The Evolution of Psychological Science (Chapter 1)

Question 1

Psychology

Answer 1

The scientific study of mind and behavior

Question 2

Mind

Answer 2

Private inner experience of perceptions thoughts, memories, and feelings

Question 3

Behavior

Answer 3

Observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals

Question 4

Dualism

Answer 4

The view that the mind and body are fundamentally different things (founded by René Descartes)

Question 5

Materialism

Answer 5

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)

Question 6

Realism

Answer 6

The view that perceptions of the physical world are entirely made of information from sensory organs

Question 7

Idealism

Answer 7

Perceptions of physical world are brain’s interpretation for sensory organ information

Question 8

Structuralism

Answer 8

All thoughts are structured by basic elements, specifically sensations (like atoms) (founded by Edward Titchner)

Question 9

Functionalism

Answer 9

Study of what purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment (founded by William James)

Question 10

Behaviorism

Answer 10

Approach to psychology that restricts scientific inquiry to observable behavior (inspired by Ivan Pavlov, founded by John B. Watson)

Question 11

Philosophical empiricism

Answer 11

All knowledge is acquired through experience (John Locke)

Question 12

Philosophical nativism

Answer 12

Some knowledge is innate rather than acquired (favored over empiricism by most modern psychologists)

Question 13

Natural selection

Answer 13

Features of an organism that help it survive and reproduce are more likely than other features to be passed on to subsequent generations

Question 14

Consciousness

Answer 14

Person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind

Question 15

The unconscious

Answer 15

Part of the mind that operates outside of awareness but influences conscious thoughts, feelings, and actions

Question 16

Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 16

Approach to understanding human behavior that emphasizes the importance of the unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, thoughts, and behaviors (founded by Sigmund Freud)

Question 17

Introspection

Answer 17

The analysis of subjective experience by trained observers

Question 18

(What is the focus of) Neuroscience psychology

Answer 18

How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences

Question 19

(What is the focus of) Evolutionary psychology

Answer 19

How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes

Question 20

(What is the focus of) Behavior genetics

Answer 20

How our genes and our environment influence our individual differences

Question 21

(What is the focus of) Psychodynamic psychology

Answer 21

How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

Question 22

(What is the focus of) Behavioral psychology

Answer 22

(To determine) how we learn observable responses

Question 23

(What is the focus of) Cognitive psychology

Answer 23

How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information

Question 24

(What is the focus of) Socio-cultural psychology

Answer 24

How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures