Psychology Concepts: Ch. 1

Front 1

what is psychology?

Back 1

the science of behavior and mental processes

Front 2

what are the origins of psychology?

Back 2

philosophers attempted to explain human behavior in acient times, but psychology emerged as a scientific discipline in the 19th century w/ wundts founding of the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in 1879

Front 3

structuralism

Back 3

-earliest school of psychology
-wundt and titchener
-attempted to break down mental experiences into their compontent parts: sensations, perceptions, and feelings

Front 4

functionalism

Back 4

-william james
-attempts to explain our behavior in terms of the functions it serves in helping us adapt to the environment

Front 5

behaviorism

Back 5

-james watson
-psy. should limit itself to observable phenomena-namely, behavior

Front 6

gestalt psychology

Back 6

-max wartheimer
-belief that the brain structures our perceptions of the world in terms of organized patterns or wholes

Front 7

psychoanalysis

Back 7

-sigmund freud
-emphasizes the role of unconscious motives and conflicts in determining human behavior

Front 8

-behavioral perspective
-psychodynamic perspective

Back 8

-focuses on observable behavior and the influences of learning process in behavior.
-represents the model of psychology developed by freud and his followers. it holds that out behavior and personalities are shaped by unconscious motives and conflicts that lie outside the range of ordinary awareness

Front 9

-humanistic perspective
-physiological perspective

Back 9

-reflects the views of humanistic psychologists such as carl rodgers and abraham maslow who emphazied the importance of subjective conscious experience and personal freedom and responsibility
-examines the waysin which behavior and mental experience are influenced by biological processes such as heredity, hormones, and the workings of the brain and other parts of the nervous system

Front 10

-cognitive perspective
-sociocultural perspective

Back 10

-focuses on mental processes that allow us to gain knowledge about ourselves and the world.
-examines how are behavior and attitudes are shaped by social and cultural influences.

Front 11

Socrates, known to us through the writings of his student plato, was an ancient greek philosopher who had a profound effect on early psychological thinking. for what credo is he best remembered today?

Back 11

"know thyself"

Front 12

the scientist generally credited w/ the founding of psychology as an independent science

Back 12

wilhelm wundt

Front 13

the early school of psych that was concerned w/ investigating the structure of the mind

Back 13

structuralism

Front 14

-the school of psych that believes psych should be limited to the study of observable behavior
-gestalt psych focuses on what?

Back 14

-behaviorism
-the ways in which the brain organizes and structures our perceptions of the world

Front 15

-which psychological perspective originated w/ sigmund freud?
-humanistic psychologists rejected the notions that unconscious processes or environmental influences determine our behavior. rather, they emphasized the importance of consious______ in understanding beahvior.

Back 15

-psychodynamic perspective
-choice