Deck 4: Origins of Scientific Psychology in America

Question 1

William James's most significant contribution to American psychology was

A)his philosophy of pragmatism
B)publication of his Principles of Psychology
C)his work on the psychology of religion
D)his research on selective attention

Answer 1

B

Question 2

For James, psychology was about the study of mental events, which were constantly undergoing changes, as noted in his construct

A)selective attention
B)stream of consciousness
C)habit
D)freedom of choice

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Influenced by Darwin, James recognized the survival value of consciousness which he viewed as having evolved to help the human organism

A)act instinctually
B)develop habits
C)make choices
D)minimize emotions

Answer 3

C

Question 4

According to James, what process aided our making sense of a world filled with too many stimuli?

A)stream of consciousness
B)free will
C)selective attention
D)emotional suppression

Question 5

James wrote that the key force in the maintenance of social order is

A)habit
B)stream of consciousness
C)selective attention
D)instinct

Question 6

James's theory of emotion stated that

A)there were six innate emotions
B)perception of events in the world is the stimulus for experiencing emotions
C)all emotions can be classified on two dimensions: pleasant-unpleasantness and mild-intense
D)emotions follow from the perception of physiological changes in the body

Question 7

James's student, Mary Whiton Calkins, invented the paired associates method for use in her studies of

A)emotion and habitual responding
B)perception and the psychology of beauty
C)the philosophy of religion
D)memory

Question 8

Calkins' philosophy of psychology argued that the science of psychology should be about the study of

A)behavior
B)self
C)consciousness
D)free will

Question 9

Which of the following was NOT one of the accomplishments of G.Stanley Hall?

A)founding the American Psychological Association
B)founding the American Journal of Psychology
C)founding the child study movement
D)developing the first intelligence test

Question 10

The chief purpose of G.Stanley Hall's child study movement was to

A)create a new field of developmental psychology
B)study children scientifically in order to improve education
C)investigate the spiritual lives of children
D)develop an intelligence test that would predict school performance

Question 11

The principal method for child study research was

A)systematic introspection
B)the reaction time method
C)the questionnaire
D)mental testing

Question 12

Hall believed that the evolutionary developments in one's animal ancestry are repeated in the human from conception through adolescence. This doctrine was known as the

A)theory of adolescent maturation
B)theory of recapitulation
C)survival of the fittest
D)theory of evolutionary functionalism

Question 13

Hall's brand of psychology is labeled

A)evolutionary psychology
B)pedagogical psychology
C)structural psychology
D)genetic psychology

Question 14

Hall's interest in the psychology of abnormality and the psychology of sex led him to

A)publish the first book on abnormal psychology
B)found the first clinic for sexual problems
C)invite Freud to America to speak at his university
D)found the American Association of Clinical Psychologists

Question 15

The first African American to earn a doctorate in psychology was

A)Kenneth Bancroft Clark
B)Henry Garrett
C)Max Meenes
D)Francis Cecil Sumner

Question 16

Cattell's anthropometric intelligence tests were grounded in the philosophy of

A)mechanism
B)materialism
C)empiricism
D)rationalism

Question 17

The death of Cattell's anthropometric testing program as a measure of intelligence came about as a result of

A)the publication of Alfred Binet's scale
B)the development of Stern's concept of the intelligence quotient
C)the low correlations of Cattell's tests with school performance
D)the lack of reliability in Cattell's anthropometric measures

Question 18

Intelligence testing and tests for selecting employees were indicators of American psychology's so-called obsession with

A)individual differences
B)measurement
C)natural selection
D)the psychology of business

Question 19

Which of the following was Cattell's most important contribution to psychology?

A)founding the laboratories at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania
B)founding the Psychological Corporation
C)coining the term "mental test"
D)editing the journal Science

Question 20

The first major public exhibition of the new science of psychology in America was in1893. Where was it held?

A)in New York City
B)at Harvard University
C)at the Chicago World's Fair
D)in San Francisco

Question 21

William James,G. Stanley Hall, and James McKeen Cattell could be described as the founders of American psychology. Describe the very different roles played by each man emphasizing what you believe was the single most important contribution from each.

Question 22

Anthropometric mental testing had a short but important history. Discuss the nature of those tests and their eventual demise.

Question 23

Discuss the evidence of Darwin's influence in the psychologies of William James and G. Stanley Hall.

Question 24

The child study movement was scientific psychology's first applied venture. Describe this movement in terms of its goals, methods, and its eventual outcome.

Question 25

Selective attention and habit were key concepts in James's view of how consciousness functioned. Explain those concepts and give examples of how they aided human behavior and mental processes