What is psychology?
The study of human behavior and mental processes
What is hindsight bias? (see text)
When you look back at something and believe that the result was predictable the whole time.
What is arm-chair psychology and why is it unscientific? What is wrong with basing conclusions o...
what is arm chair psychology and why is it unscientific what is wrong with basing conclusions on casual observation and speculation
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STUDY GUIDE CH 1
What is psychology?
The study of human behavior and mental processes
What is hindsight bias? (see text)
When you look back at something and believe that the result was predictable the whole
time.
What is arm-chair psychology and why is it unscientific? What is wrong with basing
conclusions on casual observation and speculation?
Arm Chair psychology is people watching. It’s unscientific to just observe and not run
any tests because the obvious answer is not always correct.
What did Wilhelm Wundt do?
Established first psychology lab in Germany 1879
How has psychology shifted between the study of cognition and the study of behavior (i.e.,
behaviorism backlash, etc.)?
Cognition is the scientific part of psychology and behavior is a more observable part.
You need both to be able to fully comprehend the human mind.
Behaviorism Backlash – Some scientists decided to argue that mental events cant be measured in
scientific matter. Most only used observable behavior. Then learned that you cant learn it all
through behavior. Cognition to behavior back to cognition.
What is the difference between clinical psychologists and psychiatrists?
Psychiatrists went to graduate school to get an M.D. and can prescribe medicine. Clinical
psychologists deal with diagnosis and treatment but cannot prescribe medicine.
What do cognitive psychologists study? Biological psychologists? Developmental
psychologists? Personality psychologists? Social psychologists? Industrial/organizational
psychologists? (see powerpoint)
Cognitive Psychology – Study of mental processes
Biological Psychology – Influences of biology on psychological processes
Developmental psychology – Study of how people change over their lifespan
Personality Psychology – Study of individual differences
Social Psychology – Study of interpersonal influences (how people interact)
Industrial Psychology – Applies psychological principles to the work setting
What is the biopsychosocial approach?
Behavior and mental phenomenon arise from interaction of biological, psychological, and
social factors.
What is the nature or nurture debate? What is meant by nature and nurture? What is
wrong with this debate? How does environment influence genes? What do genes do?
Nature is how you were born, nurture is how your environment has shaped you. The
answer is that its both. Certain genes are turned on by environmental factors.
Why is critical thinking important? What are the aspects of critical thinking we covered?
What is ethnocentrism?
Critical Thinking – Question everything even your own beliefs.
Aspects of Critical Thinking
- Examine how terms are defined
- Look for potential biases, hiddent agendas
, - Inspect the evidence, ask how do you know?
- Consider whether conclusions are over-generalized or oversimplified
- Consider alternative interpretations of the evidence
- Be cautious of reports in the popular media
- Remember that a single study is not definitive
Why should you be cautious when it comes to scientific reports in the media?
Because of the bias and oversimplification and variables.
What are the steps of the scientific method? What is a hypothesis? What is a theory?
Hypothesis
Experiment
Observe
Conclude
A hypothesis is a hunch
A theory is based on research findings
Know the different methods of testing hypotheses/gathering data that we covered, what
kind of information they provide, and the problems associated with particular methods.
For instance…
- Case studies
o In depth analysis of a single case
o Qualitative rather than quantitative
o Studies a period of time
o Study individuals with rare diseases
o May not apply to others
o Do not prove anything
- Naturalistic Observation
o Watching someone when they don’t know they’re being watched
o May take a long time
o If animals notice you it throws off the study
- Survey Method
o Questionnaires, interviews
o Bad accuracy
Lies
Trouble
o Sampling – Selecting Participants
Representative Samples
Volunteer Bias
o Wording
- Correlational Research
o Are two variables related
o Often done on data gathered from surveys
o Positive correlation
Direct Relationship
o Negative
Indirect Relationship
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