Psychology
The scientific study of both behavior and the mind
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Psychology | The scientific study of both behavior and the mind |
| What two disciplines is psychology a union of? | philosophy and physiology |
| Who introduced the term "tabula rasa" or "blank slate" | Aristotle |
| Tabula Rasa | "Blank slate"-- the belief that we start off with no pre-determined character traits or qualities |
| Empiricism | a philosophical view that knowledge arises directly from what we observe and experience |
| What is the primary form of evidence in psychology? | Behavior |
| Rene Descartes | argued that the mind is inherently immaterial-- the belief in dualism and the concept of reflex. |
| Dualism | the philosophical position that the mind and the body are separate entities |
| Reflex | the body acting without conscious action--without the mind |
| Embodied mind theory | provides a framework for how psychologists understand the link between unobservable mental processes and the physical world |
| physiology | provides evidence about the biological functioning of bodies and brains |
| inferential reasoning | provides a process for how observable evidence should be used to draw conclusions about psychological processes |
| behavior | provides a definition of the kinds of observable phenomena psychology is interested in understanding |
| Basic research | attempts to understand the fundamental principles of behavior and mind |
| applied research | attempts to discover new or more effective ways to solve specific practical problems in the world |
| applied practice | the actual application of basic psychological principles and applied research findings to solve specific problems |
| psychopathology | subfield interested in explaining how and why unusual and maladaptive behavior patterns develop by examining mental illness |
| behavioral genetics | research attempts to explain individual differences in behavior patterns through variation in genetic structure and expressions |
| cognitive psychology | research is broadly interested in how people process information and includes areas such as attention, perception, memory, problem solving, language, and thought |
| comparative psychology | the study of the behavior of nonhuman animals. it is often (but not always) interested in comparing human psychology to discover underlying universals |
| developmental psychology | studies how people develop across the lifespan, including how our thoughts and behaviors change as we age |
| behavioral neuroscience (cognitive neuroscience or neuropsychology) | tries to understand how specific brain regions or activities produce behavior, allowing psychologists to understand the physical underpinnings of their observations |
| personality psychology | studies individual differences, investigating how and why people act differently based on their enduring characteristics or traits |
| social psychology | interested in how an individual's thoughts and actions are influenced by their social environment and the presence of others |
| translational research | asks the question of "how can we use our understanding of the fundamental principles that govern thoughts and behavior to solve problems with psychological components?" |
| evidence-based practice (the gold standard) | a process that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient preferences. |
| consumer behavior | understanding the decisions consumers make about products and services |
| educational psychology | improving learning in the classroom and other educational settings |
| human factors | designing products or processes in ways that improve usefulness or comfort for the people using them |
| forensic & legal psychology | applying psychological principles to the features of the legal system |
| political psychology | understanding the role of psychology in the political process, and the role of politics in psychology |
| school psychology | using psychology to improve the academic and social experiences of children in school |
| health psychology | improving physical health and healthcare by applying psychological principles |
| industrial & organizational psychology | helping organizations improve member performance, motivation, or other role-related outcomes |
| clinical psychology | defined by its focus on identifying, preventing, and relieving psychological distress or dysfunction |
| clinical psychologists | identifying, preventing, and relieving distress or dysfunction that is psychological in origin |
| what is the different between clinical psychologists and psychiatrists | psychiatrists have to complete medical school, not just graduate training, because they prescribe medication |
| psychiatrists | medical doctors who focus on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness |
| counseling psychology | focus on helping people with ongoing life problems or stressors or with the transition from one life situation to another |
| career counseling | helps individuals explore interests, strengths, and opportunities to make informed career choices |
| group counseling | facilitating supportive group environments where individuals share experiences and coping strategies |
| addiction counseling | guiding individuals in understanding and overcoming patterns of substance use or compulsive behavior |
| school/youth counseling | supporting the academic, emotional, and social development of children and adolescents |
| trauma counseling | assisting individuals in processing and healing from distressing or life-threatening events |
