Chapter 1 terms Flashcards
Psychology
The science of behavior and mental process.
Science
Approach to knowledge based on systematic observation.
Behavior
Directly observable and measurable actions.
Mental processes
Private psychological activities that include thinking, perceiving, and feeling.
Theories
Tentative explanations of facts and relationships in sciences.
Introspection
The process of looking inward at one’s own consciousness.
Structuralism
The 19th century school of psychology that sought to determine the structure of the mind through controlled introspection.
Gestalt Psychology
The school of thought based on the belief that human consciousness can’t be broken down into it’s elements.
Gestalt
An organized or unified whole
Phi Phenomenon
The perception of apparent movement between two stationary stimuli.
Functionalism
The 19th century school of psychology that emphasized the useful functions of consciousness.
Cognition
Mental processes of perceiving, believing, thinking, remembering, knowing, deciding, and so on.
Cognitive Psychology
The viewpoint in pysch that emphasizes the importance of cognitive processes, such as perception, memory, and thinking.
Psychometric
The perspective in psychology founded by Binet that focuses on the measurement.
Behaviorism
the school of psychology that emphasizes the process of learning & the measurement of overt behavior.
Social learning theory
The viewpoint that the most important aspects of our behavior are learned from other persons in society - family, friends, and culture.
Neuroscience perspective
The viewpoint in psychology that focuses on the nervous system in explaining behavior and mental processes.
Unconscious mind
All mental activity of which we are unaware.
Motives
Internal states or conditions that activate behavior and give it direction.
Psychoanalysis
the technique of helping persons with emotional problems based on Sigmund Freud’s Theory of the unconscious mind.
Humanistic Psychology
the psychological view that human beings possess an innate tendency to improve and determine their lives by the decisions they make.
Sociocultural Perspective
the theory of psychology that states it is necessary to understand one’s culture ethnic identity, and other sociocultural factors to fully understand a person.
Social Anthropology
A field of social science that studies the ways in which cultures are both similar and different from one another and how cultures influence human behavior.
Culture
The patterns of behavior, beliefs, and values shared by a group of people.
Ethnic group
A group of persons who are descendants of a common group of ancestors.
Ethnic Identity
Each person’s sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group. EX: lady’s attempted drowning of kids after her husband has an affair.
Cultural Relativity
the perspective that promotes thinking of different cultures in relative terms rather than judgmental terms.
Evolutionary Psychology
The perspective in psychology that the psychological characteristics of human and nonhuman animals arose through natural selection.
Gene
A segment of a chromosome in the nucleus of living cells that carries the genetic code of inheritance.
Applied psychologists
Psychologists who use knowledge of psychology to solve and prevent human problems.
