Introduction to Psychology / Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is psychology?
The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes.
What does “behaviour and mental processes” encompass?
Not only what people do, but also their thoughts, emotions, perceptions, reasoning processes, memories, and biological acitivities that maintain bodily functioning.
What ancient operation was performed when people thought psychological problems were caused by evil spirits?
Trephining
- chipping a hole in a patient’s skull
What 18th century physician argued that a trained observer could discern basic personality characteristics from the shape and number of bumps on a person’s skull, and what was this called?
- Franz Joseph Gall
- phrenology
What do you call the perspective that Sigmund Freud developed?
Psychodynamic
What discipline and where can psychology’s be roots traced back to?
- Ancient Greeks
- Philosophers
Which philosopher believed children were born into the world with minds like “blank slates” (tabula rasa)?
John Locke, of 17th century Britain
What is considered the formal beginning of psychology?
- When Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental lab devoted to psychological phenomena
- 1879, Leipzig, Germany
- at the same time William James was setting up a lab in Cambridge
Out of John Locke, Rene Descartes, and Plato, who believed some knowledge was inborn in humans?
Rene Descartes and Plato.
***What was Wundt’s aim, and was was his perspective called?
- To study the building blocks of the mind
- “structuralism”
*Wundt and his followers used a procedure known as _______ as part of their study in structuralism.
introspection
What is introspection?
A procedure where people are presented with a trgger/stimulus, then asked to describe in detail in their own words what they were experiencing.
True or false: Wundt and other structuralists used introspection.
True
True or false: Wundt and other structuralists used functionalism.
False
Which perspective replaced structuralism?
Functionalism
What does functionalism concentrate on?
What the mind DOES and how behaviour functions.
American psychologist William James led what?
- William James led functionalists
- examining how behaviour allows people to satisfy their needs
- how our “Stream of consciousness” permits us to adapt to our environment
- first to apply psychology practically
Which early psychologist was heavily influenced by Darwinism?
William James
Which early psychologist was one of the first to focus on child development and women’s issues?
Leta Setter Hollingworth
What are 5 major perspectives of psychology?
Neuroscience Psychodynamic Behavioural Cognitive Humanistic
*How does a neuroscience perspective view behaviour?
From perspective of biological functioning
*Describe the psychodynamic perspective’s belief.
Believes behaviour is motivated by inner, unconscious forces over which a person has little control.
*What does a behavioural perspective of psychology focus on?
Observable behaviours
*Which perspective of psychology examines how people think about and understand the world?
Cognitive
*What does a humanistic perspective of psychology contend?
That people control their behaviour and that they naturally try to reach their full potential.
*What does the behavioural neuroscience perspective mainly examine?
How the brain and nervous system -and other biological processes- determine behaviour.
Which perspective of psychology might be concerned with how brain chemistry is predicted by psychological states like depression or anxiety?
Behavioural neuroscience
foret this
forget ths
What are 3 major contributions Freud made?
1) Notion that we have a subconscious
2) Proposing that our early childhood experiences shape us as adults
3) Proposing that psychological difficulties can be treated with psychological (Rather than biological) means.
(Talk therapy)
Which perspective grew out of a rejection of early emphasis on the inner workings of the mind?
Behavioural. Focusing on observable behaviour is better for objective study.
Which major behavioural psychologist advocated that it was possible to elicit any type of desired behaviour by controlling a person’s environment?
John B. Watson
Which perspective focuses on higher mental processes, such as thinking, memory, reasoning, problem solving, judging, decision making, and language?
Cognitive psychology
How do cognitive psycholgoists view thinking?
As “information processing”, like a computer.
Which field of psychology arose as a reaction to the pessimistic view of Freud’s therories, that we are held hostage by our early childhood experiences?
Humanistic psychology
Which perspective of psychology has an emphasis on free will?
Humanistic psychology
Which branch of psychology studies processes of sensing, perceiving, learning, and thinking about the would?
Experimental psychology
What issue are developmental and personality psychologists particularly interested in?
Nature versus nurture
What is health psychology versus clinical psychology?
- Health psychology explores the relationship between psychological factors and physical ailments or disease
- clinical psychology is the study, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders
What does clinical neuropsychology focus on?
The origin of psychological disorders in biological factors
- ie. structure and chemistry of the brain
Which Canadian psychologist was recognized in 195 for work with a patient, “H.M.” with short-term memory loss
Brenda Milner
