Previous Exam SAQs Flashcards
List two lasting contributions that Francis Galton made to psychology.
Regression - created the statistical technique of regression which is widely used throughout most psychology subdisciplines.
Twin method – invented the twin method that is now used in behaviour genetics.
What did Skinner mean when he referred to ‘superstitious behaviour’?
He stated ‘The experiment might be said to demonstrate a sort of superstition. The bird behaves as if there were a causal relation between its behavior and the presentation of food, although such a relation is lacking. There are many analogies in human behavior. Rituals for changing one’s fortune at cards are good examples.’
Briefly explain the concept of ‘The Nobel Savage’.
Born good - the idea that people are born good and corrupted by society.
Romantic notions – the way primitive mankind are idealized in Romantic literature, symbolizing the innate goodness of humanity when free from the corrupting influence of civilization.
The Oath of Mechanism
Rejection - a rejection to vitalism as Helmholtz believed it imposed restriction on science. In particular, understanding consciousness.
Materialism – the Oath of Mechanism, taken by Helmholtz and his contemporaries, believed in materialism and stated ‘no other forces aside from the common physical ones are active within the organism.’
Physical mechanisms - they essentially believed that all actions were caused by physical mechanisms, if you can’t observe them now, you will at some point in the future. No room for mysticism.
Why did John Watson leave academia, and what did he do after that?
Affair - Watson left academia due to his affair with Rosalie Rayner as this caused a huge scandal at the university (primarily due to Mary Icke’s brother).
Advertising - after this, he turned to the word of advertising. One of his famous contributions is celebrity endorsements which capitalises on behaviourism’s classical conditioning.
Pragmatism
Metaphysical club – this philosophy was the core idea behind James’ metaphysical club.
Reaction – reaction to the Scottish common sense philosophy that you’re born with common sense ideas about the world.
Evolution - individuals’ beliefs are always evolving and it is those thoughts that win out that are maintained.
Behaviour – there is a direct connection between beliefs and behaviour.
John Dewey
G Stanley Hall – was a student of his.
Critiqued reflex arc - stimuli are constantly changing and depends on what is going on at the time, could be wanting warmth, could be wanting light, so it is contextual.
Education - children and adults are different in mental abilities. Children and adults are alike in that desire power and control over their immediate environment
James McKeen Cattell
Mental testing – coined this term. Developed measures of individual differences (inspired by Galton), mainly with the goal of measuring intelligence. These were the primitive hand squeezing measures.
Investigation - chairs the investigation to see whether these measures actually predict performance. They do not. Cattell was open about this and allowed PhD student to publish this, got rid of apparatuses.
Rank – obsessed with ranking scientists and psychologists, creating methods of doing so. President of APA.
Journals – the owner of Science, Psychological Review and others. Also established Psychological Corporation which, still a major publisher of tests today.
What was the main difference between the “Nancy school” of hypnosis versus Charcot at the Salp tri re?
Susceptibility - Charcot and Nancy school fight over whether hypnosis susceptability indicates hysteria.
Nancy school – believe that everyone can be hypnotised.
Charcot – believes that being able to be hypnotised indicates hysteria.
Eventually – strength of character is implicated in hypnosis susceptibility but it is not considered abnormal.
Karl Lashley
Neobehaviourist – friend of Watson’s but whereas Watson was interested in behavioural analysis and patterns, Lashley was interested in understanding the brain function behind behaviour.
Law of mass action - learning and memory depend on the total amount of the brain that is healthy and functioning, this determines how well you can learn.
Law of equipotentiality - learning and other functions in the brain can be covered by other healthy parts of the brain, they make up for it and assist the animal in completing the task i.e. neuroplasticity (note: only talking about small ablations).
Describe some of the methods and/or traits that led Pavlov to become an accomplished researcher in digestion.
Blood, sweat and fears - While many others who fear blood would have abstained from a career in surgery, Pavlov instead persevered and became an unusually adept surgeon. Before him, scientists working with fistulas had struggled to keep dogs alive much less have them behave normally. By persevering, he honed his skills and was able to study the dogs in an unprecedented way.
Long haul - His enduring grit can also be seen in the many years he spent in low level positions biding his time until he was eventually given his own laboratory at 42 years of age. His patient and unremitting nature resulted in a Nobel prize and lasting contributions to both psychology and physiology.
Seduction Theory
Sexual mistreatment – Freud’s idea that most of the women he saw for hysteria were likely to have been sexually mistreated as young women or girls.
Retracted – a year later, he then says that some really happened but a lot of them were likely to be fantasies. It has been hypothesised that this was due to it being a dangerous idea.
Briefly discuss why the early history of phrenology in America helps to us understand the way that psychology developed in that country in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Framing - though originally framed scientifically (by Gall), Phrenology was reframed by the Fowlers who minimised the scientific content and maximised the practical applications.
Transcendentalism - this was due to the rejection of eliticism and emphasis on the individual, which were fundamental tenants of the Transcendentalism that had permeated American society.
Values - the influence these values had on psychology and other sciences was that they were more focussed on lines of research that had practical applications.
List two contributions that Wundt made to psychology.
Introspection - method of introspection used to study consciousness.
Apperception - how we integrate perception with knowledge from past experiences (e.g. culture).
Briefly explain the possible ‘transference’ issue in Dora’s case with Freud.
Cigar smoking man – Freud noted that he, like Herr K, was a man who liked to smoke cigars. He took this to mean that she possibly ‘transferred’ her libidinous urges surrounding Herr K onto Freud.
Issue – this was an issue because he believed that transference could interfere with Dora’s responsiveness to therapy. However, he only thought of this after Dora had ceased therapy, so it wasn’t really a concern.
