PSYC4008 - Exam 1

What is phrenology?

belief that mental characteristics correspond to bulges on the skull

Who created phrenology?

Franz Josef Gall

Who advanced phrenology?

Johann Spurzheim and George Combe

What British empiricist had a mechanistic view to the point that he believed there was no free will?

James Mill

For Locke, what ideas came first as we develop as infants?

simple; composed of sensation and reflection

What did Locke think ideas resulted from?

simple ideas becoming complex ideas through theory of association

How did Locke see the mind at birth?

blank slate that needed to be filled in by sensation and reflection

What were Locke’s thoughts on innate ideas?

Contrast act psychology and Wundt’s approach.

How did Wundt view feelings?

How did Wundt classify sensations?

Was Wundt munch of a writer?

What did Bessel study?

investigated David K.’s errors to identify why his measurements were a fraction of a second different from Maskelyne’s

doctrine of ideas

the mind produces two kinds of ideas: derived and innate

What were Bessel’s conclusions?

personal equation; there are people differences among people over which they have no control

What law did Descartes believe applied to the human body?

laws of the physical world; mechanical laws

What did Descartes mean by dualism?

What did Descartes think the use of mathematics in science would produce?

To whom did Ebbinghaus dedicate his book The Principles of Psychology?

Why is Ebbinghaus significant in the history of psychology?

had rigorous use of control and quantitative analysis of data

What about Ebbinghaus’s methods was impressive?

had a forwards approach to forming associations; rigorous control and quantitative analysis of data

In what ways did Ebbinghaus test higher mental processes that are still in use today?

Which two ways did Fechner measure the two lowest levels of sensation?

absolute threshold and differential threshold

How did Fechner see the relationship between a mental sensation and a material stimulus?

quantitative relationship; stimulus intensities are not absolute but related to the amount of sensation that already exists

What was Fechner’s most important contribution to psychology?

What was Brentano’s primary research method?

What did Flourens do?

destroyed the brain and spinal cords of pigeons; found that different parts of the brain had different functions

Who was Broca? What did he do?

autopsied a person with speech problems; found a damaged part of the brain now considered as the speech center of the brain

What method of research did Broca use?

clinical method

How is Broca’s method of research used today?

examination of the brain helps use detect damage of the brain and how it impacts previous

What did Cajal do?

discovered the direction of nerve impulses

Carl Jung based important decisions on dreams. Who before him also did that?

What did James Mill stand for?

the mind was a machine

What did John Stuart Mill stand for?

combination of mental elements create something greater than its elements

How did Kulpe oppose Wundt?

discovered that thought processes could be studied experimentally

What was Kulpe’s view known as?

systematic experimental introspection

What were Helmholtz’s contributions to psychology?

created the opthalmoscope; found thought and movement were not simultaneous

Where were clocks important in theories related to early psychological thought?

What field does your text say is similar to the study of history of psychology?

What is determinism?

acts are determined by past events

What is reductionism?

doctrine that explains phenomena on one level in terms of phenomena on another level

What is positivism?

recognition of only natural phenomena or facts that objectively observable

What is zeitgeist?

the mindset of the general population or people in a specific profession

What is innate idea?

arise from the mind or consciousness, independent of sensory experiences or external stimuli

Who invented the opthalmoscope?

Hermann Von Helhmholtz

Why is Freud’s historical impact on psychology incomplete?

What is the stage called when a science is still developing yet very divided in different schools of thought?

pre-paradigmatic

What is the stage called when a science is settled on one school of thought?

paradigmatic

What is the mind-body problem?

questioned the distinction between mental and physical qualities

What is the reflex action theory?

an external object can bring about an involuntary response

What is behaviorism?

focused on observable behavioral thoughts

What did Newton have to do with the mechanistic theory?

claimed every physical effect follows a direct cause

What did Galileo have to do with the mechanistic theory?

claimed atoms were made of movement that attracts and repels

How did Babbage’s calculating machine come about?

What concept did psychology borrow from physics?

natural philosophy; the universe was viewed as a great machine

What was Weber’s law related to change in a stimulus?

smallest difference that can be detected between two physical stimuli

Who is credited with founding psychology?

Wilhelm Wundt

Who was David Kinnebrook?

assistant to Royal Astronomer Reverend Nevil Maskelyne; measurements were fraction of a second different from Maskelyne’s measurements

Why was David Kinnebrook important?

led to the conclusion that individualized perceptions can affect how we observe things

What did Titchener say was the first significant advance in learning since Aristotle?

What was Hartley’s fundamental law of association? Why was law of association important?

was used to explain memory, reasoning, emotion, voluntary action, and involuntary action; was used to explain all mental activity

What else did Hartley propose?

repetition is necessary for associations

Who were Marbe and Watt?

What are Marbe and Watt known for?

What is personalistic theory?

progress and change are a result of individual contributions

What is naturalistic theory?

progress and change are inevitable

What are primary qualities?

characteristics that exist whether or not we perceive them

What are secondary qualities?

characteristics that exist in our perception of the object

What is mentalism?

doctrine that all knowledge is a function of mental phenomena and dependent on the perceiving/experiencing person

What did Fritch and Hitzig do?

originally performed electrical stimulation

What is electrical stimulation?

way of exploring cerebral cortex to observe functions by stimulating parts of the brain

What relationship did Fechner think the mind and body had?

a quantitative relationship

What did Galvani do?

hung up live frogs and dead frogs during thunderstorms and found that nerves are electrical

What did Meuler believe?

believed the stimulation of specific nerves led to the experience of certain sensations

What did Meuler do?

advocated for physiology to become a science

What did Weber come up with?

two-point thresholds and just noticeable difference

What is two-point thresholds?

level at which two points of stimulation can be distinguished as two different points

What is just noticeable difference?

smallest difference that can be detected between two physical stimuli

Why was Kenneth Clark rejected from Cornell?

on the basis of race; he was a Black man

What was Kenneth Clark told when he was rejected?

students had a close personal relationship with their mentors and they were sure he’d be uncomfortable with his white peers

Who was the first African-American president of the APA? When did he become president?

Kenneth Clark, 1971

What are the two disciplines that merged into psychology?

philosophy and physiology

Which early psychologist’s papers and manuscripts were burned before he died?

John B. Watson

Kenneth Clark conducted which study?

study on racial discrimination and self-perception of black children

What did Wundt say were the two elementary forms of experience?

sensations and feelings

What was Brentano’s system of psychology called?

ACT psychology

What was the course Wundt offered in 1867?

physiological psychology

Who pioneered the psychological study of music?

Carl Stumpf

What graduate student had a separate dining room at Clark University?

Francis Sumner

What is voluntarism?

power of the will to organize contents of the mind

What are the three categories in the tri-dimensional theory of feelings?

pleasure/displeasure, tension/relaxation, excitement/depression