(PSY 100) Textbook Chapter 1

Completed!!

Q: Who is considered the Father of American Psychology?

A: William James.

Q: Where did William James first move to study psychology?

Germany

Q: What do the Greek roots of the word “psychology” mean?

psyche = soul

logos = to study

Q: Where did William James teach for 35 years?

Harvard University

Q: What important contributions did William James make to psychology education?

• taught very first psychology courses in USA

• first to establish psychology lab in the world (was located in Germany)

• wrote the first American psychology textbook, “The Principles of Psychology”

T or F: Psychology was not a science during William James’s time.

True — it was not yet a science, but William James worked towards it becoming one

Q: Today, what percentage of psychology PhDs in the USA are earned by women?

70%

Q: Today, what percentage of psychology PhDs in the USA are earned by people of color (POC)?

30%

(a) What factors severely limited contributions to psychology until the latter half of the 20th century?

(b) How did these factors affect psychology?

(a) Factors that severely limited contributions to psychology during latter half of 20th century:

• gender norms

• sexism

• social conventions

• racism

(b) They limited the diverse perspectives in the field

Q: Why is it important to recognize the history of exclusion in psychology when studying its development today?

• Helps us understand whose voices were excluded from early development of psychology

• Highlights current advancement of diversity in the field of psychology

Q: How is psychology defined today?

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour.

Q: What’s the difference between “mind” and “behavior” in psychology?

Mind = one’s private thoughts & feelings (not observable)

Behaviour = one’s public actions (observable)

____________ were the first to explore concepts of the mind & behaviour.

Philosophers were the first to explore concepts of the mind & behaviour.

________________ popularized the theory of Philosophical Dualism.

René Descartes popularized theory of Philosophical Dualism.

________________ believed in theory of Philosophical Materialism.

Thomas Hobbes popularized theory of Philosophical Dualism.

________________ believed in theory of Philosophical Realism.

John Locke popularized theory of Philosophical Realism.

________________ believed in theory of Philosophical Idealism.

Immanuel Kant believed in theory of Philosophical Idealism.

________________ believed in theory of Philosophical Empiricism.

John Locke believed in theory of Philosophical Empiricism.

________________ believed in theory of Philosophical Nativism.

Immanuel Kant believed in theory of Philosophical Nativism.

Dualism

• Popularized by René Descartes

• Mind & body are two separate substances

• Body = Physical (material)

• Mind = Non-physical (immaterial)

• Interaction b/w mind & body supposedly at pineal gland

• Known as “ghost in the machine”

• Supported by most major religions (idea of nonphysical soul)

What are each of the following words synonymous with?

(a) Material

(b) Immaterial

(a) Material = Physical

(b) Immaterial = Non-Physical

“The Ghost in a Machine”

• Phrase used by philisophers to refer to theory of dualism

• Means that —> Physical body is just a vessel for the invisible mind

Q: What is the problem with the concept of dualism? Give an example.

Problem: Dualism doesn’t explain how the physical body interacts with the nonphysical mind.

Example: Why does a physical injury (like a cut or burn) result in the experience of pain, which is a mental sensation?

This raises the question: How can something nonphysical (the mind) be affected by something physical (the body)?

_______________ countered the concept of dualism with _____________.

Thomas hobbes countered the concept of dualism with materialism.

Materialism

• Thomas Hobbes

• Mind & body are not separate 

• Mind = Product of physical activity of the brain 

• Analogy: picture on phone screen is what the screen does → not separate.

T or F: Most religions side with materialism instead of dualism.

False

• Most world’s religions → Side w/ dualism

  • They believe in a nonphysical soul

Do most modern-day psychologists side with materialism or dualism?

Why?

• Most side w/ materialism

• Bc mental phenomena can be explained by physical processes in the brain

If a psychologist studies brain scans to understand memory, are they taking a dualist or materialist approach?

Materialist, since they link mental processes (non-physical) to the brain (physical).

Dualism v.s. Materialism

Dualism

• Body is physical

• Mind is non-physical

• Body & mind are separate substances

Materialism

• Mind is not separate from the body

• The mind is where brain’s physical activity occurs

Q: What metaphor was later used to describe Dualism?

A: The “ghost in the machine” (an invisible mind inside a physical body).

Realism

• Promoted by John Locke

• Human perception = accurate copy of external world

• Eye = camera —> brain receives accurate “picture”

Idealism

• Popularized by Immanuel Kant

  • counterargument to Locke’s Realism

• Human Perception = Interpretation, not direct copy of external world

• Sensory input + Prior knowledge = Human experience

• Human perception is more like a painting than a picture

“Human perception is more like a painting than a picture”.

