Chapter 1- Psychology: Yesterday And Today

Question 1

What are the four goals of psychologists?

Answer 1

-description of what they observe
-explanation of why a mental process/behaviour is occurring
-prediction of the circumstances that lead to a certain behaviour/mental process
-provide advice on how to control behaviour and mental processes

Question 2

Who is Rene Descartes? (1596-1650)

Answer 2

He was the first of the modern philosophers and an early scientist. He believed that the meaning of the natural world should be understood via science and math

Question 3

Who is Johannes Muller? (1801-1858)

Answer 3

Johannes advocated for scientists to study the relationship between physical stimuli and their psychological effects

Question 4

Who is Herman von Helmholtz? (1821-1858)

Answer 4

Herman measured the speed of neural impulses and discovered that neural impulses were’t instantaneous

Question 5

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and what did he proposed?

Answer 5

-proposed the theory of evolution in his book THE ORGIN OF THE SPECIES
- proposed natural selection ONE’S BEHAVIOUR IS PASSED DOWN FROM PARENTS TO CHILDREN
-proposed adaptive variations SOME ARE MORE ADVANTAGEOUS CUZ THEY HELP AN ORGANISM SURVIVE

Question 6

Who is Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)?

Answer 6

-father of experimental psy.
-established the first psy an in 1897 in Germany
-studied psy via empirically-driven experiments
-focused on the study of consciousness
-developed psy paradigm of voluntarism

Question 7

Who is Edward Titchener (1867-1927)

Answer 7

-Developed structuralism to identify all elements of consciousness
-introspection—careful, reflective and systematic observation of details of mental processes
-the goal was to describe observable mental processes rather than to explain, predict or control

Question 8

William James (1842-1910)

Answer 8

-set up the first psy lab in US
-believed mental processes were fluid (stream of consciousness) instead of fixed elements (structuralists pov)
-functionalist scientists used empirical methods that focused on the causes and consequences of behaviour
-emphasis was placed on the studying animals, children and individuals with mental disorders

Question 9

Gestalt Psychologists

Answer 9

-Consciousness can’t be broken down into elements and that we perceive things as while perceptual units
-The whole is greater than the sum of its parts and learning is tied to what we perceive

Question 10

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Answer 10

-belief that peoples’ behaviour are based on their unconscious desires and conflicts
-developed psychoanalysis that aimed to resolve unconscious conflicts

Question 11

What is behaviourism?

Answer 11

Psychological research should only focus on behaviour you can observe

Question 12

Edward Thorndike( 1874-1949)

Answer 12

Proposed research findings from the study of animals could help explain human behaviour

Question 13

Ivan Pavlov (1894-1936)

Answer 13

Discovered dogs could learn to associate a bell with an automatic behaviour called classical conditioning

Question 14

John B. Watson (1878-1958)

Answer 14

Conducted the “Little Albert” experience t demonstrating children (people) could be classically conditioned

Question 15

B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

Answer 15

-developed operant conditioning to shape behaviour
-used reinforcement to change the frequency of the expression of a behaviour
-positive reinforcement increases and negative reinforcement decreases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring

Question 16

Albert Bandura ( 1925-)

Answer 16

described learning by social observation in children

Question 17

Humanistic Psychology

Answer 17

A person has a capacity for personal and positive growth AND the freedom to choose their destiny

Question 18

Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

Answer 18

-developed “client centred therapy”
-the client is an equal and a clients thoughts and feelings should be mirrored
-the atmosphere should have unconditional support and positive regard

Question 19

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

Answer 19

Developed a theory of motivation that consists of a hierarchy of needs

Question 20

Ulric Neisser (1928-2012)

Answer 20

-Coined the term “cognitive psychology” as the study of information processing
-cognitive psychologists compared the human mind to a computer

Question 21

Cognitive psy—cultural psychology

Answer 21

The study of how cognitive processes vary across different populations due to socio-cultural environments

Question 22

Cognitive psy—cross cultural psychology

Answer 22

The study of the cognitive processes that are universal regardless of culture

Question 23

Psychobiology/neuroscience

Answer 23

The study of brain structure and activity and how this relates to/controls behaviour

Question 24

Karl Lashley (1890-1958)

Answer 24

Attempted to determine which areas of the brain are responsible for memory, learning and other functions

Question 25

Donald Herb (1904-1985)

Answer 25

-Canadian scientist that developed the concept of a cell assembly
-neutrons develop networks of connections based on experiences as we develop and interact with our environments

Question 26

What is behavioural genetics

Answer 26

the influence of gene expression on brain development and its control of human behaviour

Question 27

What is sociobiologists

Answer 27

Humans have a genetically innate concept of how social behaviour should be organized

Question 28

What is evolutionary psychology

Answer 28

How the process of evolution has shaped our brain and expression of behaviour

Question 29

Psychology is:

Answer 29

-theory driven: used theories to explain behaviour
-empirical: based on research
-multi-level: explained by the brain, the individual and the group
-contextual: psychological perspectives continue to evolve which impacts work in psy.

Question 30

What is positive psychology

Answer 30

New psychological movement that studies human strengths, fulfillment and creativity