H & S Final Exam Chapters 5-8 – Flashcards

a school of thought that sought to identify the components (structure) of the mind (the mind was the key element to psychology at this point). Structuralists believed that the way to learn about the brain and its functions was to break the mind down into its most basic elements. "They believed, the whole is equal to the sum of the parts." Wilhelm Wundt, who is considered the pioneer Structuralist, set up the very first psychological laboratory in 1879. Following Wundt was Titchner who popularized the field (he was one of Wundt's students). TItchner was interested in the conscious mind. He used a technique called introspection to try to understand the conscious mind. Introspection is a process of having a person "look inward", focus on, and try to understand the emotion or thought they are experiencing at that moment.

The process by which mental elements are organized. -how your mind puts new information in context. You get a perception of a chair through your eyes, but apperception is how your mind relates it to chairs you've seen before. TITCHENER REJECTED APPERCEPTION!

Titchener was a student of Wundt Claimed to have brought Wundt's system to the U.S. Titchener's system was radically different Structuralism: Titchener's system of psychology that became popular in the U.S. and lasted two decades before being overthrown Lab at Cornell University Textbook-Experimental Psychology: A Manual of Laboratory Practice -Stimulus error -Introspection -The Elements of Consciousness (bulk of his work) - refused to consider applied psychology a valid enterprise and had no interest in studying animals, children, abnormal behavior, or individual differences. - attempted to systematize the Wundtian point of view, producing laboratory research using only Wundt's method of introspection. - psychology was the study of experience from the point of view of the experiencing individual. All elements must exist in the consciousness; hence, habit, action, instinct, and any Freudian mechanism received either marginal treatment from him, or none at all. -characterized mental processes as having quality, intensity, duration, clearness, and extensity. Focused on the parts

Confusing the mental process under study with the stimulus or object being observed. Example: apple His fix was vocabulary free of meaning

Examination of one's own mind to inspect and report on personal thoughts or feelings. Introspection is a process of having a person "look inward", focus on, and try to understand the emotion or thought they are experiencing at that moment.

Titchener posed three essential problems for psychology: 1. Reduce conscious processes to their simplest components. (Break mind down to smallest parts) 2. Determine laws by which these elements of consciousness were associated. (Figure out why/how these parts are connected/work together/related) 3. Connect the elements with their physiological conditions. (How do body affect the mind processes)

Titchener defined three elementary states of consciousness: sensations, images, and affective states. Sensations are the basic elements of perception and occur in the sounds, sights, smells, and other experiences evoked by physical objects in our environment. Images are the elements of ideas, and they are found in the process that reflects experiences that are not actually present at the moment, such as a memory of a past experience. Affective states, or affections, are the elements of emotion and are found in experiences such as love, hate, and sadness.

Wundt - -viewed psychology as part of an elaborate philosophy where mind is seen as an activity, not a substance. -The synthesis of the elements through apperception. -Emphasized the whole -apperception The basic mental activity was designated by Wundt as 'apperception'. Titchener- -Titchener's work concentrated on the elements themselves. -Emphasized the parts -interested in the analysis of complex conscious experience into its component parts. -Rejected apperception -introspection (self-observation)

For Titchener, distinct sensations combined with others to form ____.

Functional psychology claimed that Wundt's and Titchener's approaches were too restrictive because they did not study the practical value of mental processes.

that if the mind were capable of observing its own activities, it would have to divide itself into two parts— one doing the observing and the other being observed.

any attempt at introspection necessarily altered the conscious experience being studied because it introduced an observing variable into the content of the conscious experience. By studying the act of experience, you alter the experience itself. Example: Trying to study the act of tasting candy, alters the experience of tasting the candy.

(dissagrement, bias, self-report can be trusted) There is little agreement among introspectionists. Where agreement does occur, it can be attributed to the fact that introspectionists must be meticulously trained, and thereby have a bias built into their observations. ... Due to the extent of the pathology of mind, self-report is hardly to be trusted.

Their subject matter— conscious experience— was clearly defined. By the 1920s the term used by Titchener for his system of psychology was: existentalism Their research methods, based on observation, experimentation, and measurement, were in the highest traditions of science. Because consciousness can only be perceived by the person having the conscious experience, the most appropriate method for studying that experience and that subject matter was some form of self-observation. Although the subject matter and aims of the structuralists are no longer vital, the method of introspection— more broadly defined as the giving of a verbal report based on experience— continues to be used in many areas of psychology. Researchers in psychophysics still ask subjects to report whether a second tone sounds louder or softer than the first. Self-reports are requested from people exposed to unusual environments, such as weightlessness for space flight. Clinical reports from patients, and responses on personality tests and attitude scales, are introspective in nature. Introspective reports involving cognitive processes such as reasoning are frequently used in psychology today. A significant contribution of structuralism was its service as a target of criticism. Structuralism provided a strong, established orthodoxy against which newly developing movements in psychology could array their forces. These newer schools of thought owed their existence in no small measure to their progressive reformulation of the structuralist position.

the psychological school of thought that followed Structuralism and moved away from focusing on the structure of the mind to a concern with how the conscious is related to behavior... How does the mind affect what people do? One of the major proponents of Functionalism was Thorndike (created the ever-popular puzzle box) who studied the primary issue of functionalism...WHAT FUNCTION DOES A BEHAVIOR HAVE. In addition, this school of thought focused on observable events as opposed to unobservable events (like what goes on in someone's mind). Central Interests: • Functionalism is concerned with how the mind functions or how it is used by an organism to adapt to its environment. • The functional psychology movement focused on a practical question: What do mental processes accomplish? What does the mind do? How does it do it? • Functionalists studied the mind not from the standpoint of its composition— its mental elements or its structure— but rather as a conglomerate or accumulation of functions and processes that lead to practical consequences in the real world. A shift from structure to function.

