovascular measurements

Answer 32

Pupillometry

Answer 33

an indirect measurement of nervous system activity that is associated with both emotion and attention

Answer 34

measuring changes in heart rate as a response to different stimuli

Answer 35

Process-oriented explanations about mental processes * Seek to provide prior context for behaviour in terms of experience * Knowing about the influence of experience on behaviour

Answer 36

comparing the brain (behaviours or structures) to a computer * Working memory = RAM * Long-term memory = hard drive storage * Perceiving human thinking as information processing, like how computers process information

Module 1 Flashcards

(60 cards)