AP Psych, Unit 1 prologue Vocabulary

Wilhelm Wundt

(1832-1920) Set up the first psychology laboratory in an apartment near the university at Leipzig, Germany in 1879. He trained subjects using a technique called introspection by asking them to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli. He was seeking to measure the "atoms of the mind", which began the first psychology experiment.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

1850-1909; He was the first to conduct experiments involving memory and the act of forgetting. He concluded that most forgetting takes place soon after we learn something. His main contribution to psychology was demonstrating that carefully controlled experimentation can be conducted.

Sigmund Freud

1856-1939; A Viennese physician; justified the new sexual frankness in his writings; appeared to argue that sexual repression was responsible for a variety of nervous and emotional ills; thus not pleasure alone but also health demanded sexual gratification and liberation

Carl Jung

1875-1961; A Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytic psychology. Proposed and developed the concepts of extroversion and introversion. Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity.

Carl Rogers

1902-1987; American psychologist, among the founders to the humanistic approach to psychology. Considered one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research. Created his own unique approach called the person-centered approach to understand personality and human relationships.

Aaron Beck

1921-present; Developed cognitive-behavior therapy. "Beck's Cognitive Theory" was designed to identify and change inappropriate negative and self-critical patterns of thought; primarily used to treat depression and anxiety. Aims to lead person to more realistic and flexible ways of thinking.

Jean Piaget

A Swiss developmental psychologist. Developed his theory of cognitive development, which deals with the nature of knowledge and how humans come gradually to acquire, construct, and use it. Piaget placed great importance on the education of children. Known for genetic epistemology.

Counseling Psychology

A branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being. Professional counseling facilitates personal and interpersonal functioning across a lifespan. Science, theory, and practice are the three aspects of psychology that are integrated in counseling psychology.

Clinical Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders. A clinical psychologist can also conduct research into the cause of behavior.

William James

A philosopher on Harvard faculty. He wrote Principles of Psychology, The Will To Believe, Varieties of Religious Experience, and Pragmatism. Lived between 1842-1910. Helped to express philosophy of the nation.

Functionalism

A psychology based on the assumption that all mental processes are useful to an organism in adapting to its environment.

B.F. Skinner

A radical behaviorist who invented the Skinner Box. His goal was the improvement of society. Skinner attempted to discover the conditions under which the behavior can be described, predicted, and controlled. Enforced operant conditioning which was behavioral training as a result of reinforcement and punishment.

Mary Whiton Calkins

American psychologist who conducted research on memory, personality, and dreams; first woman president of the American Psychological Association. She was denied her PhD she earned from Harvard because she was a woman, but was given posthumously.

John B. Watson

An American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism. Through his behaviorist approach, Watson conducted research on animal behavior, child rearing, and advertising. He also conducted to controversial "Little Albert" experiment.

Biopsychosocial Approach

An integrated perspective that incorporates biological, psychological, and sociocultural levels of analysis.

Nature vs. Nurture

Argument of what determines our personality and behavior: innate biology or life experience; genes or environment. Deals with the extent to which hereditary and the environment each influences behavior.

Roger Sperry

Bio-psychological; neuropsychologist that studied the functions of the left and right brain hemispheres of epilepsy victims whose hemispheres had been surgically separated to reduce seizures. Proved that left and right hemispheres of the brain have different functions.

Humanistic Approach

Concentrates on the ways that studying humans differ from studying objects or animals, including issues such as experience, awareness, and free will. Emphasizes a person's positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose one's destiny.

Behavioral Approach

Emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants. It focuses on an organism's visible interactions with the environment—that is, behaviors, not thoughts or feelings.

Margaret Floy Washburn

First female to be awarded a PhD in psychology. The second woman president of the APA in 1921. She is particularly known for studying animal behavior and motor theory development.

Sociocultural Approach

Focuses on comparisons of behavior across countries as well as on the behavior of individuals from different ethnic and cultural groups within a country. One of the more recently developed perspectives in psychology; it recognizes the influence of cultural heritage, ethnic background, economic status, and lifestyle factors.

Biological Approach

Focuses on the body, especially the brain and nervous system. A branch of psychology that studies the links between biological (including neuroscience and behavior genetics) and psychological processes.

Psychoanalytical Approach (Psycho-dynamic)

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions.

Edward Titchener

He expanded Wundt's original ideas, calling it structuralism; believed that every experience could be broken down into its individual emotions and sensations.

G. Stanley Hall

He was the first American to work for Wundt. Founded the American Psychology Association (now the largest organization of psychologists in the U.S.) and became its first president.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

His main focus is positive psychology, which is a branch of psychology that centers on finding and nurturing the talent within a person. He is praised for his work in happiness and creativity. He is also the founder of flow, which is described as a mental state in which someone is fully immersed in an activity.

Abraham Maslow

Humanistic psychologist who developed a theory of motivation that emphasized psychological (Hierarchy of Needs)-needs at a lower level dominate an individual's motivation as long as they are unsatisfied; self-actualization, transcendence.

Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context. It is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior and cognitive processes.

Industrial-Organizational Psychology

The application of psychological principles to the workplace. The study of behavior in work settings and the use of psychology to change behavior for the better.

Monism

The presumption that mind and body are different aspects of the same thing. It refers to the belief system that there is unity where it is not expected to be present.

Dualism

The presumption that mind and body are two distinct entities that interact- a material body and an immaterial soul.

Psychiatry

The study and treatment of mental illness, emotional disturbance, and abnormal behavior.

Experimental Psychology

The study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method. Experimental psychologists conduct experiments on subjects in order to understand basic psychological processes. Contrasts with applied psychology.

Human factors Psychology

The study of how people and machines interact and the design of safe and easily used machines and environments. Emphasizes the importance of current environmental influences on our growth potential, and the importance of having our needs for love and acceptance satisfied.

Cognitive Approach

The study of thought and thinking. The idea that mental disorders are caused by faulty thinking. Uses adaptive and maladaptive thinking. The assumption is that in humans, thoughts are the primary determinants of emotions and behavior.

Structuralism

The theory that the mind operates by combining subjective emotions and objective sensations; the idea that the conscious experience can be broken down into parts. Created by Wilhelm Wundt's student, Edward Titchener.

Empiricism

The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation. The philosophical perspective that empirical evidence (evidence obtained via the senses) is the primary way of knowing.

Ivan Pavlov

This Russian psychologist experimented with applying stimuli to dogs and was able to make the animals salivate whether they were in the presence of food or not; a phenomenon he called the conditioned reflex. His process became known as Classic Conditioning.

Evolutionary Approach

Uses evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection as the basis for explaining specific human behaviors.