AP psych- Important scientists to know

Vocabulary flashcards covering key figures in psychology (Unit 1).

Plato

Believed knowledge is innate; we know things intuitively (nativism).

Aristotle

Knowledge comes from experience (philosophical empiricism).

Descartes

Proposed mind–body dualism; mind and body are separate yet interact.

Francis Bacon

Advocated empirical observation and the development of the scientific method.

John Locke

Mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate); knowledge originates from experience (empiricism).

William Wundt

Father of psychology; used scientific methods and established the first psychology lab in Germany.

Edward Titchner

Structuralism; complex conscious experiences can be broken down into elemental parts via introspection.

William James

Functionalist; studied mental processes in terms of their function and adaptation.

Stanley Hall

Founded the American Psychological Association (APA).

Margaret Washburn

First woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology.

Mary Calkins

First woman president of the APA.

Dorothea Dix

Advocated humane treatment of people with mental disorders.

Sigmund Freud

Psychoanalysis; the unconscious influences behavior and personality.

Pavlov

Discovered reflexes; foundational to classical conditioning and behaviorism.

Watson

Extended behaviorism to human behavior; studied whether fear is learned or innate.

Skinner

Rejected introspection; studied how consequences shape behavior (operant conditioning).

Carl Rogers

Key figure in humanistic psychology; emphasized self-determination, free will, and personal choice.

Maslow

Developed the hierarchy of needs in humanistic psychology.

Wertheimer

Gestalt psychology; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.