Chapter 1 - Intro to Psychology

Question 1

QUIZ 1 QUESTION 2 Psychology is the scientific study of

Answer 1

mind and behavior (OPEN CHAPTER 1)

Question 2

In Greek mythology, Psyche was a mortal woman whose beauty was so great that

Answer 2

it rivaled that of the goddessAphrodite

Question 3

.AphroditebecamesojealousofPsychethatshesentherson,Eros,tomakePsychefall in love with the ugliest man in the world. However, Eros

Answer 3

accidentally pricked himself with the tip of his arrow and fell madly in love with Psyche himself

Question 4

He took Psyche to his palace and showered her with gifts, yet she could never see his face. While visiting Psyche, her sisters roused suspicion in Psyche about her mysterious lover, and eventually, Psyche betrayed Eros’ wishes to remain unseen to her (Figure 1.2). Because ofthisbetrayal,

Answer 4

,Eros abandoned Psyche.

Question 5

WhenPsyche appealedtoAphrodite toreuniteherwith Eros,Aphroditegaveheraseriesofimpossibletaskstocomplete.Psychemanagedtocompleteallofthese trials;ultimately,herperseverancepaidoffasshewasreunitedwithErosandwas

Answer 5

transformed into a goddess herself (Ashliman, 2001; Greek Myths & Greek Mythology, 2014).

Question 6

Psyche comes to represent the

Answer 6

the human soul’s triumph over the misfortunes of life in the pursuit of true happiness (Bulfinch, 1855);

Question 7

in fact, the Greek word psyche means soul,

Answer 7

and it is often represented as a butterfly.

Question 8

The word psychology was coined at a time when the concepts of soul and mind ).

Answer 8

were not as clearlydistinguished(Green,2001).

Question 9

The scientific study of any aspect of the world uses

Answer 9

the scientific method to acquire knowledge

Question 10

It is necessary that any explanation in science be testable, which means that the phenomenonmustbe

Answer 10

perceivableandmeasurable

Question 11

Thescientificmethodisalsoa formofempiricism.Anempiricalmethodforacquiringknowledgeisonebasedonobservation,including experimentation,

Answer 11

rather than a method based only on forms of logical argument or previous authorities.

Question 12

.Giventhatanybehavior is, at its roots, biological, some areas of psychology take on aspects of a natural science like biology. No biological organism exists in isolation, and our behavior is influenced by our interactions with others. Therefore, psychology is also

Answer 12

a social science.

Question 13

An education in psychology is valuable for a number of reasons. Psychology students hone critical thinkingskills

Answer 13

andaretrainedintheuseofthescientificmethod

Question 14

Two men, working in the 19th century, are generally credited as being the founders of psychology as a science and academic discipline that was distinct from philosophy. Their names were

Answer 14

Wilhelm Wundt and William James

Question 15

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) was a German scientist who was the first person to be referred to as a psychologist. His famous book entitled

Answer 15

entitled Principles of Physiological Psychology was published in 1873. Wundt viewed psychology as a scientific study of conscious experience, and he believed that the goal of psychology was to identify components of consciousness and how those components combined to result in our conscious experience

Question 16

Wundt used introspection (he called it “internal perception”), a process by which someone examines

Answer 16

their own conscious experience as objectively as possible, making the human mind like any other aspect of nature that a scientist observed. Wundt’s version of introspection used only very specific experimental conditions in which an external stimulus was designed to produce a scientifically observable (repeatable) experience of the mind (Danziger, 1980).

Question 17

The first stringent requirement was the use of “trained” or practiced observers, who could

Answer 17

immediately observe and report a reaction.

Question 18

The second requirement was the use of repeatable

Answer 18

stimuli that always produced the same experience in the subject and allowed the subject to expect and thus be fully attentive to the inner reaction.

Question 19

.Thisattempt tounderstandthestructureorcharacteristicsofthemindwasknown

Answer 19

asstructuralism

Question 20

.Wundtestablished his psychology laboratory at the University

Answer 20

at Leipzig in 1879

Question 21

However, despite his efforts to train individuals in the process of introspection, this process remained highly subjective, and there was very little agreement between individuals. As a result, structuralism fell out of favor with the passing of

Answer 21

Wundt’s student, Edward Titchener, in 1927 (Gordon, 1995).

