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Flash Cards: Quizlet
History and Approaches (2-4%)
One of the main ideas we must glean from this content area is that psychology is a science. Many gain their impressions of psychology from the media and not from the reality of the field. Understand that a science is defined by the rigorous methods used to investigate the phenomena of interest; it is not defined by what is being studied. We will be exposed to a brief history of the field from its “introspective” past to today’s science-based understanding of behavior and mental processes. How psychologists approach and explain a particular phenomenon may be shaped by the perspective they hold. Thus, it is important that we have an understanding of the major psychological approaches. Having a solid foundation in these different perspectives is vital to giving us a framework for understanding the psychological research and concepts we will learn throughout the course.
AP students in psychology should be able to do the following:
• Recognize how philosophical and physiological perspectives shaped the development of psychological thought.
• Describe and compare different theoretical approaches in explaining behavior: — structuralism, functionalism, and behaviorism in the early years; — Gestalt, psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, and humanism emerging later; — evolutionary, biological, cognitive, and biopsychosocial as more contemporary approaches.
• Recognize the strengths and limitations of applying theories to explain behavior.
• Distinguish the different domains of psychology (e.g., biological, clinical, cognitive, counseling, developmental, educational, experimental, human factors, industrial–organizational, personality, psychometric, social).
• Identify major historical figures in psychology (e.g., Mary Whiton Calkins, Charles Darwin, Dorothea Dix, Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall, William James, Ivan Pavlov, Jean Piaget, Carl Rogers, B. F. Skinner, Margaret Floy Washburn, John B. Watson, Wilhelm Wundt).
Essential Questions:
What ways does psychology approach the study of human and animal behavior?
How has psychology changed the study of human and animal behavior?
How do the different perspectives in psychology compare and contrast?
Who were the movers and shakers in the evolution of psychology as a science?
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