psychology: The scientific study of behavior, both external observable action and internal thought.
Scientific Theories in Psychology
scientific theories: Attempts to go beyond a single case or experiment, and provide a larger explanation that applies to many situations.
Scientific Theories: Three Warnings
Science can never prove a theory correct.
Not all theories are scientific theories.
Theories do not have to be correct to be useful.
Common Sense and Science
The Ongoing Nature of Science
II. THE ROOTS OF PSYCHOLOGY
The Influence of Philosophy
Charles Darwins Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection
Heredity, Variability, and Natural Selection
Two Common Errors in Interpreting Darwin
Application of Darwinian Theory to Psychology
III. A SHORT HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology in the Nineteenth Century
Wundt's Structuralism: The Basic Elements of the Mind
structuralism: Developed by Wilhelm Wundt, the study of how the basic units of human consciousness form the organization, or structure, of the mind.
James's Functionalism: The Uses of the Mind
functionalism: The view, influenced by Darwins theories and expounded by William James, that psychological processes have adaptive functions that allow the human species to survive and that these processes are more important to investigate than the minds structure.
psychoanalytic theory (psychosexal approach): A theory developed by Freud that emphasizes the importance of unconscious wishes and conflicts as well as early childhood experiences in determining human behavior.
behaviorist perspective: The view that explains behavior by asserting that environmental stimuli shape and control an individuals actions.
humanistic psychology: An approach to understanding personality that emphasizes the striving for self-fulfillment and growth as the prime motivators of behavior.
cognitive psychology: An approach to understanding personality that emphasizes mental processes, or cognitions, and addresses topics like memory, language, thought, problem solving, and decision making.
neuroscience: An approach to understanding personality that explains thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in terms of the workings of the brain and nervous system.
IV. The Early Twentieth Century
Sigmund Freud and the Psychoanalytic Perspective
psychoanalysis: Freudian psychotherapy which probes a person's current thoughts and feelings for clues to unconscious conflicts.
Watson, Skinner, and Pavlov and the Rise of Behaviorism
The Middle Twentieth Century
Humanistic Psychology: Dissatisfaction with the Psychoanalytic Perspective
self-actualization: According to Carl Rogers, the striving for the fulfillment of one's own capabilities and potential.
The Cognitive Revolution: Dissatisfaction with Behaviorism
schema: Mental representations of objects and events against which incoming data can be compared and interpreted.
human information-processing (HIP) model: A model of cognition that suggests the mind takes in information serially (one task at a time) and in discrete stages, much like a computer.
The Late Twentieth Century
Psychology Today
V. CONTEMPORARY FIELDS OF SPECIALIZATION
Experimental Psychology
experimental psychology: The approach to psychology in which psychologists use experimentation to gather data on the basic processes shared by many animal species, such as sensation, perception, learning, memory, problem solving, communication, emotion, and motivation.
Neuroscience
neuroscientists: Psychologists who study how basic processes are controlled by the nervous system, of which the brain is the central part.
psychopharmacology: The study of the link between drugs and behavior.
Personality Psychology
personality psychology: The branch of psychology concerned with describing and explaining individual differences in behavior.
Social Psychology
social psychologists: Researchers who study how environmental factors, especially the presence of others, influence individual perception, belief, motivation, and behavior.
Developmental Psychology
developmental psychologists: Researchers who try to describe and explain the systematic changes that occur throughout the life cycle.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
industrial and organizational psychologists: Researchers who study all aspects of the relationship between people and their workplace.
Educational and School Psychology
educational psychologists: Researchers who are concerned with all aspects of the learning process.
school psychologists: Practitioners who apply psychological knowledge in the areas of learning difficulties and behavior problems among elementary and secondary school students.
Clinical and Counseling Psychology
clinical psychologists: Practitioners in the subfield of psychology that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
psychiatrist: A medical doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
psychoanalyst: Usually a psychiatrist (although sometimes a layperson or psychologist) who has had advanced training in psychoanalysis and who has been psychoanalyzed as part of that training.
counseling psychologists: Professionals trained to help individuals deal with mild problems of social and emotional adjustment.
Health Psychology
health psychologists: Researchers who study the relationship between mind and body as they try to identify and treat the psychological factors related to disease.
V. PSYCHOLOGY'S VALUE TO YOU
VI. IN DEPTH: FOUR RECURRING THEMES IN PSYCHOLOGY
The Best Predictor of Future Behavior is Past Behavior
Psychologists Learn About the Normal by Studying the Abnormal
A Large Proportion of Behavior is Controlled by Unconscious Activity
Cognition and Thought are Dynamic, Active Processes, Best Considered Reconstructive, Not Reproductive
