Psychology and Research Methods

Psychology and Research Methods

• Psychology originated from philosophy.
• Psychology can be studied across multiple levels of analysis (biological, psychological, social).
• Theoretical perspectives (e.g., psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic) offer different aims and explanations for behavior.
• A psychologist typically needs a doctoral degree.
• Psychologist types include clinical, counseling, developmental, educational, etc.
• The scientific method is a systematic approach to gathering and analyzing information.
• Steps include observation, forming a hypothesis, collecting data, analyzing results, and drawing conclusions.
• A theory is a broad explanation for a phenomenon; a hypothesis is a specific testable prediction.
• Correlational methods examine relationships between variables.
• Correlations are widely used due to their practicality for studying real-world phenomena.
• Advantages of correlations include identifying possible relationships; disadvantages include not establishing causality.
• A correlation coefficient measures the strength and direction of a relationship; values range from -1 to +1.
• Experiments manipulate variables to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
• Independent variables are manipulated; dependent variables are measured in response.
• Experiments are more powerful for determining causation; correlation studies highlight relationships.
• Experiments have limitations, such as artificiality and ethical concerns.

Biology

• The central nervous system (CNS) includes the brain and spinal cord.
• The peripheral nervous system (PNS) connects the CNS to the rest of the body.
• The autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary functions like heart rate and digestion.
• The sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for stressful situations (fight or flight).
• The parasympathetic nervous system promotes relaxation and rest (rest-and-digest).
• Brain lobes include the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital.
• Frontal lobe: higher-level cognition
• Parietal lobe: sensory processing
• Temporal lobe: auditory processing and language
• Occipital lobe: visual processing
• Neurons transmit information electrochemically.
• Key parts of a neuron include dendrites, cell body, axon, and axon terminals.

Sensation and Perception

• Sensation is the process of detecting physical stimuli.
• Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information.
• Transduction converts physical energy into neural signals.
• Psychophysics studies the relationship between physical stimuli and sensory experiences.
• Absolute threshold is the minimum stimulus needed for detection; just noticeable difference (JND) is the minimum detectable difference between two stimuli.
• Response biases affect how readily individuals report detecting stimuli.
• Weber's law specifies a constant proportion in the JND.
• Signal detection theory analyzes how we detect a stimulus amidst background noise.
• Signal detection theory differentiates hits, misses, false alarms, and correct rejections.
• Adaptation is a decrease in sensitivity to a constant stimulus.

Learning

• Habituation involves decreasing responsiveness to a repeated stimulus.
• Sensitization involves increased responsiveness to a repeated stimulus.
• Classical conditioning involves learning through associating two stimuli.
• Unconditioned stimulus (US) triggers an unconditioned response (UR) naturally.
• Conditioned stimulus (CS) becomes associated with the US, triggering a conditioned response (CR).
• The Little Albert study illustrated fear conditioning.
• Stimulus generalization is responding to similar stimuli as the CS; stimulus discrimination is responding only to the specific CS.
• Reinforcements increase behavior; punishments decrease it.
• Positive reinforcement adds a desirable stimulus; negative reinforcement removes an undesirable stimulus.
• Positive punishment adds an undesirable stimulus; negative punishment removes a desirable stimulus.

Memory and Cognitive

• The modal model of memory describes memory as a system of three stages: sensory, short-term, and long-term.
• Sensory memory holds brief sensory information, short-term memory holds information for a short period, and long-term memory stores information for long periods.
• Attention, encoding, rehearsal, and retrieval are essential for memory processes.
• Clive Wearing demonstrated the role of memory in daily functioning.
• False memory is a distorted or fabricated recollection of an event.
• Heuristics are mental shortcuts to judgments.
• Algorithms are systematic procedures for solving problems.
• Representativeness heuristic is judging likelihood based on similarity to a prototype.
• Availability heuristic is evaluating likelihood based on ease of recall.
• Confirmation bias is seeking confirming information while ignoring contradictory information.
• Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias to perceive objects only in their customary uses.
• Duncker’s candle problem showcases solutions that depend on novel approaches.
• Research showed labels improve image memory.
• Linguistic determinism suggests language shapes thought.
• Linguistic relativity argues that language influences cognition.

