Chapter 6: The Birth of the New Applied Psychology in America Flashcards
Why was Hollingworth’s research on caffeine useful (four reasons)
- background: conducted 3 major studies on Coca Cola and showed few harmful effects from caffeine in humans
- excellent use of scientific methodology
- one of earliest studies of psychopharmacology in humans
- first research undertaken by a psychologist for a major corporation
- one of earliest examples of a psychologist testifying as an expert witness in a trial (i.e. forensic psychology)
who was involved in answering the question about whether applied scientific psychology was useful outside the laboratory
Titchener –> said he stood for pure science without regard to utility, criticized applied use of psychology
what did people argue about the starting point of applied psychology
- some said applied psychology emerged after WWI, but this wasn’t true
- Hall’s work on child study movement was earliest example
- shortly after this, psychological scientists started “selling” their product to the general public
describe the work on psychological abnormality in early 20th c. psychology
- not uppermost in mind of early experimental psychologists
- most interested in understanding the normal mind, rather than the “diseased” mind –> these people would not be able to introspect
- psychological abnormality was already in domain of psychiatry and neurology (e.g. mental asylum movement led by psychiatrist)
what led to increased focus on psychological abnormality in the field of psychology
- cities grew and families were packed into more densely populated areas
- home care of “mentally disturbed” families became more of a problem
- people in community felt threatened by these individuals
- in asylums, used moral therapy
- as numbers increased, moral therapy became less feasible
what is moral therapy
combination of occupational therapy, exercise, religious training, recreation, personal hygiene and participation in activities (e.g. gardening, music, etc.) –> this is how mental asylums decided to deal with most psychological cases and mental illnesses
who was Lightner Witmer
- re-opened psychology lab at Penn after returning from Leipzig
- first case was with a boy who had difficulty spelling –> believed memory might play a role and psychology could treat this
- founded the first psychological clinic in the world –> brought up its success to the APA and hoped his field would establish training programs for people to treat difficult cases
- named the field “clinical psychology”
describe the nature of Witmer’s psychological clinic
- initially saw all cases himself
- most were children brought in for learning disabilities or behavioural disorders
- founded new journal called the psychological clinic –> detailed cases and diagnoses in case others wanted to open a similar clinic
describe Witmer’s “clinical method”
- created specialized graduate program curriculum to prepare students for this practical work
- team approach employing a physician and social worker
- tested patient, rendered diagnosis, designing/conducting treatment
what were some of the tests done on children in Witmer’s clinical method
- referred to clinic through school system
- undergo anthropometric, optometric and psychometric examination
- e.g. tests of memory, visual discrimination, etc.
why was a physician involved in Witmer’s clinical method
to rule out any kind of medical problem (e.g. ensuring normal vision and hearing, muscle movement, etc.)
what were the most common diagnoses that came from Witmer’s clinical method
- educational handicap (e.g. learning disability or intellectual disability i.e. “feeblemindedness”) and disorders of conduct
- “mentally or morally retarded children”
- shifted to emphasis on intellectual giftedness
what were some of the specialty clinics added to Witmer’s clinical program
- diagnosis and correction of speech defects
- vocational guidance
- counselling for university students
describe experimental psychology’s initial venture into the business world
- initially was through the field of advertising
- advertising was crucial with addition of telegraphs, magazines, railroads, and other new technologies
- businesses wanted proof advertising was effective –> wanted expertise to help understand the motives, desires and behaviour of consumers
who was Walter Scott
- earned doctorate with Wundt
- founder of industrial/organizational psychology
- wrote articles on the psychology of advertising (even though had no expertise in this field)
- wrote about suggestion, perception, illusions, mental imagery, and value of return coupon
- used knowledge on perception, motivation, etc. to apply to advertising
what were the two techniques Scott discussed in terms of applying suggestion to advertising
- direct commands (i.e. “use this”) –> suggest a particular action without arousing competing actions
- the return coupon –> suggested a direct action (cut out coupon, fill it out and mail it in)
–> both tried to stimulate compulsive obedience
describe Scott’s discussion on the importance of mental imagery
- discussed how mental imagery was an important means of suggestion
- advertisements should describe objects so the consumer can hear/feel/taste/smell it
what did Hollingworth study in the field of business
- the effectiveness of advertising
- e.g. looked at effectiveness of return coupons –> how many sales did they generate
- components of buying behaviour
what was Münsterberg’s focus in psychology
