CHAPTER #1
applied psychology: branch of psyc concerned with everyday, practical problems
behaviour: any overt (observable) response or activity made by an organism, including your private
(covert) behaviours that only you can see (you can observe what you think, but nobody else can)
behaviourism: theory based on the idea that scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour
cognition: the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge, involves thinking or conscious
experience
critical thinking: the use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desirable
outcome (good career choices, effective workplace decisions, wise investments, etc.), purposeful, reasoned,
and goal-directed thinking that involves problem-solving, making inferences/conclusions, probabilities, and
carefully making thought-out decisions
culture: the widely shared customs, beliefs. Values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community
that are transmitted socially across generations
empiricism: the premise that knowledge should be acquired thru observation (Psychologists are not content
with having ideas that sound plausible. They conduct research to test their ideas. Is intelligence higher, on
average, in some social classes than in others? Are men more aggressive than women? Psychologists find a
way to make direct, objective, and precise observations to answer such questions. The empirical approach
requires a certain attitude—a healthy brand of scepticism)
ethnocentrism: the tendency to view one’s own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging
the worth of foreign ways
evolutionary psychology: examines behavioural processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of
a species over the course of many generations, basic premise is that natural selection favours behaviours
that enhance organisms’ reproductive success (passing on genes to the next generation)
functionalism: believed that psychology should look at the function/purpose of consciousness, rather than
the structure, emergence was lead by William James, shows more interest in how people adapt their
behaviour to the real demands of the world
humanism: a theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their
freedom and their potential for personal growth
introspection: a method of self-report, but it is much more difficult to carry out the procedure of
introspection. Wundt (1879) set down some rather rigid rules for its proper use, including the following:
The observer/introspectionist must be in a state of "strained attention.", The observation must be able to
"repeat several times."The stimuli must be manipulable.
natural selection: favours behaviours that enhance organisms’ reproductive success (passing on genes to
the next generation), If a species is highly aggressive, evolutionary psychs argue that it’s because
aggressiveness conveys a survival or reproductive advantage for members of that species, so genes that
promote aggressiveness are more likely to be passed on to the next generation, heritable characteristics that
provide survival and reproductive advantage are more likely to be passed on to subsequent generations than
alternative ones and come to be “selected” over time
positive psychology: uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative, and
fulfilling aspects of human existence, “the aim of positive psychology is to begin to catalyze a change in
the focus of psychology from preoccupation with only repairing the worst things in life to also building
positive qualities”, the main areas of interest in the emerging field of positive psychology: positive
subjective experiences (positive emotions such as happiness, love, gratitude, contentment, and hope),
positive individual traits (personal strengths/virtues such as courage, perseverance, nurturance, tolerance,
creativity, integrity, and kindness), positive institutions and communities (focus on how societies can
foster civil discourse, strong families, healthy work environments, and supportive neighbourhood
communities) psychiatry: a branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of
psychological problems and disorders
1
,psychoanalytic theory: attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on
unconscious determinants of behaviour, was resisted within psychology because it conflicted with the spirit
of the times in psychology, many psychologists were changing from their focus on conscious behaviour to
the less murky/uncomfortable subject of observable behaviour, and if the conscious behaviour was making
them uncomfortable, the unconscious would be even worse, psychoanalysis began to trump psychology
with its popularity and forced other psychologists to begin applying their scientific methods to Freud’s
topics of personality, motivation, and abnormal behaviour and therapy because they saw merit in Freud’s
ideas
psychology: was rarey used among scholars until the early 18th century, by that time it acquired it’s literal
meaning = “ the study of the mind”, Scholars of history of psychology pointed to developments in
philosophy and physiology as influences in the course of early psychology, Ancient Greek Philosophers
( Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) considered and debated issues of relevance to psychology such as the separation
of mind and body, whether knowledge is inborn (nativism) or gained thru experience (empiricism)
SQ3R:
Survey: glance over the topic headings in the chapter to see where the chapter is going, allowing you to
better appreciate and organize the info you’re going to read
Question: once you have an overview, go section by section, looking at the first section heading and
making a question out of it (if heading is “stereotyping”, your question should be “what is stereotyping?”)
