chapter 1 Flashcards
Psychology (definition and goals)
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Structuralism
is a theory of consciousness developed by Willhelm Wundt
introspection
a way of looking inward and examine one’s internal thoughts and feelings
functionalism
Adaptations to a person’s environment
purpose of Consciousness and behavior
william james
what makes something a pain or desire, reason for it
how they enable the organism to adapt, survive and flourish
gestalt psychology
Uses a series of principles to describe how we organize bits and pieces of information to meaningful holes
neuroscience perspective
is about the way a person is
thoughts, emotions and behavior
psycho dynamic perspective
theories that explain both normal and pathological personality development in terms of the dyanmics of the mind
for example, nail biting may be caused by anxiety inducing childhood event
behavioral perspective
The way we behave and learn can be explained to our interaction with the environment
for example, getting a new car will motivate a teenager to graduate highschool
john b watson
cognitive perspective
Focuses on how internal thoughts and feelings influence one’s Behavior
humanistic psychology
emphasizes looking at the whole individual
for example, a therapist seeing a client for the first time
carl rogers
abraham maslow
free will
We are in control of what we do, we are free to choose our behavior
determinism
It is the believe that people can’t choose what they do
scientific method
Approach through which psychologist systematically acquired knowledge and understanding about behavior and other phenomena of Interest
steps: identify questions of interest, develop a hypothesis, carry out research/data, communicate the findings
hypothesis
is a precise, testable statement of what the researches predict
archival research
existing data
for example, census documents, college records, online databases, newspapers clippings
advantage - inexpensive
disadvantage - problems with using existing data
