General Psychology Exam 1 Study Guide

*i. Psychology is about understanding all the things we do *ii. Psychology is practical *iii. Psychology is worth studying because it provides a powerful way of thinking *iv. Psychologists are committed to investing questions about human behavior in a scientific way *v. Teaches us a healthy respect for the complexity of behavior *vi. Descartes - Dualism: Inability to study human mind (the soul), Ability to study the human body scientifically; Intelligence is in the mind

Wundt (1879) - First Psychology Lab *i. Structuralist in Germany *ii. \"Building Blocks\" of consciousness *iii. What makes up human consciousness *iv. Introspection - Self Observation of one's own thoughts, decisions, & experiences, Not scientific enough, unable to teach one about the rest of world

*i. Purpose of consciousness *ii. William James - Heavily influenced by Charles Darwin *iii. Understand human traits that survived through generations (Fear) *iv. Argued that the structuralists approach missed the real nature of conscious experience → flow of thoughts, stream of consciousness

Careful, systematic self-observation of one's own conscious experience

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) *i. Psychoanalysis = utilized to treat people troubled by psychological problems such as irrational fears, obsessions, and anxieties in an innovative procedure *ii. Unconscious = contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior *iii. Psychoanalytic theory = attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior *iv. Psychoanalytic ideas steadily gained acceptance around the world, influencing thought in medicine, the arts, and literature

Behaviorism = Theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior Watson (1913, 1919) *i. Wanted psychologists to abandon the study of consciousness altogether and focus exclusively on behaviors that they could observe directly *ii. Behavior refers to any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism *iii. Nature vs. Nurture (Instinct Abilities vs. Influence of Surroundings) BF Skinner (1904-1990) *i. Thinking was influenced by the work of Ivan Pavlov and John Watson *ii. Championed a return to Watson's strict-stimulus-response approach *iii. Emphasized how environmental factors molded behavior (same as Watson) *iv. Organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes, and they tend not to repeat responses that lead to neutral or negative outcomes *v. Wrote the book, Beyond Free and Dignity (1971) = Explained that all behavior is fully governed by external stimuli *vi. Arrived at the conclusion that free will is an illusion

Humanism = theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth *i. Humanists take an optimistic view of human nature: humans are fundamentally different from other animals, research on animals has little relevance to the understanding of human behavior

*i. Applied Psychology = the branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems *ii. Clinical Psychology = the branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders *iii. World War II (1939-1945) = Academic psychologists pressed into service as physicians, screened military recruits & treated soldiers suffering from trauma → Characterized as \"a watershed in the history of clinical psychology (Routh and Reisman)

*i. Cognition = Refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge *ii. Cognitive theorists believe that psychology must include the study of internal mental events to fully understand human behavior *iii. Cognitive Perspective = points out that our mental processes surely influence how we behave *iv. Western psychologists have begun to recognize that their neglect of cultural variables has diminished the value of their work; increased attention to culture as a determinant of behavior *v. Psychologists striving the understand the unique experiences of culturally diverse people from the point of view of those people

*i. Examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations *ii. La Cerra and Kurzban (1995) = \"The human mind was sculpted by natural selection, and it is this evolved organ that constitutes the subject matter of psychology

*i. The scientific approach assumes that events are governed by some lawful order *ii.Goals of Scientific Enterprise: a. Measurement and Description b. Understanding and Prediction c. Application and Control *iii. Hypothesis = tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables *iv. Variables = Measureable conditions, events, characteristics, or behaviors that are controlled or observed in a study *v. Theory = System of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations a. Theories permit psychologists to make the leap from the description of behavior to the understanding of behavior

*i. The process of publishing Scientific investigations are systematic; follow an orderly pattern, tested in naive realism *ii. Step 1: Formulate a Testable Hypothesis a. Researchers hypothesized that proponents of affirmative action would overestimate opponents' conservatism and that opponents of affirmative action would overestimate proponents' liberalism b. Sherman, Nelson, & Ross wanted to investigate whether adversaries in political debates overestimate the gap between their views *iii. Operational Definition = describes the actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable *iv. Step 2: Select the Research Method and Design the Study a. Participants, or subjects, are the persons or animals whose behavior is systematically observed in a study *v. Step 3: Collect the Data a. Data collection techniques, procedures for making empirical observations and measurements *vi. Step 4: Analyze the Data and Draw Conclusions a. Researchers use statistics to analyze their data and to decide whether their hypotheses have been supported b. Conclusions shed light on: (1) Why it is often so difficult for opposing sides to bridge the (perceived) gap between them; (2) Why people often have such pervasively negative views of their adversaries c. scientific studies allows other experts to evaluate and critique new research findings d. Peer Review process is so demanding = rejects over 90% of submitted articles *vii. Advantages of the Scientific Approach a. Science is certainly not the only method that can be used to draw conclusions about behavior b. Research methods = consist of differing approaches to the observations, measurement, manipulation, and control of variables in empirical studies

*i. Precise control allows researchers to isolate the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable, while neutralizing the effects of extraneous variables *ii. Psychologists have concluded that many experiments in which participants read a brief summary of a trial and then recorded their individual \"verdicts\" of innocence or guilt

