Chapter 1: Intro to Psychology Flashcards
What is psychology?
Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes
What do psychologists do?
Try to describe, predict, and explain human behaviour and mental processes, and to help change/improve their lives.
What is trepanning?
Chipping a hole in a patients skull with stone instruments to “let out” the evil spirits in ones body
Who created structuralism?
Wilhelm Wundt
What is structuralism?
Focusing on the uncovering of the fundamental mental components of perception, consciousness, thinking, emotions, and other mental states/activities.
What procedure did structuralists use?
Introspection
What is introspection?
A procedure in which they presented people to triggers/stimulus and asked them to describe what they were experiencing
Why was introspection not accurate?
Difficulty explaining some experiences and not truly scientific: hard to not be biased patients and outside observers.
What replaced structuralism?
Functionalism
What is functionalism?
Concentrates on what the mind does and how behaviour functions – what role behaviour plays in allowing people to adapt to their environment.
Who led functionalism?
William James
What does functionalism examine?
How behaviour allows people to satisfy their needs and how our “stream of consciousness” permit us to adapt to our environment.
Who was William James heavily influenced by?
Charles Darwin – evolutionary psychology!
What is the neuroscience perspective?
Views behaviour from the perspective of biological functioning: hereditary, evolution, brain chemistry, etc…
Who is known as the father of neuropsychology?
Donald Webb
What is behavioural neuroscience/biopsychology?
The perspective of psychology that mainly examines how the brain and nervous system determine behaviour.
What is the Psychodynamic Perspective?
Argues that behaviour is motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which we have little awareness or control.
Who was the most famous psychodynamic psychologist?
Sigmund Freud
What were Freud’s 3 major contributions?
- Introduced notion that we have a subconscious
- Contributed the idea that early childhood shapes us as adults
- Propose that psychological difficulties could be treated with psychological means, not biomedical.
What is the behavioural perspective?
Psychology should focus on observable behaviour that can be measured objectively.
Who was the first psychologist to advocate for behavioural psychology?
John B. Watson
The behavioural perspective was championed by who?
B. F. Skinner
What is the cognitive perspective?
focuses nohow people think, understand, and process information about the world.
What does cognitive psychology focus on?
the higher mental processes, including thinking, memory, reasoning, problem solving, judging, decision making, and language