General Psychology Chapter 1
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xandi_diehm on September 13, 2012
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Vocab and ppl
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97 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Psychology | The scientific study of behavior and mental processes |
| Scientific Observation | An empirical investigation structured to answers questions about the world in a systematic and intersubjective fashion (observations can be reliably confirmed by multiple observers). |
| Research Method | a systematic approach to answering scientific questions |
| Animal Model | In research, an animal whose behavior is used to derive principles that may apply to human behavior |
| Description | In scientific research, the process of naming and classifying |
| Understanding | In psychology, understanding is achieved when the causes of a behavior can be stated. |
| Prediction | An ability to accurately forecast behavior. |
| Control | Altering conditions that influence behavior |
| Critical Thinking | An ability to reflect on, evaluate, compare, analyze, critique, and synthesize information |
| Pseudopsychology | Any false and unscientific system of beliefs and practices that is offered as an explanation of behavior |
| The Uncritical Acceptance | The tendency to believe generally positive or flattering descriptions of onesself |
| Confirmation Bias | The tendency to remember or notice information that fits one's expectations, while forgetting discrepancies |
| Barnum Effect | The tendency to consider a personal description accurate if it is stated in very general terms |
| Scientific Method | a form of critical thinking based on careful measurement and controlled observation. 1. Making observations 2. defining a problem 3. proposing a hypothesis 4. gathering evidence/ testing the hypothesis 5. building a theory 6. publishing results |
| Hypothesis | The Predicted outcome of an experiment or an educated guess about the relationship between variables |
| Operational Definition | Defining a scientific concept by stating the specific actions or procedures used to measure it. For example "hunger" might be defined as "the number of hours of food deprivation" |
| Theory | A system of ideas designed to interrelate concepts and facts in a way that summarizes existing data and predicts future observations |
| Stimulus | Any physical energy sensed by an organism |
| Introspection | To look within; to examine one's own thoughts, feelings, or sensations. |
| Structuralism | The school of thought concerned with analyzing sensations and personal experience into basic elements |
| Functionalism | The school of psychology concerned with how behavior and mental abilities help people help people adapt to their environments |
| Natural Selection | Darwin's theory that evolution favors those plants and animals best suited to their living conditions |
| Behaviorism | The school of psychology that emphasizes the study of overt, observable behavior |
| Response | Any muscular action, glandular activity, or other identifiable aspect of behavior |
| Cognitive Behaviorism | An approach that combines behavioral principles with cognition (perception, thinking, anticipation) to explain behavior |
| Gesalt Psychology | A school of psychology emphasizing the study of thinking, learning, and perception, in whole units, not by analysis into parts |
| Unconscious | Contents of the mind that are beyond awareness, especially impulses and desires not directly known to the person |
| Repression | The unconscious process by which memories, thoughts, or impulses are held out of awareness |
| Psychoanalysis | A freudian approach to psychotherapy emphasizing the exploration of unconcious conflicts |
| Neo-Freudian | A psychologist who accepts the broad features of Freud's theory but has revised the theory to fit his or her own concepts |
| Psychodyanmic Theory | Any theory of behavior that emphasizes internal conflicts, motives, and unconscious forces |
| Humanism | An approach to psychology that focuses on human experience, problems, potentials, and ideas -free will -self-esteem -spiritual needs/concerns -love/others -self actualization |
| Determinism | The idea that all behavior has prior causes that would completely explain one's choices, and actions if all such causes were known |
| Free Will | The idea that human beings are capable of freely making choices or decisions |
| Self-actualization | the ongoing process of fully developing one's personal potential |
| Biological perspective | The attempt to explain behavior in terms of underlying biological principles |
| Psychological Perspective | The traditional view that behavior is shaped by psychological processes occuring at the level of the individual |
| Positive Psychology | The study of human strengths, virtues, and effective functioning |
| Sociocultural perspective | The focus on the importance of social and cultural contexts in influencing the behavior of individuals |
| Cultural Relativity | the idea that behavior must be judged relative to the values of the culture in which it occurs |
| Social Norms | Rules that define acceptable and expected behavior for members of a group |
| Psychologist | A person highly trained in the methods, factual knowledge, and theories of psychology |
| Clinical Psychologist | A psychologist who specializes in the treatment of psychological and behavioral disturbances or who does research on such disturbances |
| Counseling Psychologist | A psychologist who specializes in the treatment of milder emotional and behavioral disturbances |
| Psychiatrist | A medical doctor with additional training in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders (can prescribe medication) |
| Psychoanalyst | A mental health professional (usually a medical doctor) trained to practice psychoanalysis (hypnosis.. i think) |
| Counselor | A mental health professional who specializes in helping people with problems not invovling serious mental disorder; for ex. marriage counselors, career counselors, or school counselors |
| Psychiactric social worker | A mental health professional trained to apply social science principles to help patients in clinics and hospitals |
