Intro to Psychology - Key Terms (Lecture Notes)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from Pages 1–4 of the notes.

Wundt

German psychologist who founded experimental psychology and established the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig (1879).

Stimulus error

The tendency to name a stimulus you see rather than describing its properties.

Creative Synthesis

A holistic view that disagreed with mental chemistry; emphasizes synthesis of mental processes.

DSM

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Galileo

Italian astronomer who observed craters on the Moon and challenged Aristotle’s views; pressured to recant by the Church.

Hedonistic

Relating to the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain.

Hedonism

The doctrine that pleasure is the highest good; often linked to excess in modern usage.

Freud

founder of psychoanalysis and a central figure in psychology.

Skinner

prominent behaviorist; described as the second most important figure in the notes.

Socrates

Ancient philosopher known for 'Know thyself' and the belief that the unexamined life is not worth living.

Golden mean

Aristotle’s principle that virtue lies in moderation and nothing in excess.

Thales

One of the earliest philosophers; often regarded as the first philosopher.

Conflict theory

A perspective that sees society as organized around conflict over resources and power.

Philosophy

The discipline of asking fundamental questions and forming ideas, sometimes with limited empirical evidence.

Voluntarism/Volunteerism

Wundt’s view that the mind actively organizes experiences; emphasizes the will.

Titchener

Wilhelm Wundt’s student; founder of structuralism.

Structuralism

School focusing on the structure of conscious experience through introspection.

Volkerpsychologie

Wundt’s ten-volume work, translated as Culture/Folk Psychology.

Prolific

Producing a large amount of writing or work.

Tabula rasa

Blank slate; the mind is thought to be a blank state at birth (Locke).

Nature vs. Nurture

Debate about whether genes (nature) or environment (nurture) shape behavior and mental traits.

Locke

English philosopher and empiricist who argued knowledge comes from experience and observation.

Empiricist

A person who believes knowledge comes from sensory experience and observation.

Syllogism

A form of deductive reasoning with two premises leading to a conclusion (Aristotle).

Lyceum

Aristotle’s school in ancient Athens.

Dogma

A belief established by authority as incontrovertibly true; not open to argument.

Recant

To withdraw or renounce a statement or belief; Galileo did so under Church pressure.

Kraepelin

Famous psychiatrist who studied the effects of drugs on the brain.

Nosology

The naming/classification of diseases.

Longitudinal

Research design following the same subjects over multiple time points (e.g., 5, 10, 15 years).

Cross-sectional

Research design comparing different subjects at one point in time (with follow-ups at intervals).

Exogenous disorders

Disorders caused by external factors.

Endogenous disorders

Disorders caused by internal factors or processes.

Bipolar disorder

Mood disorder formerly called manic depression

Schizophrenia

Dementia Praecox is the former term for

Lewin

Psychologist noted for viewing behavior as an intersection of nature and nurture (not purely nature or nurture).

Hegel

Philosopher whose main idea was the dialectic process.

Dialectic process

Thesis leading to antithesis, then synthesis.

Identical twins (nature vs nurture study)

Research approach: more similar suggests nature; more differences suggest nurture.

Leibniz

Philosopher who argued that nothing in the mind was in the senses except the mind itself; expanded on Locke’s ideas.

Saint Paul

Philosophical notion that we are born bad (in contrast to other views).

Rousseau

Philosopher who argued we are born good but society corrupts us.

Watson

Famous behaviorist; linked to British empiricism and John Locke as figures in the school.

Darwin

Naturalist known for natural selection; ship HMS Beagle voyage and observations.

HMS Beagle

The ship Darwin served on during his voyage to the Galápagos.

Zeitgeist

Spirit of the times; the cultural climate of an era.

Great person theory

Idea that historical change is driven by extraordinary individuals.

Eugenics

The controversial idea of selective breeding to improve the human species.

Idiocracy

Humorous reference to social outcomes when intelligence and reproduction diverge.

Mendel

introduced genetic ideas, including dominant and recessive genes and Punnett squares.

Dominant

A gene that expresses its trait even if only one copy is present.

Recessive

A gene whose trait is expressed only when two copies are present.

Punnett square

A diagram used to predict the possible genotypes of offspring.

Evolutionary psychology / sociobiology

Fields applying evolution to understanding behavior; criticized for post hoc rationalizations.

Post hoc

Reasoning after the fact; explanations that arise after observations.

Lamarck

Proposed inheritance of acquired characteristics.

Inherited characteristic

Traits passed from parent to offspring; debate over whether acquired traits are inherited.

Epigenetics

Study of heritable phenotype changes that do not involve alterations in DNA sequence.

Trait psychology

Focus on stable personality traits shaping behavior.

State vs. trait

State: temporary condition; Trait: long-lasting characteristic.

Gordon Allport

Psychologist known for trait theory and categorizing traits.

Cardinal trait

A dominant trait that shapes most of a person’s behavior.

Central trait

General characteristic found in some degree in every person.

Secondary trait

Traits seen only in specific situations.

Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny

________(development) repeats the evolutionary history of the species.

Ernst Haeckel

Biologist associated with the idea of recapitulation.

Embryonic development repeats evolutionary stages

The concept that development mirrors evolutionary history.

Hypothetical construct

An idea or concept (e.g., strength) that cannot be observed directly.

Operational definition

A definition that translates a hypothetical construct into measurable terms.

Independent variable

A variable whose variation does not depend on another variable.

Dependent variable

A variable whose value depends on another variable.

Hypothesis testing (H1 and H0)

H0: null hypothesis; H1: alternative hypothesis (one-tailed or two-tailed).

Statistically significant

Result unlikely to occur by chance.