Chapter 1 Flashcards
(32 cards)
What is psychology?
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
What is science?
The use of systematic methods to observe the natural world and to draw conclusions
What is behavior?
Everything we do that can be directly observed.
What is mental processes?
The thoughts, feelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be observed directly.
What are the three goals of psychology?
Describe, predict, and explain
What does it mean to describe?
Observe and measure behavior.
What does it mean to predict?
Think about when a behavior will occur, who is mostly to behave a particular way.
What does it mean to explain?
Determine why a behavior occurred when it did.
What are the four attitudes of scientific approach (especially for psychologists)?
Critical thinking, skepticism, objectivity, and curiosity.
What is critical thinking?
The process of reflecting deeply and actively, asking questions, and evaluating evidence.
What does it mean to be skeptical?
Questioning “common sense” or things that “everyone knows”
What is pseudoscience?
Information that is couched in scientific terminology but is not supported by sound scientific research.
What does it mean to think objectively?
Being open to evidence, seeing the world as it is not as we want it to be.
What is empirical methods?
Gaining knowledge through the observations of events, the collection of data, and logical reasoning.
What is positive psychology?
A branch of psychology that emphasizes human strengths.
At first, important events were attributed to the gods and myths but then philosophy slowly emerged. What is philosophy?
The rational investigation of the underlying principles of being and knowledge (best way to explain events in terms of natural causes).
Who were the influential philosophers who paved the way for the birth of psychology?
Descartes, John Locke, and Aristotle
How old is psychology?
Psychology is 142 years old. Wilhelm Wundt founded the first psychology lab in 1879.
What is structuralism?
William Wundt’s approach to discovering the basic elements or structures of mental processes, identifying the basic elements (structures) of mental processes which relies heavily on introspection.
What is introspection?
Looking inside our own minds, by focusing on our own thoughts.
What is functionalism?
William James approach to mental processing, emphasizes functions/purposes of mind and behavior in the individuals adaptions to the environment.
What is natural selection?
Charles Darwin’s principle of evolutionary process in which organisms that are better adapted to their environment will survive and produce more offspring. He placed humans on the same level as other species and supported his theory with lots of evidence.
What is the biological approach?
An approach to psychology focusing on the body, especially the brain and nervous system.
What is neuroscience?
The scientific study of the structure, function, development, genetics, and biochemistry of the nervous system, emphasizing that the brain and nervous system are central to understanding behavior and emotion.
