PSYC 2110 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Dev Alahan, Trust Law, The Need
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYC 2110
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
September 14, 2016
Psychology 1010
Module 1: What is Psychology?
Lecture 1
Email: hjen[email protected]
Launchpad:
Website: Macmillianlearning.com/support
Phone: 1-800-936-6899
What is Psychology?
● Science of behaviour & factors that influence it
What is Behaviour?
● 2 components:
○ Directly observable activity
○ Mental processes (not observable: e.g., thinking, motivation..)
● What are factors that influence behaviour?
○ Biological
○ Individual
○ Environmental
Goals of Psych
● Describe behaviour & mental processes
● Explain/understand causes of behaviours
● Predict behaviours
● Influence/control behaviours under certain conditions
Scientific Approach
● Systematically gather & evaluate
○ Empirical evidence
■ Gained through experience & observation
● Why use the scientific approach?
○ Minimize bias
○ Solves specific practical problems
One key aspect
● Critical thought - taking an active role
○ What’s the claim?
○ Is the source credible?
○ What’s the evidence?
○ Are there other explanations?
○ What’s the appropriate conclusions?
Psychological Science Is Born: a little bit of History
● First laboratory
○ 4th century B.C.E.: Aristotle used observation & questioning to understand
the body-psyche relationship
○ Questions answered through observation (and guesses)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Wilhelm Wundt (1832 -1920)
○ Defined psych as “science of mental life”
○ Added 2 key elements to enhance scientific nature of psych
○ Elements included carefully measured observations & experiments
● 1879 experiment - measured the time it took for people to:
○ Push a button when a ball dropped (based on when they heard the ball hit a
platform): 1/1oth of a second
○ Push a button when consciously aware of hearing the ball hit the platform
● Structuralism: Titchener
○ Mentored by Wundt
○ Relied on “self-report” data
○ Encouraged introspection, reporting on sensations & other elements of
experience in reaction to stimuli
○ Used these introspective reports to build a view of the mind’s structure
○ The School of Structuralism
● Functionalism: William James (1842-1910)
○ Studied human thoughts, feelings, & behaviours and asked:
■ What function might they serve?
■ How might they have helped our ancestors survive?
○ Authored Principles of Psychology (1890)
○ Put a lot of questions into the world
○ Idea of perception of personal identity of who the self is
○ Theory of Emotions
First Women In Psych
● Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)
○ Became a memory researcher & first APA female president
○ Studied w/ James but was discriminated against & denied her PhD
● Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939)
○ Became 2nd APA female president
○ Wrote The Animal Mind
○ Studied with Titchener but barred from his experimental psychology
organization
Gestalt Psych
● How do we make sense of the world around us?
● Gestalt - “Whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts”
● Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka & Wolfgang Kohler
● How elements of experience are organized into wholes
● Interested in perception
● Mind is studied in terms of large meaningful units instead of small units of
structuralism
● Precursor for cognition
Psychological Science Develops: Behaviourism
● Behaviourism
○ Defined psych as “scientific study of observable behaviour” w/out reference to
mental processes
● John B. Watson (Classical conditioning) and B.F. Skinner (operant conditioning)
dismissed introspection
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Science of behaviour & factors that influence it. Mental processes (not observable: e. g. , thinking, motivation) Critical thought - taking an active role. Psychological science is born: a little bit of history. : aristotle used observation & questioning to understand the body-psyche relationship. Defined psych as science of mental life . Added 2 key elements to enhance scientific nature of psych. Elements included carefully measured observations & experiments. 1879 experiment - measured the time it took for people to: Push a button when a ball dropped (based on when they heard the ball hit a platform): 1/1oth of a second. Push a button when consciously aware of hearing the ball hit the platform. Encouraged introspection, reporting on sensations & other elements of experience in reaction to stimuli. Used these introspective reports to build a view of the mind"s structure. Studied human thoughts, feelings, & behaviours and asked: Put a lot of questions into the world.
