Chapter 1 - The Evolution of Psychological Science

Question 1

William James

Answer 1

(1842 - 1910)
- discovered the science of psychology while in Germany

• went to medical school so he could study psychology
• Wrote “Principles of Psychology”

Question 2

Psychology

Answer 2

Study of mind and behaviour

Question 3

Mind

Answer 3

Refers to a set of private events that happen inside a person

Thoughts and feelings that we experience at every moments but no one else can see

Question 4

Behaviour

Answer 4

Refers to a set of public events

the things we say and do that can potentially be observed by others

Question 5

Rene Descartes

Answer 5

(1596-1650)

• thought that the the mind and body (behaviour) were two completely different things
• the body being material substance and mind immaterial substance therefore, every person is a container of an immaterial thing (mind)
• this is called philosophical dualism

Question 6

Gilbert Ryle

Answer 6

(1949)

Dualism - “ghost in the machine”

Question 7

Philosophical Dualism

Answer 7

the view that mind and body are fundamentally different things

Question 8

Thomas Hobbes

Answer 8

(1588-1679)

Argued that the mind is what the brain does

The brain is a physical object whose activity is known as “the mind”

Question 9

Philosophical Materialism

Answer 9

the view that all mental phenomena are reducible to physical phenomena

Question 10

John Locke

Answer 10

(1632-1704)

Established the concept of philosophical realism

Question 11

Philosophical Realism

Answer 11

the view that our perceptions of the physical world are a faithful copy of information from the world that enters our brains through our sensory apparatus

Question 12

Immanuel Kant

Answer 12

(1724 - 1804)

• He disagreed with philosophical realism
• He argued that we interpret the world around us
• Philosophical Idealism

Question 13

Philosophical Idealisim

Answer 13

the view that our perceptions of the psychical world are our brain’s best interpretations of the information that enters through our sensory apparatus

the brain doesn’t just reflect information you are seeing but rather interpreting it

Question 14

Philosophical Empiricism

Answer 14

the view that all knowledge is acquired through experience

Question 15

Tabula Rasa

Answer 15

“Blank Slate”

Locke believed babies are blank slates where experience writes its story

Question 16

Philosophical Nativism

Answer 16

the view that some knowledge is innate rather than accuired

Kant disagreed with Locke in this as well

He argued that humans are born with some basic knowledge that allows them to acquire additional knowledge

Question 17

nature vs nurture

Answer 17

empiricism vs nativism

Question 18

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Answer 18

(1908)

“Psych has a long past but a short history”