Introduction to Psychological Science Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering foundational terms, major historical figures, perspectives, and subfields from Chapters 1 through 6 of the introductory psychology lecture.

Empirical Approach

An evidence-based method that draws on observation and experimentation.

Scientific Attitude

An approach to exploring and understanding the world that requires curiosity, skepticism, and humility.

Intellectual Humility

An awareness of our vulnerability to error, paired with an openness to surprises and new perspectives.

Critical Thinking

Thinking that does not automatically accept arguments and conclusions, but instead examines assumptions, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Wilhelm Wundt

An Austrian professor who, along with two graduate students, established psychology's first experimental laboratory in December 1879 at the University of Leipzig to measure 'atoms of the mind'.

Structuralism

An early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Edward Bradford Titchener that used self-reflective introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind.

Introspection

The process of looking inward and training individuals to report elements of their immediate sensory and emotional experience.

Functionalism

An early school of thought promoted by William James and influenced by Charles Darwin that explored how mental and behavioral processes function to enable an organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.

Mary Whiton Calkins

A memory researcher mentored by William James who completed all PhD requirements at Harvard but was denied the degree; she went on to become the first female president of the American Psychological Association in 1905.

Margaret Floy Washburn

The first woman to officially receive a PhD in psychology, author of 'The Animal Mind', and the second female president of the American Psychological Association in 1921.

Behaviorism

The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies observable behavior without reference to unobservable mental processes.

John B. Watson

A prominent behaviorist who championed psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior and conducted the famous 'Little Albert' study alongside Rosalie Rayner.

B. F. Skinner

A leading behaviorist who rejected introspection and studied how environmental consequences shape observable behavior.

Psychoanalytic Psychology

The perspective developed by Sigmund Freud that emphasizes the ways our unconscious mind and childhood experiences affect our behavior.

Humanistic Psychology

A historically significant perspective led by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow that rejected behaviorism and psychoanalysis to focus on human growth potential and individual needs for love and acceptance.

Cognitive Psychology

The scientific study of mental processes, including how we perceive, process, remember, think, communicate, and solve problems.

Cognitive Neuroscience

An interdisciplinary field formed by the merger of cognitive psychology (mind science) and neuroscience (brain science) that studies the brain activity underlying mental processes.

Psychology

The science of behavior and mental processes.

Nature-Nurture Issue

The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.

Natural Selection

The evolutionary principle proposing that inherited traits enabling an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

Evolutionary Psychology

The study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection.

Behavior Genetics

The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

WEIRD Cultures

An acronym for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic cultures, which represent a small fraction of the human population but historically hosted most research participants.

Culture

The shared ideas, behaviors, attitudes, values, and traditions that one generation passes on to the next.

Positive Psychology

The scientific study of human flourishing with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive.

Biopsychosocial Approach

An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis to explain behavior and mental processes.

Basic Research

Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.

Applied Research

Scientific study that aims to solve practical, real-world problems.

Counseling Psychology

A branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (such as academic, vocational, or relationship challenges) and in achieving greater personal and social functioning.

Clinical Psychology

A branch of psychology that assesses and treats people with psychological, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

Psychiatry

A branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders, practiced by medical doctors licensed to prescribe drug treatments as well as provide psychotherapy.

Community Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions affect individuals and groups.