Exam 3

Behaviorism, Gestalt Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Clinical psyhcology, Ethics, Cognitive Science/Revolution, Operationalism

John Watson

Extremely environmentalist beliefs and views

Believed behavior can be understood through conditioning

Believed psychology is limitless

Subject matter of Psychology: human and animal activity and conduct of behavior

Goal of Psychology: to predict and control behavior

Believed that Only overt behavior is able to be studied scientifically

Believed consciousness is NOT overt enough to be studied scientifically, but thinking is

John Watson’s example of overt behavior that can be studied scientifically

Thinking, because of subvocal speech (which is the minute count of movements of the vocal chords and the tongue)

Units of behavior in John watson’s viewpoint

S-R connections (meaning stimulus-response connection)

can be classified into emotions, instincts, habits, etc

B.F Skinner

very influential behaviorist

denied any hypothetical construct ( things that cannot be observed and/or measured)

very extreme in his views

emphasis on reinforcement and environmental consequences

emphasis on objectivity

key methods of behaviorism

Objectiveness and measurable

What is relational determination?

The idea that properties of parts depend on the relation of the parts to the whole.

It is also a focus on understanding the PARTS

example of relational determination in gestalt psychology

to understand the rubber in a ball, you must understand the relationship the rubber has to the ball.

What are the additional tenets of gestalt psychology and what do they focus on

The idea that the whole is more than the parts or the sum of the parts

You cannot capture the whole by breaking down the parts (anti-elementism)

The whole itself influences the importance of the parts

The characteristics of the whole determine the nature of the parts and its relationship'

the best way to understand the elements is to study the whole first

Parts of the whole cant be seen in isolation but only in relation to each other (think about relational determination where you must understand the relationship the part plays to the whole)

Focuses on the WHOLE

An example of the additional tenets of gestalt psychology

The soap bubble example -

You cannot understand the concept of a soap bubble if you only look at the parts (water, soap, air).

When you isolate the Parts of the Soap bubble, it has no meaning, but when the parts come together to create the WHOLE spherical shape, then you can tell it is a soap bubble

What are some main impacts/legacy of gestalt psychology

critique on S-R behaviorism

increased the belief that not all wholes can totally be understood through their decomposed parts

The best way to describe Gestalt psychology

anti-structuralism, anti-reductionist and anti-elementism views

What is Psychoanalysis

The historical conceptualization of mental illnesses

Sigmund Freud

strong emphasis on sexuality, unconscious processes, dreams and trauma

saw mental illnesses as a continuum (psychopathology)

ideas and practices were not based on science

What does neo-freudian mean

it is the emphasis on interpersonal and social issues in psychopathology

How did the historic behaviorists conceptualize psychoanalysis

They believed it was supernatural, or because of witchcraft, and also believed that most disorders today like severe depression weren’t “serious illnesses”

What is psychological testing?

Happened in the late 19th century

Derivative of Functionalism

Hoped to measure intelligence via simple psychophysical and reaction time tasks (did not work)

Later looked into Intelligence quotient (IQ)

Intelligence screening for army recruits increased during WW1

Who were the 2 main scientist involved in psychological testing?

James Cattell and Mary Whiton Calkins

Mary Whiton Calkins

Earned her PhD with William James at Harvard but later refused a degree because of her gender

Critiqued John Watson’s complete rejection of introspection

How was the professionalism in the Immediate post-school era?

In the 1930s, ALL the psychologists were academic researchers then in the 50s, more than half of them were working in clinical psychology not research

Francis Galton

the founder of eugenics movement

claimed that health, disease, social and intellectual characteristics were not based on heredity

he’s also the cousin of Charles Darwin

What is Eugenics

the scientifically incorrect theory that humans can be improved through selective breeding of populations

Methods of eugenics

involuntary sterilization, segregation, social exclusion, etc

The 3 basic ethical principles from the Belmont report are?

Respect for persons, Beneficence, and Justice

What does it mean to have “Respect for persons?”

Individuals should be treated as autonomous agents

persons with diminished autonomy are entitled to protection

How do you apply “Respect for persons”

Through Informed consent

- meaning participants should know what will happen if they give consent or not

What does it mean to have “Beneficence?”

Do no harm

maximize possible benefits and minimize possible harms

know when risks are justifiable

How do you apply “Beneficence”

Through “Assessments of Risks and benefits”

- Prospective participant: assessment that helps participant decide if they still want to participate

- Review Committee: determines whether the risks are justifiable or not

What is a Prospective participant assessment

assessment that helps participant decide if they want to participate or not

What does the Ethics Review committee do

they determine if the risks are justifiable or not

What does it mean to have “Justice?”

has to do with the distribution of benefits and burden of research

has to do with the selection of research participants

How do you apply “Justice”

Participants must be chosen in a fair way.

There must be fair outcomes in the selection of participants

Explain Cognitive revolution

a reaction against behaviorism

states that you need “mentalistic” concepts/elements to explain behavior

took away the stigma from the mind/consciousness in experimental psychology

focus on concepts of the mind, perception, memory, expectation, etc

What is Cognitive Science

According to miller (2003), it is a unified science that would discover the representational and computational capacities of the human mind and the structural and functional realization in the human brain

In hindsight, it is the study of the mind and its processes and how those processes are implemented by the brain

what is the definition for “Operational definition”?

a description of something in terms of the operations by which it could be observed and measured

What is Operationalism?

the process of creating an operational definition

What is descriptive operationalism

The approach of using various operations to specify a concept without arguing that the concept is identical with these operations

What is an example of descriptive operationalism?

Measuring anxiety by observing different behaviors, or with tests that rank levels of anxiety, but understanding that those measurable data do not equate to the concept of anxiety