SOPHIA Learning SNHU Intro to
Psychology Terms
Psychology - answer comes from both the Greek word psyche, which means the mind
or soul, and the Greek word logos, which means reason, argument, or the study of.
(observation and empirical evidence)
Structuralism - answer is a psychological theory which tries to determine the basic
elements, or building blocks, of behavior and mental processes.
Theoretical perspective that mental phenomena can be broken down into basic parts
Functionalism - answer views the mental experience as more a stream, or a flow, of
consciousness that is irreducible.
Perspective that mental processes cannot be broken down and instead are a steady
flow of consciousness
Wilhelm Wundt - answerThe father of psychology, Wundt was a structuralist who set up
a research laboratory in Germany 1879
psychodynamic theory - answerstates that internal motives and unconscious forces can
affect our behaviors and mental processes in daily life.
behavior that examines the role of the unconscious and internal conflicts
Psychoanalysis - answerFreudian psychodynamic therapy that attempts to uncover
unconscious conflict.
Sigmund Freud - answerThe founder of psychodynamic theory
Neo-Freudian - answerSomeone in the field of psychology who accepts Freud's theory
for the most part, but adds their own unique ideas and benefits
Three Major Neo-freudian Individuals - answer-Karen Horney: An American scientist
who did a lot of research on the specific needs of individuals, and how those needs
influence their behaviors and coping strategies.
-Alfred Adler: Discussed how power was a huge influence on people, and how the need
for or will to power, caused them to behave in certain ways. Adler is also famous for
coming up with what we call the inferiority (or Napoleon) complex.
-Carl Jung: Was very popular in various types of literature and pop culture because of
his ideas. He furthered the idea of dream analysis, and also presented the idea of
, archetypes, which are the classical ideas that people have in their minds about certain
things (e.g., the shadow, the feminine, the masculine). Jung also popularized the idea of
the collective unconsciousness, which is the unconsciousness that all of us share.
Behaviorism - answerA theory in psychology that studies observable actions or
behaviors, not internal mental states
Ivan Pavlov - answerRussian scientist, who in 1870 changed studies to physiology and
the natural sciences. the concept of Classical Conditioning
John Watson
Founder of Behaviorism, 1878-1958 - answerWatson was able to take the work of
Pavlov, who was a physiologist and natural scientist, and adapt it to psychology to try to
explain why people behaved in the ways they did. He adapted the ideas of stimulus
response, or a person's response to something that's going on in his or her
environment, to human learning in order to explain that there are certain conditioned
responses.
B. F. Skinner
Founder of Operant Conditioning - answera psychologist from the 1950s through the
1970s, who was able to take the work of his predecessors, Pavlov and Watson, one
step further to explain human behavior. (Skinner box)
Gestalt and Gestalt grouping principles - answerGerman word meaning the whole form,
or the shape of something. You can thus think of Gestalt psychology as a sort of
successor to functionalism. Form, pattern, or whole. Thinking, learning, personality
cannot be broken into parts - must be studied as a complete unit, must understand
relationships. (Emergence, Reification, Multistability and Invariance) Gestalt psychology
says something very similar to functionalism
Emergence - answerThe first principle is emergence, meaning that complex patterns
arise from relatively simple rules.
EXAMPLE
Think of it like a checkers game, in which the actual rules that describe how pieces
move together are relatively simple, but when you look at the game as a whole, it's a lot
more complex.
Reification - answerThe second principle is reification, which is to say that you can
construct more meaning out of something than what is allowed by your sight and
perception.
EXAMPLE
In the example of the optical illusion, there's actually not much meaning that's being
attributed to that specific picture, but you might see it as either a duck or a rabbit.
Psychology Terms
Psychology - answer comes from both the Greek word psyche, which means the mind
or soul, and the Greek word logos, which means reason, argument, or the study of.
(observation and empirical evidence)
Structuralism - answer is a psychological theory which tries to determine the basic
elements, or building blocks, of behavior and mental processes.
Theoretical perspective that mental phenomena can be broken down into basic parts
Functionalism - answer views the mental experience as more a stream, or a flow, of
consciousness that is irreducible.
Perspective that mental processes cannot be broken down and instead are a steady
flow of consciousness
Wilhelm Wundt - answerThe father of psychology, Wundt was a structuralist who set up
a research laboratory in Germany 1879
psychodynamic theory - answerstates that internal motives and unconscious forces can
affect our behaviors and mental processes in daily life.
behavior that examines the role of the unconscious and internal conflicts
Psychoanalysis - answerFreudian psychodynamic therapy that attempts to uncover
unconscious conflict.
Sigmund Freud - answerThe founder of psychodynamic theory
Neo-Freudian - answerSomeone in the field of psychology who accepts Freud's theory
for the most part, but adds their own unique ideas and benefits
Three Major Neo-freudian Individuals - answer-Karen Horney: An American scientist
who did a lot of research on the specific needs of individuals, and how those needs
influence their behaviors and coping strategies.
-Alfred Adler: Discussed how power was a huge influence on people, and how the need
for or will to power, caused them to behave in certain ways. Adler is also famous for
coming up with what we call the inferiority (or Napoleon) complex.
-Carl Jung: Was very popular in various types of literature and pop culture because of
his ideas. He furthered the idea of dream analysis, and also presented the idea of
, archetypes, which are the classical ideas that people have in their minds about certain
things (e.g., the shadow, the feminine, the masculine). Jung also popularized the idea of
the collective unconsciousness, which is the unconsciousness that all of us share.
Behaviorism - answerA theory in psychology that studies observable actions or
behaviors, not internal mental states
Ivan Pavlov - answerRussian scientist, who in 1870 changed studies to physiology and
the natural sciences. the concept of Classical Conditioning
John Watson
Founder of Behaviorism, 1878-1958 - answerWatson was able to take the work of
Pavlov, who was a physiologist and natural scientist, and adapt it to psychology to try to
explain why people behaved in the ways they did. He adapted the ideas of stimulus
response, or a person's response to something that's going on in his or her
environment, to human learning in order to explain that there are certain conditioned
responses.
B. F. Skinner
Founder of Operant Conditioning - answera psychologist from the 1950s through the
1970s, who was able to take the work of his predecessors, Pavlov and Watson, one
step further to explain human behavior. (Skinner box)
Gestalt and Gestalt grouping principles - answerGerman word meaning the whole form,
or the shape of something. You can thus think of Gestalt psychology as a sort of
successor to functionalism. Form, pattern, or whole. Thinking, learning, personality
cannot be broken into parts - must be studied as a complete unit, must understand
relationships. (Emergence, Reification, Multistability and Invariance) Gestalt psychology
says something very similar to functionalism
Emergence - answerThe first principle is emergence, meaning that complex patterns
arise from relatively simple rules.
EXAMPLE
Think of it like a checkers game, in which the actual rules that describe how pieces
move together are relatively simple, but when you look at the game as a whole, it's a lot
more complex.
Reification - answerThe second principle is reification, which is to say that you can
construct more meaning out of something than what is allowed by your sight and
perception.
EXAMPLE
In the example of the optical illusion, there's actually not much meaning that's being
attributed to that specific picture, but you might see it as either a duck or a rabbit.
