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Summary History of Psychology MCQ
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Summary on module History of Psychology, course Psychology. The notes are summarised in preparation for an end of semester MCQ test. I passed the test with 1st (A+).
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MCQ HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGYWhat are philosophy’s 4 eras? Ancient, mediaeval, early modern, ‘current’
What is epistemology? The theory of knowledge (and of rationality)
What is empiricism? Name 3 empiricists. The theory of knowledge that has it that all
knowledge comes to us through the senses – through experience, empirically, a posteriori.
Locke, Berkeley, Hume
What is rationalism? Name 3 rationalists. The theory of knowledge that has it that at least
much knowledge comes to us through pure reason alone (a priori – not requiring experience
or the senses – or ‘prior to experience’). Descartes, Leibnitz, Spinoza
What is philosophical scepticism? The idea that knowledge is impossible because it is
possible to doubt everything
What is the Cogito? The idea from Descartes that at least one thing can be known with
certainty: my own existence - ‘I think therefore I am’ - the idea that it is self-refuting to doubt
my self, my own existence, as I am the doubter who is doing the doubting.
In a nutshell, what is Hume's theory of the self? The bundle theory – that there isn’t a
substantial self, there is just a bundle of particular, individual impressions, ideas, beliefs,
perceptions, memories, each varying over time.
What is dualism? The idea that there are two separate things: mind and matter
What is the deus ex machina view of the mind? That there is a ‘ghost in the machine’ –
that the mechanism that is the body is animated by a non material mind (self, soul).
What is interactionism? Why is it regarded as a problematical position to take? That
mind and body interact causally. Problematic because if they interact causally why not say
there’s just the one, material, realm – or put another way, is the mind breaking the laws of
conservation of mass-energy every time we act or think or speak?
,What problem did Leibniz invoke the '2 clocks' analogy to help him to solve? The
problem of mind-body interaction – how can the mental and the physical realm keep in synch
if there isn’t causal interaction between these?
What does the epiphenomenalist say mind is? A by-product of the physical world;
something physically caused but not capable of causing anything itself.
What is reductionism? Name 2 varieties. Everything reduces to something simpler.
Physical/physiological reductionism reduces states of mind to neurophysiology; behavioural
reductionism reduces states of mind to behaviour.
What is monism? Name 2 varieties. That there is only one thing mind or matter. That there
is only mind=idealism; That there is only matter = materialism
What is philosophical idealism? That there is only mind=idealism
What is panpsychism? That mind and matter are two aspects or perspectives on the same
underlying reality.
1. What is a JND? (What does it mean, not just what does it stand for). The Just
Noticeable Difference – the minimum change in stimulus intensity for a participant to
notice the stimulus has changed.
2. Imagine we increase a stimulus in units of physical magnitude (this stimulus could be
sound as a physical intensity, or light as energy (candlepowers), or the number of
grains of sugar in a cup of tea). How does our perceived, conscious, sensory
experience – of sound, light, sweetness – change as a result? Draw the shape you
predict as a line on the graph, below.
3. What is the absolute threshold? The difference between sensing something and
sensing nothing How, in terms of methods, would you discover this for, say, sound?
METHOD OF CONSTANT STIMULI – most accurate, slowest. Experimenter randomly
presents stimuli at various levels above and below the absolute threshold until this is
precisely determined.
METHOD OF LIMITS (ascending). Experimenter goes up from below threshold increasing
the physical intensity until the participant detects this. Method of limits (descending).
Experimenter goes down from above threshold decreasing the physical intensity until the
participant ceases to detect this.
, METHOD OF ADJUSTMENT – least accurate, fastest. As for Method of Limits except that
the participant has control of the dial used to present the stimulus.
‘Staircase’ techniques may be applied to the METHOD OF LIMITS – whereby apparently
random changes in intensity are occurring though in fact the stimulus is ascending and
descending according to a clever pre-set pattern.
4. What is the difference threshold? The minimum increase or decrease needed to
establish a difference in sensation (for weight, light, etc). How, in terms of methods,
would you discover this for, say, weight? (Just give a simple example). You’d have a
standard, and a comparison weight, and you’d lift one, then the other, to see which is
heavier or lighter or the same.
5. Weber's law says: d/D = a constant, K, for each subject and sense modality, across all
values of D. Here, D is the magnitude of the original (comparison) stimulus, and d is
the increase needed for a JND. For salt, the Weber constant K is 1/3. You have a litre
of soup that needs to be just a bit saltier to taste right. It has one gram of salt in it at
the moment.
5.1 How much more salt should you add? 1/3 of a gram
5.2 Suppose you have a three litre pot of the same soup, with three grams of salt in it.
How much salt do you need to add for this to taste just a bit saltier? 1 gram
6. What is ‘dark light’? The experience of some light even in complete darkness – due to
occipital cortex neuronal firing even without sensory stimulation (Fechner’s ‘inner
psychophysics’).
7. Fechner’s Law is S = K.log P What does each part of this law stand for?
S: conscious sensation. Log P: logarithm of the stimulus intensity in physical units. K:
Weber constant for that sense modality (weight, light, sound, etc.)
8. What was Fechner’s philosophy of mind called? Panpsychism. What is this
philosophy of mind? Mind and matter are two aspects of the same underlying reality.
9. Fechner talked of a Tagansicht (‘day view’) and a Nachtnsicht (‘night view’) as found
in the philosophy/psychology of his day. What was he referring to with these terms?
Tagansicht: any ‘mentalist’ philosophy or psychology – that is, one which
acknowledged consciousness, the mind, the subjective view.
Nachtansicht: 19th Century Materialism.
1. Who was the first phrenologist? Franz Joseph Gall And what is phrenology? The
pseudoscience of reading character from bumps on the cranium
2. i) Who famously opposed phrenology with his talk of action commune? Pierre
Flourens ii) And what is action commune? Holistic (distributed) effects in
neuropsychology iii) How does it differ from action propre? action propre is the
specific, localised, function of a part of the brain
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