Lecture 4: The Birth Of Psychology

Question 1

Historical method

Answer 1

One of the three research methods introduced by Wundt; consist of studying the human mind by investigating the products of human cultures; according to Wundt particularly well suited to investigate the ‘higher’ functions of the mind

Question 2

What are the 3 methods Wundt used

Answer 2

1. Experimental methods (reaction times)
2. Introspection
3. The historical method

Question 3

Functionalism

Answer 3

Name given to an approach in early American psychology research that examined the practical functions of the human mind inspired by the evolutionary theory

Question 4

Structuralism

Answer 4

Name given by Titchener to his approach to psychology, consisting of trying to discover the structure of the human mind by means of introspection (also Wundt)

Question 5

Würzburg school

Answer 5

Group of psychologists at the university of Würzburg who used introspection as a research method; they claimed that many thought processes were not available to introspection (imageless thought)

Question 6

Gestalt psychology

Answer 6

Group of psychologists emphasizes that organisms perceive entire patterns or configurations, not merely individual components

Question 7

Asylum

Answer 7

Name given to the institutions for the insane established from the sixteenth century on; first modeled after prisons, later after hospitals for chronic patients

Question 8

Neurologist

Answer 8

Name used at the end of the 19th century by physicians who were interested in the treatment of milder forms of mental problems outside the asylum; the term was later used to refer to specialists of the nervous system, when the original neurologists merged with the psychiatrists and took up the latter’s name

Question 9

Psychological treatment

Answer 9

Treatment of mental health problems consisting of conversations between the patient and the therapist; initiated by Freud as an alternative to the prevailing medical and educational treatments

Question 10

Psychoanalysis

Answer 10

Name given to Freud’s theory and therapy

Question 11

Case study

Answer 11

Within medicine and clinical psychology, the intensive study of an individual patient within the context of his/her own world and relations, to understand and help the individual patient

Question 12

What are the two categories that Kant divided the disciplines into

Answer 12

Proper science (lawful, quantitative description in the language of mathematics) and improper science (describing cases in normal language)

Question 13

What was the most important thing that Wundt contributed to psychology

Answer 13

Because he had the first psychology laboratory and a program for students from all over the world very many people can be traced back to Wundt because he had so many students —> his legacy lies in his contribution to the spreading of the word and making psychology known

Question 14

Which movement is associated with Wundt

Answer 14

Structuralism

Question 15

Which movement is associated with James

Answer 15

Functionalism

Question 16

What is the James-Lange Theory of Emotion

Answer 16

Emotion is a response to physiological change; you have a bodily response to certain thing and your emotions are a response to those bodily responses

Question 17

What was Charcot most know for

Answer 17

He was one of the first neurologists and did much work on hypnosis, he was also a front runner when it came to treating patients and not just sticking them in asylums

Question 18

What was an important finding of Delbouf

Answer 18

He stressed the importance of demand characteristics

Question 19

What was the most important thing Binet contributed to psychology

Answer 19

He invented the first intelligence test together with Simon

Question 20

What are the 3 most important aspects of Freud’s theory and what do they mean

Answer 20

Id - operates based on pleasure principles
Ego - operates based on reality principles
Superego - operates based on perfection principles

Question 21

What are Freud’s most important contributions (2)

Answer 21

• There is a reason for why someone acts a certain way
• Importance of childhood in later life

Question 22

What are 4 arguments against introspection and for why psych cannot be a proper science (Kant)

Answer 22

1. Mental states have no quantitative properties (like objects have weight/length)
2. Introspection can therefore not provide a mathematical description
3. Consciousness “never stands still”, is always in flux, it cannot be kept constant to look at it closely, and thoughts cannot be separated
4. Observing the mind automatically changes the mind

Question 23

What was Wolff’s most important contribution

Answer 23

He was the first person to see psychology as a science and launched the idea of introspection as a scientific method, he wants to describe the results of introspection mathematically

Question 24

Why did Comte say introspection was not a reliable observation (2)

Answer 24

• there is no distinction between the investigator and the investigated
• objectivity is impossible with introspection because you can’t look inside someone’s mind to check their introspection —> evidence from introspection is therefore not public

Question 25

What was the view on man before 1800 (of Copernicus, Descartes, Newton, etc) (3)

Answer 25

1. Man does not fall under the scope of natural phenomena and can therefore not be described mathematically
2. Man is qualitatively different from animal
3. Human body is governed by an immaterial spirit which only makes itself known through subjective experience

Question 26

What was Donders’ most important contribution

Answer 26

Mental chronometry = He decided to determine the duration of mental processes —> provided a mathematical description of mental processes

Question 27

What was Quetelet’s most important contribution

Answer 27

Even when individuals cannot be lawfully described, the average of a group of individuals can be

Question 28

What were Galton’s 3 most important contribution

Answer 28

• He thought of genetics as influential and of qualities as heritable
• founder of eugenics
• founder of the regression line —> enabled behavioral genetics

Question 29

How do Darwin’s ideas effect the ideas in this time (3)

Answer 29

• man loses its special status compared to animals
• human and animal behavior are related
• a big part of the question “who are we” suddenly falls within the scope of science

Question 30

Which 3 things has to happen for psychology to be seen as a science

Answer 30

1. Mathematical psychology and psychometrics (Donders, Quetelet and Galton)
2. Evolutionary theory (Darwin)
3. Realization that the mind is connected to the brain

Question 31

What set Wundt and James apart from Freud in their thinking

Answer 31

They felt it was more important to focus on consciousness than on unconsciousness

Question 32

What was Titchener’s most important contribution

Answer 32

He was one of the founders of structuralism