Chapter 1 Flashcards
(25 cards)
Give a summary of the evolution of psychological science
William James was a man who ended up devoting his life to philosophy and psychology, in the late 1800s, he visited Berlin after becoming interested in the science of psychology.
He met with physician Helmholtz, whose assistant Wundt pioneered the structuralist approach (isolating and analyzing the mind’s basic elements)
Wundt convinced James of psychology but did not convince James of structuralism. James felt that the mind was more like a stream of consciousness than something that could be broken down into different parts. This is the functionalist perspective, based on Darwin’s principle of natural selection- focusing on the adaptive significance of mental processes.
In the early 1900s, there was the emergence of hysteria, which was the loss of function with no obvious physical origin, and Sigmund Freud began treating patients of hysteria, from which he developed psychoanalytic theory and psychoanalysis, but James and most of the experimental psychology community thought Freud to be talking nonsense. However, Freud had a monumental impact on the treatment of psychological disorders.
John Watson pioneered behaviourism based on Russian physiologist Pavlov’s studies. B.F. Skinner admired the work of Pavlov and Watson and came up with the principle of reinforcement while doing his Skinner box experiment. Behaviourism began to dominate experimental psychology.
However there was some resistance to behaviourism in Europe with Gestalt psychology which emphasized how the mind creates perceptual experience, and Bartlett who argued that our minds use theories of the world to construct memories. These psychologists were doing what behaviourism forbade - studying the “mind” as an unobservable entity.
There was also some resistance to behaviourism in America with Lewin’s idea of social psychology, behaviour being a subjective construal of an individual’s environment- how people think about stimuli not simply the stimuli themselves.
In the late 1900s came the cognitive revolution, when Noam Chomsky published a 33-page critique of Skinner’s book on how children learned language. Cognitive psychology overtook psychology as a science, focusing on the ways our minds process information. This was heavily influenced by the popularization of the computer.
Evolutionary psychology also developed with Wilson believing social behaviour to be shaped by natural selection.
In the early 2000s came neuroscience, when new technologies allowed the observation of the undamaged brain in action. Cognitive neuroscience and behavioural neuroscience became popular within the psychology community. Cognitive psychology allowed psychologists to use the language of information processing to study mentalistic phenomena. Also in this era is the emergence of cultural psychology.
What is psychology?
The study of mind and behaviour
What is philosophical dualism? Who came up with it?
Dualism, pioneered by René Descartes, is the idea that the mind and body are fundamentally different, and that every person is a material container of an immaterial thing (the mind is immaterial)
What is philosophical materialism? Who came up with it?
Materialism, pioneered by Thomas Hobbes, argues that the mind is what the brain does, all mental phenomena being the result of activity in the brain- the mind and body are not fundamentally different
What is philosophical realism? Who came up with it?
Philosophical realism, pioneered by John Locke, is the idea that our perceptions of the physical world are a FAITHFUL copy of information that enters our brains through our sensory apparatus
What is philosophical idealism? Who came up with it?
Philosophical idealism, pioneered by Immanuel Kant, is the idea that our perceptions of the physical world are our brain’s BEST INTERPRETATION of the information that enters our brain through the sensory apparatus
What is philosophical empiricism? Who ascribed to it?
Philosophical empiricism, ascribed to by John Locke, is the view that all knowledge is acquired through experience
What is philosophical nativism? Who ascribed to it?
Philosophical nativism, ascribed to by Immanuel Kant, is the view that some knowledge is innate, such as space, time, causality and numbers
What is structuralism? Who came up with it?
Structuralism is the approach that attempted to isolate and analyze the mind’s basic elements, pioneered by Wundt
What is introspection? How was it used in structuralism?
Introspection (developed by Titchener, Wundt’s student), is a self-observation of subjective experience by trained observers- reporting on one’s internal experiences. It was used as a method for exploring the structure of the mind. Carefully analyzing components of mental processes through introspection.
What is functionalism? How does it involve natural selection?
Functionalism focuses on the adaptive significance of mental processes, developed by William James. Functionalism is based on Darwin’s principle of natural selection which analyzes how attributes that promote survival and reproduction become more prevalent
What are psychoanalytic theory and psychoanalysis?
Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes the influence of the unconscious on feelings, thoughts and behaviours, psychoanalysis is a therapy aiming to give insight into the unconscious mind
What is behaviourism? Who developed it?
Behaviourism, developed by John Watson, is an approach to psychology that restricts scientific inquiry to observable behaviour
What is the principle of reinforcement? Who developed it?
The principle of reinforcement was developed by B.F. Skinner (who was influenced by Pavlov and Watson) and states that any behaviour that is rewarded will be repeated and any behaviour that is not rewarded will not be repeated- Skinner discovered this through his Skinner box experiment and thought it could explain complex human behaviours
Why did European psychologists resist behaviourism?
Gestalt psychology which emphasized how the mind creates perceptual experience, Bartlett who argued our minds use theories of the world to construct memories and Piaget who created developmental psychology - studying the “mind” as an unobservable entity
Why did American social psychologists resist behaviourism?
Lewin’s idea of social psychology that behaviour is not a function of the environment but of subjective construal of the environment- not simply stimuli but how people think about those stimuli
Why did American social psychologists resist behaviourism?
Lewin’s idea of social psychology that behaviour is not a function of the environment but of subjective construal of the environment- not simply stimuli but how people think about those stimuli
What was Chomsky’s critique of Skinner?
Chomsky’s critique was that Skinner’s idea of learning language through imitation and rewards (behaviourism) didn’t account for how children quickly and accurately learn complex grammar- argued there must be Han inherent ability to learn language
What was Chomsky’s critique of Skinner?
Chomsky’s critique was that Skinner’s idea of learning language through imitation and rewards (behaviourism) didn’t account for how children quickly and accurately learn complex grammar- argued there must be Han inherent ability to learn language
What is cognitive psychology?
Cognitive psychology emerged as a combination of Noam Chomsky’s critique of Skinner and the popularization of the computer (as it provided a useful metaphor for understanding human information processing)- focuses on studying mental processes such as thinking, memory and problem-solving
What is cognitive psychology?
Cognitive psychology emerged as a combination of Noam Chomsky’s critique of Skinner and the popularization of the computer (as it provided a useful metaphor for understanding human information processing)- focuses on studying mental processes such as thinking, memory and problem-solving
What is evolutionary psychology?
What is evolutionary psychology?
Evolutionary psychology studies how the human mind has been shaped by natural selection, it developed as an integration of evolutionary theory and psychology after biologist Wilson claimed that social behaviour had been shaped by natural selection
What is neuroscience?
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system, especially the brain and how it influences behaviour, cognition and mental processes. It emerged as new technologies allowed the observation of the undamaged brain in action, as previously studies were done on damaged brains
