What is psychology? ✔✔the scientific study of behavior and mental processes How did psychology begin as a field? ✔✔Wundt- wanted to be separate from philosophy and physiology Psychology's 4 goals ✔✔to describe, explain, predict, and to change Structuralism ✔✔Edward Titchener- every experience could be broken down into its individual emotions and sensations Functionalism ✔✔William James- how people work, play, and adapt to their surroundings Behaviorism ✔✔John Watson-the study of behavior Psychoanalysis ✔✔basis of modern psychotherapy. based off of Freud's ideas Sigmund Freud's ideas ✔✔there is an unconscious mind into which we push or repress all of our threatening urges and desires. Behavior stems from unconscious motivation Gestalt Psychology ✔✔Max Wertheimer- studying whole patterns rather than small pieces of them Psychodynamic perspective ✔✔unconscious mind and its influence over conscious behavior on wary childhood experiences Sociocultural perspective ✔✔combines social and cultural psychology Biological perspective ✔✔human and animal behavior is seen as a direct result of events in the body Evolutionary perspective ✔✔focuses on the biological bases for universal mental characteristics that all humans share (seeks to explain general mental strategies and traits) Psychologist ✔✔no medical training but has a doctorate degree Psychiatrist ✔✔has a medical degree and is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders Objective Introspection ✔✔the process of objectively examining and measuring ones own thoughts and mental activities Humanistic perspective ✔✔people have free will and strive for the achievement of ones full potential (self-actualization) Phi phenomenon ✔✔the optical illusion of perceiving continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession (lights blinking on and off in a circle it seems) Case study ✔✔an in-depth report about the details of a specific case (single participant) Observation ✔✔the action or process of observing something or someone carefully or in order to gain information Survey ✔✔to ask a question or a series of questions in order to gather information Correlation ✔✔prediction- takes a direction and has a magnitude (1 to -1) Double blind study ✔✔neither the participants or experimenter knows the exact treatment Single blind study ✔✔participants do not know the true purpose of the study or else do not know which type of treatment they are recieving Experiment ✔✔manipulation of one variable under controlled conditions so that resulting changes in another variable can be observed Independent variable ✔✔manipulated variable (I can change) - doesn't change at all (ex. time) Dependent variable ✔✔variable affected by manipulation Control group ✔✔similar subjects who don't receive special treatment Experimental group ✔✔subjects who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable Operational definition ✔✔exact description of how the variable will be quantified and measured Correlational coefficient ✔✔numerical index of degree of relationship Neuron ✔✔cell in the nervous system that sends and receives information throughout the body Sensory neuron ✔✔sends information from body to brain Motor neuron ✔✔sends information from brain to body Interneurons ✔✔connect sensory and motor neurons