The study of the mind's parts in order to understand the whole.
(e.g. Edward Titchener)
The study of how our mental and behavioral processes function and work together.
(e.g. William James)
"The scientific study of observable behavior."
(e.g. John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner)
Rebelled against Freudian psychology and behaviorism. Emphasized the importance of current environmental influences on our growth potential, and the importance of having our needs for love and acceptance satisfied.
Interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language). PTML.
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
The controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.
The principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce will be passed down.
Levels of Analysis
The differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon. (e.g. we are composed of smaller systems - nervous system and body organs, still smaller - cells, molecules & atoms)
An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and socio-cultural levels of analysis.
Biological Influences (Biopsychosocial Approach)
- natural selection of adaptive traits - genetic predispositions responding to environment
How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.
How the natural selection of traits promoted the survival of genes.
Behavior Genetics (Perspective)
How much our genes and our environment influence our individual differences.
How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts.
How we learn observable responses.
How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information.
How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures.
Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.
Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems. (e.g. help companies select & train employees, boost morale & productivity, etc.)
A branch of psychology assisting people with problems in living (e.g. school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being.
A branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders.
A branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who can provide medical (e.g. drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy.
Launched psychology's "first experiment" and the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Sought to measure "atoms of the mind" through an experiment concerning people's reaction times from hearing a bell.
Edward Bradford Titchener
Wundt's student who introduced structuralism. he used introspection to search for the mind's structural elements.
Philosopher-psychologist thought it more fruitful to consider the evolved functions of our thoughts and feelings; he was a functionalist.
Emphasized the ways emotional responses to childhood experiences and our unconscious thought processes afect our behavior.
Wrote "The Origin of Species" explaining diversity of life by proposing evolutionary process of natural selection.
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