IDC4U2: UNIT 1-2 TEST REVIEW
Physiological: having to do with an organism’s physical processes
Cognitive: having to do with an organism’s thinking and understanding
Psychiatry: a branch of medicine that deals with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders
Psychoanalyst: a psychologist who studies how unconscious motives and conflicts determine human
behavior
4 Goals of Psychology: psychologists seek to do four things—describe, explain, predict, and influence
behavior
Description: to describe or gather information about the behavior being studied and to present what is
known
Explanation: Such explanations can be called psychological principles—generally valid ideas about
behavior. Psychologists propose these explanations as hypotheses.
Prediction: to predict, as a result of accumulated knowledge, what organisms will do and, in the case of
humans, what they will think or feel in various situations
Influence: some psychologists seek to influence behavior in helpful ways
Historical and Contemporary approaches- schools of psychology:
Historical-
Structuralism: Wilhelm Wundt’s real interest was in the study of the human mind. Wundt was a
structuralist, which means that he was interested in the basic elements of human experience.
Functionalism: William James called the “father of psychology”, Functionalists study how animals and
people adapt to their environments
Inheritable Traits: Sir Francis Galton, a 19th century English mathematician and scientist, wanted to
understand how heredity influences a person’s abilities, character, and behavior. (Heredity includes all the
traits and properties that are passed along biologically from parent to child.)
Gestalt Psychology: A group of German psychologists, including Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler,
and Kurt Koffka, disagreed with the principles of structuralism and behaviorism. They argued that
perception is more than the sum of its parts—it involves a “whole pattern” or, in German, a Gestalt.
Contemporary-
Psychoanalytic: involves interpretation of unconscious thoughts
Behavioural: investigate observable behaviours
Humanistic: believe that human behaviour is self-directed
Cognitive: focus on mental processes and rationally motivated behaviour
Biological: interested in the physiological basis of behaviour in humans and animals
sociocultural: modern influential movement that views human behaviour from a political and
cross-cultural point of view
7 types of psychologists:
Clinical psychologist: a psychologist who diagnoses and treats people with emotional disturbances
Counselling psychologist: a psychologist who usually helps people deal with problems of living
Developmental psychologist: : a psychologist who studies the emotional, cognitive, biological, personal,
and social changes that occur as an individual matures
Educational psychologist: a psychologist who is concerned with helping students learn
Community psychologist: a psychologist who may work in a mental health or soc...
