Unit 1 Flashcards
Psychology
Old definition: coming from the greek words psyche ‘soul’ and logos ‘the study of’
New definition: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
1st goal of psychology
To describe the different ways organisms behave
2nd goal of psychology
Explain the causes of behavior
3rd goal of psychology
Predict how organisms will behave in certain situations
4th goal of psychology
Controlling an organisms behavior
Positive side of control in psychology
Psychologists can help people learn to control undesirable behaviors by teaching better methods of self-control and ways to deal with situations and relationships
Negative side of control in psychology
The concern that psychologists might control people’s behaviors without their knowledge or consent
Plato
His version of the mind features three parts that must be in balance reason, spirit, and appetite
Dualism
Mind and body are not connected and are very different
Monism
Mind and body are connected
Descartes
Saw the body as mechanical but the mind as a non-physical entity not suitable for scientific inquiry
Aristotle
Believed that all knowledge is gained through sensory experience
empiricism
-The idea that knowledge is the result of experience
John Locke
Said “let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper void of all characters, without any ideas. How comes it to be furnished?… To this I answer, in one word, from EXPERIENCE.”
Structuralism
Consciousness can be broken down into its essential elements
Wilhelm Wundt
Established the first formal psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879
“Father of psychology”
Believed that the goal of psychology was to understand consciousness
First psychology experiment
Was a simple test of reaction time
Edward Titchener
One of Wundt’s students
Expanded on Wundt’s views to establish a theory of structuralism
Believed that the mind could be broken down into the smallest elements of mental experience
Introspection
The personal observation of our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Careful self-examination and reporting of ones own conscious
Functionalism
Our consciousness serves an adaptive purpose by helping us survive