Unit 1 Studying

Question 1

Science

Answer 1

The belief that forms of things such as genes, environmental stimuli, and cultural customs are all accessible and quantifiable

Question 2

Rationalism

Answer 2

Contrast to Irrationalism, the philosophical belief that knowledge can be attained only by engaging in some type of systematic mental activity

Question 3

Empiricism

Answer 3

Contrast to rationalism, the source of knowledge is always based on sensory observation

Question 4

Empirical observation

Answer 4

The direct observation of nature, first step of the scientific theory

Question 5

Naive realism

Answer 5

What we experience mentally is the same as what is present physically

Question 6

Irrationalism

Answer 6

Contrast to rationalism, the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jung claim that the true causes of behavior are unconscious and as such cannot be experienced rationally

Question 7

Mechanism

Answer 7

Behaviours of organisms can be explained the same as a machine as they both are subject to the same parts and laws governing those parts

Question 8

Vitalism

Answer 8

The belief that life cannot be explained in terms of inanimate processes. Life requires a force that is more than the material objects or inanimate processes in which it manifests itself. For there to be life, there must be a vital force present

Question 9

Determinism

Answer 9

Assumes that everything that occurs is a function of a finite number of causes and that, if these causes were known, an event could be predicted with complete accuracy

Question 10

Hard Determinism

Answer 10

All actions are caused and predetermined, nobody is truly free

Question 11

Soft determinism

Answer 11

Although our actions are determined, we still act voluntarily

Question 12

Preestablished harmony

Answer 12

A belief by some dualist that two types of events are different and separate but are coordinated by some external agent—for example, God

Question 13

Double aspectism

Answer 13

A person cannot be divided into a mind and a body but is a unity that simultaneously experiences events physiologically and mentally

Question 14

Epiphenomenalism

Answer 14

The brain causes mental events, but mental events cannot cause behavior. In this view, mental events are simply by-products of brain processes with no ability to exert any influence

Question 15

Psychophysical parallelism

Answer 15

Environmental experience causes both mental events and bodily responses simultaneously but the two are totally independent of each other

Question 16

Dualist

Answer 16

The belief that there are physical events and mental events

Question 17

Idealist

Answer 17

Contrast to monists, the belief that even our so-called physical reality results from perceived ideas

Question 18

Monist

Answer 18

Another term for materialists, the belief that explains everything in terms of one type of reality—matter

Question 19

Presentism

Answer 19

Contrast to historicism, a term coined by Stocking, understanding the past in terms of contemporary knowledge and standards

Question 20

Historicism

Answer 20

Contrast to Stockings presentism, the study of the past for its own sake without attempting to relate the past and present

Question 21

Eclectic approach

Answer 21

Using whatever method seems best able to illuminate an aspect of the history of psychology

Question 22

Zeitgeist

Answer 22

The spirit of the times

Question 23

Material cause

Answer 23

According to Aristotle, what a thing is made of

Question 24

Formal cause

Answer 24

According to Aristotle, the form of a thing

Question 25

Final cause

Answer 25

According to Aristotle, the purpose for which a thing exists

Question 26

Efficient cause

Answer 26

According to Aristotle, the force that transforms a thing

Question 27

Unmoved mover

Answer 27

A logical necessity in Aristotle philosophy, this is what gives nature its purpose, or final cause, but was itself uncaused.

Question 28

Realism

Answer 28

The belief that abstract universals (essences) exist and that empirical events are only manifestations of those universals

Question 29

Scholasticism

Answer 29

The synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy with Christian teachings

Question 30

Nominalism

Answer 30

The belief that so-called universals are nothing more than verbal labels or mental habits that are used to denote classes of experience

Question 31

Conceptualism

Answer 31

Abelard’s proposed solution to the realism-nominalism debate. Abelard argued that concepts do not have independent existence (realism), but that, being abstractions, they are more than mere names (nominalism)

Question 32

Idols of the cave

Answer 32

Bacon’s term for personal biases that result from one’s personal characteristics or experiences

Question 33

Idols of the marketplace

Answer 33

Bacon’s term for error that results when one accepts the traditional meanings of the words used to describe things

Question 34

Idols of the theatre

Answer 34

Bacon’s term for the inhibition of objective inquiry that results when one accepts dogma, tradition, or authority

Question 35

Idols of the tribe

Answer 35

Bacon’s term for biases that result from human’s natural tendency to view the world selectively

Question 36

Positivism

Answer 36

The belief that only those objects or events that can be experienced directly should be the object of scientific inquiry. Actively avoids metaphysical speculation

Question 37

Secondary qualities

Answer 37

Those apparent attributes of physical objects that in fact exist only in the mind of the perceiver—for example, the experiences of color, sound, odor, temperature, and taste. Without a perceiver, these phenomena would not exist

Question 38

Primary qualities

Answer 38

Attributes of physical objects: for example, size, shape, number, position, and movement or rest

Question 39

Protestantism

Answer 39

The religious movement that denied the authority of the pope and of Aristotle. It argued against church hierarchy and ritual and instead wanted a simple, deeply personal, and introspective religion like that described by St. Paul and St. Augustine

Question 40

Phenomenologist

Answer 40

Emphasizes the importance of examining phenomena without presuppositions or preconceived theories aiming for more direct understanding of human consciousness

Question 41

Interactionism

Answer 41

The version of dualism that accepts the separate existence of a mind and a body and claims that they interact

Question 42

Humanism

Answer 42

A viewpoint that existed during the Renaissance. It emphasized four themes: individualism, a personal relationship with God, interest in classical wisdom, and a negative attitude toward Aristotle’s philosophy