Index
Chapter 1: The science of psychology.................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Research methodology.....................................................................................................7
2.6: descriptive studies...................................................................................................................8
2.7: correlational studies................................................................................................................8
2.8: the experimental method controls and explains.....................................................................9
2.9 participants...............................................................................................................................9
2.10 ethical issues to consider in research with human participants............................................10
2.11: ethical issued to consider in research with animals.............................................................10
Chapter 3: Biology and behaviour....................................................................................................11
3.1 neurons and our nervous system............................................................................................11
3.4 study brain function................................................................................................................12
3.5 the brain stem........................................................................................................................12
3.6 subcortical structures.............................................................................................................13
3.7 the cerebral cortex underlies complex mental activity...........................................................14
3.10 the peripheral nervous system.............................................................................................16
3.12 the brain rewires itself..........................................................................................................16
4.1 brain activity gives rise to consciousness................................................................................17
4.3 conscious awareness involves attention.................................................................................17
5.1 sensory information to meaningful signals.............................................................................17
5.3 the brain constructs stable representations...........................................................................18
Chapter 6: Learning..........................................................................................................................19
6.1: learning results from experience...........................................................................................19
6.2: habituation and sensitization.................................................................................................19
6.3: conditioned behavior response.............................................................................................19
6.4: learning is acquired and persists until extinction...................................................................19
6.6: learning involves expectancies and prediction......................................................................20
6.10: types of reinforcement........................................................................................................20
6.11: operant conditioning...........................................................................................................20
6.16: learning through observation and imitation........................................................................21
6.18: fear can be learned through observation............................................................................21
Chapter 7: Memory..........................................................................................................................21
7.1: memory involves processing information..............................................................................21
7.2: memory as a result of brain activity......................................................................................21
7.3: memory is distributed throughout the brain.........................................................................22
, 7.6: long-term memory is relatively permanent...........................................................................22
7.7: long-term storage is based on meaning.................................................................................22
7.8: information is stored in association networks.......................................................................22
7.10: explicit memory involves conscious effort...........................................................................23
7.11: implicit memory occurs without deliberate effort...............................................................23
Chapter 8: Thinking, language and intelligence................................................................................23
8.9: language................................................................................................................................23
8.10: language develops in an orderly way...................................................................................24
Chapter 9:.........................................................................................................................................24
9.3: infants are prepared to learn.................................................................................................24
9.6: Piaget emphasized stages of cognitive development............................................................24
9.7: children’s cognitive abilities...................................................................................................25
Chapter 8..........................................................................................................................................25
8.11: inborn capacity for language...............................................................................................25
8.13: intelligence is measured with standardized tests................................................................25
8.14: general intelligence involves multiple components.............................................................26
8.15: intelligence is related to cognitive performance.................................................................26
8.16: genes and environment influence intelligence....................................................................26
8.17: group differences in intelligence have multiple determinants............................................27
Chapter 9..........................................................................................................................................27
9.16: cognition changes with age.................................................................................................27
9.5: infants develop attachments.................................................................................................27
9.10: puberty causes physical changes.........................................................................................27
9.11: a sense of identity forms.....................................................................................................28
9.12: peers and parents help shape the adolescent self...............................................................28
9.13: adults are affected by life transitions...................................................................................28
9.15:..............................................................................................................................................28
Chapter 12........................................................................................................................................29
12.15: situational and personal factors influence interpersonal attraction and friendships.........29
12.16: compassionate love and passionate love...........................................................................29
Chapter 10: Emotion and motivation...............................................................................................29
10.1: emotions vary in valence and arousal..................................................................................29
10.2: emotions have a physiological component..........................................................................29
10.4: three major theories of emotion.........................................................................................30
10.6: facial expressions communicate emotion............................................................................30
10.7: emotions strengthen interpersonal relations......................................................................30
, 10.8: drives motivate the satisfaction of needs............................................................................31
10.9: people are motivated by incentives.....................................................................................31
10.10: people set goals to achieve................................................................................................31
