Unit 6 Flashcards
According to third-force psychologists, what was missing from the other two forces in psychology? Describe the role of the concept of subjective reality in third-force psychology. Describe the origins and historical antecedents of third-force psychology including phenomenology and the views of Brentano and Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. Define intentionality and ontology
Third-force psychology is a movement against behaviourism and psychoanalysis— started by Maslow. The missing piece is that psychology should be trying to make already healthy people into superior beings who reach their full potential.
Subjective reality is what drives behaviour— no determinism, only free will.
A combination of romanticism and existentialism called humanistic psychology (third-force = humanistic psychology).
Phenomenology refers to any method that focuses on experience as a whole and not trying to break it down into components.
Brentano— focused on acts like judging and hoping, and that every action had to reference something outside of itself, such as “I see a tree” (intentionality)
Husserl— used Brentano’s type of phenomenology to make philosophy and science more objective and rigorous; create an objective connection between the outside world and consciousness without focusing on what theories say should be there
Ontology is the study of existence, which fascinated existentialists
Merleau-Ponty— criticized Watson and created his existential-phenomenological alternative. He also built on the work of William James and the Gestalt psychologists
Who are Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus and why are they important. Briefly describe the life and work of Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), including (a) his concept of Dasein, (b) authenticity and inauthenticity in life, (c) guilt and anxiety, and (d) thrownness.
Sartre and Camus— won the Nobel Prize in literature based on their writings of existentialism
Sartre was known for analyzing how other people effect us (social behaviour meets existentialism)
“Hell is other people”
Camus wrote several books on absurd things/ people and was also a writer for the French resistance during the war
Heidegger— Husserl’s student/assistant, important bridge between existential philosophy and existential psychology, used phenomenology to examine human existence
A) Dasein is a term used to indicate that a person and the world are inseparable (translates to “to be there”— one can not exist without the other
B) To live an “authentic life” one must confront the idea of death and then instead create a meaningful existence that allows for becoming (constant personal growth). If one does not realize their mortality (because it causes anxiety) then they will live an inauthentic life
C) Believed that we experience guilt when we do not engage in our personal freedom, and to minimize this guilt one must life an authentic life. By understanding our own mortality one must overcome the anxiety caused by it, but anxiety itself is necessary because it means you are entering the unknown and living authentically.
D) Thrownness are the aspects of ourselves that are outside of our control, such as height, and they determine the conditions in which we can exercise our freedom.
Briefly describe the life and work of Ludwig Binswanger (1881–1966), including his notion of (a) modes of existence, (b) the ground of existence, and (c) existentialism as therapy, and the importance of meaning in one’s life (including the experiences of Viktor Frankl).
Was a student of Jung and a friend of Freud. Called his approach to psychotherapy “Daseinanalysis”.
A) three modes of existence to which individuals give meaning through their consciousness:
1. Umwelt— the world of things and events that make up our environment
2. Mitwelt— our interactions with other humans
3. Eigenwelt— private, subjective experience
To fully understand someone you must understand all three modes of them
B) Agreed that thrownness limits personal freedom and determines one’s “ground of existence”. Thought that regardless of circumstances a person will always wants being-beyond-the-world, which simply referred to trying to change their circumstances using free will.
C) This therapy was on the basis that one can grow from the negative experiences that they face and that it all has meaning. Frankl experienced a Nazi concentration camp and found that the prisoners still found meaning in their lives and had things to live for. “Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds meaning”
Briefly describe the life and work of Rollo May (1909–1994), including his concepts of (a) the human dilemma, (b) normal and neurotic anxiety, (c) the importance of myth, and (d) the applicability of science to humans.
His parents were against education after his sister started suffering from mental illness.
A) Rollo May pointed out that humans are both objects and subjects of experience, we are influenced by things in the physical world. The dilemma is that we do not only experience these things but also interpret and make choices regarding the experience which makes humans unique.
B) Neurotic anxiety is caused by fear of freedom and does not allow for personal growth. Normal anxiety, instead, refers to the anxiety we feel when trying something new and exercising our free will.
C) Myths attempt to make sense of the world and are needed to provide meaning to life. This is the basis for narrative therapy which uses stories to understand life. Myths provide a sense of identity, community, support morals, and provide a means of dealing with things we don’t understand.
D) He thought that science can be applied to humans but that it should not be simply the physical sciences because these overlook what makes us unique, and science must also look at ethics and our ability to exercise freedom, if we want to look at humans in their entirety.
Briefly describe the life and work of George Kelly (1905–1967). Describe (a) his concept of constructive alternativism, (b) similarities between the views of Kelly and Vaihinger, and (c) fixed-role therapy.
Kelly was the son of a school teacher and a minster who turned to farming, and they were adventurous as they tried to be settlers who moved across the US but the land was terrible so they moved back to Kansas.
A) Believed that humans are all like scientists but instead of formal theories humans create construct systems which we use to predict future events (reduces uncertainty). Constructive alternatives states that people are free to choose the constructs they use in interacting with the world, and so interpret the world in vastly different ways from others.
