Psychology Chapter 1-2, 11

explanation: why is it happening?

goal in psychology that involves trying to find an explanation for why something is happening

gestalt psychology

"the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" early perspective in psychology focusing on perception and sensation, particularly the perception of patterns and whole figures

a square

As a gestalt psychologist, I see a square as...

four individual lines

As a structuralist, I see a square as...

cross-cultural

in _______ research, the contrasts and comparisons of a behavior or issue are studied in at least two or more cultures. this type of research can help illustrate the different influences of environment (culture and training) when compared to the influence of heredity (genetics, or the influence of genes on behavior)

replicate

in research, repeating a study or experiment to see if the same results will be obtained in an effort to demonstrate reliability of results

biopsychological perspective

perspective that attributes human and animal behavior to biological events occurring in the body, such as genetic influences, hormones, and the activity of the nervous system

early childhood experiences, believing that personality was formed in the first 6 years of life; if there were significant problems, those problems began in the early years

Freud stressed the importance of...

Anna Freud

Freud's daughter; began what became known as the ego movement in psychology

university/college

If Dr. Swasey is like most psychologists, where does she probably work?

internal, covert processes

In the definition of psychology, mental processes means...

1. Develop the question 2. Form a hypothesis 3. Test the hypothesis 4. Draw conclusions 5. Report your results

List the steps of the scientific method

behavioral

Wesley has learned that if he cries with his mother in public, she will often get him a new toy or a piece of candy so as to quiet him. Which of the following perspectives explains Wesley's behavior?

1. Description (what is happening) 2. Explanation (why is it happening) 3. Prediction (will it happen again) 4. Control (how can it be changed)

What are psychology's 4 goals

Mary Whiton Calkins

Who was the first woman to complete the coursework for a doctorate at Harvard University?

Watson

_____ believed that phobias are learned through the process of conditioning and set out to prove it.

Freud

_____ had stated that a phobia is really a symptom of an underlying, repressed conflict and cannot be "cured" without years of psychoanalysis to uncover and understand the repressed material

humanists

_____ held the view that people have free will, the freedom to choose their own destiny, and strive for self-actualization, the achievement of one's full potential

theory

a general explanation of a set of observations or facts

Mary Cover Jones

a graduate student of John B Watson; conducted the "Little Peter" experiment; became one of the early pioneers of behavior therapy

schizophrenia

a mental disorder involving delusions (false beliefs), hallucinations (false sensory impressions), and extremely distorted thinking

participant observation

a naturalistic observation in which the observer becomes a participant in the group being observed

Sigmund Freud

a neurologist whose patients suffered from nervous disorders for which he and other doctors could find no physical cause. came up with the theory of psychoanalysis

Wilhelm Wundt

a physiologist who attempted to apply scientific principles to the study of the human mind. he believed that consciousness, the state of being aware of external events, could be broken down into thoughts, experiences, emotions, and other basic elements. he came up with the process of objective introspection

humanism

a reaction to both psychoanalytic theory and behaviorism; a form of psychotherapy aimed at self-understanding and self-improvement

Edward Titchener

a student of Wundt's who took his objective introspection a step further. although he agreed with Wundt that consciousness could be broken down into its basic elements, he also believed that objective introspection could be used on thoughts as well as on physical sensations. he brought structuralism to America

scientific approach

an approach to research intending to reduce the likelihood of bias and error in the measurement of data

psychoanalysis

an insight therapy based on the theory of Freud, emphasizing the revealing of unconscious conflicts; Freud's term for both the theory of personality and the therapy based on it

phobia

an irrational fear

basic research

basic or applied research?: less expensive, safer; flash different colors on the computer screen and tell people to push the button when they see it. do they press faster when yellow or black comes up?

applied research

basic or applied research?: very specific, more expensive (ex: driving simulator) what colors are to be noticed most when driving a car? Make a bunch of people wear different color t shirts and walk across the road. see which ones get hit by a car first

evolutionary perspective

behavior seen as having an adaptive or survival value; might study something like mate selection (you choose to date someone because of the possibility for you to reproduce with that person)

sociocultural perspective

combines two areas of study: social psychology, which is the study of groups, social roles, and rules of social actions and relationships, and cultural psychology, which is the study of cultural norms, values, and expectations. these two are related in that they are both about the effect that people have on one another, either individually or in a larger group such as culture

