History & Systems Test 2
How did Angell define psychology (from a functionalist view)?
* Goal of psychology is to study how the mind assists the organism in adjusting to its environment 1) Psychology of Mental Operations 2) Study mind- mediates needs & environment 3) Studies mind-body relationship
Explain the contributions to psychology made by James. How did James view psychology? What was his most famous book? How would James define psychology?
*1) Inviting writing style, 2) Opposed Wundt & structuralism- not about elements, 3) Goal is to study how individuals adapt to environment, 4) Emphasized emotions, 5) Study consciousness- stream of consciousness, 6) Multiple methods: Introspection & comparative, 7) Pragmatism *Wanted to study the mind, not elements- Practical ways mind allows us to understand how people adapt (Darwinism) to their environment *Wrote Principles of Psychology *"Psychology is the Science of Mental Life, both of its phenomena & their conditions"
Who was Ebbinghaus & how did he contribute to psychology? How did Ebbinghaus differ from Wundt regarding the study of higher mental processes?
*Became the first psychologist to investigate learning & memory experimentally *Scientific research/laboratory on memory *Nonsense syllables- thought words had too much association (around till 1960s) *Role of meaning *Learning measures *Measures of retention *Uses scientific method to study learning & memory -Wundt thought you couldn't use the scientific method to study higher mental processes *Documented how forgetting takes place *Serial position effect- in a list of words, where the words are effect the memory of them (remember the first & last words the best)
List & describe the contributions of Cattell, Terman, & Binet to the testing movement in psychology
*Cattell -Mental tests- tests of motor skills & sensory capacities; intelligence tests use more complex measures of mental abilities -The kinds of tests Cattell used differed from the intelligence or cognitive ability tests other psychologists developed later, which measure more complex mental tasks -Cattell's tests deal primarily with elementary sensorimotor measurements, including dynamometer pressure, rate of movement (how quickly the hand can move 50 cm), two-point skin sensitivity threshold, amount of pressure on the forehead necessary to cause pain, just noticeable differences in judging weights, reaction time for naming colors -His strongest influence on American psychology was through his work as an organizer & administrator of psychological science & practice, & as an articulate link between psychology & the greater scientific community -He became an ambassador of psychology, delivering lectures, editing journals, & promoting practical applications of the field -Through his work on mental testing, the measurement of individual differences, & the promotion of applied psychology, Cattell energetically reinforced the growing functionalist movement in American psychology *Binet -Developed the first truly psychological test of metal ability -Provided an effective measure of human cognitive abilities & thus intimated the era of modern intelligence testing -He believed that assessing cognitive functions such as memory, attention, imagination, & comprehension would provide a more appropriate measure of intelligence -Mental age- the age at which children of average ability can perform certain tasks *Terman -Brought Binet's intelligence testing to the U.S. -Stanford- Binet Test-revision for the U.S. -Intelligence Quotient (IQ)- a number denoting a person's intelligence, determined by the following formula: (mental age/chronological age) X 100
How did the theories of Darwin influence psychology? What was Darwin's most famous book?
*Darwin & his notion of evolution, changed the focus of the new psychology from the structure of consciousness to its functions. It was then inevitable that a functionalist school of thought would develop *Influences of Darwin: 1) A new focus on animal psychology (People "come from animals" so we should study animals), 2) A new emphasis on the functions (adaptability) rather than the structure of consciousness, 3) The acceptance of methodology & data from many fields, 4) A new focus on the description & measurement of individual differences *Origin of the Species (1859)
List & describe some of the "firsts" associated with Hall
*First president of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts *One of the first American psychologists to become interested in Freudian psychoanalysis & was largely responsible for the early attention Freud's system received in the United States *Earned the first Ph. D. in psychology in America *Founded the first Psychological Journal in American, the American Journal of Psychology *First president of the American Psychological Association
What is Functionalism? How was Functionalism a protest movement? What is the most important legacy of Functionalism?
