PSYC 101 - Introduction to Psychology UBC
Midterm Study Guide
CHAPTER 1
● Describe Descartes' mind-body dualism and how it relates to psychology
Descartes’ mind-body dualism relates to psychology because it encompasses both the
mind and the body. The interaction between the mental and physical substances create a
link between a person’s thought and behaviours as well as link it to their emotions
● Describe Helmholtz's contribution to psychology
Taught the world’s first psychology course and published the world's first psychology
textbook, Principles of Physiological Psychology. He was the first person to use reaction time in
an experiment. Calculated the speed of which nerves transmit information.
● Differentiate between psychology, philosophy, and physiology
Psychology: study of mind and behaviour, includes social interaction, learning, mental illnesses,
information processing and child development
Physiology: Considers the organization of the brain and body of mammals and humans
from cells to the organisms as a whole
Philosophy: ethics, knowledge, and the mind
● Describe the contributions of Wundt and Hall to the formation of psychology as
a distinct discipline
William Wundt was thought to be the father of psychology. Under his influence
psychology started to emerge as a separate discipline. He established the first psychology
laboratory. Psychology started to develop as the study of conscious experience, things that we are
aware of or conscious of using scientific method.
Hall brought psychology to America. He founded the first psychology lab and journal and
helped found the American Psychological Association (APA).
● Describe the goals of structuralism and functionalism
Structuralism: Study the basic building blocks of consciousness and analyze their relationships.
,Functionalism: Studied the adaptive significance and purpose of conscious behaviors.
● Define introspection and describe its use in psychological research
Introspection is a way of looking inside our minds and examining ours or someone’s internal
thoughts and feelings. William Wundt who thought up of introspection trained people to
carefully and objectively analyze their own thoughts and emotions in their minds,
(Wundt’s apprentice, Edward Titchener, also made use of introspection)
● Describe William James' position on structuralism
William James was against structuralism and said that people should be concerned with
understanding their own minds. He argued that our consciousness is always changing and
therefore does not have a basic structure. He also argues that structuralists are missing the point
by looking at snippets of consciousness leading them to miss the big pictures. Structuralism is
known as breaking down mental processes into the most basic components.
● Differentiate between structuralism and functionalism, in terms of the questions
asked and the methods used
Structuralism: Studied the basic components of consciousness by using introspection, trained
subjects to be more objective and asked them about their feelings towards various stimuli.
Functionalism: Studied the adaptive significance and purpose of consciousness by using more
diverse methods (introspection, measurements with instruments, objective studies of behavior,
physiology, etc)
● Identify Freud's contributions to the development of psychology
Brought the unconscious (which was controversial at the time) into the study of psychology and
studied it with the psychoanalytic approach, and invented talk therapy.
● Define behaviourism
, An approach to psychology that states scientific psychology should only study observable
behaviors, it focused on studying stimulus-response pairs.
● Describe how behaviourism differed from Wundt's conception of psychology
Wundt established psychology as the study of conscious experience (internal), while behaviorism
sought to only study observable behaviors (external).
● Describe Watson's methodological behaviourism
Watson’s methodological behaviorism focused on studying what is observable from the outside.
It did not study internal events because Watson believed only observable behaviors can be
verified and studied objectively.
● Describe B.F. Skinner's radical behaviourism
Skinner’s radical behaviorism also focused on studying what’s observable from the outside. It
did not study internal events because Skinner believed that internal things don’t matter, and
therefore there’s no need to study them empirically.
While Pavlov’s conditioning used in experiments viewed organisms as passive (the dogs in the
experiments waited to be fed), Skinner’s conditioning viewed organisms as active (the Skinner
Box required animal subjects to actively interact with something, like a lever or button).
● Describe the criticisms aimed at behaviourism and psychoanalysis by the
humanists
Critique for both: Ignored human happiness, contentment, and peace, very dehumanizing.
Critique for Behaviorism: Dehumanizing in the sense that it denies individuals’ free will and the
importance of thoughts and beliefs, and focuses on simple animalistic behaviors.
Critique for Psychoanalysis: Dehumanizing in the sense that behavior is ruled by sexual urges.
