Important People - AP Exam Flashcards
Mary Whiton Calkins
The first female president of the American Psychological Association.
She created self-psychology, which emphasized a self-evaluation of one’s personal experiences.
Charles Darwin
Developed theories of evolution and natural selection.
His beliefs inspire the evolutionary approach in psychology.
Dorothea Dix
An advocate for the mentally ill by highlighting the deplorable conditions in asylums.
She created the first mental hospitals in America.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis.
G. Stanley Hall
Known as the founder of educational psychology and child psychology.
He shaped adolescent themes in psychology.
William James
Wrote the Principles of Psychology and is the founder of functionalism.
He created the James-Lange theory and mentored Mary Whiton Calkins.
Ivan Pavlov
Known for his work in classical conditioning.
Jean Piaget
Created stages of development for children including the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operation phases.
Carl Rogers
A humanist psychologist who created client-centered therapy where the therapist guides personal growth.
B.F. Skinner
A behaviorist psychologist.
He created the theory of operant conditioning where he studied how consequences shape behavior.
Margaret Floy Washburn
The first woman granted a Ph.D. in psychology.
John B. Watson
The father of behaviorism.
He is famous for the controversial Little Albert experiment.
Wilhelm Wundt
Created the first psychology laboratory in Germany.
Also the founder of structuralism.
Charles Darwin
Darwin is known for his principle of natural selection and his other contributions to evolution.
He established the idea that all species of life come from the same ancestor.
Paul Broca
Broca discovered Broca’s area in the brain, which is associated with language and speaking.
Carl Wernicke
Wernicke studied nerve disease and parts of the brain.
He discovered Wernicke’s area, which is essential in understanding language and speech.
Roger Sperry
Sperry was one of the few key neuropsychologists to claim that we have two brain hemispheres, and each has its own specialized functions.
He studied split-brain patients and conducted experiments to learn more about each half of the brain.
He actually won a Nobel Prize for his research.
Michael Gazzaniga
Gazzaniga helped with the understanding of lateralization.
He also worked with split-brain patients to advance his research and began to understand how the two hemispheres of the brain work together.
William James
James coined the term “stream of consciousness.”
He is considered the Father of American Psychology.
Sigmund Freud
Freud is the father of psychoanalysis and studied many areas of psychology through his psychoanalytic perspective.
He came up with three levels of consciousness: the conscious, preconscious, and the unconscious.
