Psychology 400 set

Dorothea Dix (Ch 1)

(1802-1887) American activist who created the first generation of American mental asylums; served as Superintendent of Army Nurses

Charles Darwin (Ch 1)

(1809-1882) author of On the Origin of Species (1859); suggested biological kinship between humans and animals -For psychologists, this meant discoveries about animal biology could be applied to people, very influential on psychology, i.e. Structuralism

6. Behavioral View (Behaviorism) (Ch 1)

A psychological perspective that finds the source of our actions in environmental stimuli, rather than in inner mental processes

Neuroscience (Ch 3)

A relatively new inter-disciplinary field that focuses on the brain and its role in psychological processes

Representative Sample (Ch 2)

A sample obtained in such a way that it reflects the distribution of important variables in the larger population in which the researchers are interested -- variables such as age, income level, ethnicity, and geographic distribution

Hypothesis (Ch 2)

A statement predicting the outcome of a scientific study; a statement describing the relationship among variables in a study

Empirical approach (Ch 1)

A study conducted via careful observations and scientifically based research

Cross-sectional Study (Ch 2)

A study in which a representative cross section of the population is tested or surveyed at one specific time; created in order to avoid the time and expense of the longitudinal study; yields data similar to longitudinal data but not so accurate

Frequency Distribution (Ch 2)

A summary chart, showing how frequently each of the various scores in a set of data occurs.

Theory (Ch 2)

A testable explanation for a set of facts or observations. In science, a theory is NOT just speculation or a guess

Negative Correlation (Ch 2)

Absence of one thing leads to the presence of another

APA (Ch 2)

American Psychological Association

Empirical Investigation (Ch 2)

An approach to research that relies on sensory experience and observation as research data

Culture (Ch 1)

Complex blend of language, beliefs, customs, values, and traditions developed by a group of people and shared with others in the same environment

Demand Characteristics (Ch 2)

Cues about the purpose of study---participants use such cues to try to respond correctly

Pseudopsychology (Ch 1)

Erroneous assertions or practices set forth as being scientific psychology

Neuroscience (Ch 1)

Field devoted to understanding how the brain creates thoughts, feelings, motives, consciousness, memories, and other mental processes.

Educational Psychology (Ch 1)

Involves the study of how people learn, including topics such as student outcomes, the instructional process, individual differences in learning, gifted learners and learning disabilities.

Cognitions (Ch 1)

Mental processes, such as thinking, memory, sensation and perception

Double-blind Study (Ch 2)

Neither the participants nor the researchers are able to affect the outcome of the experiments; both researchers and participants are uninformed about the nature of the independent variable being administered

Zero Correlation (Ch 2)

No relationship between two variables

Positive Correlation (Ch 2)

Presence of one thing leads to the presence of a nother

Significant Difference (Ch 2)

Psychologists accept a difference between the groups as "real", or significant, when the probability that it might be due to an atypical sample drawn by chance is less than 5 in 100 (indicated by the notation p < .05)

Applied psychologists (Ch 1)

Psychologists who use the knowledge developed by experimental psychologists to solve human problems

Teachers of psychology (Ch 1)

Psychologists whose primary job is teaching, typically in high schools, colleges and universities

7. Sociocultural View (Ch 1)

-Emphasizes the importance of social interaction, social learning, and a cultural perspective -Social influence is the focus -Used to probe the mysteries of liking, loving, prejudice, aggression, obedience, and conformity

Institutional Review Board - IRB (Ch 2)

Reviews research proposals for ethical violations and/or procedural errors; gives researchers permission to go ahead with research or requires them to revise their procedures

Structuralism (Ch 1)

-Historical school of psychology dedicated to uncovering the basic structures that make up mind and thought -Focused on revealing the most basic "structures" or components of the mind rather than what consciousness (of the mind) could do. -Believed all our mental activity consisted of combinations of these basic processes; Wilhem Wundt; Introspection

Wilhelm Wundt (Ch 1)

(1832-1920) known as one of the founding figures of Psychology; German scientist, first person to call himself a "psychologist"; Structuralism; established an institute for psychological research at the university of Leibzig; first Psychological laboratory in 1879

William James (Ch 1)

(1842-1910) argued against structuralism; Functionalist psychologist; supported Charles Darwin's theories rather than Wilhem Wundt's; liked the idea of organisms adapting and proposed psychology should explain how people adapt; wrote extensively on the development of learned habits, emotions, psych of religion, teaching; wrote the first psychology textbook, Principles of Psychology

G. Stanley Hall (Ch 1)

(1844-1924) American psychologist and educator who focused on childhood development and evolutionary theories; first president of American Psychological Association

