Psychology Ch.1
WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910) AND MARY WHITON CALKINS (1863-1930)
James was a legendary teacher-writer who authored an important 1890 psychology text. He mentored Calkins, who became a pioneering memory researcher and
Why did introspection fail as a method for understanding how the mind works?
People's self-reports varied, depending on the experience and the person's intelligence and verbal ability.
What event defined the start of scientific psychology?
Scientific psychology began in Germany in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory.
MARGARET FLOY WASHBURN (1871-1939)
The first woman to receive a psychology Ph.D., Washburn synthesized animal behavior research in The Animal Mind (1908).
B. F. SKINNER (1904-1990)
This leading behaviorist rejected introspection and studied how consequences shape behavior.
EDWARD BRADFORD TITCHENER (1867-1927)
Titchener used introspection to search for the mind's structural elements.
Philosopher-psychologist William James
Under the influence of evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin, James assumed that thinking, like smelling, developed because it was adaptive—it helped our ancestors survive and reproduce. Consciousness serves a function. It enables us to consider our past, adjust to our present, and plan our future. To explore the mind's adaptive functions, James studied down-to-earth emotions, memories, willpower, habits, and moment-to-moment streams of consciousness.
JOHN B. WATSON (1878-1958) AND ROSALIE RAYNER (1898-1935)
Working with Rayner, Watson championed psychology as the scientific study of behavior. In a controversial study on a baby who became famous as "Little Albert," he and Rayner showed that fear could be learned.
WILHELM WUNDT (1832-1920)
Wundt established the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany.
humanistic psychology
a historically significant perspective that emphasized human growth potential.
functionalism
an early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function—how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
structuralism
an early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Titchener; used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind.
From the 1920s through the 1960s, the two major forces in psychology were and psychology.
behaviorism; Freudian
The school of used introspection to define the mind's makeup; focused on how mental processes enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.
structuralism; functionalism.
behaviorism
the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).
critical thinking
thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
