Term
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Definition
Personalistic View -History is shaped by individuals ("great person" theory)
Naturalistic View - The times (Zeitgeist) and environment shape discoveries; if one person didn't do it, someone else would.
Nativist - Knowledge is inborn (Plato, Descartes)
Empiricist - Knowledge comes from experience (Locke, Aristotle) |
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| Why Study History of Psychology |
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Definition
-Understand where ideas came from and how they evolved
-See psychology's shift from philosophy to science
-Appreciate diversity of approaches and schools of thoughts |
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Term
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Definition
-Psychology became a science when it began using systematic observation, measurement, and experimentation.
-Often dated to 1879 when Wundt established the first psychology lab. |
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| Philosophy's Influence on Psychology |
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Definition
-Ancient philosophers asked psychological questions (e.g., What is the mind: How do we learn?).
-Aristotle believed in the tabula rasa (blank slate); experience froms knowledge.
John Locke - Expanded on this idea; all knowledge comes through the senses (empiricism).
John Stuart Mill - Believed psychology could be a science; promoted mental chemistry (complex ideas from simple ones).
Auguste Comte - Founder of positivism - only observable facts are meaningful
Philosophy shaped psychology's early debates on mind-body, free will, knowledge, and reality. |
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Term
| René Descartes (1596-1650) |
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Definition
-Dualism: Mind and body are separate but interact via the pineal gland.
- Believed in innate ideas (nativism).
-Important for shifting psychology toward mechanistic views of the body. |
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Term
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Definition
-gave psychology methods to measure and observe physical responses.
-Introduced experimental approach to studying the brain, senses, and behavior.
-Key Physiologists:
Gustav Fechner: Founder of psychophysics. Studied how physical stimuli relate to mental experiences.
-developed concept of the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) with Weber.
-Erst Weber: Noted that the JND is a constant ratio (Weber's Law).
-Friedrich Bessel: Found reaction time differences among astronomers, showed that human perception can be measured.
-Max Weber: Often confused with Ernst Weber; a sociologist known for work on bureaucracy and social theory, not psychophysics. |
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Term
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Definition
-Showed that classical conditioning doesn't always follow the same rules.
-Famous for taste aversion learning in rats.
-Proved that some associations are biologically prepared, challenged behaviorist views. |
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Term
| Methods of Collecting Historical Data |
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Definition
-Primary sources: Original writings, letters, lab notes.
-Secondary sources: Textbooks, biographies.
-Challenges include missing data, biased sources, and translation issues. |
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Term
| Emergence of a School of Thought |
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Definition
-A school of thought forms when a group shares:
.a common theory
.methods
.a leader or founder
-early schools: structuralism, Functionalism, behaviorism, Gestalt, Psychoanalysis, Humanistic, Cognitive. |
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Term
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Definition
.Psychology used in real-world settings (education, business, military, therapy).
.Grew during and after WWI & WWII with testing, training, and clinical roles.
.Helped psychology gain public relevance and funding. |
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Term
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Definition
| History shaped by individual contributions (e.g., "great man" theory) |
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Term
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Definition
| History shaped by Zeitgeist (spirit of the times), not just individuals |
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Definition
| believed in dualism (mind & body separate); mind located in pineal gland |
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Definition
| Empiricist; believed the mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) |
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Definition
| Founder of psychophysics; studied JNDs (how we detect sensory differences) |
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Term
| Just Noticeable Differences (JND) |
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Definition
| The smallest differences in stimulus intensity that a person can detect |
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Definition
| Founded first psychology lab (1879); psychology becomes a science |
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Definition
| believed psychology could be scientific; developed idea of mental chemistry |
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Definition
| Discovered taste aversion learning; proved some associations are biologically built-in |
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Term
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Definition
| Psychology used in real-world settings like education, military, or business |
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Term
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Definition
| original documents (journals, letters, lab notes) |
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Term
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Definition
| Summaries or analyses written later (textbooks, biorgraphies) |
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