*Functionalism- a system of psychology concerned with the mind as it is used in an organism's adaption to its environment *Functionalism was the first uniquely American psychology. It was a deliberate protest against Wundt's experimental psychology & Titchener's structural psychology, both which were seen as too restrictive. These early schools of thought could not answer the questions the functionalists were asking: What does the mind do? And how does it do it? *An outgrowth of this emphasis on mental functions, the functionalists became interested in the potential applications of psychology to everyday problems of how people function in & adapt to different environments. The rapid development of applied psychology in the United States was probably the most important legacy of the functionalist movement
What is Galton's most famous book? What did Galton believe about nature vs. nurture? What are the implications of Galton's ideas?
*Hereditary Genius *Studied families of influence in Great Britain & their children also accomplished great things, so he concluded that those people are better than everyone else (ignites the nature vs nurture argument- Galton on the nature side) *Pearson- Statistics (correlation doesn't mean causation) *Theory of Eugenics- idea that we should be selective on who has children (basis of sterilization in mental hospitals, want the people who are intelligent/successful)
List & describe the contributions of three women who were important in the Functionalist movement. Why are there not more women included in the history of psychology?
*Hollingworth -Psychological effects of caffeine with Coke -Educational psychology under Thorndike -Worked with gifted children -Found that the menstrual cycle was not related to performance deficits in perceptual & motor skills or in intellectual abilities -Suggested that social & cultural attitudes rather than biological factors were influential in keeping women from becoming fully contributing memories of society -Taught for 2 years, but had to stop when she got married *Calkins -Applied to Harvard, but was denied because she was a woman -Harvard offered her to get her Ph. D from Radcliffe, but she declined -Got to go to James' classes, so did all the work, but never received her Ph. D -First women president of the APA *Woolley -One of Dewey's students- he said she was one of his most brilliant students -Became director of the psychological laboratory at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts -Became director of the vocational bureau of the public school system, concerned with child welfare issues in Cincinnati -1912- Elected president of the National Vocational Guidance Association -Joined the staff of the Merrill-Palmer Institute & established a nursery school program to study child development & mental abilities in Detroit -Became director of the new Institute of Child Welfare Research at Columbia University, continuing her work on learning in early childhood, vocational education, & school guidance counseling -Her doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago was the first experimental test of the Darwinian notion that women were biologically inferior to men, an idea assumed at the time to be so obvious that is needed no scientific study *Variability Hypothesis -Based on Darwin's ideas on males -Males show more variability in abilities -Men are more superior -The notion that men show a wider range & variation of physical & mental development than women; the abilities of women are seen as more average -Women don't need education beyond basic schooling or they would suffer physical & emotional damage -"At maturity, women's brain & nervous system were limited in their capacity to support the higher mental processes, specifically objective rationality & true creativity" -Women might lose their maternal instincts if they get an education
Who wrote the book Psychotherapy & why was it important?
*Hugo Munsterberg wrote Psychotherapy *It described techniques for treating a variety of mental disorders
Explain the contribution of Spencer & the view of Social Darwinism
*Ideas of evolution were well accepted when Spencer came to New York *Spencer argued that the development of all aspects of the universe is evolutionary, including human character & social institutions, in accordance with the principle of "survival of the fittest". It was this emphasis on what came to be called social Darwinism- applying the theory of evolution to human nature & society- that met with such enthusiasm in America *Social Darwinism- Apply survival to the fittest to human nature & society, Social system: individualism & laissez-faire economic system *Synesthetic Philosophy- Spencer's idea that knowledge & experience can be explained in terms of evolutionary principles. Series of 10 books; two volumes dealt with psychology (1855)
What were the Hathorne studies? Why were the studies important?
*Initially began as an investigation of the effects of the physical work environment, such as conditions of lighting & temperature, on the efficiency of the employees. *The results astonished the psychologists & the plant managers. They found that social & psychological aspects of the workplace were much more important than the physical conditions *Just the fact of being questioned or observed on the job as part of a research program persuaded many workers that management cared, that their boss was truly interested in them as individuals & not merely as interchangeable cogs in the great industrial machine *Led psychologists to explore the social-psychological climate in the workplace, including the behavior of leaders, informal work groups, employee attitudes, communication patterns between workers & managers, & other factors capable of influencing motivation, productivity, & job satisfaction. Business leaders soon came to recognize & accept the impact of these forces on job performance
What is the major contribution made by Brentano?