Individual Differences

• Intelligence is a multifaceted construct; general "g" intelligence is a hypothesized overall cognitive ability.
• The Flynn effect depicts rising average IQ scores across generations.
• IQ stability varies across lifespan.
• Monozygotic (MZ) twins share 100% genes; dizygotic (DZ) twins share 50% genes.
• Twin studies investigate the influence of genetics and environment on behaviors.
• Research uses twin studies to compare variations in traits to evaluate nature vs. nurture effects.

Consciousness

• Consciousness is subjective awareness.
• Consciousness has attributes including awareness, attention, and intentionality.
• Split-brain research examines hemisphere specialization.
• Drugs alter consciousness through diverse mechanisms.

Emotion & Stress

• Emotion involves feelings, autonomic responses, and somatic responses.
• Darwin proposed emotions have evolutionary functions.
• Ekman's research identified six basic emotions.
• Different stressors include major life events and chronic stress.
• Primary stressors lead to an appraisal that's negative; whereas secondary stressors occur when there's a perceived loss of control.
• The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) depicts the body's response to chronic stress.

Development

• Cross-sectional studies compare different age groups at one time.
• Longitudinal studies follow the same group over time.
• Piaget's stages of cognitive development propose sequential changes in understanding.
• Attachment shapes relationships and emotional security.
• Harlow's experiments on rhesus monkeys highlighted the importance of maternal contact.
• Lorenz's imprinting research demonstrates early learning in animals.
• Attachment styles include secure and insecure.

Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology and Autism

• I/O psychologists study work behavior and motivation.
• Biodata is biographical information used in personnel selection.
• Job performance is predicted using several approaches (e.g., cognitive ability).
• Cognitive ability is increasingly important as job complexity increases.
• Early conceptions of autism focused on psychodynamic factors.
• Rimland and Folstein & Rutter provided biological evidence for autism.
• DSM-IV/V categorizations and distinctions delineate autism spectrum disorder.
• Autism has a biological basis, possibly starting in the womb. -Epidemiological concerns around autism include the causes of increasing rates of diagnosis.
• There is a spectrum of autistic traits, rather than a singular set of traits.

Personality (Lectures 1-3)

• Personality encompasses traits, patterns, and the way individuals behave.
• Galen and Hippocrates theorized personality types.
• Psychoanalytic theory posits the id, ego, and superego interact to shape personality.
• Defense mechanisms (e.g., repression) help individuals manage anxiety.
• Research on psychoanalytic therapy shows limited empirical support.
• Erikson's theory emphasizes psychosocial development across the lifespan.
• Humanistic theory focuses on personal growth and potential.
• Rogers and Maslow proposed self-actualization as a core concept.
• Idiographic vs. nomothetic approaches study personality, contrasting individual cases vs. broad traits.
• Personality traits are stable patterns of behavior.
• Trait theory suggests personality is normally distributed.
• Lexical hypothesis proposes traits are reflected in language.
• Cattell and Allport used factor analysis to study personality.
• The "Big Five" traits include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience.
• Personality traits affect behavior and interaction.
• Mischel's research highlighted the role of situational variables on behavior.
• Cognitive dissonance occurs when attitudes and behaviors conflict.
• Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) showed dissonance reduction through justification.

Social Psychology (Lectures 1-3)

• Social psychology studies how individuals think, feel, and behave in social contexts.
• Construals are interpretations of situations that shape behavior.
• Social cognition is how people think about and interpret social situations.
• Social reality emerges from our interpretations.
• Fundamental attribution error is overemphasizing dispositional factors.
• Lewin’s formula (B=f(P,E)) emphasizes behaviors as an interaction of person and environment.
• Liberman, Samuels, and Ross (2004) study explored situational influence on trust.
• Cognitive misers and motivated tacticians describe different cognitive processes.
• The actor-observer effect examines differences in attributions for our and others' actions.
• Perceptual salience affects inferences we draw about other people.
• Taylor & Fiske (1975) studied perceptual salience and the bystander effect.
• Processing routes include central and peripheral.
• Postdecision dissonance is dissonance experienced after making a difficult decision.
• Justification of effort occurs when individuals convince themselves an action is worthwhile.
• Indirect social influence impacts behavior without direct action.
• Darley & Latane's research investigated the bystander effect in emergencies.
• Social facilitation (arousal from presence of others) impacts task performance.
• Principles of influence include reciprocation, liking, social proof.
• Foot-in-the-door technique involves starting small and increasing requests over time.
• Door-in-the-face technique involves starting with a large request then reducing it.
• Compliance techniques can influence actions.
• Milgram study showcased obedience to authority.
• Factors affecting obedience include situation and authority.
• Asch’s study demonstrated conformity in judgments.

