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PSYCH 240 Exam 1 Questions and Correct
Answers/ Latest Update / Already Graded
What is Cognitive Psychology?
Ans: The scientific study of the human mind. The study of
structures and processes of the mind and brain that take in,
transform, and use information.
Challenge of Cognitive psychology
Ans: The mind is unobservable. You cannot observe a mind.
You can observe the stimulus and the products. "The mind is
like a black box"
What cognitive psychologists can observe:
Ans: Products, output of the mind: behavior, physiology.
Three precursors to cognitive psychology
Ans: Introspectionism (Structuralism), Behaviorism,
Functionalism
Introspectionism (Structuralism)
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Ans: Means to look inward. To understand the mind, look
inside and see the contents of the mind. What are the
structures inside the mind that we can observe by looking
inward and thinking about we experience.
Wilhelm Wundt
Ans: German who originated the school of psychology of
Introspectionism (Structuralism)
Edward Tichener
Ans: (1896) Student of Wilhelm Wundt. (Introspectionist)
cataloged 42,415 sensations.
Key problem with Introspectionism
Ans: It isn't really like empirical science like modern science.
Difficult to verify objectively. Introspection by definition deal
with private events.. You observe the end product and NOT the
process itself. Hard to come up with a good detailed
understanding of what's going on in the mind.
Functionalism
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Ans: A reaction to structuralism (introspectionism) Result of
people being dissatisfied with structuralism. Natural evolution..
Arguing for scientific study of mind using biology and
physiology. Mind is evolved. Theres a reason why the mind does
its things. What is the purpose of the mind. How are we using
it? What can it accomplish.
William James
Ans: (1842-1910). Leader of functionalism movement. First
person to distinguish between STM and LTM.
John Dewey
Ans: Leader of Pragmatist school. Subset of Fundamentalism.
Pragmatism
Ans: Put knowledge to use. Applied psychology. EDUCATION.
Developing a practical use in the methods and ways of thinking
of functionalist psychology. attribute of accepting the facts of
life and favoring practicality and literal truth
Progressive Education
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Ans: Ideas and practices with the objective to make school
teachings more effective for a democratic society.
Behaviorism
Ans: Science of understanding behavior. Forget mind, mental
processes. Trying to understand behavior. An approach to
psychology that emphasizes observable measurable behavior.
Dominant school of thought for the 20th century. Emphasis on
what can be directly observed. Thirsty = "water deprived"
operationally.
Ivan Pavlov
Ans: Behaviorist. Discovered classical conditioning.
John Watson
Ans: Pioneer of developing behaviorism. Systematic way of
approaching psychology through behaviorist perspective.
Behavior is all you need. You can understand between stimuli
and responses (even complicated behaviors). Thinking is
subvocal speech. founder of infomercials.
B.F. Skinner
All rights reserved © 2025/ 2026 |
PSYCH 240 Exam 1 Questions and Correct
Answers/ Latest Update / Already Graded
What is Cognitive Psychology?
Ans: The scientific study of the human mind. The study of
structures and processes of the mind and brain that take in,
transform, and use information.
Challenge of Cognitive psychology
Ans: The mind is unobservable. You cannot observe a mind.
You can observe the stimulus and the products. "The mind is
like a black box"
What cognitive psychologists can observe:
Ans: Products, output of the mind: behavior, physiology.
Three precursors to cognitive psychology
Ans: Introspectionism (Structuralism), Behaviorism,
Functionalism
Introspectionism (Structuralism)
All rights reserved © 2025/ 2026 |
, Page |2
Ans: Means to look inward. To understand the mind, look
inside and see the contents of the mind. What are the
structures inside the mind that we can observe by looking
inward and thinking about we experience.
Wilhelm Wundt
Ans: German who originated the school of psychology of
Introspectionism (Structuralism)
Edward Tichener
Ans: (1896) Student of Wilhelm Wundt. (Introspectionist)
cataloged 42,415 sensations.
Key problem with Introspectionism
Ans: It isn't really like empirical science like modern science.
Difficult to verify objectively. Introspection by definition deal
with private events.. You observe the end product and NOT the
process itself. Hard to come up with a good detailed
understanding of what's going on in the mind.
Functionalism
All rights reserved © 2025/ 2026 |
, Page |3
Ans: A reaction to structuralism (introspectionism) Result of
people being dissatisfied with structuralism. Natural evolution..
Arguing for scientific study of mind using biology and
physiology. Mind is evolved. Theres a reason why the mind does
its things. What is the purpose of the mind. How are we using
it? What can it accomplish.
William James
Ans: (1842-1910). Leader of functionalism movement. First
person to distinguish between STM and LTM.
John Dewey
Ans: Leader of Pragmatist school. Subset of Fundamentalism.
Pragmatism
Ans: Put knowledge to use. Applied psychology. EDUCATION.
Developing a practical use in the methods and ways of thinking
of functionalist psychology. attribute of accepting the facts of
life and favoring practicality and literal truth
Progressive Education
All rights reserved © 2025/ 2026 |
, Page |4
Ans: Ideas and practices with the objective to make school
teachings more effective for a democratic society.
Behaviorism
Ans: Science of understanding behavior. Forget mind, mental
processes. Trying to understand behavior. An approach to
psychology that emphasizes observable measurable behavior.
Dominant school of thought for the 20th century. Emphasis on
what can be directly observed. Thirsty = "water deprived"
operationally.
Ivan Pavlov
Ans: Behaviorist. Discovered classical conditioning.
John Watson
Ans: Pioneer of developing behaviorism. Systematic way of
approaching psychology through behaviorist perspective.
Behavior is all you need. You can understand between stimuli
and responses (even complicated behaviors). Thinking is
subvocal speech. founder of infomercials.
B.F. Skinner
All rights reserved © 2025/ 2026 |
