A
Applied psychology
The branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems.
B
Behavior
Any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism.
Behaviorism
A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior.
C
Clinical psychology
The branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders.
Cognition
The mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.
Culture
The widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations.
D
Dualism
he idea that the mind and body are fundamentally distinct entities.
E
Empiricism
The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation.
Ethnocentrism
The tendency to view onešs own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging the worth of foreign ways.
F
Functionalism
A school of psychology based on the belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure.
G
Gestalt psychology
A theoretical orientation based on the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
H
Humanism
A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth.
I
Introspection
Careful, systematic observation of onešs own conscious experience.
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Phi phenomenon
The illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession.
Psychiatry
A branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders.
Psychiatry
A branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders.
Psychoanalytic theory
A theory developed by Freud that attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior.
Psychology
The science that studies behavior and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.
Q
R
S
SQ3R
A study system designed to promote effective reading by means of five steps: survey, question, read, recite, and review.
Stimulus
Any detectable input from the environment.
Structuralism
A school of psychology based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and to investigate how these elements are related.
T
Testwiseness
The ability to use the characteristics and format of a cognitive test to maximize onešs score.
Theory
A system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations.
Unconscious
According to Freud, thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.
U
V
W
X
Y
Z