Exam Flashcards
Wilhelm Wundt
Founder of experimental psychology; established the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
Structuralism
An early school of psychology that sought to break down mental processes into their most basic components.
William James
Considered the father of American psychology; known for his work on functionalism and ‘The Principles of Psychology.’
Functionalism
A school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function and how they enable organisms to adapt.
Empiricism
The theory that all knowledge is derived from sense experience, emphasized by philosophers like John Locke and David Hume.
Sensationalism
A doctrine in philosophy that the mind starts as a blank slate and knowledge is formed by sensory experiences.
Positivism
A philosophy that asserts that only scientific knowledge derived from empirical observation is meaningful.
Plato’s Theory of Forms
States that non-material abstract forms, and not the material world, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality.
Aristotle’s Empiricism
Suggested that knowledge comes from experience and that mind and body are closely connected.
Thomas Aquinas
Philosopher and theologian who worked to reconcile faith and reason, blending Christian doctrine with Aristotelian philosophy.
Chapter 4: Renaissance Science and Philosophy
Covers the shift from medieval to modern thought, emphasizing empirical observation and the scientific method.
Rationalism vs. Empiricism
The debate between whether reason or sensory experience is the primary source of knowledge.
Chapter 6: Rationalism
Highlights rationalist philosophers like Descartes and Kant, who argued that reason is the foundation of knowledge.
Chapter 7: Romanticism and Existentialism
Focuses on the emphasis on emotion, individuality, and the human experience, with figures like Rousseau and Nietzsche.
Chapter 8: Physiology and Psychophysics
Explains the early studies on sensory perception and experimental psychology, including Weber and Fechner’s contributions.
