Humanistic Psychology Unit 1 Module 1

Critical Thinking

Truths that are being revealed by questioning and testing to discover a reliable conclusion and openness to new perspectives

Structuralism

You cannot know a single piece of something by just looking at it alone

Functionalism

Purpose of feeling things by what they do and the practical purpose it serves, rather than what it is made of

Humanistic psychology

Potential for personal growth

Cognitive neuroscience

scientific field studying brain activity that creates thoughts, feelings, and actions

Nature-nurture issue

Human behavior, development, and personality are caused due to nature or due to experiences from the environment

Evolutionary psychology

Natural and sexual selection is developed through human thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Culture

Shared norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors being passed down to generations.

Biopsychosocial approach

Illness, health, and human behavior made from constant interaction of biological, psychological, and social systems

Biological psychology

The brain, nervous system, hormones, and genetics shaping our own thoughts, feelings, and action.

Social-cultural psychology

People’s feelings, thoughts, and actions are influenced through their social groups, societal norms, and cultural traditions.

SQ3R

Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review.

Empiricism

Knowledge comes from experience and observation, rather than using logic.

Introspection

examining your own conscious thoughts, feelings, and motives.

Behaviorism

school of psychology focusing on measurable observable actions treating internal thoughts/feelings as secondary.

Cognitive psychology

scientific study of internal processes such as attention, memory, perception, language, and problem solving.

Psychology

Study of mind and behavior

Natural selection

Organism with the best traits suited to their environment are most likely able to survive and pass those traits to future generations

Behavior genetics

heredity (genes) and environment (nurture) influence individual differences in behavior and psychological traits.

Positive psychology

What makes life truly worth living

Behavioral psychology

studying observable actions rather than internal mental states

Psychodynamic psychology

branch of study founded by Sigmund Freud exploring how the unconscious mind, hidden drives, and early childhood experiences are shaping human behavior, emotions, and personality

Testing effect

Taking a test with learned material helps improve long-term retention much better than re-reading/restudying the same information for an equal amount of time.

Psychometrics

study of field in psychology that focuses on the theory and technique of measuring mental attributes

Development psychology

scientific study of how and why human beings change, grow, and adapt across their entire lives

Personality psychology

enduring set of unique patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that differs from person to person and stays relatively stable over time.

Applied research

method of study used to solve specific real world problems or improve existing products, policies, and methods

Human factors psychology

applied science that studies how humans interact with products, machines, and systems

Counseling psychology

speciality within professional psychology helping people improve their well-being, solve life challenges, and personal issues throughout people’s lifespan

Psychiatry

branch of medicine focusing on diagnosing, treating, and helping to prevent mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

• Established the first psych lab

• Wanted to measure the “atoms of the mind” and the fastest mental processes

Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927)

• Introduced structuralism to study the elements of the mind

• Used introspection the act of looking inward to examine your own conscious thoughts, feelings, and motives.

Charles Darwin

• Natural selection of mental and physical traits

• Adaptive evolution

• Influenced William James 

William James (1842-1910)

• Introduced functionalism (purpose of feeling things)

• Principles of psychology 

Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)

• Student of william james

• Denied her PHD due to gender

• Memory researcher

• First female president of the APA

Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939)

• Student of Edward Titchener

• First female to earn PHD in psychology

• The Animal Mind

B.F. Skinner and John. B Watson

School of behaviorism 

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

• Personality theory

• Developed an influential treatment process called psychoanalysis

• unconsicious

Ivan Pavlov

Classical conditioning