AP Psychology Test

Vocabulary: The ism’s

• empiricism: the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should rely on observation and experimentation
• structuralism: an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind
• functionalism: how our mental health and behavioral processes function and how they help adapt, survive, and flourish

1. behaviorism: the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes.

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The Different Types of Psychology

• experimental psychology: the study of behavior and thinking using EXPERIMENTAL methods.
• humanistic psychology: historically significant perspective that emphasized %%the growth potential of healthy people and the individual’s potential for personal growth.%%
• psychology: the science of behavior AND mental processes
• behavior psychology: the scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning
• biological psychology: a branch of psychology that studies the links between biological. biology!!
• cognitive psychology: the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
• psychodynamic psychology: a branch of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that information to treat people with psychological disorders
• social-cultural psychology: the study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking.
• developmental psychology: the scientific study of physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span
• educational psychology: the study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning
• personality psychology: the study of someone’s personality [thinking, feeling, and acting]
• industrial-organizational psychology: the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces
• human factors psychology: ^^the study of how people and machines interact^^ and the design of safe and easily used machines and environments
• counseling psychology: counseling assists people with problems in living (school, work, marriage, parents, etc..)
• clinical psychology: clinical studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
• evolutionary psychology: the study of the roots of behavior and mental processes to understand natural selection.

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Researches

applied research: scientific study that aims to solve practical problems

basic research: scientific study that aims to increase scientific KNOWLEDGE

biopsychosocial approach: an integrated approach that incorporates BIOLOGICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND SOCIAL-CULTURAL, levels.

psychometrics: the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits. (they follow you everywhere you go)

cognitive neuroscience: the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition.

levels of analysis: the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon.

eclectic: someone who pulls from many psychological approaches.

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Historical Figures

Mary Whiton: The first woman to be president of the American Psychological Association.

Charles Darwin (Evolutionary Psychologist): Darwin argued that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies.

Dorothea Dix: She did checks in asylums to make sure patients were getting the best care. In addition, she changed brutal psychological disorder treatments to gentler ones.

Sigmund Freud (Psychodynamic/Analytical Psychologist): The controversial ideas of this famed personality theorist and therapist have influenced humanity’s self-understanding. He gave us psychoanalytical theory.

G. Stanley Hall: The first president of the American Psychological Association.

William James: His perspective on psychology was known as functionalism. He also wrote the first psychology text book.

Ivan Pavlov (Cognitive): Studied sensory.

Jean Piaget: Child development psychologist.

B. F. Skinner: A behaviorist who rejected introspection and studied how consequences shaped behavior.

Margaret Floy Washburn: The first woman to recieve a psychology Ph.D

John B. Watson (Behavioral Psychologist): Championed psychology as the science of behavior and conditioned responses in a baby who became famous as “Little Albert”.

Wilhelm Wundt: The Father of psychology. He established the first psychology labratory.

Roger Sperry: A Biological/Neuroscience Psychologist.

Abraham Maslow: Developed the hierarchy of needs and is a humanistic psychologist.