Psyc 101 Study Guide History of Psychology Define psychology The science that studies behavior and the cognitive processes that underlie behavior the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems o How is it different from other social sciences Focuses on the individual o What other disciplines did it come from Philosophy and physiology o What contributions did the following philosophers have to psychology Ren Descartes Rationalist gain knowledge through reasoning and nativist inborn knowledge and abilities The mind is different from the body I think therefore I am John Locke Saw the mind as receptive and passive born with blank slate and everything is learned TABULA RASA Know the different early figures in psychology Be able to distinguish them from one another o Early figures Gustav Fechner Psychophysics relationship between physical world and consciousness just noticeable difference Wilhelm Wundt Father of Psychology 1st lab consciousness Edward Titchener Structuralism analyzes consciousness into basic introspection elements William James Father of American Psych Functionalism and stream of consciousness Investigated purpose of consciousness Sigmund Freud Psychoanalysis and the unconscious treat mental disorders Psychoanalytic Theory John B Watson Behaviorism prediction and control of behavior o Stanley Hall William James Wilhelm Wundt o What school of thought did they fall under Be able to distinguish the different schools of thought e g Functionalism v Structuralism from one another Structuralism identifies fundamental components of conscious experience investigate how they re related introspection lab work Functionalism investigates the function of consciousness natural selection consciousness must serve an important purpose adaptively stream of consciousness What are the primary theoretical perspectives and areas in psychology today and what is the main view they focus on o Behavioral psychology derived from Behaviorism Effects of the environment on behavior of humans only observable events Stimulus Response can be studied of behavior Freud early childhood governs personality thoughts mental disorders o Psychodynamic aka Psychoanalytic psychology unconscious determinants o Social psychology o Cognitive psychology o Humanistic psychology o Evolutionary psychology o Psychobiological psychology focuses on thoughts mental processes humans are evolutionary basis of behavior behavior patterns focuses on unique aspects of human experience aka Behavioral genetics Neuroscience humans are free rational with potential and drive for growth are quantitatively different from animals information processing machines cognition is the driving force behind everything we do Biological psychology genes brain function evolved to solve adaptive problems natural selection one focuses on individual in group other focuses on group as a whole interpersonal behavior social psych individual in group and the role of social forces in governing behavior What are happy and healthy people doing just children now research on adolescence adulthood and old age American European college students Not representative of whole world studies psychological disorders and treatment newest focuses on positive things humans are doing behavior in the workplace also how is is social psych different from sociology hint human development across life span used to be most studies are on o Industrial organizational psychology o Clinical psychology o Cross cultural or anthropological psychology o Developmental psychology o Positive psychology Scientific Methods What is the scientific method o Know the order of steps in scientific method Formulate hypothesis Design the study Collect data Analyze the data and draw conclusions Report findings o Define these and be able to pick out in examples of research Hypothesis a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables Operationalization operational definition describes actions operations that will be used to measure or control a variable Independent variable Factor that changes the outcome variable Dependent variable Dependent on the influence of other factor s Experimental group A group of participants to which you apply a manipulation Control group a group of participants to which you do not apply a manipulation but for whom all other factors are the same as for the experimental group o Extraneous or confounding variable Extraneous variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a study Confounding variables affects the dependent variable in such a way that it is difficult to sort out the specific effects 2 Why does correlation NOT mean causation Variables can be highly correlated but not causally related X and Y can be correlated but we can t safely conclude that X causes Y Types of research methods e g survey observation etc o Experiment usually held in a lab o Naturalistic Observation researcher observes behavior w o interfering with subjects o Case Study in depth investigation of an individual subject o Surveys researcher uses questionnaires interviews to gather info about specific aspects of a subject s background behavior o Correlational research determining an association between variables What are their flaws and strengths o Experiment very controlled can tell cause effects btw variables avoid confounding variables situations artificial ethical concerns o Naturalistic Observation minimized artificiality good start when little is known hard to remain unobtrusive no causal conclusions data difficult to quantify o Case Study good for disorders therapy provides illustration for theories no causal conclusions clinical sample unrepresentative of population o Surveys easy collection can get data difficult to observe self report bias deception memory lapse poor wording no causal conclusion o Correlational Research widens the scope of topics psychologists can study cannot demonstrate cause and effect relationships between variables cannot manipulate variables under study Biological Bases of Behavior What is the nervous system s different parts and their functions o Central nervous system Brain 2 of body weight uses 20 of resources composed of bunches of neurons which form nerves Spinal Cord Collects and transmits info between brain and peripheral nervous system o Peripheral nervous system Somatic nervous system Voluntary Actions skeletal muscles Autonomic