Unit One

Question 1

Defn. Applied Psychology

Answer 1

The branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems.

Question 2

Defn. Behaviour

Answer 2

Any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism

Question 3

Defn. Behaviourism

Answer 3

A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour

Question 4

Defn. Biological Psychology

Answer 4

Physiological basis of behavior in humans and animals

Question 5

Defn. Cell Assembly

Answer 5

a group of neurons that are repeatedly active at the same time and develop as a single functional unit, which may become active when any of its constituent neurons is stimulated. This enables, for example, a person to form a complete mental image of an object when only a portion is visible or to recall a memory from a partial cue. Cell assembly is influential in biological theories of learning and memory.

Question 6

Defn. Clinical Psychology

Answer 6

Evaluate diagnose and treat individuals with psychological disorders as well as treatment of less severe behavioral and emotional problems.

Question 7

Defn. Cognition

Answer 7

The mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.

Question 8

Defn. Critical Thinking

Answer 8

The use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desired outcome.

Question 9

Defn. Culture

Answer 9

The widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations.

Question 10

Defn. Empiricism

Answer 10

The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation

Question 11

Defn. Ethnocentrism

Answer 11

The tendency to view one’s own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging the worth of foreign ways.

Question 12

Defn. Evolutionary Psychology

Answer 12

Evolutionary basis of behavior in humans and animals

Question 13

Defn. Functionalism

Answer 13

A school of psychology based on the belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure.

Question 14

Defn. Humanism

Answer 14

A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth.

Question 15

Defn. Introspection

Answer 15

Careful, systematic observation of one’s own conscious experience.

Question 16

Def. Natural Selection

Answer 16

Principle stating that heritable characteristics that provide a survival reproductive advantage are more likely than alternative characteristics to be passed on to subsequent generations and thus come to be “selected” over time.

Question 17

Defn. Nature

Answer 17

the innate, presumably genetically determined, characteristics and behaviors of an individual. In psychology, the characteristics most often and traditionally associated with nature are temperament, body type, and personality

Question 18

Defn. Nurture

Answer 18

the totality of environmental factors that influence the development and behavior of a person, particularly sociocultural and ecological factors such as family attributes, parental child-rearing practices, and economic status

Question 19

Defn. Personality Psychology

Answer 19

Is interested in describing and understanding individuals consistency in behavior which represents their personality.

Question 20

Defn. Positive Psychology

Answer 20

theory and research to better understand the positive adaptive creative and fulfilling aspect of human existence.

Question 21

Defn. Psychiatry

Answer 21

A branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders

Question 22

Defn. Psychoanalytic Theory

Answer 22

A theory developed by Freud that attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behaviour.

Question 23

Defn. Psychology

Answer 23

The science that studies behaviour and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.

Question 24

Defn. Psychometrics

Answer 24

Concerned with the measurement of behavior and capacities usually through the development of psychological tests.

Question 25

Defn. Skepticism

Answer 25

an attitude of questioning, disbelief, or doubt.

Question 26

Defn. Social Psychology

Answer 26

The branch of psychology concerned with the way individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by others.

Question 27

Defn. SQ3R

Answer 27

A study system designed to promote effective reading by means of five steps: survey, question, read, recite, and review

Question 28

Defn. Stimulus

Answer 28

Any detectable input from an environment.

Question 29

Defn. Stimulus-Response Psychology

Answer 29

Although some behaviourists, including Watson, were centrally concerned with stimulus-response relationships, other behaviourists never followed this approach. Skinner, for example, emphasized the concept of contingency, not simple stimulus-response relationships, as the basic unit of analysis. Another influential behaviourist, J. R. Kantor, developed a field theory of behaviour that departed radically from simple S-R psychology.

Question 30

Defn. Stream of Consciousness

Answer 30

Conscious was a continuous flow of thoughts, which he called stream of consciousness.

Question 31

Defn. Structuralism

Answer 31

A school of psychology based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and to investigate how these elements are related.

Question 32

Defn. Testwiseness

Answer 32

The ability to use the characteristics and format of a cognitive test to maximize one’s score.

Question 33

Defn. Theory

Answer 33

A system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations.

Question 34

Defn. Unconscious

Answer 34

According to Freud, thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behaviour

Question 35

Significance. Sigmund Freud

Answer 35

He developed psychoanalysis, which was the diagnosis and treatment of people with psychological problems. He also developed the theory of unconscious, where thoughts, memoires and desires below our conscious awareness influence our behavior. Psychoanalytic theory attempts to explain personality, motivation and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior.

Question 36

Significance. G. Stanley Hall

Answer 36

G Stanley Hall

Briefly studied with Wundt

Established America’s first research laboratory in psychology at John Hopkins

He launched America’s first psychology journal

Driving forces behind the APA (American Psychological Association) and was first president

Today AOA worlds largest organization devoted to advancement of psychology

Question 37

Significance. Donald Hebb

Answer 37

Professor at Mcgill

Pioneered ideas with importance of physiological and neuropsychological perspective

Importance of the brain in behaviour

Created theory of cell assembly

Question 38

Significance. William James

Answer 38

One of leaders in emergence of functionalism

Wrote “Principles of Psychology” one of the most influential text in history of psychology

Impressed with Natural selection theory, typical characteristics must serve a purpose, thus psychology should investigate the functions rather than the structure of consciousness.

Argued that structuralists approach missed real nature of conscious experience

Consciousness consists of a continuous flow of thoughts. Stream of consciousness

Question 39

Significance. Brenda Milner

Answer 39

Canadian women psychologist

Contributions to understanding of memory and one of the founders of neuropsychology in Canada

Question 40

Significance. Carl Rogers

Answer 40

Aruged human behaviour is governed primarily by each individuals sense of self or self concept which animals presumably lack

Question 41

Significance. Martin Seligman

Answer 41

Founder of positive psychology movement

Pscy was too devoted to pathology, weakness, damages and ways to heal suffering

Question 42

Significance. B. F. Skinner

Answer 42

Was influence by watson’s methodological behaviorism

Eventually developed s system based on his own philosophy of radical behaviorism

Question 43

Significance. John B. Watson

Answer 43

Founded behaviorism

Proposed psychologists abandon study of consciousness and focus exclusively on behaviors that they could observe directly. Redefining that scientific psychology should be about

Asserted they could not study thoughts, wishes and feelings, but could observe behaviors such as eating, shopping, playing chess

Firmly believed in nurture in the nature vs nurture debate. Behavior governed primarily by environment

Paved way for stimulus-response approach

Question 44

Significance. Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 44

• mounted campaign to make psychology an independent discipline

1879 established first formal laboratory for research in psychology

1881 developed first journal devoted to publishing research on psychology

Psychology focuses on mind and mental process but demanded methods used to investigate be scientific