Chapter 1 Flashcards
The birth of psychology? What happened
December 1879. Wilhelm Wundt & 2 young men created an experimental apparatus. Their machine measured the time lag between people’s hearing a ball hit a platform and their pressing a telegraph key. Wundt was seeking to measure “atoms of the mind”
“Atoms of the mind” are?
The fastest & simplest processes
The new science of psychology became organized into different branches, or schools of thought, each promoted by pioneering thinkers. Two early schools were?
Structuralism and functionalism
What did Wundt’s student, Edward Bradford Titchener do?
He aimed to discover the mind’s structure. He engaged people in self reflective introspection (looking inward), training them to report elements of their experience as they looked at a rose, listened to a metronome, smelled a scent, or tasted a substance. What where their immediate sensations, their images, their feelings? And how did these relate to one another? Alas, introspection proved somewhat unreliable. It required smart verbal people, and its results varied from person to person & experience to experience. As introspection waned, so did structuralism.
Philosopher-psychologist William James thought what?
It would be more fruitful to consider the evolved functions of our thoughts and feelings
Consciousness serves a function, it enables us to?
Consider our past, adjust to our present, and plan our future
William james was a?
Functionalist
The early pioneers of most fields, including psychology, were predominantly men. In 1890, over the objections of Harvard’s president, James admitted Mary Whiton Calkins into his graduate seminar. Why was this relevant?
In those years women lacked even the right to vote. When Calkins joined, the other students (all men) dropped out. So James tutored her alone, later she finished all of Harvard’s Ph.D requirements, outscoring all the male students on the qualifying exams. Alas, Harvard denied her the degree she had earned, offering her a degree from Radcliffe College, its undergraduate “sister” school for women. She resisted the unequal treatment & refused the degree. She went on to become a distinguished memory researcher and the American Psychological Association’s (APA’s) first female president in 1905
The American Psychological Association’s (APA) first female president
Mary Whiton Calkins
Who is Margaret Floy?
First female psychology Ph.D and became APA’s second female president in 1921, she also wrote the influential book, “The Animal Mind”
What is structuralism?
Early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Titchener; used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind
What is functionalism?
Early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function-how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish
What event defined the start of scientific psychology?
Scientific psychology began in Germany in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology lab.
Why did introspection fail as a method for understanding how the mind works?
People’s self-reports varied, depending on the experience and the person’s intelligence & verbal ability
_____ used introspection to define the mind’s makeup; ______ focused on how mental processes enable us to adapt, survive, & flourish
Structuralism; functionalism
In the fields early days, many psychologists shared with the english essayist C.S. Lewis the view that “there is one thing, and only one in the whole universe which we know more about than we could learn from external observation” That one thing, Lewis said, is ourselves
“We have, so to speak, inside information”. Wundt & Titchener focused on inner sensations, images, & feelings.
John B Watson and later B.F. Skinner dismissed introspection and redefined psychology as?
“The scientific study of observable behavior”. You cannot observe a sensation, a feeling, or a thought they said, but you can observe and record people’s behavior as they respond to different situations. Many agreed and the behaviorists became one of psychologies two major forces well into the 1960s
Another major force was Freudian psychology which emphasized the?
Ways our unconscious thought processes and our emotional responses to childhood experiences affect our behavior
As behaviorists rejected the early 1900’s definition of psychology, two other groups rejected the behaviorists definition in the 1960’s. The first, the humanistic psychologists led by Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow Found?
Both Freudian psychology & behaviorism to limiting. Rather than focusing on the meaning of early childhood memories or on the learning of conditioned responses, the humanistic psychologists drew attention to ways that current environmental influences can nurture or limit our growth potential, & the importance of having our needs for love & acceptance satisfied
Cognitive psychology scientifically explores?
How we perceive, process, & remember information, and even why we can get anxious or depressed
Cognitive neuroscience
An interdisciplinary study, it has enriched our understanding of the brain activity underlying mental activity
To encompass psychology’s concern with observable behavior and with inner thoughts and feelings, today we define psychology as?
The science of behavior and mental processes.
- Behavior is anything an organism does- any action we can observe & record. Yelling, smiling, blinking, sweating, talking, and questionnaire marking are all observable behaviors.
