Foundations of psychology Flashcards
What are the main steps of introspection
- stimulus
- inspecting your thoughts
- draw conclusions
Define cognitive psychology
The study of mental processes such as attention, memory, problem solving and creativity
Define epigenetics and what does it have to do with early psychology
Epigenetics describe the study of environmental influences on the expression of our genes. Early psychology was often associated with philosophy and questions about the mind/consciousness so debates about nature vs nurture were relevant.
Define psychoanalytic theory
A personality theory that views the mind as a set of conflicting processes mostly hidden from awareness
How did Broca’s work support materialism
Broca discovered that damaging specific parts of the brain could lead to the impairement of specfic functions. Eg. Louis ‘tan’
How did freud view hysterical symptoms
He viewed them as related to past unresolved trauma that was pushed out of awareness and now manifested as physical symptoms
How did functionalism viewed consciousness and what did it think about mental processes
It viewed consciousness as a flowing stream rather than multiple elements. For functionalism, mental processes were a direct product of natural selection since they thought that having a consciousness could benefit survival.
How were the experiments conducted for structuralism
Using introspection, a method based on people’s self-report on their subjective experiences
John B. Watson is famous for which experiment
Little Albert, who was the subject in his experiment that had the goal to see if fear could be taught. He would be let alone with a lab rat and when Litlle Albert would come in contact with it, the experimenters would ring a loud gong noise. Eventually, Little Albert started fearing the rat.
What are the five dimensions known as the big five
conscientiousness
agreeableness
neuroticism
openness
extraversion
What are the five stages in the pyramid of Maslow, in order of importance
- physiological needs
- safety needs
- love and belonging
- esteem
- self-actualization
What are the three composites of the mind according to freud
- ID (0% awareness)
- Present since birth
- Pleasure/instincts
- Based on a wanting/needs basis
- The “devil” on your shoulder - Super-ego (25% awareness)
- Moralistic
- Opposite of ID
- Develops around age 5
- “Angel” on your shoulder - Ego (50% awareness)
- Follows the reality principle
- Triggers defense mechanisms
- “You can’t have everything you want”
- Middle point between ID and Super-ego
What differentiates mind vs behaviour
Mind: constitutes the private inner mental processes of someone
Behaviour: observable actions
What do social psychologists conduct research on
Variety of topics like the differences in how we perceive and explain our behaviour versus on we explain the behavior of others, prejudice, attraction and interpersonal conflicts
What does cognitive neuroscience study
The biological processes underlying cognition. Eg. studies on autism
What helped restablish coomunication lines between european psychologists and their american counterparts
The cognitive revolution
What is classical conditioning and who’s associated with it
Associated with Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning describes the learning process trough association. Eg. Pavlov’s dogs
What is developmental psychology
Scientific study of development across a lifespan, focus on the physical maturation and others such as cognitive skills, moral and moral reasoning
What is evolutionary psychology
The study of thought, behaviour and feeling as viewed through an evolutionary and biological perspective
What is operant conditioning and who’s associated with it
Associated with B. F. Skinner, operant conditioning works with actions and consequences such as rewards and punishments for behavior.
What is philosophical realism and which philosopher is associated with it
John Locke was associated with it, the belief was that the perceptions of the physical world are produced solely by sensory information
What is the biopsychosocial model
An approach in health psychology that focuses on how health is affected by the interactions between biological, psychological and sociocultural factors.
What led to The Cognitive Revolution
- Humans could not be compared to lab rats
- Complex behaviors remain difficult to explain
- Invention of the computer
- Better knowledge on cognitive research
What psychology deal with psychological disorders
Clinical psychology
What SOT did Hobbes follow and whom else also supported it
Hobbes followed materialism, the belief that all things stem from material interactions hence he viewed the mind as a product of the brain. Materialism received support from Pierre Paul Broca.
What SOT emerged in the later 1950s and was in opposition to psychoanalytic theory, what did it think about people, behaviour, and what did it put emphasis on.
Humanism, which viewed people as free agents, behaviour as shaped by conscious thoughts and feelings rather than the unconscious (freud).
Humanism put emphasis on positive potential and self actualization.
What SOT puts emphasis on the active role that the mind plays in perception
Gestalt psychology
What SOT was Immanuel Kant associated with
Philosophical idealism, the belief that perceptions of the physical world are the brain’s interpretation of the info from sensory organs
What was the aim of structuralism
To identify the basic elements that composed psychological experience
What’s the name of the student of the father of experimental psychology
Titchener
Which philosopher was associated with nativism and what does this school of thought entail
Plato, knowledge is innate
Which school of thought did Descartes follow and did he think about the pineal gland in everyone’s brain
Descartes believed in dualism, the belief that a person is made out of two parts; spiritual and material. He believed the pineal gland must’ve been the uniting point of these two parts where they would interact.
Which school of thought was Aristotle associated with and did it entail
Philosophical empiricism. all knowledge is acquired trough experience
Which psychologist was pioneer in the patient-focused therapy where they believed in the patient’s conscious abilities
Carl Rogers
Who created the first experimental psychology lab
Wilhem Wundt
Who demonstrated that really young children did not have object permanence yet and what SOT did they belong to
Jean Piaget, developmental psychology
Who stimulated a feminist revolution by presenting a critique of psychology as a science
Naomi Weisstein
Who was a very influential figure during the cognitive revolution
Noam Chomsky, an american linguist dissatisfied with the influence behaviorism had on psychology. He believed that reincorporating mental functions would be necessary to contribute to understanding behavior
Who was the first woman to be awarded a phd in psychology
Margaret Floy Washburn
Who was the first african american to receive a phd in psychology
Francis Cecil Summer, he pointed out the language and cultural barriers in psychological testing that were creating unequal opportunities for children
Who’s described as the father of american psychology and what SOT did he belong to
William James belonged to functionalism, that aimed to study he purpose of mental processes in adapting to the environment
