Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Psychology and Sociology

Foundations of Systematic Research

Research: Generating knowledge enables us to better understand reality. It is a rigorous, systematic, methodical, and rational process. You must establish contextualization, setting limits such as the area of knowledge (discipline), spatial limits, temporal limits, and population limits.

There are two primary types of knowledge:

• Scientific Knowledge: Based on empirical evidence (rescued from reality in some form).
• Folk Knowledge (People's Knowledge): Transmitted from generation to generation.

Stages of the Research Process

Research typically involves three or four main stages:

Stage 1: Desk or Cabinet Work

• Epistemological: Fixing the object of study (a moment of reflection and interest).
• Theoretical: Reviewing literature

Understanding Participant Observation Nuances

However, there are nuances. Systematic observation (excluding verbal interaction) is easy to perform in open spaces. It is also relatively smooth when the researcher is introduced as a participant but primarily functions as an observer (e.g., journalists).

The researcher undergoes a progressive process, starting from initial integration into the observed group. Initially, they are inevitably guided by their pre-existing theoretical assumptions (etic approach). This continues until they grasp the group's own interpretation of reality, which the group uses to classify, arrange, and organize their experiences (emic approach).

It is crucial to gain an insider's perspective on the field and systematize... Continue reading "Participant Observation: Field Access and Research Dynamics" »

Pervasive Developmental Disorders

Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) are characterized by significant difficulties in several areas of development, including social interaction, communication, behavior, interests, and activities.

Rett Syndrome

Rett syndrome is primarily diagnosed in girls. Development appears normal until 6-18 months, when parents notice a regression or loss of skills (gross motor, language, reasoning, and hand use). Repetitive, meaningless gestures (e.g., hand washing) may appear.

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder is an extremely rare disorder involving regression in multiple areas of functioning (e.g., motor skills, bowel and bladder control, and social and language skills) after at least... Continue reading "Understanding Pervasive Developmental Disorders: Autism Spectrum" »

Preconscious

The preconscious system is located between the unconscious and the conscious. Although its contents are not endowed with consciousness, it differs from the unconscious in the following ways:

• They have been forbidden passage to the conscience but have not been repelled by it through repression.
• Their representations are linked to language and operate with the laws of logic and language.

Although the information in memory would be in the area of the preconscious, some traces of certain experiences that have been subjected to repression are inscribed in the unconscious.

Conscious

Consciousness, for Freud, need not be characterized as coinciding with the consciousness of which philosophers and everyday speech speak. Freud seems to overlook... Continue reading "Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory: Key Concepts Explained" »

Motivation and Emotion: Key Concepts and Theories

Altea's Goal Setting and Test Adoption

Altea intends to adopt this test and look good in front of their peers to meet their goals. One goal is the implementation of the test.

McDougall's Instinct Theory

According to McDougall, which instinct corresponds to the following pattern: If a body is determined to achieve goals, despite difficulties, frustrations, and rages, it will be guided by the instinct of fight.

Incentives and Student Behavior

A student of motivation and emotion, after receiving a teacher's positive comment for a statement made in class, decides to increase their "class participation" behavior. In relation to this student's conduct, the teacher's comment served as a positive secondary,

Analysis in Participant Observation

The final report will depend on a thorough job of collecting and analyzing information, in which only meaningful data are included. But to reach that point, one must pass through successive descriptive and interpretative phases, which are reflected in different types of field notes, culminating in the final report. This process can be summarized as follows:

Types of Field Notes

• Immediate Notes: These include all kinds of notes on what the observer sees, hears, or feels. They are concise, spontaneous, and sometimes include multiple keywords taken behind the observed subject. It is important to stress the verbatim record of the terms used by people observed (technical language, specific jargon, etc.), distinct

Precautions in Qualitative Observation

It is impossible to observe all phenomena that occur in selected scenarios. Events that occur less frequently can only be captured by a lucky or very careful choice of situations. One way to counter this problem is to extend the fieldwork.

Reliability problems arise from differences among various observers and the evolution of the researchers themselves. Criteria should be set for specific observation, and reviewing the journals of the field to carry out self-observation is recommended.

Denzin talks about some possible threats to internal validity:

• Historical factors that occurred before the observation, the disregard of which can cause errors of interpretation. It is proposed to use documents and interviews

McClelland's Needs Theory of Motivation

David McClelland, a prominent psychologist, argued that all individuals possess three fundamental needs that drive their behavior and motivation. These needs are not inherent but are learned and developed over time through culture and life experiences. The intensity of these needs varies from person to person.

The Three Core Needs

• Need for Achievement (nAch): This refers to an individual's desire to excel, achieve in relation to a set of standards, and strive for success. It's the drive to accomplish challenging tasks and attain a high level of performance.
• Need for Power (nPow): This refers to the need to make others behave in a way they would not otherwise. It concerns the desire to have impact, influence,

**Principles of Personality**

An individual's personality comprises attributes that represent ongoing behavior. These attributes may be acquired through unique personal experiences or shared experiences with others. They can also result from hereditary influence or the interaction of heredity and environment.

**General Factors Influencing Personality**

Regardless of the theory proposed to explain personality, two general factors influence its development: a person's experiences within their environment and the individual's hereditary basis.

**Environmental Experience**

Experiences within a person's surrounding environment can significantly affect the development of personality characteristics. These experiences can be unique to an individual or... Continue reading "Understanding Personality: Factors, Development, and Freud's Theory" »

Observational Learning

Social Cognitive Theory

Social cognitive theory argues that much human learning occurs in the social environment. By observing and imitating others, human beings acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes, etc.

Components of Social Cognitive Theory

Bandura synthesizes elements of reinforcement schemes and the theory of information processing.

Conduct + Personal Factors + Environment

Another basic component of this theory is Bandura's distinction between active learning and vicarious learning. While active learning is learning by doing, vicarious learning is learning by watching others.

Vicarious learning accelerates behavior and helps avoid negative consequences.

Bandura distinguishes well between the acquisition of knowledge (learning)