10.11: people have a need to belong...........................................................................................32
Chapter 11: Health and well-being...................................................................................................32
11.7: stress is a response to life events........................................................................................32
11.8: stress has physiological components...................................................................................32
11.10: stress disrupts the immune system...................................................................................33
11.12: coping reduces the negative health effects of stress.........................................................33
11.14: social support is associated with good health...................................................................34
Chapter 12: Social psychology..........................................................................................................34
12.2: groups influence individual behavior...................................................................................34
12.3: people conform to and comply with others........................................................................34
12.5: people are obedient to authority........................................................................................35
12.8: cooperation can reduce outgroup bias................................................................................35
12.9: people form attitudes through experience and socialization..............................................35
12.10: discrepancies lead to dissonance.......................................................................................35
12.11: attitudes can be changed through persuasion...................................................................35
12.12: people make judgements about others.............................................................................36
12.13: stereotypes can lead to prejudice and discrimination.......................................................36
12.14: prejudice can be reduced..................................................................................................36
Chapter 13: Personality....................................................................................................................36
13.14: our self-concepts consist of self-knowledge......................................................................36
13.15: perceives social regard influences self-esteem..................................................................36
13.16: people use mental strategies to maintain a positive sense of self.....................................37
Chapter 14: Psychological disorders.................................................................................................37
14.1: views on psychopathology have changed over time...........................................................37
14.2: psychological disorders are classified into categories..........................................................37
14.3: psychological disorders have many causes..........................................................................37
14.4: psychological disorders vary by sex and by culture.............................................................38
14.5: anxiety disorders make people fearful and tense................................................................38
14.6: unwanted and intrusive thoughts increase anxiety.............................................................38
14.7: depressive disorders consist of sad, empty, or irritable moods...........................................38
14.8: bipolar disorders involve depression and mania.................................................................39
14.11: schizophrenia involves a disconnection from reality.........................................................39
14.12: the cause of schizophrenia involves biological and environmental factors.......................39
, 14.16: autism spectrum disorder involves social deficits and restricted interests........................39
14.17: why do people believe vaccinations cause autism.............................................................39
14.18: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a disruptive impulse control disorder.............40
Chapter 15: Treatment of psychological disorders...........................................................................40
15.1: various methods have been used to treat psychopathology...............................................40
15.2: psychodynamic therapy seeks to reduce unconscious conflicts..........................................40
15.3: behavioral and cognitive treatments aim to change behavior, emotion, or thought directly
......................................................................................................................................................40
15.4: the context of therapy matters............................................................................................40
15.5: medication is effective for certain disorders........................................................................41
15.6: alternative biological treatments are used in extreme cases..............................................41
15.10: treatments that focus on behavior and cognition are superior for anxiety disorders.......41
15.11: both antidepressants and CBT are effective for obsessive-compulsive disorder...............41
15.12: many effective treatments are available for depressive disorders....................................41
15.13: should you trust studies sponsored by drug companies?..................................................42
15.14: lithium and atypical antipsychotics are most effective for bipolar disorder......................42
15.15: antipsychotics are superior for schizophrenia...................................................................42
15.18: children with ADHD can benefit from various approaches................................................42
15.19: children with autism spectrum disorder benefit from structured behavioral treatment. .42
15.20: the use of medication to treat adolescent depressive disorders is controversial..............42
Chapter 13........................................................................................................................................42
13.3: psychodynamic theories emphasize unconscious and dynamic processes..........................42
13.4: personality reflects learning and cognition..........................................................................43
13.5: humanistic approaches emphasize integrated personal experience...................................43
13.6: trait approaches describe behavioral dispositions...............................................................43
13.7: traits have a biological basis................................................................................................43
13.8: people sometimes are consistent........................................................................................43
, Chapter 1: The science of psychology
Thomas Gilovich
More Americans believe in extrasensory perception (ESP) than in evolution
20x more astrologers than astronomers
Followers of ESP and astrology may base important life decisions on wrong beliefs
Patricia Kowalski & Annette Kujawski
Students who employ critical thinking skills have a more accurate understanding of
psychology
Major biases:
1) Ignoring evidence (confirmation bias)
we restrict ourselves to evidence that supports our beliefs
2) Seeing relationships that don’t exist
believing that events are related when they are not can lead to superstitious behaviour.
3) Accepting after-the-fact explanations
because we expect the world to make sense, we come up with explanations
= hindsight bias
4) Taking mental shortcuts
people follow simple rules (heuristics) to make decisions.
Leonardo da Vinci
All sensory messages arrive at one location in the brain: sensus communis
the home of judgement and thought.
René Descartes
Dualism mind and body are separated yet intertwined
The body was nothing more than an organic machine governed by “reflex”
Nowadays: dualism is rejected the mind arises from brain activity and does not exist separately.
John Mill
Psychology should leave the realms of philosophy and of speculation and become a science
of observation and experiment
Psychology = the science of the elementary laws of the mind
Reaction time = method developed by Wundt, to assess how quickly people can respond to events
Method of introspection = a systematic examination of mental experiences that requires people to
inspect and report on the content of their thoughts. (subjective)
Structuralism = conscious experience can be broken down into its basic underlying component. An
understanding of the basic elements of conscious experience would provide the scientific basis for
understanding the mind.
Problem: experience is subjective. not reliable for understanding psychological processes.
Functionalism = James's approach to mental processes, emphasizing the functions and purposes of
the mind and behaviour in the individual's adaptation to the environment.
