History and Approaches terms Flashcards
Structuralism
The study of the structure of mind and behavior; the view that all human mental experience can be understood as a combination of simple elements or events.
Functionalism
The perspective on mind and behavior that focuses on the examination of their functions in an organism’s interactions with the environment.
Behaviorism
A scientific approach that limits the study of psychology to measurable or observable behavior.
Gestalt
A school of psychology that maintains that psychological phenomena can be understood only when viewed as organized, structured wholes, not when broken down into primitive perceptual elements.
psychoanalytic or Psychodynamic
A psychological model in which behavior is explained in terms of past experiences and motivational forces; actions are viewed as stemming from inherited instincts, biological drives, and attempts to resolve conflicts between personal needs and social requirements.
Humanism
A psychological model that emphasizes an individual’s phenomenal world and inherent capacity for making rational choices and developing to maximum potential.
Evolutionary
The approach to psychology that stresses the importance of behavioral and mental adaptiveness, based on the assumption that mental capabilities evolved over millions of years to serve particular adaptive purposes.
Biological
The approach to identifying causes of behavior that focuses on the functioning of the genes, the brain, the nervous system, and the endocrine system.
Cognitive
The perspective on psychology that stresses human thought and the processes of knowing, such as attending, thinking, remembering, expecting, solving problems, fantasizing, and consciousness
Biopsychosocial
A model of health and illness that suggests that links among the nervous system, the immune system, behavioral styles, cognitive processing, and environmental factors can put people at risk for illness.
Counceling
Psychologist who specializes in providing guidance in areas such as vocational selection, school problems, drug abuse, and marital conflict.
Developmental
The branch of psychology concerned with interaction between physical and psychological processes and with stages of growth from conception throughout the entire life span.
Psychometric
The field of psychology that specializes in mental testing.
Social
The branch of psychology that studies the effect of social variables on individual behavior, attitudes, perceptions, and motives; also studies group and intergroup phenomena.
Mary Whiton Calkins
was an American philosopher and psychologist. Calkins was also the first woman to become president of the American Psychological Association.
Charles Darwing
English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory.[I] He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.
Dorothea Dix
American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as Superintendent of Army Nurses.
Sigmund Freud
He was an Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis.
G. Stanley Hall
was a pioneering American psychologist and educator. His interests focused on childhood development and evolutionary theory. Hall was the first president of the American Psychological Association and the first president of Clark University.
William James
American philosopher and psychologist who was also trained as a physician. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, James was one of the leading thinkers of the late nineteenth century and is believed by many to be one of the most influential philosophers the United States has ever produced, while others have labelled him the “Father of American psychology
Ivan Pavlov
Russian physiologist known primarily for his work in classical conditioning. From his childhood days Pavlov demonstrated intellectual brilliance along with an unusual energy which he named “the instinct for research”
Jean Piaget
Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called “genetic epistemology”.
Carl Rogers
was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (or client-centered approach) to psychology. Rogers is widely considered to be one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research and was honored for his pioneering research with the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1956.
B. F. Skinner
American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974
Margaret Floy Washburn
leading American psychologist in the early 20th century, was best known for her experimental work in animal behavior and motor theory development. She was the first woman to be granted a PhD in psychology (1894), and the second woman, after Mary Whiton Calkins, to serve as an APA President
John B. Watson
as an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism. Watson promoted a change in psychology through his address, Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it, which was given at Columbia University in 1913.[3] Through his behaviorist approach, Watson conducted research on animal behavior, child rearing, and advertising. In addition, he conducted the controversial “Little Albert” experiment.
Wilhelm Wundt
German physician, psychologist, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. Wundt, who noted psychology as a science apart from biology and philosophy, was the first person to ever call himself a Psychologist. He is widely regarded as the “father of experimental psychology”] In 1879, Wundt founded the first formal laboratory for psychological research at the University of Leipzig. This marked psychology as an independent field of study
Experiment
a test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle, supposition, etc.: a chemical experiment; a teaching experiment; an experiment in living.
