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Leach PSY chapter 1
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| psychology | the scientific study of behavior and mental processes |
| behavior | observable and measurable actions of people and animals |
| cognitive activities | private, unobservable mental processes such as sensation, perception, thought, and problem solving |
| psychological constructs | theoretical entities, or concepts, that enable one to discuss something that cannot be seen, touched, or measured directly |
| theory | a set of assumptions about why something is the way it is and happens the way it does |
| principle | a rule or law |
| basic research | research that is conducted for its own sake, that is, without seeking a solution to a specific problem |
| introspection | an examination of one's own thoughts and feelings |
| associationism | a learned connection between two ideas or events |
| structuralism | the school of psychology, founded by Wilhelm Wundt, that maintains that conscious experience breaks down into objective sensations and subjective feelings |
| functionalism | the school of psychology, founded by William James, that emphasizes the purposes of behavior and mental processes |
| behaviorism | the school of psychology, founded by John Watson, that defines psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior |
| Gestalt psychology | the school of psychology that emphasizes the tendency to organize perceptions into meaningful wholes |
| psychoanalysis | the school of psychology, founded by Sigmund Freud, that emphasizes the importance of unconcious motives and conflicts as determinants of human behavior |
| psychodynamic thinking | the theory that most of what fills an individual's mind is unconscious and consists of conflicting impulses, urges, and wishes |
| biological perspective | the psychological perspective that emphasizes the influence of biology on behavior |
| evolutionary perspective | the theory focusing on the evolution of behavior and mental processes |
| cognitive perspective | the viewpoint that emphasizes the role of thought processes in determining behavior |
| humanistic perspective | the psychological view that assumes the existence of the self and emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and the freedom to make choices |
| psychoanalytic perspective | the perspective that stresses the influences of unconscious forces on human behavior |
| learning perspective | the psychological point of view that emphasizes the effects of experience on behavior |
| social-learning theory | the theory that suggests that people have the ability to change their environments or to create new ones |
| sociocultural perspective | in psychology, the perspective that focuses on the roles of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status in personality formation, behavior, and mental processes |
| ethnic group | a group united by cultural heritage, race, language, or common history |