Study Guide for Exam 1 General Psychology Prologue Ch1 Psychology as a Science Ch2 Biopsychology and Ch4 Nature Nurture Instructions Key concepts and ideas will be listed below This will cover the majority of the material that you will be tested on Most of this material will have been covered in lecture Material from the book may also appear on the exam However understand that this study guide may not contain every concept that you ll need to know for the exam and it will be necessary to review the readings and your notes A Brief History of Psychology Know the importance of these individuals to the field of psychology the direction and examples of work they produced the type of research from which they gained their knowledge in psychology and the school of thought that they founded or are associated with in psychology Mental Life 1879 1920 Wilhelm Wundt Importance in Field established the first psychology lab in Germany Direction Examples of work Promoted psychology o From his work came structuralism and functionalism Research Studies reaction time by measuring the atoms of the mind o First real lab studying psychology School of thought Introspection Mental life Edward B Titchener Importance in Field Pioneered a method called introspection o Wrote a lab manual on how to perform research o Formed a group called the experimentalists o Was interested in taking human beings apart Direction Examples of work Interested in the structural elements of the mind o Came from the Wundt lab Research Studied how people reacted to smells o Did one smell overwhelm the other Did the smells mix to form a new odor o They described their experience introspectively School of thought Structuralism William James Importance in Field Was a major force in functionalism Direction Examples of work Interested in feelings emotions and thoughts o Wrote a book on the religious experience o Compares consciousness to a flowing river o Was interested in tangible information and how people adapted to the world was influenced by Darwin physiology Research Most of his research was philosophical School of thought Functionalism o Conserved with the whole rather than the individual parts o Opposed the lab obsession of Titchener and Wundt Sigmund Freud Importance in Field Popularized the talking cure o Emphasized sexual drive and unconscious processes o Form of therapy became known as psychoanalysis Direction Examples of work Not much actual research o Formed theories from talking to his patients o Applied his thoughts on psychology towards therapy and helping people get better Research Saw patients with symptoms of hysteria School of thought Psychoanalysis Behaviorism 1920 1960 QUESTION ON QUIZ MOST POPULAR SCHOOL OF THOUGHT DURING ITS HEIGHT Stimulus a thing or event that evokes a specific functional reaction Response Any behavior in reaction to the stimulus Behaviorism John B Watson Importance in Field Studied response to stimulus Direction Examples of work thought science should be rooted in observation Research Stimulus response focus o Classical conditioning School of thought Behaviorsm B F Skinner Importance in Field Radical behaviorist o Saw everything in the world in terms of behavioristic principles o Contributed Operant conditioning Rewards and punishments Direction Examples of work Picked up the ball of behaviorism after Watson o Radical Research Operant conditioning School of thought Behaviorism Cognitive Revolution 1960 present Noam Chomsky Importance in Field Wrote book on language acquisition which countered B F Skinner s views Research Performed animal research rats and birds School of thought Cognitive revolution A lot of animal research o Rat and bird Factors that lead to the downfall of behaviorism The development of the computer compared the way computers worked to the brain Inadequate explanations for certain phenomena Chomsky s challenge to B F Skinner on language acquisition No single dominant field in psychology Be familiar with the following key concepts that have contributed to or have had important contributions in the history of psychology Know some of the different disciplines in psychology that exist today and some of the focuses of those disciplines Cognitive psychology neuroscience etc Neuroscience How the body and brain enable emotions memories and sensory experiences o Emphasizes brain modeling and imaging o Looks at how the chemical processes in your brain influence behavior o Research the effect of different drugs on behavior Evolutionary How the natural selection of traits prompted the survival of genes o Based on many of the principles of Charles Darwin o Thinks about how human physiology and behaviors have adapted for the modern world Behavior Genetics How much our genes and environment influence our individual differences Psychodynamics How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts Behavioral How we learn observable responses Cognitive How we encode process store and retrieve information o Unlocking the black box o Less of an immediate interest in applied psychology o Implications in how we remember reason think and solve problems Social Cultural How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures o The systematic study of behavior within and across cultures o At the intersection of sociology and psychology o Study relationships how people behave in groups novel situations and compares different cultures Know the source of Sigmund Freud s ideas of psychology and pathology and the shortcomings in the way he developed his ideas Freud believed that physical things had a mental psychological cause He applied his thoughts on psychology towards therapy and helping people get better Freud did his research by talking to people and saw many patients with symptoms of hysteria However he was not actually performing research and his ideas were not backed up by science Understand Titchener s views on introspection and what exactly they entailed Titchener s view in introspection entailed a person s point of view of what they experience He did this in a strict lab setting One of his experiments involved using a smelling apparatus with iodine beeswax herbs etc The subjects would them describe the experience introspectively Know how William James thought of psychology and how his approach towards psychology differed from Wundt and Titchener William James was interested in emotions feelings thoughts etc He thought that instead of crying because we are sad we are sad because
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