Chapter 1: The Evolution of Psychology

Unconscious

According to Freud, thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.

Behavior

Any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism.

Positive psychology

Approach to psychology that uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative, and fulfilling aspects of human existence.

Introspection

Careful, systematic observation of one's own conscious experience.

G. Stanley Hall

Contributed to the growth of psychology. First in USA to start a research lab, first psychology journal, launched the American Psychology Association and was its first president (3).

Carl Rogers

Created humanism (10).

Sigmund Freud

Created psychoanalysis (6).

William James

Introduced functionalism (4).

B. F. Skinner

One of the most influential and controversial behavioral psychologists.(8)

Natural selection

Principle stating that heritable characteristics that provide a survival reproductive advantage are more likely than alternative characteristics to be passed on to subsequent generations and thus come to be "selected" over time.

John B. Watson

Started behaviorism (7).

Martin Seligman

Started positive psychology (15).

Testwiseness

The ability to use the characteristics and format of a cognitive test to maximize one's score.

Applied psychology

The branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems.

Clinical psychology

The branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders.

Cognition

The mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.

Empiricism

The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation.

Psychology

The science that studies behavior and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to view one's own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging the worth of foreign ways.

Critical thinking

The use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desired outcome.

Culture

The widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations.

Evolutionary psychology

Theoretical perspective that examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for a species over the course of many generations.

Wilhelm Wundt

Took the study of the brain from physiology and philosophy and made it it's own field of study. Launched the beginning of psychology and first psych lab (in Germany) (3).

Psychiatry

A branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders.

Functionalism

A school of psychology based on the belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure.

Structuralism

A school of psychology based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and to investigate how these elements are related.

SQ3R

A study system designed to promote effective reading by means of five steps: survey, question, read, recite, and review.

Theory

A system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations.

Behaviorism

A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior.

Humanism

A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth.

Psychoanalytic theory

A theory developed by Freud that attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior.