Module 1: The Story of Psychology

Question 1

Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 1

-father of psychology
- formalized psychology as an academic discipline with the first lab being opened in the University of Leipzig in 1879
- Mentor to E.B. Titchener
- Structuralist, attempted to map out mind via quantifying the simplest/fastest mental processes (1/10 seconds to press button, 2/10 to press when thinking abt it)

Question 2

What was the forerunner of psychology?

Answer 2

Philosophy

Question 3

What did Aristotle believe about the mind? Plato and Socrates?

Answer 3

Unlike Plato and Socrates, Aristotle believed that the mind was a part of the body, and knowledge learned, rather than rediscovered as memories from a mind which carries on after the body has perished

Question 4

Define Psychology

Answer 4

“The study of behavior and mental processes” which are impacted by something’s physical/mental state

Question 5

Edward Bradford Titchener

Answer 5

-Student of Wilhem Wundt
- Came up with the idea of introspection (see other card)

Question 6

Introspection

Answer 6

Subject looks inward and describes their experience and reports their senses feelings, and the interaction between them
- Ultimately failed because it was too subjective and unscientific

Question 7

What were John Locke and Francis Bacon’s contributions? (also name the years if you are so inclined)

Answer 7

EMPIRICISM: (1561-1626)
- Idea that knowledge comes from experience/senses
- Tenent: science flourishes thru observation + experience

Question 8

What was Rene Descartes’ influence? (and years)

Answer 8

1596-1650
- Father of Philosophy, pioneered rationalism (REASON used to understand world and attain knowledge)
- Cogito ergo sum (i think therefore I am, we are sentient and animals are not)
- Mind disconnected, went past death
- Darwin saw and supported his ideas

Question 9

WILLIAM JAMESSSSSS (and who he was influenced by)

Answer 9

• Father of Psychology (but american), helped separate psychology from philosophy
• Invented functionalism
• Admitted one Mary Whiton Calkins into his first psych course in 1890 (men dropped out as a result, so he taught her alone), who would later go on to be unfairly rejected a Harvard pHd and the APA’s first female president (1905)
• FUNCTIONALISM —-> LAB SCIENCE
• Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution, specifically social Darwinism (what lets some people “move” faster than others)
• the brain and mind are constantly changing

Question 10

Define functionalism

Answer 10

Stated that “complex behavioral processes” allowed an organism to survive, and that each thing had a function (ex. anger was essential to our past in our ancestors fighting back, and thus deterring other people/organisms from taking from them)
- used introspection

Question 11

Define Structuralism

Answer 11

Attempted to map out mind via quantifying the simplest/fastest mental processes (1/10 seconds to press button, 2/10 to press when thinking abt it)
- Used introspection

Question 12

Margaret Floy Washburn

Answer 12

• First female psych PhD,
• second female APA president (1921)
• Could not join experimental psychologist group founded by Titchener

Question 13

Behaviorism

Answer 13

1920s
- John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner
- “Science of mental life” (insider info, we just need to share it) —-> “scientific study of observable behavior”
- Only observable thing = behavior (core of behaviorism)
- Through stimulus and response, we learn CLASSICALLY CONDITIONED responses

Question 14

Freudian psychology

Answer 14

• Emerged alongside behaviorism as premier psychological influence until 1960s
• ## Unconscious mind + childhood experiences = influenced behavior (dreams have meaning too)

Question 15

What psychological schools of thought emerged in the 1960s? Describe them

Answer 15

1. Humanistic psychologists (environmental)
   -CURRENT ENVIRONMENT and needs (motive) of love and acceptance = impacts our growth
2. Cognitive psychology (biological)
   - How we think and perceive and remember, more now on importance of mind itself

Question 16

Solution to nature-nurture issue

Answer 16

“Nurture works with what nature endows”

Question 17

3 levels of psych analysis?

Answer 17

Biopsychosocial approch:
1. Biological mechanisms/natural selection of beneficial traits
2. learned fears/expectations, emotional responses, and thinking and perception
3. Influences of others

Question 18

Basic vs. applied research

Answer 18

Basic: Builds psychology’s base of knowledge
Applied: Practical problems (industrial-organizational psychologists)

Question 19

Counselling psychologists

Answer 19

Help people with advice and trying to cope with challenges

Question 20

Clinical psychologists

Answer 20

More based in research, while they can help assess and treat disorders, they do NOT provide PSYCHOtherapy

Question 21

Psychiatrist

Answer 21

Provides psychotherapy and are medical doctors who can prescribe drugs

Question 22

Positive psychology

Answer 22

“The plus to psychology’s historical removal of minuses”

Question 23

Community psychologists

Answer 23

interactions between people and envirnments, trying to change environment rather than people

Question 24

who was wilhelm wundt’s successor/student?

Answer 24

Edward Bradford Titchener