Basic Psychology Terms
Terms
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- scientific method
- a general approach to gathering information and answering questions that minimizes errors and bias
- Sir Francis Galton
- based his theory of inheritable traits on biographies
- cognitive
- having to do with the process of thinking and understanding
- psychology
- the study of behavior tested through scientific research
- behaviorist
- a psychologist who analyzes how organisms learn or modify their behavior based on their response to events in the environment.
- Wilhelm Wundt
- established the first psychology laboratory
- theory
- a complex explanation of phenomena based on findings from scientific research
- Forensic psychology
- applies psychological principles to the legal system
- psychobiologist
- a psychologist who studies the effects that physical and chemical changes have on behavior
- functionalists
- studied the function of consciousness
- hypothesis
- an assumption about behavior tested through scientific research
- Wilhelm Wundt
- is the acknowledged founder of psychology as a separate field of study
- psychoanalyst
- a psychologist who studies how unconscious motives and conflicts determine human behavior
- environmental
- psychologist studies the effects of overcrowding on humans
- Ivan Pavlov
- identified conditioned reflexes
- humanistic psychologists
- describe human nature as active or creative,
- experimental psychologist
- studies topics such as sensation, perception, and learning in controlled laboratory environments,
- clinical psychologist
- helps people deal with emotional disturbances
- structuralist
- a psychologist who studied the basic elements of conscious mental experiences
- community psychologist
- works primarily in a mental health or social welfare agency
- developmental psychologist
- studies physical, emotional, cognitive, and social changes that occur over a lifetime
- Sigmund Freud
- is associated with psychoanalysis
- dualism
- the idea that the mind and body are separate and distinct
- basic science
- the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake
- educational psychologist
- researches topics related to intelligence, memory, problem solving, and motivation with the goal of helping students learn more effectively
- functionalist
- a psychologist who studied the function (rather than the stucture) of consciouness and how mental processes help people and animals adapt to their environment