psychology
the scientific study of thought and behavior
psychology is best defined as the scientific study of
human thought and behavior
as a field, psychology is
a social science, the practice of diagnosing and treating mental illness, and a biological science
how does psychology differ from the related field of sociology
psychology studies individuals; sociology studies groups
cognitive psychology
the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems
developmental psychology
the study of how thought and behavior change and remain stable across the life span
behavioral neuroscience
the study of the links among brain, mind, and behavior
biological psychology
the study of the relationship between bodily systems and chemicals and how they influence behavior and thought
personality psychology
the study of what makes people unique and the consistencies in peoples behavior across time and situations
social psychology
the study of how living among others influences thought, feeling, and behavior
clinical psychology
the diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and the promotion of psychological health
health psychology
the study of the role psychological factors play in regard to health and illness
industrial/organizational (i/o) psychology
application of psychological concepts and questions to work settings
forensic psychology
field that blends psychology, law, and criminal justice
educational psychology
the study of how students learn, the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques, the social psychology of schools, and the psychology of teaching
sports psychology
the study of psychological factors in sports and exercise
what sub disciplines of psychology examines how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors change over the life span?
developmental psychology
A psychologist has conducted a series of studies on what part of the brain is most active during a memory task. She is probably
a behavioral neuroscientist
the main difference between a clinical and counseling psychologist is that counseling psychologists treat
people with less severe psychological disorders
shamans
medicine men or women who treat people with mental problems by driving out their demons with elaborate rituals such a exorcism, incantations, and prayers
asylums
facilities treating the mentally ill in Europe during the Middle Ages and into the 19th century
moral treatment
19th century approach to treating the mentally ill with dignity in a caring environment
psychoanalysis
a clinically based approach to understanding and treating psychological disorders; assumes that the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behavior
empiricism
the view that all knowledge and thoughts come from experience
psychophysics
the study of how people psychologically perceive physical stimuli such as light, sound waves, and touch
structuralism
19th century school of psychology that argued that breaking down experience into its elemental parts offers the best way to understand thought and behavior
functionalism
19th century school of psychology that argued it was better to look at why the mind works the way it does than to describe its parts
introspection
careful, systematic observations of ones own consciousness
behaviorism
a school of psychology which proposed that psychology can be a true science only if it examines obeservable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives
humanistic psychology
a theory of psychology that focuses on personal growth and meaning as a way of teachings ones highest potential
positive psychology
scientific approach to studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning
gestalt psychology
a theory of psychology that maintains that we perceive things as wholes rather than as a compilation of parts
what perspective in psychology assumes the unconscious is the most powerful force behind most behavior
psychoanalysis
____ argued that thought, feelings, and motives are unimportant in understanding human behavior
behaviorists
positive psychology is a modern form of which school of thought
humanism
softwiring
in contrast to handwriting, means that biological systems- genes, brain structures, brain cells, are inherited but open to modification from the environment
nurture through nature
the position that the environment constantly interacts with biology to shape who we are and what we do
natural selection
a feedback process whereby nature factors one design over another because it has an impact of reproduction
evolution
the change over time in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species
adaptations
inherited solutions to ancestral problems that have been selected for because they contribute in some way to reproductive success
evolutionary psychology
the branch of psychology that studies human behavior by asking what adaptive problems it may have solved for our early ancestors
Which phrase most accurately reflects a modern perspective in psychology?
nature through nurture
charles darwins great contribution was the theory of
how evolution works (natural selection)
mind-body dualism proposes that
the mind influences the body and the body influences the mind
which of the following is a technique we argue for integrating the many perspectives in psychology
using not believing everything you think, using the scientific method, making connections within and between chapters
what area of psychology has reported findings that driving while using a hands free cell phone is much like driving while being drunk?
cognitive psychology
Dr. Porsche is a psychologist who conducts research on whether hands-free phone use distracts drivers and leads to more accidents. Dr. Porsche is probably what kind of a psychology?
cognitive
What does science entail?
collecting observations/data
3 distinct kinds of science
physical, biological, and social
what kind of science is psychology
a social science
scientific thinking
process using the cognitive skills required to generate, test, and revise theories
theory
a set of related assumptions from which scientists can make testable predictions
hypothesis
a specific, informed, and testable prediction of the outcome of particular set of conditions in a research design
scientific method
OPTIC
observation, prediction, test, interpret, communicate
replication
the repetition of a study to confirm the results; essential to the scientific process
pseudoscience
claims presented as scientific that are not supported by evidence obtained with the scientific method
the scientific method consists of
observing, predicting, testing, interpreting, communicating
which of the following is not a characteristic of science?
it is an attitude
scientific theories are
a set of related assumptions that guide and explain observations and allow testable predictions to be made
what distinguishes science from pseudoscience?
