PSYCH 100 MIDTERM (1,2,12,13,14,15)

sample

a smaller study group chosen to represent a larger population

Progammatic research

continued area of inquiry.

intuitive dualists

believe they and others to exist apart from their physical bodies

social psychology

individual's thoughts and actions are influenced by the social environment and the presence of others.

cognitive psychology

interested in how people process information and includes areas such as attention, perception, memory, problem-solving, language, and thought

socially desirable bias

participants responses in specific ways that would be seen as acceptable by others

volunteer bias

people that do volunteer to be interviewed about taboo subjects like sex may not be representative of the rest of the population

vulnerable populations

people with: decision impairment- potential participant has diminished capacity to provide informed consent situational vulnerability- freedom of "choice" to participate in research is compromised as a result of undue influence from another source

Identify the problem

#1 Describe the challenge to be solved, including limits and constraints.; may be based on observation, previous research, established theory, or intuition

gather info

#2 review the scientific literature and examine existing theories of behavior

Hypothesis

#3 researcher develops a hypothesis, or an educated prediction about the outcome of the experiment ex) I hypothesize that students who have completed a graded assessment will be more likely to prepare for class than students who did not complete a graded assessment.

design & conduct experiment

#4 ex) To test my hypothesis, I will give one section of a class a pre-class quiz to earn course credit for having come to class, etc.

data analysis and conclusion

#5 involves determining whether the findings support the experimenter's predictions

restart process

#6 researcher reconsiders the original question/problem and may choose to either replicate (or redo) the same experiment, conduct a similar experiment with some modifications (replication with extension),or move on to an entirely new research topic

nativism

-hypothesizes that some forms of knowledge are innate-biological determinism (extreme position) -large variety of individual differences in temperament, intelligence, and personality have been shown to have at least some biological component ex) basic processes of perception- difficult to change the way a person sees something given additional experience. Optical illusions demonstrate this well.

Scientific Method

1. Identify the problem 2. Gather Information 3. Generate a hypothesis 4. Design and Conduct Experiments 5. Analyze data and formulate Conclusions. 6. Restart the process

Hawthorne effect

A change in a subject's behavior caused simply by the awareness of being studied

Ponzo illusion

An illusion of size in which two objects of equal size that are positioned between two converging lines appear to be different in size. Also called the railroad track illusion.

Wundt and Titchener

believed self-reports of conscious experience should be the primary form of evidence in psychology

Milgram Obedience study has receive considerable criticism for lack of consideration for these ethical principles:

Beneficence & Non-Malifence Respect for People's rights & dignity

eclectic approach

Choosing the most effective therapeutic technique given the present circumstances; ideas are taken from a variety of sources

intersectional approach

Crenshaw; study issues related to culture and cultural identity, emphasizing that people are not defined by any single aspect of their identities

reflex

Descartes, body acting without conscious action - without the mind. conscious muscle movement involves signals from the brain-handled entirely by the spinal cord

William jame

Father of American psych; first person to offer a course on experimental psychology in the United States beginning in 1875 at Harvard University; critic of introspection-understand function of these elements (functionalism)

psychoanalysis

Freud; critical component to resolving mental health issues was the process of analyzing the contents of the unconscious mind so that relevant thoughts and feelings could be brought up to the level of consciousness patients needed to gain insight into the unconscious factors that were causing them distress. influenced by Darwin-based unconscious urges related to sexual frustration and aggression

humanistic psychology

Maslow & Rogers; response to Freud's dark side of psych; proposes that people have free will and the capacity to realize their own potential

safeguards in place to ensure the protection of vulnerable populations

No study should ever be conducted on vulnerable populations if the research question could be reasonably carried out using participants without these vulnerabilities. When research is carried out with vulnerable populations, researchers should be responsive to the needs, conditions, and priorities of these individuals. IRB committees should include members with expertise on these populations. In instances of decisional impairment, consent to participate in the research process requires that two types of consent are acquired; parents and guardians must provide Informed Consent on behalf of the participant AND the participant must provide assent (affirmative permission to take part in the study). In this case, both parties are needed to give the okay to participate before their participation can begin. In cases of situational vulnerability, additional safeguards should be put in place to prevent exploitation. For instance, a study may include an impartial third-party to advocate on behalf of individuals who might not otherwise feel comfortable doing so.

