Prologue Key People/terms/concepts Flashcards
Empiricism
The view that knowledge comes from experience. Therefore science should rely on observation and experimentation
Wilhelm wundt
Created psychologys first experiment (1879) by measuring reaction times. “Atoms of the mind”
Structuralism
An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind.
Edward titchener
Wudnts student, introduced structuralism. His method was to engage people in self reflective introspection.
Introspection
Looking inward to oneself
Functionalism
A school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function. How they enable the organism to adapt, survive and flourish.
William James
Psychologist who founded functionalism. Tutor of Mary calkins at harvard.
Mary calkins
First APA (American psychological association) female president. pioneer for female psychologists
Margaret Floy Washburn
The animal mind author. First female psychology PHD .
Humanistic psychology
A softer response to Freudian psychology and behaviorism. Founded by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
Nature-nurture issue
Do humans develop traits through experience or are they born with them?
Natural selection
Nature will evolve organisms to be best for their environment.
Evolutionary perspective
How natural selection of traits affects reproduction in a species.
Biological/neuroscience perspective
How the body and bray enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.
Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspective
How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts.
Behavioral perspective
How do we learn observable responses
Cognitive perspective
How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information
Social-cultural perspective.
How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures
Basic research
Research that builds psychologys knowledge base
Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental process
Behavior: anything an organism does, or any action we can observe or record
Mental processes: the internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior-sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts beliefs and feelings.
Applied research
Research that attacks practical problems
Biological psychologists
Exploring the links between Brain and mind
Developmental psychologists
Studying our changing abilities from womb to tomb
Cognitive psychologists
Experiment with how we think, perceive, and solve problems
