Early experimentalists Flashcards
What did Aristotle think about the brain?
The brain was a condenser for heated vapours. Heat rose to top and escaped out of top of head.
What were Descartes’ thoughts on the brain?
Identified pineal gland as important. Didn’t believe hemispheres could perform unified actions
Describe what was said about the Pineal gland
Endocrine gland which secretes melatonin. Object of mythical theories and attributions, Descartes said the seat of the soul.
What was measured for psychometrics? (5)
Intelligence, personality, aptitudes for skills, degree of mental illness, educational problems
Who are the more modern psychologists of 1850-1900? (5)
Weber, Fechner, Wundt, Helmholtz and Pavlov
What is psychometrics and what does it involve? (6)
Science of measuring mental faculties e.g. natural selection, Galton, Binet, Spearman, UK/US development, intelligence
What did Galton state about intelligence?
Individual differences in intelligence must be innate. Intelligence runs in families
What was Galton’s work?
Classified fingerprints and had statistical contribution - devised fingerprint classification system
Who came up with IQ and what is it about?
William Stern introduced IQ. Mental age/chronological age x 100
What are eugenics?
Improving human race by selective breeding. Abandoned after early 20th century. Power of brain related to size, neurological efficiency related to speed of response
Describe Binet intelligence scales
Worked with Theodore Simon to develop tests to identify children with mental handicap. Used words associations, drawing and digit span
Who was involved in UK and US developments?
UK = Cyril Burt, US = Lewis Terman
What was Charles Spearman’s work?
Rival to Binet, said there is general intelligence.
What did Spearman propose performance depended on? (2)
Single g ability/several s abilities and whether g really exists remains controversial.
Define structuralist and gestalt psychology
Structuralist = study of conscious experiences by introspection. Gestalt = Whole is more than its parts
Explain the work of Franz Joseph Gall
Phrenology, brain is centre stage, Comparative anatomist, relieved certain faculties based in specific parts of brain. Thought bumps and indentations on skull reflect size of organs
What was the work of Johames Muller?
Proposed sensations were properties of the nervous system. Senses were states of our nerves, can trick nerves into experiencing things
What did Quetelet propose?
Belgian statistician who showed physical measurement conformed to a normal distribution. Devised Pearson’s correlation coefficient
What were Alfred Binet’s aims?
Aimed to encapsulate individual personality in tests under 2hrs, but concluded it wasn’t possible. Developments in memory, imagination, comprehension, attention e.t.c.
What are the flaws of phrenology? (3)
Shape of skull reflects shape of brain - it doesn’t. Assumed faculties depicted basic human characters. Theory = grounded observation, but could manipulate observations to say anything
Define absolute threshold
Smallest quantities that give any sensation at all
Define relative threshold
Smallest quantitative change (just noticeable differences)
What was the work of E.H.Weber?
Methods for measuring sensitivity of the senses - linked at thresholds. Only notice change when magnitude is bigger than critical fraction.
Define Jnd
A constant fraction of stimulus intensity
Describe rate of neural conduction
Stimulated frog’s leg so foot would twitch. 25 metres per second. In humans it is 50-100 metres per second
What are sensations and perceptions?
Sensations = Raw elements of conscious experience. Perceptions = Meaningful interpretations of sensations
Explain Helmholtz’s trichromatic theory
Only 3 colour receptors, the ability of humans to see different colours is mediated by interactions among 3 types of colour.
Describe Helmholtz’s unconscious inference
Brain’s perceptions contradict the raw sensations. Visual illusions, devise most probable explanation based on prior visual learning experience
What was wrong with Muller’s beliefs compared to Helmholtz’s?
He believed in vitalism where all life has force which gives them vitality. Helmholtz adopted doctrine of mechanism (physical/chemical properties)
What were Wundt’s views?
Cultural psych, interested in language. Founder of experimental psych, says it’s study of mental life/consciousness. Systematic introspection
Describe William James’ thoughts
Didn’t believe in breaking down experiences, pragmatism (true beliefs are those the believer finds useful), functionalism.
What is introspection?
Internal + external observation, sceptical of naïve introspection. Experimental control creates external conditions that are stable across time and participants.
What are the problems of introspection?
Introspecific reports were unverifiable, memory cab play tricks with recollection of psychological states.
What are the 3 categories of consciousness and what do they create?
Representation, willing and feelings. Create impression of unitary flow of events
How can introspection be criticised? (4)
May not agree on introspections, can be classified as retrospection. Imageless thoughts - in problem solvings, ppts cannot report on introspections. We perceive the stable world.