this gets you actively involved and helps you identify main ideas
Read: you are ready to read, but read only specific sections you have decided to tackle and focus on
answering the question you just made, may require re-reading if you cannot answer the question
Recite: once you have the answer to your question, recite the answer outloud to yourself, using your own
words, not moving onto another section until you understand the main ideas of the current section
Review: once you have read the entire chapter, refresh your memory by going back over the key points,
repeating the questions and trying to answer them without looking, this should fortify your retention of
the main ideas and help you see how the main ideas are related
stimulus: any detectable input from the environment, ranging from light and sound waves to complex
inputs such as the words on a page or a friend’s sarcasm
structuralism: task of psychology involving analyzing consciousness into it’s basic elements and
investigating the relation between these elements/fundamental components (sensations, feelings, images),
mostly concerned with vision, hearing, and touch (sensation and perception), emergence was lead by
Edward Titchener, naturally gravitates to the lab
testwiseness: the ability to use the characteristics and format of a cognitive test to maximize one’s score
unconscious: contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of unconscious
awareness, but nonetheless exert great influence on behaviour (slips of the tounge, such as “I decided to
take a summer school curse” appear to reveal one’s true feelings)
Research Areas:
developmental psychology: change in human development across the life span
social psychology: the relationship between interpersonal behaviours and social forces
experimental psychology: use of scientific methods to probe psychological phenomena, such as learning,
personality, cognition, etc.
physiological psychology: focuses on the relationship between the brain (and neural functions) and
biological responses
cognitive psychology: the study of how people think, perceive, learn, and retrieve information
personality psychology: focuses on patterns of thought, feelings, and behaviours that make people unique
psychometrics: measurement of aptitude, achievement, ability, intelligence, etc.
Specialty Areas:
clinical psychology: assessment and treatment of psychological, behavioural, and emotional problems
counselling psychology: focuses on everyday problems of moderate severity
2
,educational psychology: focuses on curriculum, learning, student outcomes, etc.
Industrial/organizational psychology: focuses on workplace issues, training, leadership training, etc.
Charles Darwin: Natural Selection theory
Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalytic Theory
G. Stanley Hall: Brought "Psychology" to the United States, first president of APA, opened first
experimental lab of psychology in US
Donald Hebb: Importance of physiological and neuropsychological perspectives. Cognitive Revolution-
He argued that the locus of behaviour should be sought in the brain.
William James: Emergence of functionalism; american scholar who originally studied
medicine. Carl Rogers: Launchec humanistic movement with publication of Client-Centered
Therapy Martin Seligman: Launched positive psychology movement
B. F. Skinner: Believer in Behaviorism-radical psychology should study only observable behavior, and he
generated controversy by arguing that free will is an illusion.
John B. Watson: Emergence of Behavioursim, argued that psychology should
study only observable behavior
Wilhelm Wundt: psychology should be a science and he set up the first research laboratory in psychology
in Lepzig
CHAPTER #2
anecdotal evidence: consists of personal stories about specific incidents and experiences, tends to be
unrepresentative, inaccurate, and unreliable (ex. one study found that psychology majors’ choices of future
courses to enrol in were influenced more my a couple of students’ brief anecdotes than by extensive
statistics on many other students’ ratings of the courses from the previous term)
case study: in-depth investigation of single participant, typically involcing data from many sources (ex.
