Midterm Flashcards
Why can psychologists claim that psychology is one of the oldest scholarly disciplines, as well as one of the newest? Explain why modern psychology is a product of both the 19th and 20th centuries.
: Psychology is one of the oldest scholarly disciplines because it has many precursors dating back to Plato and Aristotle. Philosophers discussed many topics that can be related to psychology such as introspection, innate ideas, perception, and sensation. There are many philosophical ties to psychology especially stemming from Rationalism and Empiricism. The influences of psychology vary from Aristotle, Plato, John Locke, Hume, and Berkley. However, psychology is a newer discipline because it really did not progress as a science itself until the 1800’s with Wundt. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s psychology really got momentum as a science. Education for psychology grew at this time and more and more students began getting their PH.D’s in psychology. Modern psychology is a product of the 19th and 20th centuries because it started incorporating the tools of natural science that was developed during these centuries and is based on both modern and earlier philosophical thoughts and findings.
What are the differences between the data of history and data of science? Which do you think is most important and why?
The data of history cannot be reconstructed or replicated. The data of history can also be distorted because it is lost/suppressed, distorted translation, and it can also be affected by self-serving actions of the participants. Also media can be deceiving when it comes to the data of history. The data of science can be replicated. Data for science starts with a theory, then an experiment, and then the data is collected.
What can we learn from studying the history of psychology? Include in your answer the reasons discussed in the lecture and indicate which one(s) seem most pertinent to you and why.
There are many reasons to study the history of psychology. By studying the history of psychology we can learn many things like Academic maturity, literacy, parallel topics, perspective, unity in psychology, critical thinking, and helps us learn more about psychology in general. Academic maturity helps us to grow academically by studying one’s history over the years and how it has evolved. Parallel topics help with knowing the different points of view can help us make our own questions. Critical thinking helps as we continue to make studies and experiments because psychology is still growing. Unity explains the framework and combines different aspects of psychology from every philosopher, scholar, and psychologist theories. In my opinion I think one of the more important reasons to study the history of psychology is the unity aspect. Psychology has many different theories and branches, for example biopsychology. I think the unity aspect makes psychology unique because there are so many different ways to apply psychology in life. Also the unity of different theories helped form psychology so studying the history of these combinations can help students see how psychology came about, what makes it different.
Explain which approach to organizing history you favor, the naturalistic approach or the personalistic approach (be sure to define each). Why?
There are two approach to organizing history the naturalistic approach and the personalistic approach. The naturalistic approach focuses not on the person but the time they lived in and what influences the person. Personalitic approach focuses on the achievement of certain individuals and their achievements and contributions of the specific individual. Personally I think that the naturalistic approach is the most favorable. I believe that a person’s environment can influence their ideas. I also believe that the era they live in influences their morals, because at one point racism and discrimination were widely accepted in society. Understanding the social norms at the time the individual was alive is a big part in understanding the kinds of obstacles they had to endure.
Discuss several contextual forces that have influenced the development of modern psychology. Why is it important to consider context when studying the history of psychology?
Some contextual factors that influenced the development of modern psychology include economic opportunity, war, and prejudice. Economic opportunity is important because when psychology emerged in the 20th century there was a greater need for jobs. Economic opportunity was greatly influenced by the social changes over history. During the 20th century, there were also more jobs than there were psychologist. War was also another factor that influenced psychology. War conditions forced people to move and it changed the places of needs for money. During WW2 they started psychological testing for soldiers and human factors, this greatly changed how we treated soldiers during war time. Prejudice has also influenced psychology. Over the years prejudice against race, sexual orientation, gender, age, and religion have made it difficult for certain people like women and African Americans to be recognized in psychology.
From the Story of Psychology, briefly trace the explanations of human mental processes from the nous to the psyche.
The nous is the soul or mind given by God. Animal spirits are in the nervous system that made you move. Descartes believed in dualism which believes that mind and body are different. The psyche is the mind and soul. It later becomes mind and body working together but are still separate. Connected through the pineal gland. The psyc is like separate parts of a clock that work together.
Choose the perspective of Spinoza or Descartes. Argue for or against the following: “The world, including human mental activity is wholly subject to natural laws and capable of being understood.” Briefly indicate what the other figure would argue.
Descartes was a dualist and believed the mind and body were separated. He believed that soul was from God and it was unexplainable and unknowable. The body us subject to the physical laws of nature. The body can be studied, however, thinking and reasoning cannot be studied.
Spinoza believed in substance monism= that which is self-dependent in existence. He believed that God was the only true substance. Spinoza believed that mind are subject to the physical laws of the universe b/c we are part of the substance that is subject to physical laws.
In my opinion Spinoza would argue for the statement. Spinoza believed that God was present in everything in the universe, and in mind and matter. He believed that God must be subject to the laws and nature and did not intervene with predetermined events. He believed nothing in nature, including God, were caused by something else. Spinoza believed all things are determined from the necessity of mental and physical events. Spinoza believes the world is subjected to natural laws and can be understood. Descartes does not hold the same views as Spinoza. Descartes believes that senses can be deceiving so I would not think he would be one to argue in favor of this statement.
