4008 test 1 mm

What is the main reason we study the history of psychology?

To understand how modern psychology developed (its ideas, methods, debates, and mistakes) and how psychology became a scientific discipline.

According to the naturalistic view of history, what drives scientific progress?

Broader forces like social needs, technology, economic conditions, and the spirit of the times (not just one genius).

According to the personalistic view of history, what drives scientific progress?

Great individuals (great person view)—major discoveries are tied to specific people's brilliance and effort.

What does Zeitgeist mean?

Spirit of the time—the cultural/intellectual climate that shapes what ideas are likely to appear and be accepted.

What is a scientific revolution?

A major shift in how a field thinks and works—old explanations/methods get replaced by a new framework.

What does paradigm mean?

A widely accepted model/framework for how a science should study and explain things.

What does pre-paradigmatic mean?

Before a field has one shared paradigm—lots of disagreement and competing approaches.

Modern psychology emerged from the union of what two fields?

Philosophy and physiology.

In what key way did psychology differ from philosophy as it became a science?

Psychology moved toward measurement, experimentation, and physiology-based methods instead of mainly speculation and logical argument.

What is empiricism?

The view that knowledge comes primarily from experience and sensory observation.

What is associationism?

The view that mental life is built from ideas that become linked by association (e.g., through experience).

What is determinism?

The belief that events (including behavior/thought) have causes and follow laws—nothing happens randomly.

What is positivism?

The view that real knowledge should come from observable facts and scientific methods, not metaphysical speculation.

Who is most associated with founding positivism?

Auguste Comte.

Locke said complex ideas come from simple ideas through what process?

Combining simple ideas into complex ones through mental operations (often discussed with experience-based building of ideas).

Hartley used associationism to explain what big topic?

How mental processes/ideas can be explained through associations tied to physiology (a scientific-style explanation of mind).

What did James Mill believe the mind essentially was?

A passive machine (mechanical-style view): mental life is built from associations, like parts of a machine.

What doctrine opposed early empiricism/associationism?

Nativist/rationalist-style views (the idea that the mind has important inborn structures or inate ideas, not only learned associations).

What is mental chemistry / creative synthesis?

The idea that when simple ideas combine, the result can have new qualities not found in the parts alone (like a chemical reaction).

Who developed the idea of mental chemistry / creative synthesis?

John Stuart Mill.

What did Descartes think about how the human body works?

The body operates like a machine, governed by physical laws (mechanistic explanation), with reflex-like processes.

What is the spirit of mechanism?

Explaining the body (and often behavior) as if it's a mechanical device operating by lawful cause-and-effect.

In the spirit of mechanism, what invention was often treated as a perfect metaphor for the body/mind?

A machine metaphor (commonly things like clocks/automata).

What is Berkeley's mentalism?

Reality/knowledge is fundamentally tied to perception and mind—emphasizes mental phenomena rather than material substance as primary.

Which British empiricist is strongly linked to advocating women's rights and why?

John Stuart Mill, influenced heavily by his relationship with Harriet Taylor Mill.

What kinds of ideas did early scientific psychology borrow from physics?

Emphasis on measurement, precision, experimentation, and lawful quantitative relationships.

How did physiology help psychology become a science?

Physiology brought lab methods, controlled experiments, instruments, and quantitative measurement of sensory/nerve processes.

Who was Ramon y Cajal and what did he discover?

He clarified neuron structure and showed direction of travel for nerve impulses (major support for neuron doctrine).

Helmholtz measured the speed of nerve impulses—what was the key implication?

Thought and movement are not instantaneous; mental processes take measurable time.

About how fast did Helmholtz find nerve impulses travel?

Roughly ~30 m/s.

What did Gall contribute before phrenology got off track?

He promoted localization of function (different brain parts relate to different functions) and helped push brain-based explanations.

What is phrenology?

The (now discredited) claim that personality traits can be read from skull bumps.

What did Fechner say about stimulus intensity and sensation?

Sensation changes in an orderly quantitative way with stimulus intensity (foundation of psychophysics).

What is Fechner's key mind-body insight in psychophysics?

There is a systematic relationship between physical stimulus and psychological sensation that can be measured mathematically.

What did Bessel do related to individual differences?

Studied observer differences in timing, showing individuals differ in reaction/recording time.

What earlier incident did Bessel look back on?

Astronomers noticing consistent timing differences between observers, leading to the 'personal equation' idea.

What did Fritsch and Hitzig do with electrical stimulation?

Electrically stimulated a dog's cortex and produced movements, providing evidence for motor cortex and localization.

What was Helmholtz especially known for in sensory physiology?

Vision and perception-related physiology, including strong contributions to understanding senses.

What did Galvani show about nerves and muscles?

That they involve electrical activity, inspiring nerve-impulse research.

What was Johannes Müller's contribution to physiology?

Advanced physiology methods and emphasized studying sensation and nerve function scientifically.

What did Weber propose about discriminating between sensations?

Discrimination depends on relative difference, known as Weber's law.

What is the ophthalmoscope and who invented it?

A device to view the retina, credited to Hermann von Helmholtz.

What year was the American Psychological Association (APA) founded?

1892.

Who was the first African-American president of APA, and when?

Kenneth B. Clark, 1966.

What does the 'Invisible Gorilla' study show?

People often miss obvious events when focused on a task, demonstrating inattentional blindness.

Why was Julian Rotter told he might have trouble getting an academic job?

Because he was Jewish and faced discrimination in hiring.

Why was Kenneth Clark rejected by Cornell's graduate program?

Because of racism; they did not admit Black students.

Who conducted the doll/self-concept research used in Brown v. Board?

Kenneth and Mamie Clark.

Which student faced segregation at Clark University?

Francis Cecil Sumner.

Which psychologist burned letters and manuscripts before death?

John B. Watson.

What book did Wundt write that made him famous?

Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (Principles of Physiological Psychology).

Why is Wundt considered the 'father of psychology'?

For establishing psychology as an experimental discipline.

What are the two elementary forms of experience according to Wundt?

Objective experience and subjective experience.

What is voluntarism in Wundt's psychology?

The idea that the mind actively organizes experience through attention and volition.

What are Wundt's three dimensions of feelings?

Pleasant-unpleasant, tension-relaxation, excitement-depression.

What was Brentano's system of psychology called?

Act psychology.

What was Brentano's primary research method?

Phenomenological observation.

What is phenomenology in psychology?

Describing mental experience as experienced, without reducing it to physical parts.

What did Ebbinghaus challenge about Wundt?

That higher mental processes like memory couldn't be studied experimentally.

What is Ebbinghaus best known for?

Experimental study of memory, including the forgetting curve.

How did Ebbinghaus help psychology become a science?

By using controlled experiments, quantification, and careful measurement.

What did the Würzburg school claim that differed from Wundt?

Thought can occur without imagery, known as 'imageless thought'.

Who pioneered the psychological study of music and tones?

Carl Stumpf — he studied auditory perception and applied psychology to music using phenomenology.

What course did Wundt offer in 1867?

Physiological psychology.

Define reductionism.

Explaining complex things by breaking them down into simpler parts.

Define materialism.

Mind/mental life ultimately comes from physical matter.

Define mentalism.

Emphasizing mental processes as central to understanding behavior.

Define psychophysics.

Measuring lawful relationships between physical stimuli and psychological sensations.

Define just-noticeable difference (JND).

The smallest detectable difference between two stimuli.