Mary Whiton Calkins

denied PhD because she was a woman. went to work with William James at Harvard. did all the work to be able to defend her dissertation, but they wouldn't give it to her. petitioned again from her death bed and Harvard still said no

while working with dogs, Pavlov observed that the salivation reflex (which is normally produced by actually having food in one's mouth) could be caused to occur in response to a totally new stimulus, in this case, the sound of a ticking metronome. after several repetitions, the dogs would salivate to the sound of the metronome before the food was presented - a learned (or "conditioned") reflexive response

describe Ivan Pavlov's experiment with dogs

she conditioned "Little Peter" to be a afraid of a white rabbit. she then began a process of counterconditioning, in which Peter was exposed to the white rabbit from a distance while eating a food that he really liked. the pleasure of the food outweighed the fear of the faraway rabbit. day by day, the situation was repeated with the rabbit being brought closer each time, until Peter was no longer afraid of the rabbit

describe Mary Cover Jones's experiment with "Little Peter"

he took a baby, known as "Little Albert" and taught him to fear a white rat by making a loud, scary noise every time the infant saw the rat until finally just seeing the rat caused the infant to cry and become fearful. even though "Little Albert" was not afraid of the rat at the start, the experiment worked very well - in fact, he later appeared to be afraid of other fuzzy things including a rabbit, dog, and sealskin coat

describe Watson's experiment with "Little Albert"

operant conditioning

developed by B F Skinner; behavioral responses that are followed by pleasurable consequences are strengthened, or reinforced

structuralism

early perspective in psychology associated with William Wundt and Edward Kitchener, in which the focus of study is the structure or basic elements of the mind

because living things are more likely to harm you

evolutionary perspective: why do people remember living things as opposed to non-living things?

research suggests that human sexual orientation may be related to the developing baby's exposure to male testosterone, especially in females, as well as the birth order of male children. the birth order suggests that the more older brothers a male child has, the more likely he is to have a homosexual orientation

give an example of biopsychological perspective

a child who cries and is rewarded by getting his mother's attention will cry again in the future

give an example of operant conditioning

prediction: when will it happen again?

goal in psychology that determines what will happen in the future

control: how can it be changed?

goal in psychology that focuses on control, or the modification of some behavior, is to change a behavior from an undesirable one to a desirable one

description: what is happening?

goal in psychology that involves observing a behavior and noting everything about it: what is happening, where it happens, to whom it happens, and under what circumstances it seems to happen

psychiatrist

has a medical degree has is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment (including the prescription of medications) of psychological disorders

John B Watson

he challenged the functionalist viewpoint, as well as psychoanalysis, with his own "science of behavior" or behaviorism. he wanted to bring psychology back to a focus on scientific inquiry, and he felt that the only way to do that was to ignore the whole consciousness issue and focus only on observable behavior

evolutionary perspective

in this perspective, the mind is seen as a set of information-processing machines, designed by the same process of natural selection that Darwin first theorized, allowing human beings to solve the problems faced in the early days of human evolution - the problems of early hunters and gatherers

cognitive neuroscience

includes the study of the physical workings of the brain and nervous system when engaged in memory, thinking, and other cognitive processes

reflex

involuntary reaction

licensed professional counselors and licensed marriage and family therapists

may have a master's or doctoral degree in a variety of areas and provide counseling services relative to their area of training

cognitive perspective

modern perspective in psychology that focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, and learning

psychodynamic perspective

modern vision of psychoanalysis that is more focused on the development of a sense of self and the discovery of motivations behind a person's behavior other than sexual motivations

laboratory observation

observation in which a researcher might want to observe the reactions of infants to a mirror image of themselves and record the reactions with a camera mounted behind a one way mirror; advantage: degree of control that it gives to the observer; disadvantage: both animals and people often react differently in the lab than they would in the real world

eclectic perspective

one that uses the "bits and pieces" of several perspectives that seem to best fit a particular situation

confirmation bias

people have a tendency to notice only things that agree with their view of the world, a kind of selective perception called...

blind observers

people who do not know what the research question is and, therefore, have no preconceived notions about what they "should" see

evolutionary perspective

perspective that focuses on the biological bases for universal mental characteristics that all humans share; seeks to explain general mental strategies and traits, such as why we lie, how attractiveness influences mate selection, why fear of snakes is so common, or why people universally like music and dancing

Erik Erikson

produced by the ego movement; one of the best-known psychologists in the study of personality development

evolutionary psychologist

psychologist who study the evolutionary origins of human behavior

empirical questions

questions that can be studied using the scientific or empirical approach

applied research

research aimed at answering real-world, practical problems.

