Test 1

Question 0

What is Zeitgeist?

Answer 0

Intellectual climate of the times as well as the existing social, economic, and political forces, the world wars, prejudice and discrimination known as the Spirit of times

Question 1

What is “School of Thought”?

Answer 1

A group of psychologists who became associated ideologically, sometimes geographically with a leader or a movement. Typically the members of a school of thought share a theoretical or systematic or methodological orientation and investigate similar problems

Question 2

What is a Paradigm? Is there a common paradigm in psychology today?

Answer 2

A model or pattern is an accepted way of thinking within a scientific discipline that provides essential questions and answers
No, no single school or view point has succeeded in unifying these assorted positions, “sequence of failed paradigms” we have not reached a paradigmatic state

Question 3

What is the Spirit of Mechanism?

Answer 3

Image of universe as a great machine, all natural processes-> mechanically determined (laws of physics- Galileo, Newton)

Question 4

What is the clock metaphor?

Answer 4

World= Clock set in motion by God, (determinism) knowledge of how something works= examines mechanical structures (clock; body) (reductionism)
Rene Descartes- If clock metaphor helps explain physical universe: how about human nature?

Question 5

What is Determinism?

Answer 5

The doctrine that acts are determined by past events

Question 6

What is Reductionism?

Answer 6

The doctrine that explains phenomena on one level (such as complex ideas) in terms of phenomena on another level (such as simple ideas)

Question 7

What is Empiricism?

Answer 7

The pursuit of knowledge through the observation of nature and the attribution of all knowledge to experience

Question 8

What is Positivism?

Answer 8

The doctrine that recognizes only natural phenomena or facts that are objectively observable

Question 9

Rene Descartes (mind/body ideas) 1596-1650

Answer 9

“I think therefore i am”
Dualist view- that mind and body are separate: mind- lacking in physical substance, spiritual, free and unextended; body- physical substance, material, machine-like
Function: Mind- thought, two kinds of thought derived and innate (nature vs. nurture); body- physical mechanistic- locomotion, digestion, circulation, sensation, understanding by reducing to component parts (reductionism)
Theory or reflex action: External stimulus causes involuntary action (no cognitive processes) Precursor to S-R Psychology

Question 10

What was Rene Decartes Mind-body interaction?

Answer 10

Physical interaction at conarium (pineal gland) in brain
Mind->body=voluntary movements
-Mind->pineal gland->flow of animal spirits->motor movements
-Mind would put an impression on pineal gland and body would interpret it
Body-> mind=sensations/perceptions
Body stimulation-> flow of animal spirit-> pineal gland-> sensation of mind (perception)
Mental experiences- sensation, perception, memory and imagination, emotions - excite will into action
Only humans have mind (and functions associated with mind and mind-body interactions)

Question 11

What are Decartes main contributions to psychology?

Answer 11

Mental function in the brain
Mechanistic concept of body
Reflex action- stimulus response
Idea of mind-body interaction- dualism vs. monism
Doctrine of innate ideas- nature vs nurture

Question 12

What was the Zeitgeist during Empiricism (18th century)?

Answer 12

Positivism = object observation
Everything speculative, inferential, or metaphysical is rejected
Materialism= all things can be understood by physical properties of matter and energy

Question 13

Who was John Locke? What did he believe?

Answer 13

How mind acquires knowledge, rejected innate ideas, knowledge through experience
Two kinds of knowledge= Derived from sensation (visually, auditory, etc); Derived from reflection
Association learning- linking simple ideas, which can arise from sensation or reflection, to form complex ideas, passive processes, simple ideas= two qualities=
-primary qualities- exist in object, independent of observer (size)
-secondary qualities- exist in experience of observer, not in the object (taste, sound)
explains lack of complete correspondence between physical world and our perceptions of it

Question 14

Who was George Berkeley? What were his ideas?

Answer 14

1685-1753
Challenge primary qualities
Ideas composed of secondary subjective qualities only
-objects- purely a mental phenomena
Knowledge- function of perceiving person
-we cannot know the world outside of our own perceptions
How can the world exist?- God- permanent perceiver of all objects
Association learning- object- sum of sensations that occur in experience are linked by association, impossible to separate
Moleneux problem: Berkeley believed: All knowledge learned, including depth perception

Question 15

Who was David Hume? And what were his Ideas?

