Pre-exam questions October 1998

This is a study guide for the midterm to be held on October 15. It covers chapters 1 to 12 in the text, class discussions and class notes. The exam will consist of around 15 to 20 questions to be answered on the exam sheet in one or two sentences each. They will either be taken directly from this list or be similar to the questions on this list.
 

1. What is the difference between SENSATION and PERCEPTION as first specified by Reid?
2. Compare double-aspect theory and materialism (or any other characterizations of the mind-body relationship).
3. What role did Gutenberg's invention of the printing press play as a stimulus for the "new learning"?
4. What is the CRITICAL TRADITION as started by Thales and continued by Socrates, Descartes and others?
5. How did LaMettrie's illness help shape the development of psychology?
6. What is associated in ASSOCIATIONISM? What psychological facts led to association theory?
7. Contrast primary and secondary sense qualities. Give an example of each.
8. Contrast Newton's, and Leibniz, Spinoza or Herbart's views on the basis of change.
9. What is the function of Kant's a priori categories in his analysis of mind?
10. How does Herbart's notion of APPERCEPTIVE MASS suggest that early experience plays a disproportionate role in human behavior?
11. Why did Hume substitute HABIT for RATIONAL CHOICE as the primary basis for behavior?
12. What is the Doctrine of SPECIFIC NERVE ENERGIES? Give an example of a phenomenon that can be explained with this doctrine.
13. What are the concepts of threshold (limen) and JND in psychophysics?
14. What are the three basic components of Darwin's theory of evolution?
15. What is the difference between Darwin's, and Aristotle or Plato's views on the nature of natural categories?
16. How does Thorndike's view of TRANSFER OF TRAINING differ from that of Reid and the other faculty psychologists?
17. Which view of the mind-body relationship did the principle of Conservation of Energy seem to refute? How did it do so?
18. What is the principle of CONTIGUITY as a law of association?
19. According to Plato, sensory information cannot inform us directly about truth. What truth or knowledge for Plato?
20. What is a fundamental difference between RATIONALIST and ROMANTIC views of psychological processes?
21. How does Reid's FACULTY PSYCHOLOGY differ from ASSOCIATIONISM?
22. Contrast Gall's view with that of Fritsch and Hitzig, on what functions are localized in the brain.
23. What does Fechner's work on PSYCHOPHYSICS contribute to the mind-body problem?
24. What is Titchener’s concept of STIMULUS ERROR? Give an example.
25. What is the primary goal of STRUCTURALISM as a school of psychology?
26. What is the SUBTRACTIVE METHOD in reaction time studies as practiced in Wundt's laboratory?
27. What was the basis of the disagreement between Wundt and Stumpf over music (tonal distances)?
28. What is the basic tenet of EMPIRICISM?
29. Contrast Brentano’s ACTS with Wundt’s CONTENTS.
30. How does Kulpé’s discovery of SET and DETERMINING TENDENCY tend to refute classical views of associationism?
31. How does Kulpé’s discovery of CONSCIOUS ATTITUDES cause problems for an imagery theory of thought?
32. What is Ebbinghaus’s SAVINGS METHOD? What is saved?
33. What kinds of experiences did James use to support his concept of SELF over its denial by Hume?
34. What is James's pragmatic justification for believing in free will?
35. What is Kuhn’s view of scientific advancement? How does it differ from the "standard theory"?
36. What is different from classical associationism in J.S. Mill’s idea of MENTAL CHEMISTRY?
37. What in Schopenhauer’s ideas made a WILL TO SURVIVE necessary for an animal’s survival?
38. What are some arguments for using animals as experimental subjects in studies of learning?
39. Why does John Dewey object to the concept of a REFLEX ARC? What is his basic modification of it?
40. How, in Pavlov's model, are EXCITATION and INHIBITION combined when an organism learns to discriminate between two similar stimuli?