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35 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Roots of Psychology |
1879- Psychology's "official date of birth"
First two major schools of thought; structuralism and functionalism
Functionalism won the the war majority say
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Functionalism |
Based on the belief that Psychology should investigate the function or purpose of conciousness rather than its structure (the WHY of psychology) Chief architect was William James |
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Structuralism |
To analyze consciousness into it's basic elements and investigate how these elements are related, structuralists want to identify the components of conscious experience. I.E sensations, feeling and images (the HOW of psychology) Emerged through the leadership of Edward Titchener |
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Natural Selection |
Inherited, characteristics that provide a survival or reproductive advantages are more likely than alternative characteristics to be passed on to subsequent generations and this to be "selected" over time |
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Introspection |
The careful, systematic self observation of one's own conscious experience.
Structuralists used this method to examine the contents of the consciousness. |
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Psychology's Early History; Greek words and Birth Parents |
Psychology comes from the Greek words Psyche, meaning the soul, and logos, referring to the subject of study. Psychology was birthed from philosophy and physiology. Technically born IN Germany
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Wilhelm Wundt |
Mounted a campaign to make psychology an independent study Declared it be modeled after physics and chemistry Studies in his lab focused on attention, memory, sensory processes, and reaction-time experiments Wundts idea of psychology was the study of consciousness 1832-1920
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Conciousness |
The awareness of immediate experience.
Because of Wundt, this orientation kept psychology focused on the mind. Methods had to be as scientific as those of chemists of physicists. |
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Behaviorism |
Basic Premise: Only observable events (Stimulus-response relations) can be studied scientifically Subject Matter: Effects of environment on the overt behavior of humans and animals. Principle contributors: John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner 1913-present
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Behavior |
Any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism
Watson asserted that psychologists could study anything that people do or say, but they could not study scientifically the thoughts, wishes, and feelings that might accompany these behaviors. |
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Nature V. Nurture |
Whether behavior is determined mainly by genetic inheritance ("nature") or by environment and experience ("nurture")
Summarized; Is a concert pianist or a master criminal born, or made?
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Humanism/Humanistic Perspective |
A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth. An optimistic view on human nature; People are not pawns of either their animal heritage or environmental circumstances. A loose blend of behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory 1950s-Present Premise: Humans are free, rational beings with the potential for personal growth, and they are fundamentally different from animals. Subject Matter: Unique aspects of human experience Principle contributors: Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow |
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Psychoanalytic Perspective of Psychology |
Basic Premise: Unconscious motives and experiences in early childhood govern personality and mental disorders Subject Matter: Unconscious determinants of behavior Principle contributors: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler 1900-present |
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Cognitive Perspective |
Basic Premise: Human behavior cannot be fully understood without examining how people acquire, store and process information. Subject Matter: Thoughts, Mental processes Principle Contributors: Jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky, Herbert Simon 1950s-Present |
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Biological Perspective |
Basic Premise: An organism's functioning can be explained in terms of the bodily structures and biochemical processes that underlie behavior Subject Matter: Physiological bases of behavior in humans and animals Principle Contributors: James Olds, Roger Sperry, David Hubel, Torsten Wiesel 1950s-Present |
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Evolutionary Perspective |
Basic Premise: Behavior patterns have evolved to solve adaptive problems; natural selection favors behaviors that enhance reproductive success Subject Matter: Evolutionary bases of behavior in humans and animals Principle contributors: David Buss, Martin Daly, Margo Wilson, Leda Cosmides, John Tooby 1980s-Present Examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations |
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Independent Variable |
a condition or even that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable. The Independent variable is called independent because it is free to be varied by the experimenter.
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Dependent Variable |
The variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable
The dependent variable is usually a measurement of some aspect of the subjects behavior |
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Independent vs. Dependent |
The Independent variable is called independent because it is free to be varied by the experimenter. The dependent variable is called dependent because it is thought to depend (at least in part) on manipulations of the independent variable |
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Correlation |
Exists when two variables are related to each other The relation between them could be positive or negative A positive correlation indicates that two variables covary (change together) in the same direction A negative correlation indicates the variables co-vary in the opposite direction. I.E people who tend to score high on va riable x tend to score low on variable y, and vise versa Zero correlation: no relation between x and y. |
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Experimental Design |
Researchers controls the independent variable to determine its effect on the dependent variable. Advantages- Precise control over variables can eliminate alternative explanations for findings. Researchers are able to draw conclusions about cause and effect relationships variables. Now you can infer causality. Disadvantages- Confounding of variables must be avoided. Is sometimes hard to generalize from laboratory studies to real world practice. |
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Focus Groups |
Participants get together and discuss the researchers topic of interest Popular research method of entertainment industry.
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Surveys |
Researchers use questionnaires or interviews to gather information about specific aspects of participants' background and behavior |
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Reliability, validity, and objectivity |
Objectivity- unbiased Reliability- Reliability refers to the extent to which a test or other instrument is consistent in its measures. Validity-Validity refers to a test's ability to measure what it is supposed to measure.
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Basic Workings of the Nervous System |
Living tissue composed of cells. The cells in the nervous system fall into two major categories; Glia and Neurons. |
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Neurons |
Individual cells in the nervous system that receive, integrate, and transmit information. Basic links of communication within the nervous system. Parts of a Neuron; Soma (cell body), Dendrites (specialized to receive information), Axon(transmits signals away from the soma to other neurons, muscles or glands depending on destination), Myelin sheath(insulating material that encases some axons), Terminal Buttons (the clusters at the end of an axon, small knobs that secrete chemicals called neurotransmitters), Synapse (Junction where information is transmitted from one neuron to another |
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Glia |
Cells found throughout the nervous system that provide various types of support for neurons. Glia; literal translation is glue. outnumber neurons 10 to 1 account for over 50% of the brains volume. New research has also shown that glia may also send and receive chemical signals. |
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Action Potential |
A very brief shift in a neuron's electrical charge that travels along an axon |
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Parts of a Neuron |
Soma (cell body), Dendrites (specialized to receive information), Axon(transmits signals away from the soma to other neurons, muscles or glands depending on destination), Myelin sheath(insulating material that encases some axons), Terminal Buttons (the clusters at the end of an axon, small knobs that secrete chemicals called neurotransmitters), Synapse (Junction where information is transmitted from one neuron to another |
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Neurotransmitters |
Chemicals that transmit information from one neuron to another. Most chemicals are stored in small sacs called synaptic vesicles. |
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Reuptake |
refers to the process in the brain of neurons to retrieve chemicals that were not received by the next neuron |
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SSRI Drugs |
Selective serotonin re uptake inhibitors
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Phineas Gage |
He packed dynamite into a rock wrong, it detonated launching a rail rail road spike through his head, which he survived. His skull had broken and then immediately after the spike had exited, snapped back together. Before the accident, he had been very happy and humble, after the accident he became very irritable and just a cranky person in general. This case was one of the first to show the link between personality change and trauma. And the rail road spike thing was cool. |
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Random vs. Stratified sampling |
A random sample is a sample in which each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample Stratified Random Sampling is a sampling method (a way of gathering participants for a study) used when the population is composed of several subgroups that may differ in the behavior or attribute that you are studying. |
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Rods and Cones |
Cones specialized visual receptors that play a key role in daylight vision and color vision; the fovea is a tiny spot in the center of the retina that contains only cones; visual acuity is greatest at this spot Rods are specialized visual receptors that play a key role in night vision and peripheral vision |
