PSY 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Edward B. Titchener, Wilhelm Wundt, Phi Phenomenon
Document Summary
In class notes for week 1 class 2. The idea that all knowledge is attained through experience is referred to as empiricism. School of thought in psychological research felt that the whole of human experience is more than the sum of it"s parts: gestaltism. It is a was of time to study phenomenon that you couldn"t observe directly: behaviorism. Mental reaction time introspection= observing and recording one"s own thoughts and experiences. Used introspection to break apart and study the individual components of conscious experience (structure) Phi phenomenon: whole is different than sum of it"s parts. Lack of variation: lack of public access to introspections, misperceptions can never be detected, disagreements cannot be resolved, behaviorism. Mind is more complex than its elements. Functionalism: need to examine what functions mind serves. Behavior is influenced by mental processes operation outside awareness (unconscious) Behaviorism: study of observable environmental effects on behavior. Bad: cannot fully account for things like creativity or language.