Week 1

Question 1

Define Psychology.

Answer 1

The scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering, feeling), and behaviour.

Question 2

What did Ancient Egyptians know about psychology?

Answer 2

• First recorded psychological experiment (that we
  know of)
  – circa 650 BC
• Knew that the brain was the source of mental function, and that medical assessments should assess consciousness and memory, not just physical health – circa 1550 BC
• Recorded diagnoses of hysteria, alcoholism, ‘sadness’ (likely what we know as depression)

Question 3

What did Ancient China know about psychology?

Answer 3

• Credited as some of the first people to use psychometric testing (circa
  1000 BC)
• Tested personality, intellect, behaviour etc.
• Used to determine fitness for different roles, e.g. as officers, civil servants etc.

Question 4

What did Ancient Greece know about psychology?

Answer 4

Plato (Tripartite Mind/Soul) ~380 BC
- Logos – intellect/reason (located in the head)
- Thymos – emotions and feelings (located in the chest)
- Eros – desires and appetites (located in the stomach)
- Certain behaviours can be explained by one being stronger than the others, e.g. gluttony the result of Eros being stronger.

Herophilus (335-280 BC) and Erasistratus (304 – 250 BC)
- Performed dissection/vivisection on criminals
- Suggested the brain (not the heart) was the seat of
reason
- Suggested the brain and nerves controlled the body

Galen (129AD to 216AD)
- Galen’s expanded on the 4 humours Hippocrates theorized
- Sanguine – blood, associated with enthusiasm, sociability etc
- Choleric – yellow bile, associated with aggression etc
- Melancholic – black bile, associated with depression etc
- Phlegmatic – phlegm, associated with apathy, listlessness etc
- Each humour associated with an environmental aspect
- Personality determined by how the humours are balanced in general
- Illness associated with an imbalance in the humours
- Treat illnesses by addressing whatever humour is imbalanced – e.g. bloodletting
- Also treated with the “theory of opposites”, i.e. depression was “dry” and “cold” (black bile and phlegm), so treated with “hot” and “wet” environmental changes

Question 5

In order to understand someone psychologically what must we pay attention to?

Answer 5

An individual’s biology, psychological experience, and cultural context.

Question 6

What is positive psychology?

Answer 6

Newer focus in the field of psychology. It focuses on understanding and harnessing positive emotions and encouraging experiences that help people flourish. The previous focus was on mental illness, dysfunction, treating problems, etc. Positive psychology focuses on what makes mentally healthy people healthy, and what makes life meaningful/worthwhile E.g. research hope, optimism, well-being, resilience etc

Question 7

What is ‘triple book keeping’?

Answer 7

Trying to understand someone by simultaneously examining the person’s biological makeup, psychological experience/functioning, and culture.

Question 8

What does biopsychology (behavioral neuroscience) examine?

Answer 8

The physical basis of psychological phenomena such as motivation, emotion, and stress. Includes the study of the brain, nervous system, hormones etc.

Question 9

What are some areas of function that fall under biopsychology?

Answer 9

The nervous system, endocrine system, fight or fight response, localization of the brain, and the structures and functions of the sensory and motor system.

Question 10

What is the sociocultural perspective?

Answer 10

It emphasizes social interaction and the cultural determinants of behavior and mental processes.

Question 11

Define cultural psychology.

Answer 11

It focuses on patterns of behaviors and how culture influences them.

Question 12

What is the role of a cross-cultural psychologist?

Answer 12

They examine the similarities and differences in behaviors among various cultural groups.

Question 13

What forms the boundaries within which psychological processes operate?

Answer 13

Biology and culture.

Question 14

What are some of the early ideas that were precursors to psychology?

Answer 14

Philosophical thinkers framed contemporary psychological research and theory. Ideas such as free will/determinism.

Question 15

What is Structuralism?

Answer 15

Late 1800s. Edward Titchener.

A school of thought developed by Titchener that employed Introspection in the hope of devising a periodic table of human consciousness. The structure of the mind and the basic elements. He only used experimental methods.

