L01-L02 Flashcards
root of psychology
“psyche” → breath, spirit, soul + “logia” → study of
History: Disciplines contributing to the birth of psychology
Philosophers asked questions about the mind
physiologists/biologists detailed the anatomy and physiology of the brain
→ psychology = philosophy + biology
who is William James
(1842-1910) – founder of modern psych
who is Francis Bacon
(1561-1626) – developed the scientific method, an organized way of coming to knowledge.
Psychology is scientific study of what
both behaviour and mind
Scientific study: knowledge is discovered through empirical observation
Behaviour: any kind of observable action, including words, gestures, responses and biological activity
Mind: the contents of conscious experience, including sensations, perceptions, thoughts and emotions
Psychological science is a discipline concerned with what?
a discipline concerned with the study of behaviour and mind and their underpinning cognitive and physiological processes.
who is Stanley Milgram
published classic studies on obedience
what did William James do (short answer)
published principles of psychology and advanced the functionalist approach
what did B.F. Skinner develop
an apparatus now known as “skinner box” to study how behaviour is reinforced – 1930
what did Wilhelm Wundt and William James do and what is it like today?
pioneered the scientific branch of psychology in the late nineteenth century.
Sigmund Freud started the clinical branch at the turn of the twentieth century. Today, the branches have merged—scientific research informs clinical treatment.
scientific and clinical branches were the two main branches during the early developmental field.
what is Pseudoscience
a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly thought to be based on valid science
Empirical definition
based on astute observation and accurate measurement.
what is the Evolutionary perspective
psychological perspective on behaviour that seeks to identify how humans’ evolutionary past shapes certain cultural universals that all human beings share, such as the preference for fairness.
what is the cultural perspective
seeks to identify how culture affects people’s thoughts and preferences.
what is the Emotional perspective
to understand how our capacity to feel, express, and perceive emotions plays an important role in decision making, behaviour, and social relationships.
what is the Cognitive perspective
studies the mental processes that underlie perception, thought, learning, memory, language and creativity.
what is the biological–neuroscience perspective
seeks to understand the biological underpinnings of how we think, act, and behave.
what is the Developmental perspective
study how people change physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally as they age.
what is the personality perspective and the social psychological perspective?
seek to understand how human behaviour changes and stays the same across situations.
what is the Clinical perspective
use psychological science to identify the causes and treatment of psychological disorders. Their goal is to help people improve their well-being, relationships, and daily functioning.
what is Positive psychology
emphasizes factors that make people happy, keep them healthy, and help them manage stress.
→ happiness has three components: positive emotion and pleasure, engagement with life, and living a meaningful life with good relationships and a history of accomplishment
what reflects the recency effect
Working memory
what reflects the primacy effect
Long term memory
how long does information remain in the working memory for
Information remains in the working memory for approximately 20-30 seconds
what does the serial position effect involve
two different relative positions within a list, we refer to the phenomenon of better recall of the items at beginning as the primacy effect and that of better recall at the end as the recency effect.
what is the mind-body problem
a debate concerning the relationship between thought and consciousness in the human mind, and the brain as part of the physical body.
what is Materialism (monism)
brain = mind (brain is mind and mind is brain)
what is Dualism (ex. Rene descartes)
brain does not equal mind (how can they interact)
- mind substance vs. brain substance
what is epiphenomenalism
brain activity produces mind, but mind cannot influence brain activity
what is interactionism
mind can influence matter (ex. Brain) and vice versa
when it comes to the nature of the mind what assumption do most psychologists work under
mind is a result of brain activity and that observable behaviour can inform us about the mind and brain
who is Jill Bolte Taylor: A stroke of insight ted talk
Left hemisphere stroke. Taylor describes this as losing her “linear” mind, or conceptual mind. Loss of language, planning, concepts, certain analytical functions, notable loss of “ego”/”self’
Promoted dominance of right hemisphere functions. Taylor describes this as a “nirvana” experience (loss of object/subject separation)
what does the dorsal visual stream do
determines “Where is it”
what does the ventral visual stream do
determines “What is it”
What is the relation between our mind and reality?
Mind constructs the world out of sensory signals. Can we only “mind” what we can sense?
Are we living in a predominantly conceptual mind-world?
who is William James (long answer)
(1842-1910) → prof for anatomy and physiology
- Developed course in 1875 “The Relations between physiology and psych”
- Established first psychological research laboratory in 1875
- Wrote on of the first textbooks “Principles of Psych”, defines psych as “the science of mental life”
- Inspired the position later reading Functionalism, the emphasis in psych should be on the purpose and utility of behaviour, not structure
what is structuralism
a theory of consciousness that seeks to analyze the elements of mental experiences, such as sensations, mental images, and feelings, and how these elements combine to form more complex experiences.
what is the method for structuralism
introspection, systematic self-observation
what is the problem of structuralism
there is no objective, independent evaluation and reproducibility is low
what is functionalism
developed by William James
argues that psych should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure
- This view was influenced by Darwin’s work on natural selection
- Heritable characteristics that provide a survival or reproductive advantage are more likely to be passed on to subsequent generations
- The typical characteristics of a species must serve some purpose
what do structuralists overlook
Structuralists overlook that there is a stream of consciousness
where do structuralists work
laboratories
what did functionalists introduce into the field?
new subjects such as mental testing, developmental patterns in children, education, behavioural differences between the sexes
functionalists are more interested in what
how people adapt their behaviour to the demands of the real word surrounding them
what is the technique that both structuralists and functionalists use
decomposing something into its constituent elements. Functionalists do this to arrive at a description of what the purpose is, not how it is constructed.
