Unit 1 - Intro and History

William James

He had many titles. He was a philosopher-psychologist, a functionalist, a pragmatist and a teacher-writer. He was a believer in down-to-earth emotions, memories, willpower, habits and our consciousness.

Wilhelm Wundt

He was a German professor who created an experimental apparatus that measured time of certain actions. He was the first person who tied in biology with psychology.

The notion of self-actualization is most closely associated with which of the following approaches to explaining personality?

Humanistic

What field of psychology is most appropriate to analyze the efficiency of businesses in their hiring, basic training, and management leadership skills training?

Industrial/organizational

In the early years of psychology, a research participant might have been asked to observe carefully and systematically their conscious experiences. What method would the participant be using?

Introspection

Personality Psychologists

Investigates our persistent traits

Humanism

Maslow and Rogers say... 1. You are inherently good 2. You have free will 3. You are unique 4. You have potential

The belief that human behavior is the result of unconscious drives and conflicts represents which of the following theoretical persepetives?

Psychoanalytic

Introspection

The examination or observation of a person's own mental and emotional processes

Cognitive psychologists are mosts likely to study...

The acquisitions of knowledge, planning and problem solving

Biopsychosocial

1. Biology 2. Psychology 3. Society (American culture, religious culture)

Biological (Neuroscience)

1. Brain (causes us to be the way we are) 2. Body chemistry (hormones and drugs) 3. Genetics (inherited it from generations past)

What is the correct order of the following perspectives of psychology, from past to present? I Behaviorism II Psychoanalysis III Structuralism IV Humanism

1. Structuralism 2. Psychoanalysis 3. Behaviorism 4. Humanism

Psychiatry

A branch of medicine that deals with psychological disorders. It is practiced by physicians who can sometimes also provide medical treatments as well as psychological therapy.

Clinical Psychology

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

Nature vs. Nurture

A longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.

Cognitive

Albert Ellis said... 1. Thoughts matter 2. Thinking 3. Decision making 4. Problem solving

Cognitive Psychologists

Experiment with how we perceive, think and solve problems

Structuralism

Explaining behavior by breaking it down into its structures and elements. An early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind.

Social Psychologists

Explore how we view and affect one another

Social-Cultural Perspective of Psychology

Focuses on how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures. (Ex: How are Africans, Asians, Australians or North Americans alike? We are all humans. How are we different? Our environment and culture.)

Functionalism

Focuses on how mental and behavioral processes function and how they enable the organism to adapt, survive and flourish. Looks at society and how it affects our personality, our behavior and our actions.

Psychodynamic Perspective of Psychology

Focuses on how our behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts. It studies how someone's personality traits or disorders drive them to do what they do.

Cognitive Perspective of Psychology

Focuses on how people encode, process, store and retrieve information. (Ex: How do we remember things? How do we reason with other people? How do we solve our problems?)

Neuroscience Perspective of Psychology

Focuses on how the body and the brain enable emotions, memories and sensory experiences. It studies how messages are transmitted within the body or how blood chemistry is linked with moods and motives.

Evolutionary Perspective of Psychology

Focuses on how the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of one's genes and how evolution influences behavior tendencies.

Behavioral Perspective of Psychology

Focuses on how we learn observable responses. (Ex: Where does our fear for certain things come from? How does it originate? How do we change our habits and get rid of them?)

Gestalt Psychology

The exact opposite of Wilhem Wundt's and Edward Titchener's idea of structuralism and functionalism.

Psychoanalysis

Sigmeund Freud says... 1. Unconscious conflicts (our unconscious tells us what to do) 2. Sex and aggression (deep down, a person only wants to fight or have sex) 3. Early childhood experiences (events that happened in our childhood build us)

Behavior Genetics Perspective of Psychology

Studies how much of our genes and our environment influence our individual differences. It also studies how our psychological traits affect our genes and our environment.

Biological Psychologists

Studies how the brain and the mind are connected

Industrial Psychologists/Organizational Psychologists

Study and advise on behavior in their workplace

Development Psychologists

Study how our abilities change from when we were in the womb to when we end up in the tomb

An evolutionary psychologist would explain that humans desire social interaction, social acceptance and social affiliation due to a need for...

Survival

Psychology

The science of behavior and mental processes. Everything that an organism does is called behavior and mental processes are the experiences that we get from behavior.

Edward Titchener

Was a student of Wundt and worked with him to come up with the idea of structuralism. He trained people to engage in self-reflective introspection, or looking inwards and reporting elements that can be smelled, tasted, felt, heard or seen (using the five senses)

Behaviorism

Watson and Skinner say... 1. Science (behavior has to be studied) 2. Observable responses (has to be seen, heard, visible or audible) (thoughts or wants don't count) 3. External circumstances (how does the world outside of you affect your behavior) 4. Rewards and punishments (our behavior is guided by rewards and punishments)