Answer 15

1711-1776 “All we can know is what is in our mind”
Mind/knowledge exists only through sensation and perception
-No sensation or perception= no knowledge and hence no mind
-Mind= flow of ideas, sensations and memories (nothing more)

Question 16

What are David Hume’s two types of mental contents?

Answer 16

Impressions- sensation and perception- ex from eye- you see light and contrast- but thats more a non conscious thing, mind-body interaction (locke)
Ideas and images- mental experiences in absence of any stimulating object, derived from impressions (locke)

Question 17

What was David Humes idea of Associationism?

Answer 17

Lawful relations among ideas existing apart from body (particles in motion/not of body) - When sensation becomes an idea, how do we associate different ideas together?
Laws of association-
Resemblance (similarity) ex painting of ocean therefore real ocean
Contiguity (space-time relationship) ex space: waves, water, ocean-> sandy beach ex lightening-> thunder
Causality= resemblance + contiguity - two events constantly conjoined, infer one from the other - ex you yell at your roommate and she yells back
Idea of causality- explained how memories and images linked, boost for empiricism: association of ideas accepted as valid
Causality- cause and effect: only exist in the mind, not in the objects, cannot know anything separate or outside of our mind, reality created by mind, dependent on viewer; may not be reality of world but the world is SUBJECTIVE only

Question 18

What is Humes Skepticism?

Answer 18

There may be a real world out there or there may not - we have no (know) way of knowing

Question 19

Who was Emanuel Kant? What were his ideas?

Answer 19

A prior principles- principles intuitively available “prior to”, “we cannot know causality from experience, but we know its a priori intuitively” experience = phenomena is not possible without mind and mind is inherently capable of ordering phenomena ex cause and effect relationships
Activities of mind are inherent (inborn) to the extent that they are universal (appear throughout humanity) and necessary (survival instincts)
Inborn mental faculties- cognition (knowing)= understanding, judgement, reason; feeling, desire

Question 20

What is Associationism?

Answer 20

Lawful reactions among ideas existing apart from body

Mind (idea) and body are separate (dualism)

Question 21

What is Mechanism?

Answer 21

Mind phenomenon= explained by body process (mind=brain)
Mind= brain action (monism)
Allows for this shift toward scientific measurement
Physiology-> object measures

Question 22

Who was David Hartley? What did he believe?

Answer 22

Associationist 1705-1759
Brain function correlated with mental events- perfect correlation, not causal
Psychophysical parallelism
Hartley’s Law of Association-
Based on contiguity of sensations= simultaneous (round + orange), successive (pull trigger + bang)
-Vibrations aroused by sensations and associations
One idea can activate another idea - available faster if associated
-Motor activity = movement -> recall an idea, idea-> recall a movement, Voluntary/ involuntary action-> movements repeated= habits (automatic)

Question 23

Who was James Mills? And what were his ideas?

Answer 23

Associationist 1773-1836
Mind has no creative function= association is a passive process (not active process), Mind is a passive entity acted upon by external stimuli, Mind = collection of events, No free will
Influenced behaviorists *
Complex ideas - Sum of simple ideas, the whole= the sum of its parts, “Mental physics” (brick + cement= wall)
Yes can go back to simple ideas

Question 24

Who was John Stuart Mill? What did he believe?

Answer 24

Mind= active process- Association= active process
Complex ideas- Generated from simple ideas, but not a sum, take on new qualities not present in simpler components
Mental Chemistry (mix red, blue, and green light? you get white light)
No cant go back to simply parts
*ethology

Question 25

Who was La Mettrie? What were his ideas?

Answer 25

Mechanist
Man a machine
Knowledge- experience and interaction of mechanical brain
Emphasized experimentation/observation vs. philosophizing (rationalism)

Question 26

Who was Cabinis? What were his ideas?

