Psychology Core Concepts Quiz

Psychology: The Science of Behaviour

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and the mind, and factors influencing them.
• Behavior refers to observable actions and responses.
• Causal factors include biological, individual psychological, and environmental factors.
• Levels of analysis can examine behavior at biological (e.g., brain processes, genetics), and psychological levels.

What is the Mind?

• The mind encompasses internal states and processes (thoughts, feelings), which are inferred from observable responses.

Psychology as a Science

• Psychology is a science.
• It overlaps with several other disciplines (biology, anthropology, medicine, computer science, engineering, sociology, economics).

Clinical Psychology

• Focuses on the study and treatment of mental disorders.
• Clinicians diagnose and treat psychological problems in various settings (clinics, hospitals, private practice).

Cognitive Psychology

• Studies mental processes, especially perception, memory, decision-making, problem-solving, and consciousness.
• It views the mind as an information processor.

Psychology Subfields: Biopsychology/Neuroscience

• Focuses on the biological foundations of behavior.
• Biopsychologists examine how brain processes, genes, hormones, and evolution influence thoughts, feelings, and actions.
• Certain biopsychologists attempt to explain how evolution has shaped psychological capabilities and behaviors.

Developmental Psychology

• Examines human physical, psychological, and social development throughout the lifespan.
• Includes studying emotional development in infants and the impact of parenting styles.

Experimental Psychology

• Focuses on basic psychological processes (e.g., learning, sensation, perception).
• Uses laboratory experiments (often with animals).
• Employs tools such as sensory systems, and motivation measures like hunger, thirst, and sexual motivation.

Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology

• Studies human behavior within the workplace.
• Investigates factors influencing job satisfaction, workplace motivation, and employee performance , such as teamwork and leadership.

Personality Psychology

• Studies human personality traits and how these traits relate to each other and influence behavior.
• Seeks to identify and understand these core personality traits.

Social Psychology

• Examines thoughts, feelings, and behaviours in a social context.
• Studies how people influence one another, people's behavior in groups, their forming impressions and attitudes, social relationships (attraction, love, prejudice, discrimination, helping behavior, and aggression).

The Scientific Approach

• Psychology uses a scientific approach.
• Relies on empirical evidence (gained through experience and observation, includes experiments and manipulation).
• Employs observation (measurement), which typically involves the observation of behavior.
• Aims to minimize bias in research.

Critical Thinking

• Critical thinking involves taking an active role in understanding the world.
• It is a crucial element in the scientific approach.
• Questions to consider include: "What is the claim?" "Is the source credible?" "What is the evidence?" "Are there alternative explanations?" and "What is the appropriate conclusion?"

Four Goals of Psychology

• Describe behavior and mental processes → "What?"
• Explain the causes of behavior → "Why?"
• Predict how people and animals will behave under specific conditions → Prediction
• Influence and control behavior through knowledge → influencing and controlling behavior.

Confirmation Bias

• Biases that involve selectively focusing on information that aligns with pre-existing beliefs and downplaying contradicting information.

Basic and Applied Research

• Basic research: Focuses on building and testing scientific theories to describe how people behave, and identify factors influencing this behavior; expands and enhances our understanding of nature.
• Applied research: Uses principles discovered through basic research to solve practical problems.

Perspectives on Behavior

• Youth and Beauty: What we perceive is influenced by our perspectives.
• Different perspectives: Guide our understanding of behavior. Diverse perspectives enrich our understanding in both a historical and contextual manner.

Mind-Body Dualism

• Dualism: The belief the mind is a spiritual entity, independent of physical laws.
• Materialism: Mind and body are one, not separate entities.

Structuralism

• Structuralism analyzes the mind by breaking it down into its basic elements or components, like sensations, perceptions.
• Method of introspection (looking within) was employed to understand these elements.
• German was the primary language of scientific communication within the field.

