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Chapter 1 Study GuideChapter 1 Study Guide- The scientific goals of explaining, predicting, describing and decidingo Through many observations, researchers can come to describe helping behavior. They may also try to predict who will help. After analyzing the data, they can explain why helping behavior occurred when it did. - Be able to distinguish between human behavior and mental processeso Behavior- everything we do that can be directly observedo Mental Processes- the thoughts, feelings, and motives that people experience privately but that cannot be observed directly- Attitudes central to scientific approach to psychology Skepticism- ability to challenge  Critical Thinking- process of thinking deeply and actively, asking questions, and evaluating the evidence Objectivity- trying to see things as they really are, not just as the observer would like them to be Curiosity- scientists notice things and wonder why they are that way- Structuralism and functionalismo Structuralism- Wundt’s approach to discovering the basic elements, or structures, of mental processes.o Functionalism- James’s approach to mental processes, emphasizing the functions and purposes of the mind and behavior in the individual’s adaptation to the environment- William Wundt and William Jameso Wundt- a German philosopher-physician who created the academic discipline of psychology. He also founded the first psychology laboratory with two of his co-workers in 1879 at the University of Leipzig in Germany. o James- came up with the concept of functionalism (James’s approach to mental processes, emphasizing the functions and purposes of the mind and behavior in the individual’s adaptation to the environment)- The different approaches to psychology and know which psychologists were the biggest advocates of eachapproach: biological, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive, evolutionary, and socioculturalo Biological-an approach to psychology focusing on the body,especially the brain and nervous system. o Behavioral-an approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants. John B. Watson, B. F. Skinnero Psychodynamic- an approach to psychology emphasizing unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives(such as the drive for sex) and society’s demands, and early childhood family experiences. Sigmund Freudo Humanistic- an approach to psychology emphasizing a person’s positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth,and the freedom to choose one’s destinyo Cognitive- An approach to psychology emphasizing the mental processes involved in knowing: how we direct out attention, perceive, remember, think, and solve problemso Evolutionary- an approach to psychology centered on evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining human behaviors.o Sociocultural- an approach to psychology that examines the influences of social and cultural environments in behavior- The steps of the scientific method:o Observing some phenomenono Formulating hypotheses and predictionso Testing through empirical researcho Drawing conclusionso Evaluating conclusions- Descriptive, experimental, and correlational researcho Descriptive- involves finding out about the basic dimensions of some variableo Experimental- concerns establishing causal relationships between variableso Correlational- interested in discovering relationships between variables- Case studies, experiments, naturalistic observation, and surveyso Case studies- also called a case history, an in-depth look ata single individualo Experiments- carefully regulated procedure in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables that are believed to influence some other variableo Naturalistic observation-the observation of behavior in a real-world settingo Surveys-questionnaires that present a standard set of questions (items) to obtain people’s self-reported attitudes or beliefs about a particular topic- Longitudinal and cross-sectional researcho Longitudinal- a special kind of systematic observation, used by correlational researchers, that involves obtaining measures of the variable of interest in multiple ways over timeo Cross-sectional- a research design in which a group of people are assessed on a psychological variable at one point in time- Hypothesis and theorieso Hypothesis- a testable prediction that derives logically from a theoryo Theory- a broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations and to make predictions about future observations- Independent and dependent variableso Independent- a manipulated experimental factor, the variable that the experimenter changes to see what its effects areo Dependent-the outcome- the factor that can change in an experiment in response to changes in the independent variable- Operational definitions- a definition that provides an objectivedescription of how a variable is going to be measured and observed in a particular study- How to interpret correlations- Third variables/confounds-o Third variable- the circumstance where a variable that has not been measured accounts for the relationship between two other variables. Also known as cofounds- Random assignment and random selectiono Random assignment- researchers’ assignment of participants to groups by chance, to reduce the likelihood that an experiment’s results will be due to preexisting difference between two groupso Random selection-provides great grounds for generalizing the results of a sample. The sample becomes more representative of the entire population- Confederate- a person who is given a role to play in a study so that the social context can be manipulated- Experimental and control groupso Experimental- the participants in an experiment who receive the drug or other treatment under study- that is, those who are exposed to the change from the independent variable representso Control- the participants in an experiment who are as much like the experimental group as possible and who are treated in every way like the experimental group except for a manipulated factor, the independent variable- Validity, reliability, and accuracyo Validity- the soundness of the conclusions that a researcher draws from an experimentero Reliability-the extent to which a test yields a consistent, reproducible measure of performanceo Accuracy- the quality or state of being correct or precise-


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GSU PSYC 1101 - Chapter 1

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