Physchology

Psychology

The systematic study of behavior and experience or the science of behavior and mental processes...

Behaviors

Anything an organism does - any action we can observe and record...

Mental Processes

The Internal subjective experiences we infer from behavior - sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings...

Dualism

The presumption that mind and body are two distinct entities that interact...

Rene Descartes

Who hypothesized that the mind and body interact, and the mind controls the body while the body provides the mind with sensory input for it to decipher; and this interaction occurs in the pineal gland; and named reflexes for those body movements not controlled by the mind?

Empiricism

The acquisition of truth through observations and experiences (meaning studying stuff that is measurable!!!!)...

John Locke

Whose school of thought was known as Empiricism?

John Locke

Who emphasized nurture over nature with his theory of "tabula rasa" and that all knowledge must be learned; almost nothing is innate?

Innate

Term for inborn, naturally occurring...

Thomas Hobbes

Who stressed nature over nurture with a philosophy of materialism; and what we experience as consciousness is simply a by-product of the machinery of the brain?

Charles Darwin

Whose theory of natural selection helped bring about evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology?

Evolutionary theory

What theory set the state for psychology by providing a way to explain differences between species and justifying the use of animals as a means to study the roots of human behavior?

Wilhelm Wundt

Who is known as the founder of the science of psychology - mainly since he founded the first psychology lab?

Edward Titchener

Who was a student in Wundt's laboratory; was one of the first to bring the science of psychology to the US; and sought to identify the smallest possible elements of the mind, theorizing that understanding all of the parts would lead to the understanding of the greater structure of the mind which helped to establish structuralism?

William James

Who was the American psychologist who developed functionalism (what is important in studying the mind is to focus on the functions of the mind so understanding how the mind fulfills its purpose, such as how to solve a complex problem)?

Functionalism

A school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish...

Biological

Field/approach of psychology that seeks to understand the interactions between anatomy and physiology and behavior by directly applying biological experimentation to psychological problems...

Behavioral Genetics

Field of psychology that emphasizes that particular behaviors are attributed to particular, genetically-based psychological characteristics...

Behavioral

Approach to psychology that focuses on the study of observable behavior and believe most everything needs to be learned (and usually through some form of conditioning)...

John Watson

Other than Ivan Pavlov, what psychologist should be associated with classical conditioning/behaviorism?

B.F. Skinner

What psychologists should be associated with operant conditioning/Behaviorism (so first to work with reinforcement)?

Behavior modification

A set of techniques in which psychological problems are considered to be the product of learned habits which can be unlearned by the application of behavioral methods...

Cognitive

Approach of psychology rooted in the idea that to understand people's behavior, we must first understand how they construe their environment - so in other words, how they think...

Humanist

Approach of psychology rooted in the philosophical tradition of studying the roles of consciousness, free will, and awareness of the human condition focusing on attaining self-actualization through unconditional positive regard...

Abraham Maslow

What humanist psychologist proposed the idea of self-actualization and a hierarchy of needs?

Carl Rogers

What humanist psychologist stressed the role of unconditional positive regard (and later will develop client-centered therapy)?

Psychoanalytic

Approach of psychology that believes the interaction of the forces of the conscious and unconscious mind shapes behavior (and stresses the importance of childhood experiences and a child's relationship with his or her parents to the development of personality)...

Sigmund Freud

Who is the founder of the Psychoanalytic approach to psychology?

Sociocultural

Approach of psychology that believes the environment a person lives in has a great deal to do with how the person behaves and how others perceive that behavior (and believe cultural values must be taken into account when trying to understand, predict, or control behavior)...

Evolutionary

Approach to psychology based on the theories of Darwin; believe behavior can best be explained in terms of how adaptive that behavior is to our survival...

Naturalistic observation

A careful examination of what happens under more or less natural conditions, where research is done "as an outsider"...

Case study

A thorough description of the person including the person's abilities and disabilities, medical condition, life history, unusual experiences, or whatever else seems relevant...

Surveys

A study of the prevalence of certain beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors based on people's responses to specific questions...

Convenience sample

A sample made up of people who are easy to reach...

Representative sample

A sample made up of a small number of people that accurately reflect the members of an entire population...

Random sample

A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion in the survey/study...

Cross-cultural sample

A sample involving 186 anthropologically described societies chosen by the sample's creators, Murdock and White...

