Perspectives, Methods, Genetics, and History in Psychology

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering major historical perspectives, research methodologies, ethical principles, psychophysics, genetics, and evolutionary concepts from Chapters 1 through 4.

Psychoanalysis

A form of psychotherapy created by Sigmund Freud in the early 20th century in Vienna, Austria, aimed at gaining access to the unconscious mind.

Id

The layer of personality that develops first in childhood and operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate satisfaction of unconscious urges.

Ego

The executive part of personality that operates on the reality principle, mediating between the demands of the id, superego, and external world.

Superego

The moral component of personality that develops later in childhood under social and parental influences to enforce moral standards.

Freud's Structural Model of Personality

Freud's iceberg model dividing the mind into conscious, preconscious, and unconscious levels containing the Ego, Superego, and Id.

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious strategies employed by the ego to reduce anxiety and keep unwanted thoughts and desires out of conscious awareness.

Repression

A psychoanalytic defense mechanism that involuntarily pushes unwanted or anxiety-arousing thoughts and impulses into the unconscious mind.

Individual Psychology

The theory developed by Alfred Adler, Freud's first major follower to break away, which emphasizes striving for superiority and early childhood experiences.

Analytic Psychology

The neo-Freudian theory established by Carl Jung that incorporates the collective unconscious and universal archetypes.

Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited, and universal component of the unconscious mind common to all human beings.

Archetypes

Inherited and universal symbols or thought patterns within the collective unconscious, such as the Mother, Shadow, Anima, and Animus.

Persona

In Carl Jung's theory, the public mask or social face an individual presents to the outside world.

Karen Horney

A neo-Freudian who established her own institute in the U.S. and posited that neurosis develops from problems in interpersonal relationships.

Behaviorism

A psychological perspective created in reaction to introspection and psychoanalysis that focuses exclusively on overt, measurable, predictable, and changeable behavior.

Classical Conditioning

A learning model demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov in dogs involving learned associations between environmental cues, responses, and rewards.

John Watson

The promoter of behaviorism in North America who authored the 1913 paper Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It and conducted the Little Albert Experiment.

Operant Conditioning

B.F. Skinner's learning theory stating that behavior is shaped and maintained by its environmental consequences.

Humanism

A psychological movement formed as a counter-reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism, focusing on personal responsibility, unique human experience, and self-awareness.

Self-Actualization

In Abraham Maslow's humanistic theory, the highest growth need where an individual lives to their full potential and achieves personal dreams and aspirations.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

A pyramidal model of human motivation prioritizing deficiency needs (physiological, safety) before growth needs (belonging and love, esteem, self-actualization) can be fulfilled.

Carl Rogers

A humanist psychologist who developed person-centered therapy and stressed self-concept, reflection, and unconditional positive regard.

Person-Centered Therapy

A client-led therapeutic approach developed by Carl Rogers where clients disclose thoughts in a non-judgmental environment to arrive at their own decisions.

Unconditional Positive Regard

An attitude of complete acceptance and non-judgmental support offered by a therapist to assist a client's growth.

Self-Concept

In Carl Rogers' theory, the single construct representing an individual's beliefs and perceptions regarding who they are.

Congruence

The state described by Carl Rogers where an individual's self-concept meshes well with their actual lived experiences.

George Miller

A Harvard psychologist who helped lead the Cognitive Revolution in the 1950s by studying mental functions such as thinking, memory, and decision-making.

Social Psychology

The discipline in modern psychology concerned with social cognition and how people relate to and influence others across situations.

Clinical Psychology

The psychological discipline focused on diagnosing, understanding, and treating psychological struggles such as attention-deficit disorder, autism, and depression.

Developmental Psychology

The branch of psychology that studies how thinking, language, reading, and social behavior change as individuals age.

Neuropsychology

The discipline interested in brain processes, neural functioning, and biological mechanisms in pathological conditions like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.

Cognitive Psychology

The discipline studying mental processes created by the mind, including perception, attention, short- and long-term memory, language, and reasoning.

Diffusion of Responsibility

A social psychological phenomenon illustrated by the 1964 Kitty Genovese case, where individuals are less likely to intervene in an emergency when other witnesses are present.

Falsifiability

The core requirement that a scientific theory must produce testable predictions that can potentially be proven wrong by empirical evidence.

Parsimony

The scientific principle that a theory should provide the simplest and most direct explanation for a phenomenon.

Replication

The repetition of a research study's procedures to verify whether the original findings can be consistently reproduced.

Concern for Welfare

An ethical principle requiring researchers to minimize physical or psychological harm and loss of privacy while maximizing scientific and societal benefits.

Respect for Autonomy

An ethical principle upholding a participant's right to decide whether to join or withdraw from a study without penalty, fulfilled via informed consent.

Informed Consent

A voluntary agreement signed by research participants after being fully informed of the study's title, purpose, procedures, risks, benefits, and right to withdraw.

Justice

An ethical research principle dictating that the burdens and benefits of scientific research must be distributed fairly without discrimination.

The 3 Rs

Ethical standards governing animal research that mandate Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement.

Data Fabrication

The unethical research practice of inventing or manufacturing fake data instead of recording real experimental observations.