- Mental processes are the internal, subjective experiences we infer from behavior-sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings
A leading behaviorist, rejected introspection and studied how consequences shape behavior
B.F. Skinner
The controversial ideas of this famed personality theorist and therapist have influenced humanity’s self-understanding
Sigmund Freud
How did the cognitive revolution affect the field of psychology?
It recaptured the field’s early interest in mental processes and made them legitimate topics for scientific study
What is behaviorism?
The view that psychology 1) should be an objective science that 2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with 1 but not with 2
What is humanistic psychology?
Historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people
What is cognitive neuroscience?
The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition (including perception, thinking, memory, and language)
What is the nature nurture issue?
The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits & behaviors. Today’s psychological science sees traits and behaviors arising from the interaction of nature and nurture
The greek philosopher Plato assumed that?
We inherit character and intelligence and that certain ideas are inborn.
- Aristotle countered that there is nothing in the mind that does not first come in from the external world through the senses
Natural selection
From among chance variations, nature selects traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment
Nurture works on what nature endows
Our species is biologically endowed with an enormous capacity to learn and adapt
What is contemporary psychology’s position on the nature-nurture debate?
Psychological events often stem from the interaction of nature and nurture, rather than from either of them acting alone
The principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction & survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations
Natural selection
The differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon
Levels of analysis
Biopsychosocial approach is
An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, & social cultural levels
- Natural selection of adaptive traits
- Genetic predispositions responding to environment
- Brain mechanisms
- Hormonal influences
These are all what type of influence?
Biological
- Learned fears and other learned expectations
- Emotional responses
- Cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations
These are all what type of influence?
Psychological influence
- Presence of others
- Cultural, societal, and family expectations
- Peer & other group influences
- Compelling models (such as in the media)
These are all what type of influence?
Social-cultural influences
This integrated viewpoint incorporates various levels of analysis and offers a more complete picture of any given behavior or mental process
Biopsychosocial approach
For anger, someone working from ______ perspective might study brain circuits that cause us to be “red in the face” and “hot under the collar”
Neuroscience perspective
For anger, someone working from _______ perspective might analyze how anger facilitated the survival of our ancestors’ genes
Evolutionary
For anger, someone working from the _______ perspective might study how heredity and experience influence our individual differences in temperament
Behavior genetics perspective
For anger, someone working from the ________ perspective might view and outburst as an outlet for unconscious hostility
Psychodynamic perspective
How the body & brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
Neuroscience
How the natural selection of traits has promoted the survival of genes
Evolutionary
How our genes and our environment influence our individual differences
Behavior genetics
How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts
Psychodynamic
How we learn observable responses
Behavior
How we encode, process, store and retrieve information
Cognitive
How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures
Social-cultural
For anger, someone working from the _______ perspective might attempt to determine which external stimuli trigger angry or aggressive acts
Behavioral perspective
For anger, someone working from the _______ perspective might study how our interpretation of a situation affects our anger and how our anger affects our thinking
Cognitive
For anger, someone working from the ________ perspective might explore how expressions of anger vary across cultural contexts
Social-cultural
Psychology is united by a common quest
Describing and explaining behavior and the mind underlying it
Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
Basic research
Biological psychologists explore
The links between brain and mind
Developmental psychologists study
Our changing abilities from womb to tomb
Cognitive psychologists experiments with
How we perceive, think, and solve problems
Personality psychologists investigate our?
Persistant traits
Social psychologists explore
How we view and affect one another
Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
Applied research
Industrial-organizational psychologists use?
Psychology’s concepts & methods in the workplace to help organizations and companies select and train employees, boost morale & productivity, design products, and implement systems
What is counseling psychology?
A branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or relationships) and in achieving greater well-being
What is clinical psychology?
A branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
What two types of psychology’s administer and interpret tests, provide counseling and therapy, and sometimes conduct basic and applied research?
Counseling and clinical psychology
What do psychiatrists do?
A branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy
What is positive psychology?
The scientific study of human functioning, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities thrive
The psychological analysis of historical characters
Psychohistory