Prologue & Chapter 1 Flashcards
(34 cards)
What is the definition of psychology?
Psychology is the science of behavior, the human mind, and it’s functions
What does structuralism study?
Structuralism looks at the “what” of behavior; includes: Sensations (ice is cold), Feelings (ice makes me uncomfortable), Images (ice gives me a mental image of peeing in a toilet)
What is a major con of structuralism?
It’s unreliable (lots of variation); depends on subject to be well spoken, smart and unbiased of their own experience
What does functionalism study?
Functionalism look at the “why” of behavior; how our behavior increases our fitness, examples are: we feel hunger -> find food -> energy. we laugh -> body releases hormones -> multitude of positive reactions in the body
What does behaviorism study?
Behaviorism looks at directly observable behavior; what changed, and what changes it. A con could be “All elephants are grey but not all grey things are elephants.”
What unpopular idea did Freudian psych birth? What does it study?
Psycho analysis: The idea that all behavior is based on unconscious thought and therefore can’t be controlled, an unpopular idea because it seems to imply that we, as human beings, are unable to control our actions.
What is a more popular idea that Psycho analysis endorses?
That childhood experiences have a large part in shaping who we become and our behaviors as an adult.
What is the key principle of humanistic psychology? What does it study?
The key principle of humanistic psychology is that a person’s current environment will limit or accelerate that person’s growth potential. The idea that human’s act and behave to satisfy our needs.
What did the cognitive revolution study?
How we perceive stimuli, how we store information, and how we reflect on that information
What are 3 of the contemporary fields of psychology that we’ve been exploring?
Evolutionary psychology (like functionalism but the broader picture); natural selection, behavioral genetics, Cross cultural and Gender psychology, and Positive psychology; as in positive thinking
What is a Case study?
A study that looks at one person in depth
What is naturalistic observation?
Observing the subject in their natural enviroment
What are the pros and cons of naturalistic observation?
Pros: Get genuine behavior especially in children
Cons: Can only observe, have little control, may not be able to fully understand a situation, time consuming
What are the pros and cons of self reporting in the form of surveys?
Pros: Lots of data, Inexpensive
Cons: Subject can lie, wording of a survey can effect subject’s answers, May be difficult randomly sample.
What is a correlation study?
Correlation studies measure the extent to which 2 behaviors vary or are similar
What are the 2 pieces of information a scatter plot can give us?
Scatter: the strength of the relationship
Slope: Whether its a positive, negative, or no relationship (inversely, proportionally, or none)
Scatter plot
Top right arrow:
Bottom left arrow: ?
Middle arrow: ?
Top right arrow: Proportionally related (+1)
Bottom left arrow: Inversely related (-1)
Middle arrow: Not related (0)
What is special about the experimental method?
It is the only method where we’re able to isolate cause and effect
What is an experiment?
A method of study where the researcher manipulates one or more factors in order to observe the effect of behavior or mental process
What is the independent factor?
The factor that’s manipulated by researchers
What is the dependent factor?
The factor that is the outcome of the experiment; this is the behavior we’re interested in
What is an example of a independent and dependent factor for a given experiment?
Experiment: Aggression in children ages 4-6,7-9,10-12
Independent variable: Age
Dependent variable: Level of aggression
What is a control?
The control is a group of individuals who will be randomly assigned to receive the placebo
Why is random assignment important?
It minimizes any pre-existing differences and biases