Data Falsification

The unethical manipulation, alteration, or selective omission of genuine research data or experimental procedures.

Types of Research Methods

A classification of psychological research strategies into descriptive methods, correlational methods, and experimental methods.

Validity

The degree to which a test or measurement tool accurately measures the specific construct it is intended to evaluate.

Reliability

The consistency or stability of a measurement instrument when applied repeatedly under similar conditions.

Demand Characteristics

Subtle cues in a research environment that reveal the experimenter's hypothesis and cause participants to alter their natural behavior.

Naturalistic Observation

A descriptive research methodology where behavior is observed and recorded in its natural environment without researcher intervention, providing high external validity.

Reactivity

An alteration in a subject's natural behavior occurring simply because the subject knows they are being observed.

Directionality Problem

A limitation of correlational studies where it is impossible to establish which variable causes changes in the other.

Third Variable Problem

A condition in correlational research where an unmeasured external variable accounts for the observed relationship between two factors.

Independent Variable

The specific variable in an experiment that is directly manipulated by the researcher to determine its causal effect.

Dependent Variable

The outcome or response variable measured in an experiment to evaluate the effect of manipulating the independent variable.

Internal Validity

The rigor of an experimental design in ensuring that changes in the dependent variable are caused solely by the independent variable.

External Validity

The extent to which experimental results can be generalized to real-world populations, settings, and conditions.

Mentalism

Aristotle's classical philosophical stance that an intangible entity called the psyche is the source of all human thought, reasoning, memory, and behavior.

René Descartes

The philosopher who proposed dualism, arguing that a nonmaterial mind governs advanced cognition while the physical brain controls basic mechanical actions.

Dualism

The philosophical doctrine asserting that the mind and body (brain) are distinct and separate substances.

Materialism

The philosophical perspective viewing all human abilities, mental traits, and behaviors as products of physical, biological mechanisms.

Francis Galton

An early investigator who advocated Social Darwinism, introduced statistical methods like correlation to measure mental traits, and initiated the Nature vs. Nurture debate.

Wilhelm Wundt

The scientist credited with establishing the first formal experimental psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, specializing in physiological psychology.

Kymograph

An early laboratory instrument consisting of a rotating drum used to record physiological responses over time.

Chronoscope

A precision clock device utilized in early experimental psychology labs to measure minute reaction times.

Psychophysics

An experimental branch of psychology studying the quantitative mathematical relationships between physical stimulus properties and subjective sensory experiences.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum physical intensity of a stimulus required for an observer to detect its presence 50% of the time.

Difference Threshold

The smallest detectable difference between two stimuli required to perceive a change 50% of the time, also termed the just noticeable difference.

Weber's Law

The psychophysical principle stating that the difference threshold is a constant fraction of the original stimulus intensity.

Structuralism

An early school of psychology led by Edward Titchener that sought to analyze the basic structural elements of the conscious mind using introspection.

Introspection

A research technique in structuralism where trained subjects systematically examine and describe their own immediate conscious sensory experiences.

Functionalism

An early psychological perspective spearheaded by William James that examined the practical utility and adaptive functions of human thought and consciousness.

Genotype

An organism's complete genetic constitution and specific underlying sequence of DNA.

Phenotype

The set of observable physical and behavioral traits displayed by an organism, produced by the interaction of its genotype with the environment.

Transcription

The initial step of gene expression occurring in the nucleus where a DNA base sequence is transcribed into messenger RNA (mRNA).

Translation

The cellular process taking place at the ribosome where the mRNA sequence is decoded to assemble amino acids into a protein chain.

Transgenic Techniques

Genetic engineering methods that insert (knock-in) or delete (knock-out) specific genes in embryos to study gene function.

Selective Breeding

The artificial selection of specific behavioral or physical traits over generations, demonstrated in Tryon's study breeding Maze-bright and Maze-dull rats.

Monozygotic Twins

Identical twins formed when a single fertilized egg splits into two embryos, resulting in identical genetic codes.

Dizygotic Twins

Fraternal twins resulting from two separate eggs fertilized by two separate sperm, sharing roughly 50% of their genetic code.

Heritability Coefficient

A statistical estimate indicating the proportion of trait variability within a population that can be attributed to genetic differences.

Epigenetics

The study of environmental mechanisms that modify gene expression and phenotype without altering the underlying DNA sequence.

Epigenetic Drift

The gradual divergence of epigenetic modifications over an individual's lifetime, causing genetically identical twins to display distinct trait expressions as they age.

Epigenetic Mechanisms

Biochemical mechanisms regulating gene expression including histone modification, DNA methylation, and mRNA modification by non-coding RNA.

Epigenome

The complete collection of inherited chemical modifications made to DNA and histone proteins that regulates gene activation and expression across generations.

Intrasexual Competition

A component of sexual selection involving direct competition between members of the same sex for mating access to the opposite sex.

Intersexual Selection

A sexual selection process where individuals of one sex display preferential mate choice based on specific desired traits in the opposite sex.

Sexual Strategies Theory

An evolutionary psychology framework predicting distinct long-term and short-term mating strategies adopted by males and females to resolve adaptive challenges.