Summary PSYC331 - Lecture 2 Detailed complete notes

PSYC331 - Lecture 2 William James Answer- Starts the first psychology laboratory at Harvard University. 1st psychologist - Mainly studies sensation, perception and emotion. Kurt Lewin Answer- Becomes Director of 'Center for Group Dynamics' at MIT. 1st social psychologist - Widely recognized as the first social psychologist to use an experimental approach to study issues related to group dynamics and on the impact of one's social environment on individual behavior. Phrenology Answer- Popular scientific fad in the early 19th century that believed skull shape was a reliable predictor of psychological traits. William McDougall Answer- Wrote one of the first textbooks on social psychology (1908). - put forth scientifically racist ideas - identified a number of psychological qualities associated with "superior" groups, such as curiosity, introversion, and self-assertion. He argued "Nordic" races were more likely to possess these traits. - argued that Black people were inherently submissive, which made it appropriate for them to be subjected to a lower status in society Johnson-Reed Act Answer- some groups of people were less hard-working, so those people should be kept out of our country - Imposed a quota of immigrants for countries outside of the Western Hemisphere (~80% reduction), while barring all immigrants from Asia. - Disproportionately favored immigrants from Northern and Western Europe. Social Darwinism Answer- Existing disparities were then justified as reflecting innate differences between more and less worthy groups. - Aside from being wrong from an evolutionary standpoint (evolution selects at the individual level, not the group level), this is also an example of the naturalistic fallacy Herbert Spencer Answer- Creator of the term "survival of the fittest".