Fidelity and Responsibility

Principle B: researchers must maintain trust; researchers should be honest and reliable with participants. For example, if a study is known to include potential risks of participation, like making participants feel embarrassed or upset, the psychologist should let people know ahead of time so people can be prepared for what to expect. psychologists have a responsibility to protect the well-being of participants by intervening if they see any situation that may harm participants ex) A researcher's obligation to say something when they believe that participants are not being treated fairly

intergrity

Principle C: Psychologists should engage in accurate, honest, and non-biased practices in the science, teaching, and practice of psychology ex) A researcher makes every effort to remove factual errors from the study report

Justice

Principle D: establish "equality" in the research process. Specifically, those people who participate in the research process should also be the same people who stand to benefit from the research outcomes ex) A researcher publishes their study in a way that is freely accessible to anyone

Respect for People's Rights and Dignity

Principle E: each person is valued in the research process and that researchers should take measures to respect and protect participants' rights, privacy, and welfare. researchers should communicate openly and honestly about the details of the study before asking for participants' consent to participate in the research process ex) The capacity and rights of all individuals to make their own decisions.

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Research study conducted by a branch of the U.S. government, lasting for roughly 50 years (ending in the 1970s), in which a sample of African American men diagnosed with syphilis were deliberately left untreated, without their knowledge, to learn about the lifetime course of the disease.

positive psychology

Seligman; studying how humans flourish and how positive outcomes can be achieved

Aristotle

Tabula Rosa: blank slate, to describe the mind, considering it a place of potential for experience to write upon.

Applied Psychology

The branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems-goal is to change behavior to solve some practical problem, such as resolving mental health issues, improving workplace efficiency, or improving educational outcomes applied research-discover a new or more effective way to solve some specific problem applied practice-actual application of techniques to the problems themselves

systematic introspection

Titchener; attempted to standardize the way conscious experiences were reported so that one person's experiences could be compared to another's more effectively

translational vs. applied research

Translational research is applied research, but it is necessarily based on an attempt to apply discoveries from basic research to practical problems. ex) attempt to discover the best ways to have students practice retrieving information to help solve the "problem" of improving student learning

Edward Titchener

Wundt's student; thought problem of making inferences about the mind could be solved through systematic introspection founded American lab at Cornell charter member of APA

deception

act of withholding information about the purpose and procedures of the study during the informed consent process, must meet 4 criteria to be accepted by IRB (stanley milligram's experiment) 1. poses no more than minimal risk to participants 2. deception does not affect the wellbeing and rights of the participants throughout study 3. provide justification that using deception is the only way to conduct the study 4. participants should be debriefed by researchers and provided with information about what the researcher was investigating and how their participation will contribute to the research question

behavior

actions, words, response times, or even brain activity -used to make inferences about what is happening in the mind

structuralism

an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind

science of psychology is rooted in ____

an empiricist tradition - the idea that true knowledge about psychology can only be obtained through observation

descriptive methods

any means to capture, report, record, or otherwise describe a group; interested in identifying "what is" without necessarily understanding "why it is

sampling error/bias

any pooled selection of students that differs from the entire population in meaningful ways

basic research

attempt to understand the fundamental principles that govern behavior and mind, mostly conducted with perfectly healthy people; interested in such as social interaction, memory, or how neurons interact with one another

behavioral genetics

attempts to explain individual differences in behavior patterns in terms of variation in genetic structure and expression

3 primary areas of psychological work

basic research, application, and clinical work

Muller-Lyer illusion

children who were born blind and receive surgical correction for their vision are still susceptible to this immediately after surgery, despite not having any visual experience at all-nativist theory

clinical vs. counseling psychologists

clinical psychologists tend to diagnose and treat more severe forms of mental illness, counseling psychologists generally focus on helping people deal with ongoing life problems or stressors, or dealing with the transition from one life situation to another

