Schacter Psychology 2nd Edition, Chapter 1

Question 1

When did psychology first arise?

Answer 1

During the 19th century in Europe psychology was seen as a science that could be traced back to the beginning of human origin but remained void of any data with the focus on the central notion of what it means to be human.

Question 2

Why couldn’t psychology be classed as a science before the 19th century?

Answer 2

No systematic attempt had been made to generate testable hypotheses.

Question 3

Where did scientists begin to experiment on the mind and behaviour?

Answer 3

Across Europe:
- In Germany, they studied the bodies response to stimulation which led to studying unconcious processes
- In France, they studied the mind and effects of brain damage
- In Britain, they studied intelligence and individual difference

Question 4

Definition of Psychology

Answer 4

The scientific study of mind and behaviour

Question 5

Definition of mind

Answer 5

Our private and inner experience that is made up of perceptions, thoughts, memories, and feelings

Question 6

Definition of behaviour

Answer 6

Observable actions of humans and nonhumans

Question 7

What is biological psychology?

Answer 7

The study of how biology interacts with psychological processes and how our bodies influence and respond to events

Question 8

What is cognitive psychology?

Answer 8

The study of mental processes. Cognition refers to thinking and problem solving

Question 9

What is developmental psychology?

Answer 9

The study of how psychological processes change across the life span

Question 10

What is individual difference?

Answer 10

The study of how psychological processes vary from one person to the next

Question 11

What is social psychology?

Answer 11

The study of the psychological processes which operate when we interact with others and how we behave in groups.

Question 12

Are the different fields of psychology independent of one another?

Answer 12

No - they can have overlapping points of interest and may interact in order to fully explain a behaviour.

Question 13

How are emotions adaptive?

Answer 13

As they function as signals that tell us when we are putting ourselves in harms way.

Question 14

What is nativism?

Answer 14

The idea that certain kinds of knowledge are innate. Plato argued in favour of nativism.

Question 15

What is tabula rasa?

Answer 15

The idea that a child’s mind is a blank slate in which experiences are written. Aristotle believed in this idea.

Question 16

What is philosophical empiricism?

Answer 16

The idea that all knowledge is acquired through experience. Aristotle argued for philisophical empiricism.

Question 17

What is epistemology?

Answer 17

The study of how knowledge is acquired. It was a major interest of the Enlightenment philosopher during the 17th and 18th centuries in Western Europe.

Question 18

What is metaphysics?

Answer 18

A branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality - for example, the existance of God and free will. The questions that the rationalists and empricists disputed in epistemology included metaphysics.

Question 19

What is distinguished between in epistemology?

Answer 19

The continental rationalism of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz who argued for innate knowledge compared to the British empiricism of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume who argued that knowledge is derrived from experience.

Question 20

What did Descartes argue?

Answer 20

That mind and body are fundamentally different things as the body is made of a material sunstance but the mind is made of a spiritual substance. However, if they are different then how do they interact - this is the problem of dualism.

Question 21

Who was Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1928)?

Answer 21

A french doctor who thought brains and minds were linked by size. He observed the brains of people who had died of diseases or as healthy adults/children and found mental ability often increases with larger brain size and decreases with damage to the brain.

Question 22

What theory did Gall develop?

Answer 22

Phrenology which holds the idea that specific mental abilities and characteristics are localised in specific refions of the brain. Gall took this idea to the extreme sauing that the size of bumps on the skill reflected the brain region beneath and so you could tell a person’s personality based on the bumps.

Question 23

What were the issues with Gall’s theory?

Answer 23

It was based off anecdotes and casual observations which meant it was strong claims with weak evidence leading to phrenology being discredited.

Question 24

What did Paul Broca (1825-1880) do?

Answer 24

Worked with a patient who had damage to a small part of the left side of the brain who could only say the word “tan” but understood other people’s speech. Broca concluded that damage to a specific part of the brain impaired a specific brain function which showed the link between body and mind.

Question 25

What is physiology?

Answer 25

The study of biological processes, especially in the human body. In the 19th century, psychology benefitted from German scientists who were trained in physiology and had created methods to allow them to measure functioning of the body.

Question 26

What did Helmholtz do?

Answer 26

Developed a method for measuring the speed of impulse in a frog’s leg which he then adapted to human beings. He trained participants to respond when he applied a stimulus and recorded their reaction time. He found people reacted slower when their toe was stimulated compared to their thigh and used this to estimate how long it took for a nerve impulse to be sent to the brain.

Question 27

What did Wundt do?

Answer 27

• In 1879 opened the first psychology lab at the University of Leipzig which marked the birth of psychology as an independent field of study
• Published two books outlining his vision of a scientific approach to psychology
• Taught the first course of physiological psychology

Question 28

What were Wundt’s beliefs?

Answer 28

That psychology should focus on analysing conciousness. He adopted the approach of structualism which is analysing the basic elements that constitute the mind and so he broke conciousness down into elemental sensations.

Question 29

What method did Wundt use to analyse sensations?

Answer 29

Introspection - the subjective observation of your own experience. Participants are presented with a stimulus and then are asked to report their introspections - their raw sensory experiences.

Question 30

Who was Edward Titchener (1867-1927)

Answer 30

A British psychologist who studied with Wundt for two years in the 1890s before moving to the US. He focused on identifying the basic elements of conciousness themselves and trained students to provide detailed descriptions of their sensations - hard introspective labour. He put forward a list of 44000 elemental qualities of concious experience.

Question 31

What was an issue of introspection and structualism?

Answer 31

Science requires replicable observations which cannot be acquired through these methods. Therefore, the influence of structualism faded.

Question 32

What did William James believe?

Answer 32

That trying to isolate and analyse a particular moment of consciousness distorted the nature of consciousness as it is more like a flowing stream. As a result, he developed the approach of functionalism which is the study of the purpose mental processes serve in enabling adaption to an environment.

Question 33

What was functionalism inspired by?

Answer 33

Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. James reasoned that mental abilities must have evolved because they were adaptive (avoiding predators, finding food) and so consciousness must serve an important biological function

Question 34

What was functionalism inspired by?

Answer 34

Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. James reasoned that mental abilities must have evolved because they were adaptive (avoiding predators, finding food) and so consciousness must serve an important biological function

Question 35

Where was the first psychology lab in the US?

Answer 35

John Hopkins University in 1881. It was set up by Hall who studied with Wundt and James. This set the stage for functionalism to develop as a major school as psychological thought in the US.

Question 36

What is Gestalt psychology?

Answer 36

A psychological approach which emphasises that we often percieve the whole rather than the sum of the parts. Gestalt psychology arose through the observation of illusions which are errors of perception in which subjective experience differs from objective reality.

Question 37

What is the unconscious according to Freud?

Answer 37

The part of the mind that operates outside of conscious awareness but influence conscious thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Question 38

What is Freud’s psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 38

An approach that emphasised the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. This theory forms the basis for psychoanalysis which is where unconscious material is brought into conscious awareness to better understance psychological disorders.

Question 39

What are criticisms of psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 39

It lacks scientific rigour as it is based on interpretation of retrospective reports

Question 40

What is humanistic psychology?

Answer 40

An approach to understanding human nature that emphasises the positive potential of human beings. Pioneered by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. People are viewd as free agents who have an inherent need to develop and reach their full potential.