The criticisms that humansists had for behaviourism and psychoanalysis was that they
ignore positive qualities that humans have such as happiness, contentment, and peace
Midterm Study Guide
CHAPTER 1
● Describe Descartes' mind-body dualism and how it relates to psychology
Descartes’ mind-body dualism relates to psychology because it encompasses both the
mind and the body. The interaction between the mental and physical substances create a
link between a person’s thought and behaviours as well as link it to their emotions
● Describe Helmholtz's contribution to psychology
Taught the world’s first psychology course and published the world's first psychology
textbook, Principles of Physiological Psychology. He was the first person to use reaction time in
an experiment. Calculated the speed of which nerves transmit information.
● Differentiate between psychology, philosophy, and physiology
Psychology: study of mind and behaviour, includes social interaction, learning, mental illnesses,
information processing and child development
Physiology: Considers the organization of the brain and body of mammals and humans
from cells to the organisms as a whole
Philosophy: ethics, knowledge, and the mind
● Describe the contributions of Wundt and Hall to the formation of psychology as
a distinct discipline
William Wundt was thought to be the father of psychology. Under his influence
psychology started to emerge as a separate discipline. He established the first psychology
laboratory. Psychology started to develop as the study of conscious experience, things that we are
aware of or conscious of using scientific method.
Hall brought psychology to America. He founded the first psychology lab and journal and
helped found the American Psychological Association (APA).
● Describe the goals of structuralism and functionalism
Structuralism: Study the basic building blocks of consciousness and analyze their relationships.
,Functionalism: Studied the adaptive significance and purpose of conscious behaviors.
● Define introspection and describe its use in psychological research
Introspection is a way of looking inside our minds and examining ours or someone’s internal
thoughts and feelings. William Wundt who thought up of introspection trained people to
carefully and objectively analyze their own thoughts and emotions in their minds,
(Wundt’s apprentice, Edward Titchener, also made use of introspection)
● Describe William James' position on structuralism
William James was against structuralism and said that people should be concerned with
understanding their own minds. He argued that our consciousness is always changing and
therefore does not have a basic structure. He also argues that structuralists are missing the point
by looking at snippets of consciousness leading them to miss the big pictures. Structuralism is
known as breaking down mental processes into the most basic components.
● Differentiate between structuralism and functionalism, in terms of the questions
asked and the methods used
Structuralism: Studied the basic components of consciousness by using introspection, trained
subjects to be more objective and asked them about their feelings towards various stimuli.
Functionalism: Studied the adaptive significance and purpose of consciousness by using more
diverse methods (introspection, measurements with instruments, objective studies of behavior,
physiology, etc)
● Identify Freud's contributions to the development of psychology
Brought the unconscious (which was controversial at the time) into the study of psychology and
studied it with the psychoanalytic approach, and invented talk therapy.
● Define behaviourism
, An approach to psychology that states scientific psychology should only study observable
behaviors, it focused on studying stimulus-response pairs.
● Describe how behaviourism differed from Wundt's conception of psychology
Wundt established psychology as the study of conscious experience (internal), while behaviorism
sought to only study observable behaviors (external).
● Describe Watson's methodological behaviourism
Watson’s methodological behaviorism focused on studying what is observable from the outside.
It did not study internal events because Watson believed only observable behaviors can be
verified and studied objectively.
● Describe B.F. Skinner's radical behaviourism
Skinner’s radical behaviorism also focused on studying what’s observable from the outside. It
did not study internal events because Skinner believed that internal things don’t matter, and
therefore there’s no need to study them empirically.
While Pavlov’s conditioning used in experiments viewed organisms as passive (the dogs in the
experiments waited to be fed), Skinner’s conditioning viewed organisms as active (the Skinner
Box required animal subjects to actively interact with something, like a lever or button).
● Describe the criticisms aimed at behaviourism and psychoanalysis by the
humanists
Critique for both: Ignored human happiness, contentment, and peace, very dehumanizing.
Critique for Behaviorism: Dehumanizing in the sense that it denies individuals’ free will and the
importance of thoughts and beliefs, and focuses on simple animalistic behaviors.
Critique for Psychoanalysis: Dehumanizing in the sense that behavior is ruled by sexual urges.
The criticisms that humansists had for behaviourism and psychoanalysis was that they
ignore positive qualities that humans have such as happiness, contentment, and peace
