Unit 1

Question 1

Describe the etymology (that is, origin and meaning) of the word psychology.

Answer 1

-comes from two Greek words, psyche, meaning the soul, and logos, referring to the study of a subject.

Question 2

Define psychology

Answer 2

Simple: studies behaviour and the biological and cognitive processes underlying it. It is also a profession.

Question 3

Who made psychology its own discipline? What was psychology’s date of birth? (2)

Answer 3

-Wilhelm Wundt
-1879

Question 4

What did Wundt believe psychology should be the study of?

Answer 4

-conscious experience

Question 5

Who pioneered structuralism?

Answer 5

-Edward Titchener

Question 6

Who pioneered functionalism?

Answer 6

-William James

Question 7

Describe the basic tenets of functionalism?

Answer 7

-focused on the function or purpose of consciousness

Question 8

Describe the basic tenets of structuralism?

Answer 8

-psychology should use introspection to analyze consciousness into its basic elements

Question 9

Did structuralism or functionalism have a more lasting effect on psychology? Why? (2)

Answer 9

-functionalism
-because it fostered behaviourism and applied psychology

Question 10

Who was the proponent of psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 10

-Freud

Question 11

What does psychoanalytic theory emphasize?

Answer 11

-unconscious determinants of behaviour and the importance of sexuality

Question 12

According to Freud, what does the unconscious consist of?

Answer 12

-thoughts that one is not aware of but still influence one’s behaviour

Question 13

Who founded behaviourism? What did he believe psychology should study? (2)

Answer 13

-John Watson
-only observable behaviour

Question 14

Once behaviourism slowly took hold, what did psychology become?

Answer 14

-the scientific study of behaviour (rather than consciousness)

Question 15

What two things were important to behaviourists? (2)

Answer 15

-importance of environment over heredity
-pioneered animal research

Question 16

Who boosted behaviourism which reached its peak in the 50s?

Answer 16

-B.F Skinner

Question 17

What did Skinner believe in? (3)

Answer 17

-animal research
-strict focus on observable behaviour
-importance of the environment

Question 18

How did Skinner generate controversy?

Answer 18

-said free will is an illusion

Question 19

Who began to gain influence in the 50s with the belief that behaviourism and psychoanalytic are unappealing and what theory did they support? (2)

Answer 19

-Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow
-Humanism

Question 20

What do humanists believe is important? What do they stress? (2)

Answer 20

-the unique qualities of human behaviour and the irrelevance of animal research
-stress humans freedom and potential for growth

Question 21

What people were important in cognitive psychology? (3)

Answer 21

-Jean Piaget
-Noam Chomsky
-Herbert Simon

Question 22

What was the subject matter of cognitive theory?

Answer 22

-thoughts, mental processes

Question 23

What was the basic premise of cognitive theory?

Answer 23

-Human behavior cannot be fully understood without examining how people acquire, store and process information

Question 24

The last theory to take place that is still prevalent today is behavioural neuroscience. What people played a role in this? (4)

Answer 24

-James Olds
-Roger Sperry
-David Hubel
-Torsten Wiesel

Question 25

What is the subject matter of behavioural neuroscience?

Answer 25

-Physiological, genetic and neural bases of behavior in humans and animals

Question 26

What is the basic premise of behavioural neuroscience?

Answer 26

-An organisms functioning can be explained in terms of the brain structures and bio-chemical processes that underlie behavior

Question 27

When did psychology become more of a profession and why?

Answer 27

-starting after WW2, clinical psychology became more of a profession

Question 28

In the 90s evolutionary psychology gained some interest, what was its main premise?

Answer 28

-behaviour patterns within a species are products of evolution

Question 29

What do evolutionary psychologists argue?

Answer 29

-natural selection favours behaviours that enhance an organisms fitness

Question 30

What did Martin Seligman launch in the 90s?

Answer 30

-positive psychology

Question 31

What is clinical psychology concerned with?

Answer 31

-diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders (non-medical approach unlike psychiatry)

Question 32

What is empiricism?

Answer 32

-the idea that knowledge should be acquired through observation

Question 33

Define Hebb’s cell assembly

Answer 33

-a network of neurons that become linked together through repeated activation, forming a pattern of connections.

Question 34

What does experimental psychology do?

Answer 34

-Research “core” topics established in the early twentieth century