Chapter 1 Flashcards
Smart thinking. Whether reading a research report or an online opinion, one must ask questions.
Critical Thinking
An early school of thought promoted by Wundt that focused on the structure of the human mind.
Structuralism
An early school of thought promoted by William James and influenced by Darwin that focused on how the mind functions.
Functionalism
The view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Promoted by B.F. Skinner and John B. Watson.
Behaviorism
the study of mental processes, such as occur when we perceive, learn, remember, think, communicate, and solve problems.
Cognitive psychology
A historically important perspective that emphasized human growth potential
humanistic psychology
the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with mental activity (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)
cognitive neuroscience
an approach that integrates different but complementary views from biological, psychological, and social-cultural viewpoints.
biopsychosocial approach
An age-old controversy over the relative influence of genes and experience in the development of psychological traits and behaviors.
nature-nurture issue
the principle that our mind processes information at the same time on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.
dual processing
a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders.
clinical psychology
a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical treatments as well as psychological therapy
psychiatry
a branch of psychology that studies how people interact with their social environments and how social institutions (schools, neighborhoods) affect individuals and groups.
community psychology
the scientific study of human flourishing, with goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive.
positive psychology
the tendency to believe, after learning the outcome, that we could have predicted it.
hindsight bias
a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in a research study. EX: human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures.
operational definition
repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding can be reproduced.
replication
publicly communicating planned study design, hypotheses, data collection, and analyses.
preregistration
a descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
case study
a descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to change or control the situation
naturalistic observation
assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing any preexisting differences between groups.
random assignment
in an experiment, a procedure in which both the participants and the research staff are ignorant about who has received the treatment or a placebo
double-blind procedure
in an experiment, a factor other than the factor being studied that might influence a study’s results
confounding variable
giving people enough information about a study to enable them to decide whether they wish to participate
informed consent
