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Summary Theoretical Psychology
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Full Summary Theoretical Psychology Psychology Course Radboud University Nijmegen
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Theoretical PsychologyWilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
• First psychological laboratory: 1879 in Leipzig
• First psychological journal: philosophical studies
• 188 doctoral students
• Wrote 50,000 pages
• Challenged 2,500-year-old theory of association
Lightner Witmer (1867-1956)
• Student of Wundt
• Founder of clinical psychology
• First psychological clinic (1896)
• First journal: the psychological clinic (1907)
Mary Calkins (1863-1930)
• Student of William James
• Designed technique of paired associates (1896)
• First female president of APA (1905)
Helen Thompson (1877-1947)
• Performed first studies of gender differences (1910)
• Used experimental methods in these studies
William James (1842-1910)
• Started as painter
• Brother of Henry
• Bestseller: principles of psychology (1890)
• Integrated psychological knowledge
Robert Woodworth (1869-1962)
• Bestseller: experimental psychology (1938) (the Columbia bible)
• Still taught in his mid 80s
The “Millers”
• Johannes muller (1801-1858)
• Georg Muller (1850-1934)
• George Miller (1920-2012)
• Earl Miller (1962-)
Instruments (which is which and how are they used?)
• Noemotachograaf (reaction times)
• Puzzle box (problem-solving CATS)
• Bean machine (normal distribution)
• Chronoscope (reaction times)
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, From Phrenology to Scientific Theory
Pre-scientific approaches
• Associationism: mental processes proceed by way of associations
o Aristotle:
▪ Mind lacks content at birth Tabula rasa (blank state)
▪ Mind filled with perception that come together in domain-general
(common sense -> associations may be formed in domain-specific)
o To Locke: the enlightenment 2,000 years later
▪ Blank slate (white paper): we are born without built-in mental content
▪ Sensoristic: all mental content is sensory in nature
▪ Atomistic: these elementary sensations are building block of more
complex contents
▪ Associative: more complex contents are created by means of
association
• Aristotle: law of contiguity = basic law of associationism
o If 2 things repeatedly occur simultaneously, the presence of 1 of them will
remind us of the other
• Long-term potentiation: neuronal basis of the law of contiguity
o Hebb’s law: if 2 nerve cells are simultaneously stimulated for a period of time,
the synapse binding them is strengthened
o Long-term potentiation is a prolonged rise in the efficiency of a synapse
resulting from a change in the neuronal structure. Discovered in hippocampus
of rabbits
• Connectionism: modern form of associationism
o David Rumelhart and James McClelland
o New addition: computer simulations
• Horizontal faculties: domain-general functions
o Learning, memory, attention, perception and will work the same in different
content domain
o John Locke
• Vertical faculties: domain-specific functions
o Franz Josef Gall
o Phrenology:
▪ Functions are localized in brain
▪ Bumps on skull reflect a faculty (language, arithmetic)
▪ Double-sided
• Pseudo-science:
o Physiognomy: face reflects character
▪ Lombroso’s “criminal type”
o Mesmerism: healing through magnetic forces
▪ Hypnosis and magnets
o Mental healing: healing through correct, positive thinking
▪ Quimbly
o Spiritualism: contact with the spirits of the dead
▪ Alternative scientific explanation by James Randi: “cold reading”
• Medium gets answers from you not spirits
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