Psychology 101 Vocab

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culture, socioeconomic status, create individual differences. Learning: environmental influences learning observational learning, personal experience and reinforcement guide individual development. B.F. Skinner: introduced the concept of reinforcement. Socrates: Ancient Greek who believed that people could learn much about themselves through interpretation. Wilhelm Windut: individual who established first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. William James: believed that the experience is a fluid and continuous stream of consciousness. Behaviorism: perspective of psychology that emphasizes the influence of biology on behavior.functionalism: school of psychology that focuses on how mental processes help organisms adapt to their environment. Structuralism: school of psychology that is concerned with discovering the basic elements of conscious experience. Frustration: source of stress in which a person is being blocked from reaching a goal.social facilitation: improved performance at tasks because presence of others. Social loafing: the tendency for people to exert less effort toward completing a task when they are part of s group than when they are performing the task alone. Diffusion of responsibility: the sharing of responsibility for a decision or behavior among the member. Polarization: the strengthening of groups shared attitudes over time. authoritarian leader: leader who makes decisions for the group and orders. Laissez Faire leader: leader who stands back from decision making and allows group members to explore and express their own ideas, democratic leader: leader who encourages group members to express and discuss their ideas and make own decisions.social norm: explicit and implicit rules that red felt social expectation and influence the way in which people behave in social situations. Conform: to change ones attitudes or behavior in accordance with generally accepted standards.