Chapter 1 Key Terms

Question 1

Adaptations

Answer 1

Inherited solutions to ancestral problems have been selected because they contribute in some way to reproductive success.

Question 2

Asylums

Answer 2

Facilities for treating the mentally ill in Europe during the Middle Ages and into the 19th century.

Question 3

Behavioral Neuroscience

Answer 3

The study of the links among brain, mind, and behavior.

Question 4

Behaviorism

Answer 4

A school of psychology proposed that psychology can be a true science only if it examines observable behavior, not ideas, thoughts, feelings, or motives.

Question 5

Biological Psychology

Answer 5

The study of the relationship between bodily systems and chemicals and how they influence behavior and thought.

Question 6

Clinical Psychology

Answer 6

The diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and the promotion of psychological health.

Question 7

Cognitive Psychology

Answer 7

The study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.

Question 8

Critical Thinking

Answer 8

A process by which one analyzes, evaluates, and form ideas.

Question 9

Developmental Psychology

Answer 9

The study of how thought and behavior change and remain stable across the life span.

Question 10

Educational Psychology

Answer 10

The study of how students learn, the effectiveness of particular teaching techniques, the social psychology of schools, and the psychology of teaching.

Question 11

Empiricism

Answer 11

The view that all knowledge and thoughts come from experience.

Question 12

Evolutionary Psychology

Answer 12

The branch of psychology that studies human behavior by asking what adaptive problems it may have solved for our early ancestors.

Question 13

Evolution

Answer 13

The change over time in the frequency with which specific genes occur within a breeding species.

Question 14

Forensic psychology

Answer 14

The field that blends psychology, law, and criminal justice.

Question 15

Functionalism

Answer 15

The 19th Century school of psychology argued it was better to look at why the mind works the way it does than to describe its parts.

Question 16

Health Psychology

Answer 16

the study of the role psychological factors play in regard to health and illness.

Question 17

Humanistic Psychology

Answer 17

A theory of psychology that focuses on personal growth and meaning as a way of reaching one’s highest potential.

Question 18

Industrial/ Organizational (I/O) Psychology

Answer 18

The application of psychology concepts and questions to work settings

Question 19

Introspection

Answer 19

The main method of investigation for structuralists; involves looking into one’s own mind for information about the nature of conscious experience.

Question 20

Metacognitive Thinking

Answer 20

The ability first to think and then to reflect on one’s own thinking.
The oversight of one’s own thinking process.

Question 21

Moral Treatment

Answer 21

A 19th-Century approach to treating the mentally ill with dignity in a caring environment.

Question 22

Nature Through nurture

Answer 22

The environment, be it the womb or the world outside, interacts continuously with biology to shape who we are and what we do.

Question 23

Personality Psychology

Answer 23

The study of what makes people unique and the consistencies in people’s behavior across time and situations.

Question 24

Positive Psychology

Answer 24

A scientific approach to studying, understanding, and promoting healthy and positive psychological functioning.

Question 25

Psychoanalysis

Answer 25

A clinical based approach to understanding and treating psychological disorders; assumes that the unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behavior.

Question 26

Psychophysics

Answer 26

The study of how people experience physical stimuli such as light, sound waves, and touch.

Question 27

Psychology

Answer 27

The scientific study of thought and behavior. Psychology is both clinical practice and science.

Question 28

Sexual selection

Answer 28

Operates when members of the opposite sex find certain traits attractive or appealing and therefore over long periods of time these traits become more common in the population.

Question 29

Shamans

Answer 29

Medicine men or women treat people with mental problems by driving out their demons with elaborate rituals, such as exorcisms, incantations, and prayers.

Question 30

Social Psychology

Answer 30

The study of how living among others influences thought, feeling, and behavior.

Question 31

Sports Psychology

Answer 31

The study of psychological factors in sports and exercise.

Question 32

Structuralism

Answer 32

The 19th Century school of psychology argued that breaking down experience into its elemental parts offers the best way to understand thought and behavior.