1.2 The Evolution of Psychology: History, Approaches, and Questions Flashcards
(43 cards)
Structuralism
- Uses the method of introspection to identify the basic elements or “structures” of psychological experience
- Important Contributors:Wilhelm Wundt, Edward B. Titchener
Functionalism
- Attempts to understand why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects that they currently possess
- Important Contributors: William James
Psychodynamic
- Focuses on the role of our unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories and our early childhood experiences in determining behavior
- Important Contributors: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Erik Erickson
Behaviorism
- Based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore that psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behavior itself
- Important Contributors: John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner
Cognitive
- The study of mental processes, including perception, thinking, memory, and judgments
- Important Contributors: Hermann Ebbinghaus, Sir Frederic Bartlett, Jean Piaget
Social-cultural
- The study of how the social situations and the cultures in which people find themselves influence thinking and behavior
- Important Contributors: Fritz Heider, Leon Festinger, Stanley Schachter
Heritability of the characteristic
The proportion of the observed differences on characteristics among people (e.g., in terms of their height, intelligence, or optimism) that is due to genetics
Who are the earliest Psychologists we know about?
the Greek philosophers Plato (428–347 BC) and Aristotle (384–322 BC)
Nature vs Nuture
Plato argued on the nature side, believing that certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn, whereas Aristotle was more on the nurture side, believing that each child is born as an “empty slate” (in Latin atabula rasa) and that knowledge is primarily acquired through learning and experience.
French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650)
he considered the issue of free will, arguing in its favor and believing that the mind controls the body through the pineal gland in the brain (an idea that made some sense at the time but was later proved incorrect)
dualism
that the mind is fundamentally different from the mechanical body
Introspection
asking research participants to describe exactly what they experience as they work on mental tasks, such as viewing colors, reading a page in a book, or performing a math problem
theory of natural selection
- proposed that the physical characteristics of animals and humans evolved because they were useful, or functional
- created by Charles Darwin
evolutionary psychology
a branch of psychology that applies the Darwinian theory of natural selection to human and animal behavior
Fitness
refers to the extent to which having a given characteristic helps the individual organism survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other members of the species who do not have the characteristic
Psychodynamic psychology
an approach to understanding human behavior that focuses on the role of unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories
What do people that follow the psychodynamic approach believe?
that it is possible to help the patient if the unconscious drives can be remembered, particularly through a deep and thorough exploration of the person‘s early sexual experiences and current sexual desires
response
the production of specific behaviors
stimuli
events that people and other organisms experienced in their environment that could provide responses
Who was the first behaviorist?
American psychologist John B. Watson (1878–1958)
Who is the most famous behaviorist?
Burrhus Frederick (B. F.) Skinner (1904–1990)
What does fMRI stand for?
functional magnetic resonance imaging
Who said that the idea that our memory is influenced by what we already know?
Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980)
Who are other important cognitive psychologists?
Donald E. Broadbent (1926–1993), Daniel Kahneman (1934–), George Miller (1920–), Eleanor Rosch (1938–), and Amos Tversky (1937–1996)
