PSYC 290 Exam Prep Units 1-10 Latest Update Graded A+

PSYC 290 Exam Prep Units 1-10 Latest Update Graded A+ William James founder of functionalism; 'stream of consciousness" John B Watson founder of behaviourism; observable behaviours; influenced by environment; scientific approach; rise in animal research; stimulus-response research; Little Albert Six major contemporary theoretical perspectives Behavioural: observable stimulus-response Psychoanalytic: unconscious drives behaviour, early childhood experiences Humanistic: free will and personal potential, unique Cognitive: mental processes; acquired, stored, processed Biological: physiological influences; structures, biochemical Evolutionary: traits that encourage survival Positive psychology Martin Seligman; positive, adaptive, creative, fulfilling Seven major areas in psychology 1. Developmental: lifespan 2. Social: interpersonal behaviour; social forces 3. Experimental: traditional core topics 4. Physiological: genetic factors; other body systems 5. Cognitive: higher mental processes; memory, reasoning, language, problem-solving) 6. Personality: consistency iand factors 7. Psychometrics: measurement Three goals of the scientific enterprise Measurement and description Understanding and prediction Application and control * clarity and precision/ relative intolerance of error Theory explain a set of observations; testable; constructed in steps: theory is developed, hypothesis is developed, empirical research Descriptive / correlational method when variables cannot be manipulated: naturalistic observation, case-studies, surveys Statistics - descriptive: organize, summarize data - inferential: interpret data, draw conclusions Central tendency - what constitutes a typical or average score Three measures of central tendency are: Median - exact middle Mean - calculated average (generally most useful but can also be influenced by extreme scores in which case median is better) Mode - most frequent Frequency distribution - frequency of scores Symmetrical frequency distribution - when measures of central tendency fall together Neg skewed distribution - scores pile up on high end Pos skewed distribution - scores pile up on low end Variability - how much scores differ from each other and the mean Standard deviation - the index of the amount of variability in a set of data (large = greater variability, small = lower variability) Relative measures - how people compare to one another Percentile score - percentage of people who score at or below a particular score (ex. if score is 10% that means that 10% score same or below you, means you did poorly because 90% scored above you Ethical guidelines for research in Canada - respect for the dignity of all persons - responsible caring