Topical Review Guide Exam 3 (1)

Topical Study Guide for Exam #3 - History of Psychology

Overview

• Exam Date: December 2nd, 2024

• Materials Covered: Lectures 10-16, Chapters 8-10, and 13-14.

Chapter 10 - Psychology Comes to America

American Research Universities

• Johns Hopkins University (1876): First American research university.

  • Founder: Daniel Coit Gilman.

• Important Changes by Gilman:

  1. Graduate school admission requirement for medical students.

  2. Financial support through fellowships for qualified students.

  3. Established academic departments.

Development of Psychology in America

• Psychology was virtually unknown in the mid-19th century.

• William James: Considered one of the fathers of psychology, taught the first psychology course in the U.S.

  • Influenced by Wilhelm Wundt during studies in Germany.

• Scholars: William James (1842-1910) and G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924).

Biographical Information

• William James:

  • Born in NYC, eldest of five.

  • Wealthy background, fluent in English, French, German.

  • Studied medicine at Harvard and developed an interest in psychology.

• G. Stanley Hall:

  • Born in Massachusetts, early interests in philosophy and evolution.

  • Studied at Williams College; returned to the U.S. to teach at Harvard.

Chapter 11 - Functionalism

Emergence of Functionalism

• Functionalism developed from structuralism; emphasizes mental processes and their utility, inspired by Darwinism.

• Key Functionalists: William James and Charles Sanders Peirce.

Contributions to Psychology

• Hall: Established first psychological laboratory and focused on adolescent psychology.

• Hall’s publication: Adolescence (1904).

Chapter 12 - Behaviorism and Neo-Behaviorism

Understanding Behaviorism

• A theory that all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment.

• John Watson: Key figure in behaviorism, advocated for a shift from studying consciousness to behavior.

Key Behaviorist Scholars

• B.F. Skinner: Developed operant conditioning; emphasized reinforcement in learning.

• Ivan Pavlov: Famous for classical conditioning experiments.

Chapter 13 - Social Psychology

Focal Areas

1. Social Thinking: Perception of self and others, judgments, attitudes.

2. Social Influence: Effects of culture, conformity, persuasion.

3. Social Relations: Dynamics of prejudice, aggression, intimacy.

Key Historical Events

• Impact of World Wars on the field of social psychology.

• Cognitive Dissonance: Developed by Leon Festinger, explaining discomfort in conflicting beliefs and behaviors.

Chapter 15 - Foundational Thinkers

Jean Piaget

• Developed theories of cognitive development stages: Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational.

Lev Vygotsky

• Introduced the social constructivist approach, emphasizing social context in learning.

Chapter 16 - Cognition and AI

Mind-Computer Analogy

• Mental processes likened to information processing in computers.

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory

• Stages: sensory, short-term, long-term memory.

Key Advances in AI

• AlphaGo: The first machine to defeat a human in Go, surpassing chess complexity.