PSYC 4008 - Exam 2 People

Darwin

• “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” 

• Proposed evolution by natural selection of traits best suited for the environment; Survival of the fittest - elimination of those not fit for the environment

Margaret Floy Washburn

first American woman to receive a doctorate in psychology

Immanuel Kent

long before Titchener, wrote that introspection altered the conscious experience

Woolley

dissertation found no biological differences between men and women, but research results were doubted because she was a woman

central tenet of James’ psychology

Emphasized functionalist perspective, focusing on how mental processes help individuals adapt to their environments

According to Cattell, what was true of psychology by 1895?

Psychology became a recognized scientific discipline by 1895 with established methods and research

Binet and Simon

developed intelligence tests focusing on higher mental processes

Galton and Cattell

emphasized sensory and motor abilities

By 1920, what was the term Titchener was using for his system of psychology? Why was he calling it this?

• Structuralism 

• Reason: fundamental task was to discover the nature of the elementary conscious experiences by analyzing consciousness into its component parts, determining its structure

How did Darwin’s thinking - that changes due to experience can be inherited - fit with Lamarck’s doctrine?

accepted that acquired characteristics could be inherited (an idea from Lamarck) in early writings, later focusing on natural selection as the main mechanism

Romanes (Why is he still respected by psychologists?)

• Inspired comparative psychology 

• Published first book on comparative psychology: “Animal Intelligence” (1883)

What was Dewey’s position on structure and function?

His Reflex Arc Concept (1896) argued that stimulus and response are parts of a continuous, adaptive process–structure and function cannot be separated

Helen Bradford Thompson Woolley

conducted early 20th-century research on the effects of child labor

What was functionalism to Angell?

the study of how mental processes operate, how they aid the organism in adapting to its environment, and how mind and body work together

What were James’ views about “habit?”

• He saw habit as the flywheel of society–automatic patterns of behavior that conserve mental energy and allow higher thought

How did James see the relationship between mental life and the body?

interdependent

What was functionalism a protest of – and why?

structuralism – because it opposed analyzing consciousness into elements, emphasizing instead its functions and adaptive value

What was Galton’s “Hereditary Genius” mainly concerned with?

examined inherited intellectual ability; concluded genius and intelligence are largely hereditary

What was Hollingworth’s research about? What did it refute?

• studied sex differences and intelligence

• refuted the variability hypothesis that men showed greater variability and women were biologically limited 

Why didn’t Darwin publish his work right away? How long did he wait? Why did he finally publish it?

• Darwin didn’t publish his work right away because he was concerned about public and scientific reaction 

• He waited 22 years to publish “On the Origin of Species” 

• He finally published it in 1859 after Alfred Russel Wallace independently proposed a similar theory 

What were the criticisms of Titchener’s work?

introspection was too subjective, lacked reliability, and ignored practical value

What did James recommend as an addition to introspection and experimentation?

adding comparative and experimental methods alongside introspection

What percentage of doctoral degrees did Titchener give to women?

More than 1/3rd (33%) of the 56 doctorates (36%)

What is the basic tenet of pragmaticism?

the value of an idea lies in its practical consequences–if it works, it’s true

What is “eugenics”? How did it manifest itself in this country?

• aimed to improve the human race through selective breeding 

• In the U.S., it led to forced sterilization laws and biased immigration policies

Francis Cecil Sumner

• first African American to earn a PhD in psychology

• translated several thousand articles from German, French, and Spanish journals and abstracted them from American psychology journals 

• later chaired the Howard University psychology department where he implemented a strong academic program to introduce black people to psychology

Alfred Binet and Simon Theodore

developed the first effective tests of mental faculties

Lillian Gilbreth

• first person to earn a PhD in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology

• pioneered time-and-motion studies and filmed workers to improve efficiency

Lightner Witmer

• developed the first techniques of psychological therapy to be used in America

• Techniques: individual diagnosis and treatment planning; NOT psychoanalysis

Karl Pearson

developed the formula for calculating the correlation coefficient that is currently used

What was Lloyd Morgan’s Canon? What was its intent?

• stated that animal behavior should not be interpreted as the result of higher mental processes if it can be explained by simpler ones 

• was a principle of parsimony 

Who was the lecturer in James’s first course in psychology?

Himself (he never took formal psychology courses, so after he accepted a teaching position, his first psychology lecture that he attended was his own)

What was appealing to Americans about Spencer’s philosophy?

individualism, competition, and minimal government interference–success as a sign of fitness

What was the most fundamental point of Darwin’s thesis?

All species evolved through natural selection–traits aiding survival and reproduction become more common over generations

What was the most important consequence of functionalism?

broadened psychology’s subject matter and methods, leading to applied psychology (education, business, mental testing)

What were the two greatest influences on the growth of Clinical Psychology in the U.S.?

World War 1 and World War 2 – they increased demand for psychological testing and treatment

What did Titchener believe to be the appropriate subject matter for psychology? How did he define it?

• conscious experience

• dependent on the experiencing individuals 

• defined psychology as the study of the structure of conscious experience through introspection 

What occurred to persuade psychologists to apply their expertise to problems in education?

testing movement and child study movement led by Hall and Binet

Hugo Münsterberg

noted for writing extensively on I/O, psychotherapy, and forensic psychology

What did Titchener come to believe about affective states?

affective states (feelings) are fundamental elements of consciousness–pleasure and displeasure are basic dimensions

What methods did Cattell develop?

Mental tests, statistical methods, and promoted quantitative experimental psychology

the James-Lange Theory

Emotion results from physiological responses–we feel afraid because we tremble, not the other way around

How did the functional psychologists protest against Wundt and Titchener?

by instead emphasizing function, adaptation, and practical use of consciousness

Adolphe Quetelet

developed the concept of “average man”

What is the concept of “average man”?

• expressed the finding that most physical measurements cluster around the average or center of the distribution, and fewer are found toward either extreme 

• proposed that human traits cluster around a statistical mean

Florence Goodenough

developed the “Draw a Man Test”

What is the “Draw a Man Test”?

a nonverbal intelligence test estimating children’s intelligence from their drawings

Herbert Spencer

argued that the mind exists in its present form due to efforts to adapt to various environmental necessities

G. Stanley Hall

founder and first president of the American Psychological Association (APA) 

Horace Mann Bond

developed a case for environmental conditions as an explanation for racial differences in IQ

What was Woodworth’s Personal Data Sheet designed to do?

• screen WW1 soldiers for emotional instability and neurosis 

• first self-report inventory

Robert Sessions Woodworth

developed “Dynamic Psychology”

What is “Dynamic Psychology”? 

• concerned with the influence of causal factors and motivations on feelings and behavior 

  • concerned with motivation 

  • focused on motivation and cause-effect relations in behavior (stimulus → organism → response)