Ivan Pavlov (Ch 1)

(1849-1936) discovered classical conditioning; research on physiology and digestion; 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology; was not a psychologist, but his work on reflexes and conditioning greatly influenced Behaviorism

Sigmund Freud (Ch 1)

(1856-1939) Viennese physician who pioneered psychoanalytic theory and psychoanalytic treatment methods; explored the unconscious; i.e. The Interpretation of Dreams

Margaret Floy Washburn (Ch 1)

(1871-1939) leading American psychologist, best known for for experimental work in animal behavior and motor theory development; perception; the first woman granted a PhD in Psychology

John B. Watson (Ch 1)

(1878-1958) leader of Behavioral movement; argued that a true and objective science of psychology should deal solely with observable events stimuli from the environment and an organisms responses; objected to introspection; cared nothing about what people were thinking, but was interested in their actions

Jean Piaget (Ch 1)

(1896-1980) Swiss Developmental psychologist/philosopher; known for epistemological studies of children; theory of Cognitive Development

Carl Rogers (Ch 1)

(1902-1987) among the founders of the Humanistic approach to psychology; rejected the cold, mechanical approach to psychology; have offered a model of human nature emphasizing free will, feelings and self-concept; one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research

B.F. Skinner (Ch 1)

(1904-1990) most influential American Behaviorist; argued that the concept of "mind" has led psychology in circles, chasing something so subjective that is cannot be proved to exist. Can you prove you have a mind? "The crucial mistake is that...we believe what we feel as we behave is the cause of our behaving"

Plato (Ch 1)

(380 B.C.) Greek philosopher whose studies are considered the first real glimpse of how classical philosophy became a precursor to modern psychology o studied areas like cognition, and some have described his quest for knowledge and understanding as the quest for perfect knowledge; first philosopher credited with the study of gaining knowledge

Introspection (Ch 1)

(associate with structuralism) Process used in which volunteers report their own conscious mental experiences; Necker Cube - Louis Necker

4. Psychodynamic Psychology (Psychoanalysis) (Ch 1)

-A clinical viewpoint emphasizing the understanding of mental disorders in terms of unconscious needs, desires, memories, and conflicts; (we are motivated primarily by the energy of irrational desires generated in our unconscious minds)

8. Evolutionary Psychology/Sociobiological (Ch 1)

-A relatively new specialty in psychology that sees behavior and mental processes in terms of their genetic adaptations for survival and reproduction o Would explain that a person is extroverted because he makes friends and allies, and these connections could improve the individual's chances of survival, which increases the person's chances for passing this trait for extroversion down to his or her children

Industrial-Organizational Psychology (Ch 1)

-Applies psychological theories and principles to organizations -Focuses on increasing workplace productivity and related issues such as the physical and mental well being of employees; study worker attitudes and behavior, evaluate companies and conduct leadership training

Psychoanalysis (Ch 1)

-Approach to psychology which emphasizes unconscious processes -Asserted that mental disorders arise from conflicts in the unconscious mind -Portrays the mind as a mental boiler that holds the rising pressure of unconscious sexual and destructive desires, along with memories of tragic events -based on Sigmund Freud's ideals

Cognitive Neuroscience (Ch 1)

-Emphasizes brain activity as info processing -Involves cognitive psych, neurology, biology, computer science, linguistics, and specialists from other fields who are interested in the connection between mental processes and the brain

5. Humanistic Psychology (Ch 1)

-Emphasizes influence of our own SELF-CONCEPT and by our NEED FOR PERSONAL GROWTH AND FULFILLMENT -Humanistic therapists emphasize the positive side of our nature, unlike the Psychoanalysts: human ability, growth, potential -Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers = leaders pressed psych to take a greater interest in feelings and the self-concept; major impact on counseling and psychotherapy o Believe that we choose most of our behaviors and these choices are guided by physiological, emotional, or spiritual needs o A humanistic psychologist might explain that a person is introverted because he or she finds that social needs are better satisfied by contact with few close friends rather than large groups o Theories are not easily tested by the scientific method

3. Cognitive View (Ch 1)

-Emphasizes mental processes, such as learning, memory, perception, and thinking, as forms of information processing -Suggests that our thoughts and actions arise from how we interpret our own experiences -Profoundly influenced by the way we process information streaming from our environment

2. Developmental View (Ch 1)

-Emphasizes the changes (developments) that occur across our lifespan and the impact the experiences from our environment have on our consciousness -Studies how we change as we grow older and how we develop social skills, language, and culture; -Much of their focus is on child development; nature vs. nurture

