Unit 1 Flashcards
(206 cards)
psychology
involves study of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
mind
mental activity that results from biochemical processes within brain (includes thoughts, memories, feelings, and perceptual experiences)
amiable skepticism
remain open to new ideas but is wary of new “scientific findings” when good evidence + sound reasoning doesn’t seem to support it
critical thinking
using amiable skepticism (evaluating all facts, being skeptical but still open); looking for holes in evidence + using logic/reasoning, consider biases; what are the assumptions, evidence, and conclusion?
confirmation bias
people are inclined to overweigh evidence that supports their beliefs and tend to downplay evidence that doesn’t match what they believe (ignoring evidence)
coincidence, “synchronicity”
common reasoning error that 2 events that happen at the same time must somehow be connected
hindsight biases
once we know outcome, interpret and reinterpret old evidence to make sense of outcome (accepting after the fact explanations), gives false sense of certainty of ability to make predictions about future behaviors
heuristics
people follow simple rules to make decisions; is valuable because reduces reasonably good decisions without too much effort but can lead to inaccurate judgement (taking mental shortcuts)
Dunning Kruger Effect
explanation to people being unaware of their own weakenesses is people might lack the ability to evaluate own performance where they have little expertise
hypothesis generation
taking a moment to consider some possibilities and occurs at the beginning of the scientific process
mind body problem
are mind + body separate or distinct or is mind simply subjective experience of ongoing brain activity?
dualism
promoted by Rene Descartes, was idea that mind and body are separate but intertwined; argued body was nothing more than organic machine governed by “reflex”; today psychologists reject it and believe mind and brain do not exist separately
nature vs. nurture
psychologists recognize nature (innate knowledge) + nurture (“blank state shaped by experience”) dynamically interact in human psychology development
culture
beliefs, values, rules, norms, customs existing within group of people who share common language or environment
stream of consciousness
William James noted that mind consists of ever changing, continuous series of thoughts, product of interacting + dynamic stimuli coming from inside of head + outside world
functionalism
psychologists examine functions served by mind, how mind operates (early approaches from 1880s - 1900s); adaptive purpose of mind, stream of consciousness
natural selection
some features have evolved through this evolutionary process
localization
different areas of brain are specialized for different functions
human genome
basic genetic code, or blueprint, for human body; map for psychologists represent foundational knowledge for studying how specific genes affect thoughts, actions, feelings, and disorders
epigenetics
study of ways environmental mechanisms can get “under the skin”
gut microbiome
billions of microorganisms that live in our digestive tract + our mind and behavior
gut brain axis
reveals composition + diversity of microorganisms can alter, be alerted, by way our bodies respond to stress, mount immune response, and direct attention
behaviorism
during first half of 1900s, focused on studying observable behavior to exclusion of mental events (wanted to forget role of unconscious),
cognitive revolution
second half of 1900s, led by George A Miller where with computers, where able to build mathematical models of behavior that capture some of important but invisible facts that underlie; also called cognitive psychology