Internal Review Board

committee of independent people who review and assess if the research project will be carried out in a way that is consistent with the General Ethical principles This includes ensuring that: The proposed study will make use sound research design. -Risks associated with participation in the study are minimized and reasonable. -The benefits of the research outweigh any potential risks. -All participants can make an informed decision to participate in the study, and that decision may be withdrawn at any time without consequence to the participant. -Safeguards are in place to protect the well being of participants. -All data collected will be kept private and confidential.

proximate explanations

describe an immediate cause of a psychological phenomenon; include both specific, functional reasons ex) baby cries to get a caregiver to provide food

naturalistic observation

descriptive method; observation of behavior as it happens, without an attempt to manipulate or control the conditions of the observation in an animal's natural environment

Introspection

developed by Wundt to understand the components of mental processes by relying on trained participants' self-reports of their thoughts, feelings, and mental images

Freud

drawn to psychology in an attempt to understand patients whose symptoms he believed had no physical cause. illnesses originated from the unconscious mind

surveys

efficient way to quickly collect information and gather an understanding of the current state of people's opinions or attitudes

translational research

effort to translate basic findings into practical solutions the bridge between basic research & applied practice

Maslow

emphasize the internal driving force for humans to satisfy their basic needs for survival; once basic needs are met, people are motivated to fulfill their psychological needs and ultimately strive for self-actualization, which is an ideal state of reaching one's fullest potential

Wilhelm Wundt

established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 at the University of Leipzig in Germany. interested in sensation and perception - how people understand the world and turn it into ideas and thoughts. Mental experience - the mind - was his major area of study. first person to self-identify as a psychologist father of modern psychology-est. psych as its own discipline

population

every single member of a group

clinical psychology

focus on identifying, preventing, and relieving distress or dysfunction that is psychological in origin, another form of applied psychology with a focus on mental health and wellness issues advanced academic training, such as a Ph.D. or Psy.D. -Ph.D. program in clinical psychology encourages original research in addition to providing training on how to diagnose and treat mental illness -Psy.D. program usually focuses mostly on practice.

case study

in-depth analysis of a unique circumstance or individual flaw: can't be generalized to other people

behavioral neuroscience

makes an effort to understand how specific brain regions or activities produce behavior, allowing psychologists to understand the physical underpinnings of their observations

psychiatrist

medical doctors that focus on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness required to first complete medical school before completing a residency in _____ as their area of specialization

empiricist perspective on human experience

mind begins as a blank slate and who we are is shaped entirely by the experiences we have

René Descartes

mind is inherently immaterial. He believed that thought could not be explained in terms of the physical body, although the mind could exert its influence over the body through the pineal gland (a small pinecone-shaped structure located near the center of the brain that is now believed to regulate circadian rhythms). contends that while all animal behavior was the result of unconscious reflex, human consciousness (e.g., "I think, therefore I am") was evidence for a mind, and thus a soul

abnormal psychology

nterested in explaining how and why unusual and maladaptive behavior patterns develop by examining thoughts and emotions as well as the underlying biology of mental illness

ecologically valid

observations are a product of genuine reactions

B.F. Skinner

operant conditioning: study of how behavior can be modified using a system of rewards and punishments

psychology is a union between

philosophy and physiology

functionalsim

position that psychologists must first understand the function of a behavior or mental process in order to understand how its parts work together. inspired by Darwin's evolution theory

Beneficence and Nonmaleficence

principle A: principle of striving to do good in research and to avoid creating experiments that can intentionally harm participants; weigh the benefits of the research against the costs that participants may experience and put in place safeguards to protect the mental and physical well-being of research participants ex) Protection of the research participant is more important than the pursuit of new knowledge

informed consent

process whereby researchers work with participants to describe essential details of the study; details include the experimental procedures, the risks and benefits associated with participation in the study, how personal information will be protected, and the rights of participants

ultimate explanation

provides a higher-level cause, which is often considered to be the "real" reason for an event; address the reasons why a psychological phenomenon occurs by appealing to its role in the process of evolution ex) crying is a signal to caregivers that the infant needs care of some kind

process-oriented explanations

proximate explanations that focus on how a specific mental or physical process explains a psychological phenomenon, such as how crying is the result of biological processes happening in the tear duct

functional explanations

proximate explanations that seek to identify a specific problem as the cause of a psychological phenomenon, such as getting a caregiver to provide food or remove a painful object in our crying example.

