CHAPTER 1 Flashcards
What is Psychology?
Define Psychology
The discipline concerned with behaviour and mental processes and how they are affected by an organism’s physical state, mental state, and external environment.
Basic Psychological Research
Pure research conducted to seek knowledge for its own sake.
Applied Psychological Research
Finds practical uses for the knowledge gained from research
Psychology and Mental Health - Counselling
Help with everyday problems – not the same as a counsellor (who may not have any credentials)
Psychology and Mental Health - School
work with parents and teachers to understand learning or behaviour problems – requires masters
Psychology and Mental Health - Clinical
diagnose, treat, study mental and emotional problems
Psychotherapist
anybody that is trained to deliver mental health therapy (physician, psychologist, MSW)
Psychoanalyst
trained in and practice psychoanalysis – Frued’s Tradition
Psychiatrist
Licensed medical doctors who diagnose and treat mental disorders
Empirical Evidence
Relying on or derived from observation, or measurement.
Psychobabble
Pseudoscience and quackery covered by a veneer of psychological and scientific-sounding language
Critical Thinking
The ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgements on the basis of well-supported reasons and evidence rather than emotion or anecdote.
Occam’s Razor
The principle of a critical thinker choosing one explanation of a phenomenon after several have been generated and one accounts for the most evidence while making the fewest unverified assumptions
Phrenology
The now discredited theory that different brain areas account for specific character, and personality traits, which can be ‘read’ from bumps on the skull.
Structuralism
An early psychological approach that emphasized the analysis of immediate experience into basic elements.
Functionalism
An early psychological approach that emphasized the function or purpose of behaviour and consciousness.
Psychoanalysis
A theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy, originally formulated by Sigmund Freud, that emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts
Biological Perspective
A psychological approach that emphasizes bodily events and changes associated with actions, feelings, and thoughts
Evolutionary Psychology
A field of psychology emphasizing evolutionary mechanisms that may help explain human commonalities in cognition, development, emotion, social practices, and other areas of behaviour
Learning Perspective
A psychological approach that emphasizes how the environment and experience affect a person’s or animal’s actions; it includes behaviourism and social-cognitive learning theories.
Behaviourism
An approach to psychology that emphasizes the study of observable behaviour and the role of the environment and priori experience as determinants of behaviour.
Cognitive Perspective
A psychological approach that emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, language, problem solving, and other areas of behaviour
Sociocultural Perspective
A psychological approach that emphasizes social and cultural influences on behaviour.
Psychodynamic Perspective
A psychological approach that emphasizes unconscious dynamics within the individual, such as inner forces, conflicts, or the movement of instinctual energy
Humanist Psychology
A psychological approach that emphasizes personal growth and the achievement of human potential rather that the scientific understanding and assessment of behaviour.
Feminist Psychology
A psychological approach that analyzes the influence of social inequities on gender relations and on the behaviour of the two sexes.
Psychological Practice
Providing health or mental-health services.
Basic Psychology
The study issues in order to seek knowledge for its own sake rather than for its practical application
Applied Psychology
The study of psychological issues that have direct practical significance; also, the application of psychological findings
