Origins Of Psychology

Question 1

Define psychology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those functions affecting behaviour in a given context

Question 2

Define science?

Answer 2

Means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. The aim is so discover general laws

Question 3

Define introspection?

Answer 3

The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking out conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations

Question 4

Who was Rene Descartes and what did he suggest?

Answer 4

He was a french philosopher (1596-1650) and suggested that the mind and body are independent from eachother and this became known as Descartian dualism

Question 5

What did John Lock propose? (1632-1704

Answer 5

Empiricism, the idea that all experience can be obtained through the senses and that human beings inherit leader knowledge and instincts

Question 6

What did John Locke’s view later form the basis of?

Answer 6

The behaviourist approach

Question 7

What did Charles Darwin do?

Answer 7

1809-1882- developed evolutionary theory which is the notion that all human and animal behaviour has changed over successive generations so that the individuals with stronger and more adaptive genes survive and reproduce

Question 8

What does Darwin’s view relate to and what did it go on to form?

Answer 8

Relates to survival of the fittest and led to the basis of the biological approach in psychology

Question 9

When, where and why did the first psychology dedicated lab open?

Answer 9

Germany, 1875, try to describe the nature of human consciousness

Question 10

What is it called when you isolate the structure of consciousness?

Answer 10

Structuralism

Question 11

What did the objective of describing human consciousness become known as?

Answer 11

introspection - involved Wundt and his co-workers recording their own conscious thoughts

Question 12

What are some strengths of Wundt’s method?

Answer 12

Still regarded as scientific today
Introspection was recorded in strictly controlled conditions
Same standardised instructions given to all participants (allowing procedures to be replicated)
Led to beginnings of behavioural, cognitive and biological approaches

Question 13

(EOPAAS)

What was Watson’s(behaviourist) problem with introspection?

Answer 13

The data produced was subjective and therefore varied greatly from person to person so difficult to establish general principles

Question 14

What was Watson particularly critical of?

Answer 14

Introspection’s focus on internal mental processes because behaviourists supported the emergence of psychology as a science.

Question 15

Which two people brought the language and methods of the new natural sciences into psychology ?

Answer 15

Watson (1913)

Skinner (1953)

Question 16

What do behaviourists focus on?

Answer 16

The scientific processes involved in learning as well as the careful use of controlled lab conditions (many modern psychologists still rely on the experimental method)

Question 17

What happened with the cognitive approach in the 1960’s?

Answer 17

it developed massively and the study of mental processes is now seen as a legitimate area within psychology

Question 18

How does the biological approach contribute to the emergence of psychology as a science?

Answer 18

Almost entirely scientific in it’s focus
Highly scientific in its methods (lab)
Makes use of experimental data by looking at live activity in the brain using sophisticated scanning techniques

Question 19

What are the problems with introspection?

Answer 19

It doesn’t explain how the mind works,relies on people describing their thoughts and feelings which isn’t usually objective

Doesn’t provide data that can be used reliably, people are reporting on experiences (can’t be confirmed )

Question 20

What did Wundt believe in ?

Answer 20

Reductionism - idea that things can be reduced to simple cause and effect processes

Question 21

What are the arguments for psychology as a science ?

Answer 21

Allport (1947)- psychology has the same aims as science to predict, understand and control

Behaviourist, cognitive and biological approaches, all use scientific procedures to investigate theories - usually controlled and unbiased

Question 22

What are the arguments against psychology as a science?

Answer 22

Some approaches in psychology don’t use objective methods, they use unreliable methods (biased)
Hard to get a representative sample of the population for a study - findings can’t be generalised
Studies often open to extraneous variables - demand characteristics - hard to control