Origins of Psychology

Question 1

What did Descartes say in the 17th century about the mind and the body?

Answer 1

The mind and the body represent a dualism, the two interact in different ways to produce different behaviours and thoughts.

Question 2

What is the definition of Psychology?

Answer 2

The scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience.

Question 3

What is the definition of Science?

Answer 3

A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. The aim is to discover general laws.

Question 4

What are the features of science?

Answer 4

A universal paradigm, theory construction, hypothesis testing, deduction, falsification, replicability, objectivity and the empirical method

Question 5

In 1879, Wundt set up his first laboratory where he adopted the use of which method?

Answer 5

Introspection

Question 6

What is the definition of introspection?

Answer 6

A means of learning about one’s own currently ongoing mental states or processes. Introspective knowledge is often held to be more immediate or direct than sensory knowledge

Question 7

What 3 conditions does Introspection feature?

Answer 7

The mentality condition, the first person condition and the temporal proximity condition

Question 8

What is the mentality condition?

Answer 8

Aims to generate beliefs about mental states and events

Question 9

What is the first person condition?

Answer 9

Aims to generate beliefs about the individuals own mind

Question 10

What is the temporal proximity condition?

Answer 10

Generates beliefs and describes the individuals current mental life

Question 11

What did Wundt do in a process called structuralism?

Answer 11

Isolated conscious thoughts into basic structures of thoughts, processes and images

Question 12

What was the method of data recording like for Wundt?

Answer 12

Highly scientific. The same stimulus was used each time, allowing for replication under standardised conditions, hence producing reliable data

Question 13

Why did Skinner disagree with introspection?

Answer 13

The subjective nature. The findings differed greatly from individual to individual, making it difficult to establish general laws and unifying principles of behaviour and cognition

Question 14

What idea of Skinner’s was tested in the 1930s?

Answer 14

Radical behaviourism (that private events could be measured and quantified in the same way as observable behaviour) was tested using the laboratory experiment method of research

Question 15

What did Skinner’s testing of radical behaviourism allow for?

Answer 15

The objective measurement of observable behaviour, providing reliable data through controlling and eliminating the effects of extraneous and confounding variables, by using highly controlled conditions.

Question 16

What did Skinner’s testing mark the beginning of for psychology?

Answer 16

Becoming a scientific discipline

Question 17

How did the invention of the computer in the 1960s help the cognitive approach?

Answer 17

Psychologists had a metaphor for the functions and workings of the mind. Eg. The ‘computer analogy’

Question 18

How was the social learning theory progressed by Bandura?

Answer 18

He agreed with behaviourist principles but argued that these principles are better applied to a social context

Question 19

How did the biological approach progress in the 1970s?

Answer 19

Advances in technology, particularly with brain scanning techniques allowed psychologists to objectively observe and measure the biological basis of behaviour

Question 20

In the 1900s, what did sigmund Freud emphasise?

Answer 20

The influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour (the psychodynamic approach)

Question 21

What is one strength of Wundt’s work?

Answer 21

Some of his methods were systematic and well controlled (all introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab - extraneous variables not a factor), procedures and instructions carefully standardised.

Question 22

What is one limitation of Wundt’s work?

Answer 22

Other aspects of Wundt’s research would be considered unscientific today. Wundt relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes - influenced by a personal perspective.

Question 23

What is one strength of the emergence of Psychology as a science?

Answer 23

Research in modern psychology can claim to be scientific. Psychology has the same aims as the natural sciences - to describe, understand, predict and control behaviour.

Question 24

What is one weakness of the emergence of psychology as a science?

Answer 24

Not all approaches use objective methods.

Question 25

Does the humanistic approach agree with or reject the scientific approach and why?

Answer 25

Rejects - prefers to focus on individual experiences and subjective experience.

Question 26

Which method does the psychodynamic approach make use of?

Answer 26

The case study method