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Root psycology.. who?
- Aristole ~ a naturalist and philosopher, theorized about psychology’s
- concepts. He suggested that the soul and body are not separate and that
- knowledge grows from experience.
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What work is considered the birth of psychology as we know it today?
- Wundt and psycology's 1st graduate students; studied the "atoms of the mind" by conducting experiments in Germany in 1879
- "Walt always had to ride the burros first"
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Wilhelm Wundt
- established first psychology lab in Germany; studied the "atoms of the mind"
- conducted psychology's first experiment: measured time lag btwn hearing a ball hit a platform and pressing a key
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In early twentieth century, who redefined psychology as "the science of observable behavior?"
- James B Watson
- Like Sherlock Homes, Watson always observed
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William James
American philosopher, wrote important 1890 psycology textbook
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Mary Calkins
- William James's student, became the APA's first female president
- "Mary and James, sitting in a tree"
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Sigmund Freud
- An Austrian physician, emphasized importance of unconscious mind and effects on human behavior
- "Sigmund was always unconscious, SwIGing on the bottle"
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behaviorism
- the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes.
- Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2)
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humanistic psychology
historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth
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cognitive neuroscience
the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)
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psychology
the science of behavior and mental processes
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nature-nurture issue
- the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today's science sees traits and behaviors arising from the interaction of nature and nurture
- *Simply put: do our human traits develop through experience, or are we born with them?
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levels of analysis
- psychology's three main levels of analysis
- include biological, psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon
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biopsychosocial approach
an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis
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basic research
pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
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applied research
scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
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counseling psychology
a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being
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clinical psychology
a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
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psychiatry
a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy
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Neuroscience
- focuses on how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
- Ex ?'s: How are messages transmitted within the body? How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?
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Evolutionary perspective of psychology
- focuses on how the natural selection of traits promoted the survival of genes
- Ex ?'s: How does evolution influence behavior tendencies?
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Behavior genetics of psychology
- focuses on how much our genes and our environment influence our individual differences
- Ex ?'s: To what extent are psychological traits such as intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, and vulnerability to depression attributable to our genes? To our environment?
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Psychodynamic psychology
- focuses on how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts
- Ex ?'s: How can someone's personality traits and disorders be explained in terms of sexual and aggressive drives or as the disguised effects of unfulfilled wishes and childhood traumas?
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behavioral psychology
- how we learn observable responses
- Ex ?'s: How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say, to lose weight or stop smoking?
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Cognitive psychology
- how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information
- Ex ?'s: How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Solving problems?
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Social-cultural psycology
- how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures
- Ex ?'s: How are we humans alike as members of one human family? As products of different environmental contexts, how do we differ?
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Nature is to nurture as
biology is to experience
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hindsight bias
- the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that we would have foreseen it
- *also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon
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critical thinking
thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions
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theory
- an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events
- simplifies things
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hypothesis
a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
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operational definition
- a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables.
- For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as "what an intelligence test measures"
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replication
repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances
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case study
an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
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What methods do psychologists use to ask and answer questions
- the scientific method
- description: to observe and record behavior
- correlation: to detect naturally occurring relationships; assess how well one variable predicts another
- experimentation: to explore cause and effect
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the scientific method
- The scientific attitude is composed
- of curiosity (passion for exploration), skepticism (doubting and questioning) and humility (ability to accept responsibility
- when wrong).
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good theories explain by:
- 1. organizing and linking observed facts
- 2. implying hypotheses that offer testable predictions and, sometimes, practical applications
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3 techniques psychologists use to observe and describe behavior (description method)
- a case study
- naturalistic observation
- survey
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survey
a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group
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population
all the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn (NOTE: except for national studies, this does NOT refer to a country's whole population)
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random sample
a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
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naturalistic observation
observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
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correlation
- the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.
- *Correlation indicates the possibility of a cause-effect relationship, but does not prove causation
- The correlations coefficient is the mathematical expression of the relationship, ranging from -1 to +1
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correlate
in psychology, it is to say one trait or behavior is related to another
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positive correlations
(btwn 0 and +1.00) indicates a direct relationship, meaning that two things increase together or decrease together
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Scatterplot
- is a graph comprised of points that
- are generated by values of two variables. The slope of the points depicts the
- direction, while the amount of scatter depicts the strength of the relationship
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negative correlation
(btwn 0 and -1.00) indicates an inverse relationship; as one thing increases, the other decreases
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illusory correlation
the perception of a relationship where none exists
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experiment
- a research method in which an ivestigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable)
- by random assignment of participants, the experimenter aims to control other relevant factors
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random assignment
assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences btwn those assigned to the different groups
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difference btwn correlational studies and experiment
unlike correlational studies, which uncover naturally occurring relationships, an experiment manipulates a factor to determine it's effect
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experimental group
in an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable
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control group
- in an experiment, the group that is NOT exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment
- (receives the placebo)
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double-blind procedure
an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. Commonly used in drug-evaluation studies
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placebo effect
experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent
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independant variable
the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied
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dependent variable
the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable
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culture
the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
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