The History and Scope of Psychology Flashcards
Why is psychology a science
Psychology is a science because of its findings, that are based on an empirical approach, careful observation, and testing. We need a scientific attitude to answer questions
What are the three key elements of the scientific attitude
Curiosity: How does it work? we have to ask questions to know their answers
Skepticism: To know how to sift fantasy from reality, we have to be nor cynical nor gullible
Humility: We have to be aware of our a vulnerability to error. humans and other animals don’t always behave how we predict
What is critical thinking? What do critical thinkers ask?
Critical thinkers don’t accept immediately arguments and conclusions. They discern bias, examine conclusions and evidences. They ask: How did you get to that conclusion? how do they know that? is the conclusion based on an anecdote or a fact?
WHAT MATTERS IS NOT WHAT THEY “FEEL” IS TRUE, BUT WHAT IS TRUE
What were the two first school of thoughts?
Structuralism (Titchener) and Functionalism (Williams James)
What were the goals of structuralism?
Structuralism ought to find and describe each element of the human’s mind structure, just like they were doing with the periodic table.
Structuralism was based on introspection (looking inward), but it was somewhat unreliable cause introspection relies on the person’s ability to verbalize their feelings, and feelings and experiences vary from person to person.
What is introspection? Which school of thought used it?
Introspection was used by structuralism to make the patient describe what they were feeling at the moment of doing certain actions, they had to describe what was happening with their 5 senses. it proved somewhat unreliable due to its base in personal experience (subjective) and personal ability to verbalize what they were actually feeling.
Why did structuralism decline in popularity?
It decline in popularity due to introspection. It proved somewhat unreliable due to its base in personal experience (subjective) and personal ability to verbalize what they were actually feeling.
What is functionalism? How does it differ from structuralism?
William James thought that the mind was a function that we developed due to natural selection. It helped our ancestors survive and reproduce. It was an evolved function - therefore functionalism.
How did behaviorists redefined psychology?
They changed the focus from mental activity to something we can actually see… behavior.
It changed to the “scientific study of observable behavior”
What did behaviorists think about introspection?
They thought it was not useful because it relied on personal’s abilities and experiences
What did Freudian (psychoanalytic) psychology emphasize?
It emphasize on the effect our unconscious mind and childhood experience on our behaviors.
What was the focus of humanistic psychologists like Maslow and Rogers?
They focused on potential human growth, the need of love and approval and the environments that nurture or limits personal growth
What is the focus of cognitive psychology?
They study processes involved in cognitive activities: perceiving, learning, remembering, thinking, etc.
How is psychology defined today?
It is the study of behavior and mental processes.
behavior - actions, things we can perceive
mental processes - experiences, thoughts, feelings … more subjective
Compare and contrast evolutionary psychology and behavior genetics
Evolutionary psychology is the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind using principles of the natural selection (best genes survived and reproduced, therefore passed the genes onto succeeding generations)
On the other hand, behavior genetics focus more on nurture vs. nature.
They focus on the powers and limtis of genetics and environmental influences on behavior
