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AP Psychology - History Flashcards

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6542867899Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)Set up the first psychological laboratory in an apartment near the university at Leipzig, Germany Trained subjects in introspection. Subjects were asked to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli0
6542879672IntrospectionTechnique used by Wilhelm Wundt who asked subjects to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli Through this process, Wundt hoped to examine basic mental processes1
6542891973William James (1842-1910)Published the Principles of Psychology, the science's first textbook Established the Theory of Functionalism: How mental processes functions in out lives2
6542899398FunctionalismTheory described by William James Examines how the mental processes described by Wilhelm Wundt function in our lives3
6542907683Max Wertheimer (1880-1943)Gestalt Psychologist Argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete structures Gestalt psychology tried to examine a person's total experience because the way we experience the world is more than just an accumulation of various perceptual experiences Gestalt theorists demonstrated that the whole experience is often more than just the sum of the parts of the experience4
6542928743Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)Believed he discovered the unconscious mind-a part of our mind over which we do not have conscious control that determines, in part, how we think and behave Proposed that we must examine the unconscious mind through dream analysis, word association, and other psychoanalytic therapy techniques if we are to truly understand human thought and behavior Has been criticized for being unscientific and creating unverifiable theories5
6542965755Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939)First woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology (1894)6
6542972479John Watson (1878-1958)Declared that psychology must limit itself to observable phenomena, not unobservable concepts like the unconscious mind, if it is to be considered a science Wanted to establish behaviorism as the dominant paradigm of psychology Behaviorists maintain that psychologists should look at only behavior and causes of behavior - stimuli (environmental events) and responses (physical reactions)-and not concern themselves with describing elements of consciousness7
6542997385Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)Performed pioneering conditioning experiments on dogs These experiments led to the development of the classical conditioning model of learning8
6543005816B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)Expanded the basic ideas of behaviorism to include the idea of reinforcement and punishment-environmental stimuli that either encourage or discourage certain responses Helped establish and popularize the operant conditioning model of learning His intellectual influence lasted for decades9
6543024765Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)Student of William James Became president of the American Psychological Association (1905) Completed her doctoral studies but Harvard refused to award her a Ph.D. because, at the time they did not grant doctoral degrees to women10
6543043471Humanist PerspectiveThe humanists, including theorists Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) and Carl Rogers (1902-1987), stressed individual choice and free will. This contrasts with the deterministic behaviorists who theorized that all behaviors are caused by past conditioning Humanists believe that we choose most of our behaviors and that these choices are guided by physiological, emotional, or spiritual needs11
6550644055Psychoanalytic PerspectiveDescribed by Sigmund Freud Psychoanalysts believe that the unconscious mind-a part of our mind that we do not have conscious control over or access to-controls much of our thoughts and actions Psychoanalysts would look for impulses or memories pushed into the unconscious mind through repression Psychoanalysts think we must examine our unconscious mind through dream analysis, word association, and other psychoanalytic therapy techniques in order to understand human thought and behavior12
6550674419Biopsychology (or Neuroscience) PerspectiveBiopsychologists explain human thought and behavior strictly in terms of biological processes Neuroscientists believe that human cognition and reactions might be caused by effects of our genes, hormones, and neurotransmitters in the brain or by a combination of all three13
6550695205Evolutionary (or Darwinian) PerspectiveEvolutionary psychologists (also sometimes called sociobiologists) examine human thoughts and actions in terms of natural selection Natural selection in this context refers to the idea that some psychological traits might be advantageous for survival and that these traits would be passed down from the parents to the next generation Similar to (and in some ways a subset of) the Biopsychology Persepective14
6550749537Behavioral PerspectiveBehaviorists explain human thought and behavior in terms of conditioning (learning) Behaviorists look strictly at observable behaviors and what reaction organisms get in response to specific behaviors Dominant school of thought in psychology from the 1920s through the 1960s15
6550790209Cognitive PersepectiveCognitive psychologists examine human thought and behavior in terms of how we interpret, process, and remember environmental events Cognitive psychologists believe that the rules or methods we use to view the world are important to understanding why we think and behave the way we do16
6550809640Social-Cultural (or Sociocultural) PerspectivesSocial-cultural psychologists look at how our thoughts and behaviors vary from people living in other cultures Sociocultural psychologists emphasize the influence culture has on the way we think and act For example, social-cultural psychologists are interested in the emphasis some cultures place on the value of the group (collectivism) or the individual (individualism)17

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