Test 1 Study Guide

Chapter 2

  • Reductionism- explains phenomena on one level in terms of phenomena on another (breaking down complex things into simpler parts)

  • Materialism- considers the fact of the universe to be sufficiently explained in physical terms by existence and nature of matter

    • Everything that exists is physical, and all processes, including mental states and consciousness, arise from material interactions

  • Mechanism- the doctrine that natural processes are mechanically determined and capable of explanation by the laws of physics and chemistry

    • The underlying process or system that explains how a particular thought, emotion, or behavior occurs

  • Empiricism- the pursuit of knowledge through the observation of nature and the attribution of all knowledge or experience

    • The idea that all learning comes from only experience and observations

  • Positivism- recognizes only natural phenomena or facts that are objectively observable

    • Knowledge comes from sensory experience and observation; that theories should be based on facts

  • Determinism- Doctrine that acts are determined by past events

    • The idea that human actions and behaviors are caused by external factors such as, biology, environment, or past experiences (opposite of free will)

  • The mind-body problem- the question of distinction between mental and physical qualities

    • Descartes proposed that the mind and body are joined

    • It asks how mental states, like thoughts and feelings, relate to physical states, like brain activity and bodily functions

  • Decartes’ major contributions to the future of psychology-

    1. The mind-body problem

    2. The nature of the body

    3. Undulatio reflexa

    4. The mind-body interaction

    5. The doctrine of ideas

  • Derived vs. innate ideas

    • Derived- produced by the direct application of an external stimulus ( math equation)

    • Innate- ideas that arise from the mind of consciousness, independent of sensory experiences or external stimuli (a horse)

  • Auguste Comte’s major philosophy- introduced positivism

    • Positivism- recognizes only natural phenomena or facts that are objectively observable

  • Locke’s major contributions/ideas-

    1. Sensation and Reflection

      • Sensation- derived from direct sensory input

      • Reflection- forming more complex ideas that input

    2. Simple Ideas- elementary ideas that arise from sensation and reflection

    3. Complex ideas- derived ideas that are compounded of simple ideas and can be reduced to smaller components

    4. The Theory of Association- the notion that knowledge results from linking or associating simple ideas to form complex ideas

    5. Primary qualities- characteristics that exist whether or not we perceive them; do not change (size or shape)

    6. Secondary Qualities- exist in our perception of the object

  • Major Difference between Locke and Descartes-

  • George Berkley’s major ideas-

    1. Mentalism- the doctrine that all knowledge is a function of mental phenomena and dependent on the perceiving/experiencing person

    2. Association of sensations- applied principles of association to real world

  • James Mill’s philosophy- The mind is a machine

    • Mind is totally passive entity

    • Run by internal physical forces

    • Acted on by external stimuli

    • No place for free will

    • No creative function

  • John Stuart Mill’s philosophy- Mental Chemistry

    • Complex ideas not summations of simple ideas

    • Creative synthesis- complex ideas formed from simple ideas also take on new qualities

    • Combination of mental elements creates something greater than/different from the elements

    • Possible to study the mind

Chapter 3

  • Johannes Muller’s contributions to physiology-

    • Made physiology experimental

    • Theory of the specific energies of nerves- the quality of a sensation depends solely on which nerve is stimulation, not on the nature of the stimulus itself

  • Expiration (Flourens and Hall)

  • Clinical Method (Broca)

  • Electrical Stimulatoin (Fritsch and Hitzig

  • Gall’s Contributations- Saw that species with bigger brains were more intelligent than species with smaller brains

    • Founded cranioscopy (phrenology)

  • Flourens’ Contributations-

  • Broca’s Contributations-

  • Santiago Ramon y Cajal’s Contributions- discovered the direction of travel for nerve impulses

  • What contributed to the rise of the psychology in Germany- The reform movement in German universities:

    • Freedom unknown to other nations

    • More resources

    • More research universities

  • Helmholtz’s Contributions-

    1. Investigated the speed of the neural impulse

      • Used nerves of different lengths and recorded the delay between stimulation and muscle reaction

      • found that neural impulses travel at a rate of 90 ft per second

    2. Research on vision and hearing

      • Investigated external eye muscles and the mechanism that focuses the lens

      • Developed a theory of color vision

      • Perception of combination and individual tones (hearing)

      • Resonance theory of hearing

  • Weber’s Contributions

    • Applied physiology’s experimental methods to problems of a psychological nature

    • Researched physiology of the sense organs

    • Two-point Thresholds- the threshold at which two points of stimulation can be distinguished as such

  • Just Noticeable Differences- the smallest difference between two stimuli that could be detected

  • Fechner’s Contributions-

    1. A quantitative relationship

      • Stimulus does not produce corresponding increase in sensation

      • Relationship not one-to-one

      • Absolute threshold: point of sensitivity below which no sensations can be detected

      • Differential threshold: point of sensitivity at which the least amount of change gives rise to a change in sensation

    2. Methods of psychophysics:

      • The scientific study of the relations between mental and physical processes

      • Ex. lifting weights, visual brightness, visual distance, tactile distance

      • Method of average error (or method of adjustment)

      • Method of constant stimuli

      • Method of limits

  • Differential and absolute threshold

    • Differential- point of sensitivity at which the least amount of change gives rise to a change in sensation

    • Absolute- point of sensitivity below which no sensations can be detected

Chapter 4

  • Who was the founder of psychology?

