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Psychology 101, Ch. 1
What is Psychology?
24
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
09/20/2013

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Term
Psychology
Definition
The science of behavior and mental processes, including a variety of overt actions such as walking, and gesturing, social interactions such as talking to someone, and emotional reactions such as laughing or frowning.
Term
Empriricism
Definition
Knowledge must be acquired through careful observation rather than logic or intuition.
Term
Theory
Definition
A collection of interrelated idea and observations that together describe, explain, and predict behvior and mental processes. (Empirical observation leads to theories; thus, empirical data and theories are basic to the science of psychology)
Term
Scientific Method
Definition
The technique used in psychology to dicsover knowledge about human behavior and mental processes; it involved stating the problem, developing a hypothesis, designing a study, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions and reporting results.
Term
Hypothesis
Definition
A tentative statement or idea expressing a relationship between events or variables that is to be evaluated in a research study.
Term
Variable
Definition
A condition or characteristic of a situation or a person that is subject to change (varies) eithr within or across situations or individuals.
Term
Independent Variable
Definition
The variable that the experimenter directly and purposly manipulates to see what changes occur as a result of the manipulation.
Term
Dependent Variable
Definition
The bahavior or response that is expected to change because of the manipulation of the independent variable.
Term
Participants
Definition
Individuals who take part in experiments and whose behavior is observed and recorded.
Term
Experimental Group
Definition
(Treatment group) The group of participants who receive the new treatment.
Term
Control Group
Definition
(The Comparison Group) The group of participants who are tested on depended variable in the same way as the experimental group but who do not receive new treatment.
Term
Descriptive Research Methods
Definition
This type of research involves describing existing events rather than performing a manipulation of an independent variable and observing changes.
Term
Functionalism
Definition
Built on the basic concepts of structualism, this is the American school of psychological thought that tried to expolore not just the mind's strucures but how the mind functions and how this functioning is related to consciousness.
Term
Structuralism
Definition
The school of psychological thought that considered the structure of elements of immediate, conscious experience to be the proper subject matter in psychology.
Term
Gestalt Psychology
Definition
School of psychological thought argued that it is necessary to study a person's total exoerience, not just parts of the mind or behavior.
Term
Behaviorism
Definition
Focus on describing and measuring only what is observable, either directly or through assessment instruments.
Term
Humanistic Psychology
Definition
A reaction to behaviorism and its emphasis on the mechanistic nature of behavior, advocates believe that behaviorism and dehumanized psychology, and argued that psychology should be rehumanized.
Term
Cognitive Psychology
Definition
Held that behaviorism was too restrictive in concentrating exclusively on overt behavior. Argued that thought and mantal processes are the essence of psychology; over-looking these essential elements misses the point of psychology.
Term
Positive Psychology
Definition
This approach emphasizes the positive values of optimism, joy, and virture. "Psychology is not just the study of patholgy, weakness, and damage; it is also the study of strength and virture"
Term
Evolutionary Psychology
Definition
Traced to the work of Charles Darwin, the 19th-Century naturalist who proposed that adaptation and survival of the fittest are mechanisms that produce the evolution of species.
Term
Ethnocentrism
Definition
A tendency of individuals to believe that their own ethnic culture group is the standard, the reference point against which other people and groups should be judged.
Term
Counseling Psychologists
Definition
Also work with people who have emotional or behavioral problems. (Originally helped people handle career planning and marriage, family, and parenting problems)
Term
Psychiatrists
Definition
Psysicians (holding MD degree) who have chosen to specialize in the treatment of mental or emotional disorders.
Term
Psychoanalysts
Definition
The reason for the association of psychology, Freud, and couches. Most psychoanalyst are not psychologists, instead they are usually psychiatrist.
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