Chapter One: the Science of Mind

Chapter One: The Science of Mind –

The Discipline of Psychology

LearningObjective / RelatedQuestions
Multiple
Choice / Essay

1. Explain the subject matter that psychologists study, addressing the meaning of mind and psychology’s role as a hub science.

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1. Analyze the respective contributions of philosophy and the physical sciences as the “roots” of modern psychology.

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1. Compare and contrast the early movements in psychology – structuralism, Gestalt psychology, functionalism, behaviorism, psychodynamic theory, and humanism – in terms of leading figures, core principles, and contribution to modern psychology.

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1. Differentiate the seven major perspectives of modern mainstream psychology in terms of typical research questions, research methods, and focal causes of behavior.

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1. Analyze the ways in which the seven major perspectives can be integrated to address a single psychological problem or topic.

/ 107-112

1. Explain why psychology’s role as a “hub science” allows psychologists to pursue a wide range of career paths in terms of professional specialties and research areas.

/ 113-121

Chapter One: The Science of Mind - The Discipline of Psychology

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1.Which of the following best describes the mind?

a. / The basis of rational thought / c. / The embodiment of the soul
b. / The hidden instinctual self / d. / The brain and its activities

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2.The scientific study of behavior and mental processes is called ____.

a. / introspection / c. / behaviorism
b. / psychology / d. / functionalism

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3.The word psychologyis a combination of two Greek words: psyche (or psuche), meaning the soul, and logos, meaning the ____.

a. / law of / c. / study of
b. / expression of / d. / representation of

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4.Rosa, a doctoral student in psychology, observes that one of her young study participants grimaces after taking a bite of broccoli. His facial expression is an example of ____.

a. / a psychosomatic response / c. / an integrated mental process
b. / a behavior / d. / introspection

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5.Although the bulk of psychology focuses on human behavior, studying animal behavior has been an essential part of the discipline that allows for ____.

a. / making essential comparisons with humans
b. / understanding animal-human interactions
c. / understanding behavior from an evolutionary standpoint
d. / designing better psychoanalytical therapies

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6.A doctor notices that many soldiers returning from fighting in the trenches in World War I were highly anxious, fearful of loud noises, and having difficulty reconnecting with their families. He asks them to record personal observations of their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a journal. This process is called ____.

a. / extroversion / c. / objectivism
b. / transference / d. / introspection

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7.It is difficult for others to confirm an individual’s subjective introspections; therefore, this approach does not lend itself well to ____.

a. / psychoanalysis / c. / case studies
b. / the scientific method / d. / cognitive therapy

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8.Over the last 30 years, new methods have allowed psychologists to observe brain activity and revisit questions of mental processes. What element have these methods introduced to psychological research?

a. / objectivity / c. / generalizability
b. / subjectivity / d. / conclusiveness

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9.Kevin Boyack and his colleagues generated a map of the sciences, similar to a map of friendship networks on social media, by using ____.

a. / the number of doctoral dissertations in each field
b. / the titles of journal articles
c. / reference lists in journal articles
d. / search terms related to psychology

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10.The mapping done by Boyack and colleagues shows that psychology is one of the major hub sciences, with strong connections to ____.

a. / the medical sciences, the social sciences, and education
b. / the humanities, education, and the medical sciences
c. / the social sciences, the medical sciences, and the humanities
d. / the medical sciences, education, and philosophy

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11.Psychology as a hub science tells us that ____.

a. / psychological research is well-funded
b. / the general population is intrigued by the study of human behavior
c. / psychology is one of the oldest disciplines
d. / many disciplines require an in-depth understanding of people

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12.As a discipline, psychology dates back to ____.

a. / ancient Greece / c. / the Renaissance era
b. / the Roman Empire / d. / the 1870s

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REF:What Are Psychology's Roots?OBJ:LO2

13.The psychology family tree includes two major roots: ____.

a. / biology and philosophy / c. / anthropology and physics
b. / medicine and the social sciences / d. / philosophy and the physical sciences

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14.The discipline that systematically examines basic concepts, including the source of knowledge, is called ____.

a. / psychology / c. / science
b. / History / d. / philosophy

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15.Any science that studies nonliving matter, including physics, chemistry, astronomy, and geology, is called a(n) ____ science.

a. / natural / c. / applied
b. / physical / d. / earth

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16.Philosophers and psychologists have a shared interest in ____.

a. / helping others gain self-confidence / c. / the scientific method
b. / anatomy of the nervous system / d. / the origin of knowledge

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17.The ancient Greek philosopher Plato was one of the earliest thinkers to address the question, “What is the mind?” He viewed the mind as three parts that must be in balance: ____.

