| Term | Definition |
|---|
| psychology | the scientific study of behavior and mental processes |
| behavior | observable and measurable actions of people and animals |
| cognitive activity | private, unobservable mental processes such as sensation, perception, thought, and problem solving |
| theory | a set of assumptions about why something is the way it is and happens the way it does |
| basic research | research that is conducted for its own sake, without seeking a solution to a specific problem |
| introspection | an examination of one's own thoughts and feelings |
| structuralism | the school of psychology, founded by Wilhelm Wundt, that maintains that conscious experience breaks down into objective sensations and subjective feelings |
| functionalism | the school of psychology, founded by William James, that emphasizes the purposes of behavior and mental processes |
| behaviorism | the school of psychology, founded by John B. Watson, that defines psychology as the scientific study of observable behavior |
| Gestalt psychology | the school of psychology that emphasizes the tendency to organize perceptions into meaningful wholes |
| psychoanalysis | the school of psychology, founded by Sigmund Freud, that emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as determinants of human behavior |
| biological perspective | the psychological perspective that emphasizes the influence of biology on behavior |
| cognitive perspective | the point of view that emphasizes the role of thought processes in determining behavior |
| humanistic perspective | the psychological view that assumes the existence of the self and emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and the freedom to make choices |
| psychoanalytic perspective | the perspective that emphasizes the influence of unconscious forces in behavior |
| learning perspective | the psychological point of view that emphasizes the effects of experience on behavior |
| social-learning perspective | the theory that suggests that people have the ability to change their environments or create new ones |
| sociocultural perspective | in psychology, the perspective that focuses on the roles of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status in personality formation, behavior, and mental processes |
| goals of psychology | observe, describe, explain, predict, and control behavior and mental processes |
| clinical psychologist | a psychologist trained to deal with serious mental illness; they do psychological testing, psychotherapy, and conduct research |
| counseling psychologist | a psychologist who helps people with day to day types of problems |
| psychiatrist | a medical doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders; can prescribe medication |
| school psychologist | a psychologist who helps students with problems that interfere with learning |
| sports psychologist | a psychologist who helps athletes improve their performance using techniques like relaxation and visualization |
| forensic psychologist | a psychologist who works in the legal system |
| consumer psychologist | a psychologist who studies the behavior of consumers |
| social psychologist | a psychologist who studies how people and social situations affect the individual person |
| developmental psychologist | a psychologist who studies how people change throughout their lives |
| Wilhelm Wundt | founder of structuralism |
| William James | founder of functionalism |
| Sigmund Freud | founder of psychoanalysis |
| John B. Watson | founder of behaviorism |
| B.F. Skinner | psychologist who studied the effects of rewards and punishments on behavior |
| Socrates | Greek philosopher who said, "Know thyself" |
| Hippocrates | Greek physician who said that abnormal behavior is linked to abnormalities in the brain |
| Aristotle | Greek philosopher who wrote Peri Psyches (About the Mind) |
| Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Köhler | the founders of Gestalt psychology |
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