| couples/marriage counseling | helping partners improve communication, resolve conflicts, and strengthen relationship bonds |
| family counseling | improving family dynamics by addressing communication patterns and shared challenges among family members |
| grief counseling | supporting individuals coping with the emotional impact of loss and bereavement |
| nativism | argues that some form of knowledges is innate, to its extreme this is referred to as biological determinism |
| biopsychosocial model | an effort to recognize how biological, psychological, and social factors all impact human functioning |
| Plato and Kant | these men argued that conscious and rational reasoning are central to human processes like moral reasoning and knowledge |
| David Hume | argued that unconscious processes like emotion and intuition dominate, with reasoning following afterward and being heavily influenced by these unconscious processes |
| Sigmund Freud | one of the first psychological clinicians, his studies brought to light the extent to which processes below the level of conscious drives toward basic aspects of human experience and repressed experiences were major determinants of an individual's personality, and only through the conscious "excavation" of these unconscious drives could a person achieve understanding of their whole self |
| dual-process model | the conscious/unconscious divide |
| fixed mindset | characteristic of people who think of ability as inborn and not very changeable |
| growth mindset | attitude that focuses on an optimistic sense regarding one's ability to change and grow |
| social construction | a common understanding of one of the categories of people that exist in the world |
| neurodiversity movement | championed a view of "difference, not disorder" when it comes to categories of psychological difference. That is, simply because a person has a different way of processing the world, that does not mean that it is inherently worse compared to "neurotypical" individuals |
| Wilhelm Wundt | established the first psychological laboratory in 1879. Known as the "father of modern psychology" and established psychology as its own discipline |
| introspection | method refined by Wundt to understand the components of mental processes by relying on trained participants' self-reports of their thoughts, feelings, and mental images |
| systematic introspection | an attempt to standardize the way conscious experiences were reported so that one person's experiences could be compared to another's |
| Edward Tichener | one of Wundt's most successful students is also credited in popularizing the study of experimental psychology in North America-- his approach became known as structuralism |
| structuralism | a method of interpretation and analysis of aspects, asking "WHAT are the contents of the mind?" |
| functionalism | William James argued that structuralism movement was fundamentally misguided. He believed that psychologists must first understand the function of a behavior or mental process to understand how its parts work together, often asking "WHY does the mind work?" |
| Darwin's theory of evolution | what theory heavily influenced functionalism? |
| behaviorism | a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. |
| John B. Watson | popularized the notion that the mind and internal mental states were beyond the scope of psychology. He rebuked introspection and proposed that psychology should focus its efforts solely on the study of observable behavior |
| B.F. Skinner | became a lead thinker in behaviorist psychology, focusing on operant conditioning |
| cognitive revolution | shift away from strict behaviorism that dominated the field for decades |
| Steven Pinker | wrote "The Blank Slate" about the cognitive revolution |
| Sigmund Freud | Who was at the forefront of the modern conception of mental illnesses and their treatments? |
| system psychoanalysis | proposes multiple theories about the unconscious mind that touch on a variety of topics in psychology, including personality, development, and, of course, cause of mental illnesses |
| Humanist psychology | people have free will and the capacity to realize their own potential; more interested in the maximization of conscious faculties in comparison to psychoanalysis |
| Rogers and Maslow | two of the most influential humanists |
| in person-centered therapy | the role of the therapist to support and listen, in contrast to a psychoanalyst's need to analyze and direct |
| self-actualization | an ideal state of reaching one's fullest potential |
| martin seligman | studies the more positive aspects of the human condition, through his focus on what he has termed positive psychology |
| positive psychology | focused not on what can go wrong with human functioning (as is the case with much of clinical psychology) but instead on studying how humans flourish and how positive outcomes can be achieved |
| electric approach | choosing the most effective therapeutic technique given the present circumstances |
| ultimate explanations | what caused the phenomenon |
| functional explanations | proximate explanations that seek to identify a specific problem as the cause of a psychological phenomenon |
| process-oriented explanations | proximate explanations that focus on how a specific mental or physical process explains a psychological phenomenon |
| culture | shared set of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and customs belonging to a specific group or community of people |
| intersectional approach | emphasized that people are not defined by any single aspect of their identities |