Week 1- Introduction and History of Psychology

Question 1

Define Psychology

Answer 1

• The scientific investigation of mental processes (thinking, remembering and feeling), behaviour and the interaction between them
• Science that studies behaviour and the biological and cognitive processes that underlie behaviour
• Profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems

Question 2

Define overt behaviour (with example)

Answer 2

Behaviour which is directly observable e.g. eating, sleeping, talking, moving, looking

Question 3

Define covert behaviour (with example)

Answer 3

Processes that are internal- cognitive/mental/emotional processes e.g. how we perceive, learn, remember, think, reason, feel etc

Question 4

What are the boundaries and borders of Psychology?

Answer 4

• Psych is a vast field with many disciplines all addressing questions about the mind and behaviour in different ways
• Shares some boundaries with related disciplines, including study of the biology of the brain, the biological boundary of Psychology, known as biopsychology or behavioural neuroscience

Question 5

Discuss Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 5

• Physiologist who established psych as separate discipline
• “Father of Psychology”- first established Psych research lab in Leipzig, Germany, 1879
• Established first journal publishing psych research 1881
• Defined psych as scientific study of conscious experience
• Investigated topics such as vision, touch, hearing, attention and emotion, using method called introspection

Question 6

Discuss Edward Titchener

Answer 6

• Took Wundt’s ideas to the USA
• Advocated using introspection to examine consciousness structure
• Identifying basic elements and their relationship- sensations, feelings and emotions
• Criticism
  
  • Reductionist
  • Elemental
  • Reliance on verbal reports

Question 7

Discuss William James

Answer 7

• Proponent of functionalism
• Asked “what is the purpose of consciousness?”- how do people adapt their behaviour to the demands of demands of the environment?
• More practical (or applied) slant
• Topics investigated:
  • Patterns of development during childhood
  • Effectiveness of educational practices
  • Behavioural differences between males and females

Question 8

How can Psychology be approached?

Answer 8

• Psychology lacks a unified paradigm, but has a number of schools of thought or “isms”
• Any psychological issue can be approached using a number of perspective

Question 9

Define paradigm

Answer 9

A broad system of the assumptions employed by the scientific community

Question 10

Define introspection

Answer 10

The first systematic approach, focused on subjective experiences. Analyses basic elements of consciousness

Question 11

Give limitations of introspection

Answer 11

• Subjectivity
• Inaccessibility of unconscious process
• Limited scope
• Social desirability bias
• Inability to generalise

Question 12

List the 5 perspectives in Psychology

Answer 12

1. Psychodynamic approach
2. Behaviourism
3. Humanistic perspective
4. Cognitive perspective
5. Evolutionary perspective

Question 13

Outline the Psychodynamic approach

Answer 13

• Focuses on the unconscious
• Attempts to explain personality, motivation and mental disorders in terms of unconscious determinants
• We are not masters of our own minds, but at the mercy of the unconscious, especially sexual urges

Question 14

Outline the 3 key premises of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 14

• People’s actions are determined by the way thoughts, feelings and wishes are connected in their minds
• Many mental events occur outside of conscious awareness
• Mental processes may conflict with each other

Question 15

What sources of evidence are used to support the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 15

• Case studies of patients
• Reflection on Freud’s own anxieties, conflicts and desires

Question 16

Outline behaviourism

Answer 16

• J.B. Watson
• Psych should study only observable behaviours
• Abandoned study of consciousness
• Mental processes:
  
  • are private events
  • not a proper subject of scientific inquiry
  • cannot be verified
• Strong emphasis on environment, experience (nurture) and argued we are controlled by environmental factors
• Dominant in 1950s and 60s

Question 17

How was psych defined in behaviourism and how is behaviour defined?

Answer 17

• Psych redefined as science of behaviour
• Behaviour- any overt response or activity by an organism

Question 18

How was behaviour studied in the behaviourism approach and how was this beneficial?

Answer 18

• Focus on learning- changes in behaviour based on experience
• Lab based research involving non human animals increased
• Greater experimental control possible
• “Humans and animals are mechanistic”
• We show reflexive responses elicited by external stimuli

Question 19

Outline the humanistic approach

Answer 19

• Objected to claim that people have no control over their destinies
• Argued other approaches were dehumanising, failing to recognise unique qualities of human behaviour
• More optimistic
  • emphasises humans’ unique qualities
  • human behaviour governed primarily by each individual’s “sense of self” (self concept) and human drive toward self-actualisation

Question 20

How was the humanistic approach studies?

Answer 20

• Animal research has little relevance to human behaviour
• “Life is like a bottle of milk- the cream always rises to the top”
• People are innately good and will strive to realise goals and ambitions
• Person centred perspective- new treatments created

Question 21

Outline the cognitive perspective

Answer 21

• Cognitive revolution- renewed interest in consciousness and physiological bases of behaviour
• “The mind is like a computer; enduring patterns of thought are like software”
• Inputs from environment are transformed, stored and retrieved using mental programs leading to specific response outputs
• The mind is likened to the brain itself
• A concept (e.g. a bird) conceived as a network of activated cells

Question 22

List contributing factors to the cognitive perspective

Answer 22

• Cognitive development (Piaget)
• Memory (Miller)
• Language (Chomsky)
• Problem solving (Newell, Shaw and Simon)

Question 23

What is the assumption of the cognitive perspective?

Answer 23

We must study internal mental events in order to understand behaviour

Question 24

Define cognition

Answer 24

Mental processes involved in perceiving, processing and retrieving information

Question 25

What processes does the cognitive perspective include?

Answer 25

• Memory
• Concept formation
• Reasoning
• Problem solving
• Decision making
• Language
• Abstract thought

Question 26

Outline the evolutionary perspective

Answer 26

• Human behaviours evolved because they helped our ancestors survive and reproduce
• Some behaviours are biologically determined
• Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is applied to human behaviours- natural selection, adaptive traits, reproductive success
• “We are all runners in a race, competing for resources”
• Often start with a known behaviour in a species then attempt to explain it on the basis of evolutionary principles

Question 27

What patterns of behaviour (4) are products of evolution?

Answer 27

• Mating preferences (jealousy)
• Aggression (sexual behaviour)
• Language (decision making)
• Sex differences in spatial abilities

Question 28

How was evolutionary theory used?

Answer 28

• More recently- to make predictions about behaviours, which are then tested in experiments
• Was used to predict the extent to which grandparents invest in their grandchildren
• Paternity uncertainty (is this offspring really mine?)
  • Females always certain- more resources invested
  • Males never totally certain
  • Extends to grandparents (mother’s mother highest, mother’s father and father’s mother intermediate, father’s father lowest)
  • Prediction: maternal grandmothers will invest the most