Question 22

William James (1842–1910) was the first American psychologist who espoused a different perspective on how psychology should operate (Figure 1.4). James was introduced to Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection and accepted it as

Answer 22

an explanation of an organism’s characteristics

Question 23

As James saw it, psychology’s purpose was to study the function of behavior in the world, and as such, his perspective was known as

Answer 23

functionalism.

Question 24

Functionalism focused on how mental activities helped an organism fit into its environment. Functionalism has a second, more subtle meaning in that functionalists were more interested in the operationofthewholemindratherthanof

Answer 24

ofitsindividualparts,whichwerethefocusofstructuralism

Question 25

Perhaps one of the most influential and well-known figures in psychology’s history was Sigmund Freud (Figure 1.5). Freud (1856–1939) was an Austrian neurologist who was fascinated by patients suffering from

Answer 25

“hysteria” and neurosis

Question 26

. Hysteria was an ancient diagnosis for disorders, primarily of women with a wide variety of symptoms, including physical symptoms and emotional disturbances, none of which had an

Answer 26

apparent physical cause.

Question 27

.InFreud’sview,theunconsciousmindwasarepositoryoffeelingsandurgesofwhich we have no awareness. Gaining access to the unconscious, then, was crucial to

Answer 27

the successful resolution of the patient’s problems.

Question 28

According to Freud, the unconscious mind could be accessed through dream analysis,by

Answer 28

,byexaminationsofthefirstwordsthatcametopeople’sminds,andthroughseeminglyinnocent slips of the tongue

Question 29

Psychoanalytic theory focuses on the role of a person’s unconscious, as well as

Answer 29

early childhood experiences, and this particular perspective dominated clinical psychology for several decades (Thorne & Henley, 2005).

Question 30

Freud’sideaswereinfluential,andyouwilllearnmoreaboutthemwhenyoustudylifespandevelopment, personality, and therapy. For instance, many therapists believe strongly in the unconscious and the impact of early childhood experiences on the rest of a person’s life. The method of psychoanalysis, which involvesthepatienttalkingabouttheirexperiencesandselves,whilenotinventedbyFreud,

Answer 30

was popularized by him and is still used today

Question 31

Max Wertheimer (1880–1943), Kurt Koffka (1886–1941), and Wolfgang Köhler (1887–1967) were three German psychologists who immigrated

Answer 31

to the United States in the early 20th century to escape Nazi Germany. These men are credited with introducing psychologists in the United States to various Gestalt principles.

Question 32

. The word Gestalt roughly translates to “whole;” a major emphasis of Gestalt psychology deals withthefact

Answer 32

withthefactthatalthoughasensoryexperiencecanbebrokendownintoindividualparts,howthoseparts relatetoeachotherasawholeisoftenwhattheindividualresponds toinperception.Forexample,asong may be made up of individual notes played by different instruments, but the real nature of the song is perceived in the combinations of these notes as they form the melody, rhythm, and harmony. In many ways,thisparticularperspectivewouldhavedirectlycontradictedWundt’sideasofstructuralism(Thorne & Henley, 2005).

Question 33

Unfortunately, in moving to the United States, these men were forced to abandon much of their work and were unable to continue to conduct research on a large scale. These factors along with the rise of

Answer 33

behaviorism(describednext)intheUnitedStatespreventedprinciplesofGestaltpsychologyfrombeingas influentialintheUnitedStatesastheyhadbeenintheirnativeGermany(Thorne&Henley,2005)

Question 34

Structuralism, Freud, and the Gestalt psychologists were all concerned in one way or another with describing and understanding inner experience. But other researchers had concerns that inner experience could be a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry and chose instead to exclusively

Answer 34

study behavior, the objectively observable outcome of mental processes

Question 35

Early work in the field of behavior was conducted by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936). Pavlov studied a form of learning behavior called a

Answer 35

conditioned reflex, in which an animal or human produced a reflex (unconscious) response to a stimulus and, over time, was conditioned to produce the response to a different stimulus that the experimenter associated with the original stimulu

Question 36

The reflex Pavlov worked with was salivation in response to the presence of food. The salivation reflex could be elicited using a second stimulus, such as a specific sound, that was presented in association with the initial food stimulus several times. Once the response to the second stimulus was “learned,”

Answer 36

the food stimuluscouldbeomitted.Pavlov’s“classicalconditioning”isonlyoneformoflearningbehaviorstudied by behaviorists.

