Introduction to psychology summary
Pre- masters psychology
In the exam we assess your knowledge of the content of chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15.
The exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions (four choice options) equally distributed across the
chapters (i.e., 4 to 5 questions per chapter). Topics in the exam appear in random order.
There is only one best answer per question. Each correct answer is rewarded 1 point. Since it is a
multiple choice test we have to correct for guessing. Caesura is set at 33 correct out of the 50
questions.
1
, Chapter 1 - the science of psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Behavior includes all of our outward or overt actions and reactions, such as talking, facial expressions,
and movement. The term mental processes refers to all the internal, covert (hidden) activity of our
minds, such as thinking, feeling, and remembering. Why “scientific”? To study behavior and mental
processes in both animals and humans, researchers must observe them. Whenever a human being
observes anyone or anything, there’s always a possibility that the observer will see only what he or she
expects to see. Psychologists don’t want to let these possible biases* cause them to make faulty
observations. They want to be precise and to measure as carefully as they can—so they use a
systematic**
Chapter 1.1 In the Beginning: Wundt, Titchener, and James
1.1 Describe the contributions of some of the early pioneers in psychology.
Gustav Fechner is often credited with performing some of the first scientific experiments that would
form a basis for experimentation in psychology with his studies of perception (Fechner, 1860),.
physician Hermann von Helmholtz (von Helmholtz, 1852, 1863) performed groundbreaking
experiments in visual and auditory percept.
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt: Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. physiologist, attempted to apply scientific principles to
the study of the human mind. In his laboratory, students from around the world were taught to study
the structure of the human mind. Wundt believed that consciousness (the state of being aware of
external events) could be broken down into: thoughts, experiences, emotions, and other basic
elements.
Objective introspection: the process of examining and measuring one’s own thoughts and mental
activities
Example: Wundt might place an object, such as a rock, in a student’s hand and have the student tell
him everything that he was feeling as a result of having the rock in his hand—all the sensations
stimulated by the rock.
Objectivity: was—and is—important because scientists need to remain unbiased. Observations need
to be clear and precise but unaffected by the individual observer’s beliefs and values.
This was really the first attempt by anyone to bring objectivity and measurement to the concept of
psychology. This attention to objectivity, together with the establishment of the first true experimental
laboratory in psychology, is why Wundt is known as the father of psychology.
2
, Edward Titchener (1867–1927)
One of Wundt’s students. Titchener expanded on Wundt’s original ideas, calling his new viewpoint
structuralism because the focus of study was the structure of the mind. He believed that every
experience could be broken down into its individual emotions and sensations.
Although Titchener agreed with Wundt that consciousness could be broken down into its basic
elements, Titchener also believed that objective introspection could be used on thoughts as well as on
physical sensations
Structuralism: early perspective in psychology associated with Wilhelm Wundt and Edward
Titchener, in which the focus of study is the structure or basic elements of the mind. Structuralism was
a dominant force in the early days of psychology, but it eventually died out in the early 1900s.
William James (1842–1910)
James began teaching anatomy and physiology, but as his interest in psychology developed, he started
teaching it almost exclusively. Unlike Wundt and Titchener, James was more interested in the
importance of consciousness to everyday life than just its analysis. He believed that the scientific study
of consciousness itself was not yet possible.
nstead, James focused on how the mind allows people to function in the real world— how people
work, play, and adapt to their surroundings, a viewpoint he called functionalism.
Functionalism: early perspective in psychology associated with William James, in which the focus of
study is how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work, and play.
In the new field of psychology, functionalism offered an alternative viewpoint to structuralism. But
like so many of psychology’s early ideas, it is no longer a major perspective. Instead, one can find
elements of functionalism in the modern fields of educational psychology (studying the application of
psychological concepts to education) and industrial/organizational psychology (studying the
application of psychological concepts to businesses, organizations, and industry), as well as other
areas in psychology.
Book summary;
• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
• In 1879, psychology began as a science of its own in Germany with the establishment of Wundt’s
psychology laboratory. He developed the technique of objective introspection.
• Titchener, a student of Wundt, brought psychology in the form of structuralism to America.
Structuralism died out in the early twentieth century.
• William James proposed a countering point of view called functionalism, which stressed the way the
mind allows us to adapt.
• Functionalism influenced the modern fields of educational psychology, evolutionary psychology, and
industrial/organizational psychology.
• Many of psychology’s early pioneers were minorities such as Hispanic and African Americans who,
despite prejudice and racism, made important contributions to the study of human and animal behavior
3
, 1.2 Summarize the basic ideas and the important people behind the early approaches known as
Gestalt, psychoanalysis, and behaviourism.
