1. Summarize the Aristotelian doctrine of souls and contrast is with Descartes' characterization of the relationship between the soul (mind) and the body. What would you think are the differences between Aristotle's and Descartes' definitions of psyche?2. Descartes is a substance dualist. Define substance dualism and illustrate its importance in Descartes' philosophy by comparing his views on the characteristics of the physical world versus the characteristics of the mental world.
3. Discuss the extent to which Descartes' view of the physical world represents a mechanistic model of the universe.
4. Discuss the differences between actions and passions and between innate and derived ideas in Descartes' view of mind. Discuss the tension between mechanism and rationalism in Descartes' psychology by explaining which can be understood mechanically and which cannot? Why? How is the pineal gland involved?
5. Summarize Galileo's (and Locke's) distinction between the primary and the secondary qualities of experience. Why is this distinction problematical for epistemological empiricists like Locke and Hume?
6. Describe Aristotle's four types of causes and discuss how these concepts were changed by mechanistic conceptions of the physical world that emerged in the seventeenth century. What became the central notion of cause for the physical world?
7. Summarize the characteristics of mechanism as a scientific world view, and Describe its impact on conceptualizations of mind in the seventeenth century. How does a mechanist view the process of causality?
1. Discuss the dimensions along which Locke challenges Descartes' philosophy. What alternatives does he pose?2. Describe Locke's distinction between simple and complex ideas. Describe his distinction between primary and secondary qualities of experience. Use examples of each.
3. Summarize Hartley's attempt to present a reductionistic physiological account of the association of ideas.
4. Describe mental mechanism as a model for understanding mind and relate it to the general features of mechanism.
5. Describe the two "notions" or "attitudes" embodied in Leibniz' invention of the calculus, and discuss how these "notions" are reflected in his psychology. Relate them to the relative importance of mechanism versus organicism in Leibniz' approach.
6. Summarize Leibniz' position on the primary qualities of matter.
7. Describe Leibniz' theory of monads, including the characteristics and processes defining each class of monads and their hierarchical organization. What causal relation exists among different classes of monads?
8. Summarize how Leibniz conceptualized the forces that move objects in the physical world and relate them to his theory of monads.
9. Compare and contrast Leibniz' characterization of the relation between mind and body, termed psychophysical parallelism, with Descartes' characterization.
10. Compare and contrast the mechanistic features of Locke and Hume's world view with the the world view of Leibniz' monadology.
11. Compare and contrast the theories of Leibniz, Locke, Descartes and Kant on the existence of innate ideas.
12. Compare and contrast the views of Leibniz versus Locke on whether the mind is active or passive, and relate these views to their concepts of the unconscious. Include the distinction between perception, apperception and minute perception.
13. Summarize Hume's argument on the nature of necessary causality and free will. What is the source of these ideas and how are they related to one another? Are these ideas primary or secondary qualities of experience?
14. Describe the ways in which Hume's argument is based on naturalistic principles, and relate this to his philosophical empiricism.
15. Compare and contrast the empiricist aspects of Hume's position with the nativist aspects Kant's position. How does Kant's nativism differ from Descartes' or from that of F. J. From Gall?
2. Provide an example of Gall's conclusion of the neural localization of psychological function. Why was his approach more that of an organicist?
3. Summarize the assumptions of Gall's objective approach to psychology, and discuss the weaknesses of his approach. Drawing on the distinction between objective and subjective psychology discuss the strengths of this approach?
4. Summarize the debates between Gall and Flourens on the question of the neural localization of psychological function. What scientific data contributed to these debates, and how was the validity of the experimental method involved?
5. How did the research of Broca, Fritsch and Hitzig, and Ferrier affect these debates. By the 1870s did the understanding of localization of function favor a mechanistic or an organicistic approach more strongly? Why?
6. Summarize the debates about the electrical nature of the nervous impulse. Discuss the ways in which this issues favored an organicistic versus a mechanistics approach to mind/brain.
7. Discuss the tension between vitalism and mechanism in 19th century physiology, and describe the major differences in how they approach scientific explanation.
8. Compare and contrast the organicist paradigm with the mechanist paradigm in physiology and biology. Emphasize differences in how each would approach the study of living nature. What are the implications for the study of mind?
9. Summarize Karl Lashley's alternative approach to the neural localization of psychological function.
10. Discuss Kant's definition of the organism and relate this concept to the models of causation associated with organicism versus mechanism. How do his assumptions relate to the question of a life force?
2. Summarize the differences between vitalism and mechanism and discuss the relevance for them of Helmholtz' 1847 paper in which he developed the principle of the conservation of energy. Is Helmholtz a vitalist or a mechanist? Defend your choice.
3. Describe Helmholtz' measurement of the speed of the neural impulse and discuss its relevance for scientific psychology.
4. Scientific psychology began with a strong focus on understanding sensation and perception. Discuss the contributions of Helmholtz and Fechner to establishing that emphasis.