How did the concept of the soul get in the way of the nascent psychology?
- The soul is from God making it unexplainable and unknowable. The body can be subjected to the physical laws of nature and can be studied unlike the soul. We have a rational soul with a body that is a physical machine.
Explain the concept of mechanism. How did mechanism come to be applied to human beings? How were the development of clocks and automata important to the history of psychology?
Mechanism is the belief that the universe is a machine, and is subjected to laws. It was applied to humans because we have to be broken down into elements like a machine (clock)
Describe Locke’s view of empiricism. Discuss his concepts of simple and complex ideas.
. Locke’s view of empiricism is that all learning comes through experiences, they are not innate. Locke believed that our mind are blank slates at birth. He believed the origins of our experience came from sensation and reflection. Sensation is a simple idea and involves all our senses. Reflections create complex ideas come from simple ideas by using the processes of combination and abstraction.
Discuss how Berkeley inadvertently contributed to the birth of psychology.
Berkley believed mentalism. Mentalism is the idea that your perception of reality is the only reality. He was the first to say that mental events are measurable, and he did not believe in materialism.
What are Hume’s laws of association and why are they so important to the history of psychology?
Hume’s laws of association are resemblance, contiguity, and cause &effect. The law of resemblance states that if they resemble each other, they are associated. The law of contiguity is the similarity between space and time. So for example when you see a girl at school then out of school, you then associate her with school). The law of cause & effect states when people see X happen, then Y happens right after and repeats over and over. These laws are important to psychology because as psychologist we need to understand the rules of mental life and how ideas merge together because of these laws. These laws have been guide lines for many scientific theories.
Mesmer eventually influenced Freud and others; briefly describe the path from his salon sessions to hypnotism.
- Mesmer used magnets on the body as a healing process. He believed that the magnets could heal disorders because it would realign the bodies’ magnetic force fields. He continued to treat illnesses with magnets for half a century. At one point he expanded his treatments to sessions with people in a circle receiving magnetism at once. Magnetism went on for half a century and eventually the use of magnets were abandoned. James Braid performed a number of experiments with magnetism and ended up identifying the process as a psychological process. He later renamed it Neuro-Hypnology which shortly became known as hypnosis.
Describe the investigation into Mesmer’s claims and the eventual conclusions
- Mesmer was using this treatment on a patient named Maria. After treatment was little to no effect on her the parents stopped treatment. He was accused of being a fraud by other doctors. He then made his own invention called the oak tub which dispensed magnetic fluid through the iron bars. This showed to also have no effect. He was then called a fraud by the University of Paris. In 1784 there was an investigation where the King put people into a room and used magnets to cure them, however it did not work as suspected and after investigation they found that his method was nothing but imagination.
What is phrenology? Describe development of phrenology, including what Gall based phrenology on that ultimately discredited the idea.
Phrenology focuses on measurements of the skull because it was believed that its configuration was directly related to the individual’s personality and intelligence. Phrenology stemmed from physiognomy which was the belief that character and mental abilities varied due to someone’s shape and size of their facial features. This dated back to the Greek times. Gall based his theory on speculation and some case studies. As his studies continued he saw there was no sound scientific proof to support his idea. However, Gall helped advance the field of cognitive psychology.
In what way did knitting needles advance the emergence of the science of psychology? (Be sure to mention just-noticeable differences and Weber’s Law.)
. Knitting needles advanced psychology because they were used in the early experiments with Weber. Weber’s experiments were some of the first experiments in psychology. He used the needles to experiment on the sensory system. Weber would touch the needle to a part of the patient’s body, normally their back, and he would measure how far off the person was when they would try to point to the area that was touched. Around this time Mechanist were very interested in reflexes and nerve transmissions. From this Weber’s Law was developed. His law stated that a quantitative relationship between the physical and psychological worlds. This lead to the framework of experimental psychology.
Describe the work of Müller and its importance. In what way did he have a considerable influence on psychology?
Johannes Muller was a very influential figure in psychology. Muller wondered if the soul was simply the brain and nervous system in action or was it a separate “vital force” that temporarily inhabits the body. This helped him make many discoveries about the nervous system, which also helped established physiological psychology. Muller’s physiology helped answer how the realities of the world around us become perceptions in our mind. Muller’s work showed how the brain receives and interprets those nerve impulses. He proved that nerve impulses are what the brain receives and not replicas of what we see.
Describe Helmholtz’s work on optics, especially color vision research. What was the long-lasting importance of this work?
In his research he concluded that three-color wave lengths (red, blue-violet, and green) were necessary to create all colors, and he called them the primary colors. He also did research with regards to nerve impulses and their speed. He concluded that mind interprets and draws meaning from messages sent via the optic nerve. Furthermore, humans make unconscious inferences about special relations through experience of size, direction, and intensity of the hue of an object. He did test that would train the brain to make adjustments to glasses he made where the subject would see the object in a different spot and adjustment made by the brain. He said that if these were moved around we would see the thunder and hear the lightning.