Question 16

When and why did the field of psychology emerge?

Answer 16

It began in the late 19th century as experimental psychologists attempted to scientifically study the questions about the mind asked by philosophers. Descartes, Socrates, etc.

Question 17

What is introspection?

Answer 17

1800s. Founded by Wilhelm Wundt.

Looking inward and reporting one’s conscious experience. Observers reported verbally everything in mind in response to stimulus or task.

Question 18

What are the issues with introspection?

Answer 18

• It’s considered unreliable (in research – therapeutic settings are a different matter!)
• Lack of inter-rater reliability
• No access to unconscious reactions or behaviours
• Limited to those who can be trained to use introspection in a “useful” way

Question 19

What is functionalism?

Answer 19

William James.

• Functionalists were more interested in the operation of the whole mind rather than of its individual parts, which were the focus of structuralism.
• Concerned with the function of psychological process rather than the structure
• Wanted to explain why, not just what was in the mind
• More complete focus of research, not just experimentation and introspection, but observation etc

Question 20

What is a paradigm?

Answer 20

Broad system of theoretical assumptions in a scientific community. A distinct set of concepts, eg. Chemists have atomic models.

Question 21

What is a psychological perspective?

Answer 21

Psychology lacks a unified paradigm and instead has many schools of thought and perspectives. A shared set of metaphors and research methods.

Question 22

What are the basic principles of the psychodynamic perspective?

Origins, methods, limitations, impact.

Answer 22

Early 1900s. Founded by Sigmund Freud.

Believes that behaviour is the result of unconscious processes/motivation and early experiences. Consciousness is the tip of the iceberg.

“Neo-Freudians” – typically de-emphasized sex and aggression, and looked at unconscious motivations holistically, or emphasized different motivations

• FIght between Id, ego, super-ego
• Defence mechanisms

Uses psychoanalytic therapy to infer underlying wishes/motives/fears from conscious behavior. Analyzing slip of tongue, dreams, and case studies.

Early criticisms include reliance on retrospective accounts and falsifiability criterion. The “unconscious”, can’t be measured, so empirical proof it exists is elusive.

Future, psychologists are now using experimental methods to integrate with the scientific community.

Question 23

What are the basic principals of the behaviourist perspective?

Origins, methods, limitations, impact.

Answer 23

Early 1900s. Originates from work by Pavlov and Skinner.

Disagree with psychoanalysis. Focuses on the way environmental stimuli come to control behaviour through learning. Assert that the behaviour of humans can be understood without reference to internal states (thoughts and feelings). Humans are like machines.

Early behaviourism suggested people need first-hand experience to learn, but we know that’s not the case. E.g. we don’t need to put our hand on a hot stove to learn it will burn us!

Focus on observable behavior. Pavlov’s dogs = classical conditioning = association. Watson’s Little Albert. BF Skinner’s rat’s = operant conditioning = consequences. Positive/negative einforcement/punishment.

Typically experimental research only. Focus on objective research and influential models and experimentations on human learning.

Question 24

What are the basic principals of the Humanistic perspective?

Origins, methods, limitations, impact.

Answer 24

1950s. Rogers and Maslow introduced this positive, humanistic psychology in response to what they viewed as the overly pessimistic view of psychoanalysis.

Carl Rogers’s therapeutic ‘person-centred’ approach. Unconditional positive regard. Real vs ideal self.

Brought us Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Emphasis on person-centred therapy that employs empathy and focuses on the uniqueness of a person’s immediate experience.

Seeks to acknowledge the full life history of an individual, free will, and intentionality in human existence, and to recognize the importance of an end goal of life for a healthy person.

Seen as naive as it assumes people are ‘good’ and will grow when given the opportunity.

Question 25

What are the basic principals of the Cognitive perspective?

Origins, methods, limitations, impact.

Answer 25

1960s. Built from Wundt and Gesalt. Interested in the questions raised by Descartes and other rational philosophers.

Proposes that behaviors are the consequence of thinking. Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem-solving, creativity, and reasoning.