detailed case histories are worked up for youngsters referred to counselling because of excessive aggressive
behaviour)
confounding of variables: occurs when two variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to
sort out their specific effects, when an extraneous variable is confounded with an independent variable, a
researcher cannot tell which is having what effect on the dependent variable
control group: Consists of similar subjects who do not receive the special treatment given to the
experimental group
correlation: exists when two variables are related to each other
correlation coefficient: numerical index of degree of relationship between two variables
correlational research: include naturalistic observation, case studies, and surveys, in which the researcher
cannot manipulate the variables under study, which means that these methods cannot be used to
demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships between variables, : permit investigators to only describe
patterns of behaviour and discover links/associations between variables, which can be extremely valuable
in efforts to understand behaviour
data collection techniques: procedures for making empirical observations and measurements (such as
direct observation, questionnaire, interview, psychological test, physiological recording, examination of
archival records)
dependent variable: the variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable
(X), usually a measurement of some aspect of the participants behaviour, it is thought to depend on
manipulations of the independent variable
independent variable: a condition or event that an experimenter varies/manipulates in order to see its
impact on another variable (Y), hypothesized to have some effect on the dependent variable, it is free to be
varied by the experiementer
extraneous variables: any secondary/nuisance variables other than the independent variable that seem
likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study (Ex. A participants’ personality or risk-taking
3
, propensity), these variables might make the researcher redo the experiment in a way that would make this
variable less of an issue
descriptive statistics: used to organize and summarize data, provide an overview of numerical data, key
descriptive statistics include measures of central tendency and variability, and the coefficient of
correlation double-blind procedure: a research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters
know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups, it avoids experimenter bias
ethical guidelines: respect for dignity of persons, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, and
responsibility to society
experiment: a research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled
conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result, allows researchers to
detect cause-and-effect relationships, a fairly complicated technique that must take into account the number
of factors that could affect the clarity of the results, the purpose is to find out whether changes in one
variable (X or the independent variable) causes changes in another variable (Y or the dependent variable
experimental group: Consists of the subjects who receive some special treatment in regard to the
independent variable
experimental research: a powerful research method that permits conclusions about cause-and-effect
relationships between variables
experimenter bias: occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study
influence the results obtained, essentially researchers sometimes seeing what they want to see and may lead
researchers to unintentionally influence the behaviour of their subjects (ex. when experimenters make
apparently honest mistakes when recording subjects’ responses, the mistakes tend to be heavily slanted in
favour of supporting the hypothesis)
fear and sexual attraction: dutton and aron They predicted that increased arousal would heighten the
sexual attraction of their research participants to members of the opposite sex to whom they were just
introduced, They measured sexual attraction in Study 1 in two ways: first evaluating the amount of sexual
imagery in participants’ responses to a projective measure, the Thematic Apperception Test, and second, by
assessing the number of participants in various conditions who called the experimental confederate (male
or female they just met after crossing the bridge) after the experiment had ended, Dutton and Aron used an
experiment, using males crossing either a high (high-anxiety or high-arousal) or low (anxiety/arousal)
brdge across the Capilano River in North Vancouver, They collected sexual imagery and recorded the
number of calls to the confederate after the participants crossed one of the bridges, Participants crossing
the high bridge were assumed and found to have higher levels of arousal than did those crossing the low
bridge hypothesis: a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables
inferential statistics: used to interpret data and draw conclusions by evaluating the possibility that their
results might be due to the fluctuations of chance
internet-mediated research: studies in which data collection is done using the internet, The internet offers
very enticing advantages in the data collection process, such as offering samples that are much larger and
much more diverse than the samples typically used in lab research, Once an online survey or experiment is
set up, data can be collected effortlessly 24hr a day, 7 days a week, Research assistants don't need to spend
endless hours running subjects in a lab and participants’ responses can be saved automatically into data files
for statistical analyses, Internet-mediated research can reduce costs and save time on studies (studies that
might require 6weeks to a year of data collection in the lab can sometimes be completed in a few weeks
instead, One major concern is the potential for sampling bias and although the population of Web users
grows daily, not everyone has access to the internet
