Station 5 Quotes based on Early Schools of Thought and Modern Perspectives KEY

Directions: For each of the following quotes, identify the historical school of thought or modern
psychological perspective that is being expressed. It is not necessary to be able to identify to whom the
quote is actually attributed.
Historical Schools of Thought
Structuralism
Functionalism Gestalt
Psychoanalytic
Modern Perspectives
Psychodynamic
Behaviorism
Cognitive
Biological

Humanism
Evolutionary

Sociocultural

1. This early psychologist did not engage in the typical methods other early psychologists favored and
said, The thought of brass-instrument and algebraic-formula psychology fills me with horror. He instead
was interested in finding the practical applications for his ideas regarding the purposes of the elements of
consciousness. Which historical school of thought does this psychologist most likely represent?
Functionalism School of Thought
William James
2. My experiments reveal how memories can be changed by things that we are told. Facts, ideas,
suggestions and other forms of post-event information can modify our memories. The legal field, so
reliant on memories, has been a significant application of the memory research. Which contemporary
perspective does this psychologist who is studying memory most likely represent?
Cognitive Perspective
Elizabeth Loftus
3. When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic. Which
contemporary perspective does is this psychologist most likely represent?
Humanist Perspective
Carl Rogers
4. I set myself the task of bringing to light what human beings keep hidden within themthe task of
making conscious the most hidden recesses of the mind is one which it is quite possible to accomplish.
Which historical school of thought does this psychologist most likely represent?
Psychoanalytic School of Thought
Sigmund Freud
5. Man's unconscious... contains all the patterns of life and behavior inherited from his ancestors, so
that every human child, prior to consciousness, is possessed of a potential system of adapted psychic
functioning. Which contemporary perspective does is this psychologist most likely represent?
Psychodynamic (Neo-Freudian)
Carl Jung
6. One of the more important things to come out of the split-brain work, as an indirect spin-off, is a
revised concept of the nature of consciousness and its fundamental relation to brain processing. Which
contemporary perspective does is this psychologist most likely represent?
Biological Perspective
Roger Sperry
7. The following quote from a famous psychologist focuses on learning and behavior. Education is what
survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. Which contemporary perspective does is this
psychologist most likely represent?
Behaviorist Perspective
B.F. Skinner

2014 American Psychological Association - Clark Conference

Nancy Fenton Adlai E. Stevenson High School

8. "The distinguishing characteristics of the mind are of a subjective sort; we know them only from the
contents of our own consciousness." This early psychologist was interested in the elements that make up
the content of our conscious experience. Which historical school of thought does this psychologist most
likely represent?
Structuralism School of Thought
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundts ideas formed the basis for what became structuralism (Edward Titchener)
9. The tendency toward aggression is an innate, independent instinctual disposition in man it
constitutes the powerful obstacle to culture. Which historical school of thought does this psychologist
most likely represent?
Psychoanalytic School of Thought
Sigmund Freud
10. In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and
improvise most effectively have prevailed. Which contemporary perspective does this psychologist most
likely represent?
Evolutionary Perspective
Charles Darwin
11. Here is a neuron that fires when I reach and grab something, but it also fires when I watch Joe
reaching and grabbing something. Its as though this neuron is adopting the other persons point of
view. Which contemporary perspective does this psychologist most likely represent?
Biological Perspective
V.S. Ramachandran
12. There are contexts in which what is happening in the whole cannot be deduced from the
characteristics of the separate pieces, but conversely; what happens to a part of the whole is, in clear cut
cases, determined by the laws of the inner structure of its whole." Which historical school of thought does
this psychologist most likely represent?
Gestalt School of Thought
Max Wertheimer
13. It may be that we are puppets, puppets that are controlled by the strings of society. But at least we
are puppets with perception, with awareness. And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our
liberation. Which contemporary perspective does this psychologist most likely represent?
Sociocultural Perspective
Stanley Milgram
14. Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. Which
contemporary perspective does this psychologist most likely represent?
Psychodynamic (Neo-Freudian)
Carl Jung
15. Physiology and psychology cover, between them, the field of vital phenomena; they deal with the
facts of life at large, and in particular with the facts of human life. This early psychologist is considered
the Father of Psychology for merging philosophy and physiology and creating the first psychology lab in
Leipzig, Germany. Which historical school of thought does this psychologist most likely represent?
Structuralism School of Thought
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundts ideas formed the basis for what became structuralism (Edward Titchener)
16. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones who are most
responsive to change. Which contemporary perspective does this psychologist most likely represent?
Evolutionary Perspective
Charles Darwin
17. The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do
not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realized that you control your own
destiny. Which contemporary perspective does this psychologist most likely represent?
Cognitive Perspective
Albert Ellis
2014 American Psychological Association - Clark Conference
Nancy Fenton Adlai E. Stevenson High School

18. Which accomplished scientist and author wrote the book titled, The Formation of Vegetable Mould
Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits? Hint: He also wrote the far better
known book titled On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection.
Evolutionary Perspective
Charles Darwin
19. The dream is a series of images, which are apparently contradictory and nonsensical, but arise in
reality from psychological material which yields a clear meaning. Which contemporary perspective does
this psychologist most likely represent?
Psychodynamic (Neo-Freudian)
Carl Jung
20. Give me a dozen healthy infantsand my own specified world to bring them up in and Ill guarantee
to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select doctor, lawyer
and yes, even beggar man and thief. Which contemporary perspective does this psychologist most
likely represent?
Behaviorist Perspective
John B. Watson
21. Psychology tells us that the unaided human mind is vulnerable to many fallacies and illusions
because of its reliance on its memory for vivid anecdotes rather than systematic statistics. Which
contemporary perspective does this psychologist most likely represent?
Cognitive Perspective
Steven Pinker
22. If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all
the days of your life. Which contemporary perspective does this psychologist most likely represent?
Humanist Perspective
Abraham Maslow
23. In examining disease, we gain wisdom about anatomy and physiology and biology. In examining the
person with disease, we gain wisdom about life. Which contemporary perspective does this psychologist
most likely represent?
Biological Perspective
Oliver Sacks
24. "I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have." This quote is not from a
psychologist, but from the 16th President of the United States (Abraham Lincoln). Which contemporary
psychological perspective would most likely also say something similar?
Humanist Perspective
Abraham Lincoln

25. "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." This is not a quote from a
psychologist, but instead one from William Shakespeares well known play Hamlet. Which contemporary
psychological perspective would most likely also say something similar?
Cognitive Perspective
Shakespeare
26. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. This is not a quote from a psychologist,
but instead one from one of the most famous speeches in American history. Which contemporary
psychological perspective would most likely also say something similar?
Sociocultural Perspective
Martin Luther King, Jr.

2014 American Psychological Association - Clark Conference

Nancy Fenton Adlai E. Stevenson High School

Historical Schools of Thought and Modern Perspectives in Psychology

Quote Activity Sources
Cherry, K. (2013). Carl rogers quotes. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologyquotes/a/rogersquotes.htm
Krauss-Whitbourne, S. (2013, August 24). 10 of psychologys best quotes and
their surprising sources. Retrieved from
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201308/10-psychology-s-best-quotes-and-their-surprisingsources
Social psychology network. (2009, December 21). Retrieved from
http://loftus.socialpsychology.org/
Wiseman, R. (2013). The as if principle: the radically new approach to changing your life. New York: Free Press.

2014 American Psychological Association - Clark Conference

Nancy Fenton Adlai E. Stevenson High School