EXAM
1 IS WEDNESDAY 4/3/19, 4:40-5:55 PM., GENT 131
REVIEW
SESSION MONDAY 4/1/19, 6:00-7:00 PM (ending earlier or later depending on time
needed), GENT 131 or possibly BOUS 160 if room isn't available.
Expect
about 35-40 multiple choice questions, which you will have the full class time
to complete. The exam is cumulative EXCEPT for the material on the history of
connectionism / PDP / neural networks, which will NOT be covered at all.
The
textbook readings covered will be everything listed on the syllabus from
the beginning of the semester (excluding connectionism) up through the material
on philosophy of science (logical positivism, Popper, Kuhn) in Ch. 1. The READINGS link excerpted below is more specific and useful. EIGHTH EDITION READINGS ARE LISTED BELOW, BUT NOT ON THE
READINGS LINK!
The
emphasis will be on material since QUIZ 1 up to and including the material
covered in class on Monday 4/1/19. Some Philosophy Of Science topics will not
be covered by the end of Tuesday's class and hence won't be on the exam, so I
will update this link to reflect that if necessary; most likely, Popper and
Kuhn will only be briefly mentioned before the exam. New material since the
quiz starts with the early psychologists from Kant, Müller, and Helmholtz
onward, and includes the ways of defining psychology, the mind-body problem
including Turing and Searle as well as the web page excerpt from Stephen
Pinker's book, and continues with philosophy of science (definition, Logical
Positivism, Popper, Kuhn). The QUIZ 1 REVIEW INFO
is still posted in case it's helpful.
Priorities
for studying should be (1) topics that were discussed in class AND appear in
the reading, (2) topics that were discussed in class but do NOT appear in the
reading, (3) topics that appear in the reading but were NOT discussed in class,
in which case I will explicitly point out exactly which topics I mean, if any.
For this exam, that third category consists of the two excerpts from Stephen
Pinker's book How The Mind Works (see below). For the second
category, there are many points made in lecture that are not explicitly in the
textbook reading, and you should study your notes well for that. But bear in
mind that not everything I say can be tested with a multiple choice question,
so I think the first category will describe a majority of the questions AS LONG
AS you include the web page readings like the Mind-Body Problem web page, and
not just the textbook reading.
The
major focus, then, is on things I say in class, but you should use the text to
enrich and enlarge your understanding of anything covered in lecture, or to
remind yourself of specific points you may have missed in lecture.
Here
is an excerpt from the READINGS link with EIGHTH EDITION readings added,
covering the new readings for the first exam (i.e., since the quiz), and
incorporating the required links from the web page.
EARLY PSYCHOLOGY
Some Precursors to Psychology
* Kant's arguments against psychology as a
science 6E 195-196; 7E 184; 8E 180-181; see also note on web page
* Mueller 6E 235-236; 7E 221-223; 8E 217-218 ("Doctrine Of Specific Nerve Energies")
* Helmholtz 6E 237-242; 7E 223-227; 8E 218-223 ("Helmholtz's Stand Against Vitalism"; "Rate Of
Nerve Conduction" through "Helmholtz's Contributions")
* Donders 6E 269; 7E 254-255; 8E 249-250 ("Mental
Chronometry" - in the middle of the Wundt section)
* Weber 6E 251-252; 7E 237-238; 8E 233-234 (esp. "Judgments are relative")
* Fechner 6E 254-256; 7E 240-243; 8E 236-239 ("Psychophysics")
Psychology Founded as a Science
* Wundt and voluntarism: 6E 262-264 & 266-267; 7E 248-250 & 252-253; 8E 243-245 & 247-248 ("Psychology's
goals"; "Mediate and immediate experience"; "Wundt's use of
introspection"); 6E 268-270; 7E 254-255; 8E 249-250 ("Mental chronometry"); 6E 271-272; 7E 256-257; 8E 251-252 ("Volitional
Acts"; "Volkerpsychologie"; "The Historical Misunderstanding
of Wundt")
* Titchener and structuralism: 6E 275-277; 7E 260-262; 8E 255-257 ("Psychology's
goals"; "Titchener's use of introspection"; "Mental
elements"; "Law of Combination"); 6E 277-278; 7E 263-264; 8E 257-258 ("The decline of
structuralism")
