Psychology Roots
Definition of psychology
the science of behavior and mental processes.
Behaviorism
What is nature?
To what extent are our traits already set in place at birth (our “Nature”)?
Hindsight Bias
•I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon
•The inclination to see events that have already occurred as being more predictable than they were before they took place.
Ethics are the moral principles that a person must follow, irrespective of the place or time.
Psychologist that used introspection to build a view of the mind structure.
Edward Titchener
Focus on early childhood experiences and the subconscious to understand emotional difficulties.
Freud, psychoanalysis
What is nurture?
To what extent do our traits develop in response to our environment/ experience (our “Nurture”)?
Overconfidence
We tend to overestimate our performance, our rate of work, our skills and our degree of self-control
4 major principles of research.
1.Informed Consent
2.Beneficence (do no harm)
3.Respect for anonymity & confidentiality
4.Fully debrief participants
Father of psychology
Wilhem Wundt
Studied people who were thriving rather than those who had psychological problems... how they can reach the highest, self- actualization.
Humanism
In Doug and Howard's case study, what did they learn to have in common after meeting?
They both got married the same year, had similar personality (laid-back), didn't like seasonings, loved steak, were both hockey coaches.
Perceiving order in random events
Our brains have a tendency to perceive order in some random events.
As humans it is our instinct to help us make sense of the world around us
We have been taught to learn patterns from a young age to help us remember and learn information, so it really is second nature to us.
Explain Milgram's study on obedience.
The procedure was that the participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find out who would be the ‘learner’ and who would be the ‘teacher.’ The draw was fixed so that the participant was always the teacher, and the learner was one of Milgram’s confederates (pretending to be a real participant). The were instructed to read a few words, whenever the learner had an incorrect answer, they teacher needed to administer a shock. He also needed to increase the voltage of the show the more wrong answers the learner got.
In your own words, describe the first psychology experiment
Push a button when a ball dropped (based on when they heard the ball hit a platform): 1/10th of a second.
Push a button when consciously aware of hearing the ball hit the platform: 2/10ths of a second.
Studied what role do our brains play in emotions? Focused on the scientific aspect of psychology
Neuropsychology
What is biopsychosocial?
Biology, psychology, and social influences work together to make us who we are. Is the interaction of the three elements. Biology: genes, brain, neuro-transmitters, survival, reflexes, sensation. Psychology: thoughts, emotions, moods, choices, behaviors, traits, motivations, knowledge, perceptions. Social influences: culture, education, relationships.
Classify the following correlation: Time you spend studying for a math test and your math test grade.
Positive correlation
List 3 unethical characteristics of the Stanford Prison Experiment.
1. Zimbardo's Dual- Role
2. Incredible physical and psychological harm suffered from the participants.
3. Lack withdraw from participation.