1. Innate
○ Adult version: Innate refers to the characteristics, abilities, or qualities
that a person or animal is born with. It’s often used in contrast to skills or
characteristics that are learned or acquired over time.
○ Simple example: Innate is the color of your eyes when you’re born. You
didn’t learn to have blue or brown eyes, you just had them when you were
born!
2. Tabula Rasa
○ Adult version: Tabula Rasa is a Latin phrase that translates to “blank
slate.” It’s a theory in philosophy that suggests individuals are born
without built-in mental content, and therefore all knowledge comes from
experience or perception.
○ Simple example: Imagine your mind is a blank piece of paper when you’re
born. Everything you learn or experience is drawing on that paper.
3. Dualism
○ Adult version: Dualism, in the context of psychology, is the view that the
mind and body function separately, with the mind controlling the body but
also capable of existing apart from it.
○ Simple example: Dualism is saying your mind (where you think and feel)
and your body (which lets you run and play) are two different things. Your
mind tells your body what to do, but it can also think and dream on its
own.
4. Empiricism
○ Adult version: Empiricism is a theory that states that knowledge comes
only or primarily from sensory experience. It emphasizes the role of
experience and evidence, especially sensory perception, in the formation of
ideas.
○ Simple example: Empiricism is learning something by seeing, hearing,
touching, tasting, or smelling it. when you touch fire, you learn it’s hot and
can hurt you.
5. Self-Preservation
○ Adult version: Self-preservation is a behavior that ensures the survival of
an organism. It is a universal instinct among all living organisms to stay
alive and reproduce.
○ Simple example: Self-preservation is when you automatically pull your
hand away from something hot. It’s your body’s way of keeping you safe.
,6. Psychology
○ Adult version: Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior.
It explores concepts such as perception, cognition, attention, emotion,
motivation, brain functioning, personality, behavior, and interpersonal
relationships.
○ Simple example: Psychology is being a detective for the mind. It helps us
understand why people think, feel, and act the way they do.
7. Nature vs. Nurture
○ Adult version: This is a debate in psychology about the relative importance
of an individual’s innate qualities (“nature”) versus personal experiences
(“nurture”) in determining or causing individual differences in physical
and behavioral traits.
○ Simple example: Nature vs. nurture is asking if your love for chocolate ice
cream is because your parents love it (nature) or because you tried it at a
birthday party and liked it (nurture).
8. Structuralism
○ Adult version: Structuralism is an early school of psychology that used
introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind. It
aimed to understand the conscious experience through introspection, or
the systematic examination of one’s own conscious thoughts and feelings.
○ Simple example: Structuralism is looking at a Lego tower and trying to
understand it by looking at each individual Lego block.
9. Experimental Psychology
○ Adult version: Experimental psychology involves using scientific methods
to study the mind and behavior. It includes conducting experiments to
observe behavior under controlled conditions.
○ Simple example: Experimental psychology is doing a science experiment,
but instead of mixing chemicals, you’re studying how people think and act.
10. Introspection
○ Adult version: Introspection is the examination of one’s own conscious
thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on
the observation of one’s mental state, while in a spiritual context, it may
refer to the examination of one’s soul.
○ Simple example: Introspection is having a quiet moment to think about
your thoughts and feelings. It’s asking yourself, “How do I feel?” or “What
am I thinking?”
11. Functionalism
○ Adult version: Functionalism is a school of psychology that focused on
how mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable the
organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
, ○ Simple example: Functionalism is asking, “Why do we have eyes?” The
answer would be, “To help us see and avoid danger.”
12. Gestalt
○ Adult version: Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology that looks at
the human mind and behavior as a whole. It suggests that the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts.
○ Simple example: Gestalt is looking at a picture. Instead of just seeing a
bunch of different colors and shapes, you see a whole picture.
13. Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic
○ Adult version: Psychoanalytic or psychodynamic psychology focuses on
the unconscious mind and the influence of past experiences on current
behavior. It was developed by Sigmund Freud.
○ Simple example: Psychoanalytic psychology is trying to understand why
you’re afraid of the dark. Maybe something scary happened when you were
very little that you don’t remember, and that’s why you’re scared now.
14. Behaviorism
○ Adult version: Behaviorism is a theory of learning based on the idea that
all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. It suggests that our
responses to environmental stimuli shape our actions.
○ Simple example: Behaviorism is learning to brush your teeth before bed.
At first, your parents remind you, but then it becomes a habit. You do it
without even thinking about it.
15. Law of Effect
○ Adult version: The law of effect is a psychological principle which states
that behaviors which have positive outcomes tend to be repeated, while
those with negative outcomes become less likely to occur.
○ Simple example: The law of effect is getting a gold star when you do well
on a test. You’ll want to study hard for the next test too, so you can get
another gold star.
16. Classical Conditioning
○ Adult version: Classical conditioning is a type of learning where an
existing involuntary reflex response is associated with a new stimulus. The
most famous example is Pavlov’s dogs, who salivated (a reflex) at the
sound of a bell (a new stimulus) after being conditioned.
○ Simple example: Classical conditioning is when you hear the ice cream
truck music and you know it’s time for ice cream. You didn’t always know
that, but you learned it because every time you heard the music, you got
ice cream.
