Key History and Approaches Flashcards
Charles Darwin
Contributed evolutionary psychology (survival of the fittest)
Mary Whiton Calkins
The first woman American Philosophy Association President, invented the paired association technique (the association of a stimulus with an object), and her work in self-psychology (the study of either the cognitive, conative, or affective representation of one’s identity or the subject of experience)
Dorothea Dix
Devotion to the welfare of mentally ill persons led to widespread reform, and the building of 32 institutions in the United States
Sigmund Freud
Neurologist known for developing the theories and techniques of psychological theory and therapy aimed at treating mental disorders
G. Stanley Hall
President of APA, first American PhD in Psychology, First American lab in Psychology, First American journal in Psychology
William James
Studied how humans use perception to function in our environment
Ivan Pavlov
Developed foundation for classical conditioning, discovered that a UCS naturally elicits a reflexive behavior
Jean Piaget
Created a four-stage theory of cognitive development, said that two basic processes work in tandem to achieve cognitive growth (assimilation and accommodation)
Carl Rogers
Founded person-centered therapy, theory that emphasizes the unique quality of humans especially their freedom and potential for personal growth, unconditional positive regard, fully functioning person
B. F. Skinner
Created techniques to manipulate the consequences of an organism’s behavior in order to observe the effects of the subsequent behavior
Margaret Floy Washburn
Main contribution was to the study of consciousness and the examination of mental processes and both animals and humans
John B. Watson
Generalization-inductive reasoning Mrs. on external behaviors of people and their reactions any given situation
Wilhelm Wundt
“Father of experimental psychology” the first person to ever call himself a psychologist; noted psychology as a science apart from biology and philosophy
Empiricism
Approach to psychology that states that all facts come from personal experience
Structuralism
The first field of psychology that attempted to explain psychology scientifically
Functionalism
Study of psychology in terms of evolution and adaptation
Experimental Psychologist
Area of psychology that utilizes scientific methods to research the mind and behavior
Behaviorists
An approach to psychology that emphasizes observable measure able behavior
Humanistic Psychologist
A supporter of a philosophy asserting human dignity and man’s capacity for fulfillment through reason
Cognitive Neuroscience
The scientific study of the nervous system
Psychology
The science of behavior and mental processes
Nature vs Nurture
Debates over the relative degrees to which one’s genetic makeup and one’s experiences
Natural Selection
System of evolution in which only a few survive because they adapted; proposed by Darwin
Levels of Analysis
Biological influences (brain and hormones), psychological influences (learned fears and expectations), and social-cultural influences (presence of others)
