Chapter 1: psych evo Flashcards
What is the branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems?
Applied Psychology
What contributed to the rise of applied psychology?
Functionalism and Binet’s intelligence test
What was the branch of psychology that emerged first- applied or clinical psychology?
Clinical Psychology
What is the branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders?
Clinical psychology
When did clinical psychology shift away from research to clinical work and why?
During WWII, they were needed to screen recruits and treat soldiers for trauma
What is any overt/observable response or activity by an organism?
Behaviour
When and why did behaviour become the primary focus of psychology?
In the early 1900s, following Watson’s foundation of behaviourism. The scientific method could be applied because behaviour is observable
What is the theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should only study observable behaviour?
Behaviourism
Who founded behaviourism?
John B Watson
Why is the scientific method so highly valued?
Because objectively observed behaviour can be replicated and verified
Why was consciousness deemed not to be a proper subject for scientific study?
Because it could not be observed; it is subjective and relies on self-reporting
What is the behaviourist interpretation of the nature vs nurture debate?
That behaviour is governed primarily by the environment and heredity is of low importance
Who believed that psychology’s mission was to relate overt behaviours to observable events in the environment?
The behaviourists
What is considered to be any detectable input from the environment?
A stimulus
What is the behavioural approach often referred to as and why?
Stimulus-response psychology (S-R) because behaviourists studied stimulus response relationships
Who discovered the S-R relationship and how?
Ivan Pavlov discovered the relationship while studying digestion in dogs when the dog began to salivate when it heard the mechanism for the meat powder dispenser.
Who was Ivan Pavlov?
A Russian physician who discovered the stimulus-response relationship in 1904
Which theory challenged behaviourism and why?
Gestalt theory because psychology should study conscious experience
What is the basic principle of Gestalt theory?
That the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Who championed Gestalt theory?
Max Wertheimer
Who established the first psychology lab, when and where?
Wilhelm Wundt, 1879, Leipzig
Who started the first psychological journal and when?
Wilhelm Wundt in 1881
What was psychology first established to study?
Concious experience
What school of thought did Wundt establish?
Structuralism
What is the basis of structuralism?
That psychology should analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how they relate, particularly sensations, feelings and images
What research method did structuralism apply?
Introspection and self-reporting
What is introspection?
Self-observation of one’s own conscious experience
What were Wundt’s rules for the study of introspection?
1- the observer/introspectionist must be in a state of ‘strained attention’
2- the observation must be able to repeat several times
3- the stimuli must be manipulable
What limits did Edward Titchner apply to structuralist research?
Would not allow common everyday words in subject self-reporting for description which he called stimulus error
Who was Edward Titchner?
One of the fathers of structuralism
Who is William James?
The founder of Functionalism who wrote the Principles of Psychology, a standard text at the time
What is Functionalism?
The belief that psychology should investigate the function of consciousness, not the structure
What were the main limitations of structuralism?
There could be no independent evaluation and training was required to make subjects more objective and aware
What/who influenced William James?
Darwin and the theory of natural selection
What is the theory that heritable characteristics that provide a survival or reproductive advantage are more likely to be passed on to subsequent generations?
Natural selection
What did William James feel needed to be understood?
The flow of thoughts
What did James call the flow of thoughts?
The stream of consciousness
What is the stream of consciousness?
The flow of thoughts that can’t be analyzed at only static points
What about behaviour was James interested in?
How people adapted behaviour to the real world
What other psychology features did functionalism give rise to?
Behaviourism and applied psychology
What did Washburn write in 1908 and what was the significance?
The Animal Mind, which spurred behaviourism and animal research
What did Sigmund Freud do?
Came up with psychoanalysis and the concept of the unconscious
What are thoughts, memories and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness that exert great influence on behaviour?
The unconscious
What theory attempts to explain personality, memory & mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behaviour?
Psychoanalytic theory
Why were Freud’s theories initially rejected?
Because they were re sexual subjects and were considered unscientific methods- unobservable
How was Freud more widely legitimized?
His theories became popular requiring scientific methods to be applied
Who was B F Skinner?
The father of radical behaviourism
What was Skinner’s most controversial claim?
That free will is an illusion
What were Skinner’s primary publications?
Science and Human Behaviour & Beyond Freedom and Dignity (free will)
What was Skinner’s main principle underlying behaviour?
Organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes and not to repeat responses that lead to negative ones
What was Skinner’s argument regarding the role of physiology?
That it was not required to understand psychology or predict behaviour
What was Skinner’s most important development?
Operant conditioning
What was the dominant school of thought in the 50s-60s?
Behaviourism
When was the cognitive revolution and who was involved?
In 1956 at a conference where Chomsky (language), Miller (memory) and Simon (problem solving) presented their findings in one day
What brought on Humanism?
Criticism that the unique qualities of human behaviour were being overlooked.
What theory emphasizes the unique qualities of humans in particular their freedom and potential for growth?
Humanism
Who were the main proponents of Humanism?
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
What was Carl Rogers’ main point?
