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Theoretical Psychology | Notes
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Lecture notes of 10 pages for the course Theoretical Psychology at RU (Notes per lecture)
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Theoretical PsychologyLecture 1 (3-2-2020) – from phrenology to scientific theory (Modularity):
Psychologist: Wilhelm Wundt (first psychological laboratory), William James
(integrated psychological knowledge), Mary Calkins (APA), Stanley Hall (studying
children), Helen Thompson (gender differences), Lightner Witmer (clinical
psychology), Robert Woodworth (experimental psychology)
Pre-scientific approaches
Aristotle: mental processes proceed by way of associations
- we are born without built-in mental content (tabula rasa), in contrast with
Descartes (mental abilities and knowledge are innate)
- domain specific information (modality-specific = sensory images) goes to
domain general parts of the brain (supra-model = common sense) to form
associations
Associationism (Locke): the mind is a blank slate at birth and all knowledge is
obtained via the senses (empiricism)
- Sensoristic: all mental content is sensory in nature, our senses provide the
elementary mental images
- Atomistic: these elementary sensations are the building blocks for the
construction of more complex mental contents
- Associative: this construction is done by association
Connectionism (Rumelhart, McClelland): run computer simulations to determine
whether theoretical assumptions explain existing empirical findings and to derive
precise predictions that may be tested in new experiments (modern
associationism)
Long-term potentiation: a persistent strengthening of synapses based on recent
patterns of activity that produce a long-lasting increase in signal transmission
between two neurons (consolidation)
- Law of contiguity: if two things repeatedly occur simultaneously, the presence
of one of them will remind us of the other (association)
- Hebb’s law: if two nerve cells are simultaneously stimulated for a period of
time, the synapse binding them is strengthened
Pseudo-science (lack of scientific research, difficult to test empirically):
- Physiognomy: face reflects character (halo-effect, self-fulfilling prophecy)
- Mesmerism: healing through magnetic forces (hypnosis and magnets during
treatment) confirmation bias, placebo-effect, reiki
- Mental healing: healing through correct, positive thinking mindfulness, CBT
- Spiritualism: contact with the spirits of the dead (“cold reading” asking a lot of
questions)
, Flourens VS Gall: controversy over holism VS localizationism
Flourens (holism): Aristotle & Locke also assumed this
- Horizontal faculties: domain-general functions (learning, memory, attention,
perception, will)
- Removal of brainstem (loss of vital functions), removal of cerebellum (loss of
motor coordination), removal of cerebral cortex (loss of higher mental
functions (perception & memory)) unable to find specific regions (research
with rabbits and pigeons)
Gall (localizationism):
- Vertical faculties: domain-specific functions (language, arithmetic)
- Phrenology: functions are localized in the brain, bumps on skull reflect a
faculty (when a skill is well developed)
- Broca’s discovery (left inferior frontal cortex): localization of language
production higher mental functions are localized (Broca’s aphasia:
difficulty producing words & conduction aphasia: difficulty repeating
words)
- Wernicke’s language model (left temporal cortex): localization of
language comprehension (Wernicke’s aphasia: difficulty understanding
words)
Mental chronometry: measuring the time required by mental operations to obtain
insights into the mind (Müller thought that the speed of nerve conduction could not be
measured, because it proceeds ‘infinitely fast’)
- Helmholtz: conduction of the nerve impulse takes time and can be measured
(distance of muscle contraction) experiment with frogs
- Donders’ subtraction method: determining duration of mental
processes (perception, recognition, choice, action)
- Sternberg’s additive factors method: identifying
mental stages of processing with extra variables
clarity (low VS high) & number (2 VS 4)
Psychophysics: relationship between physical quantities
and psychological experiences
- Weber: just noticeable difference forms constant ratio
(Weber’s law ΔR/R = C)
- Fechner: logarithmic relation between physical and
psychological quantities (while the physical difference is the
same, the psychological difference gets smaller)
Modularity of the mind (Fodor): the mind consists of modules
and central systems
Input systems are modules: Domain-specific, mandatory
(obligatory), limited central access, fast, informationally
encapsulated, shallow outputs (simple), fixed neural
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