Introduction to Psychology

by Rose M. Spielman

Psyche comes to represent the human soul’s triumph over the misfortunes of life in the pursuit of true happiness

The root ology denotes scientific study of, and psychology refers to the scientific study of the mind. Since science studies only observable phenomena and the mind is not directly observable, we expand this definition to the scientific study of mind and behavior.

scientific theory is a broad explanation or group of explanations for some aspect of the natural world that is consistently supported by evidence over time.

An empirical method for acquiring knowledge is one based on observation, including experimentation, rather than a method based only on forms of logical argument or previous authorities.

auspices

Critical thinking is the active application of a set of skills to information for the understanding and evaluation of that information.

paradigms

goal of psychology was to identify components of consciousness and how those components combined to result in our conscious experience.

introspection

process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible, making the human mind like any other aspec...

This attempt to understand the structure or characteristics of the mind was known as structuralism.