Psychology and Its Emergence as a Discipline

Vocabulary flashcards covering the definition of psychology, key historical figures, philosophical roots, and major theoretical movements.

Psychology

The scientific study of the mind and behaviour, focusing on how people think, act, react, and interact, as well as the thoughts, feelings, and motivation that underlay behaviour.

Psychologists

Individuals actively involved in studying and understanding mental processes, brain functions, and behaviour.

Empiricism

A philosophical theory that became important during the $17\text{th}$ and $18\text{th}$ centuries, defined as gaining knowledge through experience and observation.

Associationism

A concept developed by empiricists describing how simple experiences can become connected or associated to create complex ideas.

Empiricist Philosophers

Important thinkers including John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume who emphasized gaining knowledge through experience and observation.

René Descartes (1596-1650)

French philosopher whose main argument was dualism, believing that the mind and body are two fundamentally different things.

Dualism

The philosophical idea that the mind and body are fundamentally different things rather than one entity.

Wilhelm Wundt

A major figure in establishing Psychology as an independent scientific discipline who opened a psychology laboratory in Germany in $1879$.

Structuralism

One of the earliest approaches in Psychology that sought to understand the basic parts of the mind, asking 'What is the mind made of?'

Functionalism

An approach in Psychology championed by William James that asked 'What does the mind do?' and 'How does the mind help us function and survive?', leading to applied Psychology.

William James

An important figure in Functionalism who focused on how the mind helps individuals function and survive to solve real-life problems.

Behaviourism

A $20\text{th}$-century approach that argued Psychology should focus exclusively on observable and measurable behaviour, rejecting the study of thoughts and feelings.

John B. watson

An important figure in Behaviourism who promoted studying observable and measurable behaviour rather than internal thoughts and feelings.

BF Skinner

An important figure in Behaviourism who advocated for controlled experiments and animal studies to observe and measure behaviour.

Sigmund Freud

Developer of psychoanalytic theory who proposed that much of human behaviour is influenced by the unconscious mind.

Unconscious mind

In Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the collection of thoughts, memories, feelings, and desires that affect human behaviour without conscious awareness.

Cognitive Revolution

A movement in the mid-$20\text{th}$ century where psychologists renewed their interest in studying the mind and internal mental processes.

Cognitive Psychology

The branch of psychology that studies mental processes, including memory, perception, problem solving, and learning.

Neuroscience and genetics

An approach connecting psychology to biology by studying how the brain, genes, the nervous system, and biological processes affect human behaviour.