Key Figures

Question 1

Freud

Answer 1

developed psychoanalytic theory and psychoanalysis; psychological basis for mental disorders and the comprehensive theory of personality. he emphasized the role of the unconscious mind; proposed psychosexual theory of development and ego defense mechanisms; also developed the concepts of id, ego, and superego

Question 2

James

Answer 2

functionalism; studied functional aspects of mental processes; role in solving real world problems; the purpose of consciousness is to help people adapt to their environment

Question 3

Pavlov

Answer 3

developed the concept of the conditioned stimulus; classical conditioning through dogs; generalization, discrimination, and distinction; proposed two part theory to language

Question 4

Darwin

Answer 4

naturalist; evolutionist; emphasis on variation and individual differences; focus on functionalism, spawned new fields of ethology and comparative psychology; blind trial and error

Question 5

Watson

Answer 5

behaviorist; no accepted division between humans and other animals. focus on biological and psychological similarities between animal species . performed little albert experiment to demonstrate conditioned fear

Question 6

Galton

Answer 6

measurement of intelligence, studies of heredity and twin studies; sought to find answers to nature vs nurture debate

Question 7

Skinner

Answer 7

radical environmentalist, behaviorist; operant conditioning, reinforcement learning; two main forms of learning:: respondent and operant (voluntary). the innate behavior of animals is shaped and maintained by its contribution to the survival of the individual and the species; suggested operational definitions

Question 8

Piaget

Answer 8

stage theory of cognitive development; suggested intellectual development is not gradual but abrupt, progressing through a series of developmental stages

Question 9

Chomsky

Answer 9

The basis to Chomsky’s linguistic theory is that the principles underlying the structure of language are biologically determined in the human mind and hence genetically transmitted.[120] He therefore argues that all humans share the same underlying linguistic structure, irrespective of socio-cultural difference.[121] In this he opposes the radical behaviourist psychology of B.F. Skinner, instead arguing that human language is unlike modes of communication used by any other animal species