Describe the methods that resulted from Fechner’s work to confirm Weber’s law. Why are these important?
Fechner used 3 different methods of experimental measurement to confirm Weber’s law. 1) Method of limits aka “method of just noticeable differences”- the experimenter presents a participant with a “constant” stimulus and a “comparison” stimulus. The differences were brought about in a gradual pace and would continue until the subject could perceive the difference between the two. 2) Method of constant stimuli aka “method of right and wrong cases.” For this method the experiment will present stimuli in succession or in pairs and the subject will either say yes that they do perceive it or that the two are different or they will say no if they didn’t perceive it or there is no difference between the two. This method is used to determine the likelihood that the subject will perceive the stimulus or the difference between the two stimuli at any given stimulus level or difference between the stimuli. 3) Method of adjustment aka “method of average error.” This was an original method brought about by Fechner himself. The subject is give an “comparison” stimulus and they adjust it until it matches the “standard” stimulus. He found there was always a slight error in every case and would average the numbers to conclude the j.n.d. (just noticeable difference). This was important in creating the idea that measuring the central tendency is not the only way to attain information; variability in data can be just as valuable.
In what way was Wundt a “victim” of distorted data? How does this demonstrate that the data of history are different from the data of science?
- Wundt was a victim distorted data because his student Tichner used his work to put his own ideas in. Tichner was the person that translated Wundt’s work and he used this to alter some of Wundt’s work for his own personal use. This is a perfect example of how the data of history can be altered, suppressed, distorted, or lost. Also the way data is gathered and reconstructed can alter the data of history. The data of history really relies on honest translations on accounts of works. If one piece of the data is lost or mistranslated it changes what really exist and what was made up.
If Wundt had lived up (or down) to his father’s expectations and never become a man of renown, what would have happened to psychology? Justify your answer and explain what view of history you are taking (be sure to define the opposing view). Which view is supported by instances of simultaneous discovery?
. I think that regardless of if Wundt had lived up to his father’s expectations and never became renowned in psychology, it would have grown as a science regardless. I do believe that psychology may have been altered by the fact that Wundt wasn’t teaching the new and upcoming psychologist that some subdivisions of psychology would not exist. I think that psychology as a whole stemmed from philosophy, and so the questions about the mind and self-conscious always existed. The opposing view is the great man approach which believes that highly influential individuals have a huge historical impact. Wundt’s teaching influenced many of his students who took those lessons back to their home countries and psychology spread. Not every student of Wundt believed on Wundtian psychology, and this helped form different forms of psychology. So with this approach, had Wundt followed in the steps his father wanted him to take psychology would not be an independent science.
How was Wundt’s psychology influenced by the work of the German physiologists and the British empiricists?
Some of Wundt’s big influences came from the empiricist view, German physiology, and
Wundt was influenced by the empiricist’s emphasis on experiments. Empiricist’s also influenced him because they did not believe in innate ideas which raised questions on the mind’s ability to learn and how experience shapes our ideas. While Wundt was successful in the medical field, he did not enjoy it and switched to physiology and studied under Muller. He eventually became the lab assistant to Helmholtz. These physiological influences helped guide him in his own experimental science in psychology. Wundt also used the reductionist perspective to look at the parts of consciousness and use the empirical method of experimentation to test these questions. These influences helped guide Wundt into making psychology its own science.
What is the underlying theme in “Outlines of Psychology”? What was Wundt trying to accomplish?
The underlying theme in “Outlines of Psychology” was to show that psychology is just as much of a science as any natural science. Wundt believed that psychology was able to have experiments done (empiricist view). Wundt of course believed that psychology was an all-around better science and should be focused on more. In his writing he wanted to show that psychology was its own science and cut its ties from philosophy and other nonscientific origins. He believed that psychology was “supplementary to the natural sciences” and wanted to show how experimental methods could be applied to psychology.
Describe Ebbinghaus’ research on learning and memory, including how Fechner’s work influenced Ebbinghaus. Who was more successful, Wundt or Ebbinghaus?
Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist who was also peer of Wundt’s. He also wanted to expand psychology as a science. Ebbinghaus was interested in studying memory and associations. He read Fechner’s “Elements of Psychophysics” and was inspired to do his own research. He liked Fechner’s mathematical approach to psychology and wanted to use this measurement to apply it to his experiments on learning and memory. He started using himself as a subject and studied his “meaningless series of syllables” to study memory processes. From this he found it was 9x’s harder to learn unassociated material and also made his famous forgetting curve. Ebbinghaus continued his research at the University of Berlin and even published “On Memory” in 1885 on his findings. He and another professor started a journal of Psychology and Physiology of the Sense Organs, this is when psychology really got momentum. Ebbinghaus’ research broadened the scope of experimental psychology. I think this made Ebbinghaus more successful than Wundt in my opinion.
