PSYCH 9A Study Guide - Final Guide: Edward B. Titchener, Wilhelm Wundt, Psych
5 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Psych 7A / PsyBeh 9
Winter 2018
Midterm Study Guide
I put together this study guide to help you organize your studying for the midterm. For most
topics, I’ve included a few additional comments to further help you focus your studying. Good
luck on Tuesday!
Chapter 1 (What is Psychology?)
• definition of psychology (behaviors? mental processes?)
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Behavior is anything the organism does that is directly observable.
Mental processes is the internal, private experiences an organism has that CANNOT be
directly observed.
• what psychologists do (pure research, applied research, practice, teaching…)
Pure research: research conducted without concern for immediate application.
Applied research: research conducted in an effort to find particular solutions.
Practice: applying psychological knowledge to help individuals change their behavior to
accomplish goals or deal with the world more effectively
Teaching: Sharing psychological knowledge in classrooms, seminars, and workshops
• ancient Greeks (importance to history of psychology?)
Ancient Greeks ( a few hundred years BC) Philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle, and
Democritus started making more investigations into psychological questions (often with
more natural explanations for things!)
• empiricism (what is it? relationship to science?)
the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely
on observation and experimentation.
• Wilhelm Wundt (importance to history of scientific psychology? what year? first
experiment?)
German physiologist
Interested in measuring and discovering “atoms of the mind” – the simplest mental
processes
1879: First psychology experiment
measuring time lag between hearing a sound and pressing a key
First psychology laboratory: University of Leipzig (Germany)
Considered one of the founders of the early branch of psychology known as structuralism
• structuralism (what is it? main research technique of structuralists?)
Focuses on breaking conscious experience down its basic components (basic sensations,
feelings, perceptions, mental processes, etc)
Founded by Edward Titchener (student of Wundt) and Wundt
Introspection
Involves “looking inward” (inner reflection) and examining one’s own thoughts and
emotions in order to break them down into their basic components
Primary research technique of the structuralists
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Edward Titchener (importance to history of psychology?)
Founded structuralism
• introspection (what is it?)
Looking inward and examine one’s thoughts and emotions then break them down into
basic components.
• functionalism (proposed by? main idea?)
Founded by William James
American psychologist
Interested in practical applications of psychology
Influenced by Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection – how our individual qualities
help us to survive in the world
Focuses on practical applications of psychology and how they come from studying the
function of behavior and cognition – how are these things helping us to survive and live
our lives?
• William James (importance to history of psychology?)
Founded functionalism.
• Mary Calkins (importance to history of psychology? connection to William
James? Harvard? Ph.D.?)
1890: William James admitted her to his graduate seminar in psychology
She was allowed to attend as a “guest” since Harvard was all-male at the time
Fulfilled all requirements for Ph.D. but denied degree from Harvard since it was all-
male.
Still, she had a distinguished career!
First psychology lab founded by a female (1891)
Renowned memory researcher
First female president of the American Psychological Association (1905)
• Margaret Floy Washburn (historical significance?)
First female psychology Ph.D. (1894)
Studied with Titchener (Cornell)
2nd female president of APA (1921)
• scientific method (what is it? self-correcting process?)
an orderly, systematic process for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge
• theory (what is it?)
an explanation of some phenomenon
• hypothesis (what is it?)
a specific, testable prediction based on a theory
• population (what is it?)
complete group of interest to researchers
• sample (what is it?)
the smaller group of actual subjects (chosen from the population) from whom we actually
collect data
• representative sample (what is it? how do we select one?)
random sampling – everyone in population has an equal chance at being included in the
study
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
stratified sampling – sample drawn so that identified subgroups in population are
represented proportionately in the sample
• volunteer bias (what is it? what is the danger to sampling?)
people who volunteer to participate in a certain study may systematically differ from those
who do not – they are likely not representative of the overall population
• descriptive methods vs. experimental methods (difference? cause and effect?)
Descriptive (Observation):
Case studies
Surveys
Naturalistic observation
Correlational studies
Data is gathered, but no variables are manipulated by the researcher
Experimental:
Variables are manipulated and controlled by the experimenter
Allows researcher to probe cause and effect relationships between variables
• case study (what is it? advantages? limitations?)
Psychologist studies a single individual in great depth
Interviews (with subject, family, friends, etc)
Psychological tests (intelligence, personality, etc)
Observation of behaviors (at home, at work, etc)
The hope is that this person’s information can reveal things about the overall population
Advantages
More detailed data gathered than with other methods
Suggests areas for further (more general) study
Disadvantages/Limitations
Only studies one person – there’s no guarantee data will relate to the general population
Subject’s memory of their lives/experiences may be faulty
Doesn’t tell us why anything is occurring
• survey (what is it? what kinds of things do we need to watch out for?)
Ask large numbers of people about their attitudes, behaviors, opinions
Advantages
Data from MANY subjects – increases likelihood we can generalize our results to the
population
Disadvantages/Limitations
Socially-desirable responding (aka “faking good”)
People are sometimes hesitant to reveal honest personal information that might make them
look bad
People sometimes answer questions in ways that make them look better than they are
People may be hesitant to truthfully answer potentially embarrassing questions
Wording effects – wordings of questions can affect results
• naturalistic observation (what is it? advantages? limitations?)
Observe behavior of organisms in their natural environment
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
I put together this study guide to help you organize your studying for the midterm. For most topics, i"ve included a few additional comments to further help you focus your studying. Chapter 1 (what is psychology?: definition of psychology (behaviors? mental processes?) Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Behavior is anything the organism does that is directly observable. Mental processes is the internal, private experiences an organism has that cannot be directly observed: what psychologists do (pure research, applied research, practice, teaching ) Pure research: research conducted without concern for immediate application. Applied research: research conducted in an effort to find particular solutions. Practice: applying psychological knowledge to help individuals change their behavior to accomplish goals or deal with the world more effectively. Teaching: sharing psychological knowledge in classrooms, seminars, and workshops: ancient greeks (importance to history of psychology?) Ancient greeks ( a few hundred years bc) philosophers like socrates, aristotle, and.
