PS122 Psychology in Context Flashcards
Plato
Rationalism - Senses can be deceiving.Thusthey should not be trusted.
People should relyonlogicinstead
Allegory of the Cave
Prisoners in a cave can only see shadows on a wall
These shadows become their reality
Only once they are allowed to leave the cave can they see ‘real’ objects
Cave is a parable of the human condition
Soul imprisoned in body and forced to look at imperfect copies of objects. “Forms” are the only true (perfect) example
Empiricism
Contrasts with Rationalism. Emphasises role of experience. Gains information through sensory perception and observation.
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
He gained his knowledge from observation, believed that observation and analysis are reliable.
Hence he was an empiricist
However, he did no experimentation. Studied living things and analysed the nature of causes. He defined the ‘soul’ as that which animates and gives form to matter.
Rene Descartes
Born in 1956. Rationalist. I think therefore I am.
Mind-body Dualism
He made an ontological distinction:
Mind (res cogitans) and Matter (res extensa) are fundamentally different things.
Matter occupies space, but doesn’t think.
Mind thinks, but doesn’t occupy space
The human mind is uniquely reflexive, linguistic and rational.
John Locke
KEY THEMES
How do we acquire knowledge?
Nature vs. Nurture
We do not have innate ideas.
Perception vs. Reality
Primary Qualities - Objective Physical World (Matter, Energy and Motion)
Secondary Qualities - Subjective mental life (Intentions, Ideas and feelings)
David Hume
Born 1711 one of the central figures of the ‘Scottish Enlightenment’.
But argued that reason is the slave of passions.
We argue from our convictions, not to them
One of his aims was to answer the question: “What do we really know from experience?”
Experienceactually provides fewergrounds for beliefthan weconventionally assume.
“No amount of observations of white swans can allow the inferencethat all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan issufficient to refute that conclusion.”
Problem of falsifiability
Repeated instances do not justify ontological induction.
Correlation is not causation
Moreover, this reasoning applies to what we take to be causes.
Flames have has so often been accompanied by the experience of heatthat we take them to be the cause of heat.
But there is nonecessaryreason to do so, it is merely a habitual belief.
Cause itselfis not perceivable.
Is the “Mind of Man” no more than a mechanism?
Modern Psychology emerged between1850 - 1900
Principles of materialism and mechanism expressed the spirit of Modernism.
Around 1840, Helmholtz, Brücke and other German scientists signed an “anti-vitalism” oath:
“No other forces other than the common physical-chemical ones are active with the organism”
How do we quantify the psychological processes we are interested in?
- Psychometrics: Intelligence testing
- Psychophysics: perception and sensation
- Structuralism and consciousness
Psychometrics measures things like:
Intelligence
Personality
Aptitudes for specific skills or occupations
Nature or degree of mental illness
Educational problems
Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)
Cousin of Darwin
Born in Birmingham
Made first weather maps
Classified fingerprints
Great statistical contribution to Psychology
Galton suggested Intelligence could also form a normal distribution. Developed the “standard deviation”. Plotted scores from top 100 candidates at Cambridge. Published Hereditary Genius (1869)
Individual differences in intelligence must be innate!
Intelligence runs in families
E.g. Brontës in literature; Bachs in music
Galton board
TheGalton board, orbean machine, is a device invented by SirFrancis Galton to demonstrate that with sufficient sample size thebinomial distributionapproximates anormal distribution. Among its applications, it afforded insight intoregression to the mean
Inheritance of Eminence
Classified families as ‘eminent’ or not
For the most eminent family member:
31% of fathers were eminent
27% of brothers were eminent
48% of sons were eminent
5-8% of grandfathers, grandsons, uncles and nephews were eminent
Closer the kinship, the greater the likelihood of eminence (gene sharing)
First attempt to account for heritability of psychological characteristics
BUT: Closer the relative, the more likely to share the environment
Eugenics
Galton believed that, because horses can be bred with certain characteristics, so could humans
“produce a highly gifted race of men during several consecutive generations”
Eugenics - Improving the human race by selective breeding
Set up AnthropometricLab
(Eugenics generallyabandoned after early20thcentury)
Binet intelligence scales
Alfred Binet was a French doctor (1857-1911), influenced by Galton and Darwin
In 1905 joined a government commission to identify school children with “mental handicap”
Wanted to create a fair system of testing intelligence testing, not based on previous education experience
Used large banks of tests, including word associations, drawing, and digit span
Realised that age needed to be considered!!