Social Psychology (Textbook)

• Attribution is explaining others' and our own behavior.
• Internal vs. external attributions discuss factors affecting disposition and situations.
• Situational vs. dispositional factors influence behavior.
• Self-serving attributions involve positive attributions toward one's self, and negative attributions toward others.
• Cognitive dissonance occurs when beliefs and actions differ.
• Social norms guide behavior.
• Conformity adheres to social standards.
• Asch’s study revealed conformity pressures.
• Group polarization strengthens pre-existing group views.
• Groupthink occurs in highly cohesive groups that suppress dissenting viewpoints.
• Obedience is compliance to authorities.
• Obedience vs. conformity differentiates between external vs. internal influence and norms.
• Milgram's obedience study explored compliance.
• Bystander effect, pluralistic ignorance, and diffusion of responsibility relate to helping behavior.
• Deindividuation occurs in large groups, leading to potentially reduced self-awareness and accountability.

Psychological Disorders (Lectures 1-4)

• Mental health disorders among college freshmen are prevalent.
• The term “mentally ill” can be stigmatizing, yet a person's struggles with mental illness are real.
• A psychological disorder is a clinically significant disturbance impacting cognition, emotion, behavior.
• The four Ds of abnormality include distress, dysfunction, deviance, and danger.
• Professionals like clinical psychologists and psychiatrists diagnose and treat mental disorders.
• DSM-5 is a common diagnostic classification.
• Criticisms of the DSM include categorical issues, reliability challenges, and potential biases.
• Categorical vs. dimensional models delineate discrete vs. continuous representations of psychological disorders.
• Internalizing vs externalizing dimensions distinguish the inward vs outward manifestations of stress.
• Schizophrenia involves psychosis and related symptoms.
• Schizophrenia has positive/negative symptoms, delusions, and disorganized behaviors and speech.
• Schizophrenia prevalence in the general population is relatively low.
• Prognosis and treatment for schizophrenia vary.
• Diathesis-stress model explains vulnerability.
• Biological predisposition and environment shape manifestation of schizophrenia. -Mood disorders encompass major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.
• Major depressive episode symptoms include low mood, loss of interest, and cognitive changes.
• Depression is a common and concerning disorder.
• Rates of depression differ across genders.
• Biological basis for depression involves HPA axis responses.
• Learned helplessness involves giving up in the face of negative experiences.
• Bipolar disorder involves mood swings between mania and depression.
• Bipolar 1 vs 2 disorders differ in the intensity of manic episodes.
• Treatments for psychological disorders include behavioral, cognitive, and psychoanalytic.
• Early treatments included psychoanalysis.
• Psychoanalytic therapy uses techniques like free association, interpretation.
• Cognitive behavioral approaches focus on thoughts and behaviors.
• The effectiveness of treatment depends on individual factors.
• Treatments differ depending on the type of disorder.
• Anxiety disorders include phobias, panic disorder, generalized anxiety, OCD.
• Obsessions are recurrent thoughts; compulsions are repetitive behaviors.
• Personality disorders are persistent patterns of behavior that cause distress or impairment.
• Antisocial and borderline personality disorders are described by specific characteristics.

Textbook Chapters 13/14 Questions

• Syndromes are clusters of symptoms; a symptom is a single characteristic or indicator.
• Diagnostic labels have advantages and drawbacks.

Explore the foundations of psychology and the research methods used to study it. This quiz covers various theoretical perspectives and the scientific method, including how psychologists formulate hypotheses and analyze data. Test your knowledge of the different types of psychologists and their roles in understanding behavior.