Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
86 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
What began to happen in Germany in the late 19th century? |
Experimental physiology was further combining with philosophical inquiry to create a new "experimental psychology" |
|
|
Why was Europe (especially Germany) an attractive place to study in the 1800's? |
Circumstances in Germany were quite conducive to the development of a new, more scientific approach to psychology |
|
|
Germany had a distinct philosophy of education known as what and originating where? |
Wissenschaft - roughly meaning "scientific"
University of Berlin |
|
|
This academic culture of Wissenschaft encouraged students to what?
And a freedom for professors to...?
A freedom for students to...? |
Take the scientific approach to the study of nature
Professors could pursue research without political censure
Students could move freely from institutions |
|
|
What reinforced the advantage of the scientific method and Wissenschaft? |
The success of those studying the nervous system |
|
|
What was the "question of the day" in 19th century Germany? |
Why couldnt the methods used by physiologists involving measurement, reliability, and controllability applied to the NS also be applied to other human behaviours?
i.e. Why couldn't we use a more scientific approach to studying behaviour and the mind like we study the human body? |
|
|
What did "physiological" come to mean in 19th century Germany? (1 word) |
Experimental |
|
|
A physiological psychology (coined by Wilhelm Wundt) meant it was based on what? |
Experimental Methodologies |
|
|
Physiological research naturally turned into scientific research in psychology which developed into...? |
Psychophysics |
|
|
What is psychophysics? |
Study of relation between the perception of a stimulus event ("psycho") and the physical dimensions of the stimulus being perceived ("physics") |
|
|
Study of psychophysics originated where? (whos lab and what university?) |
Ernest Weber's sensory research lab at the University of Leipzig |
|
|
Weber's two major contributions to psychology: |
Mapping relative sensitivity of skin
Weber's Law: Demonstrating a mathematical relationship between psychological experience and physical phenomena t |
|
|
What is the two-point threshold? |
The point where our perception changes from feeling one to two distinct points, more sensitive areas (ex. thumb) have a smaller two point threshold than larger ones (ex. back) |
|
|
Weber's second contribution focused on "muscle sense" which is also known as? |
Kinesthesis |
|
|
Weber found that you could make finer discrimination of weights by lifting them or placing them in your hand while resting hand on table? And why? |
Lifting them because lifting them uses our muscles to a greater extent |
|
|
Our ability to judge the difference of two weights is based on what? |
A proportional relationship between two weights - "Just Noticeable Difference" / "Standard Stimulus" |
|
|
JND is...? An thought of by who? |
The just noticeable difference between two weights - the threshold between not being able to discern two weights to being able to tell which is heavier / lighter
Weber |
|
|
Standard Stimulus (S) is...? And thought of by who? |
The smaller of the two weights
Weber |
|
|
The point of Weber's law relative to psychology is...? |
Weber was subjecting human sensations to measurement and mathematical formulations - Weber's experiments would eventually make psychophysics a key element of Wilhelm Wundt's new psychology |
|
|
Weber's methods eventually became known as...? |
psychophysical |
|
|
Gustav Fechner (who came after Wundt) had the goal to? |
Use physcophysics to tackle the mind-body problem to counter materialism |
|
|
Materialism posits what? |
That physical matter is the only reality, all living things can be reduced to base components that can be understood using scientific method |
|
|
Gustav wanted contemporary German intellectual thought to move towards what idea? |
Universe has its own form of consciousness |
|
|
Feschner thought that upon death a persons consciousness...? |
Merges with larger cosmic consciousness aka "naturalphilosophie" |
|
|
Fechner could not rationalize materialism because of what? |
Complex consciousness appears to allow for things like free will |
|
|
Naturalphilosophie was a reply to Kantian notions, which are? |
Psychology can never be a true science because we cannot apply the scientific method to subjective experience |
|
|
Fechner thought what about psychological sensations and the physical stimuli that produced them? |
They could be conceptualized harmoniously with mathematical precision by measuring them |
|
|
The result of Gustavs work was? |
A more legit field of psychophysics that could be defined as an exact theory about the functional relationships between body and soul |
|
|
The first major book about experimental psychology was? |
Elements of Psychophysics |
|
|
What is similar between Fechner and Weber? |
Weber and Fechner thought they were doing the same thing, but they didnt have the same philosophy on consciousness |
|
|
Why is Fechner a bastard? |
He takes Weber's law and refers to it as Fechner's law. What a bitch. |
|
|
What was Fechner's breakthrough? |
His conviction that our sensations of physical stimuli could be subjected to measurement.