Chapter 1: The science of psychology.................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Research methodology.....................................................................................................7
2.6: descriptive studies...................................................................................................................8
2.7: correlational studies................................................................................................................8
2.8: the experimental method controls and explains.....................................................................9
2.9 participants...............................................................................................................................9
2.10 ethical issues to consider in research with human participants............................................10
2.11: ethical issued to consider in research with animals.............................................................10
Chapter 3: Biology and behaviour....................................................................................................11
3.1 neurons and our nervous system............................................................................................11
3.4 study brain function................................................................................................................12
3.5 the brain stem........................................................................................................................12
3.6 subcortical structures.............................................................................................................13
3.7 the cerebral cortex underlies complex mental activity...........................................................14
3.10 the peripheral nervous system.............................................................................................16
3.12 the brain rewires itself..........................................................................................................16
4.1 brain activity gives rise to consciousness................................................................................17
4.3 conscious awareness involves attention.................................................................................17
5.1 sensory information to meaningful signals.............................................................................17
5.3 the brain constructs stable representations...........................................................................18
Chapter 6: Learning..........................................................................................................................19
6.1: learning results from experience...........................................................................................19
6.2: habituation and sensitization.................................................................................................19
6.3: conditioned behavior response.............................................................................................19
6.4: learning is acquired and persists until extinction...................................................................19
6.6: learning involves expectancies and prediction......................................................................20
6.10: types of reinforcement........................................................................................................20
6.11: operant conditioning...........................................................................................................20
6.16: learning through observation and imitation........................................................................21
6.18: fear can be learned through observation............................................................................21
Chapter 7: Memory..........................................................................................................................21
7.1: memory involves processing information..............................................................................21
7.2: memory as a result of brain activity......................................................................................21
7.3: memory is distributed throughout the brain.........................................................................22
, 7.6: long-term memory is relatively permanent...........................................................................22
7.7: long-term storage is based on meaning.................................................................................22
7.8: information is stored in association networks.......................................................................22
7.10: explicit memory involves conscious effort...........................................................................23
7.11: implicit memory occurs without deliberate effort...............................................................23
Chapter 8: Thinking, language and intelligence................................................................................23
8.9: language................................................................................................................................23
8.10: language develops in an orderly way...................................................................................24
Chapter 9:.........................................................................................................................................24
9.3: infants are prepared to learn.................................................................................................24
9.6: Piaget emphasized stages of cognitive development............................................................24
9.7: children’s cognitive abilities...................................................................................................25
Chapter 8..........................................................................................................................................25
8.11: inborn capacity for language...............................................................................................25
8.13: intelligence is measured with standardized tests................................................................25
8.14: general intelligence involves multiple components.............................................................26
8.15: intelligence is related to cognitive performance.................................................................26
8.16: genes and environment influence intelligence....................................................................26
8.17: group differences in intelligence have multiple determinants............................................27
Chapter 9..........................................................................................................................................27
9.16: cognition changes with age.................................................................................................27
9.5: infants develop attachments.................................................................................................27
9.10: puberty causes physical changes.........................................................................................27
9.11: a sense of identity forms.....................................................................................................28
9.12: peers and parents help shape the adolescent self...............................................................28
9.13: adults are affected by life transitions...................................................................................28
9.15:..............................................................................................................................................28
Chapter 12........................................................................................................................................29
12.15: situational and personal factors influence interpersonal attraction and friendships.........29
12.16: compassionate love and passionate love...........................................................................29
Chapter 10: Emotion and motivation...............................................................................................29
10.1: emotions vary in valence and arousal..................................................................................29
10.2: emotions have a physiological component..........................................................................29
10.4: three major theories of emotion.........................................................................................30
10.6: facial expressions communicate emotion............................................................................30
10.7: emotions strengthen interpersonal relations......................................................................30
, 10.8: drives motivate the satisfaction of needs............................................................................31
10.9: people are motivated by incentives.....................................................................................31
10.10: people set goals to achieve................................................................................................31
