History & Systems of Psychology

Final Exam Review

• Definition of the scientific method
• Definitions of “epistemology” and the 3 major types we studied
• Determinism vs. indeterminism
• Aristotle’s ideas about teleology
• Characteristics of the Dark Ages
• Maimonides’ main argument
• Major contributions of Augustine
• Major contribution of Aquinas
• Renaissance critique of religious practices
• Major ideas of Galileo and Newton
• Hume – basic ideas about reality and causation
• Definitions of positivism and scientism
• Main differences between empiricists and rationalists
• Kant – views on phenomenological experience and our understanding of physical reality
• Characteristics of the Enlightenment or Age of Reason
• Main ideas of the romantic and existential philosophers generally
• Kierkegaard’s and Nietzsche’s main ideas
• Broca- connections between behavioral disorders and specific brain areas
• Weber- two-point threshold, just noticeable difference
• Wundt- definition of creative synthesis
• Fechner’s ideas about thresholds
• Darwin- struggle for survival, natural selection,  his theory’s importance to psychology
• Functionalism- definition, main ideas and themes
• James- approaches to studying humans, radical empiricism
• Wertheimer- phi phenomenon and its importance for Gestalt theory
• Gestalt Psychologist- their view of how sensory information was transformed, what organisms learn

• Thorndike’s law of effect
• The goal of psychology according to Watson
• Radical behaviorism- definition

• Results of Tolman and Honzik’s (1930) experiment
• Skinner’s view on respondent and operant behavior, his definition of a reinforcer

• Freud’s definition of the id and ego, principles governing them, concept of neurotic anxiety

• Jung’s ideas on the collective unconscious
• Adler’s views on feelings of inferiority and compensation

• Third-force psychology: concept of phenomenology
• Heidegger: ideas about the realization of mortality and living the authentic life
• Existentialist views on freedom and responsibility
• Major ideas of humanistic psychologists
• Rogers’ three conditions for a relationship that promotes personal growth