AP Psych - Unit 1 Flashcards
What are the 7 Modern Perspectives?
- Psychodynamic
- Cognitive
- Behavioral
- Humanistic
- Biological
- Socio-cultural
- Evolutionary
What are the 5 Old School Perspectives?
- Structuralism
- Functionalism
- Gestalt
- Behaviorism
- Psychoanalysis
Definition of Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Structuralism
Early school of psychology promoted by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Bradford Titchener that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the mind
Functionalism
Early school of thought promoted by William James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish
Who wrote the first textbook on Psychology?
William James (“Principles of Psychology”)
First psychological laboratory
- December 1879
- Germany’s University of Leipzig
- 2 young men helping professor Wilhelm Wundt
- Experiment: machine that measured time lag between people hearing ball hitting platform and pressing telegraph key (responded quicker when pressing as soon as sound occurred, slower pressing once consciously aware of perceiving sound)
Mary Whiton Calkins
- admitted into James’ graduate seminar in 1890
- denied PhD due to gender
- APA’s first female president
Margaret Floy Washburn
- first female PhD in Psychology
- “The Animal Mind”
- second female APA president
Empiricism
The view that all knowledge is gained through experience, and that science should therefore rely on observation and experimentation (Francis Bacon and John Locke were early supporters of modern empiricism)
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
- one the founders of modern science, his influence still lingers in modern psychology experiments
- fascinated by human mind and its failings
wrote about the mind’s tendency to perceive patters even in random events (“Novum Organum”)
John Locke (1632-1704)
- “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”
- argued that mind at birth is a “tabula rasa” or “blank slate” on which experience writes
What did Socrates and Plato think about the mind/body relationship and knowledge?
They claimed that the mind is separable from the body and continues after death. They also believed that knowledge is innate.
How was Aristotle’s approach different than Socrates and Plato? What did Aristotle think about knowledge?
Unlike Socrates and Plato, Aristotle relied on data over logic and derived principles through observations. He said knowledge isn’t pre-existing but instead grows through experience.
Rene Descartes (1595 - 1650)
Descartes agreed with Socrates and Plato about innate knowledge and the mind being completely separate from the body. (He had to conjecture about how the immaterial mind and physical body communicate, so he dissected animals and concluded that the brain’s cavities contained “animal spirits” that flowed from the brain through what we call “nerves” (which he thought were hollow) to the muscles to stimulate movement, and memories formed when experiences opened pores in the brain that the animal spirits flowed into)
Experimental Psychology
the study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method
Humanistic Psychology
a historically significant perspective led by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people
Levels of Analysis
The differing complementary views (biological, psychological, socio-cultural) for analyzing any given phenomenon
Cognitive Psychology
Scientifically explores the ways we perceive, process, and remember information
Cognitive Nueroscience
The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)
Biopsychosocial Approach
An integrated perspective that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis
Natural Selection
The principle founded by Darwin that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those that lead to increased reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations
Nature-Nurture Issue
- “The biggest question in Psychology”
- the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors
- now pyschologists believe that nature and nurture work together (nurture acts on what nature provides)
Behaviorism
- The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2)
- Founded by American Psychologists John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner
- Said that science is rooted in observation and you can’t observe sensations or thoughts but you can observe behavior
Evolutionary Psychology
The study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection
Psychodynamic Psychology
- branch of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that information to treat people with psychological disorders
- Sigmund Freud
Behavioral Psychology
The scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning
Socio-Cultural Psychology
The study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking
Psychometrics
The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits
Basic Research
Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base