a. / id, ego, and superego / c. / reason, spirit, and appetite
b. / intellect, emotion, and instinct / d. / cognition, creativity, and sanity

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18.While attending the opening of her friend’s art exhibit, Lisbeth weighs the pros and cons of having a third glass of wine. In Plato’s version of the mind, this is the role of the ____.

a. / driver / c. / reins
b. / horse / d. / carriage

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19.Ancient Greek philosophers ____.

a. / were exclusively monists
b. / provided natural explanations for their observations
c. / were exclusively dualists
d. / relied on the supernatural to explain their observations

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20.The philosophies of monism and dualism address which of the following questions?

a. / Does the mind operate through innate processes or is it formed through experience?
b. / How does one study the processes of the mind?
c. / Does the mind work as the sum of its parts or as individual elements?
d. / What is the relationship between the body and mind?

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REF:What Are Psychology's Roots?OBJ:LO2

21.Which of the following titles suggests monism?

a. / Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt
b. / Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
c. / We All Are One, by Jimmy Cliff
d. / War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy

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22.Who was a vocal proponent of dualism?

a. / Aristotle / c. / Baruch Spinoza
b. / René Descartes / d. / Democritus

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23.Contemporary scientists studying the brain are ____.

a. / primarily dualists
b. / monists
c. / nearly evenly split between monism and dualism
d. / entirely dualists

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24.The relationship between behavior and biology is ____.

a. / unilateral: biology affects behavior
b. / unilateral: behavior affects biology
c. / reciprocal: biology affects behavior and vice versa
d. / mutually exclusive: biology and behavior function independently

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25.Most philosophers beginning with Aristotle commonly believed that all knowledge is ____.

a. / gained through sensory experience
b. / innate or inborn
c. / built upon from simple schema present at birth
d. / acquired by integrating environmental cues with innate skills

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26.Which of the following best describes the British empiricists’ view of the mind?

a. / Infants acquire language primarily by drawing from innate mechanisms.
b. / Infants learn to process language entirely based on their sensory experiences.
c. / Infants with similar genetic backgrounds will acquire language at similar rates.
d. / Infants are born with varying degrees of aptitude for acquiring language.

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27.Which of the following is one of the greatest contributions of empiricism?

a. / The idea that the brain is the essence of the mind.
b. / The idea that each person has a different capacity for learning.
c. / The idea that our brains are composed of interconnected “living units.”
d. / The idea that all men are created equal.

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28.Empiricism profoundly influenced the foundations of ____.

a. / sociology
b. / psychoanalysis
c. / philosophy
d. / science

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29.American political thought was profoundly influenced by ____.

a. / behaviorism
b. / psychoanalysis
c. / dualism
d. / empiricism

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30.Which of the following best describes how contemporary psychology views the mind?

a. / Sam was just born smart, though no one else in his family seems to share his intelligence
b. / Sam must have gotten the “smart gene” from his mother: he never studies but gets good grades.
c. / Sam was sent to the best schools and thus became a highly intelligent individual.
d. / Sam was alert and responsive as a baby, studied diligently in school, and was admitted to a top-ranked college.

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31.At what point did the discipline of psychology distinguish itself from the discipline of philosophy?

a. / When psychologists began to explore individual rather than global phenomenon
b. / When psychologists adopted the scientific method
c. / When psychologists became interested in providing therapeutic treatments
d. / When psychologists began to investigate abnormal behaviors

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32.In what way did ancient physicians contribute to contemporary psychology?

a. / By studying the nervous system and developing the scientific method
b. / By studying hormone imbalances and developing the scientific method
c. / By studying the nervous system and developing diagnostic tools
d. / By studying hormone imbalances and developing diagnostic tools

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33.As early as 500 B.C.E., Greek physicians began to ____.

a. / interpret the cardiovascular system as the locus of the mind
b. / prohibit bloodletting as a form of treatment
c. / systematically dissect human bodies
d. / drill holes in people’s skulls to cure seizures

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34.Which of the following was one of the findings of early Greek physicians regarding the brain?

a. / The brain controls the coordinated movement of the body.
b. / The brain is divided into four major lobes.
c. / The brain controls personality by secreting yellow bile.
d. / The brain is connected to the sense organs, such as the eyes.

