lecture 2 Flashcards
Aristotle the brain
highest functioning occurred in the heart
brain was a condenser for overheated vapours - cooling system
descartes
recognised that the brain is split into 2 hemispheres
didn’t believe they could form unified functions
18th century doctors began
to see a relationship between head injury and certain functions
example- strokes caused loss of speech
19th century
empirical science- investigating the senses experimentally - combine physiology with psychology
emerging Zeitgeist
common theme of the time
scientific method
modernism- objectivity
materialism- physical properties
psychometrics
science of measuring mental faculties such as intelligence , personality , mental illness and educational problems
who was the founder of psychometrics
galton
Darwin
natural selection
variation within a species
successful genes become more popular
genes passed onto offspring
galton on intelligence
individual differences must be innate - intelligence run-in families- hereditary
how did Galen study intelligence
looked at families of eminent / higher social class people closer the kinship , the greater the likelihood of eminence
eugenics
improving the race by selective breeding
key differences between science and pseudoscience
science vs pseudo science
systematic observation vs anecdotal evidence
peer review vs none
considers all evidence vs considers only positive evidence
repeatable results vs non repeatable
anthropometric laboratory
systematically studied human traits - height , reaction times, sensory acuity
thought that people with higher intelligence have powerful and efficient nervous systems
power of brain = related to size
Charles spearman
he proposed performance on test depends on two factors
single general ability
several specifics such as verbal , visual and numerical
lewis terman
adapted binet tests into English
testing became standardised
iq testing
gall
compared brains
certain faculties were based in specific parts of the brain
gall anecdotal evidece
bumps and indentations on surface of the skull reflect the size of phrenological organs
pseducoscience- cognitively biased
Johannes muller
proposed that sensations were properties of the NS
we can trick our nerves not experiencing things without external stimuli
example- pressing on eyeball= see flashes of light
weber
interested in measuring the sensitivity of the senses
threshold of sensations
absolute thresholds
smallest quantities that give any sensation at all
relative threshold
smallest quantitative changes that is noticeable
webers law
only notice a change when the magnitude of the change is bigger than a critical fraction
Helmholtz
interested in the speed of the nervous impulse
rate of neural conduction
used frog legs
stimulated the nerve in the leg at different distances and measured time taken for food to twitch
Helmholtz also studied vision and audition
vison = sensations and perceptions
what are sensations
raw elements of conscious experience
what are perceptions
meaningful interpretations of sensations - psychological
unconscious inference
image on the retina may not accurately reflect the external world
brain perceptions contradict the raw sensations
selective attention test
we neglect other things but concentrate on one thing
conscious experience is guided by attention
structuralist psychology
study of conscious experiences by introspection
gestalt psychology
a whole is more than its parts
Wundt
founder of experimental psychology
set up first laboratory in Leipzig
psychology is the study of the mental life/ consciousness
consciousness
inner experience - subjective
must begin with self observation
method of Wundt
introspection combines self observation with experimentation
yields quantitative data
3 categories of consciousness
representation
willing
feelings
creates an impression of unitary flow of events
structuralism
complex mental experiences could be broken down into simple processes
only the person having the experiences can observe it
subjective
problems with wundts methods
unverifiable subjective retrospective bias too Cole imageless thoughts]
William James
stream of consciousness
consciousness is not a thing but a process
William James did not believe in
breaking down experiences - not stable/ constant
functionalism
interested in the function
studies how consciousness changes according to the environment
James lange there of emotion
emotions arise from conscious perceptions your physiological condition
something happens to you that creates a physiological arousal- heart starts beating , then interpret that emotion based on whats going on at the time
