Ch. 1.2 - How Psychology Became a Science

Question 1

Hippocrates (460-370 BCE) (2)

Answer 1

• considered father of Western medicine

- four humours: blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm

Question 2

Galen of Pergamon (127-217) (4)

Answer 2

1) sanguine (blood)-tendency to be impulsive, pleasure seeking, and charismatic
2) choleric (yellow bile)-tendency to be ambitious, energetic and a bit aggressive
3) melancholic (black bile)-tendency to be independent, perfectionist, and introverted
4) phlegmatic (phlegm)-tendency to be quiet, relayed, and content with life

Question 3

Aristotle (384-322 BCE) (3)

Answer 3

• tabula rasa: person begins with blank state
• para psyche (‘about the mind’)-first text in history of psych
• no differentiation between mind and soul

Question 4

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) (4)

Answer 4

• mind body problem
• Cartesian dualism
• ‘Problem of interactionism’
• pineal gland

Question 5

Gustav Fechner (1801-1887) (3)

Answer 5

• psychophysics: study of the relationship between the physical world and the mental representation of that world
• how people detect changes in physical stimuli (brightness, loudness, etc)
• 1/4 lb added to 1lb and 5lb -> notice more weight added on 1lb

Question 6

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) (4)

Answer 6

-evolution by natural selection:
>variation of traits make some individuals more likely to survive and produce offspring
>overtime, surviving traits become more common
-evolution can also select for behaviours -> emotional expressions

Question 7

brain localization

Answer 7

certain parts of the brain control specific mental abilities

Question 8

phrenology (4)

Answer 8

• Franz Gall (1758-1828) and Joseph Spurzheim (1776-1832)
• brain consisted of 27 ‘organs’ each associated with a personality trait
• size of organ corresponded to the development of trait
• produced bumps on skull

Question 9

brain injury (2)

Answer 9

• Paul Broca: comprehension but not production (left hemisphere)
• Carl Wernicke: production but no comprehension (right hemisphere)

Question 10

Franz Mesmer (1734-1815) (4)

Answer 10

• believed magnets could redirect the flow of metallic fluids in the body to cure diseases
• direct fluids by ‘mesmerizing’ the patient with hand movements, inducing a trance
• psychosomatic medicine
• phenomenon of inducing trances renamed hypnosis

Question 11

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) (4)

Answer 11

• psychoanalysis: psychological approach that attempts tot explain behaviour and personality are influenced by unconscious processes
• id -> instincts
• ego -> organized part that mediates between the desires of the id and superego
• superego -> morality and critical thinking

Question 12

criticisms of Freud (3)

Answer 12

• used subjective rather than scientific method
• dismissed claims of sexual abuse as mere constructions of our unconscious mind
• theory suggested a lack of free will

Question 13

contributions of Freud (4)

Answer 13

• introduced the potential for unconscious mental processes
• medical model: use of medical ideas to treat psychological disorders
• incorporated evolutionary thinking by acknowledging physiological needs and urges
• experiences during development influence adult behaviour

Question 14

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) (4)

Answer 14

-influenced by economics, sociology, and anthropology
-nature and nurture relationships:
>inquiry into how hereditary (nature) and environment (nurture) influence behaviour and mental processes
>believed hereditary explained psychological difference

Question 15

Galton’s contributions and eminence (3)

Answer 15

-eminence: combination of ability, morality, and achievement resulting from good genes
>beliefs led him to coin the term ‘eugenics’ and justify its use
-he promoted use of statistical methods to quantify psychological traits

Question 16

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) (4)

Answer 16

• established first lab dedicated to studying human behaviour
• used introspection: a process of ‘looking within’ to describe psychological sensations
• structuralism: analyzing conscious experience by breaking it down into basic elements and understand how these elements work
• reaction time methods: report when they heard a sound -> brain activity isn’t instantaneous

Question 17

Edward Titchener (1867-1927) (2)

Answer 17

• mental experiences -> composed of ‘elements’ much like the periodic elements used in the physical science
• different combination of elements are responsible for more complex experiences

Question 18

William James (1842-1910) (3)

Answer 18

• wrote first modern textbook -> The Principles of Psychology
• influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary principles
• functionalism: study of the purpose and function of behaviour and conscious experience

Question 19

Edwin Twitmyer (1873-1943)

Answer 19

discovered conditioned reflexes (noise is heard -> reflex)

Question 20

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) (5)

Answer 20

-trained dogs to salivated in response to metronome
-won Nobel Prize for discovering Classical Conditioning
>learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired
-soon became the focus of behaviourism
>study of observable behaviour, with little or no reference to mental events or instincts as possible influences on behaviour

Question 21

John B. Watson (1878-1958) (6)

Answer 21

rise of behaviourism in North America

• only observable changes on the environment and behaviour should be studied scientifically
• all behaviour could be explained by conditioning
• revolutionized the principles of marketing
• developed ads that formed associations between a product and desired feeling
• methods still used by advertisers

Question 22

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) (3)

Answer 22

• animals in chambers
• operant conditioning: strengthening or weakening a behaviour by reward and punishment
• little room for free will

Question 23

Carl Rogers (1902-1987) and Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) (2)

Answer 23

• humanistic psychology: focuses on the unique aspects of each individual human, each persons freedom to act, their rational thought, and the belief that humans are fundamentally different from animals
• focused on positive aspects of psych, meaning of experience, self-actualization

Question 24

Karl Lashley (1890-1958) (3)

Answer 24

• tried to locate the engram (area of brain where a memory trace is stored)
• non-localization: exact location of damage not important
• principle of mass action: size damage corresponds with impairment

Question 25

Donald Hebb (1904-1985)

Answer 25

Hebb’s Law: long term potentiation (“cells that fire together, wire together)

Question 26

Wilder Penfield (1891-1976) (2)

Answer 26

• electrically stimulated brains of patients under local anesthetic
• mapped sensory and motor cortices

Question 27

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

Answer 27

forgetting curves (most of what someone learns -> forgets overtime)

Question 28

Frederick Bartlett (1886-1969) (3)

Answer 28

-memory is an interpretive process
>social/cultural
>reconstruct our memories

Question 29

Gestalt Psychology

Answer 29

emphasized the need to focus on the whole of perception and experience, rather than its part

Question 30

Cognitive Psychology

Answer 30

modern perspective that focuses on mental processes, such as memory, thinking, and language

Question 31

Norman Triplett (1861-1931) (2)

Answer 31

• first experimented on social influences

- cyclists -> bike faster with others vs. alone

Question 32

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) (2)

Answer 32

• founder of modern social psych

- behaviour is a function of individual and environment (who buys into propaganda vs. who doesn’t)