journal: a periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a narrowly defined area of
inquiry (ex. Scholars in most fields (economics, chem, education, or psyc) publish the bulk of their work in
these journals)
mean: the arithmetic average of the scores, obtained by adding up and dividing the scores by the total
number them
4
applied psychology: branch of psyc concerned with everyday, practical problems
behaviour: any overt (observable) response or activity made by an organism, including your private
(covert) behaviours that only you can see (you can observe what you think, but nobody else can)
behaviourism: theory based on the idea that scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour
cognition: the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge, involves thinking or conscious
experience
critical thinking: the use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desirable
outcome (good career choices, effective workplace decisions, wise investments, etc.), purposeful, reasoned,
and goal-directed thinking that involves problem-solving, making inferences/conclusions, probabilities, and
carefully making thought-out decisions
culture: the widely shared customs, beliefs. Values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community
that are transmitted socially across generations
empiricism: the premise that knowledge should be acquired thru observation (Psychologists are not content
with having ideas that sound plausible. They conduct research to test their ideas. Is intelligence higher, on
average, in some social classes than in others? Are men more aggressive than women? Psychologists find a
way to make direct, objective, and precise observations to answer such questions. The empirical approach
requires a certain attitude—a healthy brand of scepticism)
ethnocentrism: the tendency to view one’s own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging
the worth of foreign ways
evolutionary psychology: examines behavioural processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of
a species over the course of many generations, basic premise is that natural selection favours behaviours
that enhance organisms’ reproductive success (passing on genes to the next generation)
functionalism: believed that psychology should look at the function/purpose of consciousness, rather than
the structure, emergence was lead by William James, shows more interest in how people adapt their
behaviour to the real demands of the world
humanism: a theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their
freedom and their potential for personal growth
introspection: a method of self-report, but it is much more difficult to carry out the procedure of
introspection. Wundt (1879) set down some rather rigid rules for its proper use, including the following:
The observer/introspectionist must be in a state of "strained attention.", The observation must be able to
"repeat several times."The stimuli must be manipulable.
natural selection: favours behaviours that enhance organisms’ reproductive success (passing on genes to
the next generation), If a species is highly aggressive, evolutionary psychs argue that it’s because
aggressiveness conveys a survival or reproductive advantage for members of that species, so genes that
promote aggressiveness are more likely to be passed on to the next generation, heritable characteristics that
provide survival and reproductive advantage are more likely to be passed on to subsequent generations than
alternative ones and come to be “selected” over time
positive psychology: uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative, and
fulfilling aspects of human existence, “the aim of positive psychology is to begin to catalyze a change in
the focus of psychology from preoccupation with only repairing the worst things in life to also building
positive qualities”, the main areas of interest in the emerging field of positive psychology: positive
subjective experiences (positive emotions such as happiness, love, gratitude, contentment, and hope),
positive individual traits (personal strengths/virtues such as courage, perseverance, nurturance, tolerance,
creativity, integrity, and kindness), positive institutions and communities (focus on how societies can
foster civil discourse, strong families, healthy work environments, and supportive neighbourhood
communities) psychiatry: a branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of
psychological problems and disorders
1
,psychoanalytic theory: attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on
unconscious determinants of behaviour, was resisted within psychology because it conflicted with the spirit
of the times in psychology, many psychologists were changing from their focus on conscious behaviour to
the less murky/uncomfortable subject of observable behaviour, and if the conscious behaviour was making
them uncomfortable, the unconscious would be even worse, psychoanalysis began to trump psychology
with its popularity and forced other psychologists to begin applying their scientific methods to Freud’s
topics of personality, motivation, and abnormal behaviour and therapy because they saw merit in Freud’s
ideas
psychology: was rarey used among scholars until the early 18th century, by that time it acquired it’s literal
meaning = “ the study of the mind”, Scholars of history of psychology pointed to developments in
philosophy and physiology as influences in the course of early psychology, Ancient Greek Philosophers
( Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) considered and debated issues of relevance to psychology such as the separation
of mind and body, whether knowledge is inborn (nativism) or gained thru experience (empiricism)
SQ3R:
Survey: glance over the topic headings in the chapter to see where the chapter is going, allowing you to
better appreciate and organize the info you’re going to read
Question: once you have an overview, go section by section, looking at the first section heading and
making a question out of it (if heading is “stereotyping”, your question should be “what is stereotyping?”)
