Psych1011 WEEKS 1+2 Flashcards
Science and History of Psychology
E.B TITCHENER
British student of Wundt
Emigrated to US -> Cornell
Founded Structuralism
Expanded elements of consciousness
PAREIDOLIA
Tendency to perceive meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli.
“Nun bun”
WILHELM WUNDT
Founded 1st psych lab in Germany, 1879
Introspection
Structuralist - fundamental elements of human behaviour.
Systematic observation - introspection
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
School of psychology that proposes that thinking is central to understanding behaviour.
- Jean Piaget
- Ulric Neisser
NATURAL SELECTION
Principle that organisms that possess adaptions survive and reproduce at a higher rate than other organisms.
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
Discipline that applies Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human and animal behaviour.
B.F. SKINNER
Follow of John B. Watson
Behaviourism
1904-1990
STRUCTURALISM
School of psychology that aimed to identify the basic elements of the psychological experience
E.B. Titchener
Used introspection. Trying to be scientific.
PHRENOLOGY
Franz Joseph Gall 1758-1828
Identification and bumps on the outer contours of the skill reflect the contours of the brain
First idea that specific functions in specific areas. Brain divided up.
PSYCHOLOGY
The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour.
PSEUDOSCIENCE
Set of claims that seem scientific but aren’t.
- Ad hoc immunising hypothesis
- Lack of self correction
- Over reliance on anedotes
CONFIRMATION BIAS
Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypotheses and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them.
BELIEF PERSERVERANCE
Tendency to stick with our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them.
FALSIFIABLE
Capable of being disproved.
REPLICABILITY
When a study’s findings are able to be duplicated ideally by independent investigators.
CORRELATION-CAUSATION FALLACY
Error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another it must be the cause of the other.
JOHN B. WATSON
American psychologist 1878-1958
Founder of Behaviourism
Psychology as a science
FUNCTIONALISM
School of psychology that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics
- William James, influenced by Charles Darwin
- Not “what is”, more “why? what for?”
DAVID HUME
Scottish philosopher
Only senses. No such thing as self. Objects do not exist, just sensory properties.
BRITISH EMPIRICISM
Rejected rationalist doctrine of innate ideas (Descartes).
All knowledge is derived from experience, mainly sensory.
Tabula Rasa - blank slate.
APOPHENIA
Tendency to perceive meaningful connections among unrelated phenomena.
Lincoln and Kennedy.
SCIENTIFIC THEORY
General explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world.
Must generate novel predictions that can be tested - a hypothesis.
CRITICAL THINKING
A set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashion.
HYPOTHESIS
Testable prediction derived from a scientific theory. Specific prediction.
COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
Relatively new field of psychology that examines the relationship between brain function and thinking.
PSYCHOANALYSIS
School of psychology founded by Sigmund Freud that focuses on internal psychological processes of which we are unaware.
BEHAVOURISM
School of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking at observable behaviour.
John B Watson
BF Skinner
SIGMUND FREUD
Viennese neurologist
Psychoanalysis
1856-1939
IVAN PAVLOV
Russian physiologist
Studied function of conditioned reflexes
CHARLES DARWIN
Humans have descended from animals through principles of natural selection.
No separation between man and animals.
Universally observed emotions.
INTROSPECTION
Method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences.
WILLIAM JAMES
Founder of Functionalism
Wrote “Principles of Psychology” (1890)
Influenced by Charles Darwin
Evolutionary theory.
VARIABLE
Anything that can vary.
METAPHYSICAL CLAIM
Assertion about the world that is not testable (eg. God, afterlife)
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Variations among people in their thinking, emotion, and behaviour.
EMPIRICISM VS RATIONALISM
Opposite sides of the coin. Theory vs observable.
Rationalists (like Descartes). Knowledge is thought and reason. Mind transforms sensory info.
Empiricists (like Hume, Locke). All knowledge is from experience. Emphasis sensory. Observation.
SCIENTIFIC SCEPTICISM
Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them.
PAUL BROCA
France 1824-1880
Injuries to specific areas in left cortical hemisphere of brain leads to specific loss of speech production.
- Broca’s Area
PSYCHOLOGY OUT OF PHILOSOPHY
Mind / body problem Origins of human knowledge Nature vs nuture Relationship between humans and non-human animals Free will vs determinism
JEAN PIAGET
Swiss psychologist 1896-1980
Cognitivism
Children conceptualise the world in markedly different ways than adults do.
ULRIC NEISSER
Cognitivism
Thinking is so central to psychology it merits a separate discipline in its own right.
RENE DESCARTES
Cogito Ergo Sum - I think therefore I am.
French mathematician, physiologist, philosopher.
Rationalism - truth is not sensory, but intellectual and deductive.
Knowledge from thought and reflection.
Challenged dogma by resolving to doubt everything.
JOHN LOCKE
British philosopher 1632-1704
Mind at birth like white paper - tabula rasa.
Exclusively shaped by our environments.
Sensation and reflection.
Simple knowledge builds complex knowledge.
NAIVE REALISM
Belief that the world is precisely as we see it.
