Exam One Flashcards
Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Behavior and mental processes
Encompasses thoughts, emotions, perceptions, reasoning processes, memories, and even the biological activities that maintain bodily functioning
Behavioral genetics
Studies the inheritance of traits related to behavior
Behavioral neuroscience
Examines the biological basis of behavior
Clinical psychology
Deals with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders
Cognitive psychology
Focuses on the study of higher mental processes
Counseling psychology
Focuses primarily on educational, social, and career adjustment problems
Cross-cultural psychology
Investigates the similarities and differences in psychological functioning in and across various cultures and ethnic groups
Developmental psychology
Examines how people grow and change from the moment of conception through death
Educational psychology
Concerned with teaching and learning processes, such as the relationship between motivation and school performance
Environmental psychology
Considers the relationship between people and their physical environment
Evolutionary psychology
Considers how behavior is influenced by our genetic inheritance from our ancestors
Experimental psychology
Studies the processes of sensing, perceiving, learning, and thinking about the world
Forensic psychology
Focuses on legal issues, such as determining the accuracy of witness memories
Health psychology
Explores the relationship between psychological factors and physical ailments or disease
Industrial psychology
Concerned with the psychology of the workplace
Personality psychology
Focuses on the consistency in people’s behavior over time and the traits that differentiate one person from another
Program evaluation
Focuses on assessing large-scale programs, such as the head start preschool program, to determine whether they are effective in meeting their goals
Psychology of women
Focuses on issues such as discrimination against women and the causes of violence against women
School psychology
Devoted to counseling children in elementary and secondary schools who have academic or emotional problems
Social psychology
The study of how people’s thoughts, feeling, and actions are affected by others
Sport psychology
Applies psychology to athletic activity and exercise
How many active psychologists are working in the United States today?
Nearly 200,000
What percentage of the world’s psychologists are in the United States?
20-24%
What is the ratio of female psychologists to male psychologists?
2.1:1
What percentage of psychologists are from a racial minority group?
16%
PhD
A research degree that requires a dissertation based on an original investigation
PsyD
Obtained by psychologists who wish to focus on the treatment of psychological disorders
Psychiatrists
have medical degrees and specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders, often using treatments that involve the prescription of drugs
7,000 years ago, what did people assume psychological problems to be caused by?
Evil spirits
trephining
chipping a hole in a patients skull with crude instruments
- in old days: was used to allow spirits trapped inside a persons body to escape
Who established the first experimental laboratory devoted to psychological phenomena?
Wilhelm Wundt
Structuralism
focused on uncovering the fundamental mental components of perception, consciousness, thinking, emotions, and other kinds of mental states and activities.
Who developed structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt
Introspection
A procedure used to study the structure of the mind in which subjects are asked to describe in detail what they are experiencing when they are exposed to a stimulus
Why did scientists do away with introspection and structuralism?
there were few ways that an observer could confirm the accuracy of others’ introspections
functionalism
early approach to psychology that concentrated on what the mind does - the functions of mental activity - and the role of behavior in allowing people to adapt to their environments
Who led the functionalists?
William James
Gestalt psychology
focuses on the organization of perception through a series of principles describing how we organize bits and pieces of information into meaningful wholes
what group of psychologists proposed that “ the whole is different from the sum of its parts”?
gestalt
Margaret Washburn
first woman to receive a doctorate in psychology (doing work in animal behavior)
Mary Calkins
studied memory in the early part of the 20th century; became first female president of the American Psychological Association
What is the common goal of psychology?
to explain and understand behavior using scientific methods
What are the 5 major psychology perspectives?
neuroscience, cognition, behavioral, humanistic, psychodynamic
Neuroscience perspective
approach that views behavior from the perspective of the brain, the nervous system, and other biological functions
psychodynamic perspective
approach based on the view that behavior is motivated by unconscious inner forces over which the individual has little control
Who is linked to the origin of the psychodynamic view?
Sigmund Freud
Behavioral Perspective
view that looks at the behavior itself as the problem
Cognitive perspective
view that suggests that people’s thoughts and beliefs are a central component of abnormal behavior
Humanistic approach
approach that suggests that all individuals naturally strive to grow, develop, and be in control of their lives and behavior
Free will
the ability to freely make decisions about one’s own behavior and life
determinism
sees behavior as caused, or determined, by things beyond a person’s control
What are the 5 key issues in psychology?
- Nature v. Nurture
- Conscious v. Unconscious determinants of behavior
- Observable behavior v. internal mental processes
- Free will v. determinism
- Individual differences v. universal principles
scientific method
approach through which psychologists systematically acquire knowledge and understanding about behavior and other phenomena of interest
theories
broad explanations and predictions concerning observations of interest
hypothesis
a prediction, stemming from a theory, stated in a way that allows it to be tested
operational definition
the translation of a hypothesis into specific, testable procedures that can be measured and observed
descriptive research
an approach to research designed to systematically investigate a person, group, or patterns of behavior
archival research
research in which existing data, such as census documents, college records, and newspaper clippings are examined to test a hypothesis
naturalistic observation
research in which an investigator simply observes some naturally occurring behavior and does not make a change in the situation
survey research
Research in which people chosen to represent a larger population are asked a series of questions about their behavior, thoughts, or attitudes