Unit 1 Term List Flashcards
Wilhelm Wundt
Known as the “father of psychology” largely because of his success in establishing psychology as a true science and a legitimate academic discipline.
Mary Calkins
A woman “pioneer” in the field of psychology. She became the first woman to serve as president of the American Psychological Association in 1905.
Francis Cecil Sumner
The first African American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology at Clark University. He eventually became the chair of the psychology department of Howard University.
G. Stanley Hall
An important early American contributor to the field of psychology. Three major contributions: 1) Established the first American psychological research laboratory. 2) Established the first American research journal in psychology. 3) Helped to establish the first American professional organization. (He was the first president of the American Psychological Association.)
Structuralism
An early school of thought in psychology. The main idea was that conscious experience could be broken down into basic elements or structures.
Edward Titchener
An important American structuralist
Functionalism
An early school of thought in psychology. The main belief was that the task of psychology is to investigate the function, or purpose, of consciousness rather than its structure.
William James
The most influential early Functionalist. He was highly influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary theory that all characteristics of a species serve some adaptive purpose.
Ivan Pavlov
An important and influential behaviorist.
B.F. Skinner
An important and influential behaviorist.
John B. Watson
An important and influential behaviorist from Travelers Rest, SC that emphasized that psychology must abandon the study of consciousness and focus on the study of observable behavior.
Empiricism
An aspect of science that emphasizes the role of experience, especially sensory perception (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell) in the formation of ideas. This philosophy asserts that all scientific hypotheses must be tested against actual observations.
Stimulus
Anything that happens or changes in the environment.
Response
The behavior that follows stimulus.
Determinism
The belief held by many behaviorists that all behavior is predetermined by previous stimuli.
Sigmund Freud
The most influential psychoanalytic theorist.
The Unconscious Mind
Feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of our conscious awareness.
Humanistic Psychology (Humanism)
An optimistic theory that asserts that all humans possess free will and the potential for positive growth.
Abraham Maslow
An influential humanist.
Eclectic Approach
An approach on which psychologists draw on multiple different perspectives and theories to gain an understanding of human behavior and mental processes.
Theory
A system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations.
Variables
The object of study in scientific research. These vary and can be measured.
Population
The entire group of people in which the researcher is interested.
Sampling Bias
The exists when the sample is not representative of the population from which it is drawn.
