PSYC 3140 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Empiricism, Sigmund Freud, Psychoanalysis
PSYC 3140
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
PSYC 3140
Lecture 1
1. Early humans – Premodernism
a. looked at everything as alive (animism) and gave human
attributes to nature (anthropomorphism)
b. assumed a ghost/spirit lived in everything. (breath)
c. Believed in reification – when a thought is treated as real
including dreams and imaginations.
d. Magic – developed to influence or control the spirits.
e. Gods – Supernatural entities that created and controlled.
2. Early Greek Religion
a. 5th-6th century BC Greeks explained things through religion.
i. Olympian religion – belief in Olympian gods, the “breath-
soul survives death w/o memories/personality traits of the
person it occupied during life. Greek philosophers agreed.
ii. Dionysiac-Orphic religion – belief in the transmigration
of the soul. Became a part of the Judeo-Christian
heritage.
b. **Religion was a response to the need for ethical systems and
codes of behavior due to increased technology and social
changes (ag, writing, and community organization.
3. First Philosophers (Cosmologists)Greek (600-300 BCE)
a. Philosophy began when natural explanations (logos) replaced
supernatural ones (mythos)
b. Sought to explain the origin, structure, and processes
governing the cosmos (universe)
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c. **Assumed universe is orderly – or else nothing could have
been explained.
d. Sought a primary element (Physis)
e. Most were monists – made no distinction between mind and
body or between the physical and the abstract
f. **Didn’t reject Gods, but either downplayed their influence or
ascribed human passions.
4. Early Explanation of Human Behavior (Pre-Socrates)
a. Naturalistic – looks to Physical environment – Thales
i. Emphasized human activity as a manifestation of natural
order
b. Biologic – Emphasized internal state and physiology of
humans – Empedocles, Hippocrates
i. Elevated position of humans above rest of nature
(influences concept of ecology v deep ecology)
c. Mathematical – Attempt to extrapolate a general principal
applicable to all life. Pythagoras
d. Eclecticism – represented by Sophism Truth is what the
individual believes it to be (relative) Protagoras, Gorgias.
5. Early Explanation of Human Behavior (Golden Age of Greece.
a. Humanism – sought to explain life by distinguishing people
from the rest of life. Socrates humanist influenced by sophism.
Plato. Aristotle.
i. Place humanity at the center of system that held absolute
truth as a valid goal
ii. Emphasis on characteristics unique to humans (reason,
language, self-reflection)
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Document Summary
Greek philosophers agreed: dionysiac-orphic religion belief in the transmigration of the soul. Hippocrates emphasize the role of the brain, plato viewed mental problems as the result of irrational forces dominating the mind and a result of ignorance. Mind is a pure element and necessary for life. Inanimate objects are not alive: anaximander (ca. 610-547 bc) pg 32: studied w/ thales, physis was something ( boundless or indefinite ) capable of becoming anything, water is a compound of a more basic material, rudimentary theory of evolution. The 1st humans were born from fish: aristotle (384322) 1st physiological psych (explained psycho phenom in biological terms) humanist. Rationalist: student of plato as well as biology and zoology. Most important of the 3 best know greek philo"s. Made contributions to every branch of knowledge except math: tutor of alexander the great. Knowledge can be attained only by studying nature directly (empirical observation).