Functionalism (Ch 1)

-Historical school of psychology that believed mental processes could be best understood in terms of their adaptive purpose and function -Argued that psychology should include the function of consciousness rather than just the structure -Proposed psychology should explain how people adapt or fail to adapt to the everyday world outside the laboratory -The first applied psychologists -William James

Necker Cube (Ch 1)

-Illustrates introspection, demonstrates that we add meaning to our sensations -Perception; serves as a metaphor for the multiple perspectives in psychology; "We don't simply see the world as it 'really' is, but we perceive it by adding our own interpretations." (Louis Necker)

Gestalt Psychology (Ch 1)

-Opposite of structuralism -Historical school of psychology that sought to understand how the brain works by studying perception and perceptual learning -Understanding perception was merely the means to the even more important end of understanding how the brain works -Relied on introspection, like the structuralists -Max Wertheimer o Argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete structures; tried to examine a person's TOTAL EXPERIENCE because the way we experience the world is more than just an accumulation of various perceptual experiences o Therapists incorporated Gestalt psychology by examining not just a client's difficulty but the context in which the difficulty occurs o Interested in how we construct "PERCEPTUAL WHOLES" (i.e. our perception of a face, rather than just a conglomeration of lines, colors, and textures)

Clinical View (Ch 1)

-Psychological perspective emphasizing mental health and mental illness -Concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental illness and abnormal behavior and psychiatric problems -Psychodynamic and humanistic psychology are variations of the clinical view

Experimental Psychologists (Ch 1)

-Psychologists who do research on basic psychological processes -Utilizes scientific methods to research the mind and behavior -Experimental psychologists work in a wide variety of settings including colleges, universities, research centers, government and private businesses

1. Biological View (Ch 1)

-Searches for the causes of behavior in the functioning of genes, the brain and nervous system, and the endocrine (hormone) system -Roots in medicine and biological science

Behaviorism (Ch 1)

-Type of psychology that disagreed with nearly everyone -Consciousness should not be a part of psychology at all -The science of behavior, not the mind -Sought to make psychology an objective science focused only on behavior and the exclusion of mental processes -Finds the source of our actions in environmental stimuli -Rewards and punishment -John B. Watson

Counseling (Ch 1)

-focuses on providing therapeutic treatments to clients -One of the largest specialty areas within psychology; "a psychological specialty that facilitates personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span with a focus on emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns." -Society of Counseling Psychology

9. Trait View (Ch 1)

-the Greek four humors influenced this perspective; -views behavior and personality as the products of enduring psychological characteristics; -behavior results from each person's unique combination of traits

Experimental Method (Ch 2)

: a kind of research in which the researcher controls all the conditions and directly manipulates the conditions, including the independent variable. Involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable. Relies on controlled methods, random assignment, the scientific method, etc.

Random Selection (Ch 2)

: takes place before random assignment; the choosing of the entire research population prior to assigning them to experimental groups to be tested

Case Studies (Ch 2)

: used to get full, detailed picture of one participant or small groups of participants Strength: allows very specific, detailed research Weakness: findings cannot be generalized to a larger population

Histogram (Ch 2)

A bar graph depicting a frequency distribution. The height of the bars indicates the frequency of a group of scores Y axis-frequency X axis- whatever you're graphing

Normal Distribution (Ch 2)

A bell-shaped curve, describing the spread of a characteristic throughout a population

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee - IACUC (Ch 2)

A committee at each institution where research is conducted to review every experiment involving animals for ethics and methodology

Cohort-sequential Study (Ch 2)

A cross section of the population is chosen and then each cohort (group) is followed for a short period of time; created to avoid time and expense of longitudinal studies; Takes less time than the longitudinal design, is much less susceptible to bias, and therefore yields more accurate data than a cross-sectional study

Scientific Method (Ch 2)

A five-step process for empirical investigation of a hypothesis under conditions designed to control biases and subjective judgements

Longitudinal Study (Ch 2)

A group of subjects is observed for an extensive period of time (years) Strength: same subject group throughout, stable results Weakness: time and expense

Mode (Ch 2)

A measure of central tendency for a distribution, represented by the score that occurs more often than any other

Median (Ch 2)

A measure of central tendency for a distribution, represented by the score that separates the upper half of the scores in a distribution from the lower half

Standard deviation - SD (Ch 2)

A measure of variability that indicates the average difference between the scores and their mean

Psychiatry (Ch 1)

A medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders

Correlation Coefficient (Ch 2)

A number between -1 and +1 expressing the degree of relationship between two variables

Random presentation (Ch 2)

