History and Systems Study Guide

History and Systems of Psychology
Study Guide: Chapters 1-3

Chapter One
1. Discuss the development of modern psychology.
2. Define historiography. Explain the reasons it is difficult to fully and accurately reconstruct psychology’s past.
3. Name two contextual forces in psychology and explain how these forces have influenced psychology’s past and present.
4. Compare and contrast personalistic theory and naturalistic theory.
5. Define and provide examples of the following terms: zeitgeist and school of thought.
6. Identify the following people by providing details about their lives and research: Kenneth Clark, Mamie Clark, Eleanor Gibson, Sandra Scarr and B.F. Skinner.
7. What is the fundamental difference between the major schools of thought: structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, and humanistic psychology? Name the major proponent of each school of thought.

Chapter Two

1. What role did machines and philosophy play in the development of psychology?
2. Compare and contrast determinism and reductionism. Specifically state any similarities and differences between the two.
3. Briefly discuss the life of Charles Babbage and his fascination with machines. How did his machines influence the modern day computer and study of artificial intelligence?
4. Define empiricism and explain how empiricism is different from the doctrines of philosophy. Use examples to explain the differences.
5. What was the mind-body problem? Explain Descartes position on the mind-body interaction.
6. Define positivism and materialism in your own words. Discuss August Comte’s views on positivism.
7. Name the major British empiricists. Discuss the lives of two empiricists and their research.

Chapter 3

1. Who was David Kinnebrook and why is he an important figure in the history of psychology?
2. Define extirpation, clinical method, and electrical stimulation. Name the person associated with each term and explain how that person used the term in his research.
3. Who is Franz Josef Gall and why was his work at one time considered important, but later discredited in the scientific world?
4. Germany played a prominent role in the advancement of psychology as an independent field of study. Explain why Germany was so important to psychology.
5. Discuss similarities between Ernst Weber and Gustav Theodor Fechner’s research.
6. Explain the reason(s) Hermann von Helmholtz was one of the greatest scientists of the nineteenth century.