Answer 26

Mechanist
Soul- living force
Physiological psychologist= brain function= mental events, guillotine work, consciousness after beheading? Brain processes are thoughts, not produced by brain, they are the brain processes
Three levels of living organism- Simple reflexes (no brain), coordinated behavior (brain stem, cerebellum), thought and higher order mental processes (cerebral lobe)

Question 27

What are Empiricism’s contributions to psychology?

Answer 27

The primary role of the process of sensation
The analysis of conscious experience into elements
The synthesis of elements into complex mental experiences through the process of association
The focus on conscious processes

Question 28

What is internal mapping of brain functions?

Answer 28

Research later became known as Physiological Psychology
-Marshall Hall- decapitated animals would continue to move when he stimulated various nerve endings = concluded different levels of behavior arise from different parts of the brain and nervous system
-Specifically, voluntary movement comes from cerebrum, reflex movement on the spinal cord, involuntary movement on direct stimulation of the muscles, respiratory movement of the medulla
Pierre Flourens concluded the cerebrum controls higher mental processes, parts of the midbrain control visual and auditory reflexes, the cerebellum controls coordination, medulla governs heartbeat, respiratory, and other vital functions
Extirpation method, and electrical stimulation

Question 29

What was external mapping of the brain?

Answer 29

Franz Gall
His work confirmed the existence of both white and gray matter in the brain and nerve fibers connecting each side of the brain to the opposite side of the spinal cord and he fibers connecting both halves of the brain
Thought that if a characteristic was well developed there would be a bulge or protrusion in the skull. If a characteristic was weak there would be a dent in the skull
After examining the bumps and dents of a great many people Gall mapped out 35 human attributes
Phrenology

Question 30

What is the law of Specific Nerve Energies?

Answer 30

Luigi Galvani has suggested nerve impluses were electrical
His nephew Giovanni Aldini found that the nerve impulse traveled to the appropriate place in the brain or central nervous system, there in response to the impulse a new impulse was generated and transmitted along the motor nerves to trigger the organisms response
Researchers also found that nerve fibers were composed of separate structures (neurons) and somehow they were connected at specific points (synapses)

Question 31

What was Bell-Magendie Law?

Answer 31

Sensory and motor nerves are separate
Proof: cut nerve fibers of the spinal cord and studied functions lost
-Motor nerve cut- paralysis
Impact- separated neural physiology into studies of sensory functions and motor functions

Question 32

Who was Johannes Muller? What was his Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies?

Answer 32

Each sensory nerve= one typer of sensory process
(optic nerve= light sensation) A. visual stimulus B. pressure
Later impact: Nerves intermediate between sense organ and brain, nerves impose own characteristics on brain (mind)
Secondary qualities only exist- may not be aware of objects in outside world, only states of sensory nerves ex: see artificial light when stimulate nerve
Thought nerves terminated in nerves themselves - later shown false

Question 33

What is the clinical Method?

Answer 33

Posthumous examination of brain structures to detect damage areas assumed to be responsible for behavioral conditions that existed before the person died

Question 34

What is the extirpation method?

Answer 34

A technique for determining the function of a given part of an animals brain by removing or destroying it and observing the resulting behavior changes

Question 35

Who was Franz Gall?

Answer 35

assigned specific mental, personality, and behavioral traits to areas of the brain
bulge/bump= large amount of trait/ faculty
dent= small amount of trait/ faculty
teacher says 27 faculties, book says 35
Problems- false assumptions, case studies (small, biased), correlational

Question 36

Who was Pierre Flourens?

Answer 36

Used extirpation method to understand brain localization of function - remove/ destroy and observe behavior
Empirical experiment- removed cerebrum= all thoughts and volition gone but reflexes stay
-concluded cerebrum functions as a whole, no evidence for phrenology, large interconnected network

Question 37

Who was Paul Broca?

Answer 37

Clinical method, investigated behavior, then brain damage through autopsy after death
Correlate loss of function with brain damage, localize function
Conclude some functions of brain localized

Question 38

Who were Fritsch and Hitzig?

Answer 38

Electrical stimulation of brain- stimulation of cortex= motor responses

Question 39

What contributions did Herman Von Helmholtz provide?

