Psychology Chapter 1

Front 1

What is psychology?

Back 1

The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour.

Front 2

What are three levels of analysis we find in psychology?

Back 2

Social/cultural, biological, and psychological

Front 3

Describe what the social/cultural level of analysis is?

Back 3

How people relate to each other, group influences, how culture influences behavioural or social aspects of one's self.

Front 4

Describe what the biological level of analysis in psychology is?

Back 4

Molecular or neuro chemical, study of the brain structure and how it affects psychology.

Front 5

Describe what the psychological level of analysis is?

Back 5

Mental or neurological. Focus on personal thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

Front 6

What are some of the challenges in psychology? (5)

Back 6

Behaviour is multiply determined, multicollinearity,people differ from each other, people influence each other, influence of culture.

Front 7

What does it mean when we say behaviour is "multiply determined"?

Back 7

There are so many factors that influence how people behave, we are heavily influenced creature's.

Front 8

What does "multicollinearity" mean?

Back 8

That psychological behaviours are interrelated and rarely independent of one another.

Front 9

Why are people differing from each other a challenge in psychology?

Back 9

Because people are so different that a psychologist never studies one single behaviour, it is always influenced by the individual. The subjective nature of experience- everyone has had different experiences so responses to new experiences differ.

Front 10

What is reciprocal determinism?

Back 10

A person's behaviour is both determined by personal factors and the social environment. Mere presence of others can change the way you act.

Front 11

How is the influence of culture a challenge in psychology?

Back 11

It shapes how we interpret the world, and also can affect researchers and their theories. (Researcher bias)

Front 12

Describe the nature/nurture debate.

Back 12

A debate as to whether an individuals nature (biological, genetic factors) or nurturing (how they are raised/environment) have a bigger affect in who they are and their psychological condition.

Front 13

What is determinism?

Back 13

The doctrine that all events including human action are ultimately determined by causes external to the will.

Front 14

What is naive realism?

Back 14

The mistake and belief that we see the world exactly as it is.

Front 15

What are the key attitudes to psychological research? (3)

Back 15

Communalism- peer review process, openly sharing information.

Disinterestedness- objectivity in evaluating data. No bias.

Scientific humility- be okay with being wrong, admit all faults.

Front 16

What is confirmation bias?

Back 16

The tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and dismiss, deny or distort evidence that contradicts them.

Front 17

What is belief perseverance?

Back 17

Sticking to initial beliefs, even when mounting evidence contradicts them.

Front 18

What's an example of popular psychology?

Back 18

Dr . Phil

Front 19

What are some of the things to be aware of when it comes to popular psychology?

Back 19

Extreme promises, appealing to secret knowledge.

Front 20

What are some of the warning signs in pseudoscience? (7)

Back 20

Exaggerated claims, absence of connectivity (do they connect with other streams of research?), lack of peer review, lack of self correction, psychobable, talk of "proof" instead of "evidence", over reliance on anecdotes.

Front 21

Why is pseudoscience popular? List the main 3 reasons.

Back 21

Motivational factors, scientific illiteracy, and cognitive factors.

Front 22

What is apophenia?

Back 22

Perception of meaningful connections between unrelated phenomena. (Patternicity)

Front 23

What is pareidolia?

Back 23

Perception of meaningful images in meaningless stimuli (rorschach ink blot test)

Front 24

What is experiential thinking?

Back 24

Using intuition and emotional reactions to think.

Front 25

What is the terror management theory?

Back 25

Our awareness of our own inevitable deaths leaves us with an underlying sense of terror in our everyday lives. We cope with this by adopting reassuring cultural world views.

Front 26

What is the emotional reasoning fallacy?

Back 26

Evaluating validity of something based on how it "feels".

Front 27

What is the bandwagon fallacy?

Back 27

The assumption that if many other people believe it's true, it must be true. Herd mentality.

Front 28

What is the either/or fallacy?

Back 28

Using yes no logic to determine something. If it's not _______ then it must be _______. In reality things are a lot more complex than this

Front 29

What is the not-me fallacy?

Back 29

The belief that you are immune to the thinking errors that plague others.

Front 30

What is the appeal to authority fallacy?

Back 30

Accepting a claim merely because an authority figure endorses it.

Front 31

What is the argument for antiquity fallacy?

Back 31

Assuming a belief is valid because it's been around for a while.

Front 32

What are some of the dangers of pseudoscience?

Back 32

Opportunity cost (investing resources into a fake cure, forgoing one that might have worked) and actual direct harm (animal deaths, human death).

Front 33

What is Oberg's Dictum?

Back 33

"Keep your mind open, but not so open that it falls out"

Front 34

What is pseudoscience?

Back 34

A set of claims that seems scientific but isn't. Lacks key safeguards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance that characterize science. Poorly controlled.

Front 35

What is scientific illiteracy?

Back 35

A lack of education about basic science.

Front 36

Elaborate on why people are motivated to believe in pseudoscience.

Back 36

We want to believe. Gives hope. Transcendental temptation- overcoming anxiety by grasping onto the supernatural, making sense of a random world.

Front 37

Elaborate on what the cognitive factors are behind our fascination with pseudoscience.

Back 37

We seek meaning in random patterns by nature.

Front 38

Explain synchronicity.

Back 38

(Jung) - You can learn a lot about a person by studying the meaning they insert into randomness.

