Chapter 01: What is Psychology? Flashcards
Define Psychology.
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
What is meant be behavior?
Any action that other people can observe and measure. In order to study behaviors, psychologists must be able to SEE IT and MEASURE IT.
Define ‘Cognitive Activities’ and provide examples.
Cognitive activities are mental processes. These include thoughts, memories, dreams, and perceptions.
Concepts that allow us to discuss something that cannot be seen, touched or measured directly are called ___________.
Psychological Constructs
What are the goals of psychology?
Like other sciences, psychologists seek to observe, describe, explain, predict and control the events they study.
Define ‘theory’.
A statement that attempts to explain why things are the way they are and happen the way they do. Theories of psychology discuss principles that govern behavior and mental processes.
What is meant by a ‘principle’?
A principle is a rule or law. For example, you will probably lose weight if you burn more calories than you consume over an extended period of time.
Research that has no immediate application and is done for its own sake is called _____________.
Basic Research. This type of research is usually conducted by experimental psychologists.
Socrates (from Ancient Greece) suggested we can learn about ourselves using _______, which means “looking within.”
Introspection
Aristotle (from Ancient Greece) outlined the laws of associationism. What is ‘associationism’?
A learned connection between two ideas or events. They are ‘associated’ with each other.
Wilhelm Wundt founded the __________ perspective in psychology. Can you describe it?
Structuralism. Structuralists seek to discover the BASIC ELEMENTS (structure) of consciousness.
What two categories did Wundt break down consciousness into?
1) Objective Sensations (like sight and taste) AND 2) Subjective Feelings (like emotional responses and mental pictures).
Which psychologist founded the perspective of functionalism? Can you explain functionalism?
William James founded functionalism. Functionalism is concerned with how mental processes help organisms adapt to their environment. In other words, the FUNCTIONS of mental processes.
What is behaviorism? Who founded it?
Behaviorism is the school of psychology, founded by John WATSON, that defines psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior.
What is the BIG IDEA of Gestalt psychology?
The Gestalt school believes the WHOLE is greater than the sum of its individual parts. Specifically, perceptions are greater than the sums of their parts.