Functionalism

• Functionalism investigates how the mind functions in helping us adapt to the environment, rather than just analyzing its components (unlike structuralism).
• Endures in cognitive and evolutionary frameworks.
• An influential American psychologist, William James, helped establish psychology in North America when he created what many consider the first textbook on the subject in 1890.

Psychodynamic Perspective

• This perspective searches for the underlying causes of behavior within the complexities of our mental inner workings, in essence, in the unconscious mind.
• This view emphasizes the role of unconscious processes in shaping our personality and behavior.
• Problems arise from unresolved internal conflicts and unconscious motivation.
• Development is driven by experience.

Behaviorism

• Behaviorism emphasizes environmental control over behavior through learning.
• Focuses on observable behaviors rather than mental events.
• A central tenet that humans are born as blank slates, also called "tabla rasa", influenced by environment rather than innate factors.
• Behavior can be modified by changing the environment, thus enabling learning control.

Cognitive Behaviorism

• Cognitive behaviorism emphasizes the interplay between learning and environmental experiences, and the thoughts that give information to act effectively.
• It highlights how humans are "thinking creatures," not just reactive beings, and stresses that humans can learn through observation.

Humanistic Perspective

• Emphasizes free will, personal growth, and meaning-making in experience.
• This perspective contrasts with psychoanalysis, focusing instead on conscious motives and freedom of choice, self-actualization.

Gestalt Psychology

• Gestalt psychology examines how the mind organizes sensory experiences and makes sense of the world.
• It emphasizes that the whole is more than the sum of its parts (different from structuralism); and that the mind interprets sensory information in a structured and unified manner.

Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitive psychology studies mental processes, including perception, memory, decision-making, problem-solving, and language.
• It utilizes a computer analogy to explain information processing concepts.

Cognitive Neuroscience

• It employs sophisticated electrical recording and brain imaging techniques to study brain activity during cognitive tasks to examine how the brain influences our perceptions, thoughts, memories, and language acquisition

Sociocultural Perspective

• This approach examines how social and cultural environments affect behaviors, thoughts, and feelings.
• Important areas of study include social psychology (how people influence each other), cultural influences, and social norms (rules of behavior within groups).

Biological Perspective

• This perspective looks at how brain processes, biochemical processes, and genetic factors influence behavior.

Evolutionary Psychology

• It examines how evolution has shaped human behavior and mental abilities.
• This perspective examines how societal behaviors, including complex behaviors like aggression, competition, and nurturing are results of evolutionary processes.

Behavior Genetics

• Behavior genetics investigates the influence of genetic factors on behavioral tendencies, using concepts such as twin studies and environmental factors on behavior and thoughts.
• It examines the relationship between genetic factors and behavioral characteristics.

Methods of Research

• Descriptive Research: Observing and describing behavior in natural settings (e.g., case studies, naturalistic observation, surveys).
• Correlational Research: Examining relationships between variables (not necessarily cause-and-effect).
• Experimental Research: Manipulating one variable to determine its effect on another, while controlling other factors.

Naturalistic Observation

• observing behavior in natural settings.
• Advantage: detailed descriptions of behavior.
• Disadvantage: inability to draw causal conclusions; impact from observer bias; and limitations in generalizability.

Survey Research

• Collecting data by questioning a sample of people via interviews, questionnaires or online surveys; it is a method employed to study the characteristics of a population.
• Advantage: representative and quick results.
• Disadvantage: issues, such as social desirability bias, and potentially faulty generalizations if sampling is not representative of the population.

Correlation Research

• Correlational research assesses the association or relationship between two variables.
• It does not establish causality.
• It can help with prediction, as one variable can be used to anticipate the other.

Experiments

• Experiments manipulate one variable (independent variable) to observe its effect on another variable (dependent variable) while controlling other factors, creating a cause-and-effect relationship.
• Advantage: drawing causal conclusions about the relation between variables,
• Disadvantages: artificial settings; limitations in generalizing findings; and ethical constraints in certain cases.