AP Psych Unit 1 - Scientific Foundations of Psychology

Behavior

observable human actions

Mind

underlying sensations, emotions, memories, and other phenomena that are not observable

Brain

the physiological command center of the central nervous system

Rene Descartes

Associated w/ dualism

Dualism

the world is made up of two things, spirit and body

John Locke

associated w/ empiricism and tabula rasa

Empiricism

one learns about the world through their own experiences and observations

Tabula rasa

(“blank slate”) - babies are born as a blank slate, nurture over nature

Thomas Hobbes

associated w/ materialism

materialism

the only things humans are made of is matter and energy; consciousness is just a byproduct of the brain’s physiological function

Charles Darwin

associated w/ evolutionary theory

evolutionary theory

explained psychological differences between species

Natural selection

proposed that advantageous characteristics passed on through generations

Wilhelm Wundt

daddy of psychology, introduced a lab that made psychology an actual science (differentiated it from philosophy)

Edward Titchener

associated w/ structuralism and introspection

structuralism

studied psychology via the structure and elements of the mind, valued it over function

Introspection

the technique that structuralism used, People self-reported their thoughts and experiences

William james

associated w/ functionalism

Functionalism

the purpose of the mind (and how the mind fulfills that purpose) is most important, opposing structuralism

Dorothea Dix

advocated for mentally ill poor people

Mary Whiton Calkins

first female grad student of psychology

Margaret Floy Washburn

first female psychology PhD, second APA president

G. Stanley Hall

first APA president

Biological Approach

Studies intersections between anatomy, physiology, and behaviors, applies biological experiments to psychology problems

Biogenetic Approach

How behaviors attribute to genetic characteristics

Behavioralism Approach

Study of observable behavior

Operant Conditioning

people associate behavior with an outcome (positive or negative) and thus choose to repeat the behavior

Classical Conditioning

behavior is elicited by a stimulus, which then becomes associated with the behavior

BF Skinner

associated w/ operant conditioning

Ivan Pavlov

associated w/ classical conditioning

Cognitive approach

studying how people think

Humanistic Approach

Emphasizes free will and consciousness, as well as optimistic growth. How does self esteem and personal values influence behavior?

Abraham Maslow

associated w/ self-actualization and hierarchy of needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

physiological needs —> safety needs —> love and belonging —> esteem —> self-actualization

self actualization

accepting one’s self and environment as it naturally is, is one’s full potential and must be achieved after achieving all other basic needs (contentment)

Carl rogers

associated w/ unconditional positive regard

unconditional positive regard

Having a positive self-concept and self-esteem

Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic approach

Studying the unconscious mind and recovering repressed information, early childhood experiences and relations with parents are important to development; associated w/ repression and unconcious

Sigmund freud

associated w/ psychoanalytic theory

Psychanalytic theory

human behavior is influenced by unconscious memories, thoughts, and urges

Conscious

State of mind that we have ready access to

Unconscious

State of mind we don’t have access to but affects behavior

Repression

Unconscious conflicts that have been suppressed to avoid confrontation

Sociocultural approach

Observing the culture and environment one lives in

Evolutionary approach

Examining behavior as how adaptive and advantageous it is to survival

Biopsychosocial approach

Intersections of biology, psychology, and social factors to explain a behavior

Biological Domain

How factors impact the body

Social domain

How one interacts with others

Clinical domain

Considering treatment options

Cognitive Domain

What thoughts people have

Counseling Domain

Talk therapy and other counseling based treatment

Developmental Domain

How psychology is affected/affects by growth and development

Educational Domain

school involvement in psychology

Experimental Domain

Dealing with experiments

industrial-organizational domain

Workplace psychology

Personality domain

personality psychology

Psychometric domain

How to measure things in psychology

Positive domain

positive strengths of human behavior

Confounding Variable

An extraneous unstudied factor that impacts research

Surveys

Questionnares that gather data on what people think and do