Key Terms
Psychology
Scientific study of mind and behavior Empirical methods: collecting and analyzing data to draw conclusions Scientific me
KEY EXAMPLE
Eyewitness testimony. Research shows eyewitnesses are no less confident when they're wrong than when they're right.
Hindsight bias
Belief that you could have predicted an outcome you actually could not have predicted beforehand
Scientific method
The set of assumptions, rules, and procedures that scientists use to conduct empirical research.
Empirical methods
Collecting and organizing data, then drawing conclusions from that data within a shared framework.
Goal
Understand why psychological traits exist, not just what they are. Influenced by Darwin's theory of natural selection.
Method
Psychoanalysis -- talk therapy and dream analysis to surface unconscious material.
Key finding from Wundt
It takes longer to report what sound you heard than to simply respond that you heard it. This revealed a gap between sen
Limitation
Little controlled research supported the theories. But the ideas -- that unconscious processes matter, that childhood sh
James
"My thinking is first and last and always for the sake of my doing." Thinking serves behavior. Psychological traits exis
Evolved into evolutionary psychology
Applies Darwinian theory to understand psychological systems like memory, emotion, and personality.
Fitness
Extent to which a characteristic helps an organism survive and reproduce at a higher rate than others
Limitation of evolutionary psychology
Its predictions are hard to test because we can't directly observe the psychological traits of ancestors. Explanations c
Core idea
Unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories drive behavior. Problems often trace back to painful childhood experiences
Key figures who extended Freud
Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Erik Erikson.