PSYC 101 Ch. 1
1. Psychology
- The scientific study of the mind and behaviour.
2. Mind
- Set of private events that happen inside a person, including thoughts and feelings.
3. Behaviour
- Set of public events, things we say and do that can potentially be observed by others.
4. Philosophy
- Systematic study of fundamental questions about existence, reason, knowledge, and morality.
5. Aristotle
- Ancient Greek philosopher who believed the mind and body are inseparable and that we are born as a "blank slate."
6. Empiricism
- The idea that knowledge comes from experience and interaction with the environment.
7. Dualism
- The theory that mind and body are separate entities, as proposed by René Descartes.
8. René Descartes
- Philosopher who proposed dualism, viewing the mind as immaterial and the body as material.
9. Materialism
- The belief that all things, including mental phenomena, are the result of physical processes.
10. Monism
- The belief that everything is made of one substance, typically physical, as opposed to dualism.
11. Thomas Hobbes
- Philosopher who believed the mind is the result of physical activity in the brain.
12. John Locke
- Philosopher who promoted empiricism and the idea of the mind as a "blank slate."
13. Realism
- The idea that our perceptions of the world reflect the true nature of reality.
14. Immanuel Kant
- Philosopher who believed our perceptions of the world are our brain's interpretation, not a faithful copy.
15. Idealism
- The belief that our mind interprets the world, rather than directly reflecting it.
16. Nativism
- The belief that some knowledge is innate and not acquired through experience.
17. Indigenous Philosophy
- Philosophical systems developed by indigenous cultures, often incorporating spiritual principles.
18. Empiricist
- A person who believes that knowledge comes from sensory experience and interaction with the environment.
19. Hermann von Helmholtz
- Psychologist who studied reaction times and discovered that response times varied with distance.
20. Wilhelm Wundt
- Founder of the first psychology laboratory and advocate of structuralism.
21. Structuralism
- The approach to psychology that sought to identify the components of consciousness.
22. Edward Titchener
- Wundt's student who developed structuralism and promoted introspection.
23. Introspection
- The method of self-observation used to study the mind by analyzing subjective experience.
24. Functionalism
- The theory that mental processes should be studied in terms of their purpose and function.
25. William James
- Psychologist who founded functionalism and emphasized the adaptive function of consciousness.
26. John Dewey
- Philosopher and psychologist who contributed to functionalism and the study of human behavior.
27. Ivan Pavlov
- Psychologist known for his work on classical conditioning, particularly with dogs.
28. Classical Conditioning
- A type of learning where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, producing a conditioned response.
29. John B. Watson
- Founder of behaviorism, emphasizing observable behavior over internal mental processes.
30. Behaviourism
- An approach to psychology that focuses on observable behavior and rejects internal mental processes.
31. Little Albert Experiment
- A controversial experiment by John B. Watson that conditioned a child to fear a white rat.
32. Margaret Floy Washburn
- The first woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology and advocate for comparative psychology.
33. B.F. Skinner
- Psychologist known for his work on operant conditioning and radical behaviorism.
34. Operant Conditioning
- A form of learning where behavior is shaped by reinforcement or punishment.
35. Skinner Box
- A controlled environment used by B.F. Skinner to study operant conditioning.
36. Reinforcement
- A process in which behavior is strengthened by a reward or positive outcome.
37. Max Wertheimer
- Psychologist who founded Gestalt psychology, emphasizing the whole experience rather than individual components.
38. Gestalt Psychology
- An approach that emphasizes understanding the whole experience rather than its individual parts.
39. Sir Frederic Bartlett
- Psychologist who studied memory and demonstrated that people remember based on expectations, not just objective reality.
40. Jean Piaget
- Psychologist known for his work on developmental psychology and how children's understanding of the world evolves.
41. Kurt Lewin
- Psychologist who developed the field of social psychology and focused on the subjective perception of the environment.
42. Cognitive Revolution
- The shift in psychology during the 1960s that focused on mental processes such as memory, perception, and problem-solving.
43. Cognitive Psychology
- The study of mental processes like perception, memory, and reasoning.
44. Noam Chomsky
- Linguist who criticized behaviorism and argued for an innate capacity for language in humans.
45. Evolutionary Psychology
- The study of human behavior and the mind through the lens of evolution and natural selection.
46. Natural Selection
- The process by which traits that increase survival and reproduction become more common in a population over time.
47. Conditioned Taste Aversion
- A type of learning where a person avoids a food that made them sick in the past, illustrating adaptive behavior.
48. Cognitive Neuroscience
- The study of the relationship between brain activity and cognitive processes like perception and memory.
49. Neuroscience
- The study of the brain and nervous system and their connection to behavior and mental processes.
50. Paul Broca
- Neuroscientist who discovered the role of Broca's area in speech production.
51. Karl Lashley
- Neuroscientist who studied the brain's role in learning and memory and found that learning is not localized in one brain area.
52. Behaviour Neuroscience
- The study of how the brain influences behavior.
53. Broca's Area
- A region of the brain associated with speech production.
54. fMRI
- A brain imaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow.
55. PET Scan
- A brain imaging technique that detects brain activity by measuring glucose metabolism.
56. EEG
- A technique that measures electrical activity in the brain, often used to study sleep and brain disorders.
57. Cultural Psychology
- The study of how culture influences mental processes and behavior.
58. Nature vs. Nurture
- The debate over whether genetics (nature) or environment (nurture) plays a more significant role in shaping behavior.
59. Donald Hebb
- Psychologist who argued that behavior is influenced by both nature and nurture, coining the phrase "nature via nurture."
60. Social Psychology
- The study of how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others.
61. Developmental Psychology
- The study of how mental and behavioral processes change over the lifespan.
62. Evolutionary Psychology
- The study of how natural selection shaped human behavior and the mind.
63. Hysteria
- A psychological condition with no obvious physical cause, often linked to unconscious conflict or trauma.
64. Psychoanalysis
- A therapeutic approach developed by Freud that focuses on uncovering unconscious desires and memories.
65. Unconscious Mind
- The part of the mind that contains memories, desires, and experiences of which people are not consciously aware.
66. Sigmund Freud
- The founder of psychoanalysis and the theory of the unconscious mind.
67. Introspection
- The method of self-observation used in structuralism to study conscious experience.
68. Functionalism
- The theory that mental processes serve a function and have an adaptive significance.
69. Behaviourism
- The approach that focuses on observable behavior, dismissing mental processes.
70. Radical Behaviourism
- A more extreme form of behaviorism, as advocated by B.F. Skinner, that incorporates reinforcement in shaping behavior.