Module 1 What is Psychology?

Freudian Psychology

Which emphasized the ways or unconscious thought process and our emotional responses to childhood experiences affect our behavior.

Nature-Nurture Issue

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

Positive Psychology

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

Wundt and Titchener

They focused on inner sensations, images, and feelings

Community Psychology

a branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions affect individuals and groups.

Psychology Defined As...

"The science of mental life" or Science of behavior and mental processes

Psychiatry

A branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy.

B.F. Skinner

A leading behaviorist, skinner rejected introspection and studied how consequences shape behavior.

SQ3R

A study method incorporating five steps: Survey, question, read, retrieve, review.

biopsychosocial approach

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

Gestaltists

Are some of the most fascination scientists in the field. They created many interesting laws and phenomena relative to how we typically see or interpret the world around us. much of their work is still very prevalent and relevant today. The psychology of perception is one of the most intriguing fields in psychology today. many artists, such as M.C. Escher, Dali and Arcimbaldo have mastered the principles and applied them to art. Founder: Max Wertheimer

Existentialism

Attempted to adapt a perspective from existential philosophy and the workof such people as Kierkegaard. Believed that human existence is in the "here and now." The past is not important nor the future. People need help with their present situations and circumstances.

A Nature-Made Nature-Nurture Experiment

Because identical twins have the same genes, they are ideal participants in studies designed to shed light on hereditary and environmental influences on intelligence, personality, and other traits. Studies of identical and fraternal twin provide a rich array of finding that underscore the importance of both nature and nurture.

Structuralism

Believed that psychology's focus should be the structure of consciousness. This structure had 3 components: Objective sensation, subjective feelings, and images. Structuralists wanted to know what te mind (or consciousness) contained and in what quantity. The main research tol of structuralism was a methd known as "analytic introspection- a way of isolating elements of which experiences are made. Founder; Wilhelm Wundt of Germany. Edward Titchener (of Cornell University) Brought the concept to the united states.

Origins of Species

Darwins 1859 on the Origins of Species explained this diversity by proposing the evolutionary process of natural Selection: From among chance variations, nature selects traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

Birth of Psychology

December 1879

William James

Engaged in introspective examination of the stream of consciousness and of emotion

Mary Whiton Calkins

First woman to be president of he American psychological association

Humanistic Psychologist

Led by Carl Rodgers and Abraham Maslow, found both Freudian Psychology and behaviorism too limiting. Historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people.

Social-Cultural

Examines how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

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.

Clinical Psychology

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

Humanism

A movement launched in the 1950s. Humanists believe that people are basically good and that people have free will and the will to strive to achieve positive social goals, and the highest and best for themselves. They also believed that this was the better perspective or framework out of which psychologist should operate rather than the perspective that people were basically evil, as was espoused by Freud. Founders: Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Rollo May.

Humanistic

A perspective that believes that people basically strive for good. People are naturally inclined to develop toward higher levels of maturity and fulfillment, and if given the opportunity, will strive to reach their full potential. Also believes that man has free will- the choice to make decisions about one's own life.

Neuroscience

Examines such issues as how the body and brain create emotions, and sensory experience.

Behavior Genetics

Examines the extent to which genes and/or environment influences behavior.

Evolutionary

Explores how nature selects traits hat promote perpetuation of one's genes and so on. Considers how evolution influence behavior tendencies.

Functionalism

Emphasized the function of thought. Wanted to know the purpose of thought or consciousness. Founder: William james of Harvard University. John Dewey and James Angell of University of Chicago are also given credit, but james was the original founder.

Testing Effect

Enchanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply reading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enchanced learning

Wilhelm Wundt

Established the first Psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany.

Behavioral

Has as a focus the observance of outward behavior rather than the inner workings of mind. Seeks an understanding of how people learn new behaviors.

Cognitive

Investigate how individuals know, understand and think about the world. The model hs shifted from learning about the structure of the mind, to learning about how people understand and represent the outside world within themselves; and, the impact of this understanding on behavior. Looks in detail at the human and animal information processing system-how we encode, process, store and retrieve information.

Basic Research

Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.

Applied Research

Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems.

Sigmund Freud

The Controversial ideas of this famed personality therapist and therapist have influenced humanity's self-understanding.

Cognitive Revolution

The Rebellion of a second group of Psychologist during the 1960s

Levels of Analysis

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

Margaret Floy Washburn

The first woman to receive a psychology Ph.D., Washburn Synthesized animals behavior researching the animal mind.

Gestalt

The focus is n the organization of perception and thinking in a "whole" sense, rather than on the individual elements of perception. It is the organization of elements rather than the elements themselves that are important.

Behaviorism

The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior wito reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with but not with. (Believed that psychology is the science and study of behavior-not mind. Observable behavior was more important because you could not measure thinking or feeling. Founder: John B. Watson.)

Edward Bradford Titchener

Titchener used introspection to search for the minds structural elements

William James

Under the influence of evolutionary theorist, Charles Darwin, James assumed that thinking, like smelling, developed because it was adaptive- it contributed to our ancestors' survival.

Psychodynamic

Views behavior as motivated by inner forces over which the individual has little control. Views behavior as springing from unconscious drives and conflicts.

Biological

Views behavior from the perspective o its biological functioning. For example, how the individual nerve cells are connected, how we inherit certain characteristics from our parents and other ancestors that influence our behavior.

John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner

Working with Rayner, Watson championed psychology as the science of behavior and demonstrated conditioned Responses on a baby who became famous as "Little Albert."

Cognitive Neuroscience

an interdisciplinary study, has enriched our understanding of the brain activity activity underlying mental activity. (The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language.))

Natural selection

the principle that, among the range of inherited traits variations, those contributing to increased reproduction an survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generation.

The Behaviorists

were one of two major forces in psychology well into the 1960s. Behaviorism is nurture and that is based on how you were raised. Freud is nature, because he believed biological stuff.