Key Terms

Question 1

Define science

Answer 1

Find out systematically and objectively about the physical world using observation and experimentation

Question 2

Define psychology

Answer 2

The scientific study of the mind and behaviour

Question 3

Define systematic

Answer 3

Working according to fixed / controlled, standardised plan or system

Question 4

Define objectivity

Answer 4

Not influenced by personal feeling or emotions when considering facts

Question 5

Define empiricism

Answer 5

Based on test experimentation, not theory or logical argument

Question 6

Define the scientific method

Answer 6

Systematic observation, measurement and experimentation, and the formulation, testing and modification or hypothesis

Question 7

Define replicable

Answer 7

Finding the same results with the same methodology

Question 8

Define predicable

Answer 8

Behaviour is set from prior experience

Question 9

Define inference

Answer 9

After repeated instances of a behaviour to a stimulus, making conclusions about the fundamental nature of the mind on the basis of these observations

Question 10

Define the behaviourist approach

Answer 10

Human behaviour is learned and not biological - also unhappy with introspection as it’s unobservable

Question 11

Define classical conditioning

Answer 11

The process of a neutral stimuli being associated with an unconditional stimulus- causing this stimulus to be able to produce the conditional response

Question 12

What operant conditioning

Answer 12

Learning through reinforcement or punishment. If a behaviour has good consequences then it will appear more often

Question 13

What is punishment

Answer 13

The application of an unpleasant consequence. The punished behaviour is less likely to occur

Question 14

What is reinforcement

Answer 14

Anything that strengthens a response and increases the likelihood that it will reoccurs

Question 15

What is identification

Answer 15

When someone wants to be associated or similar to a significant other. They will adopt their behaviours

Question 16

What is imitation

Answer 16

The coping of someone’s behaviour

Question 17

What are meditational processes

Answer 17

The internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli and the response made by an individual to those conditions

Question 18

What is modelling

Answer 18

A process where someone learns a particular behaviour based of observation or another individual performing that behaviour

Question 19

What is social learning theory

Answer 19

Learning through observing others and imitating behaviour that is rewarded

Question 20

what is vicarious reinforcement

Answer 20

Learning that is not a result of direct reinforcement but through observing someone else being reinforced for that behaviour

Question 21

What is the biological approach

Answer 21

Views all humans as biological organisms and so provides biological explanations for all aspects of psychological processes

Question 22

What is neurochemistry

Answer 22

The study of chemical and neural processes associated with the nervous system

Question 23

Define cognitive

Answer 23

In relation to mental processes

Question 24

What is cognitive neuroscience

Answer 24

The area of psychology dedicated to the underlying neural bases of cognitive function

Question 25

Define the computer model

Answer 25

Computer analogies to represent human cognition

Question 26

Define inference

Answer 26

Reaching a logical conclusion based if evidence and reasoning

Question 27

Define schema

Answer 27

A mental framework that helps to organise and interpret information.

Question 28

What are theoretical models

Answer 28

Simplified models or representations of a particular mental process based off current research

Question 29

Define evolution

Answer 29

The change over successive generations of the genetic makeup of a particular population

Question 30

What is a gene

Answer 30

A part of the chromosome of an organism that carries generic information in the form of DNA

Question 31

What is a genotype

Answer 31

The genetic makeup of an individual.

Question 32

What is a phenotype

Answer 32

The physical characteristics of an organism that comes from interactions with the environment

Question 33

What is neurochemistry

Answer 33

The study of the chemical and neural processes associated with the nervous system

Question 34

What are defence mechanisms

Answer 34

Unconscious strategies that protect our conscious mind from anxieties

Question 35

What is psychoanalysis

Answer 35

A term used to describe the personality theory and therapy associated with Sigmund Freud

Question 36

What is the unconscious

Answer 36

The section of the mind that contains repressed ideas and memories as well as primitive desires and impulses that are not in the conscious mind

Question 37

What are conditions of worth

Answer 37

Conditions imposed on an individuals behaviour and development that are considered necessary to earn positive regard from others

Question 38

What is congruence

Answer 38

A state where the ideal self and reality are similar

Question 39

Define humanistic

Answer 39

The beliefs that human beings are born with the desire to grow, create, and love, and have their own power to direct their lives

Question 40

What is self actualisation

Answer 40

Rogers used it as an he drive to realise one true potential. Maslow used it as his final stage in the pyramid of needs

Question 41

Define determinism

Answer 41

Behaviour is determined by external or internal factors acting upon the individual

Question 42

Define nature

Answer 42

Behaviour is a product of innate biological processes

Question 43

Define nurture

Answer 43

Behaviour is a product of environment