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY: THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS
Max Wertheimer, like James, objected to the structuralist point of view, but for different reasons.
Wertheimer believed that psychological events such as perceiving and sensing could not be broken
down into any smaller elements and still be properly understood.
For example, you can take a smartphone apart, but then you no longer have a smartphone—you
have a pile of unconnected bits and pieces.
*perceiving: becoming aware of something through the senses.
*sensing: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, or smelling something
Wertheimer and others believed that people naturally seek out patterns (“wholes”) in
the sensory information available to them. Wertheimer and others devoted their efforts
to studying sensation and perception in this new perspective, Gestalt psychology.
Gestalt) is a German word meaning “an organized whole” or “configuration,” which fit
well with the focus on studying whole patterns rather than small pieces of them.
Gestalt psychology: early perspective in psychology focusing on perception and sensation,
particularly the perception of patterns and whole figures
Sigmund Freud
Freud was a neurologist, a medical doctor who specializes in disorders of the nervous system; he and
his colleagues had long sought a way to understand the patients who were coming to them for help.
Freud’s patients suffered from nervous disorders for which he and other doctors could find no physical
cause. Therefore, it was thought, the cause must be in the mind, and that is where Freud began to
explore. He proposed that there is an unconscious (unaware) mind into which we push, or repress, all
of our threatening urges and desires. He believed that these repressed urges, in trying to surface,
created the nervous disorders in his patients. Some of his well-known followers were Alfred Adler,
Carl Jung, Karen Horney, and his own daughter, Anna Freud.
Freudian psychoanalysis, the theory and therapy based on Freud’s ideas, has been the basis of much
modern psychotherapy (a process in which a trained psychological professional helps a person gain
insight into and change his or her behavior), but another major and competing viewpoint has actually
been more influential in the field of psychology as a whole.
Freud believed that all behavior stems from unconscious motivation. Freud had stated that a phobia, an
irrational fear, is really a symptom of an underlying, repressed conflict and cannot be “cured” without
years of psychoanalysis to uncover and understand the repressed material.
Psychoanalysis an insight therapy based on the theory of Freud, emphasizing the revealing of
unconscious conflicts; Freud’s term for both the theory of personality and the therapy based on it.
4
Pre- masters psychology
In the exam we assess your knowledge of the content of chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15.
The exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions (four choice options) equally distributed across the
chapters (i.e., 4 to 5 questions per chapter). Topics in the exam appear in random order.
There is only one best answer per question. Each correct answer is rewarded 1 point. Since it is a
multiple choice test we have to correct for guessing. Caesura is set at 33 correct out of the 50
questions.
1
, Chapter 1 - the science of psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Behavior includes all of our outward or overt actions and reactions, such as talking, facial expressions,
and movement. The term mental processes refers to all the internal, covert (hidden) activity of our
minds, such as thinking, feeling, and remembering. Why “scientific”? To study behavior and mental
processes in both animals and humans, researchers must observe them. Whenever a human being
observes anyone or anything, there’s always a possibility that the observer will see only what he or she
expects to see. Psychologists don’t want to let these possible biases* cause them to make faulty
observations. They want to be precise and to measure as carefully as they can—so they use a
systematic**
Chapter 1.1 In the Beginning: Wundt, Titchener, and James
1.1 Describe the contributions of some of the early pioneers in psychology.
Gustav Fechner is often credited with performing some of the first scientific experiments that would
form a basis for experimentation in psychology with his studies of perception (Fechner, 1860),.
physician Hermann von Helmholtz (von Helmholtz, 1852, 1863) performed groundbreaking
experiments in visual and auditory percept.
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt: Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. physiologist, attempted to apply scientific principles to
the study of the human mind. In his laboratory, students from around the world were taught to study
the structure of the human mind. Wundt believed that consciousness (the state of being aware of
external events) could be broken down into: thoughts, experiences, emotions, and other basic
elements.
Objective introspection: the process of examining and measuring one’s own thoughts and mental
activities
Example: Wundt might place an object, such as a rock, in a student’s hand and have the student tell
him everything that he was feeling as a result of having the rock in his hand—all the sensations
stimulated by the rock.
Objectivity: was—and is—important because scientists need to remain unbiased. Observations need
to be clear and precise but unaffected by the individual observer’s beliefs and values.
This was really the first attempt by anyone to bring objectivity and measurement to the concept of
psychology. This attention to objectivity, together with the establishment of the first true experimental
laboratory in psychology, is why Wundt is known as the father of psychology.
