WGU Psychology Study Guide

WGU Psychology Study Guide Leave the first rating Students also studied Terms in this set (175) Western Governors UniversityPSYC 1010 Save WGU C180 Intro to Psychology 74 terms dblanchePreview WGU Academy Intro to psych final 55 terms chylerzoePreview WGU D564 Theories of Personality Teacher 466 terms Stacey_Blankenship Preview History Teacher Ash Practice questions for this set Learn1 / 7Study using Learn Memories of the meanings of words, concepts, and general facts about the world.Define mindnonphysical manifestation of the brain's activity. What the brain DOES.Define behaviorThe outwardly observable acts of a person, either alone or in a group Define scienceStriving to solidify facts by using objective evidence What are the three levels of analysis?brain, person, group Choose an answer 1Semantic memories2Implicit memories 3Procedural memories4Explicit memories Don't know?

Level of the brainfocus on both the activity of the brain and the structure and properties of the organ itself: brain cells and their connections, the chemical liquid in which they exist, and the genes that give rise to them.Level of the personfocus on mental events, the contents and functions of the mind divide mental events into two types, mental contents and mental processes Define mental contentsconsist of knowledge; beliefs (including ideas, explanations, and expectations); desires (such as hopes, goals, and needs); and feelings (such as fear, sadness, joy, and guilt).Define mental processesconsist of sets of operations that work together to complete a function, such as attention, perception, or memory. These operations are like the chopping, measuring, and mixing that goes into cooking, and the different mental contents are analogous to different ingredients in cooking.Level of the groupfocus on the ways collections of people (as few as two or as many as a society) shape the mind and behavior.To study human minds and behavior, psychologists often look at specific groups of people. Groups can vary in their demographics and organization. Some groups are official, such as the Girl Scouts or the Knights of Columbus. Other groups are studied based on their demographics, such as groups that include only one type of culture, a specific age range, or only one sex.StructuralismWundt Uses introspection to discover the elements of the mind and rules for combining them FunctionalismJames Studies WHY thoughts, feelings, and behavior occur and how they are adaptive.Gestalt PsychologyWertheimer Focus on overall patterns of thoughts or experience; "the whole is more than the sum of its parts." Psychodynamic TheoryFreud Conflicts among conscious and unconscious forces underlie many thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.BehaviorismWatson and Skinner Behavior is the appropriate focus of psychology and it can be understood by studying stimuli, responses, and the consequences of responses.

Humanistic PsychologyMaslow and Rogers Belief that people have positive values, free will, and deep inner creativity; inspired the positive psychology movement.Cognitive PsychologyNeisser Mental events correspond to information that is stored and processed, analogous to information processing in a computer.Cognitive NeuroscienceStructure of the mind can be understood by learning how mental events arise from brain function.Feminist and multicultural psychologyAPA and CPA convention walk out Working with the whole person through inclusivity that honors gender, orientation, race, class, religion, etc.Evolutionary psychologyBarkow, Cosmides, and Tooby Key mental strategies and goals are inborn through adaptation of the species, the result of natural selection.Define clinical psychologistAdministers and interprets psychological tests; provides psychotherapy; helps people function more effectively.Define clinical neuropsychologistAdministers tests to diagnose the effects of brain damage on thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and to diagnose what parts of the brain are damaged.Define counseling psychologistHelps people manage issues that arise during everyday life (career, marriage, family, work).Define developmental psychologistResearches and teaches the development of mental contents and processes as well as behavior with age and experience Define cognitive psychologistResearches and teaches the nature of thinking, memory, and related aspects of mental contents and processes.Define social psychologistResearches and teaches how people think and feel about themselves and other people and how groups function Define personality psychologistResearches and teaches individual differences in preferences and inclinations.Define physiological psychologistResearches and teaches the nature of the brain and brain-body interactions.Define human factors psychologistApplies psychology to improve products Define industrial/organizational psychologistApplies psychology in the workplace Define sport psychologistApplies psychology to improve athletic performance

Define educational or school pyschologistApplies psychology to improve cognitive, emotional, and social development of schoolchildren.Describe Descriptive Research MethodsConsists of naturalistic obs, case studies, and surveys.Naturalistic obs is where behavior is observed in its natural setting.Case studies focus on a single participant/sample in detail.Surveys involve asking a group of people a set of questions about a given activity and gathering information about their reaction to and perceptions of it.Correlation Research MethodsResearcher measures the statistical relationship between two variables.Positive correlation- both variable go up or down together.Negative correlation- one variable goes up, one goes down.Experimental Research Methods Describe experimental and control groups controlled situations in which the investigator observes the effects of altering variables Consists of independent variables- can be changed independently of anything else- and dependent variables - dependent on independent variable.Experimental group receives the complete procedure that defines the experiment.Control group holds constant all of the variables in the experiment group, does not receive the manipulations of the independent variable.Define validityA method does in fact measure what it is supposed to measure.Define reliabilityProviding the same result each time a measurement is taken Define informed consentRequires that participants be informed of their rights to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty.Should explain the purpose of study, procedures, potential risks, potential benefits, confidentiality, compensation, withdrawal procedures, and identification of researchers.What is the IRB and what do they do?Committee of individuals review research studies, examining all safety and ethical issues. Risks and benefits are considered from all three levels of analysis: effects on the brain, the person, and the group.Debrief participants at the end of study to ensure there are no negative reactions.As long as humans or animals are used in research, IRB are necessary as a safeguard to protect them.