Which theory is supported by this?

Idealism

Realism v.s. Idealism

Realism —> Our senses capture a direct, accurate perception of the world.

Idealism —> Perception is an interpretation by the brain, not a direct copy of reality. Therefore human perception of the world isn’t accurate.

Which perspective—realism or idealism—is more supported by modern psychology? Very briefly explain why.

Idealism (bc it is supported by scientific evidence)

Why might two people see the same event differently, according to idealism?

Because individuals’ brains interpret sensory input differently based on prior knowledge and expectations.

Empiricism v.s. Nativism

Empiricism

• Popularized by John Locke

• Idea: All human knowledge comes from experience; humans are born as “blank slates” (tabula rasa).

Nativism

• Immanuel Kant’s counterargument to Empiricism

• Some knowledge (e.g. space, time, causality) is innate (present at birth)

• Rest is learned

• Evidence: newborns seem to know some physics & math principles.

• Reframed as the modern debate: nature v.s. nurture

  • How much knowledge/behaviour is innate v.s. learned?

Empiricism

• Human knowledege comes solely from experience

• Baby = tabula rasa (“blank slate”)

Nativism

• Some knowledge in humans is innate

• Concepts like space, time, causality, number are present at birth.

  • Evidence: newborns seem to know some physics & math principles.

  • Debate = nature vs. nurture → how much is innate vs. learned.

Provide an example of nativism.

Imagine:

• Baby sees a toy car roll down a ramp, bump into a block, causing the block to move

How is nativism involved?

• Baby seems to understand that the car caused the block to move — even though they’re unfamiliar to this exact scenario before

• Baby has an innate concept of cause & effect (causality)

Does modern psychology support empiricism or nativism?

Modern psychology supports partial nativism

Provide an example of Empiricism

Learning that sugar dissolves faster in hot water than cold water. You gained this knowledge through direct observation & experience.

• You take two cups—one with hot water, one with cold.

• You add a spoonful of sugar to each.

• You observe which one dissolves faster.ce.

Infants show knowledge of math and physics.

This fact supports which philosophical concept from early psychology?

Nativism

If a baby shows awareness of object permanence, which theory does that support?

Nativism.

How has the empiricism vs. nativism debate been reframed in modern psychology?

As the “nature vs. nurture” debate

• How much of an individual’s knowledge, behaviour, and personality innate v.s. acquired through experience

Presentism

Judging historical figures/events by modern morals and social values.

Why can presentism be problematic?

• May unfairly judge people limited by their time’s norms/knowledge.

• Still important to acknowledge important contributions made by historical figures who don’t measure up to modern day moral standards

According to Paul Ratner, what question should societies ask when evaluating historical figures?

Which historical figures should be honoured for their work, and which should not?

What is a balanced approach to evaluating historical figures?

Simultaneously:

• recognize their contributions to society

• acknowledge their faults w/o idolizing or excusing harmful attitudes &behaviours

Why does history often see cycles of statues being removed or replaced?

Societal changes lead to reevaluating who we honour.

René Descartes

Philosopher who popularized the early psychological theory of dualism (believed mind & body are separate)

Thomas Hobbes

Philosopher who popularized early psychological theory of Materialism (mind = physical brain activity)

John Locke

• Philosopher

• Major contributions to early psychology

Popularized/believed in:

• Realism

• Empiricism

Immanuel Kant

• Philosopher

• Contributed majorly to early psychology

• Countered 2 of Locke’s theories:

  1) Countered realism w/ idealism

  2) Countered empiricism w/ nativism

Paul Ratner

Filmmaker who raised issues that applied to the psychology field. The issues being:

• presentism

• monuments

• historical judgement

Prompted others in field of psychology to ask an important question: “Which historical figures should be honoured?

Define introspection & explain how it was used in structuralism.

• Introspection was the method Wundt used to conduct structuralism

• Introspection: Analysis of subjective experience by trained observes

• these trained observers were voluntary participants that Wundt had describe their raw, moment-to-moment experience of stimuli (colours, tones, feelings)

• Goal: Break mind into its basic elements

  • Wundt got this idea from natural scientists — they had success in understanding natural word by breaking it down into its basic elements: cells, molecules, and at

What was the problem with structuralism? What did this lead to?

