Foundations of Psychology (History, Research Methods, Key Figures)
This early school of thought, founded by Wilhelm Wundt, focused on breaking down mental processes into their most basic components.
What is Structuralism?
This part of the neuron receives chemical messages from other neurons.
What are dendrites?
This is the process of getting information into memory.
What is encoding?
This Swiss psychologist is famous for his stages of cognitive development in children.
Who is Jean Piaget?
This is the study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
What is social psychology?
This psychologist, known for his work with "Little Albert," is considered the father of Behaviorism.
Who is John B. Watson?
This lobe of the brain is primarily responsible for processing auditory information.
What is the temporal lobe?
This type of memory has a limited capacity (about 7 +/- 2 items) and a short duration (around 20 seconds) without rehearsal.
What is short-term memory?
This is the term for the strong emotional tie a child forms with their primary caregiver.
What is attachment?
This phenomenon describes the tendency for people to perform better on simple or well-learned tasks when in the presence of others.
What is social facilitation?
This research method involves observing behavior in its natural setting without manipulation.
What is naturalistic observation?
This neurotransmitter is associated with pleasure and reward, and its dysregulation is linked to schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.
What is dopamine?
This cognitive bias describes our tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs.
What is confirmation bias?
According to Erik Erikson, adolescents face the psychosocial crisis of identity versus this.
What is role confusion?
This groundbreaking experiment by Stanley Milgram explored the extent to which people would obey an authority figure, even when it meant inflicting harm.
What was the Milgram obedience experiment?
This is the variable that the experimenter manipulates in an experiment.
What is the independent variable?
This imaging technique uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the brain's structure.
What is an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)?
This stage of language development is characterized by a child speaking mostly nouns and verbs, like "go car."
What is telegraphic speech?
This concept, understood by children in the concrete operational stage, refers to the understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance.
What is conservation?
This is the tendency to attribute others' behavior to their disposition (traits) and our own behavior to situational factors.
What is the fundamental attribution error?
This statistical concept, ranging from -1 to +1, indicates the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables.
What is a correlation coefficient?
Damage to this specific area of the brain, typically in the left frontal lobe, results in difficulty producing speech, but comprehension remains relatively intact.
What is Broca's area?
This is the inability to see a problem from a fresh perspective, often leading to difficulty in problem-solving.
What is functional fixedness?
These are any agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the fetus or embryo during prenatal development and cause harm.
What are teratogens?
This phenomenon occurs when a group's desire for harmony or conformity results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.
What is groupthink?