Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour 3 Flashcards
Applied research:
Research that is designed to solve or examine specific, practical problems.
Applied research:
Research that is designed to solve or examine specific, practical problems.
Behaviour Genetics:
The scientific study of the role of genetic inheritance in behaviour.
Behavioural neuroscience:
A subfield of psychology that examines brain processes and other physiological functions that underlie our behaviour, sensory experiences, emotions and thoughts.
Behavioural perspective:
A view that emphasises how the environment and learning-experiences shape and control behaviour.
Biopsychology or behavioural-neuroscience:
A subfield of psychology that focuses on the biological underpinnings of behaviour, thought and emotion.
British empiricism:
A 17th century school of philosophy championed by Locke, according to which all the contents of the mind are gained experientially through the senses.
Clinical psychology:
A subfield of psychology that focuses on the study and treatment of mental disorders.
Cognitive behaviourism:
A behavioural approach that incorporates cognitive concepts, suggesting that the environment influences our behaviour by affecting our thoughts and giving us information.
Cognitive neuroscience:
An area of psychology that intersects the subfields of cognitive psychology and physiological psychology and examines brain processes that underlie mental activity.
Cognitive perspective:
A view that emphasises humans as information processors and problem solvers, and that focuses on the mental processes that influence behaviour.
Cognitive psychology:
An area of psychology that specialises in studying mental processes such as thinking, memory, planning, reasoning, attention and perception.
Cultural psychology (cross-cultural psychology):
A subfield of psychology that explores how culture is transmitted to its members and examines similarities and differences that occur between people from diverse cultures.
Developmental psychology:
A subfield of psychology that examines human physical, psychological and social development across the lifespan.
Evolutionary psychology:
A field of psychology that focuses on the role of evolutionary processes (especially natural selection) in the development of adaptive psychological mechanisms and social behaviour in humans.
Experimental psychology:
A subfield of psychology that focusses on the basic processes such as learning, sensory systems (e.g. vision), perception and motivational states (e.g. hunger).
Functionalism:
An early school of American psychology that focused on the function of consciousness and behaviour in helping organisms adapt to their environment and satisfy their needs.
Humanistic perspective (humanism):
A psychological view that emphasises personal freedom, choice and self-actualisation.
Industrial-organisational (I/O) psychology:
A subfield of psychology that focusses on people’s behaviour in the workplace.
Interaction:
An interaction occurs (i.e. two factors ‘interact’) when the way in which one factor influences the behaviour depends on the presence of the other factor.
Natural selection:
The evolutionary process through which characteristics that increase the likelihood of survival and reproduction are preserved in the gene pool and thereby become more common in a species over time.
Neurotransmitters:
Chemical substances that are released from the axons of one neuron, travel across the synaptic space and bind to specially keyed receptors in another neuron, where they produce a chemical reaction that is either excitatory or inhibitory.
Norms (cultural or group):
Rules (often unwritten) that specify what behaviour is acceptable and expected for members of a particular culture or group.
Personality psychology:
A subfield of psychology that focuses on the nature of human personality.