- didn’t stay in James’s psychology lab for long
- began writing articles for popular magazines
- increased applied work and abandoned lab
- industrial psychology, psychology and law, teaching, psychotherapy, psychology of motion pictures
- major figure in applied psychology
describe Münsterberg’s work on efficiency
- promoted psychology as a science of human efficiency
- key to business efficiency was matching skills and talents of worker to the requirements of the job –> more satisfied worker, better job productivity
- believed there were assessment tools to discover the perfect match –> people believed he could ensure happier workers, safer work environments, and greater work production
what is Münsterberg often labelled as
founded of industrial psychology
who was Lillian Gilbreth
- published book on psychology of management
- did not publish with first name –> thought people would not buy book if knew author was female
- worked with her husband in the efficiency movement
- after husband passed, she continued research on homemaking (e.g. kitchen designing, how humans interact with equipment)
describe Gilbreth’s technique of time-motion studies
used this as a way to analyze components of a job and make recommendations about adjustments/changes to increase efficiency
describe the vocational guidance movement
- growing concerns about school dropouts and juvenile delinquency
- expansion of job choices with urbanization and technological advancements
- wanted to help people make choices about their life’s work –> exploration and counselling
what did Parsons outline as the three steps in choosing a career wisely
- knowledge of yourself
- knowledge of occupations
- knowledge of the relationship between the two
describe the argument about whether vocational guidance was part of the field of education or psychology
- some thought teachers and administrators should provide the needed counselling
- psychologists thought it should be in their field, especially with growing confidence in mental testing
- could test individual differences in domains of personality and intellect and match them with occupations
who was Henry Goddard
- assembled various pieces of apparatus from psychological laboratory to test children at Vineland
- wanted to develop a measure that differentiated children with an intellectual disability (current labels were “idiot” and “imbecile” and “moron”) –> idiot was lowest level, moron was highest
who was Alfred Binet
his test became model for intelligence testing for rest of the 20th c.
describe the usefulness of the Binet-Simon measuring scale for intelligence
correlated positively with performance in school subjects (unlike Cattell’s tests)
describe the Stanford-Binet Intelligence test
- leading instrument for intellectual assessment
- unrivaled for 30+ years until Wechsler developed his tests
describe the difference in how Goddard vs Terman used the Binet test of intelligence
- Goddard used it for children with below average intelligence
- Terman researched children who were gifted
- Stanford-Binet test made ratio of mental age to chronological age (IQ)
how were intelligence tests used in WWI
- given to groups (rather than individuals)
- Army Alpha and Army Beta tests
- Beta was for those who did not speak English or who were illiterate
who initiated the field of eugenics
- Francis Galton (also did mental testing) –> designed to improve human race by offering incentives for the “best and brightest” people to marry (to increase their number in the population and facilitate human evolution)
- Goddard was one of the leaders of this movement
describe Goddard’s work in eugenics
- work with the “feebleminded” caused him to see if everywhere he looked
- published on the dangers to society of intellectually challenged individuals
- led to enactment of eugenics laws
what was outlined by eugenics laws
- prevented marriage of individuals deemed mentally ill or intellectually challenged to ensure they would not reproduce
- Goddard was not against the laws, but thought it was more humane to build facilities to segregate these individuals from the rest of society
- mostly women and girls were affected by these laws (labeled “mentally ill” or “socially unfit”)
describe how Goddard described eugenics in relation to immigrants
- characterized immigrants as “undesirable”
- used intelligence tests to evaluate immigrants suspected of feeblemindedness –> many were returned to their countries with this diagnosis
- eventually became time-consuming to give these tests to all immigrants, so had “professionals” identify these individuals based on how their appeared (kind of physiognomy)
what brought upon the end of the eugenics movement
- Hitler complimented the US on its eugenic measures to improve American society
- eugenic views were then found to be “tainted” in n unacceptable way to Americans
describe Münsterberg’s work on the psychology of law
- work in forensic psychology studying accuracy of memory and validity of eyewitness testimony
- problems of false confessions, crime prevention, lie detection, jury decision-making, etc.
describe Münsterberg’s work on the murder trial involving Ivens
- Ivens was accused of murder
- was diagnosed with an intellectual disability and was going to be executed
- confessed to murder, later retracted confession
- Münsterberg believed confession was obtained under duress and deception –> “false confession”
- court ruled against this and hanged Ivens
