Historical Perspectives- AP PSY

The first Lab of Psychology was found by .......... in 1879, in Germany

• Wilhelm Wundt

• John Watson

• B.F. Skinner

• Max Wertheimer

Answer explanation

Wilhelm Wundt found the first Psychology Lab. He and his student Titchener were the leaders of structuralism. (Edward Titchener is an important name but I forgot about him i the lesson)...

Structualism breaks down the experiences (like cognition or feelings) into smaller parts. Then, it studies those structures using:

• Functionalisation

• Dream Analysis

• Introspection

• Conditioning

I want to study how people feel when they "cringe". How can I study this by using introspection?

Functionalism (William James) is influenced by:

• Pavlov

• Descartes

• John Locke

• Darwin

Answer explanation

Functionalism explains the mind's functions focusing on their "survival value". According to this view, everything it does is to "keep us alive". This is also the center of Darwin's theory of Evolution.

Descartes believed that the mind (consciousness) and body (physical reality) are two different things. This view is also called

• Dualism

• Association

• Tabula Rasa

• Objectivity

Which one of the below does NOT support the ideas of "tabula rasa" and "empirical learning"

• A kid who curses a lot as he observes his parents doing it

• A kid who wants to be a doctor as she knows that the society respects doctors.

• A baby who cries as she experienced her mom coming to comfort her whenever she cries

• A kid who wants to be an enterpreneur as he is very extraverted

Which one of the below is NOT supported by the Gestalt Psychologists?

• The whole is more than the sum of it's parts

• The consciousness consists of different sub-structures, and they can be studied on their own

• The same thing can be interpreted differently in different concepts (like a laughter at a funeral vs. a laughter in a stand-up show)

• When a stimuli (a voice, an image etc. ) is given, the human mind fills in the gaps and creates different meanings

The behaviorists concentrated on the "observable behaviors". They did not study the feelings, thoughts etc. as they were not observable by our 5 senses (and thus non-scientific for them).

According to this information, which of the below CANNOT BE a topic for behaviorists?

• Learning a behavior

• Different interpretations of the same behavior

• Un-learning a behavior (learning not to do sth)

• The effect of punishment and reward on a behavior

Answer explanation

"Interpretation" is a mental process that we cannot observe. It can be very subjective. Behaviorists don't study things that are subjective or unobservable.

note on un-learning: Mary Cover-Jones did an experiment on a boy who feared rabbits (Little Peter). She presented him the rabbit from a distance, while he was given cookies. Later on, she systematically brought the rabbit closer to the kid. She continued to give Peter cookies during the whole experiment (positive stimuli). In the end, the kid could even hold the rabbit in his arms! This process of deleting a phobia in small steps is called "systematic desensitization".

Classical Conditioning (Conditioning with association) was first discovered by Ivan Pavlov. Then, John B. Watson applied it to psychology with the "Little Albert Experiment" to explain

• The formation of paralysis

• The origin of phobias

• The connection between the unconscious mind and life

• The function of fear

Answer explanation

He thought Little Albert to fear the rabbits! (Rabbit-phobia)

Sigmund Freud brought up the term "unconsciousness". According to him, things that we don't even remember can still control our everyday lives. He also believed that our unintentional acts, silly thoughts, etc. had great meaning. He studied those "unintentional things" to discover unconsciousness.

According to this information, which one of the below can be something that Freud studied?

• All of them

• Childhood Memories

• Dreams

• Misspelled words in everyday dialogues