History Flashcards
This section comprises 4-6% of the Psychology GRE subject test. When finished with this deck, you should have a better understanding of the following: History, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Educational Psychology.
Define:
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Define behavior as it relates to psychology.
observable actions
__________ are defined as internal experiences, including feelings and thoughts.
Mental processes
Why is psychology a scientific study?
- uses empirical data to test hypotheses
- describes, predicts, and explains behavior and mental processes
- systematic collection and interpretation of data
An example of the nature vs. nurture controversy is whether intelligence derives from __________ or is __________.
experience; inherited
Define dualism as it relates to psychology.
This idea of dualism usually is associated with Rene Descartes.
Dualism is the false idea that the mind and brain are separate entities that interact; in reality, they are the same entity, understood at different levels.
What is monism?
The belief that, ultimately, the mind and the brain are the same thing.
There are various types of monism based on philosophers’ different points of view. They all agree on oneness, but they differ in what they target and how they count.
Plato and Descartes, believers in dualism, are on the side of __________ in the nature vs. nurture controversy.
nature
Descartes believed knowledge was innate and the pineal gland was the principal seat of the soul and the place in which all our thoughts are formed.
Aristotle, Hobbes, and Locke (believers in monism), are on the side of __________ in the nature vs. nurture controversy.
nurture
Locke’s “tabula rasa” translates to “blank slate” suggesting that knowledge is learned through experience.
Psychology grew out of which discipline(s) in Ancient Greece?
philosophy, physiology, and biology
Who is credited with the foundation of scientific psychology?
Wilhelm Wundt, who performed the earliest studies in 1879 in Germany, is considered the father of the discipline of psychology. He created the first lab dedicated to psychological research, and wanted to measure consciousness.
What was the first textbook in psychology?
Wundt’s Principles of Physiological Psychology, published in 1874, which made the case that psychology is a unique subject matter that is worthy of study. It defined psychology as the study of consciousness.
__________ examines the structure of the mind and basic elements of consciousness. Proponents of this system felt that consciousness should be the data of psychology and the best way to research was by using individuals who were trained in introspection.
Structuralism
Define:
introspection
Introspection is the process whereby observers look inward and objectively analyze their sensory experience.
__________ was the first woman to receive her Ph.D. in psychology.
Margaret Floy Washburn
Define functionalism as it relates to psychology.
Functionalism was the school of thought that was a reaction to structuralism. Functionalism studies how the mind adapts to its environment. Functionalism was interested in individual differences, whereas structuralism was interested in groups of people.
Who was Mary Whiton Calkins?
first female president of the American Psychological Association (APA)
Name three of the earliest functionalists.
- William James
- James Cattell
- John Dewey
What theory did William James found?
James is the founder of the functionalist perspective.
Which psychological approach does this statement reflect?
Behavior results from learning through experience.
behavioral
What is behavior modification?
set of techniques to help individuals unlearn habits that have led to psychological problems
Describe Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiments.
Pavlov, an early behaviorist, in his famous classical conditioning experiment, trained dogs to salivate in response to the sound of a bell.
What did John Watson believe psychology should study?
Watson, one of the earliest behaviorists, felt psychology should be the science of overt behavior and reject the study of mental processes.
Who is the psychologist behind operant conditioning of rats and pigeons?
B.F. Skinner
What is the key premise in Gestalt psychology?
Gestalt psychology stresses that the whole process should be studied, rather than specific parts.
- Gestalt psychology was a reaction to structuralism
- While structuralism seeks to study the elements that make up consciousness, Gestalt psychology stresses the idea that the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
Define:
operant conditioning
training organisms to repeat responses that lead to rewards and not to repeat responses that lead to punishment
Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka were _____ psychologists.
Gestalt
Where do behavioral geneticists believe behavior comes from?
particular behaviors are attributed to genetically-based psychological characteristics
Who is the father of psychoanalysis?
Sigmund Freud
According to psychoanalysis, early life experiences are related to the development of one’s __________ later in life.
personality
Other than Sigmund Freud, name four psychologists who associate with the psychoanalytic perspective.
- Carl Jung
- Alfred Adler
- Karen Horney
- Heinz Kohut