PSYC 101 Ch. 1

Psychology

The scientific study of the mind and behaviour.

Mind

Set of private events that happen inside a person, including thoughts and feelings.

Behaviour

Set of public events, things we say and do that can potentially be observed by others.

Philosophy

Systematic study of fundamental questions about existence, reason, knowledge, and morality.

Aristotle

Ancient Greek philosopher who believed the mind and body are inseparable and that we are born as a 'blank slate.'

Empiricism

The idea that knowledge comes from experience and interaction with the environment.

Dualism

The theory that mind and body are separate entities, as proposed by René Descartes.

René Descartes

Philosopher who proposed dualism, viewing the mind as immaterial and the body as material.

Materialism

The belief that all things, including mental phenomena, are the result of physical processes.

Monism

The belief that everything is made of one substance, typically physical, as opposed to dualism.

Thomas Hobbes

Philosopher who believed the mind is the result of physical activity in the brain.

John Locke

Philosopher who promoted empiricism and the idea of the mind as a 'blank slate.'

Realism

The idea that our perceptions of the world reflect the true nature of reality.

Immanuel Kant

Philosopher who believed our perceptions of the world are our brain's interpretation, not a faithful copy.

Idealism

The belief that our mind interprets the world, rather than directly reflecting it.

Nativism

The belief that some knowledge is innate and not acquired through experience.

Indigenous Philosophy

Philosophical systems developed by indigenous cultures, often incorporating spiritual principles.

Empiricist

A person who believes that knowledge comes from sensory experience and interaction with the environment.

Hermann von Helmholtz

Psychologist who studied reaction times and discovered that response times varied with distance.

Wilhelm Wundt

Founder of the first psychology laboratory and advocate of structuralism.

Structuralism

The approach to psychology that sought to identify the components of consciousness.

Edward Titchener

Wundt's student who developed structuralism and promoted introspection.

Introspection

The method of self-observation used to study the mind by analyzing subjective experience.

Functionalism

The theory that mental processes should be studied in terms of their purpose and function.

William James

Psychologist who founded functionalism and emphasized the adaptive function of consciousness.

John Dewey

Philosopher and psychologist who contributed to functionalism and the study of human behavior.

Ivan Pavlov

Psychologist known for his work on classical conditioning, particularly with dogs.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, producing a conditioned response.

John B. Watson

Founder of behaviorism, emphasizing observable behavior over internal mental processes.

Behaviourism

An approach to psychology that focuses on observable behavior and rejects internal mental processes.

Little Albert Experiment

A controversial experiment by John B. Watson that conditioned a child to fear a white rat.

Margaret Floy Washburn

The first woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology and advocate for comparative psychology.

B.F. Skinner

Psychologist known for his work on operant conditioning and radical behaviorism.

Operant Conditioning

A form of learning where behavior is shaped by reinforcement or punishment.

Skinner Box

A controlled environment used by B.F. Skinner to study operant conditioning.

Reinforcement

A process in which behavior is strengthened by a reward or positive outcome.

Max Wertheimer

Psychologist who founded Gestalt psychology, emphasizing the whole experience rather than individual components.

Gestalt Psychology

An approach that emphasizes understanding the whole experience rather than its individual parts.

Sir Frederic Bartlett

Psychologist who studied memory and demonstrated that people remember based on expectations, not just objective reality.

Jean Piaget

Psychologist known for his work on developmental psychology and how children's understanding of the world evolves.

Kurt Lewin

Psychologist who developed the field of social psychology and focused on the subjective perception of the environment.

Cognitive Revolution

The shift in psychology during the 1960s that focused on mental processes such as memory, perception, and problem-solving.

Cognitive Psychology

The study of mental processes like perception, memory, and reasoning.

Noam Chomsky

Linguist who criticized behaviorism and argued for an innate capacity for language in humans.

Evolutionary Psychology

The study of human behavior and the mind through the lens of evolution and natural selection.

Natural Selection

The process by which traits that increase survival and reproduction become more common in a population over time.

Conditioned Taste Aversion

A type of learning where a person avoids a food that made them sick in the past, illustrating adaptive behavior.

Cognitive Neuroscience

The study of the relationship between brain activity and cognitive processes like perception and memory.

Neuroscience

The study of the brain and nervous system and their connection to behavior and mental processes.

Paul Broca

Neuroscientist who discovered the role of Broca's area in speech production.

Karl Lashley

Neuroscientist who studied the brain's role in learning and memory and found that learning is not localized in one brain area.

Behaviour Neuroscience

The study of how the brain influences behavior.

Broca's Area

A region of the brain associated with speech production.

fMRI

A brain imaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow.

PET Scan

A brain imaging technique that detects brain activity by measuring glucose metabolism.

EEG

A technique that measures electrical activity in the brain, often used to study sleep and brain disorders.

Cultural Psychology

The study of how culture influences mental processes and behavior.

Nature vs. Nurture

The debate over whether genetics (nature) or environment (nurture) plays a more significant role in shaping behavior.

Donald Hebb

Psychologist who argued that behavior is influenced by both nature and nurture, coining the phrase 'nature via nurture.'

Social Psychology

The study of how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others.

Developmental Psychology

The study of how mental and behavioral processes change over the lifespan.

Evolutionary Psychology

The study of how natural selection shaped human behavior and the mind.

Hysteria

A psychological condition with no obvious physical cause, often linked to unconscious conflict or trauma.

Psychoanalysis

A therapeutic approach developed by Freud that focuses on uncovering unconscious desires and memories.

Unconscious Mind

The part of the mind that contains memories, desires, and experiences of which people are not consciously aware.

Sigmund Freud

The founder of psychoanalysis and the theory of the unconscious mind.

Introspection

The method of self-observation used in structuralism to study conscious experience.

Functionalism

The theory that mental processes serve a function and have an adaptive significance.

Behaviourism

The approach that focuses on observable behavior, dismissing mental processes.

Radical Behaviourism

A more extreme form of behaviorism, as advocated by B.F. Skinner, that incorporates reinforcement in shaping behavior.