Psyco 303 - Aristotle I

Question 1

What general claim does Aristotle make about man? What happens if we don’t live according to this claim?

Answer 1

“man is by nature a political animal” (Politics, Book I) – i.e. intended to live in the polis, or city-state.

Question 2

State of Nature

Answer 2

what would world look like if there were no authority to keep us in check?�

Question 3

What does Thomas Hobbes think about the state of nature of humankind?

Answer 3

Humans are naturally creatures of passions, desires, feelings, which simply spurt out.Without King to frighten us, we all fight all the time. Consequently, human life is “solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short.” (Leviathan, Bk 1, Ch 13.)�

Question 4

How does Jean-Jacques Rousseau criticize Hobbes view of humankind?

Answer 4

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) criticises Hobbes for assuming that passions such as jealousy, envy, desire for power are natural.To understand the state of nature, we have to remove all the influence of society, not just government authority�

Question 5

Describe the savage man

Answer 5

“Savage man” would thus be much hardier than modern humans (accustomed to difficulties), and would only want immediate satisfaction for his desires.Only desires “food, a female, and rest”

Question 6

How does society corrupt us?

Answer 6

Society corrupts us by making us compare ourselves to others�

Question 7

Amour-Propre

Answer 7

vanity: we value ourselves according to the ways others see us.�

Question 8

Sociobiology

Answer 8

Attempt to explain individual personality and structures of society by reference to genetic inheritance.Compares humans to other animals.

Question 9

What does Sociobiology assume?

Answer 9

It’s our genes, not social forces, that determine how we are�.

Question 10

What do Sociobiologists argue about social structures?

Answer 10

social structures should be explained by certain genetic features – e.g. we find people attractive because they look like good partners.

Question 11

How do Twins brought up in different backgrounds turn out?

Answer 11

those brought up in different backgrounds turn out very differently, as sociologists expect.

Question 12

Sociology vs Psychology

Answer 12

Sociology concentrates on the situational aspects of development of the self, i.e. interactions between people.Psychology focuses on the internal mental/emotional aspects of the self, i.e. what goes on inside individuals’ minds�

Question 13

Describe the three perspective on human personality

Answer 13

Sociobiology: Human personality is a result of genetic traits shared by the group they’re in.Sociology: Human personality is product of processes of socialisation that make infant a member of society�Psychology: Personality built of of internal mental or emotional structures and past experiences�

Question 14

Describe the three perspectives on social interactions

Answer 14

Sociobiology:Social interactions not so important, or explicable by reference to genes�Sociology: Social interactions determine roles we fill and thus how we’re able to express ourselves.�Psychology: Social interactions affect infant and force emotional adjustments or internal changes.

Question 15

In the marshmallow experiment, what were kids tested on?

Answer 15

tested on their ability to manage their impulses and thus plan for the future�

Question 16

How would a baby react to the marshmallow exp?

Answer 16

We might expect a baby to have no such self-control: they simply grab what they want, like Rousseau’s ‘savage man’.�

Question 17

What ability do people develop before adulthood that is at the crux of this exp?

Answer 17

ability to suppress immediate desires for longer-term goal�

Question 18

What abilities does self-control require?

Answer 18

Ability to distinguish yourself from what you happen to want at any particular moment.Ability to distinguish yourself from world, and recognise that world is something you need to navigate, rather than just source of all pleasures�

Question 19

How does Nietzsche argue men are naturally?

Answer 19

We rejoice in the pain and suffering of others, especially if we are so fortunate as to be the ones inflicting it.We like to dominate others.Thus, we’re not inherently moral or good�.

Question 20

What do humans do with their drives and will to power to have self-discipline?

Answer 20

Turn them against ourselves, causing guilt, but enabling self-control.�

Question 21

Libido

Answer 21

Freud’s term for our inner store of desires and energy (not just sexual); source of all our drives and impulses.

Question 22

What is the Id charged with?

Answer 22

The energy from our libido.

Question 23

Which principles do the Id and Ego operate according to?

Answer 23

Id: It operates on the pleasure principle: it seeks only immediate pleasurable gratification.Ego: operates on reality principle that helps fulfill desires in real world.� Moderates expression of our desires.

Question 24

How does Freud describe the feeling of early life before ego development?

Answer 24

Freud describes an ‘oceanic feeling’ associated with early life: before we recognise the reality of the world, we feel ‘at one’ with all existence, not separate from it. Ego has not yet fully emerged�

Question 25

Sublimation

Answer 25

Redirecting your surplus libidinal energy from dangerous desires towards safer objects – e.g. re-focusing all your energy on work, not sex.

Question 26

Eros

Answer 26

Desire for companionship (not just sexual)

Question 27

Ananke

Answer 27

desire for necessities (food, clothing, shelter)

Question 28

Freud argues Civilization is a product of what desires?

Answer 28

Civilization often a product of sublimated desires: anal instincts redirected into excessive cleanliness; sexual instincts often redirect to production of art.

