Session 1: History and Themes of Psychology

"I think therefore I am"

Descartes

The mind/body problem (skepticism: question what you believe and why to believe it) was founded by

Descartes

Rene Descartes thought that the mind and body are different things. What is this called?

Dualism

_______& _______found that students who scored well on a test correctly believed they had done so, whereas students who scored quite poorly tended to think, mistakenly, that they had done reasonably well.

Dunning and Kruger

student of Wundt's. Wundt himself later came to reject the approach Titchener championed.

Edward Tichener

Define Ego, Superego, and id

Ego - you with unconscious superego - conscious id - sexual and repulsive influences to get satisfied

Level: Biological Focus: ?

Focus: Brain systems, Neurochemistry, Genetics Level?

Level: Social Focus:?

Focus: Interpersonal behavior, attitudes of others

Level: Cultural Focus:?

Focus: Thoughts, actions, behaviors -- in differnt societies and cultural groups

Level: Individual Focus:?

Focus: personality differences, perception and cognition behavior

"The Psychoanalytic Theory" was founded by

Freud

What did Freud say about his theory?

Freud gave a problematic approach and said that the unconscious is entirely shaped by sex and aggression and early experience (and that Personality and psychological functions are dependent on this)

The cognitive revolution was founded by

George Miller & Ulric Neisser

Within structuralism, Tichener came up with

Introspection

Functionalism

It is important to understand how the mind has adapted to perform certain tasks that allow us to survive.

Behaviorism was founded by

John B. Watson (NURTURER very anti Freud.. similar to John Locke) B.F. Skinner (turned Behaviorism into a science)

Who in the painting is Pointing up, (so mental is real) and representing Air & Fire (Red and Purple) are more ephemeral, pointing up meaning mental, more ephemeral

Plato

What type of theory thinks: "WE are not in control of our behavior"

Psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious

Philospher that was a Nativist/Rationalist

Socrates

"Asking you to go in the next step of reasoning. Try to get people to uncover the things they already should know"

Socrates (thought of things in a dualistic way)

Why did Freud look at people's dreams?

The idea was to bring the source of the patient's suffering to the patient's own conscious awareness, so that the patient and the doctor together could deal with it constructively.

Introspection made by

Tichener

Functionalism

Understand how mind helps individuals function/adapt in world What's the function? How does it work? Why do people behave the way they do?

established the first psychology lab, in 1879, at Germany's Leipzig University.

Wilhelm Wundt

Structuralism was founded by

Wilhelm Wundt and Titchener

Functionalism founded by

William James

gave research participants both simple and complex tasks to perform, and from the difference in response times he inferred the extra mental processing time needed for the complex tasks.

Wundt

Dr. Tucker is a developmental psychologist. Which of the following research questions is she LEAST likely to pursue? a. How do brain chemicals influence sexual behavior in young adults? b. How do children learn to speak? c. When do infants learn that objects out of sight still exist? d. Do video games help older adults maintain mental abilities as they age?

a. How do brain chemicals influence sexual behavior in young adults?

Biological psychologists

examine how brain structure and chemistry leads to specific behaviors.

Social psychologists

focus on how people's actions are affected by the presence of others.

humanistic approach

focuses on people's self-acceptance, their realization of personal goals, and their success in real-world relationships.

unconscious mental forces were often sexual or related to sex. A person's abnormal behavior was often caused by a conflict between competing forces rooted in childhood trauma.

freud's interpretation

"Experiences should not be broken down into their constituent parts."

gestalt theory

Abraham Maslow is famous for

his idea of a hierarchy of needs, which starts with physiological needs, such as food and sleep, and ends with needs of self-actualization, such as creativity and moral choice.

Perception

how information passes from the world into the brain.

Rationalist

idea that knowledge comes from thought

Nativist

idea that we are a product of human nature & biology

availability heuristic

judgment about the an action that is influenced by a piece of evidence that happened to come easily to mind

What might a researcher in cognitive neurosciences study?

language memory people's perception of others perception

behaviorist approach

look at how people's behavior changes in response to other things that happen in their life.

