Deck 1: Approaches to Psychology

Question 1

Who said 'psychology has a long past, but its real history is short'?

A) William James
B) Wilhelm Wundt
C) Hermann Ebbinghaus
D) John Watson

Answer 1

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Question 2

What is reflexive discourse?

A) Talking to others.
B) Theorizing about human nature.
C) Talking to one's self.
D) Thinking about one's self.

Answer 2

Theorizing about human nature.

Question 3

What advance encouraged the view of human nature as amenable to scientific investigation?

A) The theory of evolution.
B) Wundt's experimental psychology laboratory.
C) Phrenology
D) Comparative psychology

Answer 3

The theory of evolution.

Question 4

Which of the following is not recognized as an early school of psychology?

A) Structuralism
B) Functionalism
C) Gestalt
D) Associationism

Question 5

Which of the following is not an assumption of the behaviourist approach?

A) That behaviour is the result of learned associations between stimulus and response.
B) That psychology should focus on observable behaviour.
C) That active mental processes guide behaviour.
D) That the environment is sufficient to explain behaviour.

Question 6

What long-term impact has behaviourism had on psychology?

A) It showed that mental processing was unimportant.
B) It developed a standard scientific methodology.
C) It emphasized environmental determinism.
D) It has explained a wide range of complex behaviours.

Question 7

Which of the following components of personality in psychodynamic approaches represents the conscience?

A) The psyche
B) The ego
C) The id
D) The superego

Question 8

Which defence mechanism pushes material into the unconscious?

A) Repression
B) Displacement
C) Denial
D) Reaction formation

Question 9

Which of the following criticisms has been levelled at psychodynamic approaches?

A) They have not produced sufficient theories.
B) They are too complex for everyday people to understand.
C)They are methodologically weak and hence unscientific.
D) They have not led to useful therapeutic techniques.

Question 10

What does the humanistic approach emphasize in understanding human psychology?

A) Determinism
B) Free will
C) Positivism
D) Objectivity

Question 11

How did Rogers suggest that people achieve actualization?

A) By being selfish.
B) Through fulfilling all levels of a hierarchy of needs.
C) Through dream analysis.
D) Through matching the ideal self to the perceived self.

Question 12

Which of the following is not a positive consequence of the humanistic approach?

A) Development of research techniques to evaluate treatments.
B) Establishment of counselling as an independent profession.
C) Development of new therapeutic techniques.
D) Considerable impact on scientific psychology.

Question 13

Which of the following is a fundamental assumption of the cognitive approach?

A) That behaviour is the result of active mental processing.
B) That behaviour is the result of passive learning by association.
C) That behaviour is the result of physiology.
D) That behaviour is the result of social interaction.

Question 14

Which of the following is a common criticism of the cognitive approach?

A) It has had a limited impact on theory development in psychology.
B) It lacks methodological rigour.
C) It lacks ecological validity.
D) It has not led to any useful applications.

Question 15

Which of the following is not a central object of investigation in physiological psychology?

A) Brain function
B) Animal behaviour
C) Brain chemistry
D) Genes and psychology

Question 16

Which of the following is not claimed to be an advantage of the physiological approach?

A) It provides an accessible framework for understanding ourselves.
B) It suggests effective drug treatments for psychological disorders.
C) It naturalizes behaviours that should be discouraged.
D) It provides explanations in a range of areas of psychology.

Question 17

Which of the following is a common criticism of the physiological approach?

A) It places too much emphasis on the environment.
B) It is overly reductionist.
C) It is too difficult to understand.
D) Physiology has no influence on behaviour.

Question 18

What belief underpins the social constructionist approach?

A) That psychology is an objective discipline.
B) That psychological phenomena are independent of our investigation of those phenomena.
C) That the scientific method is the right research methodology for psychology.
D) That we construct our view of the world through social interaction.

Question 19

Which of the following is perceived as a weakness of the social constructionist approach?

A) It is anti-scientific
B) It has close links with other disciplines.
C) Its challenges to the status quo have led to social change.
D) It emphasizes the complexity of behaviour.