Vocab

• Introspection


  process by which a person gains knowledge about their own mental + emotional states

  as a result of the observation of their conscious thoughts and feelings
• Empiricism


  belief all knowledge derived from sensory experience

  characterised by use of scientific method in psychology
• Scientific method


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• Behaviourist


  people who believe human behaviour can be explained in terms of conditioning,

  without the need to consider thoughts or feelings
• Classical conditioning

  When a neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus

  so that eventually it takes on the properties of this stimulus

  and is able to produce a conditioned response
• Operant conditioning 


  Learning through reinforcement or punishment

  If a behaviour is followed by a desirable consequence then that behaviour is more likely to occur again in the future
• Punishment


  Involves application of an unpleasant consequence following a behaviour

  with the result that behaviour is less likely to occur again in the future
• Reinforcement


  Anything that strengthens a response

  + increases the likelihood that it will occur again in the future
• Identification

  form of influence where an individual adopts an attitude because they want to be associated w a particular person or group
• Imitation


  action of using someone or something as a model and copying their behaviour
• Mediational processes


  refer to the internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli + the response made by an individual to those stimuli
• Modelling

  form of learning where individuals learn a particular behaviour

  by observing another individual performing that behaviour
• Social learning theory


  Learning through observing others and imitating behaviours that are rewarded
• Vicarious reinforcement

  Learning that is not a result of direct reinforcement of behaviour,

  but through observing someone else being reinforced for that behaviour
• Cognitive


  relates to mental processes such as perception, memory and reasoning
• Cognitive neuroscience


  area of psychology dedicated to the underlying neural bases of cognitive functions
• Computer model


  refers to the process of using computer analogies as a representation of human cognition
• Inference/inferring


  reaching a logical conclusion on the basis of evidence and reasoning
• Schema


  cognitive framework that helps to organise and interpret info in brain

  schemas help an individual to make sense of new info
• theoretical models


  in cognitive psychology,

  models are simplified, usually pictorial,

  representations of a particular mental process based on current research evidence
• biological approach


  views humans as biological organisms

  and so provides biological explanations for all aspects of psychological functioning
• Evolution


  refers to the change over successive generations of the genetic make-up of a particular population

  the central proposition of an evolutionary perspective is that the genotype of a population is changeable rather than fixed,

  and that this change is likely to be caused by the process of natural selection
• Gene


  part of the chromosome of an organism that carries information in the form of DNA
• Natural selection


  the process by which inherited characteristics,

  that enhance an individual's reproductive success (or 'fitness'),

  are passed onto the next generation,

  and so become more widespread in the population over time
• Neurochemistry


  study of chemical and neural processes associated w the nervous system
• Phenotype


  the observable characteristics of an individual

  this is a consequence of the interaction of the genotype w the environment