Introduction and History of Psychology Flashcards
Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Pseudopsychology
Erroneous assertions or practices set forth as being scientific psychology
empirical approach
A study conducted via careful observations and scientifically based research
Experimental psychologists
Psychologists who do research on basic psychological processes- as contrasted with applied psychologists; also called research psychologists
Confirmation bias
The tendency to attend to evidence that complements and confirms our beliefs or expectations, while ignoring evidence that does not
Applied psychologists
Psychologists who use the knowledge developed by experimental psychologists to solve human problems
Teachers of psychology
Psychologists whose primary job is teaching, typically in high schools, colleges, and universities
Structuralism
A historical school of psychology devoted to uncovering the basic structures that make up the mind and thought. Structuralists sought the “elements” of conscious experience
Psychiatry
A medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders
What are psychology’s historical roots?
Modern psychology developed from several conflicting traditions, including structuralism, functionalism, Gestalt psychology, behaviorism, and psychoanalysis.
Gestalt psychology
A historical school of psychology that sought to understand how the brain works by studying perception and perceptual learning. Gestalt psychologists believed that percepts consist of meaningful wholes (in German, Gestalts).
Introspection
The process of reporting on one’s own mental experiences
Functionalism
A historical school of psychology that believed mental processes could best be understood in terms of their adaptive purpose and function
What is psychology– and what is it NOT?
Psychology is a broad field with many specialities, but fundamentally, psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Behaviorism
A historical school (as well as a modern perspective) that has sought to make psychology and objective science focused only on behavior- to the exclusion of mental processes
Psychoanalysis
An approach to psychology based on Sigmund Freud’s assertions, which emphasize unconscious processes. The term is used to refer broadly both to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and to his psychoanalytic treatment method.
What are the perspectives psychologists use today?
Nine main perspectives characterize modern psychology: the biological, developmental, cognitive, psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, sociocultural, evolutionary/sociobiological, and trait views.
Biological view
The psychological perspective that searches for the causes of behavior in the functioning of genes, the brain and nervous system, and the endocrine (hormone) system
Neuroscience
The field devoted to understanding how the brain creates thoughts, feelings, motives, consciousness, memories, and other mental processes
Evolutionary psychology
A relatively new specialty in psychology that sees behavior and mental processes in terms of their genetic adaptations for survival and reproduction
Developmental view
The psychological perspective emphasizing changes that occur across the lifespan
Cognitive view
The psychological perspective emphasizing mental processes, such as learning, memory, perception, and thinking, as forms of information processing
Cognitions
Mental processes, such as thinking, memory, sensation, and perception
Cognitive neuroscience
An interdisciplinary field emphasizing brain activity as information processing; involves cognitive psychology, neurology, biology, computer science, linguistics, and specialists from other fields who are interested in the connection between mental processes and the brain
Biological view
The psychological perspective that searches for the causes of behavior in the functioning of genes, the brain and nervous system, and the endocrine (hormone) system
Neuroscience
The field devoted to understanding how the brain creates thoughts, feelings, motives, consciousness, memories, and other mental processes
Evolutionary psychology
A relatively new specialty in psychology that sees behavior and mental processes in terms of their genetic adaptations for survival and reproduction
Developmental view
The psychological perspective emphasizing changes that occur across the lifespan
Cognitive view
The psychological perspective emphasizing mental processes, such as learning, memory, perception, and thinking, as forms of information processing
Cognitions
Mental processes, such as thinking, memory, sensation, and perception
Cognitive neuroscience
An interdisciplinary field emphasizing brain activity as information processing; involves cognitive psychology, neurology, biology, computer science, linguistics, and specialists from other fields who are interested in the connection between mental processes and the brain
Clinical view
The psychological perspective emphasizing mental health and mental illness. Psychodynamic and humanistic psychology are variations on the clinical view.
Psychodynamic psychology
A clinical viewpoint emphasizing the understanding of mental disorders in terms of unconscious needs, desires, memories, and conflicts
Humanistic psychology
A clinical viewpoint emphasizing human ability, growth, potential, and free will
Behavioral view
A psychological perspective that finds the source of our actions in environmental stimuli, rather than in inner mental processes
Sociocultural view
A psychological perspective emphasizing the importance of social interaction, social learning, and a cultural perspective
Culture
A complex blend of language, beliefs, customs, values, and traditions developed by a group of people and shared with others in the same environment
Evolutionary/sociobiological view
A psychological perspective emphasizing behavior as determined by natural selection
Trait view
A psychological perspective that views behavior and personality as the products of enduring psychological characteristics
Rene Descartes
1596-1650
I think, therefore I am…
-mind and body = interactive machines
-brain = location for mental functioning
-human minds
•innate ideas (God)
•derived ideas (experience/reflection)
Charles Darwin
1809-1882
Theory of natural selection (On the Origin of Species, 1859)
started evolutionary perspective
suggested biological kinship between humans and animals (discoveries about animals can be applied to humans)
Edward B. Titchener
1867-1927
Student of Wundt; Cornell University
-founded structuralism
•precursor to biological perspective
Max Wertheimer
1880-1943 Founded Gestalt psychology -"the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" -perception, learning, thinking -precursor to cognitive psychology
G. Stanley Hall
1844-1924
- Student of William James, pioneered study of child development
- first psychological laboratory in US @ John Hopkins University, 1883
- Founded American Journal of Psychology, 1887
- First president of APA, 1892
- Said academic work would ruin a woman’s health
William James
1842-1910
Published The Principles of Psychology, 1890 (first psych textbook)
-Founded functionalism
•precursor to cognitive perspective
Ivan Pavlov
1849-1936
Did conditioning experiments with dogs and bell
Influenced behaviorism
Sigmund Freud
1856-1939
- Interpretation of Dreams, 1900
- Founded psychoanalytic theory
- Discovered unconscious mind
Carl Rogers
1902-1987
Humanist
Mary Whiton Calkins
1863-1930
- Studied with William James
- denied doctorate by Harvard
- became first woman president of APA, 1905
- Founded psychology department at Wellesley College
Francis Cecil Sumner
1895-1954
-first African-American to receive PhD in psychology
-established psychology department @ Howard University
-work with African-American girls and self-image (dolls)
•helped with desegregation
B. F. Skinner
1904-1990
-Walden II (community run by behaviorist principles)
-Behaviorist • reinforcement
•founded operant conditioning theory
Dorothea Dix
Reformed treatment of the mentally ill
Margaret Floy Washburn
1871-1939
- First woman to earn PhD in psychology (Cornell, 1894)
- studied under Titchener
- experimental work with animal behavior, motor theory development
John B. Watson
1878-1958
-leader of behaviorism, “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It”, 1913
•observable behavior
-environment = determining factor
-inherited traits, instincts don’t matter
-little Albert study
Jean Piaget
1896-1980
Cognitive development theory
Wilhelm Wundt
1832-1920
First psychological laboratory in apartment near University of Leipzig
-introspection, psychophysical measurements, reaction time
-analyzed elements of consciousness and mental processes (language, thought) through study of culture
•influenced structuralism
Who is considered the father of psychology?
Wilhelm Wundt
When, where, and by whom was the first US psychological laboratory established?
1883
John Hopkins University
G. Stanley Hall
Who was the first president of the American Psychological Association?
G. Stanley Hall
Who was the first woman to receive a PhD in psychology?
Margaret Floy Washburn
Who was the first African-American to get a PhD in psychology?
Francis Cecil Sumner
Who was the first woman president of the American Psychological Association?
Mary Whiton Calkins
When, where, and by whom was the first psychology laboratory established?
1879
Leipzig, Germany
Wilhelm Wundt