Do psychologists identify with structuralism?

no

Idealist

outside word doesn't matter, mental activity is what matters. true reality is your mental experience and you should use it to understand things.

Nurture

psychological traits are influenced by education, experience, and culture (all the influences one is subjected to after birth)

Nature

psychological traits were the product of biology

Tichener tested

reaction time (Give people tasks and see how long it took to respond)

Socrates thought that knowledge was ________________ (Humans need to find a way to be able to use their mind)

recollection

Gestalt theory is the opposite of

structuralism

What is introspection?

tell people to say what they're feeling out loud and then trying to figuring it out from there

Gestalt theory

the idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts (ex: A13C, 121314, image shows black spots against a white background, but the mind organizes the visual information into a picture of a dog with its head down, seeing clouds as different shapes)

psychoanalytic approach

unearths a person's unconscious motives

Realist

(the world around you is what is real. Building knowledge comes from what this actually around you

Structuralism is

-identify the building blocks of consciousness -Describe rules that determine how particular sensations or feelings occur

Three fundamental principles of behaviorism

1. Psychology should be about observable behavior, not about consciousness (You can't verify consciousness) 2. Psychology should use objective methods (anyone looking at the data would be able to say a certain thing), not introspection 3. Purpose of psychology should be prediction and control of behavior (We should be able to understand how environment shapes outcomes)

Structuralism

An experience can be analyzed by looking at the individual pieces that make it up.

What philosopher has symbolism in the painting: Hand down: grounded in reality, real world & Blue and ground: earth more physical world

Aristotle

What philosopher: "Perceptions are the raw material of knowledge, acted upon by reason to arrive at truths"

Aristotle

Psychoanalytic

Behavior is influenced by conflicts in the unconscious mind.

Cognitve

Behavior is influenced by people's ability to observe, remember, and analyze—not just by the rewards and punishments they have received.

"No business studying internal processes because they can't be verified"

Behaviorism

"We are a product of the environment"

Behaviorism

Animal models to understand human -Rewarding animals can lead to different behavior (also seen in humans) -Saw continuity and understanding with humans

Behaviorism

What theory best describes: -Basic principles of reinforcement -All behavior built out of simpler behaviors, acquired through reinforcement -Tried to understand how complex behaviors are affected by environment and split into parts

Behaviorism

Humanistic psychology is founded by

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

Monist perspective

did not think you were coming preloaded with mental content, had to gain it by experience

Which question would be of the greatest interest to a researcher in the area of cognitive neuroscience? a. In what part of the brain are long-term memories stored? b. At what age should a child speak her first word and take her first step? c. How does the society in which we live shape our gender stereotypes? d. Is it possible for a person to be mentally ill and fully functional all at the same time?

a. In what part of the brain are long-term memories stored?

Which of the following is one of the fundamental principles of behaviorism laid out by John Watson? a. Psychology should be about the prediction and control of behavior. b. We should carefully compare the observable behaviors of multiple people to gain a better understanding of hidden mental processes. c. Behavior is a window into motivations and desires. d. We should use subjective research methods so that psychologists have a better intuitive grasp of their conclusions.

a. Psychology should be about the prediction and control of behavior.

Manuel is sure that all dogs are vicious and will bite him if given the opportunity. When out walking with his wife, he is always sure to point out the dogs that seem angry or aggressive. But his wife notices that he conveniently "misses" the dogs who seem calm and friendly. This tendency of Manuel's reflects which of the following? a. confirmation bias b. amiable skepticism c. self-serving bias d. using mental heuristics

a. confirmation bias

According to Make it Stick, which of the following are characteristics of meaningful learning? a. effortful and full of mistakes that you correct b. effortful but free of errors c. when the information is learned abstractly, rather than trying to apply it to a personal situation d. it comes from rereading the words of experts, not trying to put things in your own words

a. effortful and full of mistakes that you correct

Evolutionary Psychology is based on exploring: a. how natural selection may have passed along adaptive changes and eliminated nonadaptive changes. b. the idea that the observable environment affects behavior in predictable ways. c. the idea that conscious experience can be broken down into underlying thoughts. d. how systems of rewards increase desired behaviors.

a. how natural selection may have passed along adaptive changes and eliminated nonadaptive changes.

