Psych 408 Final

Early Approaches to Psych, Evolution Individual Differences, American Psych & Functionalism, Behaviourism.

Founding Psychology: Wundt 1879

Founding Psychology: Wundt 1879

First Lab, first to demarcate psych as a distinct and empirical discipline. Did a study of consciousness.

Founding Psychology: Freud

Psychoanalysis, he is the most famous founding psychologist.

Founding Psychology: Darwin

Psychology of adaptation, he’s important to academic psychologists, he inspired the work of William James.

Soren Kierkegaard: Known for ?

Psychology, Anxiety, Personhood, and The unconscious

Kierkegaard and Existential Psychology:

Existential psychology investigates the nature of freedom, responsibility, death—the whole of the human condition, connected to psychotherapy.

Problems with Humanistic psychology

Used qualitative methods, also involved systems thinking.

Phenomenal Field: The self

Objects, People, Thoughts, Images, Behaviours.

Phenomenal Field: The individual

Motivation

Phenomenal Field: The Environment

Learning.

Contextualizing Wundt: The Bildung

1806 Napolean defeats the Prussians, Military strength was replaced with intellectual strength.

Contextualizing Wundt: University of Berlin founded in 1810

First modern research University, which was shaped by Bildunsburger values: culturally educated citizens.

Wilhelm Maximilan Wundt: Achievements

1st academically recognized lab, 1st journal of experimental psychology, Universität Leipzig 1875–1917, Volkerpsychologie Published 1900-1920.

Wundts Students: Hugo Munsterburg

Applied psychology

Wundts Students: Lightner Witmer

First psychological clinic in the US.

Wundts Students: James Cattell

First American psychology professor.

Wundts Students: G. Stanley Hall

Founder of the child psychology movement.

Wundts Students: E.B. Titchener

Founded structuralism.

Wundts Students: Achievements 1875-1919

185 doctoral dissertations.

Child psychology movement:

A field of study that focuses on understanding the cognitive, emotional, and social development of children.

Wundts Students: Anna Meyer Berliner, MD, PhD

Launched field of psychology of advertising, Perception, Linked medicine ( optometry and psychology ), Named Lifetime Fellow of the International Council of Psychologists.

Wundts first name of his psychological approach:

Voluntarism,( emphasized will, choice, and purpose ), focusing on conscious mental processes and the ability to actively control one's actions and thoughts.

The Founding branch of psych:

Study of Consciousness

Wundt: Fall Tachistoscope purpose

Recall up to 6 letters from brief exposure, Organisation increases this capacity.

Volkerpsychologie: The study of the individual in society

Studies experiences that provide clues to the higher operartions of the mind.

Volkerpsychologie: Verbal Communication Stage 1

Speaker apperceives their own general impression.

Volkerpsychologie: Verbal Communication Stage 2

Speaker chooses words/sentences structures to express the general impression.

Volkerpsychologie: Verbal Communication Stage 3

Listener must apperceive the speakers general impression.

E.B. Titchener: Structural Psychology Goals

The determination of the what, how, and why of mental life. He only sought to describe a mental experience or the structure of the mind.

E.B. Titchener: The What

Learned through introspection

E.B. Titchener: The How

Answered the question of the elements combined

E.B. Titchener: The Why

Involved the neurological correlation of mental events.

Introspection in Titchener’s laboratory required:

subject to describe the basic, raw, elemental experiences which form complex cognitive experience.

What did Titchener want from the process of introspection:

sensations, not perceptions, if in the report the subject responded with the name of the object rather than the elemental aspects of the stimulus, the subject committed a stimulus error.

Titchener and Women Psychologists

Would not allow them to join his group, The Experimentalists. 

Titchener: First doctoral candidate

Margaret Floy Washburn, who was the first women to receive a PhD in psychology, president of the American Psychological Association in 1922.

Decline of Structuralism:

Introspection as a viable research method, development of studying animal behaviour, Structuralists’ lack of interest in practical implications, Developments of behaviourism and objective methods.

Franz Brentano: Act Psychology

Focused on what the mind does so he emphasized the minds processes, •All mental acts incorporate something outside of itself (which he called intentionality), He employed phenomenological introspection–introspective analysis of intact, meaningful experiences.

Oswald Kuple: Echoic memory

The ability to retain and recall auditory information, such as repeating a word or phrase in one's mind. It is a short-term memory process that helps in language comprehension and learning.

