The Evolution of Psychological Science (Chapter 1) Flashcards
Unit 2
Psychology
The scientific study of mind and behavior
Mind
Private inner experience of perceptions thoughts, memories, and feelings
Behavior
Observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals
Dualism
The view that the mind and body are fundamentally different things (founded by René Descartes)
Materialism
The doctrine that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications / The view that all mental phenomena are reducible to physical phenomena (founded by Thomas Hobbes)
Realism
The view that perceptions of the physical world are entirely made of information from sensory organs
Idealism
Perceptions of physical world are brain’s interpretation for sensory organ information
Structuralism
All thoughts are structured by basic elements, specifically sensations (like atoms) (founded by Edward Titchner)
Functionalism
Study of what purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment (founded by William James)
Behaviorism
Approach to psychology that restricts scientific inquiry to observable behavior (inspired by Ivan Pavlov, founded by John B. Watson)
Philosophical empiricism
All knowledge is acquired through experience (John Locke)
Philosophical nativism
Some knowledge is innate rather than acquired (favored over empiricism by most modern psychologists)
Natural selection
Features of an organism that help it survive and reproduce are more likely than other features to be passed on to subsequent generations
Consciousness
Person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind
The unconscious
Part of the mind that operates outside of awareness but influences conscious thoughts, feelings, and actions