History of Psych Exam 2

What is the difference between functionalist and structuralist?

Functionalism focuses on the function of behavior while structuralism breaks down the mind into separate elements

What were the main criticisms of functionalism against Wundt and Titchener?

They were seen as too restrictive and focused on artificial elements rather than real-world utility

Charles Darwin

The Theory of Evolution | emphasize functions rather than the structure of the conscious as well as focuses on the description and measurement of individual differences | A similar theory to Darwin’s was written by Alfred Russel Wallace

What was Thomas Huxley known for?

He was a vigorous defender of the theory of evolution

What was the main focus of Francis Galton?

He focused on mental inheritance and individual differences in human capacities, created eugenics, and was the first to attempt to study word associations

Adolph Quetelet and the Importance of Central Tendency

He was the first to apply statistical methods and the normal curve of distribution to biological and social data

Who developed the current formula we use for the Correlation Coefficient?

Francis Galton

What was George John Romanes the first to study?

He was the first to study comparative psychology and created introspection through analogy in which it is assumed that the same mental processes that occur in the observer’s mind also occur in the animal’s mind

What did C. Lloyd Morgan Study?

He studied animal psychology to try and make it more scientific, and also coined the Law of Parsimony (Lloyd Morgan’s Canon) in which animal behavior must not be attributed to higher mental process when it can be explained in simpler terms

What did Herbert Spencer create?

He created Social Darwinism, which applies the development of all aspects of the universe evolutionary

William James’ contributions to the field of psychology and why he was criticized?

He was the precursor to functional psychology, and was criticized for his interests in mental telepathy, clairvoyance, etc.

What was William James’ central tenet of his psychology?

He believed psychology should be the study of living people as they adapt to their environment

What is Americanitis?

A condition of American nervousness (clinical depression or burnout)

What is Pragmatism?

The doctrine that the validity of an idea is measured by their practical consequences developed by William James

Who developed the paired-associations technique?

Was developed by Mary Whiton Calkins

What is the Variability Hypothesis and who created it?

Created by Charles Darwin and defined that men have a wider range and variation of physical and mental development than women and was first experimented on by Leta Stetter Hollingworth

What did Helen Hollingworth’s work refute?

Her work refuted Darwin’s variability hypothesis and coined the term “gifted children“ which is still used today

What were G. Stanley Hall’s firsts, and who was he?

He held the first American doctoral degree in psychology, was the first American student in the first year of Leipzig, created the first psychology lab in the US, and began the first psychology journal

What is G. Stanley Hall’s Recapitulation Theory and what method did he use?

Recapitulation Theory is defined as children’s personal development repeats the life history of the human race (infancy, childhood, rational human being) used questionnaires

What is Francis Cecil Sumner the first to do and what was he known for?

He was the first black American to earn a PhD in Psychology, and was known for being the “Father of Black Psychology”

What did John Dewey create and what is its major point?

He created the reflex arc which is the connection between sensory stimuli and motor responses that argues behavior nor conscious experience could not be reduced to elements

What did James Rowland Angell say was the goal of Psychology?

He believed the goal of psychology was to study how the mind assists the organism in adjusting to its environment

What is Dynamic Psychology and who created it?

Created by Robert Sessions Woodworth it is concerned with the influence of causal factors and motivations on feelings and behavior

Who were the loudest critics of functionalism?

The loudest critics were structuralist that said any approach to psychology that deviated from the introspective analysis of the mind into elements could not be called psychology

What factors contributed to the rise of psychology in the US?

The factors that contributed to the rise of psychology in the US are a rapid growth of psychology research and practice, increase in student interests, was put on display with research instruments and a demonstration testing laboratory

What factors contributed to the rise of Applied Psychology to the US?

The factors that contributed to the rise of Applied Psychology in the US were economic necessity and a need for psychologists to enter other industries to avoid poverty

What was James McKeen Cattel’s research?

James McKeen Cattell conducted experiments on reaction time, coined the term mental tests of motor skills and sensory capacities, and created the order-of-merit statistical method

Who developed the first truly effective test of mental faculties?

The first truly effective test of mental faculties was developed by Alfred Binet

What were the contributions of women to the testing movement?

Florence L. Goodenough developed the Draw-A-Man Test

Maude Merrill James wrote the 1937 revision of the Stanford-Binet Int. Test

Thelma Gwinn Thurstone developed the Primary Mental Abilities test battery

Psyche Cattell developed the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale

Anne Anastasi was the most prominent female psychologist in the English-speaking world

What was the main finding of Horace Mann Bond’s research?

The main finding of Horace Mann Bond’s research was that it showed that IQ differences are environmental, not biological

How is Lighter Witmer’s clinical psychology is different from today?

Lighter Witmer’s clinical psychology focused narrowly on children with learning and behavioral problems through direct educational and experimental assessment

What is Walter Dill Scott’s work most known for?

Walter Dill Scott’s work is most known for pioneering the application of psychology to business, advertising, and personal management

What field of psychology did Hugo Munsterberg establish?

Hugo Munsterberg established Psychology and Law and is widely recognized as a founder of Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and forensic Psychology

What did Gestalt Psychology develop an opposition to?

Gestalt psychology developed in direct opposition to Wundt’s Structuralism

What was Gestalt’s main problem with Wundt?

Gestalt’s main problem with Wundt was his elementalism (breaking down consciousness

What was Gestalt’s main difference with Wundt in regards to Behaviorism?

The main difference is the Gestalt accepted and studied consciousness as a unified experience, whereas Wundt broke down consciousness into elements

What is Phenomenology?

Phenomenology is the philosophical study of structures of consciousness and human experience from a first-person point of view

What is the phi phenomenon?

The phi phenomenon is the optical illusion of perceived motion created when two or more stationary lights flash on and off rapidly

Why did Gestalt Psychology struggle in the United States?

Gestalt Psychology struggled in the United States because it clashed with behaviorism and relied on methods American researchers viewed as unscientific

Who were Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler?

They were three influential German psychologists who co-founded Gestalt Psychology

What is a perceptual constancy and why is it important for Gestalt Psychology?

Perpetual Constancy is the brain’s tendency to perceive familiar object as having a constant size, shape, color, or brightness

It is important for Gestalt Psychology because it enforces structural stability and transcends raw sensations

What are the Gestalt Principles of Organization?

Similarity - group items that look alike

Proximity - objects close to each other are more related than those far apart

Continuity - naturally follow smooth, continuous paths rather than abruptly changing direction

Closure - filling in missing information or gaps to perceive a whole image

Figure-Ground - separate a visual field into a primary focal point

Pragnanz - simplifies complex or ambiguous visual stimuli into the most simple shape possible

Common Fate - elements that move/change in the same direction are perceived as belonging together

Common Region - Elements enclosed within the same boundary or container are perceived as a single group, often overriding proximity

What is insight, according to Kohler?

Insight, according to Kohler, is the sudden realization where an animal or human grasps the meaningful relations of a whole situation to solve a problem

What is Isomorphism?

Isomorphism is a structural similarity between two different systems or objects that preserves their core relationships, operations, or properties making them effectively identical in structure

What is Kurt Lewin known for?

Kurt Lewin is known as the father of modern social psychology

What is the Zeigarnik effect?

The Zeigarnik effect is a psychological phenomenon stating that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed ones