That human behaviour is governed by a sense of self/self concept which animals lack.
Who produced the Obedience to authority experiment and what sub-discipline did it develop?
Stanley Milgram in 1963, social psychology
What is a social psychologist?
A researcher who focuses on interpersonal behaviour and the role of social forces in governing behaviour
What are typical topics studied in social psychology?
Attitude formation, attitude change, prejudice, conformity, attraction, aggression, intimate relationships and groups
What is the definition of psychology?
The science that studies behaviour and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of of this science to practical problems
What is the approach that uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative and fulfilling aspects of human existence?
Positive psychology
What are the 3 main interests of positive psychology?
1- positive subjective experiences
2- positive individual traits
3- positive institutions & communities
Who developed positive psychology?
Martin Seligman
What is a theory?
A system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations
What is empiricism?
the premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation
What is the ability to use the characteristics and format of a cognitive test to maximize one’s test score?
Testwiseness
What is SQR3?
Study system designed to promote effective reading with 5 steps
What are the 5 steps of SQR3?
1- Survey 2- Question 3- Read 4- Recite 5- Review
What is the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders
Psychiatry
What is the area of psychology research concerned with the measurement of behaviour and capacities through the dev of psychological tests, designing tests to assess personality, intelligence and abilities, and new techniques for statistical analysis?
Psychometrics
What is the area of research for describing and understanding individuals’ consistency in behaviour, shape and assessment of that consistency in behaviour?
Personality psychology
What is the type of psychologist that works in business and industry including HR, staff morale and attitude improvement, job satisfaction and productivity increase and examining org structures and procedures?
Industrial and organization psychologist
What is area of psychology research that includes the traditional core science topics of sensation, perception, learning, conditioning, motivation and emotion?
Experimental psychology
What is the psychology that examines behavioural processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations?
Evolutionary psychology
Who are the main researchers behind evolutionary psychology?
Buss, Cosmides & Tooby
What is the tendency to view one’s own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging the worth of foreign ways?
Ethnocentrism
What is the area of research that looks at human development across the lifespan?
Developmental psychology
How many areas of psychology research are there?
Seven: developmental, social, experimental, physiological, cognitive, personality & psychometrics
How many specialties are there in applied psychology?
Four: Clinical, counselling, Education/school & Industrial/Organizational
What’s the difference between psychiatry and clinical psychology?
Psychiatry takes the medical approach while clinical psychology doesn’t; psychiatrists are medical doctors
What is culture?
Widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations
What is the use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome?
Critical thinking
What is the professional practice of interviewing, testing and providing therapy, providing assistance to people struggling with everyday problems of moderate severity?
Counselling psychology
What is the difference between clinical and counselling psychology?
They overlap re engaging in similar activities such as interviewing, testing and providing therapy however they can differ in general clientele and severity of problems and treatment approach
What is the professional practice of evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of people with psychological disorders and behavioural and emotional problems, including interviewing, testing and providing psychotherapy?
Clinical psychology
What is the mental process involved in acquiring knowledge?
Cognition
What is the area of research that focuses on higher mental processes such as reasoning, memory, information processing, language, problem solving, creativity and decision making?
Cognitive psychology
What is the area of research that examines the influence of genetic factors on behaviour and the roles of the brain, nervous system, endocrine system and bodily chemicals in the regulation of behaviour?
Physiological psychology
Who is G Stanley Hall and what did he do?
He was the first to set up a psych lab in the US in 1883 at Johns Hopkins, started the first US journal for psychology in 1887, and founded the American Psychological Association in 1892 and was its first president; he was behind the major growth and spread of psychology in America
Who set up the first psychology research lab in Canada?
James Mark Baldwin at the U of T in 1891
Who was the first Canadian to be president of the APA?
John Wallace Baird in 1918
What year was the Canadian Psychological Association formed?
1939
Who is Brenda Milner?
key researcher in understanding memory and one of founders of neuropsychology in Canada
Who is Donald Hebb?
Canadian professor at McGill who highlighted importance of physiology, neuropsychology, precursor to cognitive revolution and emphasized the role of the brain on behaviour and came up with concept of cell assembly
What was Hebb’s concept of the cell assembly?
repeated stimulation leads to the development of cell assemblies that resemble cognitive units and facilitate behaviour
How many and what are the key themes in psychology?
Seven: 1- Psych is Empirical
2- Psych is theoretically diverse
3- Psych evolves in a sociohistorical context
4- Behaviour is determined by multiple causes
5- Behaviour is shaped by cultural heritage
6- Heredity and environment jointly influence behaviour
7- People’s experience of the world is highly subjective
Which of the 7 key themes apply to research?
1- Psych is Empirical
2- Psych is theoretically diverse
3- Psych evolves in a sociohistorical context
Which of the 7 key themes relate in subject matter?
4- Behaviour is determined by multiple causes
5- Behaviour is shaped by cultural heritage
6- Heredity and environment jointly influence behaviour
7- People’s experience of the world is highly subjective