B) Both emphasized propositional thinking/ experimenting with ideas to see what happens. Kelly was aware of Vaihinger’s “as-if” philosophy and related it to psychology.
C) Believed that psychological problems are perceptual problems, and this was reflected in his approach to therapy. Therapists should help clients change their point of view. He got his clients to write out a self-characterization and then asked them to assume the role of someone else for a couple weeks to try and get them out of their fixed-role/ look at things differently.
Briefly describe the life and work of Abraham Maslow (1908–1970). Describe (a) the basic features of humanistic psychology; (b) the hierarchy of needs; (c) features of self-actualizing people; and (d) transpersonal psychology.
Maslow is the person most responsible for humanistic psychology becoming a formal branch of modern psychology. Married his cousin.
A) The basics of humanistic psychology include:
1. You can’t learn about humans by studying nonhumans 2. Subjective reality is the primary guide of human behaviour 3. Studying individuals is more important than groups 4. Effort should be put into discovering things that enrich human experience 5. Research should help to solve human problems 6. The goal of psychology should be to learn what it means to be human
B) He arranged needs in a hierarchy based on the lower ones being similar to those of other animals and the higher ones being unique to humans.
Self-actualization Esteem needs Belonging and love needs Safety needs Physiological needs
C) Transpersonal psychology focuses on the spiritual and mystical aspects of human nature. He saw humanistic psychology as being a stepping stone to a fourth psychology that involves the universe and things beyond just humans.
Briefly describe the life and work of Carl Rogers (1902–1987), including his theory of personality. Compare and contrast existential and humanistic psychology. Identify the commonly cited criticisms and contributions of humanistic psychology
Came from a close-knit, religious family where friendships outside of the family were discouraged.
His theory of personality was based on the idea that humans have an innate drive toward self-actualization and if they understood this then they would live more fulfilling lives by following their feelings (organismic valuing process). Rogers says that this does not frequently happen, though, because of our childhood experiences of receiving conditional positive regard which leads to feeling conditions of worth. This can lead to being an incongruent person, which is largely the same as an inauthentic person (existentialists).
Seven reasons that they are similar are:
1. Belief in free will
2. Use phenomenology
3. Fully against elementism (not studying the human as a whole)
4. Humans are seen as unique
5. Knowledge about one human can not be said of all humans
6. Living authentically is better than inauthentically
7. Humans can not be studied using just the traditional scientific method
A major difference is that humanists believe that humans are inherently good in nature when they are born but existentialists believe that humans are neutral and choose whether to be good or bad.
There are 5 criticisms of humanistic psychology:
1. It’s description of humans is wishful thinking in believing that humans are good natured and would continue to be so in an ideal society
2. Humanistic psychology criticizes the scientific method, behaviourism, and psychoanalysis even though they have made great contributions to psychology
3. Does not give an alternative to traditional scientific method despite criticizing it
4. By minimizing animal research they devalue the abundance of knowledge gained through animal research
5. Many of the terms they use do not have clear definitions or verification
Humanistic psychology contributed by expanding psychology’s domain and now it is encouraged to look at the whole person when studying psychology.
Define psychobiology. Briefly describe the life and work of Karl Lashley (1890–1958), including his notion of (a) mass action and equipotentiality and (b) his search for the engram.
Psychobiology is the term for attempting to explain psychological phenomena through biology.
Lashley was friends with (and at one point worked with) Watson. He was interested in the neurophysiological bases of conditioned reflexes.
A) Made two observations that went against the switch-board concept of the brain (that certain parts were associated with certain things/actions). The first of these observations was mass action— that the amount of destruction of the cortex was more influential to loss of ability than was a specific location. The cortex worked as a whole, like the Gestaltists thought. Lashley’s second observation was that any part of a functional area in the brain can perform the function associated with that area— to stop a certain function the entire area would have to be destroyed, down the the last cell— this he called equipotentiality.
B) Engram is the neurophyiological locus of memory and learning. He searched for it for decades and even now it has still not been found.
Briefly describe the life and work of Donald Hebb (1904–1985), including his notion of cell assemblies and phase sequences. What was the overall impact of Hebb’s research? Briefly describe the life and work of Roger Sperry (1913–1994), including his research on split brains. What is the split-brain preparation and what was the overall impact of Sperry’s work?
He was a Canadian who graduated university with the lowest gpa that was possible to still graduate.
Hebb’s notion of cell assembly was basically that every environmental object we experience causes a complex package of neurons to fire. Looking at subsequent objects causes different neurons to fire. Neurons that are often fired at the same time tend to form a package.
A phase sequence is when various cell assemblies become interrelated, when one cell assembly fires then the whole phase sequence tends to fire. This causes a series of thoughts or ideas that are in a logical order.
These are both caused by learning in childhood.
Hebb reported many aspects of childhood learning, such as that an enriched environment as a baby can make learning easier as adults (found this through animal research). He was also influential in researching arousal theory.
Sperry was a colleague of Lashley. His work on split-brain was to determine where the transfer of knowledge within the brain occurred. Split-brain preparation refers to severing the corpus callousness and its optic chiasm. This has influenced epilepsy research and for those with severe epilepsy the brain could be split which decreases the severity of seizures.
