exam 1 shortened

Question 1

what is personalistic theory

Answer 1

the idea that progress/change are a result of individual contributions (Freud)

Question 2

what is naturalistic theory

Answer 2

the idea that progress/change are inevitable (Pavlov)

Question 3

what is the structuralism school of thought

Answer 3

Wundt/Titchener
- introspection (looking in the self)
- conscious experience is dependent on who is experiencing it

Question 4

what is the functionalism school of thought

Answer 4

James/Dewey
- how the mind adapts to its environment

Question 5

what is the behaviorism school of thought

Answer 5

Skinner/Watson
- observable behavioral acts
- objective methodology

Question 6

what is the gestalt psychology school of thought

Answer 6

focus on learning and perception
- combining sensory elements creates new patterns

Question 7

what is the psychoanalysis school of thought

Answer 7

Freud
- theory of personality
- psychotherapy

Question 8

what is the humanistic school of thought

Answer 8

• the study of conscious experience
• the wholeness of human nature

Question 9

what is reductionism

Answer 9

breaking down complex things into smaller parts

Question 10

what is empiricism

Answer 10

the idea that knowledge comes from observation and experience

Question 11

what is introspection

Answer 11

the process of observing ones own thoughts

Question 12

what defines modern psychology

Answer 12

• its use of methods
• uses techniques of physical sciences
• increased precision and objectivity
• blend of philosophy and physiology

Question 13

Why is historical data unreliable

Answer 13

• data cannot be reconstructed
• we only have access to fragments of events
• data may be unreliable or false
• data may be lost or distorted
• data may be misplaced or deliberately destroyed
• data may be lost in translation
• data may be self-serving tho those who report it

Question 14

what is historiography

Answer 14

how we study history
- to determine the techniques and principles used in historical research

Question 15

who was descartes

Answer 15

• “inaugarated” modern psychology
• mind-body problem (the mind influences the body but the body also influences the mind)
• mind and body are distinct and seperable

Question 16

who was comte

Answer 16

• introduced positivism (recognizes that only natural phenomena are objectively observable)
• materialism (considers the facts of the universe are dependent on physical processes)

Question 17

who was Locke

Answer 17

• studied how the mind acquires knowledge
• Tabula rasa : blank slate
• sensation (derived from direct sensory input) and reflection (forming ideas from that input)
• simple ideas: basic ideas that arise from sensation and reflection
• complex ideas: ideas that can be reduced to smaller components
• primary qualities: characteristics that exist whether we perceive them or not
• secondary qualities: our perception of an object

Question 18

who was berkeley

Answer 18

mentalism: all knowledge is a function of mental phenomena
(the mind creates all ideas and objects exist only as ideas in the mind)

Question 19

who was hartley

Answer 19

• studied association by contiguity and repetition
• ideas that occur simultaneously will become associated
• vibrations in the nerves

Question 20

who was james mill

Answer 20

• mind is a machine and run by internal physical forces
• no free will/creative function
• the mind is run by internal physical forces

Question 21

who was john mill

Answer 21

• believed complex ideas formed from simple ideas take on new qualities
• the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Question 22

who was Bessel

Answer 22

• people have no control over their personal differences
• there is no such thing as objective observation

Question 23

who was müller

Answer 23

• attempted to determine brain function by mapping from the inside
• doctrine of specific nerve energies

Question 24

who was Gall

Answer 24

phrenology: the belief that mental characteristics correspond to bulges on the skull

Question 25

who was Galvani

Answer 25

found that nerves are electrical

Question 26

who was ramon y cajal

Answer 26

studied the direction of travel of nerve impulses

Question 27

who was helmholz

Answer 27

assumed human sense organs functioned like machines - speed of neural impulse - theory of color vision

Question 28

who was weber

Answer 28

- applied physiology methods to psychology questions - webers law - 2-points threshold: the threshold at which 2 points of stimulation can be distinguished as such - JND: smallest difference that can be detected between two stimuli

Question 29

who was fechner

Answer 29

- absolute threshold - difference threshold - a stimulus increase does not produce a corresponding increase in sensation

Question 30

what was Fechners absolute threshold

Answer 30

point of sensitivity at which no sensations can be detected

Question 31

what was Fechners difference threshold

Answer 31

the just noticeable point of sensitivity at which the least amount of change gives rise to a change in sensation

Question 32

what was webers law

Answer 32

the smallest noticeable difference between 2 stimuli is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus (when a stimulus is intense, more change is needed to detect a change)

Question 33

what was webers 2 point threshold

Answer 33

the threshold at which 2 points of stimulation can be distinguished as such

Question 34

what was webers JND

Answer 34

smallest difference that can be detected between two stimuli

Question 35

what was mullers doctrine of specific nerve energies

Answer 35

different nerves lead to different modalities of experience

Question 36

who was wundt

Answer 36

believed a person cannot attend to 2 stimuli at once - created the first psychology lab and journal - studied consciousness - voluntarism - developed introspection

Question 37

what was wundts voluntarism

Answer 37

the mind has the capacity to organize mental contents into higher level thought

Question 38

who was ebbinghaus

Answer 38

- studied learning/memory - forgetting curve - recorded the rate that associations are formed using nonsense syllables

Question 39

who was brentano

Answer 39

believed the study of psychology should be the study of mental activity

Question 40

who was stumpf

Answer 40

- studied phenomenology - examined experience as it occurred

Question 41

who was kulpe

Answer 41

- studied imageless thought - thought processes can be studied experimentally

Question 42

who was titchener

Answer 42

- elements are mechanically linked through association - he was criticized

Question 43

why was titchener criticized

Answer 43

he had limits on psychology and believed animal psych and child psych were not actually fields of psychology

Question 44

whats the difference between wundt and titchener

Answer 44

wundt was interested in how the elements of consciousness related to one another titchener was interested in identifying and analyzing the events of consciousness

Question 45

what were criticisms of introspection

Answer 45

- the mind is not capable of studying itself - trained observers will be biased - introspection alters the conscious experience it intends on studying

Question 46

what are three basic states of consciousness

Answer 46

- sensations - images - affective states

Question 47

what is zeitgeist

Answer 47

the cultural and intellectual climate of the times

Question 48

wundt focuses on the ______ whereas titchener focused on the ________

Answer 48

product; process

Question 49

wundt established psychology as distinct from philosophy primarily in terms of its ______

Answer 49

use of the experimental method

Question 50

ebbingaus focused on the ________ formation of associations

Answer 50

- initial - nonsense syllables