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Introduction to Psychology Key Concepts

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Termini in questo insieme (22)

  • What is psychology?

    Psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour, analyzed at biological, psychological, and social levels.

  • Levels of analysis in psychology

    Psychology studies behaviour from biological (molecules, brain structure), psychological (thoughts, feelings), to social (relationships, culture) levels.

  • Five main challenges in psychology

    Challenges include: behaviour is multiply determined, influences are interdependent, individual differences, reciprocal influence, and cultural shaping of behaviour.

  • Why can't we always trust common sense?

    Common sense is limited by naive realism and biases; what seems obvious may be false, like the earth appearing flat or still.

  • Psychology as a science

    Psychology uses scientific methods to generate and test hypotheses, focusing on evidence rather than just common sense or beliefs.

  • Scientific theory vs hypothesis

    A theory explains many findings; a hypothesis is a testable prediction derived from a theory.

  • Confirmation bias

    The tendency to seek or favor evidence that supports our beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence.

  • Belief perseverance

    Continuing to hold onto initial beliefs even when faced with strong contradictory evidence.

  • Psychological pseudoscience

    Claims that appear scientific but lack evidence and fail to correct for bias or self-correct with new data.

  • Warning signs of pseudoscience

    Includes overuse of ad hoc hypotheses, lack of self-correction, and reliance on anecdotes instead of systematic evidence.

  • Patternicity

    Humans' tendency to detect meaningful patterns in random data, sometimes leading to false beliefs like the placebo effect.

  • The placebo effect

    Improvement in symptoms due to expectations from a treatment with no active medical ingredient, measurable by comparing placebo and control groups.

  • Six principles of scientific thinking

    Include ruling out rival hypotheses, correlation vs causation, falsifiability, replicability, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and Occam's razor.

  • Structuralism

    Early school by Wundt and Titchener aiming to identify basic elements of psychological experience using introspection.

  • Functionalism

    William James' approach focusing on the adaptive purposes of psychological traits, influenced by natural selection.

  • Behaviourism

    Watson and Skinner's focus on observable behaviour and learning principles, emphasizing environmental influences.

  • Cognitivism

    Study of mental processes underlying thinking, memory, and perception, led by Piaget and Neisser.

  • Psychoanalysis

    Freud and Jung's theory emphasizing unconscious mental processes influencing behaviour.

  • Modern psychology fields

    Includes clinical, counselling, school, developmental, experimental, biopsychology, forensic, and industrial-organizational psychology.

  • The nature-nurture debate

    Discussion on whether behaviour is shaped more by genetics (nature) or environment (nurture).

  • Free will vs determinism

    Debate on whether humans have free will or if behaviour is determined by environmental or biological factors.

  • Basic vs applied research in psychology

    Basic research explores how the mind works; applied research uses this knowledge to solve real-world problems.