Chap 1 - Science of Psychology

• Psychology


  The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
• Internal observation involves measuring one's thoughts and activities objectively
• Structuralism


  Focuses on the structure of the mind; experiences can be broken down into emotions and sensations
• Three Influential Approaches


  • Gestalt
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Behaviorism
• Gestalt


  An organized whole; looks at the mind as a whole rather than details
• Gestalt ideas are now part of the study of cognitive psychology
• Cognitive psychology


  Field focusing on perception, learning, memory, thought processes, and problem solving
• The eye tends to “fill in” the blanks and sees figures as circles rather than as a series of dots or a broken line
• Prägnanz


  The law of simplicity; people tend to perceive stimuli in the simplest forms possible
• Perceptual Organization


  How people organize visual information, such as proximity, similarity, closure, and continuity
• Insight Learning


  Involves sudden, intuitive solutions to problems
• Field Theory


  Behavior and perception are influenced by an individual's experiences, needs, and environmental factors
• Psychoanalysis


  Theory and therapy based on the work of Sigmund Freud
• Freud’s patients suffered from nervous disorders with no apparent physical cause
• Unconscious Mind


  Much of human behavior is influenced by unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories
• Psychosexual Development


  Personality development occurs through a series of psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital
• Defense Mechanisms


  Individuals employ various defense mechanisms to protect themselves from anxiety or distress caused by unconscious conflicts
• The Id, Ego, and Superego


  The id seeks immediate gratification, the ego mediates between id's demands and reality, and the superego represents internalized moral standards
• Psychoanalytic Therapy


  Techniques such as free association and dream analysis
• Behaviorism


  Focuses on observable behavior only
• Behaviorism must be directly seen and measured
• John B. Watson proposed behaviorism
• Pavlov demonstrated that a reflex could be conditioned or learned
• Watson believed phobias were learned
• Case of “Little Albert” involved a baby taught to fear a white rat
• Mary Cover Jones


  Early pioneer in behavior therapy
• Behaviorism became a major force in the twentieth century
• Modern version of psychoanalysis focuses on the development of a sense of self and motivations behind behavior
• B.F. Skinner


  Developed theory of operant conditioning
• Operant conditioning


  Explains how voluntary behavior is learned through reinforcement
• Skinner Box experiment involved a rat
• People have free will, the freedom to choose their own destiny
• Self-actualization


  Achieving one’s full potential or actual self
• Early founders of Humanistic psychology

  • Abraham Maslow
  • Carl Rogers
• Focus areas of Cognitive psychology

  • Memory
  • Intelligence
  • Perception
  • Thought processes
  • Problem solving
  • Language
  • Learning
• Cognitive neuroscience


  Study of physical changes in the brain and nervous system during thinking
• Focus areas of Sociocultural psychology

  • Social behavior
  • Cultural norms
  • Values
  • Expectations
• Biopsychological perspective


  Attributes behavior to biological events occurring in the body
• Behavior is influenced by genetic influences, hormones, and activity of the nervous system
• Evolutionary perspective focuses on the biological bases for universal mental characteristics shared by all humans