• Reliance on subjective reports —> Inconsistent observations

  • introspection depended on ppl describing their private experiences of stimuli

  • individuals’ describe

  • resulted in inconsistent observations across observers (participants)

• No objective standard —> Unverifiable methods

  • no objective way to measure which description was “correct”

  • since psychology aims to be an empirical science, methods that produced unverifiable data are deemed as unscientific

• Unable to be replicated

• Inability to verify/validate introspective findings led to decline in structuralism

  • Paved the way for functionalism (focused on mental processes and their purpose) & later on behaviourism (focused on observable & measurable phenomena)

Define natural selection and explain how it influenced functionalism.

Natural Selection: Process where traits that improve organisms’ survival & reproduction become more common in a population over generations

Charles Darwin

• discovered natural selection

• showed that physical traits evolve adaptively

William James

• Founded functionalism by applying idea of natural selection to learning about the mind

• functionalism —> emphasized the purpose of mental processes (their adaptive significance) rather than their structure

Provide an example of functionalism.

Consciousness likely evolved because it helped ancestors survive and reproduce.

Helmholtz

• measured reaction times —> calculated speed of nerve impulses

  • noticed shorter reaction time when he touched ppl’s thighs & longer reaction time when he touch ppl’s toes

Wundt

• Helmholtz’s research assistant

• responsible for the very first…

  • psych textbook (1874)

  • psych course (Havard, 1876)

  • psych lab (1879)

• Founded structuralism

Darwin & Wallace

• theory of evolution —> natural selection

• influence William James’ functionalism

___________________ focus on studying the mind, while ___________ focus on healing it.

Experimental psychologists focus on studying the mind, while physicians focus on healing it.

Sigmund Freud’s main contributions to psychology spanned from late ____ century into early ____ century

Sigmund Freud’s main contributions to psychology spanned from late 19th century into early 20th century

How did Freud explain hysteria?

• Freud studied hysteria through work of Charcot & Janet:

  • Charcot & Janet studied patients w/ hysteria

    • hysteria: symptoms without physical cause (e.g. blindness, paralysis, memory loss)

  • hypnosis could temporarily remove symptoms

    • findings suggested psychological cause of illness rather than physical cause

Conclusion: Symptoms resulted from repressed childhood experiences/memories hidden in one’s unconscious

What is the unconscious according to Freud?

• part of mind outside of one’s own awareness

• contains repressed memories, anxieties and forbidden desires

• includes impulses like aggression, fear of death, sexual urges

According to Freud, _______________ was just a “surface” above the deeper unconscious.

According to Freud, conscious thought was just a “surface” above the deeper unconscious.

What is psychoanalysis & how did Freud practice it?

• What: Therapy aimed at making unconscious conflict conscious

• Methods:

  • free association

  • dream analysis

  • word association

• Patients reclined on couch while Freud sat behind & spoke with them

• Goal: Relieve psychological distress by uncovering hidden causes

  • Freud found simply talking w/ patients about their anxieties helped relieve their symptoms

How was Freud receive by psychologists, physicians, and culture?

• Experimental psychologists dismissed him

• Clinicians found his methods useful for therapy

• Broader culture embraced his ideas (i.e. literature, philosophy, art, history)

• Ranked as one of the most influential figures of 20th century

How did the focus of psychology change as the field moved from early psychology approaches (Wundt, James, Freud) to the behaviourist perspective?

Early psychology (Wundt, James, Freud) —> focused on studying the mind, consciousness, and the unconscious. (UNOBSERVABLE BEHAVIOUR)

Watson shifted the focus to OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOUR

What is behaviourism?

• Founded by John B. Watson

• Redefined psychology as the study of observable behaviour.

• Watson trained rats —> argued all behaviour could be studied scientifically via stimulus-response (S–R) patterns.

• Rejected mental terms like “consciousness” or “attention” as unscientific —> bc he saw them as unscientific & immeasurable

How did Pavlov discover classical conditioning?

By studying digestion in dogs:

• Dogs salivated not only at food but also at cues predicting food (tone, footsteps).

• Learned connection: stimulus (tone) → response (salivation).

• Showed behaviour could be conditioned through associations.

How did Watson apply Pavlov’s ideas?

• Took Pavlov’s conditioning and extended it to humans.

• Believed human behavior could be explained by learned S–R patterns.

• Famous for rejecting focus on the “mind” or internal states.

• His book Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist (1919) was revolutionary.

What was the impact of Watson’s behaviourism?

• Quickly overtook older approaches like structuralism, functionalism, and psychoanalysis.

• Established psychology as a more scientific, measurable discipline.

• Behaviorism dominated psychology for decades.

