Psychology Fundamentals and Psychologists

Question 1

What are the 4 goals of psych?

Answer 1

1. Describe how people and other animals behave
2. Explain causes of behaviours
3. Predict how individuals will behave
4. Control behaviour

EMPHASIS ON BEHAVIOUR

Question 2

Hippocrates

Answer 2

Start of Scientific psychology

Theory of Humorism - 4 elements lead to four body fluids; Black Bile, Blood, Yellow Bile, Phlegm
All ailments come from an imbalance of the elements

Question 3

Theory of humorism

Answer 3

The 4 elements lead to four body fluids; Black Bile, Blood, Yellow Bile, Phlegm

All ailments come from an imbalance of the elements

Question 4

Galen

Answer 4

Builds on the theory of humorism

Everyone has a different balance of the four elements

Four personality types - Melancholic (BB), Sanguine (B), Choleric (YB), Phlegmatic (P)

Question 5

Historical Fallacy

Answer 5

The biased belief that because a practice or idea is old, it must be more correct

Question 6

Rene Descartes

Answer 6

Mathematician and philosopher

Substance Dualism - Mind and bodies are distinct substances that interact.

Minds = Immaterial
Bodies = Material

Question 7

Mind-Body problem

Answer 7

If minds and bodies are distinct, how do minds and bodies interact?

Question 8

Steven Blankaart

Answer 8

Described Anatomy as distinct from Psychology in a dictionary

Question 9

Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 9

Established psychology as a distinct discipline, set up the first psychological laboratory

Psychology = study of conscious experience

Question 10

Structuralism

Answer 10

Break down consciousness into its base components

Question 11

Functionalism

Answer 11

Study the function or purpose of consciousness rather than its structure

• Pioneered by William Jones (1842 - 1910)
• Inspired by Darwin’s theory of natural selection
• Stream of consciousness

Question 12

Sigmund Freud

Answer 12

Developed Psychoanalysis
- Tried to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behaviour
- Never used rigorous testing, based his theories off of personal experience
- Theorized the existence of the unconscious (thoughts and memories that you can’t observe, but affects your behaviour)
- Had a strange fascination with sexual urges

Question 13

Psychoanalytics

Answer 13

Tried to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behaviour

Lots of emphasis on “the unconscious”

Not scientific

Question 14

Are emotions subconscious?

Answer 14

To experience an emotion, that emotions must be conscious in some way

Question 15

Occam’s razor

Answer 15

When confronted with two or more competing explanations, the most parsimonious is preferred.

Also known as the law of parsimony, law of economy

Question 16

Parsimony

Answer 16

Making the least amount of new assumptions

Question 17

John B. Watson

Answer 17

Pioneered behaviourism

• Started studying non-human animals
• At the time period people didn’t like attributing human characteristics to animals (humans feel uncomfortable sharing similarities with animals. We like to think we’re special)
• Believed that introspective psychology was unscientific (it relies on people explaining emotions truthfully, accurately, and in repeatable fashion)
• Psychology need to abandon consciousness and study behaviour which can be measured
• Advocate for environment as major influence on development of behaviour

Question 18

Why was John B. Watson’s theories relating to the environment’s role on psychology important

Answer 18

• During the time period it was believed that genetics was the primary cause of behaviour
• It was used to justify racism, sexism, and ableism

Question 19

Behaviourism

Answer 19

The study of behaviour
- scientific study should study observable behaviour
- Strong emphasis on animal research

Question 20

B. F. Skinner

Answer 20

Discovered operant conditioning
- Pragmatist

Question 21

The Humanist perspective

Answer 21

Pioneered by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

Opposing theory to Behaviourism and Psychoanalytics

Emphasises;
- Conscious motives
- Freedom
- Choice
- Self-actualization
- Reaching one’s inner potential

Question 22

The cognitive perspective

Answer 22

Mind and consciousness determines behaviour
- Brought back the use of the word cognition

Cognition “Cogito” - to think

The dominant perspective in modern psychology

Question 23

Biological perspective

Answer 23

Focuses on brain function and other bodily functions

Do certain areas of the brain have specific functions?

eg. Neuroscience, brain chemistry, behavioural genetics

Question 24

Sociocultural Psychology

Answer 24

Focuses on the social and environmental aspects that help determine behaviour
- Cultural factors were not rigorously studied before
- Seeks to get past barriers that blocked researchers from studying non-university students

Question 25

Developmental psychology

Answer 25

Human development throughout the lifespan

Question 26

Psychometrics

Answer 26

Concerned with the development of psychological tests

Question 27

Clinical Psychology

Answer 27

Focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders

Question 28

Why was clinical psychology developed?

Answer 28

Grew out of WWII - New recruits were screened on mass - Rise of war trauma required more specialists to help - Psychoanalysis had a heavy influence at the start

Question 29

Naive realism

Answer 29

The belief that the world is as we see it

Question 30

Ignaz Semmelweis

Answer 30

Hungarian physician - Came up with the origin of germ theory - Two maternity wards - One contained a much higher mortality rate (it was the one staffed by the physicians) - Hypothesised that tiny particles from autopsies left tiny particles that infected women in his ward - Tried to make all his physicians wash their hands, got kicked out of the hospital for it

Question 31

Scientific Method

Answer 31

1. Identify question of interest 2. Gather relevant information and formulate a TESTABLE hypothesis 3. Design a study to test the hypothesis 4. Analyze the data and draw tentative conclusions 5. Report findings and ask further questions

Question 32

Demand Characteristics

Answer 32

"the aspects of an observational setting that cause people to have as they think someone else wants or expects"

Question 33

Substance Dualism

Answer 33

Minds and bodies are separate substances that interact

Question 34

Methodological behaviourism

Answer 34

-Hull-Spence Behaviourism -often called stimulus-response -Relied on Pavlovian conditioning

Question 35

Pavlovian Conditioning

Answer 35

Classical Conditioning -A stimulus that prompts a response (positive or negative) is paired with a neutral stimulus eg. Training dogs to associate commands with rewards (like a treat)

Question 36

Stimulus

Answer 36

Any thing or event that produces a measurable change in the organism's behaviour

Question 37

Operant conditioning

Answer 37

A method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behaviour