A. Experimental Research *i. Need for affiliation = Increase in anxiety would cause increases in the desire to be with others *ii. Experiment = Research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result B. Independent Variable (X) *i. Condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable *ii. Called independent because it is free to be varied by the experimenter C. Dependent Variable (Y) *i. Variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable (Outcome) *ii. Called dependent because it is thought to depend on manipulations of the independent variable D. Schachter's Experiment *i. Independent variable was the participants' anxiety level *ii. Made up the high-anxiety group *iii. Low anxiety group were told that the shocks would be mild and painless *iv. The subjects' desire to be with others was the dependent variable D. Experimental Group *i. Consists of the subjects who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable E. Control Group *i. Consists of similar subjects who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group *ii. High Anxiety participants received special treatment designed to create an unusually high level of anxiety iii. Low-Anxiety constituted to the control group participants E. Extraneous Variables i. Extraneous Variables = Any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study ii. Confounding of Variables = occurs when two variables are linked in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their specific effects iii. Random Assignment = Occurs when all subjects have an equal chance of being assigned to any group or condition in the study F. Variations in Designing Experiments i. Advantageous to use only one group of subjects who serve as their own control group ii. Effects of independent variable are evaluated by exposing this single group to two different conditions: (1) Experimental condition, (2) Control Condition iii. It is also possible to manipulate more than one independent variable or measure more than one dependent variable in a single experiment

A. Descriptive/Correlational Research *i. Descriptive/Correlational methods permit investigators to see only whether there is a link or association between the variables of interest *ii. The results of descriptive research are often summarized with a statistic called the correlation coefficient *iii. Three specific approaches to descriptive research: (1) Naturalistic Observation, (2) Case Studies, (3) Surveys B. Concept of Correlation *i. A Correlation exists when two variables are related to each other *ii. A positive correlation indicates that two variables co-vary (change together) in the same direction *iii. A negative correlation indicates that two variables co-vary in the opposite direction C. Strength of the Correlation *i. Correlation Coefficient = Numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables D. Correlation and Prediction *i. One of the key goals of scientific research is accurate prediction *ii. As a correlation increases in strength) gets closer to either -1.00 or +1.00), the ability to predict one variable based on knowledge of the other variable increases

A. Sampling Bias *i. Replication = repetition of a study to see whether the earlier results are duplicated *ii. Sample = collection of subjects selected for observation in an empirical study *iii. Population = Much larger collection of animals or people that researchers want to generalize about iv. Sampling Bias = Exists when a sample is not representative of the population from which it was drawn B. Placebo Effects *i. Placebo = Substance that resembles a drug but has no actual pharmacological effect *ii. Placebo Effect = occurs when participants' expectations lead them to experience some change even though they receive empty, fake, or ineffectual treatment C. Distortions in Self-Report Data *i. Self-report methods can be useful when taking advantage of the fact that people have a unique opportunity to observe themselves all the time *ii. Social Desirable Bias = tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself D. Experimenter Bias *i. Experimenter Bias = Occurs when a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained *ii. Experimenters who expected positive ratings obtained significantly higher ratings than those who expected negative ones *iii. Double-Blind Procedure = research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups *iv. Double-Blind Procedure keeps the experimenter in the dark as well as the participants

Unethical to perform experiments on individuals that requires them to use \"harmful substances\" e.g. tobacco

B. Classical Conditioning *i. Pavlov's Dogs *ii. Rang the bell (Neutral Stimulus) → Orientation but no salivation *iii. Presence of hotdog with bell (UCS) → Dog Salivates (UCR) [Before Conditioning] *iv. UCS automatically produces UCR, Neutral stimulus does not produce salivation [Before Conditioning] *v. Neutral Stimulus is now the conditioned stimulus. It produces CR, salivation, which is similar to the UCR produced by the Hot Dog [After Conditioning] *vi. Sound of Bell (CS) → Dog Salivation (CR) [After Conditioning] C. Unconditioned Stimulus *i. Something that hasn't been learned D. Conditioned Stimulus *i. Something that has been learned

K. Operant Conditioning *i. Thorndike's Law of Effect - Consequences *ii. Behaviors that are followed by positive consequences are more likely to occur again a. Spontaneous, voluntary responses b. Skinner Box i. Conditioned (operant) rat to press lever to receive food *iii. Shaping *iv. Non-Contingent Reinforcement (Superstitious Behavior) a. Irrelevant Behavior gets reinforced but not necessary for reinforcement *v. Extinction → Reinforcement gets taken away *vi. Reinforcers (Primary & Secondary) = Strengthens responses a. Primary = Necessities: Food, Water (Same for everyone) b. Secondary = Everything else, doesn't fulfill biological needs (Learnable, Not same for everyone)

*i. \"Positive\" = Present Something (+) *ii. \"Negative\" = Remove Something (-) 1. Reinforcement increases behavior 2. Punishment decreases behavior *iii. Positive Reinforcement = Receiving something good → Positive Outcome *iv. Negative Reinforcement = Taking away something bad → Positive Outcome *v. Positive Punishment = Receiving something bad → Negative Outcome *vi. Negative Punishment = Taking away something good → Negative Outcome

*a. Continuous Reinforcement i. Reinforcement occurs every time the response is performed *b. Intermittent/Partial Reinforcement i. Reinforcement occurs some of the time when response is performed ii. Example: Turning on light switch that doesn't work iii. Ratio vs. Interval iv. Fixed vs. Variable

*i. Learning by watching other people *ii. Both animals and humans *iii. Vicarious reinforcement *iv. Bandura - \"Bobo Doll Experiment\" *v. Gender roles and social skills

Advertisers mostly seek to associate their products with stimuli that evoke pleasurable feelings