this gets you actively involved and helps you identify main ideas
Read: you are ready to read, but read only specific sections you have decided to tackle and focus on
answering the question you just made, may require re-reading if you cannot answer the question
Recite: once you have the answer to your question, recite the answer outloud to yourself, using your own
words, not moving onto another section until you understand the main ideas of the current section
Review: once you have read the entire chapter, refresh your memory by going back over the key points,
repeating the questions and trying to answer them without looking, this should fortify your retention of
the main ideas and help you see how the main ideas are related
stimulus: any detectable input from the environment, ranging from light and sound waves to complex
inputs such as the words on a page or a friend’s sarcasm
structuralism: task of psychology involving analyzing consciousness into it’s basic elements and
investigating the relation between these elements/fundamental components (sensations, feelings, images),
mostly concerned with vision, hearing, and touch (sensation and perception), emergence was lead by
Edward Titchener, naturally gravitates to the lab
testwiseness: the ability to use the characteristics and format of a cognitive test to maximize one’s score
unconscious: contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of unconscious
awareness, but nonetheless exert great influence on behaviour (slips of the tounge, such as “I decided to
take a summer school curse” appear to reveal one’s true feelings)
Research Areas:
developmental psychology: change in human development across the life span
social psychology: the relationship between interpersonal behaviours and social forces
experimental psychology: use of scientific methods to probe psychological phenomena, such as learning,
personality, cognition, etc.
physiological psychology: focuses on the relationship between the brain (and neural functions) and
biological responses
cognitive psychology: the study of how people think, perceive, learn, and retrieve information
personality psychology: focuses on patterns of thought, feelings, and behaviours that make people unique
psychometrics: measurement of aptitude, achievement, ability, intelligence, etc.
Specialty Areas:
clinical psychology: assessment and treatment of psychological, behavioural, and emotional problems
counselling psychology: focuses on everyday problems of moderate severity
2
,educational psychology: focuses on curriculum, learning, student outcomes, etc.
Industrial/organizational psychology: focuses on workplace issues, training, leadership training, etc.
Charles Darwin: Natural Selection theory
Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalytic Theory
G. Stanley Hall: Brought "Psychology" to the United States, first president of APA, opened first
experimental lab of psychology in US
Donald Hebb: Importance of physiological and neuropsychological perspectives. Cognitive Revolution-
He argued that the locus of behaviour should be sought in the brain.
William James: Emergence of functionalism; american scholar who originally studied
medicine. Carl Rogers: Launchec humanistic movement with publication of Client-Centered
Therapy Martin Seligman: Launched positive psychology movement
B. F. Skinner: Believer in Behaviorism-radical psychology should study only observable behavior, and he
generated controversy by arguing that free will is an illusion.
John B. Watson: Emergence of Behavioursim, argued that psychology should
study only observable behavior
Wilhelm Wundt: psychology should be a science and he set up the first research laboratory in psychology
in Lepzig
CHAPTER #2
anecdotal evidence: consists of personal stories about specific incidents and experiences, tends to be
unrepresentative, inaccurate, and unreliable (ex. one study found that psychology majors’ choices of future
courses to enrol in were influenced more my a couple of students’ brief anecdotes than by extensive
statistics on many other students’ ratings of the courses from the previous term)
case study: in-depth investigation of single participant, typically involcing data from many sources (ex.
