Ch 3 (Exam 1) Flashcards
specific nerve energy
- each sensory nerve produces its own specific sensation
- Johannes Muller
clinical method
- posthumous examination of brain structures to determine cause of behavioural disorder
- Paul Broca
extirpation
- destroy part of brain and observe resultant behavior change
- Marshall Hall and Pierre Flourens
electrical stimulation
- apply weak current to brain part and observe resultant behavior change
- Gustav Fritsch
- Eduard Hitzig
- 1870
phrenology
- shape of one’s skull reveals one’s personality
- Franz Gall
- originally cranioscopy
Hermann Von Helmholtz
- great scientist of the 19th century
- study of human senses advanced experimental approach to psychological issues
Ernst Weber
- first to demonstrate systematic relations between physical events and mental events
two-point threshold
- smallest spatial distance at which two points of touch on body produce two distinct sensations
- Weber
JND
- psychological unit designating smallest change in level of a stimulus that can be detected
- Weber
Gustav Fechner
- founder of psychophysics
- absolute threshold
- differential threshold
absolute threshold
- smallest level of a stimulus that can be detected
- Fechner
differential threshold
- smallest change in level of a stimulus that can be detected
- Fechner
psychophysics
- scientific study of relations between physical and mental events
Friedrich Bessel
- realized the observations of all astronomers consistently differed
- first ever experiments on reaction time
In determining whether a person who exhibited memory loss died of Alzheimer’s disease, or instead of a disease with similar external symptoms, the ________ method is used.
a) introspection
b) clinical
c) extirpation
d) electrical stimulation
b) clinical
phrenology’s main principles
- “brain is the organ of the mind”
- faculties: abilities and attributes
- native traits: certain faculties have more brain tissue
- doctrine of the skull: strength of various faculties can be inferred from the shape of the skull
Pierre Fluorens
- phrenology’s greatest enemy
- shape of skull doesn’t match contours of underlying tissue
- ablation method
why was phrenology so popular?
- Gall’s reputation
- potential for an objective, materialistic analysis of the mind
- offered practical advice
- American idea that everyone is unique
Berlin Physical Society
- 1840s, students of Johannes Muller
- committed to mechanism
- “No other forces than the common physical chemical ones are active within the organism”
what was psychology’s first quantitative law?
- Weber’s law
A lifted weight of 41 grams is reported to be “just noticeably different” from a standard lifted weight of 40 grams (i.e., k = 1/40). Applying Weber’s law, which of the
following comparison lifted weights would be detected to be noticeably different than a standard lifted weight of 400 grams?
a) 394 grams
b) 402 grams
c) Both of the above.
d) Neither of the above
d) neither
ΔR = kR
ΔR = (1/40) * 400 g
ΔR = 10 g
That means any comparison weight between 390 g and 410 g would NOT be
noticeably different than the standard weight of 400 g
