S1 Wk 2 - History of Western Psychology

Question 1

how old is psychology

Answer 1

• birth of psychology around 1879 with Wilhelm Wundt’s laboratory in Leipzig
• start of psychology as a science

Question 2

whats plato’s ‘tripartite’ theory

Answer 2

argued that we need to balance reason with emotion and desire

Question 3

what did Aristotle write in his book on the mind (De Anima) 2

Answer 3

• argues that mind/reason is independent of the body
• and the ‘libido’ is the force governing all life (inc. plants)

Question 4

who do Plato and Aristotle’s ideas compare with

Answer 4

Plato’s compare with Freudian theory

Aristotle’s ideas anticipate Descartes and Darwin

Question 5

four temperaments by Hippocrates then galen

Answer 5

Mood regulated by physical composition, excess fluids
- phlegmatic (phlegm)
- melancholic (black bile)
- sanguine (blood)
- choleric (yellow bile)

Question 6

what and who is Cartesian dualism

Answer 6

• Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650): birth of rationalist philosophy
• Cogito ergo sum - I think, therefore I am
• we can separate the mind from the body as a purely rational element

Question 7

whos John Locke and what did he come up with

Answer 7

• 17thc UK philosopher
• mind as ‘tabula rasa’
• all reason and knowledge the result of experience
• approach known as empiricism ( need evidence that things exist)

Question 8

how were people with psychological problems dealt with

Answer 8

Until the 18th century largely dealt with through confinement or primitive surgery to drive out devils

psychiatry emerges branch of medicine

Question 9

Developments in physiology 2 points

Answer 9

19th century scientists began to discover parts of brain associated with different psychological functions

e.g. Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas associated with the production and comprehension of language

Question 10

Early experimental psychology - 3 psychologists and what they did

Answer 10

Helmholts: (1850s) reaction times

Fechner: perceptual discrimination

Wundt: subjective reports introspection (believed that higher order processes defy experimentation)

Question 11

4 times stamps of the first psychologists

Answer 11

1870s: opening of first Laboratories dedicated to psychology

1875: William James (US) mostly teaching

1879: first research at Wilhelm Wundt’s lab in Leipzig University

1909: Institute for experimental psychology

Question 12

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud 3 points

Answer 12

• freud and followers working within medicine ( psychiatry)
• idea of talking cure based on Freud’s notion of the unconscious
• huge influence on clinical practice and everyday psychology

Question 13

The study of animal behaviour when and who three points

Answer 13

1900s: important influence on psychology

• pavlov’s theory of conditioning: dogs salivate to Bell even when food removed
• Thorndike: similar findings with cats escaping puzzle box

Question 14

Behaviourism when and who three points

Answer 14

• application of animal findings to humans
• 1920: JB Watson’s little Albert study
• behaviorism became the dominant approach in psychology by WWII

Question 15

Skinner: reinforcement when and what 2 points

Answer 15

1950s: BF Skinner introduced behaviorist principles into education

positive and negative reinforcement studied for their effectiveness as rewards / punishment

Question 16

Social learning theory what who and when 3 points

Answer 16

Idea that children learn from observing models

bundura 1960s: particular interest in learned aggression

bobo doll studies - still wrongly applied to media violence

Question 17

Humanism when who and what the 4 points

Answer 17

1960s Rogers, Maslow etc

criticised behaviourism and psychoanalytic Theory

focus on growth and potential for achieving happiness

later worked up into positive psychology

Question 18

The cognitive Revolution who when what 3 points

Answer 18

1960s: Bruner and Neissen also created behaviourism

adoption of the computer as a model for thinking about the brain

memory, attention, cognitive processing all became important

Question 19

Psychometrics what who 3 points

Answer 19

Ever sophisticated methods being developed to measure individuals

Hans Eysenck: three Factor theory of Personality

studied using the Eysenck personality questionnaire

Question 20

The psychologist as clinician when what 2 points

Answer 20

1955: first clinical psychology course started at institute of psychiatry in London

provided an alternative psychiatry for treating mental health issues

Question 21

neuropsychology 3 points

Answer 21

Advances in brain science have transformed our capacity for knowledge

seeing inside the brain affords insights unavailable to past thinkers

but brings risk of overinterpretation

Question 22

Evolutionary psychology what three points

Answer 22

Another modern trend towards explaining behaviour through inherited characteristics

driven particularly by dawkins’s The Selfish Gene 1975

also huge risk of over interpretation