Introduction to Psychology

Behaviour

Any action that people can observe or measure (includes physical activity and automatic body functions).

Cognitive Activities

Mental processes like someone's memories, dreams, and thoughts.

Psychological Construct

Used to create ideas and explain something that can't be measured directly.

Social Science

Based on the study of human society and social relationships.

Natural Science

Based on the study of the physical world. (Example: physics, chemistry, etc.)

Principle

A basic truth or law. (Example: "If you do X, Y will happen.")

Theory

A statement to explain why something happens the way it does. Used to predict behaviour and mental processes in people.

Introspection

Examining your own thoughts and feelings; looking within.

Peri Psyches

One of Aristotle's works, means "about the mind." Contains the law that people constantly try to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Structuralism

Concerning the basic elements of consciousness: objective sensations and subjective feelings. Relies only on introspection.

Functionalism

Concerning how mental processes help organisms adapt to their environment. Relies on behavioural observation as well as introspection.

Psychoanalysis

The importance of unconscious motives and internal conflicts in understanding human behaviour.

Talking Cure

Freud's method of encouraging his patients to talk through their problems and bring them to consciousness.

Psychodynamic Thinking

Assuming that most of what exists in an individual's mind is unconscious and consists of conflicting impulses, urges, and wishes.

Behaviourism

Defining psychology as the scientific study of observable behaviour, not taking into account human consciousness.

Reinforcement

The theory that people learn to behave in certain ways because they have received the positive or negative reinforcement that guides their behaviour.

Gestalt Psychology

Based on the idea that our perceptions of objects are more than the sums of their parts.

Positive Visualization

Imagining yourself behaving/reacting the way you want, the best scenario.

Morality

The concept of right or good conduct.

Placebo

A treatment that has no active properties.

Disability

A condition that limits physical, sensory, cognitive, or emotional functioning.

Associationism

How experiences often remind us of similar past experiences.

Psychology

The scientific study of behaviour (aggression, heart rate) and mental processes (memory, emotion) and how these are affected by internal processes and the environment.

Plato

Recorded his teacher, Socrate's, advice, "know thyself," more than 2000 years ago in Greece.

Wilhelm Wundt

Founder of structuralism.

William James

Founder or functionalism.

John B. Watson

Founder of behaviourism.

Instruments like an EEG

Measures brain activity.

Objective Sensation

Accurately reflects the outside world.

Subjective Feeling

Emotional responses and mental images.

B. F. Skinner

Behaviourist who introduced the concept of reinforcement.

Clinical Psychologist

Helps people with psychological problems, such as anxiety or depression, or severe psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia. Also helps people who have problems with relationships, drug abuse, or weight control.

Counselling Psychologist

Treats people who have adjustment problems rather than serious psychological disorders.

Educational Psychologist

Course planning and instructional methods for an entire school system. Issues that are related to measurement of abilities, leaning, and development. Help prepare standardized tests.

School Psychologist

Identify and help students who have problems that interfere with learning. Make recommendations regarding the placement of students in special classes and programs.

Developmental Psychologist

Study the changes that occur throughout a person's life span. Sort out the influences of heredity and the environment on development.

Personality Psychologist

Identify human characteristics or traits and their development. Study the origins of psychological problems and disorders.

Social Psychologist

Concerned with people's behaviour in social situations, focus on external influences on behaviour.

Experimental Psychologist

Conducts research into basic processes such as the functions of the nervous system.

Biological Psychologist

Focus on the relationships between biological changes and psychological events.

Industrial Psychologist

Focus on people at work. Help to improve working conditions, assist with employment, and help employees with problems on the job.

Human Factors Psychologist

Find the best ways to design products for people to use.

Community Psychologist

Study and help create social systems that promote and foster individual well-being.

Forensic Psychologist

Decides whether a person accused of a crime is or is not competent to stand trial. Explains how certain kinds of psychological problems give rise to criminal behaviour.

Health Psychologist

Examine the ways in which behaviour and mental processes are related to physical health.

Rehabilitation Psychologist

Works with patients who are struggling with the effects of a disability.

Cross-Cultural Psychologist

Study behaviour and mental processes under different cultural conditions.

Ancient Greece

Believed that mental illness was punishment from the gods and supernatural forces.

The Middle Ages

Believed that mental illness was a sign of possession by demons, which was the punishment for sins or the result of deals with the devil.

Biological Perspective

Emphasizes the influence of biology on behaviour, assumes that our mental processes are made possible by the nervous system.

Evolutionary Perspective

Focuses on the evolution of behaviour and mental processes, believe that people learn to act in certain ways for their survival and then pass this behaviour down through genes.

Cognitive Perspective

Emphasizes the roll that thoughts play in determining behaviour, believe that people's behaviour is influenced by their values, perceptions, and choices.

Humanistic Perspective

Stresses the human capacity for self-fulfillment and the importance of consciousness, self-awareness, and the capacity to make choices.

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Stresses the influence of unconscious forces on human behaviour.

Learning Perspective

Emphasizes the effects of experience on behaviour, believe that behaviour is learned either from direct experience or by observing other people.

Social-Learning Theory

Suggests that people can change their environments or create new ones, believe that people can learn intentionally by observing others.

Sociocultural Perspective

Studies the influence of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socio-economic status on behaviour and mental processes.

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to recognize and understand your own feelings as well as those of others.

Hormones

Chemicals that glands release into the bloodstream to set in motion various body functions such as growth or digestion.

Computer

Metaphor for the brain because of how it receives and stores information, just like our brains do with memories.

Sigmund Freud

Founded psychoanalysis.

Ethnic Group

A group of people who share a common culture, race, or national origin.

George Engel

Developed the model for the biopsychosocial perspective.

Biopsychosocial Perspective

Influenced by the interaction of biological processes, psychological dispositions, and social factors.

Kenneth Clark

The psychologist who conducted the famous "doll study."

Segregation

Setting someone or something apart from others.