Psychology: the scientific study of mental processes and behavior; not just what people do but also their biological activities, feelings, perceptions, memory, reasoning, and thoughtsPhD: doctorate of philosophy; research degree that requires a dissertation based on an original investigationPsyD: doctorate of psychology; obtained by psychologists who want to focus on the treatment of psychological disordersBehavioral neuroscience: focus on biological basis of behaviorExperimental psychologist: study the processes of thinking, sensing, perceiving, and learning in the worldCognitive psychology: studies higher mental processes, including memory, knowing, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, judging, decision making, and languageDevelopmental psychology: study how people grow and change throughout the life spanPersonality psychology: consider the change and consistency of an individual’s behavior, as well as individual’s differences that distinguish one person’s behavior from another’sHealth psychology: study psychological factors that affect physical diseaseClinical psychology: consider the study, diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal behaviorCounseling psychology: focus on educational, social and career adjustment problemsSocial psychology: study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by othersCross-cultured psychology: examines similarities and differences in psychological functioning among various culturesWilhem Wundt: established first experimental laboratory devoted to psychological phenomena in Germany in late 19th centuryStructuralism: Wilhelm Wundt’s approach, which focuses on uncovering the fundamental mental components of consciousness, thinking, and other kinds of mental states and activitiesIntrospection: a procedure used to study the structure of the mind in which subjects are asked to describe in detail what they are experiencing when they are exposed to a stimulusWilliam James: American psychologist who led functionalist movementFunctionalism: an early approach to psychology, led by William James, that concentrated on what the mind does – the functions of mental activity – and the role of behavior in allowing people to adapt to their environmentsGestalt psychology: an approach to psychology that focuses on the organization of perception and thinking in a “whole” sense rather than on the individual elements of perception – “the whole is different than the sum of its parts”Mary Calkins: studied memory; became first female president of the American Psychological AssociationNeuroscience perspective: the approach that views behavior from the perspective of the brain, the nervous system, and other biological functionsPsychodynamic perspective: the approach based on the view that behavior is motivated by unconscious inner forces over which the individual has little controlBehavioral perspective: the approach that suggests observable, measurable behavior should be the focus of studyCognitive perspective: the approach that focuses on how people think, understand, and know about the worldHumanistic perspective: the approach that suggests that all individuals naturally strive to grow, develop, and be in control of their lives and behaviorOrigins of psychology: Wilhem Wundt laid the foundation of psychology in 1879 when he opened his laboratory in Germany; early perspectives that guided the work of psychologists were structuralism (led by Wilhem Wundt), functionalism (led by William James), and gestalt theoryFree will: the idea that behavior is caused primarily by choices that are made freely by the individualDeterminism: the idea that people’s behavior is produced primarily by factors outside of their willful controlPsychology’s key issues & controversies: center on how much of human behavior is a product of nurture or nature, conscious or unconscious thoughts, observable actions or internal mental processes, free will or determinism, and individual differences or universal principlesFuture of psychology: become increasingly specialized, will pay greater attention to prevention instead of just treatment, will become more and more concerned with the public interest, and will take the growing diversity of the country’s population into account more fullyTheories: broad explanations and predictions concerning phenomena of interestHypothesis: a prediction, stemming from a theory, stated in a way that allows it to be testedOperational definition: the translation of a hypothesis into specific, testable procedures that can be measured and observedScientific method: approach psychologists use to understand behavior – identifying questions of interest, formulating an explanation, carrying out research that is designed to support or refute the explanation, and communications of the findingsNaturalistic observation: research in which an investigator observes some naturally occurring behavior and does not make a change in the situationSurvey research: research in which people chosen to represent a larger population are asked a series of questions about their behavior, thoughts, or attitudesCase study: an in-depth, intensive investigation of an individual or small group of peopleVariables: behaviors, events, or other characteristics that can change or vary in some wayCorrelational research: research in which the relationship between two sets of variables is examined to determine whether they are associated, or “correlated”Experiment: investigation of the relationship between 2+ variables by deliberately producing a change in one variable in a situation and observing the effects of that change on other aspects of the situationExperimental manipulation: the change that an experimenter deliberately produces in a situationTreatment: the manipulation implemented by the experimenterExperimental group: any group participating in an experiment that receives a treatmentControl group: a group participating in an experiment that receives no treatmentIndependent variable: the variable that is manipulated by the experimenterDependent variable: the variable that is measured in an experiment – expected to change as a result of the experimenter’s manipulation of the independent variableRandom assignment to condition: a procedure in which participants are assigned to different experimental groups or “conditions” on the basis of chance and chance aloneSignificant outcome: meaningful results that make it possible for researchers to feel