Psychology 101

Question 1

First time Psychology was scientifically studied

Answer 1

140 years ago in 1879 by E.B. Titchener

Question 2

The FIVE key perspectives in Psychology

Answer 2

Psychodynamic, Behaviourist, Humanistic, Cognitive and Evolutionary Approach

Question 3

Major proponent of Psychodynamic Perspective

Answer 3

Sigmund Freud

Question 4

Major proponent(s) of Behaviourist Perspective

Answer 4

John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner

Question 5

Major proponent(s) of Humanistic Perspective

Answer 5

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

Question 6

Major proponent of Cognitive Perspective

Answer 6

Jean Piaget

Question 7

Major proponent of Evolutionary Approach Perspective

Answer 7

Stems from ideas from Charles Darwin

Question 8

Relevant Methods in Psychodynamic Perspective

Answer 8

CASE STUDY - understand why people behave why they do based on one or more people and examining them in depth (works well for rare or specific cases)

Question 9

Relevant Methods in Behaviourist Perspective

Answer 9

EXPERIMENTS - Manipulating the contingencies in an animal’s environment and looking it’s influence

Question 10

Relevant Methods in Humanistic Perspective

Answer 10

PERSON CENTRED THERAPIES - Such as treating clients with empathy and warmth
, stressing individual freedom and choice
 and helping people to set goals to become self-actualised

Question 11

Relevant Methods in Cognitive Perspective

Answer 11

EXPERIMENTS - Wider variety of experimental approaches than behaviouralism (lab tasks, self-report, computer modelling)

Question 12

Relevant Methods in Evolutionary Approach Perspective

Answer 12

DEDUCTION 
- Making an observation and trying to explain it with logic and ruling out alternative explanations (it means that evo explanation can be hard to test/unfalsifiable)

e.g. Face in crowd effect (programmed to identify/detect angry face in a crowd) - which has been disproven?

Question 13

What is the Psychodynamic Perspective

Answer 13

Doctor that wanted to help patients with “nervous disorders

Behaviours influenced by unconscious motives

Start of psychotherapy

Question 14

What is the Behaviourist Perspective

Answer 14

• We can’t know our unconscious or objective measure our conscious processes

• Need to focus on observable behaviour (what can se seen/measured)

• Aimed to predict and control observable behaviour 

• Behaviour shaped by contingencies in environment 

• No focus on inner workings of the mind (blackbox)

• Many researchers still work in this area today (learning, behavioural analysis, behavioural therapies)

Question 15

What is the Humanistic Perspective

Answer 15

People are good and have capacity for choice

People behave in ways to achieve self-actualisation and fulfil potential (self-actualisation = becoming the best human you can)

Question 16

What is the Cognitive Perspective

Answer 16

Move away from behaviourism 
and proposes that behaviours are the consequence of thinking

- We must peek into the “blackbox” of the mind

Question 17

What is the Evolutionary Approach Perspective

Answer 17

• Like functionalism, focus on ‘why’ humans behave how they do

• Traits that help us to survive and procreate are selected (more likely to exist in next generation)

• Human behaviours are shaped through evolutionary processes (survival/fear & mating/attractiveness/mate selection)

Question 18

Who made the FIRST ATTEMPT to systematically understanding functions of the mind via investigating and breaking down consciousness to simple elements (objective introspection)

Answer 18

E.B. Titchener in 1879