Behaviorism

psychologists skeptical of introspection bc not scientifically observable John B. Watson: mind and internal mental states were beyond the scope of psychology, rebuking introspection as a meaningful technique and proposing that psychology should focus its efforts solely on the study of observable behavior 1920s: this was dominant approach to studying psych

theories

rational explanations to describe and predict future behavior

Cognitive revolution

renewed interest in mental processes and the mind began in the 1950s. new technologies (with the computer at the forefront) allowed psychologists to reevaluate their abilities to make inferences about people's internal mental states

Martin Seligman

renewed interest in studying the more positive aspects of the human condition through his focus on what he has termed positive psychology

Participant observation

researcher becomes part of the group under investigation ex) David Rosenhan's experiment with researchers pretend to have schizophrenia in a mental facility but later act to have no symptoms flaws: researcher's views and bias can affect the interpretation of events; researcher can become so involved and sympathetic to the group that it interferes with research objectivity; observer is a participant in the ongoing activities, the researcher can, knowingly or not, influence participants' behavior, thereby creating the problem of reactivity and affect the behavior being observed; low degree of reliability

field experiment

researcher manipulates and controls the conditions of the behavior under observation

psychology

roots in Greek, literally meaning "the study of the psyche, or soul" (psyche - "breath, spirit, soul" + logia - "study of"). scientific study of both behavior and mind

eligibility criteria

set of characteristics shared by all participants that ensure that those participating will meaningfully help to address the research question inclusion criterion: participant attribute that is essential to answer the research question exclusion criterion: any attributes that would prevent participation because it cannot address the research question

Critique of Freud

sexist assumptions of some of his theories, and his assertion that people are generally powerless to do anything to address their unconscious urges without extensive analysis

culture

shared set of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and customs belonging to a specific group or community of people; groups and communities are generally organized around a shared characteristic or set of characteristics, such as race or ethnicity, nationality, income, sexual orientation, religious identity, or even sets of ideas such as political affiliation

personality psychology

studies individual differences, investigating how and why people act differently based on their enduring characteristics or traits

developmental psychology

studies the way that people develop across the lifespan, including how our thoughts and behaviors change as we age

comparative psychology

study of the behavior of nonhuman animals, and it is often (but not always) interested in making a comparison to human psychology in an effort to discover underlying universals

acquiescent response bias

tendency for participants to indiscriminately "agree" with most, if not all items on a survey regardless of their actual opinion

better than average effect/superiority illusory

tendency to describe our own behavior

interrater reliability

the amount of agreement in the observations of different raters who witness the same behavior

Phrenology

the detailed study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities. example of how early, unscientific ideas about the relationship between the body and the mind have influenced the way in which psychology has developed

dualism

the presumption that mind and body are two distinct entities that interact

epigenetics

the study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without a DNA change

response bias

the tendency for people to answer the question the way they feel they are expected to answer or in systematic ways that are otherwise inaccurate

Darwin

traits that tend to be advantageous for survival and reproduction generally spread through a population more readily than traits that are not advantageous. recognized that these inherited traits could extend to behavioral tendencies, including human behavior adaptive traits: He reasoned that adaptive traits tend to spread throughout a population because of the benefits they provide, by means of a process called natural selection

Gestalt psychology

understanding how people perceived a unified whole out of the many chaotic individual elements of sensation; this was in some opposition to traditional structuralism as well

empiricism

view that knowledge arises directly from what we observe and experience

rationalism

view that reason and logical argument, but not experience, is most important for how we acquire knowledge; used by Aristotle to reason that human thoughts, perceptions, and emotions were products of the heart rather than the brain

wording effects

when a specific word used in a question affects how respondents answer the question or the order of the questions