10.11: people have a need to belong...........................................................................................32
Chapter 11: Health and well-being...................................................................................................32
11.7: stress is a response to life events........................................................................................32
11.8: stress has physiological components...................................................................................32
11.10: stress disrupts the immune system...................................................................................33
11.12: coping reduces the negative health effects of stress.........................................................33
11.14: social support is associated with good health...................................................................34
Chapter 12: Social psychology..........................................................................................................34
12.2: groups influence individual behavior...................................................................................34
12.3: people conform to and comply with others........................................................................34
12.5: people are obedient to authority........................................................................................35
12.8: cooperation can reduce outgroup bias................................................................................35
12.9: people form attitudes through experience and socialization..............................................35
12.10: discrepancies lead to dissonance.......................................................................................35
12.11: attitudes can be changed through persuasion...................................................................35
12.12: people make judgements about others.............................................................................36
12.13: stereotypes can lead to prejudice and discrimination.......................................................36
12.14: prejudice can be reduced..................................................................................................36
Chapter 13: Personality....................................................................................................................36
13.14: our self-concepts consist of self-knowledge......................................................................36
13.15: perceives social regard influences self-esteem..................................................................36
13.16: people use mental strategies to maintain a positive sense of self.....................................37
Chapter 14: Psychological disorders.................................................................................................37
14.1: views on psychopathology have changed over time...........................................................37
14.2: psychological disorders are classified into categories..........................................................37
14.3: psychological disorders have many causes..........................................................................37
14.4: psychological disorders vary by sex and by culture.............................................................38
14.5: anxiety disorders make people fearful and tense................................................................38
14.6: unwanted and intrusive thoughts increase anxiety.............................................................38
14.7: depressive disorders consist of sad, empty, or irritable moods...........................................38
14.8: bipolar disorders involve depression and mania.................................................................39
14.11: schizophrenia involves a disconnection from reality.........................................................39
14.12: the cause of schizophrenia involves biological and environmental factors.......................39
, 14.16: autism spectrum disorder involves social deficits and restricted interests........................39
14.17: why do people believe vaccinations cause autism.............................................................39
14.18: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a disruptive impulse control disorder.............40
Chapter 15: Treatment of psychological disorders...........................................................................40
15.1: various methods have been used to treat psychopathology...............................................40
15.2: psychodynamic therapy seeks to reduce unconscious conflicts..........................................40
15.3: behavioral and cognitive treatments aim to change behavior, emotion, or thought directly
......................................................................................................................................................40
15.4: the context of therapy matters............................................................................................40
15.5: medication is effective for certain disorders........................................................................41
15.6: alternative biological treatments are used in extreme cases..............................................41
15.10: treatments that focus on behavior and cognition are superior for anxiety disorders.......41
15.11: both antidepressants and CBT are effective for obsessive-compulsive disorder...............41
15.12: many effective treatments are available for depressive disorders....................................41
15.13: should you trust studies sponsored by drug companies?..................................................42
15.14: lithium and atypical antipsychotics are most effective for bipolar disorder......................42
15.15: antipsychotics are superior for schizophrenia...................................................................42
15.18: children with ADHD can benefit from various approaches................................................42
15.19: children with autism spectrum disorder benefit from structured behavioral treatment. .42
15.20: the use of medication to treat adolescent depressive disorders is controversial..............42
Chapter 13........................................................................................................................................42
13.3: psychodynamic theories emphasize unconscious and dynamic processes..........................42
13.4: personality reflects learning and cognition..........................................................................43
13.5: humanistic approaches emphasize integrated personal experience...................................43
13.6: trait approaches describe behavioral dispositions...............................................................43
13.7: traits have a biological basis................................................................................................43
13.8: people sometimes are consistent........................................................................................43
, Chapter 1: The science of psychology
Thomas Gilovich
More Americans believe in extrasensory perception (ESP) than in evolution
20x more astrologers than astronomers
Followers of ESP and astrology may base important life decisions on wrong beliefs
Patricia Kowalski & Annette Kujawski
Students who employ critical thinking skills have a more accurate understanding of
psychology
Major biases:
1) Ignoring evidence (confirmation bias)
we restrict ourselves to evidence that supports our beliefs
2) Seeing relationships that don’t exist
believing that events are related when they are not can lead to superstitious behaviour.
3) Accepting after-the-fact explanations
because we expect the world to make sense, we come up with explanations
= hindsight bias
4) Taking mental shortcuts
people follow simple rules (heuristics) to make decisions.
Leonardo da Vinci
All sensory messages arrive at one location in the brain: sensus communis
the home of judgement and thought.
René Descartes
Dualism mind and body are separated yet intertwined
The body was nothing more than an organic machine governed by “reflex”
Nowadays: dualism is rejected the mind arises from brain activity and does not exist separately.
John Mill
Psychology should leave the realms of philosophy and of speculation and become a science
of observation and experiment
Psychology = the science of the elementary laws of the mind
Reaction time = method developed by Wundt, to assess how quickly people can respond to events
Method of introspection = a systematic examination of mental experiences that requires people to
inspect and report on the content of their thoughts. (subjective)
Structuralism = conscious experience can be broken down into its basic underlying component. An
understanding of the basic elements of conscious experience would provide the scientific basis for
understanding the mind.
Problem: experience is subjective. not reliable for understanding psychological processes.
Functionalism = James's approach to mental processes, emphasizing the functions and purposes of
the mind and behaviour in the individual's adaptation to the environment.