5. Using their contrasting foundations in organic Naturphilosphy and mechanisms discuss the differences between Fechner's "night view" (Nachtansicht) and his "day view" (Tagesansicht) of consciousness. How are these contrasting views related to his position on the mind-body problem and to his invention of psychophysics as a type of psychological science?
6. Describe the scale of measurement that Fechner devised to count increments in the intensity of mental events. What were the units of measurement and how were they defined?
7. Describe Fechner's insight of October 22, 1850. Why is it a confirmation of the day view?
8. Define a just noticeable difference and relate it to Weber's Law. Relate it to Fechner's Law. How did Fechner arrive at Fechner's law? Why is this important for a scientific psychology?
9. Fancher states that Fechner's Elements of Psychophysics (1860) represented a breakthrough for the possibility of a scientific psychology. Describe the aspects of Fechner's program that make his approach more scientific than Hume's or Kant's.
1. Summarize the results of Wundt's 1861 experiments on the simultaneity of two conscious experiences. How do his conclusions relate to the problem of attention? What place does this problem play in his approach to psychology?2. Summarize Wundt's defintion of apperception and discuss its relationship to the organicist basis of his notion of psychic causality. What was the positivists' (Külpe and Titchener's) approach to apperception? (see Danziger article)
3. Decribe the kinds of experimental research being conducted in Wundt's Leipzig laboratory. Include both the subtractive method, psychophysics, and the idea of mental chronometry.
[KEY TERMS: Psychic causality, Creative synthesis,Trieb, unfolding (Entwicklung ), Principle of differentiation, Apperception, Selective Attention]
4. Summarize what Wundt meant by the phrase "physiological psychology" and discuss how Wundt viewed the relationship between psychology and physiology.
5. Discuss the importance of evolution, drive (Trieb ), development and volition in Wundt's psychology. How are these ideas linked to creative synthesis and apperception and how is emotion involved?
6. Drawing on the concepts in Question 6, compare and contrast the importance of mechanism and organicism in Wundt's psychology. Include methodological issues, theoretical concepts and the philosophy of his approach.
7. Discuss Wundt's use of the method of experimental introspection and describe what other methods he deemed necessary for psychology? Summarize the reservations that he had on the use of the introspective method.
8. Summarize Wundt's position on the psychological relativity of the elements of consciousness, and discuss its implications for Titchener's approach to psychology.
9. Summarize the assumptions of Titchener's Structuralism and compare structuralism with Wundt's voluntarism. Which is more organicistic, which more mechanistic? Why?
10. Describe Wertheimer's research on the phi phenomenon and explain its relevance to the Gestalt solution to the problem of the perception of form.
11. Describe Köhler and Ehrenfel's concept of gestalts form qualities and discuss the impact of this concept on the debates between Structuralism and Gestalt psychology on the question of fundamental psychological elements (the atomistic debate).
12. Describe the model of natural science developed by the Gestalt psychologists. How is this model different from both mechanism and organicism?
13. Summarize the work of Ebbinghaus and Külpe on higher mental processes.
14. Define Machian positivism. Contrast Mach's positivistic view of science with Wundt's view of the nature of science and discuss why the differences are relevant to the debates about the character of the new psychology.
15. Drawing also on question #3 (above) discuss Wundt's view of the role of experiments and other scientific methodologies in scientific psychology. What kinds of methods are useful for which kinds of information, and how is scientific prediction involved?
17. Describe Wundt's views on the value of the experimental method and
discuss their implications for the relationship between the "new" experimental
psychology and the Völkerpsychologie (folk psychology). How
do the debates about the importance of experimental versus comparative
methods reflect differences about the nature of psychological science?
2. Define natural selection.
3. Summarize Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, illustrating the importance of variation and competition, and the impact of Malthus.
4. Discuss the differences between Lamarck's theory of evolution and Darwin's theory of evoltution. Which is more mechanistic, which more organicistic? Why?
5. Define the inheritance of acquired characteristics and discuss its importance in Darwin's and Lamarck's theories of evolution.
6. Discuss Darwin's impact on psychology, including ideas of development, methodology, individual difference, the role of animals and comparative psychology, and the importance of adaptive function.
7. Summarize Darwin's view of the ancestral basis of human morality. What evidence does he provide?
8. What is the role of the conflict of instincts in Darwin's theory of the evolution of human morality? How is this conflict related to the evolution of new human intellectual powers?
9. Discuss the relationship between natural selection and the inheritance of acquired characteristics in Darwin's view of the evolution of human morality.
1. Discuss the Darwinian origins of American psychology including examples from William James, G. S. Hall, and E. L. Thorndike.2. Compare and contrast American functionism with Titchener's structuralism. Which would you say is more similar to Wundt? Why?
3. Summarize James' view of the characteristics of consciousness. Describe the implications of James' description of consciousness as a dynamically flowing stream of novel ideas for the utility of the experimental method in scientific psychology.
