History of Psychology

What was Plato's view in the nature/nurture debate?

We possess innate knowledge and ideas from a non-material heavenly world; experience unlocks them.

What example did Plato use to argue for innate knowledge?

Recognizing imperfect circles due to an innate idea of the perfect circle.

What was Aristotle's view in the nature/nurture debate?

Knowledge is acquired through experience; the mind is like an un-inscribed wax tablet.

What example did Aristotle use for empiricism?

From imperfect circular forms we develop the abstract idea of a circle.

What is Descartes' dualism?

The world contains res extensa (matter) and res cogitans (mind/soul).

How did Descartes believe the mind and body interact?

Through the pineal gland.

According to Descartes, what are reflexes?

Mechanical bodily reactions without mental control.

What was Locke, Hume, and Berkeley's stance on ideas?

No innate ideas; all ideas derive from sensory experience.

What did empiricists believe about complex ideas?

They are formed by combining simple ideas.

What was Kant’s constructivism?

Knowledge results from interaction between innate mental capacities and experience.

Why did Kant think psychology couldn’t be a science?

Mental phenomena cannot be measured scientifically.

What did Paul Broca's discovery of aphasia demonstrate?

Damage to specific brain areas impairs mental functions, linking brain and mind.

Why did Wundt argue for psychology as an independent science?

Physiology and psychology study the same subject matter in different ways.

What did Wundt believe psychology should study?

Conscious experience using systematic introspection.

What is structuralism?

Titchener's approach aiming to analyze the elements of conscious experience.

What is functionalism?

William James' approach: analyze what conscious experience is used for.

Why did Titchener criticize functionalism?

He believed it was vague, speculative, and not truly scientific.

What is introspectionism?

Studying the mind through trained self-observation in controlled experiments.

What was Watson’s main argument for behaviorism?

Psychology should predict and control behavior; introspection is irrelevant.

What did Pavlov discover?

Conditioned reflexes through stimulus response associations.

Why is psychoanalysis not considered scientific?

It relies on subjective interpretation and cannot be tested scientifically.

What was Freud’s major contribution to scientific psychology?

Highlighting the role of unconscious processes.

When did behaviorism dominate psychology?

From the 1920s to the 1950s/60s.

What is the law of learning regarding reinforcement schedules?

Variable reinforcement schedules produce rapid learning and resistance to extinction.

What is operant conditioning?

Learning responses that are followed by rewards (Skinner).

What is a fixed ratio (FR) schedule?

Reward after a constant number of responses.

What is a variable ratio (VR) schedule?

Reward after a changing number of responses.

Why did cognitive psychology rise in the 1950s-60s?

Influence of Gestalt psychology, cybernetics, information processing, and generative linguistics.

What is Gestalt psychology's main idea?

Perception is more than the sum of its parts; not reducible to associations.

What does the computer metaphor imply about the mind?

It processes information like a computing device.

What did Broadbent’s Filter Model propose?

Attention filters out one channel completely, with a sensory buffer storing unattended info.

What did Treisman’s attenuation model propose?

Unattended information is weakened, not blocked, allowing important stimuli to be noticed.

Why did Chomsky reject behaviorism for explaining language?

Language is rule-governed and too complex for stimulus-response learning alone.