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AP Psychology: Prologue

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31144484Psychologythe scientific study of behavior and mental processes and how they are affected by the organism's physical state, mental state, and external environment
31144485Empiricismthe view that knowledge comes from experience via the senses, and science flourishes through observation and experiment
31145669Structuralisman early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind; the study of the nature of the consciousness (one's awareness of self)
31145670Functionalisma school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function-how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish
31145671Humanistic psychologyhistorically significant perspective that emphasized the growth of healthy people; used personalized methods to study personality in hopes of fostering personal growth; emphasizes conscious rather than unconscious experience and focuses on free will and self-actualization of human potential
31145672B.F. Skinnera leading behaviorist who rejected introspection and studied how consequences shape behavior
31145673John B. Watsonchampioned psychology as the science of behavior and demonstrated conditioned responses on a baby
31145674Wilhelm Wundtestablished the first psychology laboratory, in Germany; founder of structuralism; father of modern psychology
31145675Aristotleancient Greek philosopher who believed that the soul, as well as particular parts of the soul, is not separable from the body; derived principles by empirical research
31145676Socrates and Platotwo ancient Greek philosophers who concluded that the mind is separable from the body and continues after the body dies; were rationalists (truth is reached not via our senses but via our thoughts)
31146528Edward Bradford Titchenerused introspection to search for the mind's structural elements
31146529Margaret Floy Washburnfirst woman to receive a psychology Ph.D.; synthesized animal behavior research in "The Animal Mind"
31146530Sigmund Freudpersonality theorist and therapist, whose controversial ideas influenced humanity's self-understanding
31147511Nature-nurture issuethe longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors
31147512Philosophy and physiologythe roots of psychology
31147513Hippocratesancient Greek philosopher who believed that the mind resides within the brain and that mental illness is caused by physiological malfunctions
31151064Tabula rasaLocke's notion that individual human beings are born "blank" (with no built-in mental content), and that their identity is defined entirely by events after birth
31151065Immanuel Kantrejected Locke's tabula rasa theory; believed that perceptual input must be processed, i.e. recognized, or it would just be noise
31151066Franz Joseph Gallearly phrenologist: attempt to localize brain functioning and predict personality by feeling the contour of the skull
31151067Pragmatismknowledge is validated by its usefulness; concerned with what we can do with the knowledge that we gain about people
31151068William Jamesfounder of functionalism; studied consciousness
31151069John Deweyfunctionalist and pragmatic; believed students should learn by experimentation and by doing, rather than by merely being told facts
31151070Gestaltismstudies psychological phenomena as organized, structured wholes
31151071Neurosciencecurrent psychological perspective that focuses on how the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
31151072Evolutionarycurrent psychological perspective that focuses on how the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuation of one's genes
31151073Behavior geneticscurrent psychological perspective that focuses on how much our genes and our environment influence our individual differences
31151074Psychodynamiccurrent psychological perspective that focuses on how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts
31151075Behavioralcurrent psychological perspective that focuses on how we learn observable responses
31151076Cognitivecurrent psychological perspective that focuses on how we encode, process, store, and retrieve info
31151077Social-culturalcurrent psychological perspective that focuses on how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures
31151078Basic researchpure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
31151079Applied researchscientific study that aims to solve practical problems
31151080Counseling psychologybranch of psychology that assists people w/ problems in living and in achieving greater well-being
31151081Clinical psychologybranch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people w/ psychological disorders
31151082Psychiatrybranch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders
31151083Associationismexamines how events or ideas can become associated with one another in the mind to result in a form of learning; focuses on high-level mental processes

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