5, Foundations: History Flashcards
psychology
study of behavior and mind
behavior
observable actions of a person or animal
mind
sensations, memories, motives, emotions, thoughts, other subjective things regarding an individual that are not readily observed
brain
command center of central nervous system
René Descartes
early modern philosopher who endorsed dualism in humans. He believed that all things operated like machines except for people, who have individuality
dualism
dividing the world into two parts - the body and the spirit
John Locke
extended Descartes’s application of natural laws to everything, even the mind is under the control of them.
empiricism
acquisition of truth through observation and experience
tabula rasa
Latin for blank slate; humans are born knowing nothing; Locke’s theory
Thomas Hobbes
philosopher who believed that the idea of the soul, spirit, or mind are useless
materialism
only things that exist are matter and energy
Charles Darwin
philosopher who proposed the theory of natural selection and evolution
evolutionary theory
a way to explain the roots of human behavior using the theory of evolution
natural selection
one animal bigger and better than other animal so other animal dies and big animal passes on genes instead, thus animals get better and better
Wilhelm Wundt
German psychologist, said to be the founder of the science of psychology. opened a laboratory to study consciousness in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany
structuralism
looks for patterns in thought, illuminated through interviews with a subject who describes their conscious experience.
Edward Titchener
student in Wundt’s laboratory and one of the first to bring psychology to the USA
introspection
the interview process of structuralism. looking for patterns in thought, illuminated through interviews with a subject who describes their conscious experience.
William James
American psychologist who opposed structuralism. what is important is the function of the mind. started functionalism as such
functionalism
understand how the mind fulfills its purpose
Dorothea Dix
advocate for rights of mentally ill poor people, important in the founding of the first public mental hospital in the USA
Mary Whiton Calkins
first female graduate student in psychology, denied PhD because of her gender
Margaret Floy Washburn
first female PhD in psychology and second female president of the APA
G. Stanley Hall
first president of the APA