Model Test Competenta 2011 (1) [629247]

FULL NAME FACULTY & SPECIALTY DATE SCORE

TEST OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Read the text below and do the tasks which follow.

BRIEF HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

1. While the subject of psychology in today’s moder n world does reflect the discipline’s rich and colo rful
history, its origins however differ quite considera bly from the contemporary notions of the field. In order to
fully understand what psychology is all about, it i s important to first go back into its history and e xplore its
origins. How did this discipline originate? When di d it originate?
Contemporary psychology deals with a vast range of topics; while at the same time looks into human
behavioral patterns and mental processes from the c ultural level to the neural level. Psychologists st udy all
matters pertaining to human mental issues that begi n right from birth and continue up until the death of the
person. So, by gaining full understanding of the hi story of psychology, you will be able to better und erstand
how the individual topics are studied and what has been learnt so far.
2. Right from the very beginning, the study of psyc hology has been faced with a number of difficult qu estions.
The first question of how is psychology defined est ablished it as a separate science, separate from ph ilosophy
and physiology. Other additional questions that psy chologists were also faced with throughout the hist ory of
the subject were: What issues and topics should the subject of psychology deal with? Is psychology a s cience?
While psychology did not really emerge as a separat e science until the latter half of the 19th century , its initial
history can be traced right back to the ancient Gre eks. During the 1600’s, the famous French philosoph er, Rene
Descartes, introduced the concept of dualism, which stressed on the fact that the body and the mind we re
basically two separate entities that interacted tog ether to form the normal human experience. Many of the other
issues that are still debated by psychologists toda y, like relative contributions of nature vs. nurtur e, are deep
rooted in these early philosophical concepts.
3. So why is psychology different from philosophy? While many of the early philosophers relied heavily on
methods like logic and observation, the psychologis ts of today tend to use methods to study and come t o
conclusions about the human behavior and thought. P hysiology also made large contributions towards the
eventual emergence of psychology as a science. Earl y physiology research on behavior and brain had a v ery
dramatic impact on psychology as it is today, ultim ately leading to the application of many scientific
methodologies that study the human behavior and tho ught. During the mid 19th century, Wilhelm Wundt, a
German physiologist started using scientific resear ch methods to look into reaction times. His works o utlined
many of the most important connections between phys iology and psychology.

I. READING COMPREHENSION

Task 1: Fill in the blanks with the appropriate inf ormation, based on Paragraph 1. (15 points)

1. One can notice a great _________________ between the original and the contemporary ideas of psychol ogy.
2. The history of psychology contributes to our ___ ______________________ understanding of this discip line.
3. Nowadays psychology is involved in the study of a great ________________________________ of subject s.
4. Contemporary psychology investigates the pattern s of human _______________________ at different lev els.
5. Psychologists deal with various ________________ ___________ problems that occur during a person’s l ife.

Task 2: Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F), based on Paragraph 2. (15 p oints)

1. The study of psychology encountered difficulties in its infancy. _____
2. The topics of psychology were clear from the ver y beginning. _____
3. Psychology emerged as a separate science in the time of the ancient Greeks. _____
4. The concept of dualism focuses on the mind – bod y dichotomy. _____
5. The nature vs. nurture debate does not concern c ontemporary psychologists. _____

Task 3: Process the information in the text and ela borate on the following. (20 points)

1. Why is the history of psychology important? …………………………………… ……………………………..
………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………
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2. The study of psychology and the questions it fac ed at the beginning: ………………………………………….
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……
3. Rene Descartes: ……………………………………………………………………………
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4. Psychology and philosophy: ……………………………………………………… ………………………
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………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5. Wilhelm Wundt: ………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

II. WRITING: The history and origins of psychology play an important role in the understanding of this
discipline. Examples; Comments (300 words) (50 poin ts)