First intelligence test
Binet and Simon constructed first usable test of intelligence (1905)
Comprised of 30 separate items with increasing difficulty
E.G. Follow lighted match with eyes (attention)
What is difference between paper and cardboard?
Construct a sentence with ‘Paris’, ‘river’, ‘fortune’
Intelligent Quotient
German psychologist William Stern introduced Intelligence Quotient in 1912:
IQ = mental age/ x 100
chronological age
E.g. Child of 10 who has a mental age of 12 would have an IQ of 120 (12/10*100)
Higher IQ = superior
Intelligence testing today
Mental testing and IQ is still in common use, but much developed
Tests often updated every few years
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children(WISC).
Galton’s and Binet’s ideas very influential and have had a major impact on modern psychology
Franz Joseph Gall
1758-1828
Found nerve fibres passing from one side to the other of the brain (commissures)
Comparative anatomist – compared brains
In general, the larger the brain the more advanced the mental functions
(Mostly accurate except in adult human population)
Phrenology
Gall believed that certain ‘faculties’ were based in specific parts of the brain…
In some ways true: motor area, visual area, language, executive control etc.
Bumps and indentations onsurface of the skull reflect thesize of “phrenological organs” in the brain
Ultimately discredited but the initial ideas were based on empirical observations
There were flaws in the logic though
Psychophysics
Returning to our main problem: how do we measure the mind scientifically
Physics was the natural model for early psychology.
Hence, Psycho-physics, the objective investigation of subjective experience.
Interested in sensation and perception
E.H Weber
1795-1878
Pioneered methods for measuring the sensitivity of the senses. Especially looked at thresholds
Conscious sensations of a stimuli may not reflect reality.
One way of constraining the problem of subjectivity is to measure thresholds.
Absolute Thresholds are the smallest quantities that give any sensation at all.
level of stimulus intensity at which stimulus can no longer be detected
Relative thresholds (Just noticeable difference ) are the smallest quantitative change that is noticeable.
minimum difference (e.g. brightness) between two items to be able to tell them apart
Just Noticeable Differences
Relative thresholds are also known as “Just Noticeable Differences” - JND’s.
The Weber - Fechner Law states that JND’s are a constant proportion of the absolute intensity.
It was hoped that psychophysics would steadily discover all such laws.
Hermann Von Helmholtz
1821-1894
One of the greatest 19th Century Physiologists. Adopted a ‘Doctrine of
Mechanism’ (opposed to vitalism)
Rate of neural conduction:
Initially used a frogs leg
Stimulating the nerve in the leg would cause the foot to twitch
Stimulated different distances from the foot and measured time taken for foot to twitch
Calculated the Neural conduction = 25 meters per second
Helmholtz: Trichomatic theory
Groundbreaking work on colour perception
Noted only 3 colour receptors (cones – RGB)
But can see many different hues
Hues arise from a mix of cones excited to different degrees
Helmholtz: Unconscious inference
Realised that image on the retina may not accurately reflect the external world
E.g. Blind spot – brain ‘fills’ in this area
Sometimes the brain’s perceptions contradict the raw sensations
Visual illusions
Derive the most probable explanation (unconscious inference)
Based on prior visual learning experience
Gestalt Psychology
Psychophysics revealed a lot about the senses,
but not much about how sensations become perception.
Gestalt psychology - ‘A whole is more than it’s parts’.
Principles
emergence
reification
multistability
invariance
Wundt
Considered the founder of experimental psychology
Set up first experimental psychology lab at Leipzig, Germany (1879)
Supervised 186 PhDs including Titchener, William James, Cattell
Cultural psychology
10 volume work on cultural psychology
Religion, language, myths, history, art, laws, customs
Not only shaped by senastion/ perception, but by culture.
Very interested in language – verbal communication of idea one wants to say.
Wundt and Structuralism
Wondered whether complex mental experience could be broken down into simple processes: building blocks
Influenced by physicists and chemists breaking down molecules into atoms (e.g. water into hydrogen and oxygen)
Method: Systematic introspection
Introspection
There is external observation and internal observation (inside own mind)
Wundt described psychology as the ‘science of conscious experience’
Therefore the best method is to observe the conscious experience
However, only the person having the experience can observe it…
Thus he used introspection
Observation: Observer must pay close attention to the stimulus (used observers trained in introspection)
Experimental control: Experiment creates external conditions that are stable across time and participants
Observer must report the elements of consciousness (e.g. duration of a stimulus, size etc.)
Wundt: Problems for introspection
Wundt noted that introspective reports were unverifiable
Memory can often play tricks with recollection of psychological states
As a result higher mental processes will be too complex to study
Criticisms of Introspection (1)
Participants may not agree on their introspections
Problem of validity: Who was right?