Correlational study

A procedure (research method) in which investigators measure the correlation between two variables without controlling either of them...

Variable

Anything measurable that differs among individuals...

Correlation

A measure of the relationship between two variables...

Illusory Correlations

The perception of a relationship where none exists...

Correlation coefficient

The standard way to measure the strength of a correlation...

Positive correlation (+1)

Correlation coefficient measure indicating as one variable increases, the other variable increases as well...

Negative correlation (-1)

Correlation coefficient measure indicating as one variable increases, the other decreases...

Zero or no correlation

Correlation coefficient measure that indicates the measurements of one variable have no linear relationship to measurements of the other variable (and that could mean the two really are unrelated or that one or both of them were poorly measured)...

Longitudinal studies

A research method/study that involves repeated observations of the same items over long periods of time - often many decades - and is used mostly with developmental psychology...

Ex Post Facto

A type of research that begins with data already collected, or research technologies applied to events not originally intended for research purposes where the researcher examines pre-existing subject variables by forming groups based on the differences (means "After the fact")...

Experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (and can possibly show cause/effect)...
Conceptual definition With experiments, the theory or issue being studied is identified by the...
Operational definition With experiments, how the theory or issue will be directly observed or measured in the study is identified by the...

Internal validity

Operational definitions have to be valid and when the certainty with which the results of an experiment can be attributed to the manipulation of the independent variable rather than to some other confounding variable, it is said to have...

External validity

Operational definitions have to be valid and when the extent to which the findings of a study can be generalized to other contexts in the "real world" it is said to have...

Population

All the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study...
Independent variable In an experiment, the experimental factor that is manipulated (the variable whose effect is being studied)...

Dependent variable

In an experiment, the outcome factor (the variable that may change in response to manipulations...so the measure or what is being measured)...

Experimental group

In an experiment, the group that receives the variable being tested...

Control group

The group in an experiment or study that does not receive treatment by the researchers and is then used as a benchmark to measure how the other tested subjects do...

Counterbalancing/group matching

Experimental design technique by which researchers attempt to categorize subjects (by age, health status, gender, etc) and ensure the control group has members similar to those in the experimental group...

Experimental bias

A process where the scientists performing the research influence the results, in order to portray a certain outcome...

Blind observers

Term for (not type of study) when when the researcher does not know the particular treatment that a patient undergoes...

Single blind studies

An experimental procedure in which the researchers but not the subjects know which subjects are receiving the active medication or treatment and which are not...

Double blind studies

An experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the research participants have received the treatment...

Placebo

An inactive substance or other sham form of therapy administered to a participant in an experiment usually to compare its effects with those of a real treatment/drug...

Placebo effect

Results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which is assumed to be an active agent...

Confounding variables

Variables that the researcher failed to control, or eliminate, damaging the internal validity of an experiment...

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores...

Validity

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to...
Descriptive statistics Mathematical summaries of results either as measures of the average or the amount of variation...

Inferential statistics

Statement about a large population based on an inference from a small sample. (or how confidently they can make that inference)...

Mean

In descriptive statistics, the sum of all the scores divided by the total number of scores; "the average"...

Median

In descriptive statistics, the middle score...

Mode

In descriptive statistics, the score that occurs most frequently...

Standard Deviation

In descriptive statistics, the measurement of the amount of variation among scores...

Null hypothesis

In inferential statistics, a general statement or default position that there is no relationship between two measured phenomena, or no association among groups (the treatment did not have an effect)...

Alternative hypothesis

In inferential statistics, the type of hypothesis where it appears the sample observations are influenced by some non-random cause (the treatment did have an effect)....

Alpha

The accepted probability that the result of an experiment can be attributed to chance rather than the manipulation of the independent variable...

Type I error

The conclusion that a difference exists when in fact this difference does not exist (false positive)...

P-value

The probability of making a Type I Error and indicates that the results are statistically significant...

Type II error

The conclusion that there is no difference when in fact there is a difference (false negative)...

G. Stanley Hall

Founded the American Psychological Association (now largest organization of psychologists in the USA) and became first president; known for work with child and educational psychology

Dorothea Dix

A reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, beginning in the 1820's, she was responsible for improving conditions in jails, poorhouses and insane asylums throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Margaret Floy Washburn

First female to be awarded a PhD in psychology; 2nd female president of the APA (1921)

Mary Whiton Calkins

First female president of the APA