Exam 1: Section 1: Psychology: Evolution of a Science

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The answer should provide the following information: (1) Today, women and non-White minorities play leading roles in all areas of psychology; (2) Kenneth Clark, an African American who became the first President of the American Psychological Association in 1970, worked extensively on the self-image of African American children and argued that segregation of the races created great psychological harm. Clark's research was fundamental and contributed to the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling (Brown v. Board of Education) to outlaw segregation in public schools. Clark's interest in psychology was sparked by taking a course taught by Francis Cecil Sumner, the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in psychology in 1920; (3) In 1894, Margaret Floy Washburn became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in psychology; (4) Mary Calkins, the first woman elected as president of the APA in 1905, was mentored by William James and advanced a theory of the role of "self" in psychology. She argued that self is a single unit that cannot be broken down; (5) Women now earn the majority of Ph.D. degrees granted in psychology. Psychology is becoming a female-dominated field. In addition, the number of Ph.D. degrees granted to minorities has more than doubled since 1985.

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The answer should provide the following information: (1) Skinner denied the existence of free will. According to Skinner, behavior was largely determined by a history of reinforcement; (2) Humanistic psychologists, such as Maslow and Rogers, believed that humans have free will and are active agents in trying to fulfill their own potential; (3) Nevertheless, both Skinner and the humanists shared an optimistic goal that psychologists could help improve the human condition. This is in contrast to the dark views of humanity advanced by Freud; (4) Skinner and the humanists attempted to better humanity using radically different methods. Skinner advocated arranging environments in which desirable behavior would be reinforced. The principles of reinforcement thus could be used to increase social welfare. Humanistic psychologists, on the other hand, focused on the power of a person's free choice in reaching his or her full potential, and developed therapies to facilitate this process.

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The answer should indicate that psychology can be defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. John Watson was the founder of behaviorism. He believed that mental processes could not be studied scientifically because they were not objectively observable. He believed that, if psychology was to be a science, it should confine its subject matter to objectively observable behavior. For this reason, Watson would disagree with the definition of psychology as presented in the textbook. In fairness to Watson, however, he lived before modern brain-scanning devices allowed psychologists to make objective observations of the neurological processes underlying cognition.