AP Psych Test Unit 1 - Psych History

roots of psychology
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Terms in this set (35)
roots of psychology
buddha, confucious, and hebrew scholars philosophized on the mind in a broad sense
ancient greeks and psychology
socrates and plato:
used logic to decide that the mind is separate from the body and knowledge is innate (born with us)

aristotle: disagreed and said knowledge comes from observing and experiences
rene descartes
1600s
- agreed with plato and socrates
- interested in how the physical body and non-physical mind work together
- tried to figured out body mind connection and used dissected animals
francis bacon
father of modern science

used scientific method to conduct experiments
John Locke
people are born with minds that are a "blank slate" and everything we know has been learned

empiricism (knowledge comes from experiences)

locke agreed with bacon -> using experiments
william wundt
Conducted first psychology experiments in first psych laboratory (germany)

first experiment: how long did it take people to hit a switch as they heard a sound

branched psychology into early approaches/schools of thought
psychology schools of thought
structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalysis, behaviorism, gesalt psychology
Gestalt Psychology
the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Psychoanalysis
freuds idea that childhood and the unconscious drives a persons behavior
structuralism
edward bradford titchener

the structure of the mind

to figure out structure titchner encouraged introspection (looking inward)

- did this by making his subjects look at items and then reported their responses like feelings

BUT introspection is unreliable and ppl dont know what or why they feel what they feel

- instead of introspection we need something objective
functionalismwilliam james function of things: function of nose, brain james was influenced by darwin's evolution theory -> functions are adapted overtime for survivial james: set up psych lab (greatest achievement)mary calkinsWilliam James's student, became the APA's first female president. james let her in harvard grad school and they wouldnt give her a phDmargaret floy washburnFirst female to be awarded a PhD in psychology; 2nd president of the APA (1921) bec she was a women she wasnt allowed to join the organization of experimental psychologistspsychology definitionscientific and systematic study of peoples behavior and mental processes - includes scientific method/experiments - behavior is smth observable - mental processes is the biology of thinking, analysis, judgments, and to the subjectivepsychology's biggest questionnature vs nurture which influences a person the most? their heredity and biology or their upbringing and surroundings? aka socrates and plato (innate) vs aristotle and locke (tabula rasa)charles darwinbelieved in a mix of innate and tabula rasa theory of evolution -> nature selects traits that best allow a species to reproduce and survive saw nature and nurture mix -> example: polar bear (innate/nature) white fur but also a girl's flirty ways to get a boy's attention (tabula rasa/nurture)Psychology's 3 main levels of analysisthey are called the biopsychosocial approach to understanding behavior biological, psychological, social-cultural influencesmajor approaches of psychologyBiological, Evolutionary, Psychodynamic, Behavioral, Cognitive, Humanistic, Socio-culturalbiological approachthe body and brain are the dominant influences of behavior and thinking olds, sperryevolutionary approachnature selects traits that allow a species to survive darwinpsychodynamic approachthe unconscious drives peoples' behavior freudcognitive approachfocuses on how we store, process, and use information, like a computer piaget, chomskyhumanistic approachenvironmental influences, especially love and acceptance, determine if we become all we can in life rogers and maslowsocio-cultural approachno one person - Behavior and ideas are different depending on the culture.psychology subfieldsPsychology is broader and more difficult to pin down than other sciences many branches and types of psychologists psychologists work in a very wide range of professionspsychometrics subfieldmeasure abilities, attitudes and traitsbiological psychologists subfieldstudying the link between the brain and minddevelopmental psychologist subfieldwho studies our changes from birth to deatheducational psychologists subfieldwho study teaching and learningpersonality psychologists subfieldwho study our traitssocial psychologist subfieldwho study how we interact in groupsindustrial-organizational psychologist subfieldwho advise businesses on how to improve workers and increase efficiencycounseling psychologist subfieldhelp people deal with issues in their livesclinical psychologist subfieldtreat disorderspsychiatrists subfieldmedical doctors and can prescribe medicine to treat biological disorders