Chapter 1

Professor Lewis studies the history of psychology. She would most likely agree with which of the following statements about psychology's early history?

a) All the early schools of psychology shared the common view that psychology should be the study of immediate conscious experience.
                      
b) From its inception, psychology has always focused on the study of people who exhibit unusual behaviors or suffer from  psychological disorders.
                    
c) Early psychologists disagreed about many issues including which methods psychologists should use and what kinds of behavior psychologists should study.
                       
d) The methods, definition, and scope of psychology have remained unchanged since psychology was founded in the nineteenth century.

Psychology is formally defined as:

a) The scientific investigation of unconscious mental processes.
                  
b) The scientific study of the cause and treatment of mental illness.

c) The scientific study of mental processes in human and non-human animals.
                   
d) The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Which famous Greek philosopher wrote extensively about such psychological topics as sleep and dreaming, the senses, memory, and learning?
                      
a) Calkins
                      
b) Descartes

c) James                     

d) Aristotle

In thinking about psychology and consciousness, the idea that the mind and the body are separate entities that interact makes a lot of sense to you. This view that you hold is most like the view of:

a) Watson.
                      
b) Aristotle.

c) Skinner.

d) Descartes.

French philosopher René Descartes:

a) was a philosopher who wrote extensively about topics such as sleep, dreams, the senses, and memory more than 2,000 years ago.

b) promoted a doctrine called interactive dualism.

c) was the first of Wundt's students to receive a doctorate in psychology.

d) strongly opposed the idea of establishing psychology as a separate science.

Interactive dualism is the idea that:

a) most severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, involve a splitting of the mind.

b) mind and body are separate entities that interact to produce conscious experiences.

c) all living organisms must interact and perform dual functions to survive.

d) people with very diverse qualities and beliefs are most likely to be attracted to each other.

Which of the following statements is TRUE?
                  
a) The mind-body issue has now been settled and psychologists no longer explore the relationship between mental activity and the brain.

b) It was the Greek philosopher Aristotle who first defined psychology as the “scientific study of behavior and mental processes.”

c) The principle of interactive dualism was formulated by Aristotle more than 2,000 years ago.
                     
d) In contemporary psychology, the nature–nurture issue explores the influence of hereditary versus environmental factors on behavior.

Which of the following fields had the greatest impact on the emergence of psychology as a separate scientific discipline?
                  
a) physics

b) mathematics
                      
c) physiology

d) history

How did physiology contribute to the emergence of psychology as a separate
scientific discipline?

a) Physiologists in the late nineteenth century proposed that psychology should be a separate subdiscipline of philosophy.

b) Physiologists demonstrated that scientific methods could be applied to understanding human behavior and mental processes.

c) In defining the boundaries of their science, physiologists rejected the study of mental processes and behavior.

d) Physiologists in the late nineteenth century were unable to apply scientific  methods to the study of human behavior and thinking and consequently psychology was no longer part of that discipline.

Wilhelm Wundt investigated which of the following phenomena?

a) the nature versus nurture issue and interactive dualism

b) fundamental psychological processes, such as mental reaction times in response to visual and auditory stimuli
                  
c) damaged areas of the human brain

d) mental disorders and abnormal behavior

Wilhelm Wundt:

a) is credited with the discovery of unconscious mental processes.

b) was an Austrian physician who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology.
                   
c) was a German physiologist who established the first psychology research laboratory at the University of Leipzig.

d) was a French philosopher who proposed the idea of interactive dualism.

Wilhelm Wundt outlined the connections between physiology and psychology:
                    
a) in his famous text titled Principles of Physiological Psychology, published in 1874.

b) in a series of famous lectures at Clark University in 1909.

c) in his famous book Principles of Psychology, published in two volumes in 1890.

d) in a public debate with William James at Harvard University.

Which of the following events do most historians consider to mark the formal beginning of psychology as a scientific discipline?

a) Sigmund Freud's discovery of the unconscious mind in the early twentieth century

b) Aristotle's landmark essay in 335 B.C., entitled “On the Soul”
                  
c) The establishment of the first psychology research laboratory by Wilhelm Wundt in 1879

d) The 1924 publication of John Watson's book, entitled Behaviorism

Wilhelm Wundt defined psychology as:

a) a branch of philosophy, not science.

b) the study of the behavior of humans and other animals.

c) the study of consciousness.

d) a new branch of physiology.

It was _____ who opened the first psychology laboratory in _____.

a) William James; 1890

b) Edward B. Titchener; 1892

c) Sigmund Freud; 1904
                   
d) Wilhelm Wundt; 1879

At which university was the very first psychology research laboratory established?

a) Cornell University

b) The University of Leipzig

c) Johns Hopkins University

d) Harvard University

Which of the following was the first “school” of thought or approach in psychology?
                    
a) structuralism

b) functionalism

c) behaviorism

d) psychoanalysis

Which early approach or “school” of psychology is associated with Wilhelm Wundt's student Edward Titchener?
                    
a) behaviorism

b) humanistic psychology
                      
c) structuralism

d) functionalism

More so than any other male psychologist at that time, it was _____ who helped female students attain their psychology doctorate in his graduate program at Cornell University.

a) Edward Titchener

b) Francis C. Sumner

c) G. Stanley Hall

d) William James

The early psychological school called structuralism emphasized the study of:

a) physiology.
                  
b) the elemental components of sensations, feelings, and conscious experience.

c) habits and adaptive behavior.

d) the relative importance of nature versus nurture.