Question 29

Thanatos

Answer 29

the death instinct, desire to destroy others�

Question 30

How do we sublimate our thanatos desire?

Answer 30

by making us turn it on ourselves.Children hate their parents, who stop them having pleasure. So they want to kill their parents (especially father).But they can’t. So they are forced to introject their hatred of parents and turn it on themselves.

Question 31

What do these introjected thanatos desires to to us?

Answer 31

These introjected desires ‘punish’ us, as guilt, for desiring things authority figure doesn’t want us to do�

Question 32

What are these punishing introjected desires also called? How does it work?

Answer 32

The Superego.Gains force from introjected instincts of destruction that we’re unable to satisfy externally.

Question 33

What is the Superego?

Answer 33

Self-punishing conscience, which makes us feel bad about desires that contravene morality.

Question 34

What three levels of consciousness do humans have?

Answer 34

Conscious, Preconscious, Unconscious

Question 35

What is the ego component that is not available to our conscious?

Answer 35

Id

Question 36

Cognitive Development

Answer 36

Process by which infants learn to control bodies and manipulate objects in world.Learning occurs through a process of experimentation.

Question 37

How does Piaget describe a child?

Answer 37

“little scientist”: we learn through trial and error how to think in new ways.

Question 38

Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 38

Birth - 2yoCoordination of experiences with actions.Physical interactions with world, as child learns to manipulate objects.Distinguishes self from world�

Question 39

Preoperational Stage

Answer 39

2-7yoChild still egocentric: can’t really see the viewpoint of others. Child learns to use symbols and language to represent objects, but limited logic�

Question 40

Concrete Operational Stage

Answer 40

7-11yoChild increasingly able to think logically, with use of physical aids. Manipulates symbols, not just objects.Develop inductive logic, but little deductive.

Question 41

Formal Operational Stage

Answer 41

11-16yoFull development of abstract thinking, use of inductive logic.Increased awareness of the perspective of others, and rule by abstract principles.

Question 42

Constructivism

Answer 42

Theoretical approach to cognitive development. Argues that we construct picture of world ourselves, through interaction and experiment.

Question 43

What to st fu believe about the socialization of children

Answer 43

That it is top-down: we force children to believe certain things in order to ensure the smooth functioning of society�.

Question 44

Why does Piaget think the St Fu top-down view of socialization is too simplistic?

Answer 44

: it assumes that children simply ‘receive’ commands of society like blank slates.Instead, we should look at the way child constructs its own world view out of interactions with world and other people�

Question 45

What Sociological Perspective is Piaget’s theory compatible with?

Answer 45

Symb Int.Symbolic interactionist perspective shows us how children build up picture of world for selves as they learn from interaction.

Question 46

What is the value of games and roleplaying for children?

Answer 46

Games and roleplaying allow children to practice interactions with others and how to be members of society.Play gives a chance to experiment and learn how societies function and how others behave�

Question 47

What are George Herbert Mead’s 3 stages of child’s play?

Answer 47

Preparatory stage: children imitate family members around them without understanding what they’re doing (e.g. banging on wood if parent is doing carpentry).Play stage: children play certain roles, e.g. “nurse”: teaches us how to think of perspective of other people.Game stage: children take part in complicated games governed by sets of rules. Becomes aware of social system as a whole�.

Question 48

I & Me

Answer 48

Mead’s double concept to describe self.We all have uninhibited inner ‘I’: what we really want to do.‘Me’ is picture of self as others see us: helps us conceptualise ourselves�

Question 49

What do children need to imagine in order to succeed at play?

Answer 49

we have to be able to imagine how others will respond to us. We are forced to picture selves as others see us as we present ourselves in Play roles�

Question 50

How does Mead distinguish between the I and the Me?

Answer 50

Mead distinguishes the ‘I,’ or my internal desires and spontaneous self, and the ‘Me,’ my picture of how others see me�

Question 51

Generalized Other

Answer 51

Our understanding of the “average observer of our action.”Embodies the standard beliefs, values & judgements of society, which we try to live up to.

Question 52

How does the self emerge in the game stage?

Answer 52

The self emerges as a moral agent because of imagined perspective of others.

Question 53

What helps an infant develop its sense of morality and values?

Answer 53

Ability to conceive of Generalised Other

Question 54

What does Lawrence Kohlberg’s research on morality suggest?

Answer 54

Kohlberg’s research suggested universal standards of morality: as we mature, we all inevitably develop same beliefs.These standards are independent of society: they are necessary�.

Question 55

How did Carol Giligan find Kohlberg’s model flawed?

Answer 55

His “universal” model of development actually described views largely put forward by males, not females�

Question 56

What did Carol Gilligan discover about moral decisions by female subjects?

Answer 56

female subjects were more likely to justify moral decisions in terms of close relationships to others.She found women were socialised to value preserving a connection over adhering to abstract rules.By Kohlberg’s scheme, women usually counted as morally “immature,” stuck “below” level of abstract rules�.

Question 57

What is Freud’s model of the ego usefulness in modern times?

Answer 57

helps us think about the way humans learn to control their inner desires.