As it’s subjective, repeating the study will not help
Wundt acknowledges this problem but thought that further training could help
Criticisms of Introspection (2)
Introspection could also be classified as ‘retrospection’..
.. depending on the time between the stimulus and report
Examining an experience in an introspective manner may alter it
(e.g. introspecting on anger may cause the anger to subside)
Criticisms of Introspection (3)
Imageless thoughts
In problem solving often cannot report on their introspections. The solution ‘just appears’
Implies that many psychological processes are not available for introspective access
William James
First to teach psychology courses: Harvard 1875
“ the stream of consciousness”
Consciousness is not a thing, but a process.
Unlike Wundt, James did not believe in breaking down experiences.
Pragmatism – “true beliefs” are those the believer finds useful.
Functionalism
Phillipe Pinel
Pioneer in humane treatment of patients, classification of disorders.
Roots of Freudian Theory
After work with Charcot, Fliess and Breuer, Freud became convinced that mental illness was not just physiological and that psychological treatment could be effective.
Breuer’s ‘talking cure’ was the seed for psychoanalysis.
Freud’s clinical work suggested that many neurotic symptoms could be traced to early traumas, unconscious in adult life, that affected the development of personality.
He abandoned an early theory of ‘childhood seduction’,
but he retained the idea that sexuality was a part of early parent-child relations.
Who was the first patient treated by the talking cute?
Anna O - A patient with Hysteria
Psychodynamic Perspective
Freud believed psychology influences caused disorders
Wanted to see what these psychological influences were
Psychoanalysis Treatment Process:
Patients revealed painful, embarrassing thoughts in the unconscious (through talking, free association).
Once these memories were retrieved and released… the patients then would feel better
Conscious, preconcious and unconscious
Conscious - what you are currently aware of
Preconscious - info not in conscious but is able to be retrieved when needed
Unconscious - Massive amount hidden from view
Id
Primitive, unconscious portion of the personality
Houses the most basic drives and stores repressed memories
“Pleasure Principle”
Superego
Mind’s storehouse of values, moral attitudes learned from parents and society, same as common notion of conscience
Ego
Conscious, rational part of personality
Charged with keeping peace between superego and id
Eros and Thanatos
Eros and Thanatos
(Love and death)
Eros drives us toward life and procreation
Thanatos drives us to risk-seeking
Death instinct - people have an innate attraction to death and destruction e.g watching true crime
Freudian slips
“Slip of the Tongue”
not something you meant to say, but was brought out through your unconscious thought
Latent content of dreams
Symbolic meaning of dream images, what your unconscious mind is thinking
Hypnotherapy
Franz Anton Mesmer
“mesmerism”
Jean-Martin Charcot
Neurologist who used hypnosis on patients
Joseph Breuer
Could reduce severity of symptoms
Free Association
Developed by Carl Jung - write a word down and then create lines to other words associated with this
How does the ego negotiate between the id and the superego?
These clashes are called intrapsychic or psychodynamic conflicts.
Psychic energy cannot be destroyed, only redistributed.
This process can cause stress and anxiety.
The ego tries to prevent anxiety, guilt and other unpleasant feelings.
Sometimes the ego helps us negotiate situations well and sometimes we use…
Defense Mechanisms
Psychosexual development
Freud believed that personality formed during life’s first few years divided into: Psychosexual Stages
During these stages stages the id’s (the devil) pleasure seeking energies focus on pleasure sensitive body areas called erogenous zones. THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
In each stage the child must get enough gratification to be able to move to the next stage
Too much gratification can cause problems
Too little gratification the child can not move to the next
For normal development a child must work through all the stages
Fixation - being stuck and struggling through a particular psychosexual stage. You move on in life, but may have ‘issues’ that arise from the struggles during that stage.
The Oral stage (birth-18 months)
1: The Oral stage (birth – 18 mths)
focus on the mouth
Pleasure is gained through sucking
e.g. Breast feeding
If child stays fixated in this stage in adulthood can be
Smoker
Bite fingernails
Sexually attracted to large breasts
The anal stage (18 months to 3 years)
2: The anal stage 18 mth – 3 years
Focus on the anus
Pleasure gained from going to the toilet
e.g. Potty training
If child stays fixated in this stage in adulthood can be:
Anally retentive – fussy, overly tidy, OCD (if punished during potty training)
Anally expulsive - messy & disorganized
The phallic stage (3-6 years)
The phallic stage 3 – 6 years
Focus on the genitals
Exploration and interest in genitals
In Greek mythology - a phallic symbol is that of a male genital and deal with incestuous feelings.
