Study online at https://quizlet.com/_i25de2
1. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle: Ancient Greek philosophers who laid the foundation for the contem-
porary studies of psychology as they addressed issues such as rational thought, how knowledge is acquired, and how
the mind operates.
2. Al-Kindi, Alhazen, Avicenna: Islamic scholars who translated many of the earlier Greek writings,
introducing these ideas to their contemporaries. All three scholars made substantial contributions to topics such as
consciousness, perception, and self-awareness.
3. Al-Kindi: Promotes Aristotelian philosophy and introduced the system of Indo-Arabic numerals, which revolu-
tionized computational mathematics and made possible most modern science.
4. Alhazen: Refined classical theories about light and optical properties of the eye, laying important foundations
for modern visual science.
5. Avicenna: Codified medical knowledge and amplified Aristotle's conceptions of the soul while also showing they
could be compatible with the monotheistic religion of Islam.
6. Reflexive nature of psychology: As humans, psychologists are both the agents, and the objects of
study; psychological study changes how humans think about themselves.
7. Historiography: A collective term for the theory, history, methods, and assumptions of writing history. It can
also refer to a body of historical work much like a discography refers to a musician's body of recorded music.
8. Presentism: Involves viewing and analyzing a subject from the standpoint of the present. Presentism explains
today's circumstances by emphasizing that it is because our predecessors challenged and overcame mistaken assump-
tions that we progressed to the present state of increased, or superior knowledge and wisdom.
9. Historicism: Attempts to recreate the past as it was actually experienced by out predecessors, without distor-
tions by present foreknowledge of how things turned out.
10. Celebratory vs. Critical Approach: A celebratory approach reflects a positive bias toward a certain
historical figure or event, whereas a critical approach reveals a completely different set of assumptions.
11. Internalism vs. Externalism: Some historians might focus primarily on internal factors such as the
development of major ideas and their intellectual and disciplinary context (i.e., internalism), while neglecting external
factors such as the social and political factors that might have shaped them (i.e., externalism), and vice versa.
12. Great Man Approach: Approach in which history is told through the contributions of eminent people
whose ideas have shaped the field. Great Man histories are often celebratory and internalist in nature as they often
neglect the external factors that may have surrounded individual contributions, such as the social, cultural, and politica
systems that may have influenced them. The premise of Great Man histories is that contributions arise from individuals
who singlehandedly change the course of history.
1/3