Unit 1 - Chapter 1 - History of Psychology Flashcards
the study of the proper way to write history is called
Historiography
Psychology
study of the psyche/human mind
Presentism
evaluating historical events in terms of contemporary knowledge
Historicism
study of the past for its own sake
Discuss the relative merits of Presentism
- Present state of psychology as a guide in writing history.
- Implies that the present state represents highest state of development.
- Limits personal bias.
Discuss the relative merits of Historicism
Provides a better framework for understanding psychology’s history.
What considerations are involved in deciding what to include in a history of psychology?
- Omit large amounts of information, making history selective.
- Individuals who did the most to develop an idea are covered.
Zeitgeist
- spirit of the times
- gives context to understanding history
Great person approach
concentrates on the most prominent contributors
History development approach
concentrates on an element of a field and describes how the approach to studying that element has changed over time.
Eclectic approach
using whatever method seems best able to illuminate an aspect of the history of psychology.
- Used by Henley.
Three reasons cited for studying the history of psychology
understanding
recognition of fads and fashions
source of valuable ideas
Understanding is important because;
- Not repeat mistakes of the past
- Gain insight on importance
Recognition of fads and fashions is important because;
Awareness that factuality is not the only variable determining whether to accept an idea.
Why did Galileo and Kant claim that psychology could never be a science?
because of its concern with subjective experience.
Science
systematic attempt to rationally categorize or explain empirical observations.
What are the two major components of a science?
empirical observation
theory
Two major approaches to understating where knowledge comes from are
rationalism and empiricism
Empiricism
source of knowledge is always based on sensory observation.
Two main functions of scientific theory
1) Organizes empirical observations
2) Acts as a guide for future observations (confirmable propositions)
Public Observation
scientific laws must be available for any interested person to observe.
Why is public observation important?
reduces bias
Science seeks to discover ____ relationships.
lawful
Scientific law
a consistently observed relationship between two or more empirical events.
Two general classes of scientific laws
1) Correlational laws
2) Causal laws
Correlational laws
- describe how events vary together in some systematic way.
- only prediction is possible.
Causal laws
- specify how events are casually related
- allows prediction and control.
Specifying causes of events is complex because
- cant assume that contiguity proves causation.
- events rarely have a single cause.
Assumption of determinism
what is being studied can be understood in terms of causal laws.
Describe Karl Popper’s (1902–1994) objections to the traditional view of scientific activity.
- disagreed that scientific activity starts with empirical observation.
- believed observation is always selective and scientific activity involves a problem
Karl Popper’s three stages of scientific method
1) problems
2) theories (proposed solutions)
3) criticism
Principle of falsifiability
- must specify the observations that would refute a theory.
- science must make risky predictions
- Popper
Postdiction
explaining events after they have already occurred.
- problem with many theories
Describe Popper’s views on theories
believed;
- all theories will be eventually found false and will be replaced
- highest status that a theory can reach is “not yet disconfirmed”
- nonscientific theories can still be useful
Correspondence theory of truth
- the goal when evaluating scientific laws or theories is to determine whether they correspond to a mind-independent world.
- guides science
How did Thomas Kuhn change conception of science?
showed science to be a highly subjective enterprise.
Paradigm
the entire constellation of beliefs, values, and techniques shared by a given community.
Normal science
the research activities involved in exploring the implications of a paradigm.
- Kuhn
Puzzle solving
like puzzles, the problems of normal science have an assured solution, rules and steps
- Kuhn
anomalies
persistent observations that a currently accepted paradigm cannot explain
- how science changes
What are Kuhn’s Stages of Scientific Development
1) Preparadigmatic
2) Paradigmatic stage
3) Revolutionary stage
Preparadigmatic
- number of competing viewpoints exist.
- prior to the development of a paradigm.
Paradigmatic stage
scientific activity is guided by a paradigm.
- normal science occurs.
Revolutionary stage
existing paradigm is displaced by another paradigm.
According to Henley, at what stage is contemporary psychology?
multiparadigmatic
What did Feyerabend say about rules?
- rules must be broken in order for scientific progress to occur.
- anarchy = progress.
What did Feyerabend say about rules?
- said whatever rules do exist must be broken in order for scientific progress to occur.
