Chapter 1

Introduction: The Origins of Psychology
  1. Define psychology, and discuss the issues that have shaped psychology’s evolu­tion over the past century and a half, including the influence of philosophy and physiology.
  2. Describe the roles Wilhelm Wundt and William James played in the establish­ment of psychology as a separate scientific discipline.
  3. Identify the founders of structuralism and functionalism, and compare and contrast their key ideas and goals.
  4. Identify four early American psychologists who were students of William James or Edward Titchener, and list their contributions to the development of psychology.
  5. Identify the founder of psychoanalysis, and describe the key ideas of this school of thought.
  6. List three key figures in the development of behaviorism, and describe behav­iorism’s basic assumptions and goals.
  7. Identify two advocates of humanistic psychology, and note how humanistic psychology differs from behaviorism and psychoanalysis.
Contemporary Psychology
  8. List and describe the eight major perspectives in contemporary psychology.
  9. (Culture and Human Behavior) Explain the importance of cross-cultural psy­chology, and distinguish between individualistic and collectivistic cultures.
  10. Explain the basic assumptions of the evolutionary perspective.
  11. List the fourteen major specialty areas in contemporary psychology, describe the focus of each, and distinguish between psychology and psychiatry.
The Scientific Method
  12. List the four goals of psychology, explain the scientific assumptions and atti­tudes psychologists share, and describe critical thinking.
  13. (Critical Thinking) Define critical thinking, list the three active processes involved, and describe the key attributes and mental skills that characterize critical thinking.
  14. Describe the scientific method. List the four steps involved, and define empirical evidence. Specify the difference between a hypothesis and a theory, and explain the importance of operational definitions, replication, and statistics. Define and explain how psychologists employ meta-analysis and statistically significant finding.
Descriptive Research Methods
  15. Define descriptive research methods, and describe how psychologists conduct naturalistic observation and case studies.
  16. (Science Versus Pseudoscience) Define the term pseudoscience, and explain how to recognize and evaluate pseudoscientific claims.
  17. Describe survey research, and list the criteria that must be met for survey results to be valid.
  18. Define correlation coefficient, explain the difference between positive and nega­tive correlations, and describe the functions and limitations of correlational research.
The Experimental Method
  19. Specify what the experimental method involves, and describe the experimental design used in the ginkgo biloba study.
  20. Define and explain the function of the independent variable, dependent vari­able, extraneous variable, experimental controls, experimental group, and pla­cebo control group in an experiment.
  21. Define placebo, placebo effect, and main effect. Explain the purpose of random assignment, the double-blind technique, the control group or control condition, and how demand characteristics and practice effects can influence experimen­tal results.
  22. Identify the hypothesis, independent variable, dependent variable, experimen­tal group, and control group in the hotel experiment testing the relationship between perceiving work as exercise and health benefits. Critically evaluate the results of the experiment.
  23. Describe and discuss the variations and limitations of the experimental meth­od, and define a natural experiment.
  24. (Focus on Neuroscience) Name and describe the major imaging techniques used to study the brain, and list their limitations.
Ethics in Psychological Research
  25. Describe the major provisions of the American Psychological Association’s code of ethics for research with human participants and nonhuman animal subjects.
  26. (In Focus) List and discuss the issues related to the use of animals in psycho­logical research.
Enhancing Well-Being with Psychology: Psychology in the Media: Becoming an Informed Consumer
  27. List criteria that should be used to evaluate media reports about psychological findings and issues.