the search for truth
research designs
plan of action for how to conduct a scientific study
variable
a characteristic that changes or varies such as age, gender, weight, intelligence, anxiety, and extraversion
population
the entire group a researcher is interested in
samples
subsets of the population studied in a research project
descriptive designs
study designs in which the researcher defines a problem and a variable of interest but makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate anything
case study
a study design in which a psychologist, observes one person over a long period of time
naturalistic observation
a study in which the researcher unobtrusively observes and records behavior in the real world
representative sample
a research sample that accurately reflects the population of people one is studying
correlational designs
studies that measure two or more variables and their relationship to one another; not designed to show causation
correlation coefficients
a statistic that ranges from -1.0 and +1.0 and assesses the strength and direction of association between two variables
experiment
a research design that includes independent and dependent variables and random assignment of participants to control and experimental groups
independent variable
one being manipulated
dependent variable
the outcome/response to the experimental manipulation
random assignment
he method used to assign participants to different research conditions so that all participants have the same chance of being in any specific group
experimental group
a group consisting of those participants who will receive the treatment or whatever is predicted to change behavior
control group
group of research participants who are treated in exactly the same manner as the experimental group, except that they do not receive independent variable, or treatment
confounding variable
variable whose influence on the dependent variable cannot be separated from the independent variable being examined
single blind studies
studies in which participants do not know the experimental condition to which they have been assigned
double blind studies
studies in which neither the participants nor the researchers administering the treatment know who has been assigned to the experimental or control group
effect size
the measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables or the extent of an experimental effect
measures
the tools and techniques used to access thought or behavior
behavioral measures
measures based on systematic observations of peoples actions either in their normal environment or in a lab setting
social desirability bias
the tendency toward favorable self-presentation that could lead to inaccurate self reports
physiological measures
measures of bodily responses, such as blood pressure, or heart rate, used to determine changes in psychological state
statistics
collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data
descriptive statistics
measures used to describe and summarize research
median
score that separates the lower half of scores from the upper half
standard deviation
a statistical measure of how much scores in a sample vary around the mean
normal distribution
bell curve, a plot of how frequent data are that is perfectly symmetrical, with most scores clustering in the middle and only a few scores at the extreme
mean
the average of a series of numbers
mode
the most commonly occurring score or value
frequency
the number of times a particular score occurs in a set of data
inferential statistics
analyses of data that allow us to test hypotheses and make an influence as to how likely a sample score is to occur in a population
t-test
statistic that compares two means to see whether they could come from the same population
ethics
the rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation or more simply, standards of right and wrong
debriefing
the explanation of the purposes of a study following data collection
quasi-experimental design
research method similar to an experimental design except that it makes use of naturally occurring groups rather than randomly assigning subjects to groups
Dr. Lovejoy wanted to do research on real world conditions that lead to aggression in a 10-year old children. She defined aggression as intent to harm another person and went to a local elementary school and videotaped a 10-minute recess period. She and h
descriptive
if Dr. Lovejoy wanted to examine whether certain personality traits make aggression more likely, she would most likely use what kind of research design?
correlational
researchers have consistently found that married men live longer than single men. from this finding, we can conclude that
marriage correlates with a longer life
in contrast to other kinds of research designs, a true experimental design must have 2 things:
random assignment go participants to conditions and manipulation of an independent variable
An advantage of self-reports questionnaires is that they are easy to administer to large numbers of participants. A disadvantage of questionnaires is that
people do not always accurately report their true thoughts or feelings
one advantage of behavioral measures compared to self-reported measures is that they
are less prone to social desirability bias
a psychologist who is interest in how brain activity relates to behavior will most likely use which kind of measure?
physiological
if two sets of scores have the same mean, then
their variabilities could be the same or they could be different
why is GPA a good example of the statistic mean?
because it is calculated by adding scores and dividing by the number of scores
scores that are widely spread apart have a
high standard deviation
when conducting research with humans, researchers
always must obtain informed consent
current guidelines on research ethics state that when studying humans, deception
must be avoided whenever possible, can be used only if its of the research design, must be followed by debriefing, and must be fully justified
ethical guidelines for research with nonhuman animals state that
ethical and humane conditions must exist throughout the entire research process
what is an enriched environment?
a living situation that provides ample opportunity for play and activity
what is the most rigorous study design that cab be used to study the effects of enrichment on brain development in humans?
quasi-experimental design
psyche
soul/mind
logos
study of
physiology + philosophy =
psychology
wilhelm wundt
established first psychology laboratory, psychology was born
who led the functionalism movement
James
who led the structuralism movement
Titchener
structuralists thoughts
focused on analyzing consciousness into basic elements
functionalists thoughts
focused on investigating the function or purpose of consciousness
John B. Watson
founder of behaviorism
B.F. Skinner
environmental factors determine behavior
Sigmund Freud
founder of psychoanalytic school of thought
who led humanism?
Maslow and Rogers
correlation
numerical index of degree of relationships
positive correlation
variables increase or decrease together
negative correlation
one variable increases and the other variable decreases