AP Psychology Modules 1, 2, 3

Clinical Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies assesses and treats people with psychological disorders.

Community Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies how people interact with the social environment and how social institutions affect individuals and groups.

Psychiatry

A brand of medicine dealing with psychological disorders practice by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drugs) treatments as well as psychological therapy.

Counseling Psychology

A brand of psychology that assist people with problems in living (often related to school work or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being.

Psychodynamic Psychology

A brand of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior and uses the information to treat people with psychological disorders.

Developmental Psychology

A brand of psychology that studies physical cognitive and social change throughout the lifespan.

Humanistic Psychology

A historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people.

Human Factors Psychology

An I/O psychology sub field that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use.

Biopsychosocial Approach

An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis

Industrial Organizational

Psychology and the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in the workplaces.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception thinking memory and language)

Educational Psychology

The study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning.

Social Cultural Psychology

The study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking.

Evolutionary Psychology

The study of the evolution of behavior in mind using principles of natural selection.

Basic Research

Pure science that aims to increase a scientific knowledge base.

Structuralism

Early school of the promoted by Wundt and Titchener; used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind.

Functionalism

Early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function--how they enable the organism to adapt,survive, and flourish.

Applied Research

Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems.

Levels of Analysis

The differing complementary views from biological to psychological to social cultural for analyzing any given phenomenon.

Nature Nurture Issue

The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today science sees traits and behaviors arising from the interaction of nature and nurture.

Natural Selection

The principle that among the range of inherited traits variations those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

Psychology

The science of behavior and mental processes.

Cognitive Psychology

The scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking knowing remembering and communicating.

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how we think about influence and relate to one another.

Positive Psychology

The scientific study of human functioning with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive.

Behavioral Psychology

The scientific study of observable behavior and its explanation by principles of learning.

Biological Psychology

The scientific study of the links between biological (genetic, hormonal, and neural) and psychological processes. (Some biological psychologist call themselves behavioral neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, behavior geneticists) psychological psychologists, or biopsychologists)

Psychometrics

The scientific study of the measurement of human abilities attitude and traits.

Personality Psychology

The study of an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking feeling and acting.

Experimental Psychology

The study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method.

Empiricism

The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation.

Behaviorism

The view that psychology(1) should be an objective science that(2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with(1) but not with(2).