Structuralism, Functionalism, & Psychodynamic Psychology

Question 1

psychology

Answer 1

scientific study of mind and behaviour; combination of the Greek words psyche (life) and logos (explanation)

Question 2

Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 2

studied physiology, considered the “father of modern psych”, interested in how ppl described sensations and how these internal experiences compared and contrasted, aimed to create a period table of sensations

Question 3

1879

Answer 3

the first formal lab for psych research was established at the University of Leipzig, marking the birth of modern psych

Question 4

Edward Titchener

Answer 4

one of Wundt’s students, who became one of the best proponents of structuralism

Question 5

G. Stanley Hall

Answer 5

one of Wundt’s students who became the founder of adolescent psych

Question 6

structuralism

Answer 6

study of the structure and elements of consciousness

Question 7

introspection

Answer 7

Wundt’s research method that he trained his participants to perform so that they notice and report on internal experiences

Question 8

William James

Answer 8

founder of functionalism, creator of James-Lange theory of emotion, wrote a classic text of psych

Question 9

functionalism

Answer 9

sought to understand the purpose/function of consciousness, influenced by Charles Darwin, whose theory of natural selection supported the idea that consciousness is like physical traits being inherited, later became evolutionary psych

Question 10

behaviourism

Answer 10

born from functionalism, it focused on how mental events encouraged us to behave

Question 11

4 forces of applied psych

Answer 11

• psychodynamic psych
• behaviourism
• humanism
• cognitive psych

Question 12

Sigmund Freud

Answer 12

founder of psychodynamic psych, argued that behaviour is motivated by aggression and sex, personality/consciousness is conditioned by society from an early age, and that neurotic problems were caused by unconscious conflicts left over from childhood (these battles amongst our desires for sex and aggression and our sense of what’s moral)

Question 13

psychodynamic psych

Answer 13

analyzes what energizes and motivates us and how these drives of sex and aggression are often unconscious to us

Question 14

Oedipus complex

Answer 14

sons have an unconscious sexual desire to their mothers and a fear of death/castration at the hands of their fathers; the female equivalent is the Electra complex

Question 15

Freud’s theory/parts of personality

Answer 15

• id (instincts: sex and aggression)
• ego (reality)
• superego (morality)

Question 16

psychoanalysis

Answer 16

thru talking, analyzing dreams, and explaining early life, we let unconscious thoughts become conscious, thereby releasing pressure

Question 17

Freud’s theory of development

Answer 17

• oral stage: children derive pleasure from oral activities
• anal stage: children begin potty training
• phallic stage: boys get attached to their mothers, girls get attached to their fathers
• latency stage: children interact mostly with the same sex
• general stage: children/individuals are attracted to opposite sex

Question 18

3 foundations of Freud’s ideas

Answer 18

• ideas as mental energy
• the case of Anna O.
• self-analysis

Question 19

Von Helmholtz’s 3 core ideas of energy

Answer 19

• energy is limited
• if energy is blocked in one channel, it gets expressed in another
• the mind functions to achieve a state of quiescence (relaxation)

Question 20

Anna O.

Answer 20

a patient diagnosed with hysteria whose symptoms temporarily were reduced or resolved when speaking about events, including forgotten ones; this confirmed for Freud that the mind was an energy system since when the energy associated with memories was released (catharsis), she improved