1 - Psychology: Evolution of a Science Flashcards
William James
18 years old, liked to draw/paint, liked studying biology but doubted a naturalist’s salary would support a family, attended Harvard
Why was James struggling at Harvard and what happened because of it?
He lacked enthusiasm. With encouragement from faculty, he put medical studies on hold and joined biological expedition in Amazon.
What happened when James came back to Harvard?
His mental and physical health deteriorated. He was forced to leave med school again, this time to travel around Europe (he could speak 5 lang, so lang barrier wouldn’t be a problem). This is when he learned of a new science: psychology.
What happened after James went to Europe?
He came back and finished his med degree. He became a prof at Harvard and devoted the rest of his life to psychology.
What book did James write and why was it significant?
The Principles of Psychology, still widely read and remains one of the most influential books ever written in psychology
Psychology
The scientific study of mind and behaivour
The Mind
the private inner experience of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings… (an ever flowing stream of consciousness)
Behaviour
Observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals (The things we do in the world, by ourselves or with others)
What are the bases of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings, or our subjective sense of self?
Electrical and chemical activities in our brains
What is an fMRI and how is it used in psychology?
Stands for functional magnetic resonance imaging, allows scientists to scan a brain to determine which parts are active when a person reads a word, sees a face, etc.
How does the mind usually allow us to function effectively in the world?
Adaptive psychological processes
Adaptive Psychological Processes
They promote the welfare and reproduction of organisms that engage in those processes. ex: perception = recognize predators, language = communicate and cooperate with others, memory = avoid solving the same problems over and over, emotion = react quickly to events that have life/death significance, promote social bonds
Why does the mind occasionally function so ineffectively in the world?
People often operate on “auto-pilot”, behave automatically, relying on well-learned habits that they execute without thinking. ex: saying sorry when bumping into an inanimate object
** Procrastination **
students who procrastinate: less stressed months before, but super stressed right before deadline; students who don’t procrastinate: more stressed months before but less stressed right before deadline
Nativism
The philosophical view that certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn ex: Plato believed language was innate
Tabula Rasa
“blank slate”
Philosophical Empiricism
The view that all knowledge is acquired through experience ex: Aristotle believed language was acquired
Rene Decartes’s belief of the mind
The physical body was a container for the non-physical thing called the mind
Dualism
The body and the mind are fundamentally different thing, ie. the body is made of material substance and the mind/soul is made of immaterial/spiritual substance
Pineal Gland
Decartes suggested the mind influences the body through the pineal gland, largely alone in this view
What is the problem with dualism?
How mental activity can be reconciled and coordinated with physical behaviour, ex: How does the mind tell the body to put a foot forward, but say ouch when we step on a nail?
Thomas Hobbes’s idea of mind and body
Mind and body aren’t different things at all, rather, the mind is what the brain does; ie, looking for the place where the mind meets the body is like looking for the palce in a TV that the picture meets the flat panel display
Franz Joseph Hall
Thought the brains and minds were linked by size rather than by glands. He examined the brains of animals/people who died with disease and compared to healthy brains and observed mental ability often increases with larger brain size and decreases with brain damage
Phrenology
A now defunct theory that specific mental abilities and characteristics, ranging from memory to the capacity for happiness, are localized in specific regions of the brain. Despite a initial large following, the theory was quickly discredited.
What parts of phrenology are right and which are wrong?
Brain damage does indeed impair the function of certain functions of the brain depending on which parts are damaged. Different parts of the brain are specialized for specific psychological functions. The size of bumps/indentions on the skull does not reflect the size of the brain regions underneath it.
Broca’s area
A small part on the left side of the brain. Paul Broca had a patient that had damage to this part of the brain who was unable to speak and could only say “tan”, yet could understand everything spoken to him and could communicate using gestures.
What was the significance of Broca’s patient?
Crucial insight that damage to a specific part of the brain impaired a specific mental function, demonstrating that the brain and mind are closely linked. At this time, many people accepted Descartes’s idea that mind was separate form but interacts with the body.
Physiology
The study of biological processes, especially in the human body.
Hermann von Hemholtz
Developed method of measuring speed of nerve impulses in frog’s leg, which he adapted for human studies. Applied stimulus to different parts of the leg and recorded reaction times.
What was found from Hemholtz’s experiment?
People took longer to respond when the toe was stimulated vs the thigh, and the difference in reaction times allowed speed of nerve impulses to be measured.
Why was Hemholtz’s experiment significant?
Showed that mental processes don’t occur instantaneously and that reaction times could be a useful tool in studying the mind and brain.
Wilhelm Wundt
Hemholtz’s reasearch assistant, taught the first course in physiological psychology, wrote book Principles of Physiological Psychology, opened first laboratory devoted exclusively to psychology. Concentrated on the relationship between elements of consciousness.
Consciousness
A person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind.
Structuralism
The analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mind. Involved breaking down consciousness into elemental sensations and feelings.
Introspection
The subjective observation of one’s own experience.
How was introspection analyzed?
Observers presented with a stimulus (generally colour or sound) and asked to report introspections (like brightness, loudness), raw sensory experience. Also attempted to describe feelings associated with elementary perceptions (which clicks were more pleasant?)
Raw Sensory Experience
Ex: looking at a page of the book and describing a series of black marks, some straight and some curved against white background.
Describe Wundt’s button test
People were told to press the button when a tone sounded. Some were told to concentrate on percieving the tone while others were told to concentrate on pressing the button. The latter had faster reaction times. Both groups had to register the tone in their consciousness (perception) but only the slower ones had to interpret the significance of the tone.
Edward Titchener
Studied with Wundt for 2 years, then came to USA and set up psych lab in Cornell University. Focused on identifying the basic elements of consciousness.
Functionalism
The study of the purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment.
What inspired Jame’s thinking?
Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
Natural Selection
Charles Darwin’s theory that the features of an organism that help it survive and reproduce are more likely than other features to be passed on to subsequent generations.
How does functionalism relate to natural selection?
Mental abilities must have evolved because they helped people solve problems and increased their chances of survival. James reasoned that consciousness must serve an important biological function and the task of psychologists is to understand what those functions are.
