Lecture 1 - From Philosophy to Psychology Flashcards

1
Q

What was the precursor to psychology?

A

Philosophy

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2
Q

How did psychology develop in Ancient Greece?

A

People made up stories, beginning with Homer

Gods explained behaviors and personality

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3
Q

What were Socrates and Plato’s contributions?

A

Psychological forces = cause of mental disturbances
Madness was the animal psyche overtaking the intellectual mind
Nature vs. nurture on intelligence and personality

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4
Q

What were Aristotle’s contributions?

A

Empiricism

Psychological ideas about sleep, dreams, sensation and memory

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5
Q

What were Goclenius’ contributions?

A

Credited with term “psychology”

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6
Q

What does psychology mean?

A
Psyche = soul
Ology = science
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7
Q

What is ontology, and what is its importance?

A

Study of being/existing

Asked key q - “what exists?”

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8
Q

What are the steps to asking “what exists”?

A
  1. Define existence
  2. Have a perceiver
    How is that which exists changed by perceiver?
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9
Q

What did ontology contribute to psychology?

A

Study of sensation and perception

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10
Q

What occurred between 1400-1500?

A

The Renaissance in Europe
Arts, tech, science increased
Printing press dispersed information

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11
Q

What were Descartes’ contributions?

A

Rationalism and Dualism
Cogito ergo sum - I think therefore I am (can be sure of nothing else)
Humans as machines: experience -> response

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12
Q

What is rationalism?

A

The idea that our knowledge comes from reasoning

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13
Q

What are the basic rules of rationalism?

A
  1. Accept nothing as true unless there is absolutely no doubt about it
  2. Take problems, analyze them, and reduce them to the fundamental
  3. Go from simplest to most complex elements
  4. Carefully review conclusions
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14
Q

What is dualism?

A

Humans are 2 parts - physical and immaterial

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15
Q

What is today’s perspective on dualism?

A

Disagree

Mind is what brain does

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16
Q

What were Spinoza’s contributions?

A

Rejected Descartes’ dualism
Said that body/mind are two different aspects of the same substance
Said that free will and human nature are determined

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17
Q

What is empiricism?

A

Method of knowledge derived from experience or experimens

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18
Q

What were Locke’s contributions?

A

Formalized Empiricism

Tabula Rasa or blank page/slate

19
Q

What were John Stuart Mill’s contributions?

A

Supported empiricism

Helped the shift from philosophy of mind -> science of mind

20
Q

What is the significance of the guillotine?

A

People wondered how/why arms/legs moved after heads cut off
“Is brain the center of consciousness?”
Psy testing during executions
When brain was cut off, so was consciousness
Opened door to reflexes

21
Q

What is reflective action?

A

Galvani cut frogs legs
Stimulated them with electrical current
Concluded reflexes must be electrical

22
Q

What were early findings on the spinal cord?

A
Brain = center of consciousness
Reflexes = outside of brain - thru spinal cord
23
Q

Who was Whytt?

A

A scientist that found the role of the spinal cord in reflexive behaviour
Cut spinal cord and reflexes stopped

24
Q

What did Magendie discover?

A

Did dissections on live dogs
Cut posterior = no movement, feeling
Cut anterior = movement, no feeling
Cut both = no feeling or movement

25
Q

What was the Bell-Magendie Law?

A

Posterior cord = movement

Anterior cord = feeling

26
Q

What was early evidence for localization of brain function?

A

Similarities of brain sizes and structures

Could different sections = different functions?

27
Q

What were Gall’s contributions?

A

Phrenology - studied shape of school mate heads
Believed that brain holds emotion and intelligence
Said that faculties were native
Contralateral function

28
Q

What did phrenology contribute to psychology?

A

Early example of individual differences
Connections btwn brain sections and functions
Suggestion that brain changed with experience
Anticipated modern brain scan techniques

29
Q

What did Flourens contribute?

A

Ablated sections of brain to see results
Showed main brain division functions
But did not find localization for memory, personality or cognition
Disproved phrenology

30
Q

Give an example of early brain injury research.

A

Phineas Gage - 1848
Personality changes from frontal lobe damage
Went from dependable and hardworking -> irresponsible and obstinate

31
Q

What was Broca’s contribution?

A

Tan in 1861
Intelligent man who could understand and reason
But was only able to respond with Tan
Broca found dmg to lower left area of frontal lobe
This was related to speech production ability

32
Q

What did Hitzig and Fritsch contribute?

A

Stimulated live dog brains and produced brain maps
Showed which movement occurred when the area was stim’d
Evidence for localization

33
Q

What did Penfield do?

A
  1. Exposed conscious human brains
    Participants reported feeling and seeing things
  2. Developed maps of motor/sensory function on cortex
    Frontal = motor function
    Parietal = sensory function
    Maps were topographical but not size corresponding
    Found that only 1/4th of cortex was involved in sensation
34
Q

What is EEG?

A

Electroencephalogram

Records electric activity of thousands of neurons

35
Q

What are CT scans?

A

Computerized axial tomography
X-rays that take pictures of narrow brain slices
Brain image is then reconstructed

36
Q

What are PET scans?

A

Positron emission tomography

Measures brain activity - blood flow, metabolism and NT activity

37
Q

What is MRI?

A

Magnetic resonance imaging
Measures response to magnetic pulses some minutes apart
More sensitive that PET/CT

38
Q

What is fMRI?

A

Functional MRI

Images taken seconds apart while brain is doing a task

39
Q

What is phrenology?

A

The study of human faculties identified and located in areas of the brain

40
Q

Who was Spurzheim?

A

Worked with Gall on phrenology, spread it
Said that faculties were exercisable
Later broke away

41
Q

What are the main tenets of phrenology?

A
  1. Brain is the organ of the mind
  2. Mind is composed of attributes/faculties (intellectual/cog and affective/emo)
  3. Faculties are in specific brain areas
  4. Some have more of one faculty than others
  5. Doctrine of the Skull - can determine faculties from shape of skull
42
Q

Why was phrenology not successful?

A

Insufficient/weak evidence
Anecdotal
Ignored counter evidence

43
Q

What is the Clinical Method? Why is it used?

A

Looking at the bhvrl/mental consequences of brain damage

Easier/more ethical than ablation