Introduction to Psychology - Chapter 1 Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering subfields of psychology, historical foundations, core perspectives, major debates, and scientific research methodologies.

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes, encompassing what people do, their thoughts, emotions, perceptions, reasoning processes, memories, and biological activities.

Behavioral Neuroscience

A subfield of psychology that focuses on how the brain, nervous system, and other biological aspects of the body determine behavior.

Experimental Psychology

The subfield of psychology that studies the processes of sensing, perceiving, learning, and thinking about the world.

Cognitive Psychology

A subcomponent of experimental psychology that focuses on higher mental processes, including thinking, memory, reasoning, problem solving, judging, decision making, and language.

Developmental Psychology

The branch of psychology that studies how people grow and change from the moment of conception through death.

Personality Psychology

A subcomponent of developmental psychology that focuses on the consistency in people's behavior over time and the traits that differentiate one person from another.

Health Psychology

A subfield of psychology that explores the relationship between psychological factors and physical ailments or disease.

Clinical Psychology

The study, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders ranging from everyday life crises to extreme condition treatments.

Counseling Psychology

A subfield of psychology that focuses primarily on educational, social, and career adjustment problems.

Social Psychology

The study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by others.

Cross-Cultural Psychology

The study that investigates the similarities and differences in psychological functioning in and across various cultures and ethnic groups.

Evolutionary Psychology

A field of psychology that focuses on how behavior is influenced by our genetic inheritance from our ancestors.

PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)

A research degree requiring a dissertation based on an original investigation, typically taking 4-5 years to complete.

PsyD (Doctor of Psychology)

A degree obtained by psychologists who want to focus specifically on the treatment of psychological disorders, taking 4-5 years to complete.

Trephining

An ancient procedure performed 7,000 years ago where healers chipped a hole in a patient's skull with crude instruments to allow evil spirits to escape.

John Locke

17th-century philosopher who proposed that children are born with minds like blank slates (tabula rasa) and that experience determines what kind of adults they become.

Wilhelm Wundt

Psychologist who established the first experimental laboratory devoted to psychological phenomena in the late 19th century and initiated structuralism.

Structuralism

An early perspective in psychology focusing on uncovering the fundamental mental components of consciousness, thinking, and other mental states.

Introspection

A procedure used to study the structure of the mind in which subjects are asked to describe in detail what they are experiencing when exposed to a stimulus.

Functionalism

An early approach to psychology that concentrated on what the mind does—the functions of mental activity—and the role of behavior in allowing people to adapt to their environment.

Gestalt Psychology

An approach to psychology that focuses on the organization of perception and thinking in a 'whole' sense rather than on individual elements of perception.

Margaret Washburn

The first woman to receive a PhD in psychology.

Mary Culkins

The first female president of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Mamie Clark

Psychologist who did pioneering work on how children of color grew to recognize racial differences.

Neuroscience Perspective

A major perspective that views behavior from the perspective of the brain, the nervous system, and other biological functions.

Psychodynamic Perspective

A approach founded by Sigmund Freud asserting that behavior is motivated by unconscious inner forces over which the individual has little control.

Behavioral Perspective

A major perspective pioneered by Watson and Skinner that suggests the focus of psychology should be on observable, measurable behavior.

Cognitive Perspective

A perspective focusing on how people think, understand, and know about the world.

Humanistic Perspective

A perspective associated with Carl Rodger and Maslow suggesting that individuals naturally strive to grow, develop, and be in control of their lives and behavior.

Free Will

The idea that behavior is caused primarily by choices that are made freely by the individual.

Determinism

The idea that people's behavior is produced primarily by factors outside of their willful control.

Scientific Method

An approach used by psychologists to systematically acquire knowledge and understanding about behavior and other phenomena of interest.

Theories

Broad explanations and predictions concerning phenomena of interest.

Hypothesis

A prediction stemming from a theory, stated in a way that allows it to be tested.

Operational Definition

The translation of a hypothesis into specific, testable procedures that can be measured and observed.

Research

Systematic inquiry aimed at the discovery of new knowledge.

Archival Research

Descriptive research in which existing data, such as census documents, college records, and newspaper clippings, are examined to test a hypothesis.

Naturalistic Observation

Descriptive research in which an investigator simply observes some naturally occurring behavior without making any changes to the situation.

Survey Research

Descriptive research in which people chosen to represent a larger population are asked a series of questions about their behavior, thoughts, or attitudes.

Case Study

An in-depth, intensive investigation of an individual or small group of people.

Correlational Research

Research in which the relationship between two sets of variables is examined to determine whether they are associated, or 'correlated'.

Positive Correlation

A relationship indicating that as the value of one variable increases, the value of the other variable is predicted to increase.

Negative Correlation

A relationship indicating that as the value of one variable increases, the value of the other variable decreases.

Experiment

An investigation of the relationship between two or more variables by deliberately producing a change in one variable and observing the effects on other aspects.

Experimental Manipulation

The deliberate change that an experimenter produces in a situation to test a hypothesis.

Treatment

The specific manipulation implemented by the experimenter in an experiment.

Experimental Group

Any group participating in an experiment that receives a treatment.

Control Group

A group participating in an experiment that receives no treatment, serving as a baseline comparison.

Independent Variable

The variable in an experiment that is directly manipulated by the experimenter.

Dependent Variable

The variable measured in an experiment that is expected to change as a result of manipulating the independent variable.

Random Assignment to Condition

A procedure in which participants are assigned to different experimental groups or conditions on the basis of chance and chance alone.

Significant Outcome

Meaningful results determined through statistical tests that allow researchers to feel confident they have confirmed their hypothesis.

Replicated Research

Research that is repeated, sometimes using other procedures, settings, and groups of participants, to increase confidence in prior findings.

Informed Consent

A document signed by participants affirming that they have been told the basic outlines of the study and understand what participation involves.

Experimental Bias

Factors that distort how the independent variable affects the dependent variable in an experiment.

Experimenter Expectations

A threat to validity occurring when an experimenter unintentionally transmits cues to participants about how they are expected to behave.

Participant Expectations

A threat to validity occurring when participants guess the nature of the experiment, form hypotheses, and act on those hunches.

Placebo

A false treatment, such as a pill or drug without active chemical properties, administered to control for participant expectations.

Double-Blind Procedure

A research method in which both the participant and the experimenter interacting with them are kept unaware of whether the participant receives the real treatment or a placebo.