Exam # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 1 - 13Lecture 1 (January 21) Defining PsychologyPsychology is the study of human behavior and mental processes.Anything an individual does can be a source of study for psychology.Lecture 2 (January 23)What Psychologists Study1. The ABC’s: The building blocks of psychology.-Affect: moods, emotions and feelings/internal states-Behavior: anything we can observe, see and measure-Cognition: another word for thoughts and also includes judgments, planning etc.2. The sources of influence: How you are influenced by elements around you.-Personal source: your disposition, your experiences etc.-Social influence: society, culture etc.-Structural: the environment without people3. Bio-psycho-social model-Biological perspective: what happens in your body (everything psychological is also biological)-Psychosocial perspective: your history, disposition, judgments etc.-Social/cultural: environmentHistory of Psychology- 1920’s (Psychology is a relatively young field)The science of mental life: introspection (term used instead of affect) meaning thinking about yourself.Adams of the mind: isolating each part of processes such as memory or learningPsychology in the 1920’s was very subjective- relied on people being honest.- 1950’sThe scientific study of overt behavior- 1960’s/1970’s (Cognitive revolution)Push back against behavioral studiesThe “black box”-how you store information in your head.- TodayModern psychology studies both mental and behavioral processes.Evolutional psychology: how genetics, natural selection etc. connect to psychologyImportant People in Psychology1. Aristotle: one of the first people to say we change because of our experiences. Note: psychology may be young as a science but its concepts/questions are not.2. Wilhelm Wundt: founded the first lab for psychological researchPSY 100 1st Edition3. William James: created first psychology textbook4. Sigmund Freud: most popular, very influential, brought up the unconscious. Worked withseverely troubled individuals in the 1930’s in Europe. He examined how we understand and help people’s pain. Used psychoanalysis.5. B.F. Skinner (1950’s-Behavioral psych): he and John B. Watson focused on behavioral studies. They made psychology more credible scientifically. Skinner believed everything can be connected back to behavior and ignored personal choice. Lecture 4 (January 28) – Skipped lecture 3 (1/26) because information was not relevant to examMethods and StatisticsThe Scientific Method1. Identify/formulate a testable hypothesis (question)2. Design the study and collect data3. Analyze the data and draw conclusions4. Report the findingsHindsight and intuition bias: lacks evidence, after and outcome people tend to claim they could have predicted it.Overconfidence: people commonly overestimate what they knowWhat questions do we ask for psychological studies?-Important problems (Example: how to eliminate poverty, existential questions etc.)-Unexplained/ignored patterns Who do we study?-The individual, psychology focuses on humans-Involve as many participants as possible-Use random samples to allow for generalization of the dataHow do we get information?-Data based: systematic structured and guided by theory-Publicly verified: independent others must be able to replicate, expand on and criticize yourresultsTools Used in Psychology1. Naturalistic observation: no manipulation or intrusion2. Case studies: focus on a few or few groups of people3. Surveys4. Correlation: examining how things relate, does NOT equal causation5. Experiments: 2 types- lab and field. Only way to find a cause.6. Central tendency: mean (the average), mode (most frequent) and median (middle of the data).7. Variance: how different your data is, diversity8. Regression: prediction based on tests9. ANOVA: analysis and variantsHow do we measure the information we care about?-Operational definitions: you should explicitly define your variables. Variables are used to accurately measure outcomes of interest.Lecture 5 (January 30)Interpreting CorrelationsThe letter r in the correlation coefficient can signify relationship.Correlation coefficient: r = +0.57The + or – sign indicates the direction of the relationship. A positive correlation means they increase together and decrease together. A negative correlation means as one increases the other decreases and visa versa.A relationship can be measured by a number between 1 and -1; this indicates the strength ofthe relationship. Closer to the poles (-1 or 1) means a stronger correlation.Correlation does not equal causation. Experiments are the only way to show cause.Lecture 6 (February 2)Nature Versus NurtureNature: What individual characteristics are influenced by genetics?Nurture: What individual characteristics are influenced by environment?NatureBiology – our genetic code, what is genetically determined: -Physical traits; heart rate, height weight etc.-Hormones and neurotransmitters-IQ-Temperament/ personality (tend to be consistent over lifetime)-Abilities (physical, mental and social)-InterestsNurtureHow we are raised – influence from environment, aspects of adopted individuals that are similar to adoptive parents:-Values-Religious/ political affiliation-Habits (wake up time etc.)-Cultural/ societal preferencesGene-environment interaction, genes can influence traits which affect responses, and environment can affect gene activity.We treat people differently based on their personality. Learning is a physical process. (Way you behave is circular with your environment; environment affects behavior while your behavior can change your environment.Evolutionary unique traitsEvolutionary reasons for individual differences:-Diversity is necessary for viability-Natural selection: traits that give you advantages increase chance of survival-Behavioral patterns evolved as reactions to particular environmental experiencesEvolutionary mating preferences:-Males and females, to a large extent, think and behave similarlyCultural influence overviewCulture: behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values and traditions shared by a group of people.Social/cultural norms: for example personal space, punctuality and child rearing differ culture to culture.Lecture 7 (February 4) – The BrainBrain ResearchMost of what we have learned about the brain has been through case studies.A lot of research looks at animal analogues. We compare our brains to animal brains (where are they more developed, differences