PSYC1030 Study Guide - Final Guide: Jigsaw Puzzle, Scatter Plot, Statistical Inference
14 Jun 2018
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2. Distinguish between research perspective that emphasise internal and external factors.
3. Describe the origins of psychology as a science and major themes of psychology after the
19th century.
4. Identify the major research methods in Psychology and describe at least one of the major
research techniques relevant for each.
5. Define what is meant by a representative sample and an operational definition and
explain why these are important concepts in psychological research.
6. Use a scatter plot to interpret the relationship between two variables.
7. Explain the difference between a positive and negative correlation.
8. Distinguish between descriptive and inferential statistics.
9. Distinguish between an independant and dependant variable.
10. Define common measures of central tendency and variability and describe how these
allow us to understand how experimental data is distributed.
Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes Psychologists attempt to
understand which can be broken down into:
1. Observable behavior: Such as speech and physical movement
2. Mental processes: Such as remembering and thinking, which cannot be directly
observed
The four major research perspectives in psychology are perspectives emphasising internal
factors; Biological and Cognitive, and perspectives emphasising external factors; Behavioural
and Social/Cultural. All four perspectives are complementary; they fit together like the
pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to give us the complete picture. No one perspective is ette tha
another, as each one provides information of behavior and mental processing.
The biological perspective views our physiological hardware (especially the brain and
nervous system) as the major determinants of behavior and mental processing. In regards to
depression, a biological perspective would focus on a deficiency of activity for certain
chemicals in our nervous system as the cause of this disorder, and use anti-depressant drugs
to alleviate the disorder. A few weeks after starting to ingest the drugs, we feel better
because mood is in part a function of brain chemistry. Biological psychologists also study the
involvement of the various parts of the brain and nervous system on our behavior and
mental processing. For instance, vision is actually processed in the back of our heads (hence,
e eall do hae ees i the ak of ou heads, o oe peisel the ak of ou ais
The cognitive perspective emphasises how our mental processes, such as perception,
memory, and problem solving, work and impact our behavior. When explaining why people
become depressed, the cognitive psychology would focus on reasons such as how people
explain their successes and failures. If we blame ourselves for all of our setbacks (i.e., make
internal attributions), we might start to feel poorly about ourselves. However, if we realize
the situation played a role in some of our setbacks (i.e., make external attributions), we
might not feel so badly. This can also lead to not taking personal responsibility. Many people
epot poles eeeig othe peoples aes. Ofte, e lai it is eause e hae
bad memories or, is it that we never bothered to exert the mental energy required in the
fist plae to eode othe peoples ames? Both explanations may have validity, and such
explanations would be of interest to a cognitive psychologist.
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Behavioural perspective explains that we behave as we do because of our past history of
conditioning by our environment. There are two types of conditioning:
Classical Conditioning
Can explain how we learn fear and other emotional responses, taste aversions, and certain
other behaviors. E.g. When entering a department store, you may catch the scent of a
perfume or cologne of an old boyfriend or girlfriend, and instantly be reminded of that
person because during the relationship, you came to associate the scent with the person.
Operant Conditioning
Involves the relationship between our behavior and its environmental consequences. E.g.
If you ask a uestio i lass, ad the letue sas What a stupid uestio! ou ae
unlikely to ask questions in the future to avoid such an undesirable consequence. But, if the
letue pefaes his o he espose to the uestio ith Thats a iteestig uestio,
you may continue to ask questions in the future because of the desirable consequence of
being implicitly told you are smart.
Sociocultural perspective focuses on the impact of other people and culture on our behavior
and mental processing. E.g. In 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered in New York City late one
night. Many people heard her screams and cries for help, but no one called the police until
after the attacker had fled more than 30 minutes later. Subsequently, researchers devised
laboratory experiment that eaied ho patiula aiales ifluee peoples deisio
whether or not to help each other. In a group situation you have a dissolved responsibility
meaning you feel less responsible in a crowd for your behaviour.
History of psychology
This video provides an overview of the history of psychology and introduces you to the key
figures that have influenced the discipline to become what it is today. The story of
psychology, the study of mind and behavior, begins in the 4th century B.C. with the
philosophers Plato and Aristotle and continues over the next two millennia. These early
philosophes poided the fist isights fo uestios aout the hua id ut it ast
until 2000 years later that modern psychology started to take shape with the controversial
theories of Descartes, Hobbs and Gall who first began to grapple with the relationship
etee the hua ai ad id the id-od pole. Thoughout the 9th ad
20th century Psychology began to change dramatically to emerge as a field of science that
infuses various disciplines and encompasses a vast range of topics. This video will provide an
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important basis for understanding what Psychology is by tracing each transformation and
the pioneers who help create modern Psychology.
Nativist
Philosophical empirism
Dualism: Descartes
Thomas hobbes, franz gall, phrenology
Frouens and broca, mental processing
Helmholtz, structuralism to analyse basic components of the mind
James – functionalism
Freud – psychoanalytic theory
Humanisitic psychologists
Test ability is required
Behaviourism
Cognitive psychology
Social psychology
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Document Summary
Distinguish between research perspective that emphasise internal and external factors, describe the origins of psychology as a science and major themes of psychology after the. The four major research perspectives in psychology are perspectives emphasising internal factors; biological and cognitive, and perspectives emphasising external factors; behavioural and social/cultural. All four perspectives are complementary; they fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to give us the complete picture. No one perspective is (cid:862)(cid:271)ette(cid:396)(cid:859) tha(cid:374) another, as each one provides information of behavior and mental processing. The biological perspective views our physiological hardware (especially the brain and nervous system) as the major determinants of behavior and mental processing. In regards to depression, a biological perspective would focus on a deficiency of activity for certain chemicals in our nervous system as the cause of this disorder, and use anti-depressant drugs to alleviate the disorder.
