Unit 1 Terms

Question 1

Descartes beliefs on mind and body relationship

Answer 1

Agreed with Plato and Socrates that the mind and body are two separate beings and we are born with knowledge. Believed animals spirits in our brain fluid control movement and memory

Question 2

John Locke and Tabula Rosa

Answer 2

John Locke believed we are born with our mind being a blank slate that experience writes on (tabula rosa)

Question 3

Empiricism

Answer 3

The idea that knowledge comes from experience and experiments and observation lead to scientific knowledge.

Question 4

Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 4

Creator of first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany in 1879 where he measured peoples reaction time by having them hit a telegraph button

Question 5

Edward Titchener + Introspection

Answer 5

Founder of structuralism which aimed to figure out how the mind worked and was set up by using introspection. Introspection is the act of looking inside at someones own mental processes
- this has inaccuracies as people don’t report accurately

Question 6

Behaviorism

Answer 6

One of the main branches of psychology during this time involving people B.F Skinner with his pigeons and John B Watson with the “Little Albert Experiment”. This branch believes behavior is influenced by conditioning and learning

Question 7

Psychoanalysis

Answer 7

Another main branch of psychology during the 20th century which believes our childhood experiences and unconscious drives affect thoughts. Mainly freud

Question 8

Humanism

Answer 8

Branch of psychology that focused on how we can achieve our full potential and become our best selves. Abraham Maslow (hierarchy of needs) and Carl Rogers.

Question 9

Cognitive Neuroscience

Answer 9

The study of brain activity linked with cognition (Perception, thinking, dreaming)

Question 10

Contemporary Pyschology

Answer 10

The science of behavior and mental processes
- behavior being anything an organism does (laughing, smiling, crying, etc)
- mental processes being anything internal that we can infer from behaviors (thoughts, feelings, etc)

Question 11

Biggest question in psychology

Answer 11

Nature vs Nurture
How big of a role does our environment and genes play in how our brains are developed? Contemporary psychology believes they work together, “Nurture works on what nature provides”

Question 12

Biopsychosocial approach

Answer 12

Approach to examining and explaining a trait or behavior using 3 different perspectives. Biological being things like genes, natural selection, and genetic mutations. Psychological being things like emotional response, learned behavior, and cognitive processes. Social which things like social influence, cultural/family pressures