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Psychology - definitions, basics and history

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Vocabulary
Definition
Psychology   The scientific study of behavior and mental processes  
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Empirical approach   A study cunducted via careful observations and scientifically based research  
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Pseudopsychology   Erroneous assertions or practices set forth as being scientific psychology  
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Confirmation Bias   The tendency to attend to evidence that complements and confirms our beliefs or expectations, while ignoring evidence that does not.  
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Experimental Psychologists   Psychologists who do research on basic psychological processes-as contrasted with applied psychologists; also called research psychologists  
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Teachers of psychology   Psychologists whose primary job is teaching, typically in high schools, colleges and universities  
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Applied psychologists   Psychologists who use the knowledge developed by experimental psychologists to solve human problems  
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Psychiatry   A medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders  
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Structuralism   A historical school of psychology devoted to uncovering the basic structures that make up mind and thought. Structuralists sought the "elements" of conscious experience  
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Introspection   The process of reporting on one's own conscious mental experiences  
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Functionalism   A historical school of psychology that believed mental processes could best be understood in terms of their adaptave purpose and function  
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Gestalt Psychology   A historical school of psychology that sought to understand how the brain works by studying perception and perceptual learning. Gestalt psychologists believed that percepts consist of meaningful wholes (auch Deutch, Gestalts).  
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Behaviorism   A historical school (as well as a modern perspective) that has sought to make psychology and objective science focused only on behavior-to the exclusion of mental processes.  
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Psychoanalysis   An approach to psychology based on Sigmund Freud's assertions, which emphasize unconscious processes. The term is used to refer broadly both to Freud's psychoanalytic theory and to his psychoanalytic treatment method.  
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Biological Vie   The psychological perspective that searches for the causes of behavior in the functioning of genes, the brain and nervous system, and the endocrine (hormone) system  
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Neuroscience   The field devoted to understanding how the brain creates thoughts, feelings, motives, consciousness, memories, and other mental processes  
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Evolutionary psychology   A relatively new specialty in psychology that sees behavior and mental processes in terms of their genetic adaptations for survival and reproduction.  
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Developmental view   The psychological perspective emphasizing changes that occur across the lifespan.  
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Cognitive view   The psychological perspective emphasizing mental processes, such as learning, memory, perception and thinking, as forms of information processing.  
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Cognitions   Mental processes, such as thinking, memory, sensation and perception  
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Cognitive neuroscience   An interdisciplinary field emphasizing brain activity as information processing; involves cognitive psychology, neurology, biology, computer science, linguistics, and specialists from other fields whoare interested in the connection between mental process  
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Clinical view   The psychological perspective emphasizing mental health and mental illness. Psychodynamic and humanistic psychology are variations on the clinical view.  
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Psychodynamic psychology   A clinical viewpoint emphasizing the understanding of mental disorders in terms of unconscious needs, desires, memories and conflicts.  
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Humanistic psychology   A clinical viewpoint emphasizing human ability, growth, potential and free will.  
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Behavioral view   A psychological perspective that finds the source of our actions in environmental stimuli, rather than in inner mental processes.  
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Sociocultural view   A psychological perspective emphasizing the importance of social interaction, social learning, and a cultural perspective.  
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Culture   A complex blend of language, beliefs, customs, values, and traditions developed by a group of people and shared with others in the same environment  
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Trait view   A psychological perspective that views behavior and personality as the products of enduring psychological characteristics.  
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Rene Descartes   1596-1650; discovered sensation, behaviors link  
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Wilhelm Wundt (Voont)   1832-1929; 1st person to declare himself a psychologist; structuralism.  
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William James   1842-1910; 1st United States psychologist; looked at functions - why we do what we do; 1st text book on psychology  
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John B. Watson   Behaviorism (only observable things)  
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Sigmund Freud   1856-1939; Psychoanalysis (brainchild); iceberg chart  
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B.F. Skinner   Tested that rats learn through example; trial and error. Asked to prove that we have minds  
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Created by: acluke
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