    • Wilhem Wundt

  • Why did Wundt distinguish psychology from philosophy?

    • He distinguished psychology from philosophy by establishing psychology as an experimental science rather than purely speculative or introspective discipline

  • Why did Wundt consider the subject matter of psychology? What did he say could not be studied by psychology and why not?

    • He believed that psychology should focus on conscious experience and its basic elements through introspection and experimentation

    • He argued that higher mental processes could not be studied using experimental methods

    • Why? They were too complex for controlled experimentation; they occur over time, not instantly

  • Voluntarism- the idea that the mind has the capacity to organize mental contents into higher-level thought

  • Immediate vs. mediate experience

    • Immediate- unbiased by interpretation

    • Mediate- information about something outside the elements of experience

  • Wundt’s introspection- examination of one’s own mind to inspect and report on personal thoughts or feelings

    • Conducted under Wundt’s explicit rules and conditions

    • Highly trained observers

  • Wundt’s goals for psychology

    • Analyze conscious processes into their basic elements (and identify them)

    • Discover how these elements are synthesized or organized

    • Determine the law of connection governing the organization of the elements

  • Wundt’s two elementary forms of experience

    1. Sensations

      • Aroused whenever a sense organ is stimulated and the resulting impulses reach the brain

      • Classified according to intensity, duration, and sense modality

    2. Feelings

      • The subjective complements of sensations but do not arise directly from a sense organ

      • Tridimensional theory of feelings: feeling states are based on three dimensions:

  • Wundt’s tridimensional view of emotion

  1. Pleasure/displeasure

  2. Tension/relaxation

  3. Excitement/depression

  • Wundt’s doctrine of apperception

    • The process of organizing mental elements into a whole

    • Also known as the law of psychic resultants (creative synthesis)

    • The whole greater than the sum of its parts

  • Ebbinghaus’ contributions

    • Showed that Wundt was wrong

    • Changed the way association, or learning, is studied

    • Founded Journal of Psychology and Physiology of the Sense Organs in 1890

    • Wrote a textbook, The Principles of Psychology, in 1902

  • Brentano’s contributions

    • Published “Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint” in 1874

    • Believed that psychology should be the study of mental activity, the act of experiencing

    • Act psychology: focused on mental activities rather than mental contents

  • Stumpf’s contributions

    • Contributed to the psychological study of music

    • Phenomenology

    • Bitter disagreement with Wundt about introspection of tones

    • Established a center for the collection of recording of music from many countries around the world

    • Founded the Berlin Association for Child Psychology

  • Kulpe’s contributions

    • Went on to address problems Wundt ignored

    • Kulpe believed that though processes could be studied experimentally

    • Systematic experimental introspection

    • Imageless thought

Chapter 5

  • What was Titchener’s main focus? (How does it compare to Wundt’s?)

    • Titchener focused on mental elements

    • Believed elements were mechanically linked through association

    • Discarded Wundt’s doctrine of apperception

  • Who developed structuralism?

    • Edward Bradford Titchener

  • Titchener’s view on women in psychology (including his first grad student?)

    • Did not let women into his discussions because he believed women were too pure to smoke

      • They would smoke during those meetings

  • Titchener’s view of the subject matter of psychology

    • He believed that the subject matter of psychology was the conscious experience

  • Stimulus error- when an observer reports their interpretation of a stimulus instead of their direct sensory experience. This confuses perception with cognition

  • Titchener’s definitions of consciousness vs. mind

    • Consciousness- the sum total of mental experiences at any given moment

    • Mind- total sum of conscious experiences accumulated throughout a person’s lifetime

  • Titchener’s introspection methods- observers trained to describe the elements of their conscious state rather that report that familiar name

    • ex. instead of saying apple, describe it as shiny, red, and round

  • Titchener’s three essential problems for psychology

    1. What?

    2. Why?

    3. How?

  • Titchener’s elements of consciousness

    • Sensations

    • Images

    • Affective states

  • Major criticisms of structuralism

    • Titchener’s and Kulpe’s methods are subjective reports of the elements of consciousness

    • Introspection alters the conscious experience it intends on studying

    • Mind is not capable of studying itself

  • Major contributions of structuralism to the future of psychology

    • Research methods:

      • Based on observation, experimentation, and measurement

      • Highest traditions of science

      • More scientific approach to the method of introspection

    • Catalyst for other schools of thought:

      • Served as a point of criticism

      • Scientific advances need something to oppose