| A | B |
|---|
| Psychology | The scientific study of behavior and mental processes. |
| Science | The use of systematic methods to observe the natural world,including human behavior, and to draw conclusions. |
| Behavior | Everything we do that can be directly observed. |
| Mental Processes | The thoughts, feelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be observed directly. |
| Critical Thinking | The process of reflecting deeply and actively, asking questions, evaluating the evidence. |
| Empirical Method | Gaining knowledge through the observation of events, the collection of data, and logical reasoning. |
| Positive Psyhcology | A branch of psychology that emphasizes human strengths. |
| Structuralism | Wundt's approach to discovering the basic elements, or structures, of mental processes; so called because of its focus on identifying the structures of the human mind. |
| Functionalism | James's approach to mental processes, emphasizing the functions and purposes of the mind and behavior in the individual's adaptation to the environment. |
| Natural Selection | Darwin's principle of an evolutionary process in which organisms that are best adapted to their enviroment will survive and produce offspring. |
| Biological Approach | An approach to psychology focusing on the body, especially the brain and nervous system. |
| Neuroscience | The scientific study of the structure,function, development,genetics, and biochemistry of the nervous system, emphasizing that the brain and nervous system, emphasizing that the brain and nervous system are central to the understanding behavior, thought, and emotion. |
| Behavioral Approach | An approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of their observable behavioral responses and their enviromental determinants. |
| Psychodynamic Approach | An approach to psychology emphasizing unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives(such as the drive for sex) and society's demands, and early childhood family experiences. |
| Humanistic Approach | An approach to psychology emphasizing a person's positive qualities,the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose any destiny. |
| Cognitive Approach | An approach to psycholgy emphasizing the mental processes involved in knowing: how we direct our attention,perceive,remember,think,and solve problems. |
| Evolutionary Approach | An approach to psychology centered on evolutionary ideas such as adaptation,reproduction,and natural selection as the basis for explaining specifc human behaviors. |
| Social Cultural Approach | An Approach to psychology that examines the ways in which social and cultural environments influence behavior. |
| Psychopathology | The scientific study of psychological disorders and the development of diagnostic categories and treatments for those disorders. |
