Chapter 1: The Evolution Of A Science

Question 1

Psychology

Answer 1

The scientific study of mind and behavior.

Question 2

Mind

Answer 2

Our private inner experience of perceptions, thoughts, memories and feelings.

Question 3

Behavior

Answer 3

Observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals

Question 4

Cognitive psychology

Answer 4

The scientific study of mental processes, including perception, thoughts, memory and reasoning. “Cognition” refers to thinking and problem solving.

Question 5

Mindbugs

Answer 5

Occasionally malfunctions in our otherwise efficient mental processing. Mindbugs reveal that our minds process information and generate solutions in particular ways. Indeed, mindbugs offer a window into the internal working of the mental machinery to reveal the underlying way it may be organized and the limitations under which it can operate. Mindbugs are not necessarily failing in the mental machinery; rather, they are ‘set’ ways of going about finding solution which, overall, might actually be more adaptive as a general approach.

Question 6

Nativism

Answer 6

The philosophical view that certain kinds of knowledge is innate or inborn.

Question 7

Philosophical empiricism

Answer 7

The philosophical view that all knowledge is acquired through experience.

Question 8

Epistemology

Answer 8

The study of how knowledge is acquired.

Question 9

Metaphysics

Answer 9

A branch in philosophy that examines the nature of reality.

Question 10

Dualism

Answer 10

The concept that body and mind are two distinct entities that interact.

Question 11

Phrenology

Answer 11

A psychological theory which held that specific characteristics are localized in specific regions of the brain.

Question 12

Physiology

Answer 12

The study of biological processes, especially in the human body.

Question 13

Stimulus

Answer 13

Sensory input from the environment.

Question 14

Reaction time

Answer 14

The amount of time taken to respond to a specific stimulus

Question 15

Sensory perception

Answer 15

The way that we interpret and process signals received via our senses.

Question 16

Consciousness

Answer 16

A person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind.

Question 17

Structuralism

Answer 17

The analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mind.

Question 18

Introspection

Answer 18

The subjective observation of one’s own experience.

Question 19

Functionalism

Answer 19

The study of the purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment.

Question 20

Natural selection

Answer 20

Charles Darwin’s theory that the features of an organism that help it survive and reproduce are more likely than other features to be passed on to subsequent generations.

Question 21

Illusions

Answer 21

Errors of perception, memory of judgment in which subjective experience differs from objective reality.

Question 22

Gestalt psychology

Answer 22

A psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts.

Question 23

Hysteria

Answer 23

A temporary loss of cognitive and motor functions, usually as a result of emotionally upsetting experience.

Question 24

Unconscious mind

Answer 24

The part of the mind that operates outside conscious awareness but influences conscious thoughts, feelings and actions.

Question 25

Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 25

Sigmund Freud’s approach to understanding human behaviour that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, thoughts and behaviour.

Question 26

Psychoanalysis

Answer 26

A therapeutic approach that focuses on bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness to better understand psychological disorders.

Question 27

Humanistic psychology

Answer 27

An approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings.

Question 28

Response

Answer 28

An action or physiological change elicited by a stimulus.

Question 29

Reinforcement

Answer 29

The consequences of a behaviour determine whether it will be more or less likely to occur again.

Question 30

Free will

Answer 30

The ability to choose or decide what to do.

Question 31

Natural behaviours

Answer 31

Instinctual responses that were not learned.

Question 32

Ethology

Answer 32

The scientific study of animal behaviour in the natural habitat.

Question 33

Pedagogical approach

Answer 33

The scaffolding of learning by instruction.

Question 34

Equipotential

Answer 34

Equally responsible for enabling learning to occur.

Question 35

Law of mass action

Answer 35

Performance is determined by the quantity of nervous tissue removed and is independent of any particular area.

Question 36

Behavioural neuroscience

Answer 36

An approach to psychology that links psychological processes to activities in the nervous system and other bodily processes.

Question 37

Cognitive neuroscience

Answer 37

A field that attempts to understand the links between cognitive processes and brain activity.

Question 38

Evolutionary psychology

Answer 38

A psychological approach that explains mind and behaviour in terms of natural selection, where minor variations in the way we think and behave mean that some individuals are more suited to their environments.

Question 39

Social psychology

Answer 39

A subfield of psychology that studies the causes and consequences of interpersonal behaviour.