Sir Francis Bacon (Skinner’s hero) advocated what? Ans- an inductive approach to
knowledge where general principles are derived from numerous obserations
historical context of Descartes’s time Ans- – gradual erosion of the authority of the
church
What did Descartes believe about the way to truth? Ans- through the use of one’s
innate reasoning powers
What was Descartes’s first rule of method in “Discourse on Method”? Ans- recognize
truth as only something that cannot be rationally doubted
Descartes is described as Ans- – a believer in mind-body interactionism
- a rationalist
- a believer in innate ideas
innate idea vs. derived idea AnsJohn Locke was a who said that ideas derive from and .
Ans- British empiricist; sensation’ reflection
petite perception Ans- – Leibniz - perception below the level of awareness
George Berkley argues that Ans- depth perception is the result of our experiences with
objects that are a different distances from us
David Hume’s three laws of association Ans- 1) resemblance
2) cause-effect relations
3) contiguity
Hartley’s vibrations Ans- – miniature vibrations - vibrations
John Stuart Mill’s methods of agreement and difference AnsWhat was JSM’s philosophy based on? Ans- chemical instead of mechanical
processes (his dad James Mill philosophy was mechanical)
According to Whytt Ans- habits are actions that start as voluntary, but eventually
become more like reflexes
What is the Bell-Magendie law? Ans- the posterior root controls sensation while the
anterior root controls motion
According to the doctrine of the specific energies of nerves, Ans- – we are directly
aware of our nervous system, not of the external world - if a single stimulus affects two different types of sensory nerves, the result will be two
different types of sensation - if two different types of stimuli affect a single type of sensory nerve, the result will be a
single type of sensation
Helmholtz’s demonstration of the speed of a nervous impulse Ans- led eventually to
the development of reaction time as an important research method
Young and Helmholtz had what in common? Ans- they both mixed red, green, and
blue to match any color
What did Hering’s opponent-process theory explain better than Young-Helmholtz
theory? Ans- color afterimages
Helmholtz criticized what bodily organ? Ans- the eye and its structure
Helmholtz’s problem of perception Ans- vision is quite good despite the eye’s design
flaws
According to Helmholtz, how do we know someone is approaching and not getting
bigger? Ans- we make an unconscious inference
what did Gall and Spurzheim disagree on about phrenology? Ans- Gall – faculties are
inborn and fixed
Spurzheim – thought faculties could be shaped
Flourens’s legacy Ans- -argued that the brain operates as an integrated system
-phrenology’s worst enemy
-cerebellum controls and coordinates movement
Sheerington discovered that synapses exist because of Ans- his work on temporal and
spatial summation
Lashley’s principle of mass action Ans- the ability to learn is directly proportional to the
amount of brain damage
Fechner’s most important contribution to psychology Ans- quantification of the mindbody relaitonship