INTRO TO PSYCH

Cards (43)

  • Psychology
    The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
  • Behavior
    • Overt (i.e., can be directly observed, as with crying)
    • Mental Processes: Covert (i.e., cannot be directly observed, as with remembering)
  • Goals of Psychology
    • Description of Behaviors
    • Understanding
    • Prediction
    • Control
  • Positive use of control

    To control unwanted behaviors (e.g., smoking, tantrums, etc.)
  • Negative use of control

    To control people's behaviors without their knowledge
  • Psychology is not common sense
  • Psychology is not the mysterious
  • Psychology is not the parasciences
  • Pseudopsychologies
    Any unfounded "system" that resembles psychology and is NOT based on scientific testing
  • Pseudopsychologies
    • Palmistry
    • Phrenology
    • Graphology
    • Astrology
    • Feng Sui
  • Phrenology was an attempt to assess personality characteristics by examining various areas of the skull. Phrenologists used charts such as the one shown here as guides. Like other pseudopsychologists, phrenologists made no attempt to empirically verify their concepts.
  • How many people believe in astrology?
  • Wilhelm Wundt
    "Father" of psychology
  • Introspection
    Looking inward (i.e., examining and reporting your thoughts, feelings, etc.)
  • Traditional Era of Psychology
    • Animism – Belief in gods and spirits determine life occurences
  • Greek Influences on Psychology
    • Plato and Aristotle – postulated that the "Soul" is the source of life
    • Every human person is made up of a core, which is the soul
  • Galen's four humours
    Blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile that controlled the human condition
  • Four temperaments
    • Sanguine - cheerful
    • Melancholic - sad
    • Choleric –strict, irascible
    • Phlegmatic – slow and sluggish
  • René Descartes
    Argued that the mind gives people the capacities for thought and consciousness: the mind "decides" and the body carries out the decision—a dualistic mind-body split that modern psychological science is still working to overcome
  • John Locke
    "Tabula Rasa", latin for "blank sheet or blank tablet"
  • Structuralism
    • Dealt with structure of mental life
    • Attempted to discover the "building blocks" of conscious thought
    • Based on a pure, immediate sensory experience
  • Functionalism
    • How the mind functions to help us adapt and survive
    • Admired Darwin and his theory of natural selection
  • Behaviorism
    • Psychology must study observable behavior objectively
    • Studied relationship between Stimuli: Environmental events and Responses: Any identifiable behavior(s)
  • Albert Ellis
    • Founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
    • Our thoughts influence our behaviors
  • Albert Bandura
    Posits that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling
  • Gestalt psychology
    • "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts"
    • Studied thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not by analyzing experiences into parts
  • Jean Piaget
    Piaget's theory of cognitive development is a comprehensive theory about the nature and development of human intelligence
    • Full name: Jean William Fritz Piaget
    • Born: 9 August 1896, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
    • Education: University of Neuchâtel (1918), University of Geneva, University of Zurich
  • Psychoanalytic Perspective

    • Our behavior is largely influenced by our unconscious wishes, thoughts, and desires, especially sex and aggression
    • All thoughts, actions, and emotions are determined by unconscious processes
  • Repression
    • When threatening thoughts are unconsciously held out of awareness
    • "Reservoir" – storage for repressed items
  • Free Association
    • Saying whatever comes to mind, regardless of how embarrassing or unimportant it may seem
    • By doing so without censorship and censure, unconscious material can emerge
  • Free Association Activity
    Recorder says a word, subject says first word that comes to mind, recorder repeats that word and subject says first word that comes to mind, repeat 10 times
  • Humanism
    • Goal of psychology is to study unique aspects of the person
    • Focuses on human experience, problems, potentials, and ideals
    • Each person has innate goodness and is able to make free choices (contrast with Skinner and Freud)
  • Self-image
    Your perception of your own body, personality, and capabilities
  • Self-evaluation
    Positive and negative feelings you have about yourself
  • Frame of reference
    Mental perspective used for interpreting events
  • Self-actualization (Maslow)

    Fully developing one's potential and becoming the best person possible
  • Branches of Psychology
    • Clinical Psychology
    • Counseling Psychology
    • Developmental Psychology
    • Educational Psychology
    • Forensic Psychology
    • Industrial-Organizational Psychology
    • Sports Psychology
    • Biological Psychology/ Neuro Psychology
  • Biopsychology
    • All of our behavior can be explained through physiological processes
    • Uses brain scans to gather data (CT, MRI, PET)
  • Positive Psychology

    • Study of human strengths, virtues, and optimal behavior
    • Looks at positive side of human behavior