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Psychology Chapter 1 (LCC PSYC200)

Terms

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Psychology
The science that seeks to understand behavior and mental processes, and to apply that understanding in the service of human welfare.
The 6 Main Perspectives in Psychology
1. Biological
2. Evolutionary
3. Psychodynamic
4. Behavioral
5. Cognitive
6. Humanistic
Biological Psychology
A study of the biological factors influencing behavior & mental processes.
Evolutionary Psychology
Supports the view that emphasizes the inherited, adaptive aspects of behavior and mental processes.
Psychodynamic Psychology
Supports the Freudian view that emphasizes unconscious mental processes in explaining human thought, feelings & behavior.
Behavioral Psychology
Supports the assumption that human behavior is determined mainly by what a person has learned in life, especially by rewards & punishments.
Cognitive Psychology
A study of basic mental processes such as sensation, perception, learning, memory, problem solving, etc.
Humanistic Psychology
(Phenomenological Psychology)
Similar to the cognitive approach, however, focus is more on individual perceptions, whereas cognitive psychologists focus more on general laws governing all people's thoughts & actions. Also emphasizes an individual's potential for growth.
Personality Psychology
A study of people's unique characteristics and individuality.
Developmental Psychology
A study to understand, describe & explore how behavior & mental processes change over the course of a lifetime.
Quantitative Psychology
A study to develop statistical methods for evaluating & analyzing data from psychological research.
Clinical & Counseling Psychology
A study to assess, understand & modify abnormal behavior.
Community Psychology
A study to obtain psychological services for underserved client groups. Also a study to prevent psychological disorders by working for changes in social systems.
Educational Psychology
A study of methods by which instructors teach & students learn as a means to improve such methods.
School Psychology
A study to test IQ, diagnose students' academic problems, & set up programs to improve students' achievement.
Social Psychology
A study of how people influence one another's behavior & attitudes, especially in groups.
Industrial & Organizational Psychology
A study of factors that influence people's performance in the workplace.
Health Psychology
A study of the effects of behavior on health & the impact of illness on behavior & emotion.
Sport Psychology
A study to maximize athletic performance.
Forensic Psychology
A study of many aspects of psychology & law, including creating criminal profiles, assisting with jury selection, & assisting with the legal aspects of insanity and psychology.
Engineering Psychology
A study of the relationship between human beings & the computers & other machines they use as a means to improve that relationship.
Environmental Psychology
A study of the relationship between people's physical environment & their behavior.
Critical thinking
The process of assessing claims & making judgements on the basis of well-supported evidence.
The five steps in the critical thinking process
1. "What am I being asked to believe or accept?"

2. "Is there evidence available to support the claim?"

3. "Can that evidence be interpreted another way?"

4. "What evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?"

5. "What conclusions are most reasonable?"
Reliability
The degree to which test results or other research evidence occurs repeatedly.
Validity
The degree to which evidence from a test or other research method measures what it is supposed to measure.
Theory
An integrated set of propositions used to explain certain phenomena, including behavior & mental processes.
The four basic research methods
1. Naturalistic Observation
2. Case Studies
3. Surveys
4. Experiments
Naturalistic Observation
The process of watching behavior without interfering as a phenomenon occurs in the natural environment. An example would be the observation of children in a daycare setting, with the observer hidden behind a one-way mirror. Unobtrusive observation yields a lot of useful information, however, people tend to act differently when they know they are being watched, so it is necessary to weigh the pros and cons.
Case Studies
Intensive examination of some phenomenon in a particular individual, group, or situation. An example would be the study of a woman who has three lobes in her brain and how her brain reacts differently to specific stimulus as compared to a common two-lobed brain. The results of such specific studies can generate raw material for further research, but the information does not represent people in general, and may contain bias since the situations are so isolated.
Surveys
Involve giving people questionnaires or interviews designed to describe their attitudes, beliefs, opinions & intentions regarding a certain subject, resulting in a broad portrait of a large group of people. An example of a survey would be a questionnaire asking you a number of questions regarding your health and how it is affected by the weather. Surveys are inexpensive ways of obtaining a wide array of information from many different kinds of people, however, the validity of the data depends in part to how the survey is worded and how honestly the questions are answered.
Experiments
Situations in which the researcher manipulates one variable and observes the effect of that manipulation on another variable, while holding all other variables constant. An example would be an experiment to judge whether violent television causes violent behavior in children. One group of children would watch violent television, while another group did not. The behavior of the children afterwards would be closely monitored and the results studied. Experiements are very useful because they provide possible explanations to the results of study, however, there are many variables that could cause bias and/or affect the outcome of the experiement.
Variables
Specific factors or characteristics that can take on different values in research.
Independent Variable
The variable manipulated in an experiment by the researcher.
Dependent Variable
The factor affected by the independent variable in an experiment.
Experimental Group
The group that receives the experimental treatment.
Control Group
The group that receives no treatment or at least provides some other baseline against which to compare the experimental group.
Hypothesis
A specific, testable proposition about a phenomenon.
Operational Definition
A statement that defines phenomena or variables by describing the exact research operations or methods used in measuring or manipulating them.
Confounding Variables
Factors that affect the dependent variable along with, or instead of, the independent variable. Three common sources of confounding variables are random variables, participants' expectations, and the experimenter's bias.
Random Assignment
A procedure through which random variables are evenly distributed in an experiment by placing participants in experimental & control groups on the basis of some random process, such as a coin flip.
Double-Blind Design
A research design in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know who is in the experimental group & who is in the control group.
Sampling
The process of selecting participants who are members of the population that the researchers wish to study.
Random Sample
A group of research participants selected from a population each of whose members had an equal chance of being chosen.
Biased Sample
A group of research participants selected from a population each of whose members did not have an equal chance of being chosen for the study.
Descriptive Statistics
Descriptions of a set of data.
Inferential Statistics
Mathematical procedures used to draw conclusions from data & to make assumptions about what they mean.
Correlation
The degree to which one variable is related to another.

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