Question 37

John B. Watson (1878–1958) was an influential American psychologist whose most famous work occurred during the early 20th century at Johns Hopkins University (Figure 1.6). While Wundt and James were concerned with understanding conscious experience, Watson thought that the study of consciousness was flawed. Because he believed that objective analysis of the mind was impossible, Watson preferred to focus directly on

Answer 37

observable behavior and try to bring that behavior under control

Question 38

Watson was a major proponent of shifting the focus of psychology from the mind to behavior, and this approach of observing and controlling behavior came to be known as

Answer 38

behaviorism

Question 39

Behaviorism is largely responsible for establishing psychology as a scientific discipline through its objective methods and especially experimentation. In addition, it is used in

Answer 39

` behavioral and cognitive-behavioral therapy

Question 40

B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) was an American psychologist (Figure 1.7). Like Watson, Skinner was a behaviorist, and he concentrated on how behavior was affected by its consequences. Therefore, Skinner spoke of reinforcement and punishment as major factors in driving behavior. As a part of his research, Skinner developed a

Answer 40

chamber that allowed the careful study of the principles of modifying behavior throughreinforcementandpunishment.Thisdevice,knownasanoperantconditioningchamber(ormore familiarly, a Skinner box), has remained a crucial resource for researchers studying behavior (Thorne & Henley, 2005)

Question 41

The Skinner box is a chamber that isolates the subject from the external environment and has a behavior indicator such as a lever or a button. When the animal pushes the button or lever, the box is able to .

Answer 41

deliverapositivereinforcementofthebehavior(suchasfood)orapunishment(suchasanoise)oratoken conditioner (such as a light) that is correlated with either the positive reinforcement or punishment.

Question 42

During the early 20th century, American psychology was dominated by behaviorism and psychoanalysis. However, some psychologists were uncomfortable with what they viewed as limited perspectives being so influential to the field. They objected to the

Answer 42

pessimism and determinism (all actions driven by the unconscious) of Freud

Question 43

They also disliked the reductionism, or simplifying nature, of behaviorism. Behaviorism is also deterministic at its core, because it sees human behavior as entirely determined by a combination of genetics and environment. Some psychologists began to form their own ideas that

Answer 43

emphasizedpersonalcontrol,intentionality,andatruepredispositionfor“good”asimportantforourselfconcept and our behavior.

Question 44

QUIZ 1 QUESTION 4 . Humanism is a perspective within psychology that emphasizesthepotentialforgoodthatisinnatetoallhumans.Twoofthemostwell-knownproponentsof humanistic psychology are

Answer 44

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers (O’Hara, n.d.). | buried section 1.2

Question 45

AbrahamMaslow(1908–1970)wasanAmericanpsychologistwhoisbestknownforproposingahierarchy of

Answer 45

human needs in motivating behavior (Figure 1.8).

Question 46

.Maslowassertedthatsolongasbasicneeds necessary for survival were met (e.g., food, water, shelter), higher-level needs (e.g., social needs) would begin to

Answer 46

motivate behavior

Question 47

Carl Rogers (1902–1987) was also an American psychologist who, like Maslow, emphasized the potential for good that exists within all people (Figure 1.9). Rogers used a therapeutic technique known as

Answer 47

clientcentered therapy in helping his clients deal with problematic issues that resulted in their seeking psychotherapy. (aka American Humanisys Maslow Rogers buried in text Section 1.02)

Question 48

Behaviorism’s emphasis on objectivity and focus on external behavior had pulled

Answer 48

psychologists’ attention away from the mind for a prolonged period of time

Question 49

. By the 1950s, new disciplinary perspectives in linguistics, neuroscience, and computer science were emerging, and these areas revived interest in the mind as a focus of scientific inquiry. This particular perspective has come to be known as

Answer 49

the cognitive revolution (Miller, 2003)

Question 50

QUIZ 1 QUESTION 5 Although no one person is entirely responsible for starting the cognitive revolution, Noam Chomsky was

Answer 50

very influential in the early days of this movement (Figure 1.10). Chomsky (1928–), an American linguist, was dissatisfied with the influence that behaviorism had had on psychology (Buried in Detail Section 1.2)

Question 51

European psychology had never really been as influenced by behaviorism as had American psychology; and thus, the cognitive revolution helped

Answer 51

reestablish lines of communication between European psychologists and their American counterparts.