Difference in weight of 30 and 33 grams same as 60 and 66 grams. These differences are subjectively equal. |
|
|
Fechner demonstrated that a purely psychological phenomenon could be what? |
Quantified and mathematically related to other physical variables to obey the laws of nature |
|
|
In the 19th century, susceptibilty to mathematical expression was regarded as an index of... |
A fields status of being "scientific" |
|
|
What is the absolute threshold? And who thought of it? |
A point where sensation was first noticed
Fechner |
|
|
What is the difference threshold and who thought of it? |
Discernible differences in intensity of a stimulus after its absolute threshold |
|
|
If you believed the argument that "founders are promoters" then who is the founder of experimental psychology? |
Wilhelm Wundt |
|
|
Who did Wundt work with for six years and what was the name of the book he wrote while doing so? |
Helmholtz; Contributions to a Theory of Sensory Perception |
|
|
What did Wundt call for in his book "principles of physiological psychology?" |
The scientific examination of the human conscious experience using methods borrowed from experimental psychology, supplemented with new strategies |
|
|
Wundt's "new psychology" included 2 major programs: |
Examination of immediate conscious experience using experimental methods of the laboratory
The study of higher mental processes using non-laboratory methods |
|
|
What two kind of experiences did Wundt contrast between? And which one did he focus on? |
Immediate vs mediate, focused on immediate |
|
|
According to Wundt, immediate experience is? |
An immediate conscious experience, experiencing something first hand |
|
|
What is mediate conscious experience? |
Experiencing something through a scientific instrument |
|
|
What was the fundamental problem Wundt found with studying immediate conscious experience? |
Describing immediate experience is purely subjective |
|
|
Wundt made a distinction between self observation and internal perception, which are? |
Attempts to analyze experiences in life through introspective reflection |
|
|
What is wrong with memory so what did Wundt do? |
Memory can be unreliable and faulty so Wundt relied on the more immediate "internal perception" |
|
|
In Wundt's lab, introspective responses were limited to what? |
Size, intensity, and duration of physical stimuli |
|
|
Wundt wanted to study other processes outside the lab, like? |
Learning, language, and effects of culture |
|
|
How might we study learning, language, and culture? (3) |
Observational techniques Cross cultural comparisons Comparing case studies |
|
|
What did Wundt start to begin sharing his findings? |
By creating the "Philosophical studies" journal in 1881 |
|
|
What was the general breakdown of research in Wundt's lab? |
Half on sensation and perception
Remaining half on RT, attention, feeling, association |
|
|
What did wissenshcaft do? |
Create a zeitgeist of scholarly freedom conducive to the creation of scientifically based examination of psychological phenomena |
|
|
Ebbinghaus was a philosopher familiar with what two modes of thinking? |
Associationists and empiricists |
|
|
What do empiricists and associationists think? |
The truth is known via our senses
The mind understands the world through assocations between concepts we've learned in our life time |
|
|
In the 1880's Ebbinghaus wrote: |
Memory: a contribution to experimental psychology - which includes results that are still printed in books today |
|
|
Ebbinghaus figured out what regarding memory? |
Studying the initial information of associations required material you did not already know, or else how fast you learn it is affected |
|
|
Ebbinghaus created what to research what kind of learning? |
Nonsense syllables to research serial learning |
|
|
What is serial learning? |
When people can correctly recall / reproduce a set of stimuli in the exact order or initial representation |
|
|
What was considered "learned" for a list of nonsense Ebbinghaus syllables |
repeat the list without hesitation or mistakes |
|
|
What was the problem with Ebbinghaus' experiment on memory? |
He was the only subject |
|
|
He showed that it takes longer to learn what? |
Longer lists (duh) |
