History of Psychology – Chapter 1 – Flashcards
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Mind - Active
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- A mind that transforms, interprets, understands, or values physical experience - Rationalists assume that everyone has an active mind
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Anomalies
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- Observations that cannot be explained by existing paradigms - Eventually the paradigm has to be replaced
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Determinism - Biological
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- Stresses biochemical, genetic, physiological, or anatomical causes of behaviour
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Laws - Causal
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- Laws describing causal relationships - These laws outline the conditions that have to exist in order to produce a certain result - Knowledge of causal laws allows both the prediction and control of events
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Confirmable Propositions
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Propositions which can be validated by empirical tests
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Laws - Correlational
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- Laws describing relationships between empirical events - This does not mean that the events are causally related
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Correspondence Theory of Truth
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- Scientific laws and theories are correct as they accurately mirror events in the physical world
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Determinism
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- Everything that occurs does so because of known or knowable causes - If these causes are known in advance, events can be predicted with accuracy - If the causes of an event are known, the event can be prevented, by preventing its causes - Knowledge of an event's causes allows the prediction and control of the event
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Double Aspectism
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- Bodily and mental events are inseparable because they are two aspects of every experience.
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Dualist
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- There are two aspects to humans, one physical and one mental
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Eclectic Approach
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- Taking the best from a variety of viewpoints
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Emergentism
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- Mental processes emerge from brain processes
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Empirical Observation
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- Observing what you're studying in order to understand it
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Empiricism
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- The basis of all knowledge is experience
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Determinism - Environmental
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- The type of determinism that stresses causes of behaviour external to the organism
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Epistemology
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The study of the nature of knowledge
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Paul Feyerabend
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- Science cannot be described by rules, principles, or standards. - Scientific progress occurs when scientists violate whatever rules, principles, or standards existed at the time.
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Approach - Great-Person
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- Concentrates on the prominent contributors to a topic or field
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Approach - Historical Development
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- Concentrates on an element of a field or discipline and describes how the understanding or approach to studying that element has changed over time
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Historicism
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The study of the past for its own sake, without attempting to interpret and evaluate it in terms of current knowledge and standards, as is the case with presentism
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Historiography
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The study of the proper way to write history
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Idealists
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Those who believe that ultimate reality consists of ideas or perceptions and is therefore not physical
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Determinism - Indeterminism
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The contention that even though determinism is true, attempting to measure the causes of something influences those causes, making it impossible to know them with certainty. This contention is also called Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
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Interactionism
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A proposed answer to the mind-body problem maintaining that bodily experiences influence the mind and that mind influences the body
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Irrationalism
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Any explanation of human behaviour stressing determinants that are not under rational control (eg, emphasizing importance of emotions/unconscious mechanisms)
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Thomas Kuhn
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Believed that the activities of members of a scientific community are governed by a shared set of beliefs called a paradigm. This paradigmatic, or normal, science continues until an existing paradigm is displaced by another
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Materialists
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Those who believe that everything in the universe is material (physical), including those things that others refer to as mental.
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Mechanism
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The belief that the behaviour of organisms, including humans, can be explained entirely in terms of mechanical laws
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Monists
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Those who believe that there is only one reality. Materialists are monists because they believe that only matter exists. Idealists are also monists because they believe that everything, including the material world, is the result of human consciousness and is therefore mental.
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Naive Realism
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The belief that what one experiences mentally is the same as what is present physically
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Nativist
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Anyone who believes that important human attributes such as intelligence are largely inherited
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Determinism - Nondeterminism
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The belief that human thought or behaviour is freely chosen by the individual and is therefore not caused by antecedent physical or mental events.
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Normal Science
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According to Kuhn, the research activities performed by scientists as they explore the implication of a paradigm
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Occasionalism
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The belief that the relationship between the minf and the body is mediated by God
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Paradigm
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A viewpoint shared by many scientists while exploring the subject matter of their science. A paradigm determines what constitutes legitimate problems and the methodology used in solving those problems
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Paradigmatic Stage
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According to Kuhn, the stage in the development of a science during which scientific activity is guided by a paradigm. That is, it is during this stage that normal science occurs
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Mind - Passive
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- The mind simply reflects one's experiences with the physical world - Empiricists assume that everyone has passive minds
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Determinism - Physical
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- Stresses material causes of behaviour
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Karl Popper
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- Scientific methods have 3 parts: 1) Problems 2) Proposed solutions 3) Criticisms of the proposed solutions
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Postdiction
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- An attempt to account for something after it has occurred
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Preestablished Harmony
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- Bodily events and mental events are separate but correlated because run identical courses
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Preparadigmatic Stage
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- First stage in the development of a science - Characterized by warring factions vying to define the subject and methodology
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Presentism
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- Interpreting and evaluating historical events in terms of contemporary knowledge and standards
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Principles of Falsifiability
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- For a theory to be considered scientific,it must specify the observations that, if made, would refute the theory. - To be considered scientific, a theory must make risky predictions
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Determinism - Psychical
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- The type of determinism that stresses mental causes of behaviour
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Psychophysical Parallelism
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- Experiencing something in the physical world causes bodily and mental activity simultaneously - The two activities are independent of each other
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Public Observation
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- Scientific laws must be available for any interested person to observe - Science is interested in general, empirical relationships that are publicly verifiable
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Puzzle Solving
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- Normal science is like puzzle solving - Problems worked on are specified by a paradigm, the problems have solutions, and rules must be followed to arrive at those solutions
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Rationalism
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- Knowledge can be attained only by engaging in some type of systematic mental activity
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Reification
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- The belief that abstractions for which we have names have an existence independent of their names
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Relativism
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The belief that because all experience must be filtered though individual and group perspectives, the search for universal truths that exist independently of human experience must be in vain. For the relativist, there is no one truth, only truths
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Revolutionary Stage
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-Stage of scientific development during which an existing paradigm is displaced by a new one - Once the displacement is complete, the new paradigm generates normal science and continues doing so until it too is eventually displaced
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Risky Predictions
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- Predictions derived from a scientific theory that run a real chance of showing the theory to be false
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Science
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- Systematic attempt to categorize or explain empirical observations - Popper ---} A way of rigorously testing proposed solutions to problems
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Laws - Scientific
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- Consistently observed relationship between empirical events
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Theory - Scientific
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- Proposed explanation of empirical observations - According to Popper, a proposed solution to a problem
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Determinism - Sociocultural
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- The type of environmental determinism that stresses cultural or societal rules, customs, regulations, or expectations as the causes of behaviour.
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Universalism
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- There are universal truths about ourselves and the world around us that can be discovered by using the proper methods of inquiry
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Vitalism
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- Life cannot be explained in terms of inanimate processes - Life requires a force that is more than just the material objects or inanimate processes in which it manifests itself - Life requires a vital force
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Zeitgeist
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- The spirit of the times
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Emergentism - Interactionist Form
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- Once mental states emerge, they can influence subsequent brain activity and thus behaviour
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Emergentism - Epiphenomentalist Form
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- Emergent mental states are behaviourally irrelevant
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Determinism - Types
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1) Biological 2) Environmental 3) Indeterminism 4) Nondeterminism 5) Physical 6) Psychical 7) Sociocultural