detailed case histories are worked up for youngsters referred to counselling because of excessive aggressive
behaviour)
confounding of variables: occurs when two variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to
sort out their specific effects, when an extraneous variable is confounded with an independent variable, a
researcher cannot tell which is having what effect on the dependent variable
control group: Consists of similar subjects who do not receive the special treatment given to the
experimental group
correlation: exists when two variables are related to each other
correlation coefficient: numerical index of degree of relationship between two variables
correlational research: include naturalistic observation, case studies, and surveys, in which the researcher
cannot manipulate the variables under study, which means that these methods cannot be used to
demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships between variables, : permit investigators to only describe
patterns of behaviour and discover links/associations between variables, which can be extremely valuable
in efforts to understand behaviour
data collection techniques: procedures for making empirical observations and measurements (such as
direct observation, questionnaire, interview, psychological test, physiological recording, examination of
archival records)
dependent variable: the variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable
(X), usually a measurement of some aspect of the participants behaviour, it is thought to depend on
manipulations of the independent variable
independent variable: a condition or event that an experimenter varies/manipulates in order to see its
impact on another variable (Y), hypothesized to have some effect on the dependent variable, it is free to be
varied by the experiementer
extraneous variables: any secondary/nuisance variables other than the independent variable that seem
likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study (Ex. A participants’ personality or risk-taking
3
, propensity), these variables might make the researcher redo the experiment in a way that would make this
variable less of an issue
descriptive statistics: used to organize and summarize data, provide an overview of numerical data, key
descriptive statistics include measures of central tendency and variability, and the coefficient of
correlation double-blind procedure: a research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters
know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups, it avoids experimenter bias
ethical guidelines: respect for dignity of persons, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, and
responsibility to society
experiment: a research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled
conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result, allows researchers to
detect cause-and-effect relationships, a fairly complicated technique that must take into account the number
of factors that could affect the clarity of the results, the purpose is to find out whether changes in one
variable (X or the independent variable) causes changes in another variable (Y or the dependent variable
experimental group: Consists of the subjects who receive some special treatment in regard to the
independent variable
experimental research: a powerful research method that permits conclusions about cause-and-effect
relationships between variables
experimenter bias: occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study
influence the results obtained, essentially researchers sometimes seeing what they want to see and may lead
researchers to unintentionally influence the behaviour of their subjects (ex. when experimenters make
apparently honest mistakes when recording subjects’ responses, the mistakes tend to be heavily slanted in
favour of supporting the hypothesis)
fear and sexual attraction: dutton and aron They predicted that increased arousal would heighten the
sexual attraction of their research participants to members of the opposite sex to whom they were just
introduced, They measured sexual attraction in Study 1 in two ways: first evaluating the amount of sexual
imagery in participants’ responses to a projective measure, the Thematic Apperception Test, and second, by
assessing the number of participants in various conditions who called the experimental confederate (male
or female they just met after crossing the bridge) after the experiment had ended, Dutton and Aron used an
experiment, using males crossing either a high (high-anxiety or high-arousal) or low (anxiety/arousal)
brdge across the Capilano River in North Vancouver, They collected sexual imagery and recorded the
number of calls to the confederate after the participants crossed one of the bridges, Participants crossing
the high bridge were assumed and found to have higher levels of arousal than did those crossing the low
bridge hypothesis: a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables
inferential statistics: used to interpret data and draw conclusions by evaluating the possibility that their
results might be due to the fluctuations of chance
internet-mediated research: studies in which data collection is done using the internet, The internet offers
very enticing advantages in the data collection process, such as offering samples that are much larger and
much more diverse than the samples typically used in lab research, Once an online survey or experiment is
set up, data can be collected effortlessly 24hr a day, 7 days a week, Research assistants don't need to spend
endless hours running subjects in a lab and participants’ responses can be saved automatically into data files
for statistical analyses, Internet-mediated research can reduce costs and save time on studies (studies that
might require 6weeks to a year of data collection in the lab can sometimes be completed in a few weeks
instead, One major concern is the potential for sampling bias and although the population of Web users
grows daily, not everyone has access to the internet
journal: a periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a narrowly defined area of
inquiry (ex. Scholars in most fields (economics, chem, education, or psyc) publish the bulk of their work in
these journals)
mean: the arithmetic average of the scores, obtained by adding up and dividing the scores by the total
number them
4