Front 39

What are the principles of critical thinking? (6)

Back 39

Extraordinary claims requite extraordinary evidence, Falsifiability, Occam's Razor, Replicability, Ruling out rival hypotheses, and Correlation is not causation.

Front 40

What does Falsifiability mean?

Back 40

Must be able to prove or disprove your claim.

Front 41

What is Occam's Razor?

Back 41

The idea that the simplest explanation that accounts for all of the data is often the best. Cut away all unnecessary results.

Front 42

What is replicability?

Back 42

The ability to consistently come up with the same findings in a study.

Front 43

What do correlations show?

Back 43

Patterns and relationships, not causes.

Front 44

What is Structuralism?

Back 44

Aimed to identify basic elements or "structures" of the psychological experience using introspection. Emphasized the importance of systematic observation to the study of conscious experience. "Map" of the elements of consciousness: the sensations, images, and feelings.

Front 45

What is the biggest drawback to Structuralism?

Back 45

Introspection is not enough

Front 46

What is Functionalism?

Back 46

Why we do what we do. Strove to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics like thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Psychology meets Darwin.

Front 47

What is Biological Psychology?

Back 47

Study of the physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behaviour.

Front 48

What is Evolutionary Psychology?

Back 48

Explains mental and psychological traits as adaptions.

Front 49

What is Behaviourism?

Back 49

Also known as Black Box psychology. Focusses on uncovering the general principles of learning that explains all behaviour.

Front 50

What is Cognitivism?

Back 50

In response to Behaviourism, examines the role of mental processes in behaviour. The idea that thinking influences our behaviour. Our interpretation of rewards and punishments are a crucial determinant of our behaviour.

Front 51

What is cognition?

Back 51

the mental processes involved in different aspects of thinking.

Front 52

What is cognitive neuroscience?

Back 52

A relatively new field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking.

Front 53

What is Psychoanalysis?

Back 53

The study of the unconscious. Uncover the role of the unconscious psychological processes and early life experiences in behaviour. Impulses thoughts, memories, that you are unaware of. Unconscious drives influence behaviour. Study of symbols, emphasis on the meaning of dreams, psychological symptoms, Freudian Slips and infant and childhood experiences.

Front 54

What is Social Psychology?

Back 54

The influence of others. "Learning through observation" or observational learning, imitation. Expectations play an important role in the learning process. Social learning theory.

Front 55

What is the social learning theory?

Back 55

A cognitive/behavioural approach that strongly emphasizes the importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behaviour.

Front 56

What is introspection?

Back 56

Method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences.

Front 57

What is a Clinical Psychologist?

Back 57

Perform assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders and conduct research.

Front 58

What is a Counselling Psychologist?

Back 58

Work with people experiencing temporary or relatively self- contained life problems, like marital conflict.

Front 59

What is a School Psychologist?

Back 59

Someone who works with teachers parents and children to remedy students behavioural, emotional, and learning difficulties.

Front 60

What is a Developmental Psychologist?

Back 60

Study how and why people change over time. Conduct research on infants, children and sometimes adults and elderly peoples emotional, physiological, and cognitive processes and how these change with age.

Front 61

What is an Experimental Psychologist?

Back 61

Use research methods to study memory, language, thinking, and social behaviours of humans.

Front 62

What is a Forensic Psychologist?

Back 62

Assess and diagnose inmates and assist with their rehabilitation and treatment. Conduct research on eyewitness testimony or jury decision making.

Front 63

What is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist?

Back 63

Design equipment to maximize employee performance and minimize accidents (called engineering psychologists). Work in companies and businesses to help select productive employees, evaluate performance, examine the affects of different working or living conditions on peoples behaviour (called environmental psychologists).

Front 64

What are metaphysical claims?

Back 64

Assertions about the world that are not testable.

Front 65

What is the ad hoc immunizing hypothesis?

Back 65

A loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification.

Front 66

What is genetic fallacy?

Back 66

Error of confusing the correctness of a belief with its origins or genesis.

Front 67

What is the argument from adverse consequences fallacy?

Back 67

Error of confusing the validity of an idea with its potential real-world consequences.

Front 68

What is the appeal to ignorance fallacy?

Back 68

Error of assuming that a claim must be true because nobody has shown it to be false.

Front 69

What is the naturalistic fallacy?

Back 69

Error of inferring a moral judgment from a scientific fact.

Front 70

What is the hasty generalization fallacy?

Back 70

Error of drawing a conclusion on the basis of insufficient evidence.

Front 71

What is the circular reasoning fallacy?

Back 71

Error of basing a claim on the same claim reworded in slightly different terms.

Front 72

What is scientific skepticism?

Back 72

Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them.

Front 73

What is the correlation-causation fallacy?

Back 73

Error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other.

Front 74

What is a variable?

Back 74

Anything that can vary.

Front 75

What is risky prediction?

Back 75

A forecast that stands a good chance of being wrong.

Front 76

What is basic research?

Back 76

research examining how the mind works.

Front 77

What is applied research?

Back 77

research examining how we can use basic research to solve real-world problems.

Front 78

What is an etic approach?

Back 78

The study of something from an outsider perspective.

Front 79

What is an emic approach?

Back 79

The study of something from the perspective of an insider/ native.