PSYC 1030H Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Amplitude Modulation, Memory, Sigmund Freud
11 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYC 1030H
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
What is Psychology?
For Descartes, science had to be mathematical
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The mind can not be studied through the methods of science and it cant be
reduced to mathematics
▪
Didn’t elieve that psyhology ould e a siene as it elongs in philosophy
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Rene Descartes - 1596-1650
•
No spatial dimension
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Too short in time to be observed
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Can not be experimentally manipulated
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Mental phenomena
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Took up the challenge of attempting to study the mind mathematically
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For much of his career he conducted studies on the physiological of optics and acoustics
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He was also a leading physicist
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One of his most important contributions was the measurement of the speed of the
nervous impulse
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Mid 1800's it was believed that the speed of nervous conduction was probably faster
than the speed of light
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Trained subjects to press a button when different parts of their bodies were touched
○
Subjects took slightly longer to respond when the toe was stimulated as opposed to the
finger
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This showed that the mind operates by lawful and mathematical principles
▪
Used the discrepancy between stimulating different parts of the body to calculate the
speed of nervous impulse
○
Hermann von Helmholtz - 1821-1894
•
In 1857 he received an assistantship to work with Helmholtz
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While working as an assistant, Wundt gave his first course in "psychology as a natural
science" in 1862
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In providing the first genuine textbook for the new field, Wundt established
himself as its leader
▪
In 1873 he published the first editions of his fundamental work: principles of
physiological psychology (where he proposed the central tenets of experimental
psychology)
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Psychology was the scientific study of the human mind
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The goal for him, was to uncover the universal laws of the normal human adult mind
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William Wundt
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The world was viewed as changeless
▪
God had constructed a machine perfect in conception and endless in time
▪
It is important to recall the type of biological thinking popular at the time Darwin
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Each biological species was fixed for eternity
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Darwin was included on a round the world scientific voyage on the HMS Beagle
(1831-1836)
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Theory of Evolution
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Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
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There is a constant struggle for existence as animals tent to outgrow their food supply
1.
Nature constantly produces variant forms within species
2.
Organisms possessing unfavorable traits are less likely to reproduce
▪
As small adaptive change follows small adaptive change (over many years) species
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Some variants are better adapted to the struggle for survival than others
3.
Lecture 1
January 11, 2018
8:58 AM
Psychology 1030 Page 1
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As small adaptive change follows small adaptive change (over many years) species
can diverge dramatically from their original forms
▪
Darwin's influence- since all species are related, human psychology can no longer be
viewed as isolated from animal psychology
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The study of animals has a new importance
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What is psychology?
Psychology is a science
•
Psychology is about behaviour
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Psychology is about the mind/mental activity
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There isn't complete agreement about definitions (although there are common themes):
Studies how people change physically, cognitively, socially over their entire life span
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Developmental psychology
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Studies how people learn and the best ways to teach them
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Educational psychology
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Examines how psychological factors relate to the promotion and maintenance of
physical health
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Also the causation, prevention and treatment of illness
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Health Psychology
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Examines the influence of genetic factors on behaviour
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Also the role of the brain and nervous system in the regulation of behaviour
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Physiological psychology
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The traditional core of topics that psychology focused on its early modern history:
sensation, perception, learning, conditioning, motivation and emotion
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Experimental psychology
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Mental processes like memory, reasoning, language, problem solving, decision making,
creativity
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Cognitive psychology
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The design of tests to assess various psychological constructs (e.g. personality,
intelligence)
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Psychometrics
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Describing and understanding individuals consistency in behaviour (which represents
their personality)
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Also concerned with the factors that shape personality and with personality assessment
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Personality Psychology
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Studies all aspects of social behaviour and social thought (how we think about and
interact with others)
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Social Psychology
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Types of Psychology- how people do research
Studies diagnosis, causes, and treatment of mental disorders
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Clinical psychology
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Assists individuals in dealing with many personal problems that do not involve mental
disorders
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Counselling Psychology
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Studies all aspects of behaviour in various work settings
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Industrial/Organizational Psychology
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Educational psychologists work to improve curriculum design, achievement testing,
teacher training, and other aspects of the educational processes
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Educational/School Psychology
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Types of Psychology- Professionally
Psychology 1030 Page 2
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Document Summary
Didn"t (cid:271)elieve that psy(cid:272)hology (cid:272)ould (cid:271)e a s(cid:272)ien(cid:272)e as it (cid:271)elongs in philosophy. The mind can not be studied through the methods of science and it cant be reduced to mathematics. Took up the challenge of attempting to study the mind mathematically. For much of his career he conducted studies on the physiological of optics and acoustics. One of his most important contributions was the measurement of the speed of the nervous impulse. Mid 1800"s it was believed that the speed of nervous conduction was probably faster than the speed of light. Trained subjects to press a button when different parts of their bodies were touched. Subjects took slightly longer to respond when the toe was stimulated as opposed to the finger. Used the discrepancy between stimulating different parts of the body to calculate the speed of nervous impulse. This showed that the mind operates by lawful and mathematical principles. In 1857 he received an assistantship to work with helmholtz.