Define ethology. List the two ethologists and their interests as described in the text. What are five points of an “ethological attitude”?
Ethology is the study of instinctive animal behaviour, and is a branch of zoology.
The two main ethnologists were Lorenz and Tinbergen. Lorenz was interested in imprinting and topics in social psychology, such as aggression. Tinbergen worked with stickleback fish and gulls, and for articulating the original 4 aims of the ethnological approach.
The 5 points are:
- Study meaningful behaviours in the context of an animal’s natural existence
- Begin with descriptive studies
- Study a wide range of species
- Compare similar behaviours in closely related species
- Avoid the exclusive use of domesticated or lab animals
Define sociobiology. What is a biogrammar and why is it important? What is the leash principle? Define evolutionary psychology. What is the sociobiological fallacy? What are some of the criticisms of evolutionary theory?
Sociobiology attempts to explain social behaviour in terms of evolution.
A biogrammar is something that structures our social behaviour, just like how innate rules of grammar structure our verbal behaviour.
The leash principle states that humans have a genetic predisposition to create culture because to do so facilitates survival. Culture satiates biological needs.
Evolutionary psychology can be defined in the same way as sociobiology, but the one difference is that behaviours that were selected for solved problems for our ancestors, they weren’t simply the ones that wanted to procreate the most. This is considered the sociobiological fallacy— that we live merely to pass on our genes.
Evolutionary psychology is criticized for accepting adaptationism (thinking that all adaptations were selected for because they aided survival) which is not necessarily true, as some were mutations, etc.
Describe the work of Keller and Marion Breland and what they found. Be sure that your answer includes discussion of instinctual drift and the preparedness continuum. Define behavioural genetics and briefly review the work of Thomas Bouchard. What does the term heritability mean and why is it important?
The Breland’s ran a business that used operant conditioning to teach animals to do tricks. They found that over time the animals’ learned behaviour was slowed or stopped because of their instinctive behaviours— they called this concept the instinctual drift. Some animals are more easily able to learn these new behaviours and maintain them, but others are less able or likely to. This is called the preparedness continuum.
Behavioural genetics is a branch of psychobiology that studies the genetic influence on cognition and behaviour. Bouchard studied how genetics effected people’s characteristics using twins, much the same as Galton, and he too found that nature plays a larger role than nurture does in how someone turns out.
Heritability indicated the extent to which variation on a trait or attribute is attributable to genetics. This is important because it allows us to determine how much of a given characteristic, such as intelligence, is pre-determined and how much is from effort put in during nurture.
Describe the early influences on cognitive psychology. Summarize the work of Frederic Bartlett (1886–1969) and his research on memory. Describe the life and work of Jean Piaget (1896–1980) including his stages of schemata development. Define cybernetics. How did the field of cybernetics influence cognitive psychology?
Early cognitive psychology was influenced mainly by J.S. Mill’s concept of mental chemistry.
Bartlett— wrote about how memory is influenced by cognitive themes and schemas more than laws of association. He had people read an Indigenous story twice and then asked them to reproduce the story. Most gave a general summary of the events with some details changed (often to a more Christian language).
Piaget— a boy-genius, studied cognitive abilities in children and their schemata. He outline stages of development in childhood
- Sensorimotor stage
- Preoperational stage
- Concrete operations stage
- Formal operations stage
Cybernetics is the study of the structure and function of information processing systems. Research in this are showed that neural networks could be modeled using formal logic, and this was the start of things like AI and the information processing psychology.
Summarize the contributions of Noam Chomsky, George Miller, and Jerome Bruner to the emergence of cognitive psychology in the 1950s. Summarize the influence of physiological and gestalt psychologists. Why is social psychology so important as an influence?
Chomsky— the human brain is genetically programmed to generate language, it can not be learned simply using principles of association (ex. Frequency). His ideas about learning and language radically changed psychology as a field.
Miller— became a leader in the information processing metaphor, and was the most influential in the emergence of cognitive psychology. The magical number seven.
Bruner— he emphasizes concept learning and said that it is an active process, not passive like those before him thought. We use active learning strategies to effectively learn.
Physiological psychologists pursue many different areas of study, and these areas then coincide with other branches of psychology, such as how monkeys solve problems in stages.
Gestaltists, too, did work that translated to cognitive psychology, such as how a person’s perception effects things.
Social psychology is very important for introducing concepts like attribution (how we understand and explain behaviour). It also has a growing influence on new psychologists with many areas still yet to be explored.
Discuss the cognitive revolution as described by Hebb in his APA presidential address? What were some of the major events that reflected the influence of cognitive psychology?
Hebb referred to the psychology of the time as a revolution because he believed that there was still a big change to come and only one revolution had already come (behaviourism). He named a few psychologists and said that they still must fight to be the one with their theory on top. Hebb also, rightly, thought that the computer would become a very important source of information.
Cognitive psychology was now taught at schools such as Harvard, and there was more experiments being done on the topic. Many journals were started with the design of writing solely about cognitive psychology.
