Introspection: Wilhelm Wundt set up first psychology lab where he trained people in introspection. This
included having people record their cognitive reactions to certain stimuli. Though this Wundt wanted to
study basic cognitive structures. He then came up with his theory of structuralism- the idea the mind
operates by combining subjective, emotions, and objective sensations.Wundt also published the first book
called The principles of psychology. James Cattell examined the structures that Wundt identified. James
called his theory functionalism- Where experience of the conscious is more important than the structure.
Main contributors: Wihelm Wundt, Edward Thichener, William James, G. Stanley Hall,
Gestalt Psychology: Believed that dividing human thought and behaviors were discrete structures. The
main concept was to examines not just bits and pieces of an experience but a person's experience as a
whole.
Main contributors: Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler
Behaviorism: Psychologist John B. Watson and Ivan Pavlov’s proposed theory that expresses that
psychology should be a an objective science based on observable behavior. It also should be a set of
studies without reference to mental processing.
The Biopsychology Perspective: explains human thought and behavior strictly in terms of biological
processes. Biopsychology is a rapidly growing field and some scientists wonder if the future of
psychology might be a branch of the science of biology.
The brain and nervous system are key to understanding behaviors, thoughts and emotions
Cognitions have a physical basis in the brain activity through neurons and neurotransmitters
Vocab Terms to know:
Cognition- The psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning
Genes- (genetics) A segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain
Hormones- The secretion of an endocrine gland that is transmitted by the blook to the tissue on which it
has a specific effect
Neurotransmitters- A neurochemical that transmits nerve impulses across a synapse
Extroverted- Being concerned with the social and physical environment
The Evolutionary Perspective: emphasizes how behavior and mental processes are adaptive for survival.
Traits such as memory, language, and perception are the products of natural selection
Focuses on how evolution has shaped the mind and behavior
Vocab Terms to know:
Evolutionary psychologists- Examine human thoughts and actions in terms of natural selection
Sociobiologists- Another term used for Evolutionary Psychologists
Natural selection- The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and
produce more offspring.
Important People
Charles Darwin - Created a Theory of Evolution, that mutations will occur over time with genetic codes
that will help aid in survival (Natural Selection)
John Tooby- Helped pioneer the field of evolutionary psychology with his wife Leda Cosmides.
Leda Cosmides- Along with her husband John Tooby, they co founded the Center of Evolutionary
Psychology
David Buss- Primary topics of his research were mating strategies, conflict between sexes, status, social
reputation, and more all approached from an evolutionary perspective
Psychoanalytic Perspective:
- The method of psychological therapy originated by Sigmund Freud in which free association, dream
interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious
impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts, in order to free psychic energy for mature love and work.
-Sigmund Freud
Free association = a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever
comes to mind no matter how trivial or embarrassing
-Defense Mechanisms:
o Repression
o Regression
o Reaction formation
o Projection
o Rationalization
o Displacement
o Denial
-The mind is separated into:
o Unconscious (contains id and part of superego)
o Preconscious (outside awareness but accessible)
o Conscious (contains the ego and part of the superego)
§ Id: unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic drives and operates on the
pleasure principle
§ Ego: operates on reality principle and seeks to gratify the id in a realistic way (contains
partly conscious perceptions thoughts, judgments and memories
§ Superego (develops as through maturation): the voice of our conscience that considers
the real and ideal while focusing on how we should behave
-Personality development = psychosexual stages
o Oral (0-18 months)
o Anal (18 mo.-3 years)
o Phallic (3-6 yrs)
o Latency (6-puberty)
o Genital (puberty on)
-Carl Jung: Neo-Freudian who put less emphasis on social factors but agreed that the unconscious has a
powerful influence
● Collective Unconscious: proposed that there is a common reservoir of images that come from our
universal experience
-Alfred Adler: believed childhood social, rather than sexual, tensions result in personality formation
● inferiority complex: behavior is driven efforts to overcome childhood feelings of inferiorty
Humanistic Perspective:
The approach to psychology that emphasizes feelings and emotions and the better understanding of the
self in terms of observation of oneself and one's relations with others.
o Stresses individual choice and free will
§ Our behaviors are mostly chosen and guided by our own physiological, emotional or spiritual
needs
o Contrasts with deterministic behaviorists (all behaviors are caused by previous conditioning)
o Personality is defined by one’s self-concept
§ Positive self-concept= positive actions and perceptions of the world
§ Negative = fall short of ideal self and feel dissatisfied and unhappyl
Abraham Maslow
o Proposed we are motivated by a hierarchy of needs with the ultimate goal of self-actualization
(fulfilling our potential) and self-transcendence (find meaning, purpose and communion beyond
self)
Carl Rogers (person-centered perspective)
o People are basically good with self-actualizing tendencies and in a growth promoting climate
they are primed for growth and fulfillment
o Three conditions to a growth-promoting climate (esp. in therapy):
§ Genuineness – being open with feelings, dropping facades, and being transparent and
self-disclosing
§ Acceptance – offering unconditional positive regard
§ Empathy – sharing and mirroring feelings in reflecting meanings
Research and Methods:
Behavioral perspectives
-This approach to psychology emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavior and what can be
controlled by the patient, rather studying the unobservable consciousness that isn’t able to be controlled.