B.F. Skinner

• Leading figure in behaviourism

• Inspired by Pavlov’s classical conditioning & Watson’s behaviourism

• Built the “Skinner Box”

  • apparatus where rats pressed a lever for food

• Discovered the “Principle of Reinforcement”

  • Any behaviour followed by reward → repeated.

  • Behaviour not rewarded → extinguishes.

How did Skinner’s operant conditioning differ from Pavlov’s classical conditioning?

• Pavlov: animals respond passively to stimuli.

• Skinner: animals actively operate on environment to produce outcomes.

• Called operant conditioning.

Provide 2 examples of how Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory has been applied beyond the lab.

• Education → teaching methods using rewards.

• Therapy → shaping desired behaviors.

• Government programs → using incentives.

• Child-rearing → reward-based discipline.

What did Skinner claim about free will and behaviour?

• Believed free will is an illusion.

• Argued that behavior is shaped entirely by reinforcement history.

What ideas did Skinner present in his books Walden II (1948) and Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971)?

• Proposed a society guided by behavioural science.

• Envisioned communities where reinforcement principles shaped social order and improved well-being.

What criticisms did Skinner face and how did he respond?

• Critics: his ideas seen as authoritarian, likened to “fascism without tears” or “dog obedience schools.”

• Skinner’s clarification: not about eliminating freedom but about using science of behavior to improve society.

T or F: Behaviourism was challenged during the introduction of Gestalt’s Psychology in the early 1900s.

True

In the early 1900s, ____________ was dominant in psychology.

In the early 1900s, behaviourism was dominant in psychology.

How did European psychologists resist behaviourism in the early 1900s?

Which psychologists were involved?

• Behaviourism was dominant in psychology, especially in the U.S.

• Behaviourists argued that only observable behaviour should be study & the mind (thoughts, perception, memory) was off-limits

• Some europeans psychologists rejected this ban on studying the mind

  • Max Wetheimer (Gestalt psychology) —> perception shaped by organizing principles (whole > sum of parts)

  • Bartlett (memory) —> memory is reconstructive & shaped by expectations

  • Jean Piaget (development) —> showed children’s work differently from adults

Gestalt Psychology & Wertheimer’s Studies of Motion

• Gestalt psychology: Focuses on how the mind organizes sensory input into meaningful wholes.

• Wertheimer’s illusory motion experiment:

  • Lights flashed in quick succession → perceived as a single moving light.

  • Same stimuli → different perceptions, showing perception depends on mental interpretation.

Bartlett’s Memory Research

• Memory is active & reconstructive, not mechanical storage.

• People “remember” expectations more than actual details; distortions grow over time.

• WWII → founded Applied Psychology Unit; helped military.

• Decades later, researchers used his ideas on memory distortion to successfully predict location of WWII shipwrecks.

Piaget’s Study of Children’s Development

• Piaget studied mistakes children made in reasoning.

• Example: Believed breaking clay into pieces = “more clay.”

• Showed children lack certain concepts (e.g., conservation) until around 6–7 years old.

• Conclusion: Children interpret the world differently because they have not yet developed adult cognitive theories.

Why did American social psychologists such as Kurt Lewin and Solomon Asch resist behaviorism?

How did their research help establish social psychology as a field?

• Resisted behaviorism by studying thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions about stimuli.

• Lewin: Behavior depends on subjective construal of environment; leadership studies (autocracy vs. democracy).

• Asch: Primacy effect → first impressions shape interpretation of later information; showed active mental processing in social perception.

• Helped establish social psychology: study of causes & consequences of sociality (attitudes, stereotypes, persuasion, group identity).

How did the work of Gestalt, developmental, and social psychologists pave the way for the later cognitive revolution?

• All challenged behaviorism’s rejection of mental processes.

• Showed that perception, memory, reasoning, and social behavior depend on how the mind interprets stimuli.

• Their findings laid groundwork for cognitivism (mind as information processor).

• Helped shift psychology back toward studying unobservable mental processes scientifically.

What was Kurt Lewin’s key principle about behavior?

A: Behavior is a function of a person’s subjective construal of the environment.

Q: Who is often called the founder of social psychology?

Kurt Lewin

Q: What famous study did Lewin conduct with children’s groups?

A: Autocracy vs. democracy leadership styles (showing democracy must be learned).

Q: Who studied the “primacy effect” in social perception?

Solomon Asch

Q: What is the primacy effect?

A: Earlier information shapes interpretation of later information.

Q: How did Gestalt psychology influence Solomon Asch?

A: He emphasized mental interpretation in social perception.