Chapter 5 The Early Schools of American Psychology Flashcards
what was one of the most prominent issues at the beginning of experimental psychology
the debate over “pure” science versus application –> “pure” is without any practical benefits (for knowledge’s sake), applied was sometimes seen as “tainted”
what was the difference between Wundt and Hall’s psychology
Wundt’s psychology had nothing to do with application, Hall’s promoted application (e.g. child study work)
who was Titchener
got his doctorate from Wundt and was head of a psychology lab –> labelled structural psychology, or “structuralism” (which he supported), and “functionalism” (which he did not support)
what was “structuralism” to Titchener
its emphasis was on discovering the structure of consciousness
what did Watson write about Titchener’s work
opposed his psychology as mentalism –> thought that psychology should discard any reference to consciousness
how did Titchener distinguish between mind and consciousness
- mind = sum-total of mental processing occurring in the lifetime of an individual
- consciousness = sum-total of mental processes occurring now
what problem did Titchener believe psychology was facing (along with all other sciences)
seeking to answer “what”, “how” and “why”
what were the three aims of structuralism to Titchener
- identifying structure of consciousness by identifying its elements
- discovering how elements became grouped and arranged
- determine the causes of the particular arrangement of elements (and why this arrangement)
what did Titchener believe were the three tasks of structuralism
- analysis and synthesis –> produce a purely descriptive science
- make connections between the elements of consciousness and the underlying physiological conditions
what word did Titchener use to sum up the scientific method
observation
to Titchener, what were the two components of observation
- attention to the phenomenon
- making a record of the phenomenon
what word did Titchener use for the method of psychology
introspection – “looking within”
what is another name of structuralisms
introspective psychology
describe how introspection as a method was carried out
- participants asked to do a task (e.g. reading words)
- mental processes allowed to run their course and then the observer would describe the events in as much detail as possible
- observer can interrupt at any point to give an introspective report
describe how Titchener trained his introspectors
- trained them to produce “introspective habit” –> allowed them to function automatically in making their inner observations without disrupting mental processes
- allowed observers to avoid stimulus error (confusing what is observed with the basic elements of a stimulus)
what is stimulus error
confusing what is observed (e.g. a book) with the basic elements of a stimulus (e.g. colour, shape)
what is the synthetic method
procedure made by Titchener in which elements of the original introspective analysis were created synthetically to determine if the original experience could be reproduced –> a “validity check”
what were Titchener’s three elements of consciousness
sensations, images and feelings –> focussed on sensations
what were the four attributes of sensations (Titchener)
- quality (cold, red, loud, salty)
- intensity (brighter/dimmer, louder/softer)
- clearness (distinct/indistinct, dominant/subordinate)
- duration (time course of the sensation)
note: some could have additional attributes, some didn’t have all four (e.g. feelings don’t have clearness)
Describe Titchener’s idea of a periodic table of psychology
identified thousands of distinctive visual sensations and separate auditory sensations
What did Titchener publish
four volumes of “experimental psychology” –> laboratory manuals, two for qualitative experiments, two for quantitative (in each pair one was for teacher and one was for student)
what was the name of Titchener’s organization
the experimentalists –> met once a year, only men were permitted, by invitation only
describe how Titchener’s organization was transformed after his death
society of experimental psychologists –> could invite women
who was Titchener’s first doctoral student
Margaret Washburn –> also first American woman to receive a PhD in psychology, thesis was published in Wundt’s journal, second president of APA
what were some of the topics that Margaret Washburn studied
- personal memory
- interaction of emotion and memory
- attention
- wrote “The Animal Mind”
what is introspection by analogy
human observers of animal behaviour inferred the actions/motives of those animals by analogy to an awareness of their own mental processes –> Washburn wrote about this in her book
describe the school of functionalism
- was never a coherent school
- never had a sole leader
- definition of psychology was broad
- diverse methods and subject matter
- not as “focussed” as structuralism
what were some of the subjects of functionalism
- animal behaviour
- clinical psychology
- psychology of law
- learning
- intelligence testing
what was the main aim of functionalism
what is the utility of consciousness
what was the aim of functionalism in relation to Darwin’s natural selection
- study of individual differences and their role in adaptation
- understanding how consciousness enabled the organism to interact with and adapt to its environment
which three individuals were antecedents to the birth of functionalism
- William James
- Stanley Hall (e.g. recapitulation theory)
- James McKeen Cattell (e.g. mental testing)
describe the contribution of Dewey to the field of functionalism
his article on the reflex arc is typically seen as the official starting point to functional psychology –> argued the reflex should be viewed as a whole/circuit, and initiated the idea of top-up and bottom-down processing
describe Angell’s contributions to functionalism
became chief spokesperson for functional psychology
what did Angell identify as the three conceptions that described functionalism
- functionalism studies mental operations not mental elements
- functionalism seeks to identify the fundamental utilities for consciousness (how it helps organisms adapt)
- functionalism is a psychophysical psychology (acknowledges significance of the mind-body relationship in the service of adaptation)
describe Woodworth’s approach to psychology
he avoided the “extreme” positions in psychology and considered his approach a “middle-of-the-road” psychology –> took issue with structuralism and behaviourism, mostly wanted to examine “what leads people to feel and act as they do” (i.e. motivation)
describe Woodworth’s S-O-R psychology
Stimulus-Organismic variables-Response –> organismic variables are the emotions, motives, personality traits, prejudices, ambitions, attitudes etc.
what did Woodworth introduce in his books
- popularized the terms of independent vs dependent variables
- provided a definition of what an experiment was (only was to determine causality)
- distinguished between experimental and correlational studies
describe some common methods used in functionalism
- introspection (experimental self-observation, not Titchener’s introspection)
- questionnaires
- mental testing methods
- intelligence tests
- personality measures
- animal subjects
what were some common topics in functionalism
sensation and perception, child development, intelligence, sex differences, motivation, abnormal behavior, animal behavior, personality (versus structuralists focus on sensation and perception) –> mainly study of learning (relates to adaptation and consciousness) –> later on clinical and forensic psychology
describe the legacy of functionalism
The functionalists were responsible for the growth of applied psychology, which so dismayed Titchener. They pioneered work in many areas such as child psychology; abnormal psychology; mental testing, including intelligence and personality testing; clinical psychology; industrial and organizational psychology; and other fields as well.