- anarchism = progress.
Biological determinism
emphasizes the importance of physiological conditions or genetic predispositions
Environmental determinism
stresses the importance of environmental stimuli
Sociocultural determinism
- a form of environmental determinism
- emphasizes cultural or societal rules, customs, and beliefs
Physical determinism
stresses material causes of behavior
PSYCHical determinism
stresses mental causes of behavior.
What did Freud mean when he said that much of behaviour is overdetermined?
- Behaviour is rarely caused by a single event.
- Multiple interacting events typically cause behaviour.
Define Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle
attempting to measure the causes of something influences those causes, making it impossible to know them with certainty.
Describe uncertainty principle’s relevance to psychological research.
although human behavior is determined, we can never learn some causes of behavior, because in attempting to observe them we change them
Indeterminism
there are specific causes of behaviour but they cannot be accurately known.
Free will
behaviour is freely chosen and independent of physical or psychical causes.
- aka nondeterminism
William James distinguished between ___ and ___ determinsm.
hard; soft
Hard determinism
- automatic, mechanic causes of human behaviour
- personal responsibility not involved
Soft determinism
cognitive processes intervene between experience and behaviour.
- personal responsibility invovled
What does Henley conclude regarding whether psychology is a science?
- depends on which aspect we focus on.
- psychology should embrace both science and the humanities
Cite the eight persistent questions in psychology.
1) How are the mind and body related?
2) objective vs subjective reality?
3) determinants of human behaviour rational or irrational?
4) human features inherited or due to experience?
5) What is the origin of human knowledge?
6) What is the nature of the self?
7) humans vs non-human animals?
8) nature of universal versus relative truth?
Materialists
believe that matter is the only reality
Monists
- believe that there is only one reality.
- includes materialists and idealists.
Idealists
believe that ultimate reality consists of ideas or perceptions
Dualist
accept the existence of both physical and mental events that are governed by different principles.
no contact between mind and body, appears to be because of Gods intervention refers to
Occasionalism
Preestablished harmony
bodily and mental events are seperate but are coordinated by some external agent.
belief that bodily and mental events are inseparable because they are two aspects of every experience.
Double aspectism
environmental experience causes both mental events and bodily responses simultaneously but are totally independent of each other.
Psychophysical parallelism
states that mental events emerge from brain activity but that mental events are subsequently behaviorally irrelevant
Epiphenomenalism
mental states emerge from physical brain states and vice versa
Emergentism
Interactionism
claims that the mind and body interact.
Mechanism
mechanical laws explain all behaviour
Vitalism
life requires a force that is more than material objects
Naive realism
what we experience mentally is the same as what is present physically.
Reification
tendency to believe that because something has a name it also has an independent existence.
Rationalism
- Emphasizes logical, systematic, and intelligent thought processes.
- Descartes & Leibniz.
Irrationalism
- Stress human feeling and unconscious determinants
- Freud & Jung/Psychoanalytic.
Nativist
knowledge is innate/inherited (nature)
Epistemology
the study of knowledge.
Passive mind
- reflects cognitively one’s experiences with the physical world.
- used by empiricists
Active mind
- interacts with data from experience and transforms it
- used by rationalists
Radical empiricist
insists that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience
How are humans related to non-human animals?
- Behaviourists –> same principles govern the behaviour of both non-humans and humans.
- Humanists –> people are qualitatively different from other animals.
Relativism
- there is no one truth, only truths.
- no universal truths that exist independently of human experience.
Universalism
belief that there are universal truths about ourselves and about the physical world
Are the determinants of human behaviour rational causes or irrational ones?
- rationalism vs irrationalism
What is the nature of universal versus relative truth?
- universalism vs relativism
What is the nature of the self?
self is often viewed as having a separate existence of its own.
5) What is the origin of human knowledge?
- epistemology
- radical empiricist
- nativists
To what extent are human features inherited or due to experience?
nativist (innate tendencies) vs empiricist (emphasize experience)
What is the difference between objective and subjective reality?
- objective vs subjective
- naive realism
- reification
1) How are the mind and body related?
- monism (materialism & idealism)
- dualism (interactionism, preestablished harmony)
- mechanism vs vitalism
