PSYCH 202 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Memory, Major Depressive Disorder, Anxiety
12 Oct 2018
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PSYCH 202
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
What is psychology?
**The study of mind and behavior
Study of chemicals in the brain and how those chemicals affect decisions
Study of mental life
Study of how people react to stimuli
Looking at why we do what we do
The study of human psychological development
Identifying our tendencies and giving them a name
Word comes from Greek psyche(soul) and logos(to study)
Scientific aspect, mind, behavior
The mind refers to the private inner experience of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and
feelings, an ever-flowing stream of consciousness
Behavior refers to observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals, the things that
we do in the world, by ourselves of with others.
The science of behavior and mental processes-Sdorow
Behavioral psychology is the science of pulling habits out of rats-Dr. Douglas Busch
We're not so different from mice and rats, we can learn a lot from their behaviors
The type of parenting you get as an infant can change your DNA, how genetic expressions
change life experiences.
The science of mental life-William James, one of the first psychologists
Psychology is a set of questions, get at something very fundamental about science, we want to
know why we do the things we do, which leads to more questions, we are always questioning
and critical thinking, we're constantly learning and discovering new things about behavior and
how the mind and brain work.
Is intelligence something you are born with (entity) or like any other skill, the more effort you
put in the more intelligence you will have(incremental)?
Plato and Aristotle were among the first philosophers to struggle with fundamental questions
about how the mind works.
Plato was a strong proponent of nativism - the view that certain kinds of knowledge are innate
or inborn
Aristotle believed that the child's mind was a blank slate on which only experiences could write,
and was a strong proponent of what we now call philosophical empiricism - the view that all
knowledge is acquired through experience.
Nature vs nurture
Plato and Aristotle had no means of testing these positions. The scientific approach is what
separates psychology and philosophy
Psych is a young science, we have wondered about it for a long time, but the study of it dates
back to Wilhelm Wundt the father of modern psychology, he established first psychology lab -
1879. A physiology professor, he had a psych lab in his home. Interested in studying the mind,
what psych as a science should is organize and categorize the different structures(parts) of the
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
mind - structuralism. To do this we need to collect data - empiricism. Unlike philosophy.
Believed that psychology should focus on analyzing consciousness - a person's subjective
experience of the world and the mind.
Introspection - process of reflecting on your experiences, experience some sorts of stimuli.
Would hold onto warm and cold pipes. The two made each other seem more extreme. All
about perceptions. A method that asks people to report on the contents of their subjective
experience.
Structuralism - The classification of mental structure, the analysis of the basic elements that
constitute the mind
Edward Titchener - Cornell, elements of consciousness
James agreed with Wundt on the importance of immediate experience and the usefulness of
introspection as a technique, but he disagreed with Wundt's claim that consciousness could be
broken down into separate elements. James believed that trying to isolate and analyze a
particular moment of consciousness was absurd because consciousness was like a flowing
stream that could only be understood in its entirety. He also felt like Wundt was asking the
wrong question: he was asking what consciousness was made of rather that what
consciousness was for.
Functionalism- the study of the purpose that mental processes serve. An approach developed
by James.
William James - First American psychologist - Harvard University, functionalism first professor
of psychology, influenced by Charles Darwin. We should study the mind and how it changes as a
result of experience. Consciousness is like a stream, we can never step in the same stream
because it's always streaming and changing. Used introspection as his research mechanism. The
first psychology lecture he ever heard was the first one he gave. Darwin had recently published
a book on evolution that fascinated James. He proposed the principle of natural selection - the
features of an organism that help it survive and reproduce are more likely than other features
to be passed on to subsequent generations. Suggested that psychology's mission should be to
execute that function, the psychological process that helps people survive and reproduce.
Behaviorism- a psych revolution. The scientific study of behavior and its environmental
determinants. Dominant in psych. An approach that advocates that psychologists restrict
themselves to the scientific study of objectively observable behavior.
Pavlov-research on learning, rang a bell and presented dogs with food, how dogs associated the
bell and food. Dog eventually salivated when bell was heard
Stimulus- a sensory input from the environment
Response- a reaction to a stimulus
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Study of chemicals in the brain and how those chemicals affect decisions. Looking at why we do what we do. Identifying our tendencies and giving them a name. Word comes from greek psyche(soul) and logos(to study) The mind refers to the private inner experience of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings, an ever-flowing stream of consciousness. Behavior refers to observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals, the things that we do in the world, by ourselves of with others. Behavioral psychology is the science of pulling habits out of rats-dr. douglas busch. We"re not so different from mice and rats, we can learn a lot from their behaviors. The type of parenting you get as an infant can change your dna, how genetic expressions change life experiences. The science of mental life-william james, one of the first psychologists. Plato and aristotle were among the first philosophers to struggle with fundamental questions about how the mind works.
