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Unit #1
History and Apporaches
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Empiricism | The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation |
Structuralism | An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind. |
Functionalism | A school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function-how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish. |
Behaviorism | The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Proposed by John Watson |
Humanistic Psychology | Historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth. Pioneered by Abraham Maslow and Carl Jung |
Cognitive Psychology | The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory and language). |
Psychology | The science of behavior and mental processes. |
Nature-Nurture Issue | the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today’s science sees traits and behaviors arising from the interaction of nature and nurture. |
Natural Selection | the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations |
Levels of Analysis | the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural to evolutionary, for analyzing any given phenomenon |
Biophysical Approach | this integrated viewpoint incorporates various levels of analysis and offers a more complete picture of any given behavior or mental process |
Biological Psychology | a branch of psychology that studies the links between biological (including neuroscience and behavior genetics) and psychological processes |
Evolutionary Psychology | the study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection |
Psychodynamic Psychology | a branch of psychology that studies the links between biological (including neuroscience and behavior genetics) and psychological processes |
Behavioral Psychology | the scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning |
Cognitive Psychology | The scientific study of all mental activities of thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating |
Cultural Psychology | The study of how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members |
Basic Research | Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base |
Developmental Psychology | The scientific study of physical, cognitive and social change throughout the life span |
Social Psychology | The scientific study of how we think about, influence and relate to one another |
Applied Psychology | Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems |
Industrial/Organizational Psychology | The application of psychology concepts and methods to optimize human behaviors in the workplace. |
Human Factors Psychology | The study of how people and machines interact and the design of safe and easily used machines. |
Counseling Psychology | A branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living and in achieving greater well-being. |
Clinical Psychology | A branch of psychology that studies, assesses and treats people with psychological disorders. |
Psychiatry | A branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders, practiced by physicians who often provide medical (ex. drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy. |
Mind | Our private inner experience of perceptions, thoughts, memories,and feelings |
Behaviour | Observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals |
Nativism | The philosophical view that certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn |
Philosophical empiricism | The philosophical view that all knowledge is acquired through experience |
Phrenology | Francis Gall's theory that suggests that psychological capacities and traits were located in certain parts of the brain. The larger the capacity the larger the corresponding bump on the skull |
Rene Descartes | Argued that the mind and body are fundamentally different things (Dualism) |
Dualism | No amount of research can tell us anything about the mind. |
Monism | Theory that the mind IS what the brain DOES, Thomas Hobbes, Pierre Flourens, and Paul Broca were the first to demonstrate that the mind is grounded in material substance (brain) |
Wilhelm Wundt | Credited with founding Psychology as a scientific discipline. Focused on relationships between elements of consciousness |
Consciousness | A person's subjective experience of the world and the mind |
Introspection | The subjective observation of one's own experience. Subjects report "raw" sensory experience, not interpretation |
Edward Titchener | Brought structuralism to the US. Focused on basic elements of consciousness, rather than relationships |
William James | Thought that consciousness was a flowing stream, rather than a bundle of elements |
Natural Selection | Charles Darwin's theory that features of an organism that help it survive and adapt are more likely that other features to be passed on to subsequent generations |
Hysteria | A temporary loss of cognitive or motor functions, usually as a result of an emotionally upsetting experience. Studied by Jean-Martin Charcot and Pierre Janet |
Unconscious | The part of the mind that operates outside of conscious awareness but influences conscious thoughts, feelings and actions |
Psychoanalytic theory | Approach to understanding human behaviour that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping thoughts, feelings and actions. |
Psychoanalysis | A therapeutic approach that focuses on bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness to better understand psychological disorders |
Sigmund Freud | Believed that hysteria was caused by painful unconscious experiences. developed psychoanalysis |
Ivan Pavlov | Studied the physiology of digestion and found classical conditioning ( stimulus response, S-R) |
B. F. Skinner | Invented the Skinner box, the concept of reinforcement became the foundation for skinner's approach to behaviourism. |
Hermann Ebbinghaus | Performed experiments on memory on himself with nonsense syllables |
Jean Piaget | Studied perceptual and cognitive errors of children in order to gain insight into nature and development of the human mind |
Behavioural Neuroscience | Links psychological processes to activities in the nervous system and other bodily process, developed by Karl Lashley |
Cogntive Neuroscience | A field that attempts to understand the links between cognitive processes and brain activity |
Absolutism | Culture makes little difference on psychology |
Relativism | Psychological phenomena are likely to vary considerably across cultures |
Evolutionary Psychology | Explains mind and behaviour in terms of adaptive value of abilities that are preserved over time by natural selction |