* Kulpe and the imageless thought debate: 6E 283-285; 7E 268-270; 8E 263-265
* Watson and the founding of behaviorism: 6E 401; 7E 385; 8E 378 (quote); 6E 404-405; 7E 388-389; 8E 381-382 ("Language and
Thinking"); 6E 407-408; 7E 390-392; 8E 383-385 ("Watson's experiment with Albert"); 6E 411-412; 7E 394-395; 8E 386-388 ("the mind-body
problem"; "Watson's influence")
* Functionalism: 6E 336-337; 7E 322-323; 8E 315-316 ("Stage Four: US Functionalism"; "Characteristics
of Functionalistic Psychology"); 6E 376; 7E 361; 8E 354 last two paragraphs before Summary ("The Fate Of
Functionalism")
PSYCHOLOGY AS A NATURAL SCIENCE: FOUR
DEFINITIONS [the first two, "the science of mind and behavior" and
"the science of experimental epistemology", were covered on the first
quiz]
[see link
on web page] and [see
these slides]
* natural science definition ("science of
knowing and experiencing")
* practical definition (extensional definition)
("science of things that move around on their own")
* implications of definitions for the
materialist scientific world view
THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM AND ITS RELATION TO PSYCHOLOGY
* dualism: substance dualism (interactionist / Cartesian,
popular); property dualism (epiphenomenalism, interactionist property dualism,
elemental property dualism)
* monism: idealism, materialism (philosophical behaviorism,
reductive materialism / identity theory, functionalism)
* Mind-Body Problem web page [see this link]; CH.1 pp. 17-19 mind-body
problem (secondary to the Mind-Body Problem web page); CH.20 pp. 628-635 on
Artificial Intelligence, Turing, Searle, Information-Processing Psychology; pp.
633-634 "The Return Of The Mind-Body Problem" [see this link]
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
* CH.1 pp. 7-14 "What Is Science" [see this link], Logical Positivism [see
this link and this diagram], Popper, and Kuhn [see this diagram]; pp. 14-17 determinism
ALL OF THE CORRESPONDING SEVENTH EDITION READINGS ON THE
MIND-BODY PROBLEM, TURING AND SEARLE, AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE CAN BE FOUND IN
CH.1 PAGES 6-17 AND CH.19 PAGES 595-601.
ALL OF THE CORRESPONDING EIGHTH EDITION READINGS ON THE
MIND-BODY PROBLEM, TURING AND SEARLE, AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE CAN BE FOUND IN
CH.1 PAGES 6-17 AND CH.19 PAGES 584-590.
REQUIRED
READINGS FROM THE WEB PAGE THAT ARE NEW FOR THE EXAM:
* The Four
Definitions of Psychology web page and corresponding PowerPoint
slides (definitions 1 and 2 also appeared on QUIZ 1).
* The Early
Psychology PowerPoint slides (Müller, Helmholtz, and Donders also appeared
on QUIZ 1).
* The Mind-Body Problem web
page and corresponding PowerPoint
slides.
* Two excerpts from
Stephen Pinker's book How The Mind Works in which the Computational
Theory of Mind is described.
* PowerPoint
slides on Philosophy of Science in text format.
* Excerpt from
Stanovich's book offering a definition of science.
* Outline of Logical Positivism:
This is a very brief sketch of the philosophy of science known as Logical
Positivism, which was very influential in the development of psychology in the
first half of the 20th century. For the moment, all you need focus on is the
end of the first section where Logical Positivism, Popper, and Kuhn are
mentioned, and the second section titled "A Brief Outline of Logical
Positivism."
* Diagram of the
logical positivist view of science from Leahey's History Of Psychology.
* Diagram of Kuhn's
view of revolutionary change in science from Leahey's History Of
Psychology.
Note
that the two
excerpts from Stephen Pinker's book How The Mind Works (about the
Computational Theory of Mind) are required and were referred to in class as a
good companion to our discussion of mind-body functionalism and Turing; you
should pay particular attention to how Pinker defines "information"
and "symbol".
All
other links on the class web page are optional. You do NOT have to know
biographical material on Alan Turing, nor the details of special relativity and
quantum mechanics, though you should be able to recognize and understand
references to class discussions of those topics if they're used as examples.
