Unit 1 (History and Approaches) Flashcards
ABCs of Psycology
Affect
Behavior
Cognition
Goals of Psychology
Observe and describe
Understand and explain
Predict
Influence and control
Aristotle
Knowledge through observation
Rene Descartes
Developed the idea of interactive dualism: The view that mind and body are separate entities, but interact and influence each other
John Locke
Developed the idea of Empiricism: view that experiences and observations are the sources of ideas and memories
Charles Darwin
Developed the idea of evolution: Adaptation can be mental or physical
Gustav Fechner
Studied psychophysics: Relationship between physical properties to psychological experience
Herman von Helmholtz
Developed theory on color perception
Structuralism (William Wundt)
How is the mind structured
- Introspection and experimentation on sensation and perception
- Break mental experiences into their smallest components parts (sensations, perceptions, feelings)
Functionalism (William James)
How does the mind function to allow us to adapt to our environment
- Introspection
- Experimentation (introduced animal research)
Behaviorism (John Watson and B.F. Skinner)
What do people\animals do
How does experience shape our behavior
- Observation of behavior
- Experiments on learning
Psychoanalytic (Sigmund Freud)
How do instincts and unconscious mind influence feeling, actions, thoughts
- Psychoanalysis: analysis of thoughts, free associations, dreams, and Freudian slips
Humanistic (Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow)
How do people pursue goals that give their lives a sense of meaning and purpose
- Psychotherapy to aid self-actualization
Gestalt (Max Wertheimer)
What’s the big picture
How does the brain organise our perceptions, so that we perceive organised patterns or wholes
- Emphasized “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”
Basic Research
Conduct research to increase the field’s base knowledge
