chapter 1 : evolution of psychology (2) Flashcards
What two schools were the most influential in the 1950s in psychology??/before humanists.
Behaviourism and Psychoanalytic theory.
How did humanists consider behaviourism and psychoanalytic theory?
They considered it as “unappealing” and “dehumanizing”.
What was the criticsm for Psychoanalytic and behaviourist theory by the humanists?
Psychoanalytic theory was attacked for its belief that behaviour is dominated by primitive, sexual urges.
Behaviourism was criticized for its preoccupation with the study of simple animal behaviour.
Both theories were criticized because they suggested that people are not masters of their own destinies and both schools of thought failed to recognize the unique qualities of human behaviour.
Define the school of humanism.
In psychology, humanism is a theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth.
Originators of humanism drew upon many diverse influences on their theories. Give example.
Abraham Maslow, for example, used some of his knowledge of Indigenous cultural ideas after living with the Blackfoot First
Nations in Alberta.
Explain the beliefs of humanism.
They maintain that people are not pawns of either their animal heritage or environmental circumstances. Furthermore, they say, because humans are fundamentally different from other animals, research on animals has little relevance to the understanding of human behaviour.
Explain the humaistic perspective of Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.
Rogers argued that human behaviour is governed primarily by each individual’s sense of self, or “self-concept”—which animals presumably lack.
Both he and Maslow maintained that to fully understand people’s behaviour, psychologists must take into account the fundamental human drive toward personal growth.
According to Maslow and Rogers, What was the cause of psychological disturbances?
They asserted that people have a
basic need to continue to evolve as human beings and to fulfill their potential. The humanists argued that many psychological disturbances are the result of thwarting these uniquely human needs.
What is the greatest contribution of humanism?
To date, the humanists’ greatest contribution to psychology has probably been their innovative treatments for psychological problems and disorders.
What was the new approach to psychotherapy pioneered by Carl Rogers?
Carl Rogers pioneered a new approach to
psychotherapy—known as person-centred therapy—that remains extremely influential today.
Who established the first experimental lab in the british empire?
The first experimental laboratory in the British Empire was established by James Mark Baldwin at the University of Toronto in 1891.
Where was the first psychology course offered in Canada?
The first psychology course offered at a Canadian university was likely at Dalhousie in 1838.
What are the objectives of the CPA?
The CPA is Canada’s largest organization for psychology.
It objectives are:-
- To improve the health and welfare of all Canadians
- To promote excellence and innovation in psychological research, education, and practice
- To promote the advancement, development, dissemination, and application of psychological knowledge; and to provide highquality services to members.
Name Candadian psychologists and their contributions.
- Brenda Milner has made crucial contributions to our understanding
of memory, and she was one of the founders of neuropsychology in Canada. - Donald Hebb was the founder of neuroscience.
- Albert Bandura (Social Learning Theory)
What was the first applied arm of psychology to achieve any prominence?
Clinical psychology : clinical psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders.
When did psychologists go from research and academia to becoming clinicians?
That picture changed with swiftness during and after World War II, in the 1940s and
1950s. Because of the war, many academic psychologists were pressed into service as clinicians. They were needed to screen
military recruits and to treat soldiers suffering from trauma.
What is cognition?
Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.
Who were the principle contributors of cognitive psychology?
Jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky and Herbert Simon.
What findings stimulated an increase
in research on the biological, and especially the neurobiological, bases of behaviour?
- James Olds demonstrated that electrical stimulation of the brain could evoke emotional responses such as pleasure and rage in animals.
- Roger Sperry (in 1981), showed that
the right and left halves of the brain are specialized to handle different types of mental tasks. - Donald hebb: Cell-assemblies describe neural networks.
What were Donald hebb’s insights of behaviour?
He argued that the locus of behaviour should be sought in the brain. One of the pivotal concepts he introduced was the cell assembly. Hebb suggested that repeated stimulation leads to the development
of cell assemblies. These cell assemblies resemble cognitive units that together or in concert with other cell assemblies facilitate behaviour.
What caused western psychologists to increase their attention to culture as a determinant of behaviour?
- Advances in communication, travel, and international trade ,brought more North Americans and Europeans into contact with people from non-Western cultures
- The ethnic makeup of the Western world has become an increasingly diverse multicultural mosaic.
What do cultural psychologists aim to do?
Cultural psychologists are striving to understand the unique experiences of culturally diverse people from the point of view of those people, acknowledging the necessity of adopting a respectful relationship to them and their culture.
What is evolutionary psychology?
Evolutionary psychology examines behavioural processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations.
What do evolutionary psychologists believe?
Evolutionary psychologists assert that the patterns of behaviour seen in a species are products of evolution in the same way that anatomical characteristics are.