Primary methods are experimentation on humans and computer modeling. Metaphors suggest the brain is like a computer Thinking is ‘information processing’ with inputs that are transformed, stored, and retrieved using mental programs.

Linked to neuropsychology and biopsychology. Typically experimental, but often indirectly E.g. measures memory by measuring reaction time to previously presented stimuli, rather than memory itself.

Question 26

What are the basic principals of the Evolutionary perspective?

Origins, methods, limitations, impact.

Answer 26

Stems from the ideas of Charles Darwin

Many behavioural tendencies stem from adaptive behaviours earlier in our evolution. Natural selection = natural forces select traits to help them thrive in the environment. Evolution selects organisms that maximize their reproductive success.

Assumes human thoughts serve as adaptive functions. The focus is identifying where evolutionary processes have shaped thought and behaviour. Traits that help us survive and procreate are selected/more likely to exist in the next generations. Human behaviours are shaped through evolutionary processes- survival and mating.

Methods have traditionally been deductive based on traits. Cross-species and cross-cultural comparisons. But are becoming increasingly experimental. Doesn’t account for the impact of “nurture”.

Question 27

What is free-will vs determinism?

Answer 27

Philosophical question of whether people act freely or whether their actions are influenced by their bodies and environment.

Question 28

What is self-actualisation?

Answer 28

A prime motivator of human behavior. An innate tendency that we have toward fulfilling our potential. People are motivated to fulfill the whole range of needs that humans experience.

Question 29

What is the mind-body problem?

Answer 29

The question of how mental and physical events interact.

Question 30

What is the biopsychosocial model?

Answer 30

A model that recognises that there is usually no single cause for our behaviour or our mental states and that biological, psychological and social processes are both interrelated and interacting influences.

Question 31

What is behavioural genetics?

Answer 31

Behavior genetics is the study of how genetic variation affects psychological traits, including cognitive abilities, personality, mental illness, and social attitudes.

Question 32

What is Gestalt psychology?

Answer 32

A school of psychology that holds that perception is an active experience of imposing order on an overwhelming panorama of details by seeing them as parts of a larger whole (or Gestalts).

Question 33

What is Cartesian dualism?

Answer 33

The doctrine of dual spheres of mind and body.

Question 34

What is cognition?

Answer 34

Thought and memory.

Question 35

What is conservation psychology?

Answer 35

It studies the reciprocal relationships between humans and nature, with a focus on changing attitudes and behaviours to encourage conservation of the environment

Question 36

What is empiricism?

Answer 36

The belief is that the path to scientific knowledge is systematic observation and, ideally, experimental observation.

Question 37

What is ethology?

Answer 37

The field that studies animal behaviour from a biological and evolutionary perspective.

Question 38

What is the Falsifiability criterion?

Answer 38

The assertion that when researchers are testing hypotheses, they must frame them in such a way as to allow for them to be proven false, and that if this does indeed occur, then a logical result is that the theory on which the hypothesis is base must be modified or developed in some way so as to become closer to the truth.

Question 39

What is localisation of function?

Answer 39

The extent to which different parts of the brain control different aspects of functioning.

Question 40

What is nature verses nurture?

Answer 40

To what degree do inborn biological processes vs environmental experiences shape behaviour.

Question 41

Who is William Wundt and what did he contribute to psychology?

Answer 41

• First to use the scientific method, but also took a more holistic approach including taking myths, religion etc into account
• Introspection… “Looking inward and reporting on one’s own conscious
  experience”
• Trained people to use introspection.
• Wanted to discover the “elements” of human consciousness
• Concluded that the basic elements were sensation and feelings, which combine to make perceptions

Question 42

What are some limitations of introspection?

Answer 42

• Early psychological research relied on introspection, but we don’t use it in modern research
• It’s considered unreliable (in research – therapeutic settings are a different matter!)
• Lack of inter-rater reliability
• No access to unconscious reactions or behaviours
• Limited to those who can be trained to use introspection in a “useful” way