TO HELP YOU PREPARE FOR EXAM 1 The exam consists of 50 multiple choice items based on the lectures given from the start of the semester and readings from chapters 1 2 3 4 Each student will see a somewhat different set of items but everyone will see similar concepts and items of equal difficulty Some items will be taken from the Lilienfeld chapter quizzes but the majority will be original items based on the lectures The following ideas concepts terms and such could appear on the exam NOTE If it isn t on this list it won t be on the exam Be sure to use the practice exam to prepare All items on the practice exam correspond to items on the actual exam Lectures readings on History and scientific thinking 1 What are four different ways of knowing and which kind is used in psychology Where does knowledge come from What makes science useful How we think about and represent world matters Ideas have a history context In psychology we use empiricism 2 What kinds of knowledge are represented in data land and theory land Theory Land uses ideas concepts hypothesis theories Data Land uses behavior material objects measurements and data What is a psychological construct or more simply a construct An operational definition Inferred cause of measurable events of processes have effects logically related to it and each other What is a theory and what is it good for A theory is an explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world It ties multiple findings together A hypothesis A testable prediction derived from a scientific theory 3 What are the three traditions that have characterized the field of psychology What methodology is associated with each Which kinds of assumptions characterize each Assumptions People are the same Methods Experimental Goal Laws of Behavior Experimental Psychology Individual Differences Therapeutic Approaches People differ Correlational Meaning Variation People can be helped Case Study Improve health and social functioning Where do behavioral psychology cognitive psychology and neuroscience fit They all are apart of experimental psychology 4 Who is Wilhelm Wundt Created structuralism analyzing conscious experience into its basic elements created first psychology lab William James Created functionalism not interested in petty issues investigate purpose meaning behind consciousness 5 Who are JB Watson and BF Skinner and what kind of psychology is associated with them They are associated with behaviorism to uncover the general principles of learning that explain all behaviors focus is largely on observable behavior Watson founded behaviorism Skinner was his follower What were the core assumptions of this kind of psychology We can comprehend human behavior by looking outside the organism to rewards and punishments delivered by the environment black box psychology 6 Who is Jean Piaget and what kind of psychology is associated with him Creator of cognitivism to examine the role of mental processes on behavior What was the core assumption of this kind of psychology We learn not merely by rewards and punishment but by insight 7 Who is Francis Galton He introduced the concept of correlation 2 things being associated with each other Alfred Binet Developed the first intelligence test What are the core assumptions of the kind of psychology associated with these individuals 8 Who is Sigmund Freud and what kind of psychology is associated with him He is the creator of psychoanalysis focuses on internal psychological processes especially impulses thoughts and memories of which were unaware What are the core assumptions of this kind of psychology Influence on behavior come from unconscious drives especially sexuality and aggression 9 What is critical thinking A set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open minded and careful fashion What is the confirmation bias Selecting information that agrees with what you believe in Belief perseverance Even when given contradictory evidence you still maintain your beliefs 10 What are the six principles of scientific thinking To what do they refer 1 Ruling out rival hypothesis Whenever we evaluate a psychological claim we should ask ourselves whether we ve excluded other plausible explanations for it 2 Correlation isn t causation we should remember that a correlation between 2 things doesn t demonstrate a casual connection between them 3 Falsifiability capable of being disproved if a theory isn t falsifiable we can t test it 4 Replicability a studies findings can be duplicated consistently we shouldn t place too much stock in a psychological finding until it has been replicated 5 Extraordinary claims requires extraordinary evidence Whenever we evaluate a psychological claim we should ask ourselves whether this claim runs counter to many things we know already and if it does whether the evidence is as extraordinary as the claim 6 Occam s Razor Principle of parsimony logical simplicity if 2 explanations account equally well for a phenomenon we should generally select the simpler one 11 What is the nature nurture debate Environment vs genetics which is our behavior attributed towards Still controversy Free will versus determinism To what extent are our behaviors freely selected rather than caused by factors outside our control They think our behaviors determined by preceding influences determinism Lectures and readings on Research methods 12 What are the goals of science 1 description accurate measurement 2 prediction based on our description 3 3 Control using our descriptors and ability to predict and create better environments 13 What is the Descriptive approach to studying human behavior Describing the world as is key variables correlation methods statistics to explore connections between characteristics and events What are the different types of descriptive methods what are examples of each What are the strengths and limitations of these methods 1 Naturalistic Observation Jane Goodal a Advantages b Disadvantage i High in external validity i Low in internal validity ii Doesn t allow us to infer causation 2 Surveys a Advantages i Easy to administer b disadvantages i assume respondents know themselves better than they actually do ii participants aren t always honest 3 Case studies a Advantages i Can provide existence proofs ii allow us to study rare or unusual phenomenon iii can offer insights for later systematic testing b Disadvantages i Typically anecdotal ii Don t allow us to infer causation limitations When 2 variables are