History and Approaches Flashcards
Introspection
A method of self-observation in which participants report their thoughts and feelings.
Structuralism
The idea that the mind operates by combining subjective emotions and objective sensations.
Functionalism
The theory of mental life and behavior that is concerned with how an organism uses its perceptual abilities to function in its environment.
Behaviorist school
This school focuses on measuring and recording observable behavior in relation to environment.
Ex: Pavlov, Watson, Skinner
Gestalt school
The school of psychological thought that argued that behavior cannot be studied in parts but must be viewed as a whole.
Ex: Wertheimer, Perls
Psychodynamic school
This school focuses on unconscious internal conflicts to explain mental disorders, personality, and motivation; the unconscious is the source of desires, thoughts, and memories.
Ex: Freud, Jung, Adler, Horney
Humanistic school
The school that focuses on the growth potential of healthy people; uses personalized methods to study personality in hopes of fostering personal growth.
Ex: Rogers, Maslow
Cognitive school
The school that focuses on the mental processes involved in perception, learning, memory, and thinking.
Ex: Piaget, Ellis, Beck
Biological school
The school that focuses on how complex chemical and biological processes within the nervous and endocrine systems relate to the behavior of organisms.
Socio-cultural school
The school that focuses on how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures; Also how we differ through our environment and through our expressions due to our cultures.
Wilhelm Wundt
First psychology lab in Germany. He used introspection to develop his theory of structuralism. He is considered the ‘Father of Psychology’.
William James
Wrote the first psychology textbook: The Principles of Psychology. He studied off Wundt’s results and developed his own theory of functionalism.
