Module 1 Flashcards
Wilhelm Wundt
first psychologist; introspection; structuralism
Structuralism
attempt to understand the structure or characteristics of the mind
Introspection
someone examines their own conscious experience to break it into its component parts
William James
natural selection; evolution; functionalism
Functionalism
how mental activities help an organism fit into its environment; more interested in the operation of the whole mind rather than of its individual parts
Sigmund Freud
hysteria; neurosis; psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalytic theory
focuses on the role of a person’s unconscious and early childhood experiences
Gestalt psychology
although a sensory experience can be broken down into individual parts, how those parts relate to each other as a whole is often what the individual responds to in perception
Ivan Pavlov
conditioned reflex; classical conditioning
John Watson
behaviorism - shifting the focus of psychology from the mind to behavior; learned behavior and its interaction with inborn qualities of the organism
B.F. Skinner
behaviorism, reinforcement and punishment as major factors in driving behavior, operant conditioning chamber/Skinner box
Humanism
emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans
Abraham Maslow
humanism; hierarchy of needs: physiological, security, social, esteem, self-actualization
Carl Rogers
humanism; client-centered therapy; 3 features of a therapist - unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and empathy
Biopsychology
explores how our biology influences our behavior; how the structure and function of the nervous system is related to behavior
Evolutionary psychology
evolution based on natural selection to have the traits we have today
Cognitive psychology
focuses on studying cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and our actions
Developmental psychology
study of development across a lifespan; focus on changes in cognitive skills, moral reasoning, social behavior, and other psychological attributes
Object permanence
Jean Piaget; understanding that physical things continue to exist, even if they are hidden from us
Personality psychology
focuses on patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique
Big 5 personality traits / 5 factor model
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism
Social psychology
focuses on how we interact with and relate to others; differences in how we explain our own behavior versus how we explain the behaviors of others, prejudice, and attraction, and how we resolve interpersonal conflicts
Stanley Milgram
social psychology; research study on how many participants would be willing to give lethal shocks to someone else; 2/3 of participants would
Deductive reasoning
ideas are tested against the empirical world; begins with a generalization—one hypothesis—that is then used to reach logical conclusions about the real world
Inductive reasoning
empirical observations lead to new ideas; formulate theories, which in turn generate hypotheses that are tested with deductive reasoning
Strange Situation
Mary Ainsworth; caregivers bring their infants into a room filled with toys, a stranger comes into the room, the caregiver leaves the room, and the caregiver returns to the room
Inter-rater reliability
a measure of reliability that assesses the consistency of observations by different observers
Longitudinal research
a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time
Cross-sectional research
compares multiple segments of the population at the same time
Confounding variable
the variable that is the actual cause of 2 variables being correlated and not one causing the other
Illusory correlations
occur when people believe that relationships exist between two things when no such relationship exists
Operational definition
description of how we will measure our variables
Attrition
reduction in number of research participants as some drop out of the study over time
Clinical or case study
observational research study focusing on one or a few people
