Chapter 1
Terms
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- Psychology
- The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
- Objective Introspection
- The process of examining and measuring one's own thoughts and mental activities.
- Structuralism
- Early perspective in psychology associated with Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Thatcher, in which the focus of study is the structure or basic elements of the mind.
- Functionalism
- Early perspective in psychology associated with William James, in which the focus of study is how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work, and play.
- Gestalt Psychology
- Early perspective in psychology focusing on the perception and sensation, particularly the perception of patterns and whole figures.
- Psychoanalysis
- The theory and therapy based on the work of Sigmund Freud.
- Behaviorism
- The science of behavior that focuses on observable behavior only.
- Psychodynamic Perspective
- Modern version of psychoanalysis that is more focused on the development of a sense of self and the discovery of other motivations behind a person's behavior than sexual motivations.
- Biopsychological Perspective
- Perspective that attributes human and animal behavior to biological events occurring in the body, such as genetic influences, hormones, and the activity of the nervous system.
- Cognitive Perspective
- Modern perspective that focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, and learning.
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Study of the physical changes in the brain and nervous system during thinking.
- Sociocultural Perspective
- Perspective that focuses on the relationship between social behavior and culture.
- Evolutionary Perspective
- Perspective that focuses on the biological bases if universal mental characteristics that all humans share.
- Psychiatrist
- A medical doctor who has specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
- Psychoanalyst
- Either a psychiatrist or psychologist who has special training in the theories of Sigmund Freud and his method of psychoanalysis.
- Psychiatric Social Worker
- A social worker with some training in therapy methids who focuses on the environmental conditions that can have an impact on mental disorders, such a poverty, overcrowding, stress, and drug abuse.
- Psychologist
- A professional with an academic degree and specialized training in one or more areas of psychology.
- Scientific Method
- System of gathering data so that bias and error in measurement are reduced.
- Hypothesis
- Tentative explanation of a phenomenon based on observations.
- Replicate
- In research, repeating a study or experiment to see if the same results will be obtained in an effort to demonstrate reliability of results.
- Observer Effect
- Tendency of people or animals to behave differently from normal when they know they are being observed.
- Participation Observation
- A naturalistic observation in which the observer becomes a participant in the group being observed.
- Observer Bias
- Tendency of observers to see what they expect to see.
- Case Study
- Study of one individual in great detail
- Representative Sample
- Randomly selected sample of subjects from a larger population in which the researcher is interested.
- Correlation
- A measure of the relationship between two variables.
- Correlation Coefficient
- A number derived from the formula for measuring a correlation and indication the strength and direction of a correlation.
- Experiment
- A deliberate manipulation of a variable to see if corresponding changes in behavior result, allowing the determination of cause-and-effect relationships.
- Operational Definition
- Definition of a variable of interest that allows it to be directly measured.
- Independent Variable
- Variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter.
- Dependent Variable
- Variable in and experiment that represents the measurable response or behavior of the subjects in the experiment.
- Experimental Group
- Subjects in an experiment who are subjected to the independent variable and who may receive a placebo treatment.
- Random Assignment
- Process of assigning subjects to the experimental or control groups randomly, so that each subject has an equal chance of being in either group.
- Placebo Effect
- The phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior.
- Experimenter Effect
- Tendency of the experimenter's expectations for a study to unintentionally influence the results of the study.
- Single-blind Study
- Study in which the subjects do not know if they are in the experimental or the control group.
- Double-blind Study
- Study in which neither the experimenter nor the subjects know if the subjects are in the experimental or control group.
- Critical Thinking
- Making a reasoned judgement about claims.
- Pseudopsychologies
- Systems of explaining human behavior that are not based on or consistent with scientific evidence.