*Opposed Wundt's fundamental idea that psychology should study the content of conscious experience. He argued that the proper subject matter for psychology is mental activity, such as the mental action of seeing rather than the mental content of what a person sees *Act psychology- Brentano's system of psychology, when focused on mental activities (for example, seeing) rather than on mental contents (for example, that which is seen) *He advanced two ways to study mental acts: 1) Through memory (recalling the mental processes involved in a particular mental state) 2) Through imagination (imagining a mental state & observing the accompanying mental processes)
Explain Stumpf's idea of phenomenology?
*Phenomenology- Stumpf's introspective method that examined experience as it occurred & did not try to reduce experience to elementary components. Also, an approach to knowledge based on an unbiased description of immediate experience as it occurs, not analyzed or reduced to elements *Believed that to analyze experience by reducing it to mental contents or elements is to make that experience artificial & abstract & thus no longer natural
For Wundt, what was the subject matter of psychology, what was the method, was was apperception, what are the two topic areas studied, & what methods are used to study those topics?
*Psychology was the study of consciousness for Wundt *He studied: -Elements- breakdown of elements -Beyond elements- how elements come together (similar to creative synthesis)- apperception *Focus on observation (scientific) study of conscious experience *Apperception- the process by which mental elements are organized *Method to study psychology -Scientific Method of Introspection (usually subjective, but he tried to use it objectively) -Experimenters received persistent & repetitive training in the method -Used objective measures- like reaction time -Required replication of data Not really scientific
How did Morgan & Romanes differ in their understanding of animal behavior?
*Romanes believed animals engage in thinking like we do *Moran believed we should favor a simpler explanation (Principle of Parsimony- the notion that animal behavior must not be attributed to a higher mental process when it can be explained in terms of a lower mental process)- Behaviorist view
What did Witmer mean by the study of clinical psychology? Is that the same as clinical psychology today?
*School psychology/guidance *Not doing therapy, helping students *WWII helped bring along what we think of today
How did Scott contribute to psychology? What was his most important book?
*Scott argued that because consumers often do not act rationally, they can be easily influenced by advertising. He cited emotion, sympathy, & sentimentality as factors that heighten consumer suggestibility. He also believed, as was common at the time, that women were more easily persuaded than men *For selecting the best employees, especially among salespeople, business executives, & military personnel, Scott devised rating scales & group tests to measure the characteristics of people who were already successful in those occupations *Scott developed psychological tests to measure intelligence & other abilities, but instead of assessing individual applicants he contracted tests to administer to groups *He wrote The Theory & Practice of Advertising
Who founded Structuralism & what were the major ideas in Structuralism? For how long was Structuralism an important theory in psychology? How was the introspection of Titchener different from the introspection of Wundt?
*Titchener founded structuralism *Major ideas 1) Different from Wundtian Psychology 2) Did focus on conscious experience- dependent on the person experiencing (like Wundt) 3) Did not use Wundt's method of introspection -Used subjective, qualitative reports -More similar to Kulpe's method 4) Did not emphasize the synthesis- wanted to look at elements, atoms of the mind *Psychology moves in other directions (paradigm shifts) & Titchener's influence on the future of psychology is limited *His method of introspection relied o observes who were rigorously trained to describe the elements of their conscious state rather than reporting the stimulus by its familiar name *He opposed Wundt's approach, with its focus on objective, quantitative measurements, because he believed it was not useful for uncovering the elementary sensations & images of consciousness that were the core of his psychology *Titchener differed from Wundt in that he was interested in the analysis of complex conscious experience into its component parts, whereas Wundt emphasized the whole. In line with most of the British empiricists & associationists, Titchener's goal was to discover the so-called atoms of the mind
Who founded modern psychology? Why was his view slow to develop?
*Wundt *Many German scholars resisted taking psychology out of the field of philosophy *Wundt was only interested in an academic psychology, not practical *Used introspection (unscientific) *New views of a more applied/practical psychology became more popular (a paradigm shift)
How did WWI & WWII influence the development of psychology?
-Yerkes assembled a staff of 40 psychologists to develop a group intelligence test -Otis- most important contribution to testing was the development of the multiple-choice type of question -Army Alpha- those who could read -Army Beta- illiterate
Who were the psychologists associated with Chicago school?
John Dewey, James Rowland Angell
