Definitions
first began in laboratory set up by Wilhelm Wundt; process of reporting on one's own conscious mental experiences
Introspection
revolutionized psychology with his psychoanalytic theory; believed the unconscious mind must be examined through dream analysis, word association, and other psychoanalytic therapy techniques; criticized for being unscientific and creating unverifiable theories
Sigmund Freud
theory that states that the whole experience is often more than just the sum of the parts, because the way we experience the world is more than just an accumulation of various perceptual experiences; relatively little influence on current psychology
Gestalt theory
statistical techniques (based on probability theory) used to assess whether the results of a study are reliable or whether they might be simply the result of chance; often used to determine whether two or more groups are essentially the same or different
inferential statistics
non-experimental method; research in which subjects are chosen based on a pre-existing condition
ex post facto
idea proposed by Wundt that the mind operates by combining subjective emotions and objective sensations; aimed to uncover the basic structures that make up mind and thought
Structuralism
studied with William James and went on to become president of the American Psychological Association
Mary Whiton Calkins
theory that states a part of our mind over which we do not have conscious control determines, in part, how we think and behave
psychoanalysis
a sample obtained in such a way that it reflects the distribution of important variables in the larger population in which the researchers are interested; variables such as age, income level, ethnicity, and geographic distribution
representative sample
non-experimental method; a type of research that is mainly statistical in nature; determines the relationship between two variables
correlational studies
theory presented by William James; emphasizes adaptiveness of the mental or behavioral processes
Functionalism
published The Principles of Psychology, the science's first textbook; responsible for theory of functionalism
William James
theory that states psychologists should look at only behavior and causes of behavior, and not concern themselves with describing elements of consciousness; dominant school of thought in psychology from the 1920s through the 1960s
behaviorism
a bell-shaped curve, describing the spread of a characteristic throughout a population
Normal Curve
non-experimental method; research in which subjects are observed in their natural environment
naturalistic observation
research that measures what the researcher set out to measure; accurate
Valid
first woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology
Margaret Floy Washburn
modern psychological viewpoint that stresses individual choice and free will; suggests that we choose most of our behaviors and these choices are guided by physiological, emotional or spiritual needs; not easily tested by the scientific method; includes theorists Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
Humanism
a measure of variability that indicates the average difference between the sources and their mean
Standard deviation
17th century French philosopher who asserted that human sensations and behaviors are based on activity in the nervous system
rene descartes
sampling
the process by which participants for research are selected
student of William James who pioneered he study of child development and was the first president of the APA
G Stanley Hall
also known as Darwinian; modern psychological perspective that examines human thoughts and actions in terms of natural selection; similar to biopsychology
Evolutionary perspective
Measures of central tendency
averages; mean, median, and mode
process that allows a researcher to ensure that the sample represents the population on some criteria
stratified sampling