Chapter 1 vocab

Question 1

The type of determinism that stresses the biochemical, genetic, physiological, or anatomical causes of behavior

Answer 1

Biological determinism

Question 2

The belief that scientific laws and theories are correct insofar as they accurately mirror events in the physical world

Answer 2

Correspondence theory of truth

Question 3

The belief that everything that occurs does so because of known or knowable causes and that if these causes were known in advance, an event could be predicted with complete accuracy. Also, if the causes of an event were known, the event could be prevented by preventing its causes. Thus, the knowledge of an event’s causes allows the prediction and control of the event

Answer 3

Determinism

Question 4

The belief that bodily and mental events are inseparable because they are two aspects of every experience
[Type of dualism; humans can be divided into mind and body; they are a unity of experience]

Answer 4

Double aspectism

Question 5

Anyone who believes that there are two aspects to humans, one physical and one mental

Answer 5

Dualist

Question 6

The contention that mental processes emerge from brain processes. The interactionist form of this claims that once mental states emerge, they can influence subsequent brain activity and thus behavior. The epiphenomenalist form claims that emergent mental states are behaviorally irrelevant
[Type of dualism; mental states emerge from brain states]

Answer 6

Emergentism

Question 7

The belief that the basis of all knowledge is experience

[Emphasizes experience]

Answer 7

Empiricism

Question 8

The type of determinism that stresses causes of behavior that are external to the organism

Answer 8

Environmental determinism

Question 9

The form of emergentism that states that mental events emerge from brain activity but that mental events are subsequently behaviorally irrelevant
[Type of dualism; mental processes are byproduct of the brain]

Answer 9

Epiphenomenalism

Question 10

The study of the nature of knowledge

Answer 10

Epistemology

Question 11

Argued that science cannot be described by any standard set of rules, principles, or standards. In fact, he said, history shows that scientific progress occurs when individual scientists violate whatever rules, principles, or standards existed at the time

Answer 11

Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994)

Question 12

The approach to history that concentrates on the most prominent contributors to the topic or field under consideration

Answer 12

Great-person approach

Question 13

The approach to history that concentrates on an element of a field or discipline and describes how the understanding or approach to studying that element has changed over time. Ex: description of how mental illness has been studied and defined throughout history

Answer 13

Historical development approach

Question 14

The study of the past for its own sake, without attempting to interpret and evaluate it in terms of current knowledge and standards, as is the case with presentism

Answer 14

Historicism

Question 15

Those who believe that ultimate reality consists of ideas or perceptions and is therefore not physical
[Attempt to explain everything in terms of consciousness]

Answer 15

Idealists

Question 16

The contention that even though determinism is true, attempting to measure the causes of something influences those causes, making it impossible to know them with certainty. This contention is also called Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle

Answer 16

Indeterminism

Question 17

A proposed answer to the mind-body problem, maintaining that bodily experiences influence the mind and that the mind influences the body
[Type of dualism; the mind and the body interact]

Answer 17

Interactionism

Question 18

Any explanation of human behavior stressing determinants that are not under rational control–for example, explanations that emphasize the importance of emotions or unconscious mechanisms

Answer 18

Irrationalism

Question 19

Believed that the activities of members of a scientific community are governed by a shared set of beliefs called a paradigm. The paradigmatic, or normal, science continues until an existing paradigm is displaced by another paradigm

Answer 19

Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996)

Question 20

Those who believe that everything in the universe is material (physical), including those things that others refer to as mental
[Matter is the only reality, thus everything must be explained in terms of matter]

Answer 20

Materialists

Question 21

The belief that the behavior of organisms, including humans, can be explained entirely in terms of mechanical laws

Answer 21

Mechanism

Question 22

Those who believe that there is only one reality. Materialists are this in because they believe that only matter exists. Idealists are also this because they believe that everything, including the “material” world, is the result of human consciousness and therefore mental
[Believe in only one view: either materialist or idealist]

Answer 22

Monists

Question 23

The belief that what one experiences mentally is the same as what is present physically

Answer 23

Naive realism

Question 24

Anyone who believes that important human attributes such as intelligence are largely inherited
[Emphasized inheritance, proposed that some ideas are naturally part of the mind]

Answer 24

Nativist

Question 25

The belief that human thought or behavior is freely chosen by the individual and is therefore not caused by antecedent physical or mental events

Answer 25

Nondeterminism

Question 26

The belief that the relationship between the mind and body is mediated by God

Answer 26

Occasionalism

Question 27

A viewpoint shared by many scientists while exploring the subject matter of their science, this determines what constitutes legitimate problems and the methodology used in solving these problems

Answer 27

Paradigm

Question 28

A mind that simply reflects cognitively one’s experiences with the physical world; the empiricists assume this

Answer 28

Passive mind

Question 29

The type of determinism that stresses material causes of behavior

Answer 29

Physical determinism

Question 30

Saw the scientific methods as having three components: problems, proposed solutions to the problems (theories), and criticisms of the proposed solutions. Because all scientific theories will eventually be found to be false, the highest status any scientific theory can attain is “not yet disconfirmed”

Answer 30

Karl Popper (1902-1994)

Question 31

An attempt to account for something after it had occurred

Answer 31

Postdiction

Question 32

The belief that bodily events and mental events are separate but correlated because both were designed to run identical courses

Answer 32

Preestablished harmony

Question 33

Interpreting and evaluating historical events in terms of contemporary knowledge and standards

Answer 33

Presentism

Question 34

Popper’s contention that for a theory to be considered scientific, if must specify the observations that, if made, would refute the theory; in order to be considered scientific, a theory must make risky predictions

Answer 34

Principle of falsifiability

Question 35

The type of determinism that stresses mental causes of behavior

Answer 35

Psychical determinism

Question 36

The contention that experiencing something in the physical world causes bodily and mental activity simultaneously and that the two types of activity are independent of each other
[Type of dualism]

Answer 36

Psychophysical parallelism

Question 37

According to Kuhn, normal science is like this in that the problems worked on are specified by a paradigm, the problems have guaranteed solutions, and certain rules must be followed in arriving at those solutions

Answer 37

Puzzle solving

Question 38

The philosophical belief that knowledge can be attained only by engaging in some type of systematic mental activity
[The mind is active]

Answer 38

Rationalism

Question 39

The belief that abstractions for which we have names have an existence independent of their names

Answer 39

Reification

Question 40

The belief that because all experience must be filtered through individual and group perspectives, the search for universal truths that exist indepdendently of human experience must be in vain; for someone of this mind, there is no one truth, only truths

Answer 40

Relativism

Question 41

Traditionally, a proposed explanation of a number of empirical observations; according to Popper, a proposed solution to a problem

Answer 41

Scientific theory

Question 42

The type of environmental determinism that stresses cultural or societal rules, customs, regulations, or expectations as the causes of behavior

Answer 42

Sociocultural determinism

Question 43

The belief that there are universal truths about ourselves and about the physical world in general that can be discovered by anyone using the proper methods of inquiry

Answer 43

Universalism

Question 44

The belief that life cannot be explained in terms of inanimate processes; for this person, life requires a force that is more than the material objects or inanimate processes in which it manifests itself. For there to be life, there must be this kind of force present

Answer 44

Vitalism

Question 45

The spirit of the times

Answer 45

Zeitgeist

Question 46

Says that all knowledge comes from sensory experience

Answer 46

Radical empiricism