AP Psychology Chapter 1 Vocab – Flashcards

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Psychology
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A science that seeks to answer all sorts of questions about us all - how and why we think, feel, and act as we do. The science of behavior and mental processes, 'the science of mental life.' The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context
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Empirical Evidence/ Empiricism
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The view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation. A theory that states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience
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Social-Cultural Psychology
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the study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking. focuses on how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures used to describe awareness of circumstances surrounding individuals and how their behaviors are affected specifically by their surrounding, social and cultural factors
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Psychiatrist
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a physician who specializes in psychiatry, which is to say in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders
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Developmental Psychology
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the scientific study of physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span. the scientific study of how and why human beings develop over the course of their life
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Experimental Psychology
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the study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific investigation of basic psychological processes such as learning, memory, and cognition in humans and animals.
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Case Study Analysis
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A detailed analysis of a person or group, especially as a model of medical, psychiatric, psychological, or social phenomena
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Educational Psychology
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the study of how psychological processes affect and can enhance teaching and learning a branch of psychology that studies children in an educational setting and is concerned with teaching and learning methods, cognitive development, and aptitude assessment.
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Applied Psychology
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the use of psychological methods and findings of scientific psychology to solve practical problems of human and animal behavior and experience.
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Survey
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a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group
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Personality Psychology
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the study of an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. a branch of psychology that studies personality and its variation among individuals
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Basic Psychology
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include biological psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuropsychology. Research in these subdisciplines is characterized by methodological rigor. The concern of psychology as a basic science is in understanding the laws and processes that underlie behavior, cognition, and emotion.
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Projective Tests
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a psychological test in which words, images, or situations are presented to a person and the responses analyzed for the unconscious expression of elements of personality that they reveal.
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Social Psychology
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the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another the branch of psychology that deals with social interactions, including their origins and their effects on the individual.
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William Wundt
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He established the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig Germany. He essentially launched psychology's first experiment. He noted psychology as a science apart from biology and philosophy, was the first person to ever call himself a psychologist. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology".
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Objective Tests
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a psychological test that measures an individual's characteristics independent of rater bias or the examiner's own beliefs, usually by the administration of a bank of questions marked and compared against exacting scoring mechanisms that are completely standardized
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Industrial/Organizational Psychology
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the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces the scientific study of working and the application of that science to workplace issues facing individuals, teams, and organizations
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Structuralism
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an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the mind. a method of interpretation and analysis of aspects of human cognition, behavior, culture, and experience that focuses on relationships of contrast between elements in a conceptual system that reflect patterns underlying a superficial diversity; the doctrine that structure is more important than function.
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Naturalistic Observations
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observation of behaviors in the natural environment where they would ordinarily occur.
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Functionalism
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a school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function, how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish. mental states are identified by what they do rather than by what they are made of.
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Laboratory Observations
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takes place in the artificial environment of the laboratory; there are concerns about whether the behaviors observed are as they would be in the real world. However, it is a highly controlled environment so it can be adjusted
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Human Factors Psychology
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the study of how people and machines interact and the design of safe and easily used machines and environments an interdisciplinary field which discovers and applies information about human behavior, abilities, limitations, and other characteristics to the design and evaluation of products, systems, jobs, tools, and environments for enhancing productive, safe, and comfortable human use.
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William James
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an enthusiastic, legendary Harvard teacher, writer, and researcher who tutored Mary Colkins who became a pioneering memory researcher and the first woman to be president of the American Psychology Association (APA). The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he was one of the leading thinkers of the late nineteenth century and is believed by many to be one of the most influential philosophers the United States has ever produced, while others have labelled him the "Father of American psychology."
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Humanistic Psychology
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historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth focuses on how we meet our needs for love, acceptance, and achieve self-fulfillment emphasizes the study of the whole person; looks at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving.
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Clinical Psychology
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a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders. the branch of psychology concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental illness and disability
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Behaviorism
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the view that psychology should (1) be an objective science that studies behavior (2) without reference to mental processes; most research psychologists agree with 1 but not 2 the theory that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning, without appeal to thoughts or feelings, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behavior patterns.
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Cognitive Neuroscience
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the interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, memory, thinking, and language). focuses on how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information concerned with the scientific study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental processes
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Counseling Psychology
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a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being a specialty within professional psychology that maintains a focus on facilitating personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span
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Psychoanalysis
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a set of psychological and psychotherapeutic theories and associated techniques, created by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and stemming partly from the clinical work of Josef Breuer and others. a system of psychological theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.
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Nature-Nurture Issue
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the long standing controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors, arising from the interactions between them. the debate over the influence of biology and experience; Do our human traits develop through experience or are we born with them? the scientific, cultural, and philosophical debate about whether human culture, behavior, and personality are caused primarily by -- or ---.
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Biopsychosocial Approach
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an integrated viewpoint that incorporates various levels of analysis and offers a more complete picture of any given behavior or mental process. systematically considers biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery.
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Levels of Analysis
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the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon offers a broad explanation for behavior based on the effects of several factors.
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Evolutionary Psychology
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the study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection. focuses on how natural selection of traits promoted the survival of genes a theoretical approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological structure from a modern evolutionary perspective.
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Psychometrics
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the scientific study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits the science of measuring mental capacities and processes
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Psychiatry
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a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who often provide medical (drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy the study and treatment of mental illness, emotional disturbance, and abnormal behavior.
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Psycho-dynamic Psychology
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a branch of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that information to treat people with psychological disorders. focuses on how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts the psychology of mental or emotional forces or processes developing especially in early childhood and their effects on behavior and mental states. 2 : explanation or interpretation (as of behavior or mental states) in terms of mental or emotional forces or processes
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G Stanley Hall
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the founder of organized psychology as a science and profession, the father of the child study movement, and as a national leader of educational reform.
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SQ3R
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a study method that promotes actively processing study material; an acronym for Survey, Question, Read, Rehearse, Review
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Behavioral Psychology
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the scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning. focuses on how we learn observable responses reflects an experimental-clinical approach distinguished by use of principles of human learning and development and theories of cognitive processing to promote meaningful change in maladaptive human behavior and thinking
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Applied Research
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the scientific study that aims to solve practical problems. a form of systematic inquiry involving the practical application of science
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Basic Research
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pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base aimed to improve scientific theories for improved understanding or prediction of natural or other phenomena.
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Cognitive Psychology
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the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. a branch of psychology concerned with mental processes (as perception, thinking, learning, and memory) especially with respect to the internal events occurring between sensory stimulation and the overt expression of behavior—compare behaviorism.
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Natural Selection
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the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations. the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring
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biological psychology
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a branch of psychology that studies the links between biological (including neuroscience and behavior genetics) and psychological processes. focuses on how the body and the brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences; how genes combine with environment to influence individual differences. the application of the principles of biology to the study of physiological, genetic, and developmental mechanisms of behavior in humans and other animals
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