PSYCH FINAL EXAM NOTESINTRO TO PSYCHOLOGYAffectBehaviorCognitionHistory of PsychologyPhilosophy and Natural SciencesIndia – Buddha- How do sensations and perceptions combine to form ideas?China – Confucius- Stressed the power of ideas and importance of an educated mindHebrew Scriptures- Linked mind and emotion to the bodySocrates and Plato- Contemplated mind/body connection- Mind separate from the body- Mind exists after death- Ideas were innateo Born with itAristotle- Soul (mind) not separate from body- Knowledge grows from experienceRene Descartes- Believed in mind/body separation- Wondered how mind and body communicatedFrancis Bacon- Founder of the experimental method- Founder of modern scienceJohn Locke- Mind = tabula rasa (blank slate) at birth and experiences ‘wrote’ on itEmpiricism- Based on observation and experimentationStructuralism- Wilhelm Wundt (1879)- Titchener (late 1800s)- “introspection” look insideFunctionalism- William James (1875)o Harvard- You couldn’t study consciousness- Focused on how minds allow us to function- How and why of behaviorGestalt- Wertheimer- Method of therapy- “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”Psychoanalysis- Freud – Early 1900s- Symptoms had mental, not physical causes- Influence of:o Unconsciouso Early ExperienceBehaviorism- Ivan Pavlovo Classical conditioning- John B. Watsono ‘science of behavior’- B.F. Skinnero Operant conditioning; ‘radical’ behaviorismContemporary Psychology- The scientific study of behavior and mental processesCurrent PerspectivesPsychodynamic- Rooted in Freud’s theory- Unconscious processes- Early experience- “neo-Freudians”Behavioral- Pavlov, Watson, Skinner- Learning theoryHumanistic- Carl Rogers – 1951o ‘person-centered’- Abe Maslow – 1970o ‘self-actualization’o “necessary but not sufficient”Cognitive Psychology- Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)o Scientific exploration of memory and other cognitive processes- Thinking, problem solving, memory- Cognitive neuroscienceo Study brain and nervous systemSocioCultural- Social psychology- Cultural psychology- Interwoven into other theories- How person acts in social situationsBiopsychological- Genetics- Hormones- Nervous systemEvolutionary- Shared universal human characteristics- Natural selection focus- Prepared fearso Humans automatically afraid of thingsTypes of Psychological Professionals1. Psychologist2. Psychiatrist (MD)3. Psychiatric Social Worker4. PsychoanalystRESEARCHThe Need for Psychological Science- Intuitiono Humans rely on it- Common Sense- Empirical evidenceHindsight bias- “I knew it all along”Overconfidence- Sometimes we think we know more than we actually doThe scientific attitudeCuriosity- Passion for explorationSkepticism- Doubting and questioningHumility- Ability to accept responsibility when wrongCritical thinking- Examine the argument- Question- Identify and evaluate assumptionso Basis for conclusions?o Quality of research/info gathering?- Consider alternate arguments- Avoid emotional reasoningo Authority/expertise, bias- Don’t oversimplify- Tolerate uncertainty- Be open mindedScientific Method- Psychological research uses the scientific method to construct theoriesTheory- A general explanation of a set of observations or facts- Attempts to explain and predict behavior or eventsHypothesis- A testable prediction- Often prompted by a theory- Enables us to accept, reject, or revise the theoryCycle of scientific research- Perceive question form hypothesistestdraw conclusionsreport results/replicationResearch design- Descriptive- Correlational- ExperimentsVariable- Characteristic that can be measuredOperational definition- Identification of procedure or steps used to measure or control a research variableDescriptive methods- Naturalistic observationo Watching and recording behavior in organism’s natural environment- Laboratory observationo Subjects in lab settingo Controlo Artificial- Case studyo In depth study of a single individual- Surveyo Ascertaining the self-reported attitudes, opinions or behaviors of peopleo Identify the populationo Select a representativeo Sample from the populationo Social desirabilityo Accuracy of memoriesCorrelation- Examines relation between variables- Positiveo As one variable increases so does the othero As one variable decreases so does the other- Negativeo As one variable increases, the other decreases- Correlation does not prove causation!!!!!!Experimentation- Enables isolation of cause and effect- Manipulate factors that interest us- Keep other factors under controlIndependent variable- A factor manipulated by the experimenter- The effect of the I.V. is the focus of the studyDependent variable- A factor that may change in response to the I.V.Experimental condition- Subjects receive treatment (IV)Control condition- Subjects do not receive treatmentRandom assignment- Assign subjects to groups by chance- Minimizes existing differencesExperimental effect- Subject’s response is influenced by experimenter’s behaviorSingle blind procedure- Participants don’t know if they are in experimental or control groupDouble blind procedure- Participants and experimenter don’t know who receives variable and who doesn’tPlacebo effect- Change due to belief that one is receiving treatmentStatistics- Help to:o Organizeo Summarizeo Make inferencesFrequency distributions- Histogram (bar graph)- Polygon (line graph)Mode- Most frequently occurring score in a distributionMedian- The middle score in a rank-ordered distributionMean- Arithmetic average of scoresVariability- Rangeo The difference between highest and lowest score in a distribution- Standard deviationo A measure of how much scores vary around the meanInferential statistics- Probability theory regarding ‘chance’ vs. ‘true’ differences- Infer from those studied to larger groups- Can results be generalized?Generalizing from samples- Representative samples- Less variable observations- More casesStatistical significance- Difference observed probably not due to chance variation between groupsResearch ethics- Informed consent- Risk- Deception- Debriefing- ConfidentialityNERVOUS SYSTEM AND BRAINPhrenology- Franz Gall 1800o Attempt to explain how the brain worksNeuroscience- Study of neural structures, behavior and learningNervous system- Central and peripheral nervous systemCentral nervous system- Brain - Spinal cordo ReflexesMotor neurons- Carry outgoing information from CNS to