|
|
He also found what regarding learning a list over multiple days and types of practice? |
Success in re-learning a list a day later was proportional to the number of original repetitions |
|
|
What is distribution of practice? |
Ebbinghaus theory; states that memory performance increased if studies were spread over time, rather than cramming |
|
|
Difference between Muller and Wundt |
Muller spent a ton of time in his lab, Wundt did not |
|
|
Muller did not create too much new work, instead he? |
Systematically replicated others work like Fechners on psychophysics and Ebbinghaus' work on memory |
|
|
Muller added what to his research studies that was lacking on Ebbinghaus'? |
The notion of introspection
i.e. allowed to report their experience of doing the memory test |
|
|
Participants in Muller's lab reported what when asked about the memory tests? |
They engaged in a number of active strategies to learn the lists of nonsense syllables |
|
|
Muller found out what about learning multiple lists? |
The second list interferes with the first aka "retroactive inhibition" |
|
|
What is interference theory? |
Stored memory is typically intact but sometimes is unable to be retrieved because of competition from newly acquired information |
|
|
What is Jost's law ( a student of Muller's) |
If two lists are known equally further practice will strengthen the older one one more |
|
|
Muller also invented what to assist him with the memory tests? |
The memory drum (spinning wheel that presented stimuli) |
|
|
Muller was nice to the ladies how? |
Let them study at his lab. It's widely speculated that the reason for this was solely to wheel mad pscyh bitches. |
|
|
Who studied in Mullers lab and |
Oswald Kulpe |
|
|
How did Wundt and Kulpe differ? |
Wundt declared higher mental processes like thinking, language, and memory should be researched but not in a lab |
|
|
What is the argument that Wundt proposed as to why higher mental processes shouldn't be measured in lab? |
Individual differences relating to personality, culture, socialization, have impact done in a lab because these factors cannot be well controlled |
|
|
Wundt thought the lab should be reserved for: |
Researching psychological topics like sensation and perception |
|
|
Kulpe challenged Wundt how? |
bu studying thought processes in the lab, and by elaborating on Wundt's procedures concerning introspection |
|
|
What is "systematic experimental introspection"? |
Participants in a study would experience events and then were asked to give a full description of the processes involved |
|
|
To deal with the problem of a ten second experience taking ten minutes to describe Kulpe developed a procedure called...? and was what? |
Fractionation; which separated a task into many components |
|
|
Fractionation broke down word association experiments into what four steps? Also, what was this method called? |
Preparation of experiment
Appearance of stimuli word
Mental search for reaction word
Mental cropping up of reaction word and saying it out loud
Wurzberg method |
|
|
Wundt did what with any results from Wurzberg method? |
Dismissed them as he believed they were nothing but unsystematic self observation |
|
|
What were the results of the study using Wurzburg method on RT using addition and subtraction? |
RT was same but instruction beforehand to add or subtract numbers created a "mental set" where they didn't even think about it just did it automatically |
|
|
According to Titchener, a close analysis of thought processes would reveal that essential element of all thinking is? |
An image, there was no thinking without creating images |
|
|
Judgements concerning weight comparison were denied by Wurzburg method as being "blank" |
image-less thoughts |
|
|
What are "conscious attitudes" |
Mental processes that participants in Kulpe's lab reported feeling before the judgement (ex. hesitation, doubt, vacillation) |
|
|
What about Kulpe's work was a major blow to Titchener? |
Potential existence of imageless thoughts, mental set, conscious attitudes
If some thoughts exist without images then not all thinking can be reduced to basic elements
Raised questions about validity of introspection
Paved way for other movements in psychology
|