Childlike Jenny

The use of observational reports about animal behavior

A technique for studying animal behavior by assuming that the same mental processes that occur in the observer's mind also occur in the animal's mind

The notion that animal behavior must NOT be attributed to a higher mental process when it can be explained in terms of a lower mental process

knowledge and experience can be explained in terms of evolutionary principles.

consciousness is a continuous flowing process and that any attempt to reduce it to elements will distort it.

The doctrine that the validity of ideas is measured by their practical consequences. -if something works well then it is true. - emphasizes logic and rationality and encourages specific thinking. If something works in a particular situation then it can be said to be true. -Pragmatism rejects unpractical beliefs and ideas and encourages scientific inquiry.

A person' s sense of self is made up of three aspects or components: 1-Material- consists of everything we call uniquely our own such as our body, family, home, or style of dress. He thought that our choice of clothing was particularly important. He wrote that " the old saying that the human person is composed of three parts— soul, body, and clothes— is more than a joke. We appropriate our clothes and identify ourselves with them" 2-Social- refers to the recognition we get from other people James pointed out that we have many social selves; we present different sides of ourselves to different people. For example, you will probably behave differently with parents than with acquaintances or lovers. Each will see you in a different way. 3-Spiritual - refers to our inner or subjective being.

"The notion that men show a wider range and variation of physical and mental development than women; the abilities of women are seen as more average."

the psychological development of children repeats the history of the human race. Hall asserted that children in their personal development repeat the life history of the human race, evolving from a near-savage state in infancy and childhood to a rational, civilized human being in adulthood.

The connection between sensory stimuli and motor responses.

by the conviction that the normal growth of the mind involved a series of evolutionary stages.

The idea that an external object (a stimulus) can bring about an involuntary response.

Robert Woodworth's system of psychology, which was concerned with the influence of causal factors and motivations on feelings and behavior.

introspectionists must be meticulously trained, and thereby have a bias built into their observations. ... Due to the extent of the pathology of mind, self-report is hardly to be trusted.

As the first uniquely American system of psychology: • functionalism was a deliberate protest against Wundt' s experimental psychology and Titchener' s structural psychology, both of which were seen as too restrictive. • These early schools of thought could not answer the questions the functionalists were asking: What does the mind do? And how does it do it? • Functionalism changed the focus of the new psychology from the structure of consciousness to its functions . • Major work on the functions of consciousness, on individual differences, and on animal behavior was being performed at the same time Wundt and Titchener chose to exclude these areas from their definitions of psychology. Not until psychologists brought the new science to the United States would mental functions, individual differences, and laboratory rats attain prominence in psychology.

• A focus on animal psychology, which formed the basis of comparative psychology. • An emphasis on the functions rather than the structure of consciousness. • The acceptance of methodology and data from many fields. • A focus on the description and measurement of individual differences. Books- 1871: The Descent of Man -gathered the evidence for human evolution from lower life forms, emphasizing the similarity between animal and human mental processes. 1872: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: -Darwin made an intensive study of emotional expressions in humans and animals. He suggested that the changes in gestures and postures typical of various emotional states could be interpreted in evolutionary terms. In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872):- explained emotional expressions as remnants of movements that once had served some practical function. Emotional expressions have thus evolved over time and only those that proved useful have survived. 1877: Mind: A Biographical Sketch of an Infant: -Darwin made an early contribution to the child psychology literature with his diary about his infant son. Darwin carefully recorded the child' s development. The diary is an important precursor to developmental psychology, illustrating Darwin' s thesis that children pass through a series of developmental stages that parallel the stages of human evolution.

the use of observational, often casual, reports or narratives about animal behavior.

applying the theory of evolution to human nature and society. In Spencer' s utopian view, if the principle of survival of the fittest were allowed to operate freely, then only the best would survive. Therefore, human perfection was inevitable as long as no action was taken to interfere with the natural order of things. Spencer' s idea was that by ensuring that only the best survived, society could eventually achieve perfection.

knowledge and experience can be explained in terms of evolutionary principles.

____ was a pioneer in research on reflex behavior showing that reflexes could occur in the absence of brain involvement.

Titchener noted that the first significant advance in the study of learning since Aristotle was ____.

Even when some women were admitted to graduate programs in psychology, they still encountered many barriers to their success, such as ____.

phenomenological; introspective

conscious experience

apperception

existential

Titchener's research identified three elements of consciousness: sensations, affective states, and ____.

The work of Romanes was especially flawed because of his ____.

Galton

the development of applied psychology

The first systematic study of animal intelligence was by ____.

The ____ ask, "What's the mind made of?" whereas the ____ demand, "What does it do?"

Galton's measures of intellectual functioning assumed correlation between intelligence and ____.

The hallmark of Woodworth's psychology was his ____.

Who was the earliest to argue that the mind exists in its present form because of past and present efforts to adapt to various environments?

variability hypothesis

consciousness

pragmatism

Law of Parsimony- the notion that animal behavior must not be attributed to a higher mental process when it can be explained in terms of a lower mental process Believed animal behavior should not be overestimated to higher mental processes.

Jenny showed that animals can be similar to human beings, which was evidence that humans evolved from lower life forms and idea that no sharp distinction exists between humans and animals.