Unit 1 Test: Psychology History and Approaches

structuralism

the scientific study of conscious experience

relied on introspection to explore the strictures of the mind

who coined structuralism

Edward Titchener and William Wundt

criticisms for structuralism

subjective perceptions are unreliable, and mental processes are unobservable

functionalism

the scientific study of adapting to our experience

adaptive purpose of mental processes

who coined functionalism?

William James

criticisms for functionalism

pysch wanted to explore more avenues then evolution

Gestalt

conscious experience

the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

who coined gestalt

Max Wertheimer

criticisms for gestalt

theory is descriptive and not explanatory

psychoanalysis

the scientific study of the unconscious experience

behavior results from forces at work at work within the individual , often at an unconscious level

who coined psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud

criticisms for psychoanalysis

subjective and unobservable

behaviorism

The scientific study of observable behavior

behavior occurs because of conditioning

who coined Behaviorism?

John B. Watson

Ivan Pavlov

B.F. Skinner

criticism of behaviorism

no consideration of internal influence ; people are more then behaviors

Humanism

the scientific study of mental processes and behaviors

free will, human potential, personal growth

who coined humanism

Abraham Maslow

Carl Roggers

criticism of humanism

human potental cant be measured

Solomon Asch

was a pioneering social psychologist who is perhaps best remembered for his research on the psychology of conformity. His famous conformity experiment (Line experiment) demonstrated that people would change their response due to social pressure in order to conform to the rest of the group.

Albert Bandura

Famous for the Bobo doll study (Behaviorist) and explained the social learning theory. Aggression is learned through observing and imitating others. The experiment is important because it sparked many more studies on the effects of violent media on children.

Mary Whiton Calkins

was an American psychologist who became the American Psychological Association's first woman president. While she rightfully earned a doctorate degree in psychology from Harvard, the university refused to award her a degree because she was a woman.

Charles Darwin

He embarked on a five-year survey voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle. His studies of specimens around the globe led him to formulate his theory of evolution and his views on the process of natural selection.

Dorothea Dix

was an American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Famous for creating the forgetting curve. States that we forget the most information within the first 20 minutes, then an hour, then a day. The forgetting curve is exponential, just like the learning curve.

G. Stanley Hall

American psychologist who established the first psychology research laboratory in the United States and founded the American Psychological Association.

Erik Erikson

A neo-Freudian; most famous for his stages in psychosocial development, which are based on Freud's five stages. Each of the eight stages includes a crisis that could go one of two ways. Examples include trust vs. mistrust in babies, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, identity vs. role confusion in adolescents, etc.

Sigmund Freud

Often known as the father of modern psychology and psychoanalysis. Believed that the unconscious determines everything we do. His theories include the ideas of the stages of psychosexual development (oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital) and the three parts of the mind—the id, ego, and superego. Believed that dreams, free association, and hypnosis could reveal the unconscious mind.

Harry Harlow

Raised monkeys with two artificial mothers, one representing nourishment and the other contact/comfort. Discovered monkeys would feed from the harsh mom with the food, but quickly return to the soft cloth mom for a safe/secure base. Humans act the same way—we are social creatures who need contact to thrive.

William James

Wrote the first influential textbook on psychology, Principles of Psychology (1890). A leading psychologist in the Functionalism movement, which emphasized the function (rather than the structure) of consciousness. Believed the mind will decide the emotion you are feeling (e.g., smiling makes you feel happy).

Lawrence Kohlberg

Came up with three moral development stages. The first is Pre-conventional (acted whether they would gain rewards or punishment). The second is Conventional morality (actions that uphold social rules in intent to be liked by others and gain approval). The third is Post-conventional (abstract reasoning for their actions).

Elizabeth Loftus

Known for her work in the study of false memory formation and the misinformation effect. Famous for her car crash experiment—after viewing a video, those who were asked the question with the "smashed" wording were much more likely to "remember" seeing broken glass in a later question (in reality, no glass had been broken in the accident). They also remembered the car as driving much faster.

Abraham Maslow

Founded Humanistic Psychology, which focused on the individual and self-directed choices that influenced behavior (humans are basically good). Developed a Hierarchy of Needs that addresses physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Stanley Milgram

Most famous experiment: The authority figure told the teacher to test the learner word pairs, and if the learner were to answer wrong, the teacher would have to punish the student by electric shocks which got stronger each time. Although no actual shocks were given, more than 60% had "shocked" the learner up to full voltage. Proved that people will do things mainly because an authority figure had prompted them.

Ivan Pavlov

His experiments with dogs led him to discover classical conditioning. Discovered that he could condition dogs to salivate at the sound of a tone when the tone was repeatedly presented with food. He also discovered that if he sounded the bell over and over then the reaction would become extinct, but it may reappear the next day when the bell is sounded—spontaneous recovery.

Jean Piaget

Studied the cognitive development of children. Defined four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor (babies develop object permanence and stranger anxiety); preoperational (toddlers are egocentric); concrete operational (children develop ideas such as conservation); and formal operational (people ages 12+ begin to understand abstract concepts).

Carl Rogers

Humanistic psychologist who used the theory of self-concept. To help his clients get back on the road to self-actualization, he developed a therapeutic approach called client-centered therapy, in which the therapist offers unconditional positive regard by supporting the client regardless of what is said.

B.F. Skinner

Associated with operant conditioning and responsible for the Skinner Box, or the operant conditioning chamber. He sought to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcing consequences (as all behaviorists do).

Edward Titchener

Was a British psychologist who studied under Wilhelm Wundt for several years. Titchener is best known for creating introspection and helping to commence structuralism with Wilhelm Wundt.

Margaret Floy Washburn

First female to be awarded a PhD in psychology; second female president of the APA (1921).

Max Wertheimer

A Gestalt psychologist who argued against dividing human thought and behavior into discrete structures.

Wilhelm Wundt

Established the first psychology laboratory in Germany, where introspection was used. He focused on inner sensations, images, and feelings, which is known as structuralism.

Philip Zimbardo

His experiment assessed how role-playing affects attitudes. In the study, male volunteers were randomly assigned to either a "guard" role or "prisoner" role to be carried out in a mock prison. The guards were told only to maintain order, but within two days the guards began to act cruelly without reason and prisoners began to show signs of extreme stress. The experiment had to be cut short. There were no long-term effects, but the experiment changed ethical standards for experimentation.

Noam Chomsky

An eminent American theoretical linguist, cognitive scientist, and philosopher, who radically changed the arena of linguistics by assuming language as a uniquely human, biologically based cognitive capacity. He suggested that innate traits in the human brain give birth to both language and grammar.

Gustav Fechner

Was a German psychologist born in 1801 and is considered the founder of experimental psychology (along with Wilhelm Wundt), which applies the scientific method to the research of behavior and mind. He established a new branch of psychology called psychophysics.