Chapter 1: Scientific Foundations Flashcards
(37 cards)
Nativism
- Plato
- certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn
Philosophical Empiricism
- Aristotle
- all knowledge acquired through experience
Empiricism
- John Locke
- “Tabula Rasa” (blank slate)
- Knowledge and thoughts come from experience
Mind Body Problem
Early Scholars
-mind entirely separate from and in control of body
Mind Body Problem
1500s
-Leonardo da Vinci challenged that doctrine
Mind Body Problem
1600s
- Cartesian Dualism
- suggested body and mind were separate but some mental functions resulted from bodily functions
Rene Descartes
- mind and body separate entities
- mind controls body most of time
- dualism bw mind and body
Thomas Hobbes
-argued against descartes
Franz Joseph Gall
- Phrenology
- now defunct theory that specific mental abilities and characteristics are localized in specific regions of brain
Pierre Flourens
- surgically removed brain pieces
- argued against Gall’s methods
Paul Broca
-studied brain damaged patients (left frontal lobe) to link localization to ability
Structuralism
- analyze mind by breaking it down into its basic components
- Wilhelm Wundt:
a) “Father of Experimental Psych”
b) founded first psych lab
c) estab psych as separate science
d) consciousness: subjective experience of the world and the mind
e) introspection: subjective observation of one’s own experience
Structuralism
Applying Physiological Methods to Psychology
- physiology:study of biological processes, esp in the human body
- Hermann von Hemoltz
a) studied reaction time and estimated length of nerve impulses
Structuralism
Edward Titchener
- student of Wundt’s
- brought structuralism to US
Functionalism
-study of how mental abilities allow people to adapt to their environments
Functionalism
James
William James
- first to take scientific approach to psych
- wrote Principles of Psychology
- agreed with introspection technique but did not believe consciousness could be broken down into its elemental forms (distorted the nature of consciousness)
- mental activity must serve an important biological function
- psychologists must understand what those functions are
- inspired by Darwin
Charles Darwin
- wrote On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
- natural selection: features of an organism that help it to survive and reproduce are more likely than other features to be passed on to subsequent generations
Stanley Hall
- set up first psych lab in north america
- focused on development and education
- founded american journal of psychology
Development of Clinical Psychology
Jean-Martin Charcot and Pierre Janet
- studied hysteric patients through hypnosis
- hysteria: temporary loss of cognitive or motor functions as a result of emotionally upsetting experience
- when they practiced hypnosis on patience the symptoms would disappear
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis
-emphasizes influence of unconscious mental processes that shape feelings, thoughts, and behaviors
Humanists Response
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
-humanistic psych: approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings
Behaviorism
Behaviorism
-advocates that psychologists restrict themselves to scientific study of objectively observable behavior
John Watson
-goal: to predict and control behavior by studying it
Ivan Pavlov
Studied physiology of digestion and founded classical conditioning
-Classical Conditioning: stimulus-response
B.F Skinner
- developed the Skinner Box
- free will is an illusion and principles of reinforcement should be used to benefit society
- founded operant conditioning: behavior through reinforcement