Go through either:
The Oedipus Complex (for boys)
The Electra Complex (for girls)
Oedipus Complex
Young boy desires his mother
Jealous of father for his mother’s attention and larger penis
Fear father will castrate him
STATE OF CONFLICT!
Resolved by identifying with father and repressing desire for mother
This gives rise to development of superego
Electra Complex
She starts to sexually desire her father who has a penis.
The girl begins to develop penis envy. She blames her mother for removing her penis.
The girl sees her mother as a sexual rival for her father.
To resolve this, the girl represses her feelings for her father and begins to identify with her mother
The superego develops, she replaces penis envy with desire for a baby.
Identification: End of the Phallic Stage
Children cope with the threatening feelings by repressing them and by identifying with the rival parent.
Through this process of identification their superego gains strength incorporating parents’ values.
The Latency Stage (6 years to Puberty)
The sexual drive remains dormant
Focus on school
play mostly with same sex peers
Until puberty begins
The genital stage (adolescent and up)
5: The genital stage (adolescent & Up)
Focus on genitals
Begin to become attracted to the opposite sex
Adult sexuality. Feeling more comfortable with the mature understanding of what sex means and what is about. Comfort and maturity in expressing with the sexual feelings towards others.
Legacy of Freud
Developed grand ideas with massive overall and overarching reach.
No longer influential in psychology, but in literature !
Therapeutic Influence
He didn’t invent the talking cure, but popularized it as a treatment for psychology disorders that is still used today
Personality stages and theory
1st comprehensive personality theory ever!
Role of the Unconscious
Freud’s theory pins itself to the unconscious and there are MANY ways that the unconscious mind plays a pivotal role in human behavior.
Who were the Neo-Freudians?
Adler, Horney, A. Freud, Jung
Alfred Adler
Like Freud, Alfred Adler believed in childhood tensions, however these tensions were social in nature & not sexual.
A child struggles with inferiority complex during growth & strives for superiority & power.
Founder of “Individual Psychology” (his term for personality).
Studied ‘inferiority complex’ and is recognized for making major breakthrough in that area of Personality.
The inferiority complex
Thought Freud emphasized unconscious too much. There are conscious drives too!
Began early work with people with physical disabilities.
Observed that while some people with disabilities motivated to overcome, others felt defeated
We gain confidence when we realize we are able to meet external goals. (those who do not learn this develop inferiority)
Karen Horney
Karen Horney (Horn-nay) felt that sex and aggression were not the primary constituents for determining personality.
Horney believed in the social aspects of childhood growth and development. Children were trying to overcome a sense of helplessness.
She countered Freud’s assumption that women have weak superegos and suffer from “penis-envy.”
Freud believed that boys had the power and were given more opportunities. Freud believed that women envied those opportunities.
Considered a founder of “Humanistic Psychoanalysis” & “Feminist Psychology”
Karen Horney - Tyranny of ‘shoulds’
“Shoulds”: internalized beliefs from toxic environment.
Toxic social environments create unhealthy belief systems in people
“bargain with fate”- we think we can control environment if we follow shoulds.
“Real Self” (authentic desires) vs. “Ideal self” (should).
Anna Freud
The super ego becomes clear only when it confronts the ego with hostility.
Super ego speaks with language of guilt and shame
We hear the super ego when we berate ourselves.
Defense mechanisms
Methods used by ego to unconsciously protect itself against anxiety caused by conflict between id’s demands and superego’s constraints.
- only unhealthy when they cause self-defeating behavior & emotional problems
{remember id=devil; super ego=angel}
Carl Jung
Carl Jung (Yung) collective unconscious which contained a common reservoir of images derived from our species’ past.
A psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of the extraverted and the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, literature, and related fields.
Jung’s primary disagreement with Freud stemmed from their differing concepts of the unconscious. Jung saw Freud’s theory of the unconscious as incomplete and unnecessarily negative.
Archetypes - universal symbolic images that appear across cultures in myths, art, stories, & dreams
The collective unconscious
Myths and symbols are strikingly similar across cultures
Result from a shared knowledge and experience
The memory of this shared experience is the “collective unconscious”
Expressed as archetypes: symbols that organize behavior patterns
Carl Jung - Archetypes
Wise old man
The Goddess
The Shadow
The Hero
The trickster
The Animus (masculine component of female personality)
The Anima (feminine part of male personality)
The Persona – our public image
