History

Question 1

Non-Dogmatic?

Answer 1

Dogma – A set of codes that are considered absolutely true

Science is non-dogmatic because nothing is considered absolutely true because we can always find new evidence to prove things right/wrong

Question 2

Skepticism?

Answer 2

The practice of questioning whether claims are supported by empirical research and have reproducibility in order to “pursue the extension of certified knowledge”

Question 3

Empirical?

Answer 3

A way of obtaining knowledge by means of direct and indirect observation or experience.

Question 4

Cumulative?

Answer 4

Everything in science builds upon what we knew from the past

Question 5

Falsifiable?

Answer 5

There is a possibility to find evidence that can prove a theory or claim false

Question 6

Early Arguments: Plato?

Answer 6

Nativism - certain kinds of knowledge are inborn or innate

Question 7

Early Arguments: Descartes?

Answer 7

Dualism - The mind and body are separate entities that interact

Question 8

Early Arguments: Aristotle?

Answer 8

Philosophical Empiricism - all knowledge is acquired through experience

Question 9

What is structuralism?

Answer 9

Created by Edward Titchener, complex conscious experiences could be broken down into elemental parts or structures

Question 10

What is Introspection?

Answer 10

Looking inward, describing one’s feelings sensations etc. Unreliable, smart verbal people needed.

Question 11

What is Functionalism

Answer 11

William James

Consciousness serves a function of the brain for survival, such as smelling for the nose

Adaptive

Question 12

Who was Wilhelm Wundt?

Answer 12

He was a professor at the University of Leipzig in Germany

Promotes the belief that experimental methods should be used to study mental processes

He created an experiment that asked people to hit a button when they hear a ball hit the ground, and then again to hit the button when they were consciously aware of perceiving the sound.

He was seeking to measure the “atoms of the mind”

The fastest and simplest mental processes

All of this resulted in Wundt starting the first psychological laboratory, staffed by him and his first grad students

Question 13

Who was William James?

Answer 13

Functionalism, prof/philosopher, influential in establishing psych in the US. Wrote the first psych textbook, “Principles of Psychology”

Question 14

What were some of Freud’s basic contributions to psychology?

Answer 14

Phsychoanalysis - The Unconscious,
the part of the mind that operates outside of conscious.

Unconscious conflicts determine behavior and personality

Childhood experiences shape future personality, etc.

Question 15

What is Behavioralism?

Answer 15

The study of observable behavior

Question 16

Who was Watson?

Answer 16

Conducted the “Little Albert” Experiment, paired an innate fear with another stimuli, that other stimuli then triggered fear.

Question 17

Who was BF Skinner?

Answer 17

Dismissed introspection, adopted behavioralism, because you could not observe a feeling/sensation or thought, but you can observe behavior.

Question 18

What is Humanistic Psychology?

Answer 18

Created by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, they studied the ways in which current environmental factors can nurture or limit our growth potential and the importance of having our needs for love and acceptance satisfied. Emphasis on free will, self-determination and importance of choice. External influences.

Question 19

What are the core tenants of Cognitive Psychology?

Answer 19

Scientifically explores the ways we perceive, process, and remember information

Mental process and how they influence behavior

How brain activity corresponds to mental activity

Question 20

What were some of the biological advancements in the last few decades that have given us a greater understanding of human behavior?

Answer 20

Neuroscience/Neuroimaging – EEG, fMRI, PET, TMS)

Human Genome ~20k genes

Neuropsychopharmacology