AP Psychology Unit 1 - Psychology's History and Approaches

nature-nurture issue

nurture works on what nature endows - every psychological event is simultaneously a biological event

William James

pioneer of functionalism, a psychological school of thought that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function, or how they enable us to adapt, survive and flourish, author of the textbook "Principles of Psychology"

Edward Titchener

pioneer of structuralism, a psychological school of thought that aimed to discover the structural elements of the mind, used introspection, which proved to be unreliable, causing structuralism to wane

basic research

pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base, some types of psychologists that conduct this type of research are biological, developmental, educational, personality, and social psychologists

applied research

scientific study that aims to solve practical problems, some types of psychologists that conduct this type of research are industrial-organizational, human factors, counseling, and clinical psychologists, psychiatrists also conduct this research

Mary Calkins

the first female president of the American Psychological Association (APA), was denied her Ph.D. from Harvard

Margaret Floy Washburn

the first female to receive a Ph.D. in psychology, received her degree from Harvard

natural selection

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

psychology

the science of behavior (anything an organism does) and mental processes (internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior, such as sensations, perceptions, dreams, and beliefs), developed from biology and philosophy

psychometrics

the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes

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 in which most modern psychologists agree with (1), but not (2), pioneered by American psychologists John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner, was the dominant view from the 1920s to the 1960s

Socrates and Plato

two men involved with prescientific psychology in Ancient Greece, believed that the mind is separate from the body and continues after death, and that knowledge is innate

Aristotle

Plato's student, involved with prescientific psychology in Ancient Greece, believed that knowledge is not preexisting, but rather it grows from experiences stored in our memory, derived his principles from careful observation, thus laying the foundation for the scientific approach

John Locke

a British political philosopher, argued that the mind at birth is a tabula rasa, a blank slate on which experience writes

Francis Bacon

a founder of modern science, claimed that the mind wants to find patterns and order in events, even if they don't exist

Wilhelm Wundt

a man whose reaction time experiment is considered psychology's first experiment in its first laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany

Renee Descartes

a scientist and philosopher, believed in the concept of dualism (the mind and body are distinct), invented the idea of "animal spirits", which flowed from the brain to the muscle through what we now call nerves, and memories formed as experiences opened pores in the brain into which these spirits flowed

SQ3R

a study method that encourages active processing of new information, stands for survey, question, read, rehearse, and review

biopsychosocial approach

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