Jordan studies consciousness by training himself to report on his own sensations as objectively as he can. Jordan's research is similar to how the ______________ school investigated psychology. a. structuralist b. Gestalt c. behaviorist d. functionalist

a. structuralist

Doug believes that the "mind" is really just a result of the workings of our brain. Renee believes that each person has a mind that is separate from the body. Their different opinions reflect ______________. a. the mind/body problem b. the nature/nurture debate c. evolutionary theory d. Introspection

a. the mind/body problem

What philosopher was an empirisist?

aristotle

Which of the following is NOT a research question asked at the biological level of analysis? a. How do genes influence the risk of developing schizophrenia? b. How are the beliefs of individuals with schizophrenia different from people without the disorder? c. How do dopamine antagonist drugs affect the thinking of people with schizophrenia? d. All of these are questions at the level of analysis of the brain.

b. How are the beliefs of individuals with schizophrenia different from people without the disorder?

Dr. Tucker incorporates principles from behaviorism into her therapy practice when she thinks it may be effective in helping her patients. Which of the following is an example of how Dr. Tucker might use her knowledge of behaviorism to help people with psychological problems? a. She uses new drugs that have been developed to operate on the behavior centers of the brain. b. She teaches patients how to use relaxation techniques when facing feared situations. c. She suggests that her patients with memory problems use computer games to practice memory-related tasks. d. She helps trauma victims improve their psychological health by discussing their childhood experiences in detail.

b. She teaches patients how to use relaxation techniques when facing feared situations.

Which of the following do behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory have in common? a. An emphasis on the role of sexuality in behavior. b. The implication that people are not the masters of their own destinies. c. A focus on the use of animal subjects in psychological research. d. The belief that unconsious motives have a major influence on behavior.

b. The implication that people are not the masters of their own destinies.

In Make it Stick, the authors describe a number of ineffective study strategies that students frequently use. Of the following strategies, which is actually a USEFUL approach to learning material? a. Repeatedly rehearsing material in a short period of time until you feel confident about it. b. Using flashcards to test yourself on vocabulary and concepts. c. Rereading a text and focusing on parts that you have highlighted or underlined. d. The method of studying does not matter. You should just study until you have a feeling that you have learned the material well.

b. Using flashcards to test yourself on vocabulary and concepts.

Ralph loves his birthday, but he tends to eat too much throughout the day. At the ______________ level, there may be hormonal reasons for why Ralph is prone to overeating. At the ______________ level, it is hard for Ralph to turn down second helpings when his friends keep buying him meals. a. individual; social b. biological; social c. individual; biological d. individual; cultural

b. biological; social

Psychologists such as William James believed that the mind is too complex to be broken down into smaller parts, largely because it is changing constantly. Instead, James wanted to understand why the human mind works the way it does. William James's beliefs became known as which school of psychology? a. structuralist b. functionalist c. Gestalt d. psychoanalytic

b. functionalist

Charles Darwin and William James both understood the importance of ______________. a. environmental stimuli on behavior b. the adaptive purpose of specific traits and characteristics c. the influence of childhood and parenting on future behavior d. the connection between physical and psychological problems

b. the adaptive purpose of specific traits and characteristics

When considering the Candid Camera videos from the lecture, if you wanted to see whether the girls and boys would respond differently if they were alone in the room, in pairs, or in a group of 15, at which Level of Analysis is your question? a. Perception and cognition b. Individual differences c. Interpersonal behavior d. Cultural

c. Interpersonal behavior

Which two individuals are credited for their association with the establishment of humanistic psychology? a. Beck and Bandura b. Kohut and Koffka c. Maslow and Rogers d. Watson and Skinner

c. Maslow and Rogers

What conclusion did Freud reach when attempting to understand the connection between psychological and physical problems? a. Individuals with adaptations best suited to their environment will be more likely to survive and reproduce, thereby passing down their genes. b. When interviewed by a professional, individuals are able to use introspection to describe their perceptions and cognitive processes. c. To a large extent, behavior is directed by mental processes that operate on an unconscious level. d. The human experience cannot be broken down into component processes.

c. To a large extent, behavior is directed by mental processes that operate on an unconscious level.

