Psych 202 Chapter 1
guiding principle of psychology
our behavior is influenced by our interactions with others
security needs
safety, employment, assets
esteem needs
self-worth, accomplishment, confidence
classical conditioning
stimulus (CS) acquires the capacity to evoke a response (CR), originally evoked by another stimulus (UCS)
structuralism
the attempt to understand the structure or characteristic of the mind
sport and exercise psychology
the psychological aspects of sport performance, including motivation and performance anxiety and the effects of sport on mental and emotional well being; interactions between mental and physical performance under demanding conditions, such as firefighting, military operations, artistic performance, and surgery.
Developmental psychology
the scientific study of development across a lifespan; interested in processes related to physical maturation; changes in cognitive skills, moral reasoning, social behavior and other psychological attributes
psychology
the scientific study of the mind and behavior; limited because thoughts as we experience them are neither matter nor energy; it is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge based on observation, including experimentation, rather than a method based on forms of logical argument
Kahneman (2011) "Thinking Fast and Slow"
-"Thinking Fast" refers to System 1, Intuitive Thought, which is fast, minimally effortful, and often relies on heuristics (a simple procedure that helps find adequate, though often imperfect, answers to difficult questions; thinking shortcuts) -"Thinking Slow" refers to System 2, Reflective Thought, which is deliberate thorough, rational thinking, and more costly in cognitive effort -we all engage in both types of thinking, though we may differ in the degree of emphasis on each
Sigmund Freud
-An Austrian neurologist who was fascinated by patients suffering from hysteria and neurosis -He theorized that patients' problems arose from the unconscious mind -The unconscious mind was a repository of feelings and urges of which we have no awareness; the unconscious mind could be accessed through dream analysis, the first words that came to people's minds, and seemingly innocent slips of the tongue -psychoanalytic theory
humanistic psychology
-Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow -Humans are assumed to be basically good -choice is considered genuine, not illusion -humans are motivated to actualize potential -fact of death is psychologically important -choice implies responsibility -self concept is important -self actualization is central motivation
Carl Rogers
-He emphasized the potential for good that exists within all people -he used a therapeutic technique known as client-centered therapy -believed the therapist needed to display three features: unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and empathy
John B. Watson
-He preferred to focus directly on observable behavior and try to bring that behavior under control
Pavlov
-He studied a form of learning behavior called a conditioned reflex, in which an animal or human produced a reflex response to a stimulus and, over time, was conditioned to produce the response to a different stimulus that the experimenter associated with the original stimulus
Skinner Box
-a chamber that isolates the subject from the external environment and has a behavior indicator such as a lever or a button -it can either give positive reinforcement or punishment or a token conditioner that is correlated with either the positive reinforcement or punishment
behaviorism
-approach of observing and controlling behavior and its interaction with inborn qualities of the organism -a major object of study is learned behavior and its interaction with inborn qualities of the organism -use of animals because their behavior could in some way be applied to humans -established psychology as a scientific discipline through its objective methods and experimentation
Noam Chomsky
-dissatisfied with the influence that behaviorism had on psychology
biopsychology
-explores how our biology influences our behavior -how the structure and function of the nervous system is related to behavior -sensory and motor systems, sleep, drug use and abuse, ingestive behavior, reproductive behavior, neurodevelopment, pasticity of the nervous system, and biological correlates of psychological disorders -typically focuses on the immediate causes of behavior based in the physiology of a human or other animal
Albert Bandura
-first known for modeling research -reciprocal triadic determinism -behavior, environment, and person all influence each other -he marks a transition to cognitive psychology
personality psychology
-focuses on patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique
cognitive psychology
-focuses on studying thoughts and their relationship to our experiences and our actions; attention to problem solving to language to memory; sensation and perception, thinking and intelligence, memory, lifespan development, social psychology, and therapy
B.F. Skinner
-he concentrated on how behavior was affected by its consequences -reinforcement and punishment as major factors in driving behavior
Law of Least Effort
-insures that we often resort to System 1 Intuitive Thought -"people will eventually gravitate to the least demanding course course of action" -"all animals are under distinct selection pressure to be as stupid as they can get away with"
superego
-moral imperatives -part of the unconscious
id
-pleasure principle -primary process thinking
Freud's theory of personality
-proposed that personality arose as conflicts between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind were carried out over the lifespan -an individual went through various psychosexual stages of development; adult personality would result from the resolution of various conflicts that centered on the mitigation of erogenous zones from the oral to the anus to the phallus to the genitals
Ego
-reality principle -secondary process thinking -part of the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious
Evolutionary psychology
-seeks to study the ultimate causes of behavior -the traits we possess now evolved under environmental and social conditions far back in human history and we have a poor understanding of what these conditions were -based on Darwin's theory of evolution -evolution shapes not only physical phenomena, but behavior as well -the reason for present behavior patterns to possible survival value of the behavior -critical concern: does a pattern of behavior increase the probability of survival of one's genes?
