Chapter 1

Question 1

what is psychology?

Answer 1

is the scientific study of mental processes and behaviour (thinking and doing)

Question 2

what is mental processes?

Answer 2

activities of our brain when thinking, observing and using language

Question 3

what is behaviour?

Answer 3

observable activities of an organism

Question 4

what are the 3 levels of analysis?

Answer 4

1.) the brain - brain structure and function
2.) the person - thoughts and feelings
3.) the group - family, friends, culture

Question 5

what are the roots (3 parents) of psychology?

Answer 5

philosophy, physiology, psychodynamics

Question 6

philosophy

Answer 6

• aristotle, plato and socrates asked questions about the mind
• the first to wonder nurtured vs natured; birth vs acquired
• developed scientific methods, asking and posing questions

Question 7

physiology

Answer 7

• descartes contemplated mind-body dualism (the mind is separate from the body)
• locke argued we learn by experience: everything we know today is a result of learning, and were born as a “blank slate”

Question 8

psychophysics

Answer 8

• the relationship between the things out in the world and how it gets to your system
• how people respond to the same stimuli over time
• fechner quantified mental events

Question 9

what did William Wundt do?

Answer 9

• opened the first psychology lab in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany
• make psychology into a science by performing experiments and measuring observations
• measured and studied consciousness by having people push a button when they heard a ball drop vs when they were aware of hearing the ball drop

Question 10

what did G. Stanley Hall do?

Answer 10

• in 1883, established the first psychology lab in North America
• in 1887, launched America’s first psychology journal
• in 1892, a major played in establishing the American Psychology Association (APA)

Question 11

what did James Mark Baldwin do?

Answer 11

• in 1890, established the first psychology lab in Canada at U of T (birth of psychology in Canada)
• was influenced by the scientific perspective

Question 12

what was the battle of the schools?

Answer 12

• deciding what to study and the focus on psychology should be
• structuralism (Edward Titchener) vs functionalism (William James)

Question 13

what is structuralism?

Answer 13

• study the structure of the mind and the basic elements of consciousness (different parts of your brain)
• relied on introspection (going inside yourself and reporting on yourself)
• NOT scientific

Question 14

what is functionalism?

Answer 14

• sought to understand the function or purpose of consciousness (how people adapt their behaviour to the world around them)
• In 1980, wrote and published Principles of Psychology
• led to other schools of thought - behaviourism, applied psychology

Question 15

what did Gestalt Psychologists say?

Answer 15

• said consciousness cannot be broken down into elements
• the whole is fundamentally different than its parts (not just a sum)
• learning is tied to what we perceive

Question 16

what are the 5 different perspectives on behaviour?

Answer 16

psychoanalysis, behaviourism, humanistic psychology, cognitive psychology, and psychobiology/neuroscience

Question 17

who was involved with psychoanalysis?

Answer 17

Sigmund Freud, 1900s

Question 18

what did Sigmund Freud say about psychoanalysis?

Answer 18

• focused on the role of the consciousness (drives, wishes, needs, desires of which were not aware)
• sexual drive and aggressive urges
• emphasized the importance of early childhood experiences (things that happen to you when you are young can change you for the rest of your life, even if you don’t remember it)

Question 19

who was involved with behaviourism?

Answer 19

John B Watson, Ivan Pavlov, B.F Skinner, Albert Bandura

Question 20

what did John B. Watson about behavourism?

Answer 20

• emphasized psychology’s focus on observable behaviour changed from mental processes
• showed that phobias can be learned (Little Albert & mice)

Question 21

what did Ivan Pavlov say about behaviourism?

Answer 21

• studied classical conditioning on dogs

Question 22

what did B.F Skinner say about behaviourism?

Answer 22

• showed how consequences of behaviour can influence future behaviour → what comes after a behaviour affects what you do next time
• studied rats and pigeons

Question 23

what did Albert Bandura say about behaviourism?

Answer 23

described learning by social observation → you can watch other people and determine consequences from others

Question 24

who was involved with humanistic psychology?

Answer 24

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

Question 25

what did Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers say about humanistic psychology?

Answer 25

• argued that psychoanalysis and behaviourism were de-humanizing
• emphasized the unique qualities of humans (focused on freedom and personal growth)

Abraham Maslow = developed term “self actualization” and the needs we need to fill
Carl Rogers = revolutionized therapeutic methods, client centered therapy, how to make them comfortable

Question 26

who was involved with cognitive psychology?

Answer 26

Neisser, Miller and Chomsky in 1950’s and 1960’s
- became the dominant perspective in psychology

Question 27

what did Neisser, Miller and Chomsky say about cognitive psychology?

Answer 27

• applied the scientific method to study mind/mental processes (language, memory, decision making, intelligence)

Question 28

who was involved with psychobiology and neuroscience?

Answer 28

Karl Lashley, Donald Hebb, Wilder Penfield, Roger Sperry

Question 29

what did Karl Lashley say about psychobiology and neuroscience?

Answer 29

• observed behavioural changes in rats after removing parts of their brain
• believed that memory is found in one part of the brain but is actually distributed across the brain in a network

Question 30

what did Wilder Penfield say about psychobiology and neuroscience?

Answer 30

mild electrical stimulation of different areas of the brain evokes different responses

Question 30

what did Donald Hebb say about psychobiology and neuroscience?

Answer 30

• cell assemblies describe neural networks
• discovered changes in the brain at a cellular level when you learn

Question 30

what did Roger Sperry say about psychobiology and neuroscience?

Answer 30

• split brain cell
• discovered that the human brain has specialized functions on the right and left, and that the two sides operate practically independent