Unit 1: Scientific Foundations of Psychology

Question 1

What were the two fields psychology was modeled after?

Answer 1

Philosophy and physiology

Question 2

Who created the first psychology laboratory for research in the field?

Answer 2

Wilhelm Wundt

Question 3

When was the first psychology laboratory established?

Answer 3

1879

Question 4

According to Wundt, what should psychology be the study of?

Answer 4

The conscious experience;

The awareness of immediate experience

Question 5

Where was the first laboratory for psychology established?

Answer 5

At the University of Leipzig

Question 6

What was the first two major schools of thought in psychology that fought against each other?

Answer 6

Structuralism and functionalism

Question 7

What was structuralism?

Answer 7

It was based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyse consciousness into its basic elements and see how those elements are related

Question 8

How did psychologists pursue structuralism?

Answer 8

Through introspection

Question 9

What is introspection?

Answer 9

The careful, systematic self-observation of one’s own conscious experience

Question 10

What was the flaw with introspection?

Answer 10

It required training to make the subject more objective, aware, and response to their tests

Question 11

Who inspired structuralism?

Answer 11

Edward Titchener

Question 12

Who inspired functionalism?

Answer 12

William James

Question 13

What was functionalism based on?

Answer 13

The belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure

Question 14

What is the “stream of consciousness”?

Answer 14

A term coined by William James;
He argued that consciousness consists of a continuous flow of thoughts and that structuralism was studying static points in that flow

Question 15

What influential book did William James write?

Answer 15

The Principles of Psychology (1890);

It discusses his theories of emotion

Question 16

What were the functionalists interested in doing in order to carry out their beliefs?

Answer 16

They were interested in how people adapt their behavior to the demands of the real world

Question 17

What did structuralists do to study their school of thought?

Answer 17

They asked their participants to analyse and describe the quality and intensity of auditory and visual stimuli

Question 18

What was the “unconscious,” according to Sigmund Freud?

Answer 18

It contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior

Question 19

What did Freud’s psychoanalytic theory do?

Answer 19

Attempt to explain personality, motivations, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior

Question 20

What does Freud’s psychoanalytic theory suggest?

Answer 20

It made the disconcerting suggestion tat people are not masters of their own mind,
that our behavior is governed by unconscious forces that we were unaware of

Question 21

When did the psychoanalytic theory and early behaviorism come about?

Answer 21

They came about in the early 1900s

Question 22

What is behaviorism?

Answer 22

A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior

Question 23

Why was behaviorism radical?

Answer 23

It suggested that psychology be the study of behaviors that could be observed directly, not the study of the consciousness

Question 24

What is behavior?

Answer 24

It refers to any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism

Question 25

Why did James Watson suggest such a shift in psychology?

Answer 25

Because to him, the power of the scientific method rested on the idea of verifiability,
And mental processes are a difficult subject because they are ultimately private events

Question 26

What is the nature versus nurture debate?

Answer 26

It is a debate concered with whether behavior is determined mainly by genetic inheritance (“nature”) or by the environment and experience (“nurture”)

Question 27

How did animals start becoming popular in psychology experiments?

Answer 27

Because experimental research is often more productive if experimenters can exercise considerable control over their subjects

Question 28

What did B. F. Skinner suggest?

Answer 28

That there was no need to study internal mental events;

He emphasized how environmental factors mold behavior

Question 29

What is the fundamental principle of behavior that Skinner documented?

Answer 29

That we act entirely based on our surroundings;
That organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes, and they tend not to repeat responses that lead to neutral or negative outcomes;
That free will is an illusion

Question 30

What did Skinner experiment on?

Answer 30

Using a Skinner box, he showed that he could exert remarkable control over the behavior of animals by manipulating the outcomes of their responses

Question 31

What was the criticism on behaviorism and the psychoanalytic theory in the 1950s?

Answer 31

That they were “dehumanizing”;
Behaviorism seemed too occupied with animal operations;
The psychonanalytic theory was condemned for its focus on primitive, sexual urges

Question 32

What is humanism?

Answer 32

A theoretical orientation that emphaizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth

Question 33

What does humanism say about humans?

Answer 33

That they have control over their lives;

That they are different from animals, so experiments on animals have little relevance to human concern

Question 34

What is the stance humanism has on human motivation?

Answer 34

It maintained its stance that humans have a natural drive for personal growth, to reach self-actualization