What is psychology?

Question 1

empirical

Answer 1

Relying on or derived from observation, experimentation, or measurement.

Question 2

psychology

Answer 2

The discipline concerned with behavior and mental processes and how they are affected by an organism’s physical state, mental state, and external environment.

Question 3

critical thinking

Answer 3

The ability and willingness to assess claims and make judgements on the basis of well-supported reasons and evidence, rather than emotion or anecdote.

Question 4

structuralism

Answer 4

An early psychological approach that emphasized the analysis of immediate experience into basic elements.

Question 5

functionalism

Answer 5

An early psychological approach that emphasized the function or purpose of behavior and consciousness.

Question 6

phrenology

Answer 6

The now discredited theory that different brain areas account for specific character and personality traits, which can be “read” from bumps on the skull.

Question 7

psychoanalysis

Answer 7

A theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy, originally formulated by Sigmund Freud, that emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts.

Question 8

biological perspective

Answer 8

An approach that emphasizes bodily events and changes associated with actions, feelings, and thoughts.

Question 9

evolutionary psychology

Answer 9

A field of psychology emphasizing evolutionary mechanisms that may help explain human commonalities in cognition, development, emotion, social practices, and other areas of behavior.

Question 10

learning perspective

Answer 10

A psychological approach that emphasizes how the environment and experience affect a person’s or animal’s actions.

Question 11

cognitive perpective

Answer 11

An approach that emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, language, problem solving, and other areas of behavior.

Question 12

sociocultural perspective

Answer 12

An approach that emphasizes social and cultural influences on behavior.

Question 13

psychodynamic perspective

Answer 13

An approach that emphasizes unconscious dynamics within the individual, such as inner forces, conflicts, or the movement of instinctual energy.

Question 14

humanist psychology

Answer 14

An approach that emphasizes free will, personal growth, resilience, and the achievement of human potential.

Question 15

feminist psychology

Answer 15

An approach that analyzes the influence of social inequities on gender relations and on the behavior of the two sexes.

Question 16

basic psychology

Answer 16

The study of psychological issues in order to seek knowledge for its own sake rather than for its practical application.

Question 17

applied psychology

Answer 17

The study of psychological issues that have direct practical significance.