| Experiment | A formal trial undertaken to confirm or disconfirm a hypothesis about cause and effect. |
| Experimental Subjects | HUMANS (ALSO REFERRED TO AS PARTICIPANTS) OR ANIMALS WHOSE BEHAVIOR IS INVESTIGATED IN AN EXPERIMENT |
| Variable | Any condition that changes or can be made to change; a measure, event, or state that may vary |
| Independent Variable | In an experiment, the condition being investigated as a possible cause of some change in behavior. The valuesthat this variable takes are chosen by the experiment. Suspected causes for differences in behavior |
| Dependent Variable | Measure the results of the experiment. that is, they reveal the effects that independent variables have on behavior. (test scores?) |
| Extraneous Variables | conditions researchers wish to prevent from affecting the outcome of the experiment. |
| Experimental Group | in a controlled experiment, the group of subjects exposed to the independent variable or experimental condition |
| Control Group | In a controlled experiment, the group of subjects exposed to all experimental conditions or variables except the independent variable |
| Random Assignment | the use of chance (for example, flipping a coin) to assign subjects to experimental and control groups |
| Statistical Significance | Experimental results that would rarely occur by chance alone |
| Research Participants Bias | Changes in behavior of research participants caused by the unintended influence of their own expectations |
| Placebo effect | changes in behavior due to participants' expectations that a drug (or other treatment) will have some effect |
| Placebo | An inactive substance given in the place of a drug in psychological research or by physicians who wish to treat a complaint by suggestion |
| Single-blind experiment | An arrangement in which participants remain unaware of whether they are in the experimental group or the control group |
| Researchers bias | Changes in participants' behavior caused by unintended influence of researchers actions |
| Self-fufilling prophecy | a prediction that prompts people to act in ways that make the prediction come true |
| Double-blind experiment | An arrangement in which both participants and experimenters are unaware of whether participants are in the experimental group or the control group, uncluding who might have been administered a drug or a placebo |
| Experimental method | investigating causes of behavior through controlled experimentation |
| naturalistic method | observing behavior as it unfolds in natural settings |
| Observer effect | Changes in an organism's behavior brought about by awareness of being observed |
| Observer Bias | The tendency of an observer to distort observations or perceptions to match his/her expectations |
| Anthropomorphic Error | The error of attributing human thoughts, feelings, or motives to animals, especially as a way of explaining their behavior |
| Observation Record | A detailed summary of observed events or a video tape of observed behavior |
| Correlation | The existence of a consistent, systematic realtionship between two events, measures, or variables |
| Correlational Study | A nonexperimental study designed to measure the degree of relationship (if any) between two or more events, measures, or variables |
| Coefficient of Correlation | A statistical index ranging from -1.00 to +1.00 that indicates the direction and degree of correlation. C of C of 0 means no relationship! C of C outside of -1.0 or +1.0 = ERROR! |
| Positive Correlation | A statistical relationship in which increases in one measure are matched by increases in the other (or decreases correspone with decreases |
| Negative Correlation | A statistical relationship in which increases in one measure are matched by decreases in the other |
| Causation | The act of causing some effect |
| Case study | an in-depth focus on all aspects of a single person (something happened to one person and there is no way to study it through many occurences.. rare) |
| Natural Clinical Test | An accident or other natural event that allows the gathering of data on a psychological phenomenon of interest |
| Survey method | the use of public polling techniques to answer psychological questions |
| Representative sample | a small, randomly selected part of a larger population that accurately reflects characteristics of the whole population |
| Population | An entire group of animals or people belonging to a particular category (ex. all college students) |
| Basic Goals of Psych | 1. Describe 2. Understand 3. Predict 4. Control |
| Wilhelm Wundt | Father of psych, from Germany, 1879, studied concious experience... eventually called "experimental self-observation", looking in.. introspective, stimulus |
| Edward Titchener | -broke thinking down into basic parts, called the structure of thinking - structuralism |
| William James | -thought structuralism was too narrow in focus -developed functionalism -functionalists wanted to find out how the mind, perception, habits, and emotions help us adapt and survive |
| J.B. Watson | Behaviorism -watson said psychology is to be empirical -believed we learn or develop our behavior through conditioning -conditioning *stimulus:physical energy, anything that causes a resoponse *Respose:any reaction to stimuli *Conditioning: process of learning by association/experience *learning: relatively permanent change due to conditioning |
| Gesalt Phych | "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" |
| Sigmund Freud | ideas: psychoanalytical/ psychodynamic Freud Believed: *nothing is by chance *everything is connected somehow *early impacts later *unconcious mind is most significant |
| 3 Part of Personality according to Freud | -Id: totally unconcious, instincts, PLEASURE PRINCIPLE -Ego: assists in balanced choices, REALITY PRICIPLE Superego: right+wrong, must do right, MORALITY PRINCIPLE |
| Development Psychology | child psych |
| Learning | conditioning, memory |
| Personality | Individual differences, motivation |
| Sensation and Perception | Processing sensory info |
| Biopsychology | Brain and nervous system |
| Social Psych | attitudes, group, leadership |
| Comparative Psych | animal behavior |
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