Topic 01 - Introducing Psychology

Question 1

Animism

Answer 1

The belief that the world is alive.

Question 2

Anthropomorphism

Answer 2

Giving inanimate objects human attributes.

Question 3

Apperception

Answer 3

According to Wundt, the organization of the basic elements of experience.

Question 4

Archetypes

Answer 4

Themes that constantly recur in consciousness.

Question 5

Association

Answer 5

The combination of simple ideas into complex one.

Question 6

Automata

Answer 6

Mechanical contraptions that mimicked human action and movement.

Question 7

Basic anxiety

Answer 7

Pervasive loneliness and helplessness in a hostile world.

Question 8

Clinical method

Answer 8

The technique developed by Paul Broca that involved documenting the behavior conditions a person experienced during life and then examining the person’s brain post mortem to see what structures were diseased or damaged.

Question 9

Continguity

Answer 9

Ideas or sensations that occur together are associated with one another.

Question 10

Creative synthesis

Answer 10

The combination of simple ideas into complex ones yielding some new and distinct quality not present in the simple ideas.

Question 11

Determination

Answer 11

The belief that all acts, behaviors, or effects are caused by past events.

Question 12

Doctrine of specific nerve energies

Answer 12

Stated there were five types of sensory nerves and each was maximally sensitive to its own type of stimulation, which Muller called its “specific irritability”.

Question 13

Drive-reduction theory of reinforcement

Answer 13

If we engage in a behavior and it successfully reduces a drive, we are more likely to make the same response again when the same drive occurs.

Question 14

Electrical stimulation

Answer 14

Involved applying weak electrical currents to the cerebral cortex and then observing motor responses.

Question 15

Empiricism

Answer 15

The notion that knowledge could be gained only via sensory experience and that there were no innate ideas.

Question 16

Extirpation method /

Extirpation ablation

Answer 16

The technique used by Pierre Flourens involving destroying or removing part of the brain and then observing the behavioral changes that occurred.

Question 17

Formal discipline

Answer 17

The arrangement of educational experiences in ways that certain faculties could be strengthened; linked to phrenology.

Question 18

Functionalism

Answer 18

Focused on the function of consciousness and how an organism could use the mind to adapt to its environment.

Question 19

Historiography

Answer 19

The study of the proper way to write history and conduct historical research; includes all relevant principles and tools.

Question 20

Individual psychology

Answer 20

Adler’s idea that personality was affected by both biological and social factors.

Question 21

Inferiority complex

Answer 21

A feeling of inferiority or weakness linked to being dependent on others in childhood.

Question 22

Introspection

Answer 22

When a person examines his or her own mental state and reports on his or her personal feelings and thoughts.

Question 23

Law of primary reinforcement

Answer 23

Stated that when a stimulus-response relationship leads to a reduction in some need or deficit, there is a greater likelihood that the same stimulus will cause the same response in the future.

Question 24

Locus of control

Answer 24

An individual’s perception about the source of reinforcement that could come from within or outside.

Question 25

Materialism

Answer 25

The view that the universe could be described in physical terms and explained by the properties of matter and energy.

Question 26

Mechanism

Answer 26

The view of the universe as a great machine.

Question 27

Mental age

Answer 27

The age when children of average ability are able to perform certain tasks.

Question 28

Mental tests

Answer 28

Tests to measure motor skills and sensory abilities.

Question 29

Mentalism

Answer 29

The belief that there are no primary qualities but only secondary ones; thus, knowledge or reality was dependent on the person doing the perceiving.

Question 30

Nonsense syllables

Answer 30

Meaningless series of syllables, usually consisting of two consonants with a vowel in between, used in the study of memory.

Question 31

Operationism

Answer 31

The idea that all physical concepts could be defined precisely using a set of operations or procedures by which they are determined.

Question 32

Paradigmatic stage

Answer 32

When a discipline moves to having one school of thought.

Question 33

Perceptual constancies

Answer 33

The idea that although sensory elements change, a person’s perception of an object does not.

Question 34

Personal equation

Answer 34

Measurement errors caused by individual differences.

Question 35

Phrenology

Answer 35

The movement that proposed that the intellectual and emotional characteristics of a person could be discerned by looking at the size and shape of the person’s skulls.

Question 36

Pop(ular) psychology /

Folk psychology

Answer 36

Refers to the use of terminology, interpretations, strategies, and concepts to help explain aspects of human behavior that tend to be bothersome for the individual experiencing them and the solutions recommended to alleviate the problem.

Question 37

Positive regard

Answer 37

The unconditional love a mother has for her child; proposed by Rogers.

Question 38

Positivism

Answer 38

The idea that knowledge could only be gained through empirical observations.

Question 39

Preparadigmatic stage

Answer 39

Characterized by the rival schools fighting with one another for dominance.

Question 40

Primary qualities

Answer 40

Qualities inherent in an object as actual physical attributes, including such things as size, motion, quantity, and shape.

Question 41

Pseudoscience

Answer 41

Practices that give the appearance of being scientific but actually are not.

Question 42

Psychology

Answer 42

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Question 43

Purposive behavior

Answer 43

Behavior directed toward a specific goal and that ends once the goal is obtained.

Question 44

Recapitulation theory

Answer 44

Stated that the development of children was similar to the history of the human race; proposed by Hall.

Question 45

Reductionism

Answer 45

The ability to break up complex things into their parts.

Question 46

Repetition

Answer 46

Hartley’s idea that the more times ideas or sensations occur together, the more likely they will be associated.

Question 47

Revolutionary stage

Answer 47

Occurs when a new school rises and attempts to displace the dominant one.

Question 48

School of thought

Answer 48

Refers to a group of scientists who becomes linked to one ideological framework, work on common problems, use common methods, and are possibly linked to one particular individual or geographical region.

Question 49

Secondary qualities

Answer 49

Qualities such as color, taste, temperature, odor, and sound are not in the option but in one’s perception of it.

Question 50

Self-help /

Self-improvement books

Answer 50

Tools that aid the troubled individual work through his or her issues in a self-guided fashion and without the need to see a professional.

Question 51

Social Darwinism

Answer 51

The idea that not only does the development of species follow evolutionary principles but so does the development of social institutions.

Question 52

Stream of consciousness

Answer 52

James’s belief that consciousness was personal, a continuous flow, and distorted if efforts were made to reduce it to its elements; it was constantly changing, selective, and functional.

Question 53

Structuralism

Answer 53

The attempt to take consciousness and break it down into its basic parts.

Question 54

Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 54

Learning that occurs by observing the actions of others and the consequences of such behavior.

Question 55

Voluntarism

Answer 55

When the mind organizes mental elements into higher-level thought processes.

Question 56

Zeitgeist

Answer 56

The spirit or attitude of the time.