Chapter 1 Flashcards
reading guide highlights
What is the formal definition of psychology?
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
What are the three goals of psychology?
Describe, predict, and explain behavior.
What makes psychology a science?
They use scientific methods to examine interventions that might help.
Define behavior and mental processes. How are they different?
Behavior is everything we do that can be directly observed. Mental processes are the thoughts, feelings, and motives that cannot be observed directly.
What is critical thinking and why is it important in psychology?
The process of reflecting deeply and actively, asking questions, and evaluating evidence. It reduces the likelihood that conclusions will be based on unreliable personal beliefs.
What is the empirical method?
Gaining knowledge through the observation of events, the collection of data, and logical reasoning.
What is positive psychology? How did it emerge?
A branch of psychology that emphasizes human strengths, focusing on topics like hope and happiness. It emerged to balance the focus on negative aspects of humanity.
Who is Wilhelm Wundt?
A German philosopher-physician who integrated philosophy and natural sciences to create psychology. Modern psychology is said to have begun in December 1879.
What is structuralism?
Focused on identifying the structures of the human mind through introspection.
Who is William James?
A psychologist and philosopher who gave psychology an American stamp and emphasized the purposes of the mind, known as functionalism.
What is functionalism?
Probed the purposes of the mind and behavior in adaptation to the environment.
What is natural selection?
An evolutionary process where organisms better adapted to their environment survive and produce more offspring.
Who is Mary Whiton Calkins?
She completed PhD requirements but was denied the degree due to her gender. She became the first woman president of the APA in 1905.
Who is Charles Henry Turner?
The first Black American to conduct psychological research, focusing on insect behavior and learning.
What is the biological approach?
Focuses on the body, especially the brain and nervous system.
What is neuroscience?
The scientific study of the nervous system’s structure, function, and biochemistry.
What is the behavioral approach?
Emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants.
Who is B.F. Skinner?
A behavioralist who emphasized that psychology should focus on observable actions and behaviors.
What is the psychodynamic approach?
Emphasizes unconscious thought and early childhood experiences.
Who is Sigmund Freud?
The founder of the psychodynamic approach, theorizing that early relationships shape personality.
What is the humanistic approach?
Emphasizes positive qualities and the capacity for growth.
What is the cognitive approach?
Focuses on mental processes involved in knowing, such as perception and memory.
What is the evolutionary approach?
Uses evolutionary ideas to explain specific human behaviors.
What is the sociocultural approach?
Examines how social and cultural environments influence behavior.