basic research

research for the sake of gaining scientific knowledge; for example, a researcher might want to know how many "things" a person can hold in memory at any one time

observable behavior

something that could be directly seen and measured

case study

study of one individual in great detail; good ways to study things that are rare

William James

taught psychology at Harvard. was more interested in the importance of consciousness to everyday life than just its analysis. focused on how the mind allows people to function in the real world. very influenced by Charles Darwin's idea of natural selection

observer bias

tendency of observers to see what they expect to see

observer effect

tendency of people or animals to behave differently from normal when they know they are being observed

hypothesis

tentative explanation of a phenomenon based on observations

sociocultural

the ______ perspective is important because it reminds people that the way they and others behave (or even think) is influenced not only by whether they are alone, with friends, in a crowd, or part of a group but also by the social norms, fads, class differences, and ethnic identity concerns of the particular culture in which they live

thought

the development of computers (which just happened to make pretty good models of human thinking) and discoveries in biological psychology all stimulated an interest in studying the processes of _____

conditioning

the dogs would salivate to the sound of the metronome before the food was presented

women who were suffering from hysteria

the majority of Freud's patients were...

objective introspection

the process of examining and measuring one's own thoughts and mental activities

biopsychology

the study of the biological bases of behavior and mental processes; AKA physiological psychology, biological psychology, psychobiology, and behavioral neuroscience; also part of the larger field of neuroscience

neuroscience

the study of the physical structure, function, and development of the nervous system

cognitive psychology

the type of psychology that focuses on perception, learning and memory through processes and problem solving

psychologist

this person has no medical training but has a doctorate degree; specialized in training in one or more areas of psychology; can do counseling, teaching, and research; basic vs. applied research

psychiatric social worker

trained in the area of social work and usually possesses a master's degree in that discipline; they focus more on the environmental conditions that can have an impact on mental disorders, such as poverty, overcrowding, stress, and drug abuse.

naturalistic observation

watching animals or humans behave in their normal environment; major advantage: realistic; disadvantage: lack of control, observer effect, observer bias

Freud believed that all behavior stems from unconscious motivation, whereas Watson believed that all behavior is learned

what's the difference between Freud and Watson?

evolutionary

which of the following perspectives focuses on the biological bases of universal mental characteristics

psychologist

which of the following professionals in psychology has a doctoral degree but it is not in medicine?

biopsychological

which perspective offers the best explanation for schizophrenia?

psychodynamic

which perspective would a researcher be taking if she were studying a client's early childhood experiences and his resulting development of self?

Titchener's student; first woman to earn a PhD in psychology (Columbia). she published a book on animal behavior that was considered an important work in that era of psychology called "The Animal Mind"

who is Margaret Washburn?

William Wundt

who is considered the father of psychology and the first psychologist?

William Wundt

who is known as the father of psychology?

William James

who is the father of American psychology?

John B Watson

who is the father of behaviorism?

Ivan Pavlov

who showed that reflex could be caused to occur in response to a formerly unrelated stimulus?

scientists need to remain unbiased. observations need to be clear and precise but unaffected by the individual observer's beliefs and values

why is objectivity important?

the phenomenon is called the "bystander effect," and it is believed to be the result of diffusion of responsibility, which is the tendency to feel that someone else is responsible for taking action when others are present

why would the presence of other people lessen the chances that a person in trouble would receive help?

because his patients suffered from nervous disorders for which there were no physical cause, Freud thought that the cause must be in the mind. he proposed that there is an unconscious (unaware) mind into which we push, or repress, all of our threatening urges and desires. he believes that these repressed urges, in trying to surface, created the nervous disorders in his patients

Describe the beginning of Freud's work.

Wundt would place a rock in a student's hand and have the student tell him everything that he was feeling as a result of having the rock in his hand - all the sensations stimulated by the rock

Example of objective introspection

Titchener might have asked his students to introspect about things that are blue rather than actually giving them a blue object and asking for reactions to it. "What is blue? There are blue things, like the sky or a bird's feathers. Blue is cool and restful, blue is calm..." and so on

Example of structuralism

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

What is psychology?

behaviorism

Which early perspective tried to return to a focus on scientific inquiry by ignoring the study of consciousness?

Wilhelm Wundt

Which early psychologist was the first to try to bring objectivity and measurement to the concept of psychology?

William James

Which early psychologist would have been most likely to agree with the statement, "The study of the mind should focus on how it functions in everyday life"?