QUIZ 2 Study Guide Lecture on Psychology Foundations

A collection of vocabulary flashcards to prepare for an exam based on the foundational concepts of psychology as discussed in the lecture.

Structuralism

Titchener's system focusing on the structure of consciousness through introspection.

Titchener system

Was structuralism, qualitative, stimulus error, more mechanically.

• Apple”  NOT call an apple describe it by its senses (hardness, color, etc.) 

• Systematic Experimental Introspection (SEI) = method 

• Consciousness of the individual 

• Elements: sensation, affections, images (memory) 

• Attributes: quality, intensity, duration, and clearness. (Added extensiveness of an element) 

• rule was to avoid the stimulus error 

• Analysis 

How Wundt and Titchener are similar?

Psychlogy is the study of consciousness

Wundt system

Voluntarism, quantitative

• Internal perception - Method 

• Elements: Feeling and sensation 

• Attributes: Quality, intensity duration 

• Creative synthesis 

Functionalism

A psychological approach that emphasizes the purpose of mind functions.

Titcheners definition of Psychlogy

The study of conscious experince as it depends on the individual

Stimulus error

An error in introspection where the subject confuses the stimulus with its perception.

Systematic Experimental Introspection (SEI)

Titchener’s method for studying consciousness by introspection.

Evaluation of Titchener system of Psychlogy

• aimed to keep psychology a scientific field. Brought it to Cornell, gave others something of a new system for other schools of thought. 

Criticisms of Titcheners system:

• didn’t last, language barrier, unclear and unspecific, introspection issue (cant verify what the subject is reporting), and exclusion of animals and children. Kant and Comt criticisms. 

What did America want out of Psychlogy?

Applied psychology

Who is Margaret Floy Washburn?

studied under Titchner and 1st women to get her doctoral degree in psychology in America under Titcheners guidance 

What was Titcheners paradoxical view of women?

He supported women but didn’t want them in the meeting of grad students 

Consciousness

The primary subject of study in psychology, as defined by both Wundt and Titchener.

The finch study

Research showing how finch beaks evolved based on environmental conditions over 30 years.

What did the Finch study prove?

Evolve to conditions and the ones that adapted survived

Social Darwinism

The sociological theory asserting that evolutionary principles apply to human societies.

Law of Parsimony

Morgan's principle to describe animal behavior as simply as possible.

Anthropometric laboratory

Where physical and psychological measurements of individuals were taken.

• Whistle (sound frequency), photometer (match colors), pendulum (reaction time), weight discrimination between objects, physical measures (height, strength, breathing power) 

Carrying on Titchener's legacy

His evaluation aimed to establish psychology as a scientific discipline.

Criticism of Titchener’s introspection

Regarded as too subjective and narrow, leading psychology towards more objective methods.

Recapitulation theory

The idea that each child goes through the stages of human evolution from savagery to civilization.

William James' famous text

Principles of Psychology, published in 1890, which introduced concepts like the stream of consciousness.

Characteristics of consciousness William James

Continues, personal, and selective

James viewpoint on emotions

were bodily reactions

James viewpoint on self

Different types:

Material self: body and possession

Social self: how other see you

Spiritual self: your inner thought

James viewpoint on habits

Repeated behaviors and set by age 30

Who is G.S Hall ?

1st American student of Wundt

Contributions of G. Stanley Hall

Brought psychology to the U.S. as the first American student of Wundt and established the first lab.

Cattell vs. Binet's testing approaches

Cattell measured basic mental functions, while Binet focused on higher mental functions.

 From the excerpt of an essay by Titchener in your textbook, what is the non-reductionist aspect of Psychology as a science that makes it unique?

• Subjective experience depends on the person experiencing it 

• Objective = measuring the mass, space, and time 

What does evolutionary theory suggest, broadly speaking? Why was the European Zeitgeist open to an evolutionary theory? (and include characteristics of its Zeitgeist) 

European society was ready for evolutionary theory because it already valued science, progress, and change, making Darwin’s ideas feel like a natural extension of the time’s thinking.

Galton contributions to psychology

study of individual differences, questionnaires, statistical methods, mental testing, word association tests, and debate over nature vs nurture

How did Locke’s philosophy influence Galton?

by stating up the nurture side of the debate which pushed Galton to strongly argue for nature (genetics) instead 

Romanes

(early animal psychology) wrote the book Animal intelligence; method: showed animal minds are similar to human minds. He used Introspection by analogy and anecdotal evidence

Morgan

Law of Parsimony) - keep things simple when describing animal behavior and psychological process possible 

• EX: dog open gate -> dog learned through trial/error 

What is social Darwinism?

idea that the principle of evolution “survival of the fittest” apply to human society 

Who is responsible for social Darwinism and synthetic philosophy?

Herbert Spencer

Synthetic philosophy

mind and nervous system evolve with expeince 

What was Butlers essay called?

Darwin Among Machines

How did Butlers essay support evoluntionary theory?

Applies evolutionary theory to machines; machines evolve like living things

Woolley

1st to test that women are not inferior

Calkins

First female president of APA

Hollingworth

Women’s re not inferior to men (coined gifted children)

3 founders of functional psychology

Dewey, Carr, and Angell

John Dewey was known for?

Reflex Arc Theory - behavior studied as a whole not broken parts

James Angell

3 main ideas of functionalism

1. Psych is study of mental age

2. Psych is about fundamental usefulness of consciousness

3. Psych is holistic, accepts the interaction of the mind and body, as well as the environment

Harvey Carr

Functionalism reached peak (adaptive act)

Deweys famous essay was..

The Reflec Arc in psychology : behavior is continues not broken into parts

Cattell

• mental tests, organizer + executive + ambassador of psych, started Psychological Review

Witmer

• 1st psychological clinic (school psych), team approach, 1st journal in clinical psych

Scott

• marketing guy, simple + big, founded 1st consulting company (The Scott Company), founded I/O psychology, 1st professor of applied psych

Musterberg

• On the Witness Stand”, psychological factors that affect a trial’s outcome, Psychotherapy (mental illness is a behavioral maladjustment)

Journal Cattell begun was

The Psychlogical Review

Cattell measured….

Basic mental functions

Binet focused on the

Higher mental functions

Angell three point of definition of functional psychology

1. Psychology studies mental operations 

2. Consciousness is useful for survival 

3. Psychology is holistic 

Cars adaptive act and how it further psychology

(behavior + environment = action), animal psychology and behavioral psych