Theoretical psychology Flashcards
Aristotle
Tabula rasa.
Mental processes proceed by way of associations.
Law of contiguity.
Supra-modal domain-general (horizontal) mental
faculties, like “common sense”
Locke
Association theory: Blank slate, sensoristic,
atomistic, associative.
Horizontal mental faculties
Enlightenment
Embracing of reason and science.
Pseudo-sciences
Physiognomy: Face reflects character.
Mesmerism: Healing through magnetic forces.
Spiritualism: Contact with the spirits of the dead.
Mental healing: Healing through correct thinking
Gall
Localizationism.
Phrenology: Bumps on skull reflect mental faculties.
Domain-specific (vertical) faculties are bilaterally
localized in the brain
Flourens
Experimental evidence for holism from pigeons and
rabbits
Broca
Patient Leborgne (“Tan”): Speech production deficit
because of left frontal lobe lesion.
Evidence for localization (against Flourens)
Wernicke
Association model of language
Helmholtz
Conduction of nerve impulse takes time.
Donders
Subtraction method: simple, choice, go/no-go tasks.
Mental processes take time
Psychophysics:
Weber
Fechner
Just noticeable difference forms constant ratio.
Logarithmic relation between physical and
psychological quantities
Dormant period (1900-1950)
Loss of interest in localization of mental functions.
Sternberg
Additive factors method: Identifying stages of
processing
Brain research
Long-term potentiation: Neuronal basis of the law of contiguity
Connectionism
(Rumelhart, McClelland)
Modern form of associationism. Addition of computer simulations.
Fodor
The mind consists of both localized modules (vertical
faculties, see Gall) and holistic central systems
(horizontal faculties, see Flourens).
Anderson
Production system theory. Central processing
engages working memory, declarative memory, and
procedural memory that contains IF-THEN rules.
Brain research
Face perception is a module.
Prosopagnosia
Kanwisher
Modules for perception of places, faces, visual
words, body parts, and assigning thoughts to others.
Central systems are coupled to the frontoparietal
cortex.
