PSYCH HL: What is psychology? 1.1

study behavior, study cognition, study individuals (and societies), take a scientific approach, and make careful conclusions (have reasons)

Observable actions

Individuals and societies maintain ethical standards that define good and bad behavior

Mental thinking processes

Internal thought processes that occur either unconsciously and consciously.

our thinking processes are central to the human experience

because it’s tightly linked to cognition, and what we think about becomes what we believe

Biological, Cognitive, and SocioCultural

Focus on role of individuals within a society

Focus on how a society impacts its members

Study many individuals even though challenges may arise.

Society and culture

conclusions made from research to apply to a group or majority of a group. they help us recognize patterns. However, because individual differences exist we must be careful how we make the generalizations.

generalizations of how people behave

Average

A standard or range that helps define what is typical for an individual or group

rarely, sometimes, might/may, tend to, often, usually

The average person will often behave with the standards/ rules of a group (sometimes via peer pressure)

changing behavior while disagreeing with the group

conform to the expectations of a social role

genuine acceptance of group norms; changing behavior to change internally

The average person is less likely to help someone in need when there are other people present. (because we believe that someone else will help them)

The findings of a study have been directly observed or experienced using the scientific method. Observation, experimentation.

Evidence that has been observed from someone’s personal experience, or repeated from what they’ve heard others say.

The extent of reliability of the instruments used to measure exactly what you want to measure.

The extent to which the outcomes are consistent when the experiment is repeated more than once.

identify the problem, gather data, create a hypothesis, test the hypothesis (experiment), does the new data agree?

personal, information is anything that is based on personal opinion, judgement, feelings, or point of view

observation, information is factual and based on observations and measurements

biased towards people who will confirm your beliefs. Comfortable in the untruths.

The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.

not seeking out objective facts, interpreting information to support your existing belief, only remembering details that will uphold your belief, ignoring information that challenges your belief.

self goals

community goals

we might do things differently compared to others, psychology is more about causes/influences on behavior

we might be right/wrong

others might be right/wrong

individual, physiological causes

natural selection

mental processes, thinking process

social environment and its effect on individuals

free will and choice

learned behavior

unconscious mind