Edmund Husserl: Phenomenology; Two types of introspection

One focuses on the intentionality described by Brentano, Second focuses on subjective experience–the processes that a person experiences, Focuses on the essences of mental processes.

Husserl’s Goal:

Taxonomy of the mind, Describing the mental essences by which humans experience themselves.

Hermann Ebbinghaus:

First time memory was studied as it occurred, Illustrated that higher mental processes could be studied objectively.

Study Tips from Ebbinghaus:

Could learn 7 nonsense syllables in one “go.” Took 17 repetitions to learn 12 syllables, Nonsense syllables were free of meaning / other associations.

Ebbinghaus: How to study

Spaced, active, whole practice

Ebbinghaus: Forgetting Curve. 50% 1 hour; 66% 24 hours

Rapid forgetting occurs shortly after learning, Retention improves with repetition and practice, Memory loss can be reduced by spaced repetition, and Understanding the curve helps optimize learning strategies

Ebbinghaus: Overlearning

The process of continuing to practice and study information even after it has been mastered, results in better long-term retention and recall.

Hursserl’s Phenomenological philosophical method:

Focuses on the study of conscious experience and the way in which we perceive and interpret the world around us.

Jean Lamarck: Theory, Inheritance of acquired characteristics:

Environmental changes during the lifetime of the organism resulted in structural changes in plants and animals, These changes would be passed on to the offspring, which in turn would enhance their chance for survival.

Biogenesis: Charles Darwin

Part of the Wedgwood family, Cambridge – studied for the clergy

Charles Darwin: Reverend John Henslow significance

Was a botany professor, became mentor to Darwin, recommended Darwin for a boat trip.

Darwin’s observations and interests: Divergence & Geology

Each was much older than he believed, Argued against a single reason for extinction.

Darwin and Biology: Differentiation

1529 species preserved in spirits; shipped to England, Wondered about the species problem in their differences and environment choices, wondering how species vanished.

Darwin: The Galapagos Islands.

3.5 years into Darwin’s trip, The Beagle visited here.

Darwins observation of the Galapagos Islands:

Misclassified variations of finches as other birds, but noticed the variations across islands

Evolution of Darwin’s Theory:

Thomas Malthus’s Essay on the Principles of Population provided Darwin with the mechanism/principle to complete the formulation of his theory, Food supply and population size are kept in balance by war, famine, and disease, Natural events can and do select who will survive

Evolution of Darwin’s Theory: Breeding

Selective breeding produces what could pass as different species, Darwin reasoned that this selection could also happen naturally.

Darwins Mismatch Repair: Gould’s Assistance

John Gould rectified Darwin’s misclassification of finches, Beaks were different depending on the food source on each finch’s home island.

Alfred Wallace’s Letter: Significance

Darwin accidentally gave him the whole manuscript, when he gained knowledge of this Darwin completed The Origin Of The Species in 15 months.

When was The Origin Of The Species released:

22 November 1859. First 1250 copies sold which out on first day.

The Origin of Species:

Variation among all members of a species, Individual differences can be accentuated via artificial selection, Therefore; individual differences can also occur via natural selection.

Darwins explanation for: Variation

Random, spontaneous, Acquired characteristics per Lamarck.

Malthus Essay:

Reproduction outpaces food growth.

Nature selects any advantage: Malthus

The “disadvantaged” are more likely to die, Those with adaptive features will become more common, Darwin’s finches on Galapagos island.

Theological argument of design:

Mind-Design-Order.

Theological argument of design: Darwins view

Order-Design-Mind.

Darwin: Functionalism

How bhr, mental processes help people adapt to their environments

Darwin: Comparative Psychology

Continuity between animals and animals, reflex on hair follicles, are emotions universal.

Darwin: Individual differences

Physical characteristics or behaviour. These differences can be inherited and may affect an individual's survival and reproductive success. This variation provides the raw material for natural selection to act upon, driving the process of evolution.

Darwin: Sexual Selection

Mechanism of evolution where individuals with certain traits have a higher chance of mating and passing on those traits to offspring, leading to the development of exaggerated physical characteristics or behaviours that enhance reproductive success.

Darwin: Female Choice Theory.

theory proposing that females have the power to choose their mates based on desirable traits, leading to the evolution of these traits in males over time.