Question 52

An article by Naomi Weisstein, first published in 1968 (Weisstein, 1993), stimulated a

Answer 52

feminist revolution in psychology by presenting a critique of psychology as a science. She also specifically criticized male psychologists for constructing the psychology of women entirely out of their own cultural biases and without careful experimental tests to verify any of their characterizations of women

Question 53

studies can be flawed for not taking

Answer 53

culture into account (binge eating study)

Question 54

Contemporarypsychologyisadiversefieldthatisinfluencedbyallofthehistoricalperspectivesdescribed in the preceding section. Reflective of the discipline’s diversity is the diversity seen within the

Answer 54

American Psychological Association (APA

Question 55

Asthenamesuggests,biopsychologyexploreshow

Answer 55

howourbiologyinfluencesourbehavio

Question 56

The research interests of biological psychologists span a number of domains, including but not limited to, sensory and motor systems,

Answer 56

sleep, drug use and abuse, ingestive behavior, reproductive behavior, neurodevelopment, plasticity of the nervous system, and biological correlates of psychological disorders

Question 57

Evolutionary psychologists have had success in finding experimental correspondence between observationsandexpectations.Inoneexample,inastudyofmatepreferencedifferencesbetweenmenand women that spanned 37 cultures, Buss (1989) found that women valued

Answer 57

earning potential factors greater thanmen,andmenvaluedpotentialreproductivefactors(youthandattractiveness)greaterthanwomenin theirprospectivemates.Ingeneral,thepredictionswereinlinewiththepredictionsofevolution,although there were deviations in some cultures.

Question 58

Scientists interested in both physiological aspects of sensory systems as well as in the psychological experience of sensory information work within the area of

Answer 58

sensation and perceptio

Question 59

For instance, research by Jean Piaget (Figure 1.13) demonstrated that very young children do not demonstrate object permanence. Object permanence refers

Answer 59

totheunderstandingthatphysicalthingscontinuetoexist,eveniftheyarehiddenfromus.Ifyouwereto show an adult a toy, and then hide it behind a curtain, the adult knows that the toy still exists.

Question 60

Personality psychology focuses on patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique. Severalindividuals (e.g.,FreudandMaslow) thatwehavealreadydiscussed inourhistorical overview of psychology, and the American psychologist

Answer 60

Gordon Allport, contributed to early theories of personality

Question 61

. Personality traits are relatively consistent patterns of thought and behavior, and many have proposed that five

Answer 61

trait dimensions are sufficient to capture the variations in personality seen across individuals

Question 62

QUIZ 1 QUESTION 3 the five dimensions are

Answer 62

openness agreeableness conscientiousness extroversion neurotocism (OCEAN) Five Factor model

Question 63

Social psychology focuses on how we interact with and

Answer 63

and relate to others. Social psychologists conduct research on a wide variety of topics that include differences in how we explain our own behavior versus how we explain the behaviors of others, prejudice, and attraction, and how we resolve interpersonal conflicts

Question 64

Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist who is most famous for research that

Answer 64

he conducted on obedience.

Question 65

Milgram’s and others’ studies that involved deception and potential emotional harm to study participants

Answer 65

catalyzed the development of ethical guidelines for conducting psychological research that discourage the use of deception of research subjects, unless it can be argued not to cause harm and, in general, requiring informed consent of participants.

Question 66

Industrial-Organizational psychology (I-O psychology) is a subfield of psychology that applies

Answer 66

psychological theories, principles, and research findings in industrial and organizational settings

Question 67

Health psychology focuses on how health is affected by the interaction of

Answer 67

biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. This particular approach is known as the biopsychosocial model (Figure 1.16). Health psychologists are interested in helping individuals achieve better health through public policy, education, intervention, and research.

Question 68

Researchers in sport and exercise psychology study the psychological aspects of

Answer 68

sport performance, including motivation and performance anxiety, and the effects of sport on mental and emotional wellbeing

Question 69

Clinicalpsychology is

Answer 69

Clinicalpsychologyistheareaofpsychologythatfocusesonthediagnosisandtreatmentofpsychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior

Question 70

Forensic psychology is

Answer 70

a branch of psychology that deals questions of psychology as they arise in the context of the justice system