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AP Psych - Midterm Review - History and Approaches - Unit 1

Terms in this set (22)

Plato
Athenian born Greek philosopher that believed that people were a "blank slate" at birth which can be changed to anything through their life time depending on the influence of surroundings
Soctrates
thought that the mind and body were separate and the mind, often referred to as "soul", continued on after death
Aristotle
Knowledge is not pre-existing
One cannot separate the body and soul (mind)
All knowledge comes from experience (Nurture)
Descartes
believed in soul (mind) - body separation, but wondered how the immaterial mind and physical body communicated, also felt the seat of our soul was in the pineal gland of the brain
William James
considered the father of American Psychology, he wrote the first textbook on the topic in 1890
His method was referred to as Functionalism
Wundt
created the first psychology lab at the University of Leipzig in 1879
followed Structuralism
Titchener
a follower of Wundt who translated his book, and taught many of his ideas at Cornell
followed Structuralism
Nature vs Nurture
name for a controversy in which it is debated whether genetics or environment is responsible for driving behavior
Structuralism
Looked at the structure of the mind. Thought that consciousness is the sum total of mental experience at any given time
Introspection
asking subjects how they felt when exposed to various stimuli (method of self-observation)
Functionalism
A school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.
Behavioral Perspective
The approach that suggests that observable, measurable behavior should be the focus of study, and that all behaviors are learned (conditioned).
Watson
pioneered behavioral psychology
felt psychology should only look at observable behavior
all behaviors are learned from the environment
Cognitive Perspective
A psychological approach that emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, language, problem solving, and other areas of behavior
Piaget
developed theory of cognitive development: how people perform mental processes
Humanistic Perspective
stresses the human capacity for self-fulfillment and the importance of consciousness, self-awareness, and the capacity to make choices (Maslow and Rodgers)
Evolutionary Perspective
Studying how the roots of behavior and mental processes are affected by natural selection
Darwin
natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection
Neuroscience Perspective
how the brain, hormones, and genetics influence behavior
typically investigates at the level of nerves, neurotransmitters, brain circuitry and the basic biological processes that underlie normal and abnormal behavior
Psychodynamic Perspective
unconscious conflicts and drives are responsible for behavior [exp. ID, EGO, SUPEREGO]
Free Association
in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing
Freud
felt that childhood experiences coupled with Unconscious conflicts are responsible for our behavior
felt that people with mostly driven by sex and aggression
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