- Structuralists and functionalists often use the same techniques, but with a different orientation
(reverse-engineering analogy)
Wilhelm Wundt is strongly associated with what school of thought in psychology
structuralism
- Wundt was a physiologist
what was Wundt quoted on saying about physiology
“Physiology informs us about those life phenomena that we perceive by our external senses. In psychology, the person looks upon himself as from within and tries to explain the interrelations of those processes that this internal observation discloses.”
what did Wundt believe that psych was the discipline of
studying conscious experience
what topics did Wundt mostly concentrate on
sensory physiology and psychophysics
who worked to establish psychology as an independent discipline, outside philosophy and medicine
Wilhelm Wundt
Who established the first psychological research laboratory
Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig in 1979 → some consider this the birthdate of psych as a scientific discipline
what is Wundt’s view on psych
Structuralism → consciousness (or other complex mental phenomena) can be analyzed into a set of basic, constituting elements
Wundt believed what of conscious mental states?
That conscious mental states could be analyzed using the method of introspection
what are examples of mental states
perceived colours; imagined objects; thoughts, feelings
what is introspection
a technique requiring intensive training to analyze conscious experience into its basic elements (sensations and feelings)
- Sensations are the raw sensory content of consciousness, without meaning → all conscious thought and perceptions were thought to be combinations of sensations
what school of though is John B Watson associated with
(1878-1958) Behaviourism
what shift did John B Watson make with psychology
Took over psych department at John Hopkins in 1909 and shifted focus away from psychology having to do with philosophy and more with it having to do with biology
what view did John B Watson oppose
Watson did research on non-human animals, and logically opposed the view that the proper approach to psychology is the method of introspection
- Criticized introspection as based on private experiences, which are inaccessible to the investigator
- As a consequence, Watson redefined psyc in the “behaviourist manifesto” in 1913
What does the behaviourist manifesto state
Psychology must be purely objective, excluding all subjective data or interpretation in terms of conscious experience. It is not the science of mental life, but the science of behaviour.
The goal of psychology should be to predict and control behaviour, as opposed to describing and explaining mental states.
There is no qualitative distinction between human and non-human behaviour. Human behaviour, in line with Darwinian thought, is just a more complex form of behaviour of other species. The difference is quantitative, not qualitative. Consequently, the most convenient animals were used in psych laboratories devoted to this view.
what school of thought is Max Wertheimer associated with
(1880-1943)
Gestalt-Psychology
Gestalt is German for “Form”
what is Central dogma
the whole is more than the sum of its parts
→ we perceive whole forms, and not the parts of which they are constructed
→ what we perceive depends on the context in which it is embedded
what are Gestalt principles
built-in processes that organize our perception
- emergence
- multi-stability
- reification
- invariance
what is the phi phenomenon
- refers to an optical illusion of movement
- When separate stationary stimuli are shown shortly after one another then we perceive them as continuously moving
- When interval between the shown stimuli is between the 30 and 200 ms humans have the perception of movement
- Wertheimer proposed it is due to the decay rates of visual perceptions: visual perceptions decay slower than the actual stimulus that have rise to them
- Therefore we have an illusion of continuous motion when the stimulus shows up again during the decay time in a different place or orientation
- Instead of two diff and separate stimuli, we mistakenly perceive movement of the same stimulus (apple loading screen)
what effect did Wertheimer study
the phi effect
what is the Psychophysiological Model
A form of reductionism: attempt to explain human behaviour by recourse to its biological basis
- Specifically, this branch of psych explores the relations between behaviour and processes and structures of the central nervous system
What did Eric Kandel do
applied the reductionist principle to explain the neurobiology of memory, using the sea slug Aplysia California as a model organism
- His research provides an excellent example of how reductionist methods advance through levels of analysis
what are the assumptions about the Psychophysiological Model
- Psychological phenomena (experiences, consciousness), can be explained in terms of physical and biochemical processes
- General principle of reductionism applicable to human behaviour: complex phenomena can be sufficiently explained by reducing them to more elemental phenomena on more basic levels of analysis
- Any form of behaviour is determined by physiological structures and partly inherited physiological processes
- Experience can modify behaviour by changing the physical and biochemical structures and processes that underpin behaviour
What is behaviourism
The overt and observable behaviour is the proper level of analysis
Behaviourism tries to determine what factors in the environment control behaviour. Inner factors such as motivations and emotions, cannot be subject of analysis because they cannot be directly observed.
what are the ABC’s of psychology
- Antecedent conditions that precede behaviour
- the Behavioural response
- the Consequences that follow
- The basic model is the relation between stimulus (what you show the individual) and response (S-R model)
- -> Classical behaviourism assumes that behaviour is completely determined by antecedent conditions (no understanding of internal states necessary)
- Humans are neither good nor evil, they just react to conditions
- Humans can be controlled by controlling antecedent conditions and consequences of behaviour
discuss the humanistic model
- Alternative in the field of personality and clinical research (a) to the pessimistic view espoused by the psychodynamic model, and (b) to the environmental determinism of behaviourism
- Assume that humans are neither motivated by strong deterministic biological drives nor environmental factors. Rather, they are active beings, naturally good and equipped with free will.
