Chapter 1 Flashcards
(32 cards)
Define psychology
scientific study of mental processes + behaviour
What are the 4 goals of psychologists?
description, explanation, prediction + advice
- description of what they observe
- explanation of why a mental process or behaviour is occuring
- prediction of the circumstances that lead to a certain behaviour or mental process
- provide advice on how to control behaviour + mental processes
List the chronological order of sciences and schools that influenced psychology.
cognitive psych, gestalt psychologists, psychoanalysis, philosophy, physiology + psychophysics, psychobiology/neuroscience, functionalism, behaviourism, humanistic psych, structuralism
- philosophy
- physiology + psychophysics
- structuralism
- functionalism
- Gestalt psychologists
- psychoanalysis
- behaviourism
- humanistic psych
- cognitive psych
- psychobiology/neuroscience
What are the levels of analysis that psychologists use?
describe each
the brain
- neuronal activity, brian structure, genes
the person
- emotions, ideas, thoughts
the group
- friends, family, population, culture
Describe the influences of early myths, rituals + ancient Greek philosophies in psych. What are its contributions
Name some early philosophers
at its core, psych was motivated by philosophy
- early questions of why humans are the way they are + how they work
the role of philosophy
- tendency of people to think systematically
- earliest influence of psychology
early philosphers
- Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle
Who was Rene Descartes?
What did she believe?
State the year in which modern science began to thrive
First of the modern philosophers + early scientist
- believed that the meaning of the natural worl dshoudl be understood through science + math
1600s
What did Johannes Muller advocate for?
Advocated for scientists to study relationship between physical stimuli + psychological effects
What did Herman von Helmholtz discover? What research method did he use?
discovered that neural impulses were not instantaneous +measured the speed of neural impulses
What did physiological + psychophysics contribute?
people thinking about relationship between human anatomy with thoughts + behaviours
What did Charles Darwin do?
What did he propose?
What did Charles Darwin contribute to psychology?
proposed theory of evolution through his book “Origin of the Species”
proposed: natural selection + adaptive variations
offered insight to how + why brains developed the way they do
Name the person who started the differentiation of psychology from philosophy. What did he do?
What did he contribute to psychology?
William Wundt
- father of experimental psych
- established first psych lab in Leipzig, Germany
- studied psych through empirically-driven experiments
scientific studying of psych, using scientific methods
Briefly describe Structuralism.
Who developed it and why did he develop it?
consciousness is fixed
Edward Titchener, developed structuralism as attempt to identify elements of consciousness
What is the goal of Structuralism?
to describe observable mental processes rather than explain, predict or control
What is introspection?
Which school used it?
careful, reflective + systematic observation of details of mental processes
Structuralism
What did Structuralism contribute to psychology?
- focus on observable events
- scientific study focus on simple elements as building blocks of complex experience
Briefly describe functionalism.
Who developed it?
What did he believe?
the flow of consciousness
William James
- believed that mental processes were fluid instead of fixed, unlike structuralists
- emphasized functions of mnid n adapting to a changing environment
What did functionalism contribute?
- use of emperical methds that focused on causes + results of behaviour
- emphasis on studying animals, children + ppl with mental disorders
Describe what Gestalt psychologists believe
consciousness cannot be broken down into elements
- we perceive things as whole units, learning is tied to what we perceive
Describe what psychoanalysis believes
Who developed it?
Sigmund Freud, belief that people’s behaviours are based on unconscious desires + conflicts
What does behaviourism believe?
Name some contributers + their experiments
thought processes are not appropriate in order to study psych - but rather behaviours are more appropriate
- Ivan Pavlov, discovered dogs could learn to associate bell w/ automatic behaviour (classic conditioning)
- John B. Watson, conducted “Little Albert” experiment - children could be calssically conditioned
- B.F. Skinner, developed operant conditioning to shape behaviour, used reinforcement to change frequency of behaviour
- Albert Bandura, described learning by social observation in children
Describe contributions of behaviourism
observable behaviouir is an important way to study psych
What do humanists believe?
a person has a capacity for personal, positive growth
- freedom of autonomy
- subjective perceptions are more unique + important than behaviour
Humanism
What did Carl Rogers + Abraham Maslow develop?
Carl Rogers, developed “client-centered therapy”
- client is equal + their thoughts should be mirrored, atmosphere should be supportive + positive
Abraham Maslow, developed theory of motivation through hierarchy of needs
Describe the contributions of humanism
subjectivity + human potenital are important targets of study
also challenged issues around dehumanization of mentally disabled people
