AP Psychology Module 1-3

Critical thinking

Evaluating evidence, questioning assumptions, and considering different explanations before accepting a claim.

Empiricism

The idea that knowledge comes from experience and observation.

Structuralism

An early school of psychology that studied the basic elements of conscious experience.

Introspection

Looking inward and examining your own thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

Functionalism

The study of how mental processes and behaviors help people adapt to their environment.

Behaviorism

The view that psychology should study observable behaviors and how they are learned.

Humanistic psychology

A perspective that focuses on human growth, personal potential, and self-fulfillment.

Cognitive psychology

The study of mental processes such as thinking, memory, perception, and problem-solving.

Cognitive neuroscience

The study of brain activity connected to mental processes like thinking, memory, and language.

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Nature-nurture issue

The debate over whether traits and behaviors come from genes or experiences.

Natural selection

The process where inherited traits that help survival and reproduction are passed on through generations.

Evolutionary psychology

The study of how evolution and natural selection influence behavior and mental processes.

Behavior genetics

The study of how genes and the environment influence behaviors and traits.

Culture

Shared behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions passed from one generation to another.

Positive psychology

The scientific study of human strengths, happiness, and flourishing.

Biopsychosocial approach

An approach that explains behavior using biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors.

Behavioral psychology

The study of observable behavior and how it is learned.

Biological psychology

The study of how biological processes, genes, the brain, and hormones influence behavior.

Psychodynamic psychology

The study of how unconscious thoughts and conflicts influence behavior.

Social-cultural psychology

The study of how social situations and cultures affect behavior and thinking.

Testing effect

The idea that retrieving information through testing improves memory better than rereading.

SQ3R

A study method that stands for Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, and Review.

Psychometrics

The study of measuring psychological traits using tests and assessments.

Basic research

Research that increases knowledge and understanding without an immediate practical goal.

Developmental psychology

The study of age-related changes in behavior and mental processes throughout life.

Educational psychology

The study of learning processes and ways to improve education.

Personality psychology

The study of patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make individuals unique.

Social psychology

The study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others.

Applied research

Research designed to solve practical problems and improve people’s lives.

Industrial-organizational psychology

The study of how people behave in workplaces and how to improve productivity and job satisfaction.

Human factors psychology

The study of how people interact with technology, machines, and environments.

Counseling psychology

Helps people cope with life challenges and improve personal and social functioning.

Clinical psychology

The study, assessment, and treatment of psychological disorders.

Psychiatry

A medical field that treats psychological disorders and can prescribe medications.

Community psychology

The study of how people interact with their social environments and how communities affect individuals.

Wilhelm Wundt

Created the first psychology laboratory in 1879 and helped establish psychology as a science.

G. Stanley Hall

Founded the first psychology laboratory in the United States and helped develop psychology as a profession.

Edward Bradford Titchener

Developed structuralism and used introspection to study the mind.

William James

Developed functionalism and studied how thoughts and behaviors help people adapt.

Charles Darwin

Proposed natural selection and influenced evolutionary psychology.

Mary Whiton Calkins

Studied memory and became the first female president of the American Psychological Association.

Margaret Floy Washburn

First official female psychology Ph.D.; studied animal behavior and wrote The Animal Mind.

John B. Watson

Founded behaviorism and focused psychology on observable behavior.

B. F. Skinner

Studied conditioning and how reinforcement influences behavior.

Sigmund Freud

Developed psychoanalytic psychology and emphasized the unconscious mind.

Carl Rogers

Helped develop humanistic psychology and focused on personal growth.

Abraham Maslow

Developed ideas about human needs and self-actualization.

Ivan Pavlov

Studied classical conditioning and learning through associations.

Jean Piaget

Studied cognitive development in children.

Dorothea Dix

Advocated for humane treatment of people with psychological disorders.