- Humans strive for the good and to realize their potential fully, they seek change and self-realization
what is humanistic psychology
- Humanistic psychology tries to understand human behaviour by detecting patterns in life histories
- Humanistic psychology concentrates on the phenomenological world (the world experienced by the subject), not the objective world of the external observer
maslow’s hierarchy of needs
ascending order:
Physiological → security → social → self-esteem → self-actualization
Why do humans act aggressively?
Physiological model
discover brain region involved in aggressive behaviour (ex. Stimulate these areas and observe aggressive behaviour. Describe networks and signalling pathways involved in producing the behaviour. Or study the brains for highly aggressive subjects.
Why do humans act aggressively?
Psychodynamic model
aggressive actions are the result of frustrations. For example, poverty or unfair authorities block access to means to satisfy id desires, this results in aggression
Why do humans act aggressively?
Behaviourism
to determine the causes of aggressive behaviour, one needs to identity reinforces and antecedent conditions. For example, one could analyze what the consequences had been to aggressive behaviour (reinforcement, punishment).
Why do humans act aggressively?
Cognitive Model
one would study the cognitions that go along with aggressive behaviour to analyse what information processing leads to it
Why do humans act aggressively?
Humanistic model
one would explore what personal values and social conditions led the individual to engage in aggressive behaviour, and not to engage in activities that would further personal growth
discuss the cognitive model
- Replaced behaviourism as the most influential model
- Behaviourism could not explain certain phenomena easily
- Assumes that cognitions (from latin: recognize, realize) are the principle subject matter of psychology
- Conditions are all processes that used to be labelled “mental”, such as perception, thinking, decision making, memory, problem solving, etc.
what is cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology studying these conditions
- Behaviour can be explained by analysis information processing
- Experimental studies use behavioural reactions to deduce underpinning cognitive processes
- Humans create/construct their subjective reality
Information-processing perspective: “Brain is like a digital computer”
→ processes (how memories are created, maintained, revived)
→ encoding, storage retrieval, recall
Representations: what is stored, retrieved, recalled?
→ a memory representation (memory trace, memory record) is a unit of information that can be processed
Structures: where are memories stored, retrieved from/to, recalled from/to?
→ short-term store: like RAM of computer – restricted capacity; hold information for a short time
→ long-term store: like the hard disk of a computer – nearly infinite capacity; holds information almost forever
psychodynamic model
- All behaviour can be explained in terms of drives or other intra-psychological forces
- Human behaviour arises from (A) inherited, biologically inflexible drives and reflexes and (B) the attempt to solve conflicts between the individual society concerning the indicial needs and wishes and society’s demands for adapted behaviour
- We act differently, because due to our individual history, we feel motivational forces indifferent strengths
- Behaviour results from tension and conflict and reflects the attempt to reduce these negative states
- The term motivation is the key concept of the psychodynamic approach, according to this model, action will stop when all needs are fulfilled because then there is no motivation to act anymore
what model does Sigmund Freud have to do with
(1856-1939)
the psychodynamic model
who is Sigmund Freud
- Physiologist
- Founded the first major movement in clinical psychology in modern history
- His work focused on the unconscious as the main motor of behaviour, as the seat of desires, wishes, drives
- He developed psychoanalysis, which is still a branch in clinical psychology, not so much in North America, but in parts of Europe and South America
- Freud developed his theory out of his observations of patients suffering from psychological disorders, but he believed that the same principles underpin “normal” and “abnormal” behaviour
- Freud can be credited with exerting the strongest influence on current psychological thought in the Western world
Freud proposed that our Psyche consists of three elements:
Their interactions and their conflicts determines our behaviour (and out personality)
Id: follows the pleasure principle (children driven by the Id)
→ attempts to avoid pain and increase pleasure. Primal drives, basic nature (the wild animal within)
Superego: Morality
→ conscience ideals, aspirations (your perfect self)
Ego: Reason and self control
→ tries to mediate superego and id
- Most of our psyche is unconscious (hidden and inaccessible to the thinking mind)
- There are parts that are preconscious (could make them conscious if we want)
- There are conscious aspects, of which we are fully aware
what is the aim of psychoanalysis
- Psychoanalysis aims to make the unconscious conscious, so that its influence on behaviour can be controlled
- The theory assumes that humans are by nature aggressive and evil and driven by sexual impulses
- Societies need to control this potential for violence to protect humans from their destructive nature
