Chapter 1: Introduction to Psychology and Research Methods Flashcards

A comprehensive vocabulary flashcard set covering foundational psychological definitions, historical approaches, modern perspectives, research methods, and subfields of psychology based on the lecture notes.

Behaviors

Observable actions or responses in both humans and animals.

Mental processes

A wide range of complex mental processes, such as thinking, imagining, studying, and dreaming.

Autism

An abnormal or impaired development in social interactions and difficulty in communicating, with signs usually appearing when a child is 2 or 3 years old.

Test Anxiety

A combination of physiological, emotional, and cognitive components caused by the stress of taking exams.

Psychology

The systematic, scientific study of behaviors and mental processes.

Biological Approach

Focuses on how our genes, hormones, and nervous system interact with our environments to influence learning, personality, memory, motivation, emotions, and coping techniques.

Cognitive Approach

Examines how we process, store, and use information and how this information influences what we attend to, perceive, learn, remember, believe, and feel.

Cognitive Neuroscience

Involves taking pictures and identifying the structures and functions of the living brain during performance of a variety of mental or cognitive processes, such as thinking, planning, naming, and recognizing objects.

Behavioral Approach

Focuses on how organisms learn new behaviors or modify existing ones, depending on whether events in their environments reward or punish these behaviors.

B.F. Skinner

Behaviorist whose ideas stress the study of observable behaviors, the importance of environmental reinforcers (reward and punishment), and the exclusion of mental processes.

Albert Bandura

Proposed an approach stating that behaviors are influenced not only by environmental events and reinforcers but also by observation, imitation, and thought processes.

Psychoanalytic Approach

Stresses the influence of unconscious fears, desires, and motivations on thoughts, behaviors, and the development of personality traits and psychological problems later in life.

Humanistic Approach

Emphasizes that each individual has great freedom in directing his or her future, a large capacity for personal growth, a considerable amount of intrinsic worth, and enormous potential for self-fulfillment.

Sociocultural Approach

Studies the influence of social and cultural factors on psychological and behavioural functioning.

Evolutionary Approach

Studies how evolutionary ideas, such as adaptation and natural selection, explain human behaviors and mental processes.

Biopsychosocial Approach

Studies how biological, psychological, and social influences explain human health, development, and illness.

Eclectic Approach

An approach in which psychologists use and combine different perspectives (biological, psychoanalytic, humanistic, cross-cultural, evolutionary) to study the same behavior.

Plato's Tripartite Souls

The model of the Psyche (soul) comprising Logistikon (reason near the head), Thumoeides (spirit near the chest), and Epithumetikon (desires near the stomach).

Rene Descartes

Philosopher around the 1600s who argued for mind dualism, proposing that the mind and body are distinct but interact.

Wilhelm Wundt

Established a psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879, earning him recognition as the father of Psychology.

Structuralism

The study of the basic elements, primarily sensations and perceptions, that make up our conscious mental experiences; championed by Edward Bradford Titchener.

Introspection

A method of exploring conscious mental processes by asking subjects to look inward and report their sensations and perceptions.

Functionalism

The study of the function rather than the structure of consciousness, focusing on how minds adapt to changing environments; associated with William James.

Gestalt Approach

Emphasized that perception is more than the sum of its parts, studying how sensations are assembled into meaningful perceptual experiences; developed by Wertheimer, Kohler, and Koffka.

John B. Watson

Argued that psychology should focus on observable behavior rather than unobservable unconsciousness.

Classical Conditioning

Ivan Pavlov's theory stating that a living thing can learn to associate a neutral signal alone to eventually trigger an automatic response.

Survey Research

Gathering standardized information from a sample by asking questions via questionnaires or interviews.

Correlation Research

Studying how two or more variables are related without experimental manipulation.

Experimental Research

Using controlled experiments to test cause-and-effect by manipulating one or more independent variables while holding other variables constant to observe the effect on the dependent variable.

Quasi-Experimental Research

A research design similar to experiments but lacking random assignment or full control.

Qualitative Research

Focuses on in-depth understanding of people's experiences and contexts, including designs such as case studies, ethnographies, grounded theory, phenomenology, and narrative research.

Mixed Methods

Combining quantitative and qualitative approaches in one study.

Psychologist

Someone who has completed 4 to 5 years of postgraduate education and has obtained a PhD, PsyD, or EdD in psychology.

Clinical Psychologist

Has a PhD, PsyD, or EdD, specialized in a clinical subarea, and spent an additional year in a supervised therapy setting to gain experience in diagnosing and treating abnormal behaviors.

Psychiatrist

A medical doctor (MD) who has spent several years in clinical training diagnosing and treating physical and neurological causes of abnormal behaviors, often with prescription drugs.

Social Psychology

The study of social interactions, stereotypes, prejudices, attitudes, conformity, group behaviors, aggression, and attraction.

Developmental Psychology

Examines moral, social, emotional, and cognitive development throughout a person's entire life.

Experimental Psychology

Includes research areas of sensation, perception, learning, human performance, motivation, and emotion.

Biological Psychology / Psychobiology

Involves research on physical and chemical changes that occur during stress, learning, and emotions, and how genetic makeup, brain, and nervous system interact with environments.

Cognitive Psychology

Involves how we process, store, and retrieve information and how cognitive processes influence our behaviors.

Psychometrics

Focuses on the measurements of people's abilities, skills, intelligence, personality, and abnormal behaviors.

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Examines the relationships of people and their work environments.