Darwin: Male Combat Theory

Theory proposed by Charles Darwin stating that male members of a species engage in combat to compete for mates. This competition leads to the development of physical traits and behaviors that increase their chances of reproductive success.

Cognitive reflection test

A test that measures the ability to suppress impulsive responses and engage in reflective thinking. It consists of three questions that require careful consideration to arrive at the correct answer.

In what situations would you give a child an individual IQ test?

An individual IQ test may be administered to a child in situations where there are concerns about their cognitive abilities, such as suspected learning disabilities, giftedness, or developmental delays. It can also be used as part of a comprehensive assessment to determine appropriate educational interventions or to evaluate the child's progress over time.

How is Intelligence demonstrated:

Adaptation to environment, Basic mental processes, Reasoning, problem solving, decision making, Metacognition (knowledge about and control over cognition)

Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence: Analytical Intelligence

Refers to the ability to analyze and evaluate information, solve problems, and think critically. It involves skills such as logical reasoning, abstract thinking, and academic knowledge.

Sternberg: Creative intelligence

Solve novel problems and make processing skills automatic to free working memory for complex thinking. Ex, Quick problem solvers.

Sternberg: Practical intelligence.

Adapt, Shape, and/or Select environments to meet both personal goals and the demands of one’s everyday world. Ex, street smarts.

Francis Galton and Psychology

He focused on intelligence, heredity, and eugenics, Used statistical methods to study human traits and abilities, Introduced the concept of correlation and researched the heritability of intelligence. His work formed the basis for behavioural genetics and influenced the understanding of human psychology.

Eugenics: Galton

Improvement of the genetic quality of the human population through selective breeding and controlled reproduction. Criticized for its unethical and discriminatory nature, as it has been used to justify forced sterilizations, racial segregation, and other human rights abuses.

Anthropometric Laboratory:

Developed in response to his desire to measure the individual differences among humans, Began at a health fair; moved to a museum, Collected data on more than 9,000 people, Believed sensory acuity was related to intelligence and could therefore be used as a means to measure intelligence.

Galton & Statistics:

Initially looked at the data using scatter plots to observe the correlation between variables, use to observe a regression toward the mean.

Karl Pearson and Galton:

Developed the mathematical formulation for the correlation coefficient.

Contributions of Francis Galton:

The study of the nature-nurture question, The use of questionnaires in research, The use of word-association tests, The conduction of twin studies, The study of imagery, The development of correlational techniques.

Development of Intelligence Tests and Testing: Cattell

Developed early Galtonian-type tests in the United States, First to use the term mental test, Correlational analysis indicated little intercorrelation among the tests and little correlation between the tests and success in postsecondary education.

Sample Measures:

Grip strength, Rate of movement, Speed of naming colours, Number of letters repeated after hearing them once.

Who was Alfred Binet

French psychologist who developed the first intelligence test in 1905. Binet's test measured cognitive abilities to identify children who needed extra support in school.

Alfred Binet: General Psychology

Concerned with finding laws that apply in all cases, e.g., repetition strengthens memory.

Individual Psychology Alfred Binet

Processing that is different from person to person.

Binet-Simon Scales

1905 first test published, there were 30 tests.

Binet-Simon Scales: 1908 revision

Contained 58 tests.

Binet-Simon Scales: Mental Level

Typical score of average child of a given age.

Binet-Simon Scales: 3 years

Show eyes, nose, mouth, name objects in a picture.

Binet-Simon Scales: 5 years

Copy a square, repeat a 10-syllable sentence.

Binet-Simon Scales: 7 years

Copy a written sentence, indicate omissions in drawings ( e.g., a house missing a door ).

Binet’s Views of intelligence: Intelligence

The "faculty of adapting oneself. To Judge well, to understand well, to reason well.

Binet’s Views of intelligence: Many Factors

Reluctantly reduced to a single measure

Binet’s Views of intelligence: Improvement with Training

Mental orthopedic, Intelligence is not fixed

What did Henry Goddard do:

Translated Binet-Simon scales to english, Heritability of intelligence.

Heritability of intelligence.

The extent to which differences in intelligence among individuals can be attributed to genetic factors. It measures the proportion of variation in intelligence within a population that is due to genetic differences.

Lewis M. Terman

Chair of psychology at Stanford, Revised and Standardized Binet’s work.

What did Lewis M. Terman accomplish in 1916

Standford-Binet Intelligence Test, which had 2300 participants over 4 years.