PSYCH 101 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Tobacco Smoking, The Experiment, Speech Perception
PSYCH 101
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Chapter 1 – Psychological Science
Defining Psychology
-Scientific study of all behavior and mental processes
-Uses objective methods to observe processes
-Has ethical guidelines for what can be conducted in a psychological study
Behavior
-Observable actions
-Ex. Smoking, speaking/writing, brainwaves
Mental Processes
-Inferred by observing behavior
-Ex. Emotions, problem solving skills, imagination
Seven Contemporary Approaches to Studying Psychology
1. Biological/ Neuroscience
-Studies of the brain and nervous system
2. Behavioral
-Studies animal behaviors as shaped by the environment
-Developed by Watson and Skinner
3. Psychodynamic/ Psychoanalytical
-Uses unconscious forces and childhood experiences to explain psychological behavior
-Developed by Freud
4. Humanistic
-Observes strengths, growth and freedom of choice is affected psychological behavior
5. Cognitive
-Mental processes, memory and intelligence affect psychological behavior
6. Evolutionary
-Individuals adapt to environment to meet basic needs, affects psychological behavior
7. Sociocultural
-Influence of social environment on the development of psychological behavior
Types of Psychological Research
-Experimental – research that shows cause and effect of certain variables on whatever is
being studied
-Descriptive – give data context and explanations (hypotheses)
find more resources at oneclass.com
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-Correlational – Shows relationships between variables (ex. Smoking and lung cancer)
Experimental Research
-Establishes cause and effect between variables
Ex. Does sleep deprivation cause cognitive problems?
-Choose variables (conditions or characteristics that can change)
-2 kinds of variables:
1. Independent - variable that is directly manipulated
-Experimenter controls this
2. Dependent - Changes after manipulation of independent variable
- Reflects outcome of changed variable
-Control group- participants who are not given experimental variable
- used to compare experimental individuals to
-Establish operational definition
-Exactly how a variable is measured
-Ex. Sleep deprivation = x hours without sleep
Example Experiment – 2014 Study of Sleep Deprivation by Fostick, Babkoff and Zukerman
-Independent Variables: Amount of sleep by individuals
-Control group- participants with normal sleep patterns
-Experimental group – participants with no sleep
-Dependent variables – speech perception
-Participants made to repeat words presented to them at different speeds and
observe how many errors were made.
The experimenters ensured that no confounding variables, or unintended variables that could
disrupt experimental results, were introduced
-They did this by:
-ensuring participants had normal hearing
-participants were native speakers
-participants had no learning difficulties
The experiment was then approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Multiple trials of
this experiment were done to collect as much data as possible.
Results:
-Data showed that sleep deprived participants made errors more frequently than
participants with regular sleep
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Scientific study of all behavior and mental processes. Has ethical guidelines for what can be conducted in a psychological study. Studies animal behaviors as shaped by the environment. Seven contemporary approaches to studying psychology: biological/ neuroscience, behavioral, psychodynamic/ psychoanalytical, humanistic, cognitive, evolutionary, sociocultural. Uses unconscious forces and childhood experiences to explain psychological behavior. Observes strengths, growth and freedom of choice is affected psychological behavior. Mental processes, memory and intelligence affect psychological behavior. Individuals adapt to environment to meet basic needs, affects psychological behavior. Influence of social environment on the development of psychological behavior. Experimental research that shows cause and effect of certain variables on whatever is being studied. Descriptive give data context and explanations (hypotheses) Control group- participants who are not given experimental variable. Used to compare experimental individuals to: independent - variable that is directly manipulated, dependent - changes after manipulation of independent variable. Choose variables (conditions or characteristics that can change)