2
, Edward Titchener (1867–1927)
One of Wundt’s students. Titchener expanded on Wundt’s original ideas, calling his new viewpoint
structuralism because the focus of study was the structure of the mind. He believed that every
experience could be broken down into its individual emotions and sensations.
Although Titchener agreed with Wundt that consciousness could be broken down into its basic
elements, Titchener also believed that objective introspection could be used on thoughts as well as on
physical sensations
Structuralism: early perspective in psychology associated with Wilhelm Wundt and Edward
Titchener, in which the focus of study is the structure or basic elements of the mind. Structuralism was
a dominant force in the early days of psychology, but it eventually died out in the early 1900s.
William James (1842–1910)
James began teaching anatomy and physiology, but as his interest in psychology developed, he started
teaching it almost exclusively. Unlike Wundt and Titchener, James was more interested in the
importance of consciousness to everyday life than just its analysis. He believed that the scientific study
of consciousness itself was not yet possible.
nstead, James focused on how the mind allows people to function in the real world— how people
work, play, and adapt to their surroundings, a viewpoint he called functionalism.
Functionalism: early perspective in psychology associated with William James, in which the focus of
study is how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work, and play.
In the new field of psychology, functionalism offered an alternative viewpoint to structuralism. But
like so many of psychology’s early ideas, it is no longer a major perspective. Instead, one can find
elements of functionalism in the modern fields of educational psychology (studying the application of
psychological concepts to education) and industrial/organizational psychology (studying the
application of psychological concepts to businesses, organizations, and industry), as well as other
areas in psychology.
Book summary;
• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
• In 1879, psychology began as a science of its own in Germany with the establishment of Wundt’s
psychology laboratory. He developed the technique of objective introspection.
• Titchener, a student of Wundt, brought psychology in the form of structuralism to America.
Structuralism died out in the early twentieth century.
• William James proposed a countering point of view called functionalism, which stressed the way the
mind allows us to adapt.
• Functionalism influenced the modern fields of educational psychology, evolutionary psychology, and
industrial/organizational psychology.
• Many of psychology’s early pioneers were minorities such as Hispanic and African Americans who,
despite prejudice and racism, made important contributions to the study of human and animal behavior
3
, 1.2 Summarize the basic ideas and the important people behind the early approaches known as
Gestalt, psychoanalysis, and behaviourism.
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY: THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS
Max Wertheimer, like James, objected to the structuralist point of view, but for different reasons.
Wertheimer believed that psychological events such as perceiving and sensing could not be broken
down into any smaller elements and still be properly understood.
For example, you can take a smartphone apart, but then you no longer have a smartphone—you
have a pile of unconnected bits and pieces.
*perceiving: becoming aware of something through the senses.
*sensing: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, or smelling something
Wertheimer and others believed that people naturally seek out patterns (“wholes”) in
the sensory information available to them. Wertheimer and others devoted their efforts
to studying sensation and perception in this new perspective, Gestalt psychology.
Gestalt) is a German word meaning “an organized whole” or “configuration,” which fit
well with the focus on studying whole patterns rather than small pieces of them.
Gestalt psychology: early perspective in psychology focusing on perception and sensation,
particularly the perception of patterns and whole figures
Sigmund Freud
Freud was a neurologist, a medical doctor who specializes in disorders of the nervous system; he and
his colleagues had long sought a way to understand the patients who were coming to them for help.
Freud’s patients suffered from nervous disorders for which he and other doctors could find no physical
cause. Therefore, it was thought, the cause must be in the mind, and that is where Freud began to
explore. He proposed that there is an unconscious (unaware) mind into which we push, or repress, all
of our threatening urges and desires. He believed that these repressed urges, in trying to surface,
created the nervous disorders in his patients. Some of his well-known followers were Alfred Adler,
Carl Jung, Karen Horney, and his own daughter, Anna Freud.
Freudian psychoanalysis, the theory and therapy based on Freud’s ideas, has been the basis of much
modern psychotherapy (a process in which a trained psychological professional helps a person gain
insight into and change his or her behavior), but another major and competing viewpoint has actually
been more influential in the field of psychology as a whole.
Freud believed that all behavior stems from unconscious motivation. Freud had stated that a phobia, an
irrational fear, is really a symptom of an underlying, repressed conflict and cannot be “cured” without
years of psychoanalysis to uncover and understand the repressed material.
Psychoanalysis an insight therapy based on the theory of Freud, emphasizing the revealing of
unconscious conflicts; Freud’s term for both the theory of personality and the therapy based on it.
4
