Science of Psychology

Question 1

early psychology background

Answer 1

psychology has its foundations in philosophy

Question 2

which 3 philosophers initiated interest in psychology?

Answer 2

Aristotle
Plato
Descartes

Question 3

Descartes relation to psychology

Answer 3

His book, Mediations of First Philosophy discussed dualism and the idea of the ‘malevolent demon’

Question 4

define dualism

Answer 4

the separation of the mind and body

Question 5

explain the idea of the ‘malevolent demon’

Answer 5

malevolent demon controls you and creates a virtual world in which you live
similar ideas to virtual reality

Question 6

explain the idea of the ‘brain in the VAT’

Answer 6

ideas like your brain being in a VAT or the malevolent demon don’t seem plausible but it cannot be proven wrong
subjective observation

Question 7

who is Wilhelm Wundt?

Answer 7

1932-1920
German psychologist
opened first experimental lab inside a philosophy department in 1879 in Leipzig University
introduced the idea of structuralism
very influential - known as father of psychology
peer of William James

Question 8

explain the concept of structuralism and how Wundt experimented

Answer 8

• used a swinging pendulum to infer the speed of decision-making based on behaviour they would elicit e.g. reaction time
• Wundt wanted to strip down consciousness into its most basic parts through structuralism introspection

Question 9

what is structuralism introspection and how does it work?

Answer 9

• used introspection to break down consciousness into its component parts or structure
• trained people to report their own mental conscious experience to stimuli
• limitation of subjective bias in these self-reports so introspection was criticised

Question 10

who is William James?

Answer 10

1842-1910
wrote first psychology textbook, ‘Principles of psychology’ - interesting questions and concepts
influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution - looked to organisms function to understand their behaviour
how psychology is related to organisms function
idea of functionalism

Question 11

what are the different perspectives in psychology?

Answer 11

behaviourism
cognitivism
humanism
psychodynamic
biological
evolutionary

Question 12

key ideas of behaviourism

Answer 12

early 1900s
scientific study of behaviour
mind is a black box
only look at things you can objectively measure
internal mental processes ignored as they cannot be directly observed or measured so not worthy of scientific study

Question 13

key theorists in behaviourism

Answer 13

Pavlov
Watson
Skinner

Question 14

what are the types of conditioning in behaviourism?

Answer 14

classical and operant

Question 15

what is classical conditioning?

Answer 15

pair 2 stimuli (unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus to produce a unconditioned response. Then by associated and time, without the unconditioned stimulus, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned response.

Question 16

what is operant conditioning?

Answer 16

behaviour shaped by the consequences of said behaviour – positive and negative reinforcement and punishment.

Question 17

Pavlov

Answer 17

Pavlov’s dogs
classical conditioning

Question 18

Skinner

Answer 18

Skinner’s box
operant conditioning

Question 19

Watson and Rayner

Answer 19

Little Albert case study
classical conditioning
Watson reacted against the subjective and biased nature of structuralism and functionalism

Question 20

behaviourism real-life application

Answer 20

drug addicts in rehab – extinction – break the association between the cues which cause the cravings which cause the relapse when back in that setting

Question 21

limitation of behaviourism

Answer 21

experiments on animals
ethics
generalisability

Question 22

key ideas of cognitivism

Answer 22

1950s - behaviourism –> cognitivism
early memory research by Ebbinghaus on how memory worked
black box (mind) was the interesting part
took notions from Wundt and James applied rigorous control procedures to reduce subjective bias
combined with neuroscience
prevalent in many areas of psychology - Cognitive revolution

Question 23

key ideas of humanism

Answer 23

emphasised move from reductionist approach to more holistic approach
humans are not just organisms that respond to environmental stimuli
reminds us that we are still people with needs and goals
idea of free will
behaviour is not determined by behaviour, stimuli and behaviour

Question 24

key theorists in humanism

Answer 24

Rogers
Maslow

Question 25

Rogers

Answer 25

client centred therapy talked about 'the self' gave control back to client

Question 26

Maslow

Answer 26

hierarchy of needs can't achieve higher goals until bottom levels have been achieved final goal is self-actualisation

Question 27

key ideas of psychodynamic

Answer 27

not experimental but clinical approach highly influential but not any more unconscious motivating forces guide behaviour and produce personality

Question 28

key theorists in psychodynamics

Answer 28

Freud Jung

Question 29

Freud

Answer 29

stage theorist strong statements regarding human development and stages that children go through if you did not meet those needs at that stage, it would affect you in later life

Question 30

Jung

Question 31

what does personality consist of according to psychodynamic approach?

Answer 31

personality consists of an id, and ego and a superego id: pleasure principle in unconscious ego: rational principle in consciousness superego: guilt principle makes up our conscious ego tries to control both dynamics to maintain balance

Question 32

limitations of psychodynamic approach

Answer 32

criticised because of difficulty to test theories notions are far-fetched e.g. penis envy

Question 33

key ideas of biological approach

Answer 33

monists - all behaviour and mental processes can be traced to physical causes focus on the brain and nervous system behaviour is tied to activity in the brain looks at how the brain works, specific areas for specific functions, cell communication in the nervous system know more about the brain, its structure, the cells, its functions, role of chemicals and neurotransmitters in the brain etc cognitive neuroscience is a big field - combination of trying to understand cognitive processes from a neuroscientific perspective

Question 34

key theorists in biological approach

Answer 34

Broca Wernicke

Question 35

Broca

Answer 35

identified Broca's area responsible for speech production damage to this area is called Broca's aphasia

Question 36

Wernicke

Answer 36

identified Wernicke's area responsible for speech comprehension damage to this area is called Wernicke's aphasia

Question 37

key ideas in evolutionary approach

Answer 37

genetics and sociobiological behaviour determined by genes reason for human existence is to reproduce idea of memes and genes both genes and memes respond to the same kind of things

Question 38

key theorists in evolutionary approach

Answer 38

Darwin Dawkins Wilson

Question 39

Darwin

Answer 39

survival of species facial expressions

Question 40

Dawkins

Answer 40

the selfish gene animals dont behave for the good of the species but for the survival of the gene brought into society through memes emphasised a need for evidence in psychology

Question 41

Wilson

Answer 41

sociobiology controversy towards sexual selection when applied to humans different reproductive strategies of males and females

Question 42

sexual selection comparison of men and women's reproductive strategies

Answer 42

females: high investment, high cost, high risk, short time-frame to reproduce look for quality in mate, want best genes possible for offspring males: low investment, low cost, low risk, long time-frame to reproduce look for quantity in mates, want to impregnate as many women as possible, more likely to pass on genes

Question 43

limitations of evolutionary approach

Answer 43

sexist theories women only good for pregnancy and motherhood whereas men can sleep around and be 'breadwinners'

Question 44

what is a meme?

Answer 44

an idea unit that is likely to reproduce e.g. ideas in religion like christ was resurrected memes are passed on through generations e.g. spread by social media virality

Question 45

what are genes?

Answer 45

biological piece of DNA passed on through biological reproduction need to mutate for genetic variability - can be advantageous e.g. big ears or disadvantageous e.g. cancer

Question 46

what are the three things for evolution to work?

Answer 46

1. a self-replicating unit e.g. gene or meme 2. some random variability in its replication e.g. mutation 3. pressure to select on that variability