Psychology Concepts

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Psychology definition

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the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

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Psychobabble

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Pseudoscience and quackery covered by a veneer of psychological and scientific-sounding language

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Validity

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The ability of a test to measure what it is intended to measure

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Reliability

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the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting

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Psychoanalysis

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Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences - and the therapist's interpretations of them - released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.

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Structuralism

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an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the structural elements of the human mind

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Functionalism

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early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function- how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish

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Cognitive perspective

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A psychological approach that emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, language, problem solving, and other areas of behavior

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Biological Perspective of Personality

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personality can be explained as a result of genetic expression in the brain

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Humanistic psychology

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historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth