Psychology General
Psychology is the ____________ study of human behavior and mental processes. (what word goes in the blank space?)
Psychology is the SCIENTIFIC study of human behaviour and mental processes.
What is the name of the variable that is measured in a study?
The dependent variable.
What do psychological theories attempt to explain?
how and why people behave and think in particular ways
What is the definition of "psychology?"
The scientific study of human behaviour and mental processes.
The group in an experiment that receives a treatment that is expected to have an effect is called the ....(what)... group?
Treatment group
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and ...?
mental processes / cognitive processes / cognition / internal processes (any of these terms is fine).
What is the name of the variable that is manipulated by the researchers in a study?
The Independent variable
What is the name of one theory in psychology?
social cognitive theory, realistic group conflict theory, social identity theory, schema theory, etc.
When one variable increases, so does the other. What's this called?
A positive correlation.
What is it called when you give someone a treatment (e.g. pill or injection) that has no biological effects, but may have an effect if the person believes it will?
A placebo.
In psychology, is anecdotal or empirical evidence more valuable?
Empirical
What is the name given to a variable that might affect the dependent variable but is not what the researchers are interested in studying?
Extraneous variable.
What do psychological theories and studies have in common?
They both try to explain how variables influence behavior.
When one variable increases, the other decreases. What is this called?
Negative correlation.
Name one part of the brain that we studied
frontal lobe or prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, the fusiform gyrus, the temporal lobe, the hippocampus, etc.
In the scientific approach to studying psychology, after we gather data and form a hypothesis, what's the next step?
Test the hypothesis.
Why are laboratory experiments used to investigate causational relationships?
Because extraneous variables can be controlled in a laboratory, so the IV can be isolated as the only variable influencing the DV.
What is one reason why it's important to understand the relationship between studies and theories?
One reason is because studies form the important pieces of evidence that support the theories.
What is a "phenomenon" in psychology?"
Anything that is commonly observed, especially if there is some uncertainty about its origin. Basically, if people commonly act or think in a particular way, it probably has a name and is an example of a phenomenon.
Name one neurotransmitter (at least one was mentioned in activities in this introduction unit).
Serotonin, acetylcholine, dopamine, etc.
What is the difference between a mental process and a cognitive process?
There is none (they're the same)
What are two reasons why we might not be able to conclude a causational relationship from a study?
1) There are too many extraneous or confounding variables. 2) We do not know the direction of the relationship in the study (i.e. which variable is affecting which).
What is the difference between a psychological theory and a model?
Theories try to explain why a phenomenon occurs, whereas models try to illustrate how a phenomenon occurs
Whereas a psychological theory attempts to explain relationships between variables and behavior, a model describes how a particular psychological phenomenon happens - there is not necessarily an explanation for the phenomenon in a model, but it's component parts are just diagrammed or described.
What is it called when we're not sure of the direction of influence in a relationship between two variables?
Bidirectional ambiguity
What are the names of Ms. Coufal's 2 cats?
Willow and Luna