Unit 1: The Science of Psych

testimony flaws

bias and opinions

multi method research

correlation→ observing→ interviewing→ experiment

confirmation bias

in a study where you are biased, you should remove yourself and have unbiased people perform your study

case study

intensive description and analysis of a single individual or just a few

falsifiability

peer review; proving ideas wrong

perception flaws

people perceive thing differently based on past experience and their surroundings

industrial and organizational psych

practical issue as selection and training personnel, working condition, productivity, impact of computerization and automation on workers

behavioral geneticists

study of impact of heredity on normal an abnormal traits and behavior

reasoning flaws

we see negative before we see positives

positive psych

-grew out of humanism -the view that psychology should devote more attention to "the good life" or the study of subjective feeling of happiness and well being

correlation research

based on a naturally occurring relationship between 2 or more variables

psychology

the science of behavior and mental processes (this definition doesn't capture all of the depth of psych though) -new technology, fields, and approaches led to greater specialization and more collaboration

counseling psych

"normal" problem of adjustment that most people face at some point

APA code of ethics

- participants must be fully informed of the nature of the research in clearly understand language - informed consent must be documented - risks, possible adverse effects, and limits on confidentiality must be spelled out before - if participation is a condition of course credit, other equal activities must be offered - participants can't be deceived about aspect of the research that would affect their willingness to participate, such as risks or unpleasant emotional experiences - deception about goals of the research can only be used when necessary to the integrity of the research - for psychotherapy you need a state license

evolutionary psych/functionalism

-concerned with the evolutionary origins of behaviors and mental processes, their adaptive value, and the purpose they continue to serve -what were the evolutionary purposes of the mind -saying who we chose to love, our emotions, and our morality is part of our biological human nature rather than out learned nature

humanistic psych/humanism

-emphasizes nonverbal experience and altered states of consciousness as means of realizing one's full human potential -focus on mental health, well being, self understanding, and improvement rather that illness -free will -considered philosophers -didn't like the mechanistic and deterministic views from behaviorism and psychoanalysis

memory flaws

-only remember was we want to -filling in gap of stuff we don't remember with stuff that isn't true

Conditioning

-part of behaviorism -pairing two things up to make the subject develop better feeling towards an object, as they now associate it with another object that makes them happy- John B. Watson -B.F. Skinner added reinforcement to this, making the animal an active agent in its own training (called operant or instrumental conditioning)

psychodynamic theory

-personality theories contending that behavior results from psychological forces that interact within the person, often outside of conscious awareness -Sigmund Freud -took ideas from physics/physical science→ hydraulic view of the mind → the mind is a pressure building apparatus and the pressure needs to be released by explosion or certain behaviors

Gestalt

-school of psych that studies how people perceive and experience objects as whole pattern -"The whole is larger than that sum of its parts" -didn't like structuralism and reductionism because they thought they were missing the big picture by focusing too much on the elements of experience

behaviorism

-school of psych that studies only observable and measurable behavior -John B. Watson -critiqued the school of psych that came before them, saying that they were inherently unscientific because they used introspection -too limiting

structuralism

-school of psychology that stressed basic units of experience and the combinations in which they occur -Edward Bradford Titchener's 3 basic elements of consciousness: physical sensation, feelings, and images -applying disciplines of chemistry/science to problems of human nature.psychology -introspection

functionalist theory

-theory of mental life and behavior concerned with how an organism uses its perceptual abilities to function in its environment -William James

metacognition

-thinking about thinking -scientific -because we know the bias exists , we can go back and fix it and try to work around it

5 enduring issues in psych

Person-Situation, Nature-Nuture, Stability-Change, Mind-Body, Diversity-Universality

survey research

a carefully selected group of people are asked a set of pre determined questions in questionnaires or face to face interviews

scientific method

an approach to knowledge that relies on collecting data, generating a theory to explain data, producing testable hypotheses based on theory and testing them (use to describe, understand, predict, and achieve control over study)

confound

anything variable that isn't the independent variable (extraneous variable)

representative sample

carefully chosen so that traits of participants correspond closely to the trait of the larger population

forensic psych

clinical in correctional facilities, being a consultant to trial lawyers, being expert witness in jury trials, and formulating public policy on psychology and the law

experimenter bias

expectation from experimenter that might influence the results of an experiment or its interpretation

observer bias

expectations or biases of the observer that might distort or influence his or her interpretation of what was actually observed

cognitive revolution

general shift away from limited focus on behavior toward brand interest in mental processes

deductive processes

go from theory → hypothesis → data, then based upon the data, revise, accept, or reject your theory (experiment)

empirical evidence

info derived from systematic, objective observation

ethics

relating to whether or not an experiment is safe for test subjects

experimental method

research technique in which an investigator deliberately manipulates selected events or circumstances and then measures the effects of those manipulations on subsequent behavior

sample

selection of cases from a larger population used for an experiment, whose results make generalizations about the public

voluntarism

sets human attention apart from attention in other organisms- by Wilhelm Wundt

hypothesis

specific, testable predictions derived from a theory

social psych

study how people influence one another- impressions, attraction, attitude, prejudice and persuasion, conformity and obedience to authority, behavior in groups vs by one's self

experimental psych

study of basic psychological processes- learning, memory, sensation, perception, cognition, motivation and emotion

Neuroscience and physiological psych

study of biological basis of human behavior, thoughts and emotions (brain and nervous system- ex: effect of natural vs social drugs on brain)

clinical psych

study of diagnosis, cause and treatment of psych disorders

personality psych

study of differences among individualism in such traits of anxiety, sociability, self-esteem, need for achievement and aggressiveness - also study differences between men and women and between difference races

epistemology

study of how knowledge is created -the 4 method of it (perception, memory, reasoning and testimony) are flawed thus "all knowledge is inherently uncertain"

developmental psych

study of human mental and physical growth throughout the human life (include child psychologists, adolescent psychologists, and life-span psychologists)

cognitive psych

study of mental processes in broadest sense- thinking, feeling, learning, remembering, making decisions and judgements, etc. (ways people process information)

sports psych

study of psychological factors that improve athletic performance, as well as the effects of exercise on psychological adjustment and general well being

rehabilitation psych

study of psychosocial principals on behalf of persons with disabilities

theory

systematic explanation of a phenomenon that organizes known facts, allows us to predict new ones, and helps us gain control over the phenomenon

naturalistic observation

systematic study of animal or human behavior in natural settings rather than in the laboratory

operational defintion

take operational construct that isn't measurable and make a measurable hypothesis

feminist theory

views of social roles of men and women, the problems and rewards of these roles, and the prescriptions for changing them (gender similarities and differences)

inductive processes

you don't have major ideas, you have facts