Answer 39

Physiologist/sensory psychologist
Accomplishments:
Speed of neural impulse: stimulation- muscle twitch, contraction time, velocity- contraction far- contraction near over distance between far and near, found not simultaneous, estimated 90 feet/second
Speed of Neural impulse sensory: non instantaneous, experiment and finding- stimulation-> reaction time, highly variable within and across human subjects, difficult to calculate general speed, inadequate control
Vision- accommodation: lens of eye (near/far), theory of color vision; three fibers in retina: red, green, violet
Perception- attention (clarity of information), attention without moving eye
Auditory - specifically the perception of tones, the nature of harmony and discord and problem of resonance
Not a psychologist- earliest instances of experimentation and measurement for a psychophysical proces

Question 40

Who was Gustav Flechner?

Answer 40

Founder of psychophysics
Created basis for application of the experimental method to psychology
Psychophysics - Quantitative investigation of the functional interrelations of body and mind
Aims: find relationship between body and mind- psychophysical monism (mind and body are two aspects of a fundamental unity); measure the relationship (quantitatively) between mind and body, use scientific measurement
Fechners law relationship between intensity of stimulus and intensity of sensation S= K log R
Absolute threshold- measure the stimulus intensity at which subjects report that the sensation first occurs
Differential threshold- the least amount of change in a stimulus that gives rise to a change in sensation

Question 41

Who was Ernst Weber?

Answer 41

Physiologist
Two point threshold
Just noticeable difference- smallest change that can be detected
Results if people could tell the difference of 1 0z with 40oz then changed the weight to 80 oz and it was 2 oz till they could tell the difference
ratio for JND for weights 1/40
Webers law 1831- increase in a stimulus needed to produce a just noticeable difference is constant dR=C*R

Question 42

How did Fechner reformulate Webers Law?

Answer 42

dR/R=K
dR- just noticeable stimulus increment
R- standard stimulus magnitude
K- constant
If you increase the standard= stimulus required for JND increases proportionately

Question 43

Who was Wilhelm Wundt?

Answer 43

Voluntarism- defined as the act or power of willing
Mediate Experience- provides us with information or knowledge about something other than the elements of an experience
Immediate experiences- ls unbiased or untainted by any personal by any personal interpretations such as describing the experience of the roses red color in terms of the object itself
Wundt began a new domain of science, provided psychology with all the trappings of a modern science
sensations were one of two elementary forms of experience, classified as intensity, duration, sense modality
tridimensional theory of feelings experience of any pattern of sound is a subjective feeling of pleasure or displeasure
apperception the process of organizing mental elements into a whole is a creative synthesis

Question 44

Who is Herman Ebbinghaus and Elias Muller?

Answer 44

nonsense syllables which revolutionized the study of learning, much harder to remember than when there is meaning behind the syllables

Question 45

Who is Franz Brentano?

Answer 45

Opposed Wundts idea that psychology should study the content of conscious experience. he argued that the proper subject matter for psychology is mental activity
Thus act psychology questioned the view that mental processes involve contents or elements
Two ways to study mental acts
1. through memory
2. through imagination

Question 46

Who is Carl Stumpf?

Answer 46

Phenomenology the kind of introspection, refers to the examination of unbiased experience, experience just as it occurs

Question 47

Who is Oswald Kulpe? Imageless thought?

Answer 47

Imageless thought- complex mental states can be reduced down to 4 attributes of sensation: quality, intensity, time (mach), space (mach)
Introspection = retrospective: relied on memory of conscious experience, performed a complex task, task not specified in advance, examine thinking, memorization, judgement
Goals: observe/ understand thinking
Found: Imageless thought
Problems: Performance suffered from limitations of memory and tendency to invent memories upon suggestion
Impact: Controversy, modern psych, introspection unreliable, doubt in method

Question 48

Who is Oswald Kulpe? Mental Set?

Answer 48

Predispositions “expectancies” outside consciousness which acts to control consciousness
Directs thinking before the problem is given
Unconscious process
-cannot access underlying process
Impact: Today shows set influences behavior, influenced functional psychologists, influenced behaviorism set linked to behavior vs. mind