Test: Psychology- 3 - Humanities/Arts MCQ

In his Nobel Prize-winning work on digestion, Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) discovered that hungry dogs would salivate at the sight of the person who brought them their food. At first, he considered this ‘psychic secretion’ a nuisance, but soon he realized that it revealed a very basic form of learning. He went on to show that dogs could be trained, or conditioned, to salivate at the onset of an arbitrary stimulus (e.g. the sound of a bell) if it was immediately followed by food. Without intending to do so, Pavlov had provided psychology with a basic element, the stimulus–response association – also used by Watson as the foundation of behaviourism.

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) published Principles of Physiological Psychology(1874), which is widely considered the first psychology textbook. In the preface Wundt wrote, ‘The work I here present to the public is an attempt to mark a new domain of science.’ Unlike his predecessors, Wundt called himself a psychologist and took a number of steps to promote this new domain of science. In 1879, Wundt established the first formal psychology research laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Wundt was profoundly influential, not to mention prolific – if you read his works at the rate of 60 pages a day, it would take two and a half years to finish them.

Jean Piaget advanced the study of the origin of children’s knowledge. Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis; Francis Galton developed the idea of mental tests; B.F. Skinner developed radical behaviourism; John Watson developed behaviourism. Piaget's theories have also had a significant impact on developmental psychology, although his ideas have not been fully accepted without criticism. Piaget's observation that children think and reason differently than adults helped usher in a new era of research on the intellectual development of children,

Behaviourism is exclusively focused on objective, observable behaviour and therefore would be most likely to reject the method of introspection. Although flawed, psychoanalysis requires introspection to identify memories, experiences and symptoms that need to be addressed. Structuralism was founded by Wundt and was the basis for developing the method of introspection. Functionalism addresses what functions are served by the mind and mental processes. While functionalism moved away from structuralism by focusing on a “stream of consciousness” as opposed to distinct elements of consciousness, it did not reject the method of introspection outright.

The passage states that “Since most stories deal with human events, knowledge of their motives and emotions is very important.” Thus, psychological knowledge enables journalists and communicators to connect effectively with the audience by understanding human motives and emotions.

Gestalt psychology, which emerged in Germany as a reaction to structuralism, focused on the organization of perceptual experiences. It argued that perceptual experience is more than the sum of the components, such as seeing movement from flashing lights or a movie from still images. Experience is holistic; it is a Gestalt.

Sigmund Freud shook the world with his radical view of human nature, seeing behavior as a dynamic manifestation of unconscious desires and conflicts. He founded psychoanalysis as a system to understand and cure psychological disorders.Gestalt psychology, which emerged in Germany as a reaction to structuralism, focused on the organization of perceptual experiences. It argued that perceptual experience is more than the sum of the components, such as seeing movement from flashing lights or a movie from still images. Experience is holistic; it is a Gestalt.

Durganand Sinha traces the history in four phases. The post-1960s phase was problem-oriented, where psychologists focused on addressing Indian societal problems and realized the limitations of excessive dependence on Western psychology.

Environmental Psychology studies how physical factors such as temperature, humidity, pollution, and natural disasters influence human behaviour, including their impact on health and interpersonal relations.

William James’ functionalist approach focused on how behaviour functions to help people adapt to their environment and satisfy their needs, rather than analyzing the mind’s structure.