How does Gestalt theory differ from functionalism? a. Gestalt theorists believe that behavior is learned from observing others. Functionalists believe that much of human behavior is innate. b. Functionalists believe that behavior is learned from observing others. Gestalt theorists believe that much of human behavior is innate. c. While both schools recognize individual thoughts and experiences as analyzable units, only the Gestalt theorists believe that the whole of personal experience is more than a collection of these components. d. While both schools recognize individual thoughts and experiences as analyzable units, only the functionalists believe that the whole of personal experience is more than a collection of these components.

c. While both schools recognize individual thoughts and experiences as analyzable units, only the Gestalt theorists believe that the whole of personal experience is more than a collection of these components.

The levels of analysis framework includes all of the following EXCEPT a. Biological b. Individual c. Environmental d. Cultural

c. environmental

Psychological science is based on critical thinking. This means that psychological scientists a. do not believe anything that they did not discover themselves. b. accept scientific discoveries without question. c. systematically question and evaluate information before they accept it. d. only accept information that is consistent with their personal beliefs.

c. systematically question and evaluate information before they accept it.

Which aspect of the behaviorists' approach to psychology has had an important and enduring impact on the field of psychology? a. the goal of uncovering the unconscious determinants of behaviors b. the approach to sensation and perception of focusing on "wholes" rather than "parts." c. the emphasis on controlled, objective research methods d. its focus on the innate goodness and positivity of human beings

c. the emphasis on controlled, objective research methods

William James

coined functionalism held that the mind was more complex than the sum of its individual parts.

Introspection

consists of asking questions about one's own thoughts, values, and experiences, like "How does this feel?" or "What do I remember?"

Which school of thought in psychology suggests that the whole of personal experience is different from the sum of its parts? a. structuralism b. behaviorism c. functionalism d. Gestalt psychology

d. Gestalt psychology

In the first recorded psychology experiment, Psamtik I of Egypt wanted to know what language children would spontaneously start to speak if they were not taught language by a caregiver. Which Ancient Greek philosopher's views are consistent with Psamtik I's underlying assumptions about the nature of knowledge? a. Aristotle b. Protagoras c. Socrates d. His views are consistent with all of these philosophers' ideas.

d. His views are consistent with all of these philosophers' ideas.

Why was the Cognitive Revolution important for the field of psychology? a. It debunked the theory that we can use computers to understand human mental processes. b. It proved that Freud's view of the unconscious was correct and an important determinant of behavior. c. It focused on the human drive for self-actualization. d. It led to reputable scientific study of mental phenomena.

d. It led to reputable scientific study of mental phenomena.

The Person (or Individual) level of analysis includes all of the following EXCEPT a. behavior b. individual differences c. perception d. brain systems

d. brain systems

When Jamilla looks at the sky, she says, "that is a beautiful baby blue sky!" But her friend Nikki looks up and says, "I think it is more of an aqua color today!" This difference in the way the same stimulus is perceived demonstrates a major limitation of the technique of ________. a. quasi-experimentation b. intellectualization c. psychoanalysis d. introspection

d. introspection this question brings up the gastaltch theory, which refuted structuralism (which uses introspection)

Your family recently adopted a dog from an animal shelter. Initially, the dog seemed nervous and territorial, but after a few weeks of care and attention from your family, she became calm and affectionate. Which of the following must play some role in your dog's behavior? a. nature b. mind c. body d. nurture

d. nurture

Marwan has been shy his whole life, and he is not sure what underlies this trait. Marwan might find some answers by examining the subfield called ______________ psychology. a. personality b. cultural c. clinical d. social

d. personality

Empiricist

developing knowledge from experience in the world