This approach uses reward and punishment to decrease and increase certain or desired behaviors. Studies
have shown that reward works better to strengthen desired behaviors rather than using punishment to
decrease undesired behaviors.
- Behavioral Psychologists say that the personality and behavior can be learned by observing others and
seeing which behaviors are rewarded and punished. In turn this will create the behavior of others
Major contributors: Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura
Cognitive Perspective
● This perspective is almost a tie off of behavioral perspectives and they almost work together. The
cognitive psychologists thought that behavior couldn’t be described and learned just off of
observation. Behavior is also developed with the mind. The mind is a major roles in the
processing and responses to the environmental information.
● Mainly focuses on the internal mental processes such as information processing and the storage
and retrieval of memories.
Major contributors: Alfred Binet, Lawrence Kohlberg, Robert Sternberg, Jean Piaget
Social Perspective
●
●
Humans behavior and personality are determined and influenced greatly by presence of others
and their power. Social Psychologists study many factors that the presence of others may change
like the nature of love, prejudice, aggressiveness, obedience, and social conformity.
Many of the main factors that develop the behavior of other in the social perspective is their
social interaction, socialization, gender, race, ethnicity, and cross-cultural differences.
Major contributors: Erving Goffman, Lev Vygotsky
Inferential Statistics: The use of current information regarding a sample of subjects to make assumptions
about the population as a whole and what might happen in the future.
Animal and Human Research
● Many people study animals and test on animals because they think they are fascinating.They want
to see how different species differentiate in thinking, learning, and behaving.
● This has brought many advantages to us because it has helped create many medicines for deadly
and common diseases.
Critical thinking: The process of assessing claims and making judgments on the basis of well-supported
evidence.
Methods of research:
Naturalistic Observation: The process of watching without interfering as behavior occurs in the natural
environment. (Ex. Jane Goodall with the apes)
■Valuable when more intrusive measures might alter behavior
■Can be distorted when people know they are being watched
■Describes behavior but doesn’t answer the “why” in psychology
Direct Observation: Observing behavior under controlled conditions in an experimental or laboratory
settings. (Ex.Prison experiment)
● Unnatural environment may change behavior
● Observations may be biased
Case Study: Intensive examinations of behavior/mental process in a particular individual, group,
situation- great depth of information. (Ex. many of freud's cases)
● Useful when studying something new, complex, or rare
● Only includes information researcher find relevant (can be biased)
● May not be representative of general population
Survey: Use of questionnaires or interviews to ask about behavior, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, intentions.
● Provides a wide-angle view of large groups
● Validity depends of wording and clarity
● Random sample usually best
● People may be reluctant to be honest or will say what they think they should
● Response biases or data collection problems
Tests and similar measurement tools:( Ex. MCA, SAT)
■ More objective data than interviews/questionnaires
■Can be evaluated statistically- easy to compare
■Many different types
Correlation Studies:
●
Uses data from surveys, case studies, observations, ect. to reveal possible
relationships between variables.
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●
Surest way to test a hypothesis and confirm cause and effect.
Situations in which the researcher manipulates one variable and the observes the
effect on another variable, while holding all other variables constant.
Experiments:
Descriptive Statistics
Terms to know:
Descriptive Statistics- a set of data
Frequency distribution- a distribution of observed frequencies of occurrence of the values of a variable
Mean- the average of data (add all numbers together, then divide by number of numbers)
Median- the middle number (put numbers in order from smallest to largest and find the middle number
Mode- the number that occurs the most
Extreme scores- zero and/or perfect scores
Outliers- numbers in the series that can wildly change the results (2,34,35,35,36,39) 2 is the outlier
Positive/Negative Skews- a positive skew has a tail to the right, and a negative skew has a tail to the left
Measures of variability- descriptive statistical measures
Range- difference between highest and lowest number in distribution
Variance- measure based on the deviations of individual scores from the mean
Standard Deviation- average amount by which scores in a distribution differ from the mean, ignoring the
sign of difference
Z scores- measure the distance of a score from the mean in units of standard deviation
When a distribution includes outliers, the median is often used as a better measure of central tendency
Terms to know:
Correlation- measures the relationship between two variables
Correlation Coefficient- range from -1 and +1 where -1 is a perfect, negative correlation and +1 is perfect,
positive correlation
Scatter Plot- a graph of pairs of values, one on the y-axis and one on the x-axis
Line of best fit or regression line- the line drawn through the scatter plot that minimizes the distance of all
the points from the line
If two things are positively correlated the presence of one thing predicts the presence of the other
Negative correlations means presence of one thing and predicts the absence of the other
Correlations can be strong or weak
No correlation means that knowing someone about one variable tells you nothing about the order