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Psychology, 5/e

Lester M. Sdorow, Arcadia University
Cheryl A. Rickabaugh, University of Redlands

The Nature of Psychology

Glossary

analytic introspection	A research method in which highly trained participants report the contents of their conscious mental experiences.



applied research	Research aimed at improving the quality of life and solving practical problems.



basic research	Research aimed at finding answers to questions out of theoretical interest or intellectual curiosity.



behavioral genetics	The study of the effects of heredity and life experiences on behavior.



behavioral neuroscience	The field that studies the physiological bases of human and animal behavior and mental processes.



behavioral perspective	The psychological viewpoint, descended from behaviorism, that stresses the importance of studying the effects of learning and environmental factors on overt behavior.



behaviorism	The early school of psychology that rejected the study of mental processes in favor of the study of overt behavior.



biopsychological perspective	The psychological viewpoint that stresses the relationship of physiological factors to behavior and mental processes.



clinical psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders.



cognitive perspective	The psychological viewpoint that favors the study of how the mind organizes perceptions, processes information, and interprets experiences.



comparative psychology	The field that studies similarities and differences in the physiology, behaviors, and abilities of different species of animals, including human beings.



counseling psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to help individuals deal with problems of daily living, generally less serious ones than those treated by clinical psychologists.



cross-cultural psychology	An approach that tries to determine the extent to which research findings about human psychology hold true across cultures.



cultural psychology	An approach that studies how cultural factors affect human behavior and mental experience.



developmental psychology	The field that studies physical, perceptual, cognitive, and psychosocial changes across the life span.



differential psychology	The field of psychology that studies individual differences in physical, personality, and intellectual characteristics.



educational psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to help improve curriculum, teaching methods, and administrative procedures.



empiricism	The philosophical position that true knowledge comes through the senses.



engineering psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to the design of equipment and instruments.



environmental psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to help improve the physical environment, including the design of buildings and the reduction of noise.



ethnic psychology	The field that employs culturally appropriate methods to describe the experience of members of groups that historically have been underrepresented in psychology.



evolutionary psychology	The study of the evolution of behavior through natural selection.



existential psychology	A branch of humanistic psychology that studies how individuals respond to the basic philosophical issues of life, such as death, meaning, freedom, and isolation.



experimental psychology	The field primarily concerned with laboratory research on basic psychological processes, including perception, learning, memory, thinking, language, motivation, and emotion.



forensic psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to improve the legal system, including the work of police and juries.



functionalism	The early school of psychology that studied how the conscious mind helps the individual adapt to the environment.



Gestalt psychology	The early school of psychology that claimed that we perceive and think about wholes rather than simply combinations of separate elements.



health psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to the prevention and treatment of physical illness.



humanistic perspective	The psychological viewpoint that holds that the proper subject matter of psychology is the individual's subjective mental experience of the world.



industrial/organizational psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to improve productivity in businesses, industries, and government agencies.



nativism	The philosophical position that heredity provides individuals with inborn knowledge and abilities.



personality psychology	The field that focuses on factors accounting for the differences in behavior and enduring personal characteristics among individuals.



phenomenological psychology	A branch of humanistic psychology primarily concerned with the study of subjective mental experience.



phi phenomenon	Apparent motion caused by the presentation of different visual stimuli in rapid succession.



psychiatry	The field of medicine that diagnoses and treats psychological disorders by using medical or psychological forms of therapy.



psychic determinism	The Freudian assumption that all human behavior is influenced by unconscious motives.



psychoanalysis	The early school of psychology that emphasized the importance of unconscious causes of behavior.



psychoanalytic perspective	The psychological viewpoint that is descended from psychoanalysis but places less emphasis on biological motives and more emphasis on the importance of interpersonal relationships.



psychology	The science of behavior and mental processes.



psychophysics	The study of the relationship between the physical characteristics of stimuli and the conscious psychological experiences that are associated with them.



rationalism	The philosophical position that true knowledge comes through correct reasoning.



school psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to help improve the academic performance and social behavior of students in elementary, middle, and high schools.



scientific paradigm	A model that determines the appropriate goals, methods, and subject matter of a science.



social-cultural perspective	The psychological viewpoint that favors the scientific study of human behavior in its social-cultural context.



social psychology	The field that studies how the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other people affects one another's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.



sport psychology	The field that applies psychological principles to help amateur and professional athletes improve their performance.



structuralism	The early school of psychology that sought to identify the components of the conscious mind.

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