Chapter 1 Flashcards
psychology
scientific study of mind and behaviour
philosophical dualism
the view that mind and body are different things (embraced by Descartes)
philosophical materialism
view that all mental phenomena are reducible to physical phenomena (Thomas Hobbes)
philosophical realism
view that perceptions of the physical world are produced entirely by information from the sensory organs
philosophical idealism
view that perceptions of the physical world are the brain’s interpretation of information from the sensory organs
philosophical empiricism
view that all knowledge is acquired through experience
philosophical nativism
view that some knowledge is innate rather than acquired
reaction time
the amount of a time between the onset of a stimulus and a person’s response to that stimulus
structuralism
an approach to psychology that attempted to isolate and analyze the mind’s basic elements
introspection
the analysis of subjective experience by trained observers
functionalism
an approach to psychology that emphasized the adaptive significance of mental processes
natural selction
the process by which the specific attributes that promote an organism’s survival and reproduction become more prevalent in the population over time
hysteria
loss of function that has no obvious physical origin
unconscious
part of the mind that contains information of which people are not aware
psychoanalytic theory
general theory that emphasizes the influence of the unconscious on feelings, thoughts, and behaviours
psychoanalysis
therapy that aims to give people insight into the contents of their unconscious minds (Sigmund Freud)
behaviourism
an approach to psychology that restricts scientific inquiry to observable behaviour
principle of reinforcement
a principle stating that any behaviour that is rewarded will be repeated and any behaviour that isn’t won’t
gestalt psychology
an approach to psychology that emphasized the way in which the mind creates perceptual experience
developmental psychology
the study of the ways in which psychological phenomena change over the life span
social psychology
the study of the causes and consequences of sociality
cognitive psychology
the study of human information-processing
evolutionary psychology
the study of the ways in which the human mind has been shaped by natural selection
cognitive neuroscience
study of the relationship between the brain and the mind (especially in humans)
behavioural neuroscience
study of the relationship between the brain and behaviour (especially in non-human animals)
cultural psychology
study of how culture influences mental life