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35.Greek physicians described a rudimentary theory of personality, stating that it is affected by the relative amounts of four different body fluids. A person with depression might be diagnosed as having an excess of ____.

a. / blood / c. / phlegm
b. / black bile / d. / yellow bile

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36.Beginning in the 17th and 18th centuries, with new technologies including the light microscope, scientists began to make a series of important new discoveries showing that ____.

a. / a single nerve cell carries one type of information
b. / nerve cells use electrical impulses to transmit signals
c. / the mind works in isolation from the rest of the body
d. / chemical messengers facilitate communication in the brain

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37.Hermann von Helmholtz’s work on ____ provided further evidence that the mind had a physical basis.

a. / dissection and human anatomy / c. / the mind/body dichotomy
b. / the range of human hearing / d. / the speed of nerve conduction

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38.Contrary to popular belief during his time, Hermann von Helmholtz’s work on nerve conduction showed that ____.

a. / different brain regions work together to integrate information
b. / specific regions of the brain control specific behaviors
c. / nerve conduction is quick and in all practicality, instantaneous
d. / behavior is not instantaneous

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39.Jake trips; he knocks his elbow against the edge of the door jamb while simultaneously stubbing his toe on a chair. Based on the work of von Helmholtz’s, which of the following is likely to occur?

a. / The intensity of the elbow pain is greater than that of the toe pain.
b. / The intensity of pain for both the toe and elbow is equal.
c. / He experiences the elbow pain before the toe pain.
d. / He experiences the toe and elbow pain instantaneously.

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40.The first experimental psychologist and proponent of the structuralist approach, along with his students, was ____.

a. / Edward Titchener / c. / Max Wertheimer
b. / Wilhelm Wundt / d. / Kurt Koffka

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41.The first official psychological experiment involved ____.

a. / observing the behavior of cats when escaping puzzle boxes
b. / measuring how quickly, after hearing a ball drop onto a platform, a person could respond by striking a telegraph key
c. / the salivation of dogs in anticipation of food in response to the arrival of the handler
d. / the use of a stroboscope to control the timing of the appearance of two black lines against a white background

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42.In Titchener’s view, the mind constructs an overall perception ____.

a. / based on prior life experiences
b. / based on its relationship to evolutionary survival
c. / by perceiving complete forms within their context
d. / out of building blocks made up of separate sensations and emotional responses

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43.Wundt’s student Edward Titchener developed an approach in which the mind is broken into the smallest elements of mental experience. What is this called?

a. / structuralism / c. / behaviorism
b. / functionalism / d. / humanism

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44.Titchener’s approach to psychology paralleled which of the following trends of his day?

a. / The development of graduate programs in mathematics
b. / The movement for women’s suffrage in American politics
c. / Efforts in chemistry to break molecules into elements
d. / The use of light in Impressionist art

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45.Which of the following describes Wundt’s use of introspection as an experimental technique?

a. / The participants in his study focused on internal thoughts and feelings about their competence while performing a task.
b. / The participants in his study drew from their internal thoughts and feelings as they described an object in detail.
c. / The participants in his study pressed a telegraph key as soon as they heard a ball drop onto a platform, indicating their internal state.
d. / The participants in his study used mental building block constructs to describe their perception of an object.

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46.Acknowledging that an experience is different than the sum of its elements is reflective of ____.

a. / psychodynamic theory / c. / structuralism
b. / Gestalt psychology / d. / functionalism

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47.The group of early 20th century German psychologists who founded Gestalt psychology included Kurt Koffka, Max Wertheimer, and ____.

a. / Wilhelm Wundt / c. / Wolfgang Köhler
b. / William James / d. / Ulric Neisser

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48.The Gestalt psychologists believed that breaking a “whole” perception into its building blocks, as advocated by the structuralists, would result in the loss of ____.

a. / important psychological information / c. / learned consciousness
b. / fundamental intellect / d. / irrational behaviors

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49.Which of the following proverbs best describes Gestalt theory?

a. / A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
b. / The more things change, the more they stay the same.
c. / A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
d. / The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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50.While largely known for their work in perception, the Gestalt psychologists also had wide-ranging interests in learning, memory, motivation, and ____.

a. / anatomy / c. / discrete mathematics
b. / group dynamics / d. / personality disorders

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51.The Gestalt movement traces its origin to a single experiment conducted by Max Wertheimer in 1912 that demonstrated the ____.

a. / apparent movement of stationary objects
b. / influence of introspection on behavior
c. / speed of nerve conduction
d. / salivation of dogs in anticipation of food

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52.In an experiment, Wertheimer flickered between two images on a wall. What did the participants in this study perceive?

a. / diffusion / c. / movement
b. / distortion / d. / contrast

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53.What is the approach to psychology that saw behavior as purposeful and contributing to survival?

a. / behaviorism / c. / humanism
b. / functionalism / d. / structuralism

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54.Functionalism emerged partly in response to the publication of ____.

a. / Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
b. / The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain
c. / The Origin of the Species, by Charles Darwin
d. / Far from the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy

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