Chapter 1

Question 1

Discuss the choices that must be made before writing a history of psychology. Include in your answer a distinction between presentism and historicism.

Answer 1

Before writing a history of psychology

Question 2

Summarize the major characteristics of science.

Answer 2

Science involves systematic and controlled observation

Question 3

Discuss why psychology can be described both as a science and as a nonscience. Include in your answer the characteristics of science that some psychologists are unwilling to accept while studying humans.

Answer 3

Psychology is scientific because it uses empirical methods

Question 4

According to Popper

Answer 4

what are the two primary reasons that theories such as those of Freud and Adler are unscientific?

Question 5

Summarize Kuhn’s views on how sciences change. Include in your answer the definitions of the terms preparadigmatic

Answer 5

paradigm

Question 6

Within the realm of science

Answer 6

what is the correspondence theory of truth? Explain why it can be said that Popper accepted this theory and Kuhn did not.

Question 7

Summarize Feyerabend’s view of science.

Answer 7

Feyerabend argued that there is no single scientific method and that rigid rules limit progress. He promoted methodological pluralism and claimed that scientific advances often occur by breaking established rules.

Question 8

Should psychology aspire to become a single paradigm discipline? Defend your answer.

Answer 8

Probably not

Question 9

Is psychology a science? Defend your answer.

Answer 9

Psychology qualifies as a science because it uses systematic observation

Question 10

Define the terms physical determinism

Answer 10

psychical determinism

Question 11

Summarize the various proposed answers to the mind–body problem. Include definitions of monism

Answer 11

dualism

Question 12

Discuss the nativist and empiricist explanations of the origin of human attributes.

Answer 12

Nativists argue that many traits are innate and inherited. Empiricists argue that experience and learning shape most attributes.

Question 13

Discuss rationalism and irrationalism as they apply to explanations of human behavior.

Answer 13

Rationalism views behavior as guided by reason and conscious thought. Irrationalism emphasizes unconscious

Question 14

Describe how both the empiricist and the rationalist would explain how we gain knowledge.

Answer 14

Empiricists say knowledge comes from sensory experience. Rationalists say knowledge arises from reasoning and innate mental structures.

Question 15

Discuss the problems involved in discovering and explaining discrepancies between what is physically before us and what we experience subjectively. Define and give an example of reification.

Answer 15

Physical stimuli do not always match subjective experience due to perception and interpretation. Reification is treating an abstract concept as a concrete object