critical thinking
-the active application of a set of skills to information, assessing its reliability and usefulness; maintaining an attitude of skepticism, recognizing internal biases, making use of logical thinking, asking appropriate questions, and making observations -Skills: verbal reasoning, argument analysis, assessment of likelihood and uncertainty -Dispositions: flexibility in thought, persistence, willingness to evaluate and change one's beliefs, awareness of social obstacles to clear thinking -Sources of interference: fear of rejection, doubt of one's ability to challenge status quo, sense of loss over cherished assumptions found false -the best thinking of which we are capable, in approaching complex subjects
William James
-the first American psychologist who espoused a different perspective on how psychology should operate -natural selection leads to organisms that are adapted to their environment, including their behavior -psychology purpose was to study the function of behavior in the world -he believed that introspection could serve as one means by which someone might study mental activities, but also relied on more objective measures -he used various recording devices and examinations of concrete products or mental activities and of anatomy and physiology
Themes of psychology
1. psychology is imperial 2. psychology is theoretically diverse 3. psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context 4. behavior is determined by multiple causes 5. behavior is shaped by cultural heritage 6. heredity and environment interact in affecting behavior 7. people's experience of the world is highly subjective
Wilhelm Wundt
A German scientist who was the first person to be referred to as a psychologist -He viewed psychology as a scientific study of conscious experience -He used introspection
Abraham Maslow
Asserted that so long as basic needs necessary for survival were me, higher level needs would begin to motivate behavior. The highest-level needs relate to self-actualization, a process by which we achieve our full potential
Donald Symons: Evolution of Human Sexuality
Hypothesis: Male and female humans differ in sexual motivation and behavioral tendencies because we have different evolutionary tendencies -Symons emphasizes that the two sexes have important biological differences. These biological differences could have resulted in differing sexual motivational tendencies for males and females. cost for females: Pregnancy, with 9 months of decreased mobility, and some discomfort Childbirth, with pain and increased physical vulnerability Care and feeding of the child for years Cost for males: sexual intercourse optimal behavior strategy for females: select the best genetic example of a male who will stay and help care for children optimal behavior strategy for males: impregnate lots of females
We typically remember emotional events very well
Neural basis: The amygdala monitors for emotional arousal. Detection of significant arousal triggers the hippocampus, which yields intense longer lasting memories. -Evolutionary psychologists argue it is adaptive to recall emotional events well. -Cognitive, social, cultural influence
Cognitive revolution
New disciplinary in linguistics, neuroscience, and computer science were emerging, and these ares revives interest in the mind as a focus of scientific inquiry
Marlatt, Demming, and Reid (1974)
Question: If an alcoholic takes a drink, will they drink until they are drunk as AA claims? Methods: They recruited alcoholics without labeling them as such as well as social drinkers. They found a drink which was ambiguous regarding alcohol content. Participants were told they were being presented a study on taste preference. They were assigned to one of four conditions: told alcohol and given alcohol; told alcohol and given just tonic; told non-alcoholic and given tonic; and told non-alcoholic and given alcohol. They were free to consume from a 24oz bottle as they chose. Results: Alcoholics told they were given alcohol drank 2x more as alcoholics who were told tonic (nearly the whole bottle). Social drinkers told alcohol drank less than alcoholics told alcohol. Conclusion: No physiological vulnerability, but rather mental dependency. This counters AA.
behaviorism
Watson, Skinner, Pavlov focus on behavior, excluding mental events
forensic psychology
a branch of psychology that deals with questions of psychology as they arise in the context of the justice system; assess a person's competency to stand trial, assess the state of mind of a defendant; act as consultants on child custody cases, consult on sentencing and treatment recommendations, and advise on issues such as eyewitness testimony and children's testimony
Humanism
a perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good is innate to all humans
Introspection
a process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible; used only very specific experimental conditions in which an external stimulus was designed to produce a scientifically observable experience on the mind; required the use of practiced observers who could observe and report a reaction and the use of repeatable stimuli that always produced the same experience in the subject and allowed to expect and be fully attentive to the inner reaction
hysteria
an ancient diagnosis for disorders, primarily of women with a wide variety of symptoms, including physical symptoms and emotional disturbances, none of which had an apparent physical cause
industrial-organizational psychology
applied psychological theories, principles, and research findings in industria and organizational settings; personal management, organizational structure, and workplace environment
counseling psychology
focuses on emotional, social, vocational, and health-related outcomes in individuals who are considered psychologically healthy
Gestalt psychology (Wertheimer, Koffka, and Kohler)
deals with the fact that although a sensory experience can be broken down into individual parts, how those parts relate to each others as a whole is often what the individual responds to in perception -considering the human individual as a whole rather than as a sum of individually measured parts became an important foundation in humanistic theory late in century
social needs
family, friendship, intimacy, belonging
Functionalism
focused on how mental activities helped an organisms fit into its environment; operation of the whole mind rather than its individual parts
social psychology
focuses on how we interact with and relate to others; differences in how we explain our own behavior versus how we explain the behavior of others, prejudice, attraction, and how we resolve interpersonal conflicts and how being among other people changes our own behavior and patterns of thinking
clinical psychology
focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior
psychoanalytic theory
focuses on the role of a person's unconscious, as well as early childhood experiences, and this particular perspective dominated clinical psychology for several decades
physiological needs
food, water, shelter, warmth
client-centered therapy
helped clients deal with problematic issues; a method in which the patient takes a lead role in the therapy session
health psychology
how health is affected by the interaction of biological and sociocultural factors; achieve better health through public policy, education, intervention, and research; relationship b/w one's genetic makeup, patterns of behavior, relationships, psychological stress, and health; effective ways to motivate people to address patterns of behavior that contribute to poorer
self-actualization needs
inner fulfillment
operant conditioning
learning in which responses are controlled by their consequences reinforcement and punishment
