General Psychology Flashcards
Founded 1st psychology lab, from Germany, was a physiologist and philosopher before he came a psychologist
Wilhelm Wundt
Pioneered the study of learning, from Russia, was a physiologist before he became a psychologist
Ivan Pavlov
Personality theorist, from Austria, was a physician before he became a psychologist
Sigmund Freud
Influential observer of children’s behavior, from Switzerland, was a biologist before he became a psychologist
Jean Piaget
Published Principles of Psychology (the first textbook on psychology), from America, was a philosopher before he became a psychologist
William James
the science of behavior and mental processes
psychology
relative contribution of genes or experience to the development of psychological traits and behavior
Nature/Nurture Issue
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
Critical Thinking
early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Titchener; used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind
Structuralism
early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function–how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
Functionalism
the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2)
behaviorism
historically significant perspective that emphasized human growth potential
Humanistic Psychology
the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).
Cognitive Neuroscience
the principle that those chance inherited traits that better enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations
Natural Selection
the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection
Evolutionary Psychology
the study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior
Behavior Genetics
the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
culture
the scientific study of human functioning, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive
positive psychology
the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon.
levels of analysis
an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis
biopsychosocial approach
pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
basic research
scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
applied research
a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being
counseling psychology
a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
clinical psychology
a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy
psychiatry
a branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions affect individuals and groups.
community psychology
an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
intuition
the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it
hindsight bias
an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events
theory
a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
hypothesis
a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study.
operational definition
repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding can be reproduced
replication
a descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
case study
a descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
naturalistic observation
a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well wither factor predicts the other
correlation
a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1.00 to +1.00)
correlation coefficient
in an experiment, the group exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable
experiment group