4. Discuss James' pragmatism. What are the methodological implications of this view for scientific psychology?
5. Focusing on G. S. Hall, describe the concept of recapitulation and discuss its impact on the growth of developmental psychology.
6. Describe Thorndike's experiments on cats learning to escape the puzzle box. What explanatory principles did Thorndike propose to explain how learning occurred?
Click Here for study questions on Freud's Three Essays 1. Describe the history of the concept of hypnotism from Mesmer through Pursègur, Bernheim and Braid.2. Summarize Charcot's view on the relationship between hypnotism and hysteria, and describe the debate between Charcot and Bernheim on the nature of hypnotism. How did Freud's view eventually differ?
3. What kinds of findings discredited Charcot's view?
4. Focusing on social contagion and suggestibility, discuss Le Bon's theories of the relationship between hysteria, hypnotism and the sometimes irrational behavior of poeple in crowds.
5. Describe Freud's theory of the dynamics of dreaming in relation to the conscious and unconscious processes.
6. Describe the topographic, the developmental ,and the energetic or dynamic aspects of Freud's theories.7. Discuss the difference between catharsis and cathexsis, and rate these to the theoretical value of the cathartic method in the treatment of psychoneuroses.
8. Summarize Freud's theory of psychosexual development. How is it related to the notion of recapitulation?
Chapter 7 -Galton Heredity and Eugenics
1. Summarize Galton's early attempts to measure individual differences in mental ability.Chapter 9- Early Behaviorism2 . Discuss Galton's theory of hereditary genius and its implications for the post-Darwinian consideration of the nature versus nuture problem. What kinds of methods did Galton use to provide evidence for his views?
3. Discuss the relationship between the nature-nurture controversy and the development of eugenics.
4. Summarize the statistical techniques developed by Galton and discuss their relationship to the controversies surrounding the role of heredity in explaining differences in mental abilities. Include mention of normal distributions, statistical correlation, regression toward the mean and other measurement concepts.
1. Summarize Pavlov's physiological theory of the mechanism of conditioned reflex formation. How would the theory account for generalization, discrimination and experimental neurosis? How would a could radical behaviorist like Skinner evaluate Pavlov's theory?Reading on Hull and Neobehaviorism2. From a mechanistic point of view, discuss the problems associated with using the conditioned reflex (or any unit based on an unconditioned reflex) as the mechanistic unit of all behavior. What alternatives were proposed by Skinner and by Hull?
3. Discuss the mechanistic versus the organicistic influences on Watson while he studied as a graduate student at the University of Chicago.
4. Summarize Watson's application of the conditioned reflex to the psychology of emotion, and discuss why Watson's use of the conditioned reflex as the unit of behavior was somewhat inconsistent with his radical environmentalism.
5. Summarize the differences between Skinner's operant conditioning and Pavlov's classical (respondent conditioning).
6. Using important concepts like drive, reinforcement, and schedules of reinforcement, compare the Machian emphasis of Skinner's behaviorist approach with the logical positivism of Hull's behaviorist approach.
7. Describe Thorndike's experiments on cats learning to escape the puzzle box. What explanatory principles did Thorndike propose to explain how learning occurred?
1. Define an intervening variable and distinguish between the kinds of intervening variables used by Hull versus Tolman. How would Skinner react to the use of either type of intervening variable. Incorporate the differences between Machian positivism and logical positivism into your answer.2. Compare and contrast the approaches to reinforcement developed by Skinner, Hull and Tolman. How does Guthrie explain the effect of consequences without using the concept of reinforcement?
3. Summarize the central features of Hull's theory of behavior, including the concepts of drive reduction, reaction potential, habit strength, incentive and inhibition.
4. Compare Hull's use of drive with the drive concepts used by Wundt and Freud. Stress the mechanistic versus organicistic features of each.
5. Tolman is the least mechanistic of the neobehaviorists. Summarize the central features of Tolman's cognitive behaviorism, including concepts such as cognitive map, expectations, means-ends capacity, and latent learning. Discuss the organicistic features of Tolman's approach.
6. Distinguish between methodological and radical behaviorism and explain why you regard then as mechanistic or
organicistic. Substantiate your points with features of mechanism and/or organicism.7. Hull's commitment to mechanism is extreme because he believes it is possible to build machines that can duplicate psychological process and function. Yet in the 30's he shifted to a deductive approach to mechanism. Discuss the relationship between his cybernetic and his deductive approach to explaining mind and behavior. Which is more mechanistic? Why?
8. Define logical positivism and distinguish it from Machian positivism. Using Hull or Tolman illustrate the ways in which behaviorism employed logical positivism. How is Skinner different?
9. Hull and the logical positivists, and most behaviorists, believed that the methods of physics and chemistry can be applied to yield a valid understanding of psychological processes as well. Contrast this view with Wundt's view of psychic causality, and explain why you agree or disagree with each of these views.
