Bernstein et al., Psychology, 6/e Keyterms

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Psychology, Sixth Edition
Douglas A. Bernstein - University of South Florida and University of Southampton
Louis A. Penner - University of South Florida
Alison Clarke-Stewart - University of California, Irvine
Edward J. Roy - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Keyterms
Chapter 1: Introducing Psychology

Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. (see The World of Psychology)
Example: Behavior is any action an organism performs, including those you can and cannot see (for example, jogging, laughing, heart rate, and blood pressure). Mental processes are activities involved in thinking (for example, remembering, dreaming, and forming opinions).
Biological or physiologicalpsychologists study the biological factors that underlie behavior and mental processes. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: Eating certain foods changes the chemical interactions within and between nerve cells in your brain, thereby possibly inducing drowsiness.
Developmental psychologists study the causes and effects of changes in behavior and mental processes over the life span. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: How do people develop morals, social skills, and intellectual abilities?
Cognitive psychologists study the mental processes underlying judgment, decision making, problem solving, imagining, and other aspects of human thought. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: Is the memory of how to tie shoes developed, stored, and retrieved in the same ways as the memory of a friend's telephone number?
Experimental psychologists conduct experiments aimed at understanding learning, memory, perception, and other basic behavioral and mental processes. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: How does the brain translate light into the experience of sight?
Engineering psychologists study human factors in the use of equipment, and help designers create better versions of that equipment. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: An engineering psychologist might design an airplane cockpit so that it is easier for the pilots to assimilate all the information without error.
Personality psychologists study what makes one person different from another and look at the relationships among personality characteristics, behavior, and mental processes. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: Why are some people consistently optimistic and others pessimistic?
Clinical and counseling psychologists study abnormal behavior and mental processes, what causes them, and how to treat them. Clinical psychologists also evaluate how well and why a treatment works. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: Is schizophrenia hereditary? What therapy produces the best results with patients with schizophrenia?
Community psychologists attempt to prevent psychological disorders and to treat people in their own communities. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: Some community psychologists examine the problems students have in making the transition from high school to college and design programs to lessen these problems.
Health psychologists study the interactions of behavior, mental processes, and health. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: Health psychologists may investigate the connection between hostile attitudes and behavior and heart disease.
Social psychologists are interested in how people influence one another and in the interactions between people in groups. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: How is behavior influenced by the type of group or situation a person is in? In a crowd, an anonymous person may be boisterous; however, when recognized as an individual (for example, in a classroom), the same person may be quiet and obedient.
Industrial-organizational psychologists study ways to increase efficiency, productivity, and satisfaction of both workers and employers. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: Researchers may examine whether relaxed dress-code days improve office workers' morale.
Educational and school psychologists study learning and teaching methods. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: Educational psychologists found that when students take notes in their own words, they recall the information better.
Example: School psychologists identify students' academic strengths and problems and tailor programs to meet students' needs.
Psychologists may work in still other subfields. Sports psychologists search for keys to maximum athletic performance. Forensic psychologists create criminal profiles, assist in jury selection, evaluate defendants' mental competence to stand trial, and deal with other issues involving psychology and the law. Environmental psychologists study the interactions of behavior, mental processes, and the environment. (see Subfields of Psychology)
Example: Sports psychologists may work with athletes to restore their self-confidence after injury.
Example: Forensic psychologists may try to identify common characteristics across crime scenes to provide information about a killer's modus operandi.
Example: Environmental psychologists may study the interaction between the design of apartment buildings and neighborliness.
The biological approach assumes that biological factors--such as genetics, brain activity, or hormonal activity--are the most important factors determining behavior and mental processes. (see Approaches to Psychology)
Example: People who are chronically depressed may have abnormal levels of certain chemicals important to mood.
The evolutionary approach assumes that human and animal behavior are the result of evolution through natural selection. (see Approaches to Psychology)
Example: Psychologists study the adaptive value of behavior (running away from threats), the anatomical and biological systems that make the behavior possible (muscular construction of limbs), and the environmental conditions that encourage or discourage it (a culture may not approve of people running away).
The psychodynamicapproach assumes that behavior and mental processes result from unconscious psychological conflicts between needs to satisfy instinctive desires and needs to satisfy society's rules. (see Approaches to Psychology)
Example: Freud might have said that surgeons express aggressive instincts in a manner that is approved of by society (performing surgery in an operating room rather than stabbing a stranger in a dark alley).
The behavioral approach assumes that learning, as a result of the rewards and punishments that each person experiences, determines most behaviors and thoughts. (see Approaches to Psychology)
Example: Doctors become surgeons because they are rewarded by their salaries, by the respect their positions receive, or by the satisfaction they receive from healing.
The cognitive approach assumes that mental processes guide behavior. The brain takes in information; processes it through perception, memory, thought, judgment, and decision making; and generates integrated behavior patterns. (see Approaches to Psychology)
Example: A psychologist taking the cognitive approach might try to understand the decision processes of the passengers who decided to fight the terrorists hijacking their plane on September 11th.
REMEMBER: Cognition means "thinking." The cognitive approach assumes that thoughts guide behavior.
The humanistic approach assumes that people control their behavior. This approach is thus unlike other models, which assume that biology, instincts, or the presence of rewards and punishments in the environment control behavior. The humanistic approach also assumes that people have an inborn tendency to grow toward their unique potential. (see Approaches to Psychology)
Example: The innate tendency to grow toward one's unique potential is analogous to the development of a flower that will bloom if it receives adequate light, water, and nourishment. People, too, will achieve their potential if their environments provide the correct psychological and physical nourishment.
A culture is the accumulation of values, rules of behavior, forms of expression, religious beliefs, occupational choice, and so on, for a group of people who share a common language and environment. (see Human Diversity and Psychology)
Example: Some cultures tend to emphasize individual goals over the importance of group well-being (individualists); while other cultures emphasize group well-being over individual goals (collectivists).





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