A process by which chance alone determines the order in which stimulus is presented

Experimenter Bias (Ch 2)

Special kind of situation relevant confounding variable; the unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experimental and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming their own hypothesis; not a conscious act---if it were conscious, it would be fraud

Descriptive Statistics (Ch 2)

Statistical procedures used to describe characteristics and responses of groups of subjects; describe a set of data

Naturalistic Observation (Ch 2)

Subjects are observed in their natural environment; the subjects should not know they are being observed to ensure that it is their actual behavior in their natural state; used extensively on wild animals, i.e. Jane Goodall

Response/Participant Bias (Ch 2)

Tendency for subjects to behave in certain ways that change the outcome of the experiment

Sampling Error (Ch 2)

The extent to which the sample differs from the population

Mean (Ch 2)

The measure of central tendency most often used to describe a set of data -- calculated by adding all the scores and dividing by the number of scores.

Expectancy Bias (Ch 2)

The researcher allowing his or her expectations to affect the outcome of a study

Personal Bias (Ch 2)

The researcher allowing personal beliefs to affect the outcome of a study

Psychology (Ch 1)

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Range (Ch 2)

The simplest measure of variability, represented by the difference between the highest and the lowest values in a frequency distribution

Biopsychology (Ch 3)

The specialty in psychology that studies the interaction of biology, behavior and mental processes

Confirmation bias (Ch 1)

The tendency to attend to evidence that complements and confirms our beliefs or expectations, while ignoring evidence that does not

Social Desirability (Ch 2)

The tendency to try to give answers that reflect well upon them---to eliminate this, use double-blind procedure

Operational Definition (Ch 2)

Used to further define and specify the exact procedures of an experiment---defines exact conditions and breaks down an experiment into more specific guidelines; Specific descriptions of concepts involving the conditions of a scientific study. Operational definitions are stated in terms of how the concepts are to be measured or what operations are being employed to produce them

Survey (Ch 2)

a quasi-experimental method in which questions are asked to subjects---surveys; when designing a survey, the researcher has to be careful that the questions are not skewed or biased towards a particular answer; not a true experiment, but if conducted correctly can yield useful data; type of correlational study

Correlational Study (Ch 2)

a type of research that is mainly statistical in nature; correlational studies determine the relationship (correlation) between two variables. I.e. lung cancer and smoking

Aristotle (Ch 1)

another Greek philosopher; developed theories of sensation, perception, cognition, memory, problem solving, and ethics

Controls (Ch 2)

constant, unchanging variable used for comparison and to check validity of results; constraints that the experimenter places on the experiment to ensure that each subject has the exact same conditions

Random Assignment (Ch 2)

controls for participant- relevant confounding variables- happens after random selection/random sampling; the process of dividing participants into groups after random selection, i.e. experimental and control; cannot be done until after you've identified the sample

Confounding/Extraneous Variable (Ch 2)

extraneous, unwanted variables that affect experiments and create biased or unclear results; try to limit them for a more accurate study; any difference between experimental and controlled conditions, except for the independent variable, that might affect the dependent variable

Replicate (Ch 2)

in research, this refers to doing a study over to see whether the same results are obtained. As a control for bias, replication is often done by someone other than the researcher who performed the original study

Four Humors (Ch 1)

o Greeks believed emotions flow from the heart, liver, and spleen and that mental disorder could be caused by excessive bile (i.e. "heartfelt" emotions) --- o Four humors = blood (sanguine), phlegm (slow and deliberate), melancholer (melancholy), and yellow bile (angry and aggressive); believed that your personality is based on how much of these fluids you contain; their idea of personality traits lives on in modern psychology, especially among psychologists interested in personality and personality testing, (see Trait View)

Data (Ch 2)

pieces of information, especially information gathered by a researcher to be used in testing a hypothesis

Ex post facto (Ch 2)

research in which we choose subjects based on a pre-existing condition

Mary Whiton Calkins (Ch 1)

the American Psychological Association's first female president (1905)

Independent Variable - IV (Ch 2)

the part of the experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter; a stimulus condition so named because the experimenter changes it independently of all the other carefully controlled experimental conditions

Inferential Statistics (Ch 2)

used to determine whether or not findings can be applied to the larger population from which the sample was selected; statistical techniques (based on probability theory) used to assess whether the results of a study are reliable or whether they might be simply the result of chance; inferential statistics are often used to determine whether two or more groups are essentially the same or different

Dependent Variable - DV (Ch 2)

variable that changes as a result of the independent variable changing; the variable that is measured; the measured outcome of a study; the responses of the subjects in a study