PSY 201 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Central Tendency, Scatter Plot, Object Permanence
2 Jul 2018
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Psych 201 Midterm Study Guide
Chapter 1 - Introduction
List and explain the seven themes of psychological science.
1. Psychology is an empirical science
○ The scientific method: objective, systematic procedures used to understand what is
being studied
○ Understanding how science is conducted makes it possible to tell which studies are
credible and which are not
2. Nature and nurture are inexorably entwined
○ are psychological characteristics a product of nature or nurture?
■ biologically innate or acquired through education, experience, and culture
○ psychologists now widely recognize both as important
3. The brain and mind are inseparable
○ Rene Descartes’ theory of dualism
■ maintained the distinction between mind and body
■ assigned the body many mental functions previously considered the mind’s
domain
○ Psychological scientists largely reject dualist thinking
■ mind is what the brain does
○ Story of Phineas Gage
■ rod shoved through his head
■ damaged his brain and completely changed his personality
4. A new biological revolution is energizing research
○ growth in understanding mental activities’ biological bases
■ interest in biology permeates psychological science
○ Example:
■ mice should run away from cats, after damaging parts of the brain of the mice
some of them reacted differently
5. The mind is adaptive
○ the brain has evolved over millions of years to solve problems related to survival and
reproduction
○ mind is adaptive in biological and cultural terms
■ genetic mutations
○ evolutionary theory:
■ determining whether human mechanisms are adaptive
■ need to be aware of the challenges of our ancestors in order to understand
our current behavior
■ preference as humans for sweet and fatty foods
■ mating preferences (attraction)
■ males look for youthful appearing female in order to pass their
genes in the future. Females, on the other hand, look for
maturity, dominance, affluence and boldness in males.
■ Solving adaptive problems
■ At about 9 months we develop stranger anxiety, we begin walking
■ Humans may have “cheater detectors”
■ Visual cliff: Infants won’t crawl over the cliff, even if their mothers are
standing on the other side encouraging them to do so
■ Adaptive mechanisms enhance our chances of survival
■ ex: scared of snakes and spiders, don’t like bitter tastes
(poisons)
○ culture provides adaptive solutions
■ dependency on group culture
■ cultural evolution has been much faster than biological evolution
■ there is evidence that people from different cultures possess different minds
6. Psychological science crosses levels of analysis
○ four levels of analysis reflect the most common research methods for studying
behavior
■ biological
■ the physical body contributes to mind and body
■ neurochemical and genetic processes
■ individual
■ difference in personality
■ mental processes that affect how people perceive the world
■ social
■ group contexts affect people’s ways of interacting and influencing
each other
■ cultural
■ different cultures shape thoughts, feelings, and actions of the people
in them
○ W.E.I.R.D. Science
■ over the history of psychology the majority of studies have used W.E.I.R.D.
populations
■Western
■Educated
■Industrial
■Rich
■Democratic
■ cultural psychology is a subfield of psychology that attempts to determine
how culture influences our behaviors, thoughts, motives, perceptions, etc.
7. We are unaware of influences on how we think, feel, and act
○ people are influenced by subtle factors in their environments, even when they largely
are unaware of those influences
○ some factors influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors at an unconscious level
Distinguish between mind, brain, and behavior.
● Mind: mental activity
○ Perceptual experiences (sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and touches) we
have while interacting with the world
○ Responsible for memories, thoughts, and feelings
● Brain: biological processes within the brain result in mental activity
● Behavior: the totality of observable human actions
○ Eating, drinking, mating, etc
Identify the differences between nature and nurture.
● Whether psychological characteristics are biologically innate (nature) or acquired
through education, experience, and culture (nurture)
Identify the three main developments in the biological revolution.
1. Developments in understanding of brain chemistry
2. the human genome project
3. brain scan methods which allow scientists to watch a working brain
Explain evolutionary theory.
● A theory presented by the naturalist Charles Darwin; it views the history of a
species in terms of inherited, adaptive value of physical characteristics, or mental
activity, and behavior
How do the concepts of modern minds and culture relate to adaptations?
● Adaptive mechanisms enhance our chances of survival by providing us with
information like visual cliffs (where infants won’t crawl over the cliff, even if their
mothers are standing on the opposite sides). Culture provides adaptive solutions
based on the dependency on group culture in which the cultural evolution has
been much faster than biological evolution. People from different cultures
possess different minds.
Describe how people are intuitive psychologists.
● because we develop hypotheses and try to predict others behaviors.
Describe the three main features of the APA code of ethics.
● The American Psychological Association published the code of ethics that states:
1. being respectful to all people (privacy): some behaviors may be acceptable to
observe without the subject being aware, however, some behaviors, including private
ones, require an expectation of privacy. Researchers should be aware of the impact of
the questions they ask. Some may be too personal or distressing.
Document Summary
List and explain the seven themes of psychological science: psychology is an empirical science. The scientific method: objective, systematic procedures used to understand what is being studied. Understanding how science is conducted makes it possible to tell which studies are credible and which are not: nature and nurture are inexorably entwined. Biologically innate or acquired through education, experience, and culture. Psychologists now widely recognize both as important: the brain and mind are inseparable. Maintained the distinction between mind and body. Assigned the body many mental functions previously considered the mind"s domain. Damaged his brain and completely changed his personality. Growth in understanding mental activities" biological bases. Example: the mind is adaptive reproduction. Mice should run away from cats, after damaging parts of the brain of the mice some of them reacted differently. The brain has evolved over millions of years to solve problems related to survival and. Mind is adaptive in biological and cultural terms.
