Chapter 1
What Is Psychology?
I. Psychology as a Science
1. Psychology is defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental
processes.
2. Theories: propose reasons for relationships among observed events.
Allows for prediction.
II. What Psychologists Do
A. What Psychologists Do
1. Pure research: studies conducted without concern for immediate
application.
2. Applied research: designed to find solutions to specific personal or
social problems.
3. Practicing psychology refers to applying psychological knowledge to
help individuals change their behavior.
4. Teaching refers to the sharing of psychological knowledge in
classrooms, seminars, and workshops.
III. Where Psychology Comes From: A History
A. Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
1. Argued that human behavior is subject to rules and laws.
B. Socrates (c. 470-399 BCE)
1. We should rely on rational thought and introspection to achieve selfknowledge.
2. People are social creatures who influence each other.
C. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
1. Structuralism is the school of thought founded by Wundt and his
students; saw the mind as a natural event that could be studied
scientifically.
2. Structuralism attempts to break conscious experience down into
objective sensations, such as sight or taste, and subjective feelings
such as emotional responses. They believed that the mind functions by
combining objective and subjective elements of experience.
D. William James (1842-1919)
1. Major figure in the development of psychology.
2. James was the founder of functionalism or the idea that in the study of
individuals the focus should be on behavior as well as the mind and
consciousness. Functionalist look at how experience helps us function
more adaptively in our environments.
3. They also turned to the laboratory for direct observation as a way to
supplement introspection.
4. James was also influenced by Charles Darwin’s (1809-1882) theory of
evolution; the fittest survive.
5. Functionalists adapted this theory suggesting that adaptive behavior
patterns are learned and maintained. Maladaptive behavior patterns
tend to drop out.
E. John Broadus Watson (1878-1958)
1. Behaviorism is the school of psychology that focuses on learning
observable behavior.
2. Watson considered to be the founder of American behaviorism;
believed that if psychology wanted to be a science then it must limit
itself to observable, measurable events—behavior—and nothing else.
F. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
1. Psychoanalysts believe that much of our lives are governed by
unconscious ideas and impulses that originate in childhood conflicts.
2. Founded by Freud.
IV. How Today’s Psychologists View Behavior and Mental Processes
A. The Biological Perspective
1. Investigate the relationships between the brain, hormones, heredity,
and evolution on the one hand, and behavior and mental processes on
the other.
2. Also study the role of heredity in behavior and mental processes.
3. In addition, study how behavior and mental processes have evolved.
Evolutionary psychologists use many of Charles Darwin’s principles.
B. The Cognitive Perspective
1. Venture into the realm of mental processes to understand human
nature.
2. Cognitive psychologists study those things we refer to as the mind.
3. Investigate how we perceive and mentally represent the world.
4. The focus is also on learning, memory, planning, decision-making,
language, and problem-solving.
C. The Humanistic-Existential Perspective
1. Humanism stresses the human capacity for self-fulfillment.
2. Existentialism views people as free to choose and responsible for
choosing ethical conduct.
3. Humanistic-existential psychologists stress the importance of
subjective experience. This includes self-awareness, experience, and
choice, all of which help us to invent ourselves.
a. We are free to choose.
D. The Psychodynamic Perspective
1. Freud’s influence continues to be felt, though contemporary
psychodynamic theorists would likely call themselves neoanalysts.
a. Focus less on the unconscious and more on conscious choice and
self-direction.
E. Perspectives on Learning
1. Study the effects of experience on behavior.
2. Learning is essential in describing, explaining, predicting, and
controlling behavior.
3. Intentional learning by observing others.
4. Gained influence in the areas of personality, psychological disorders,
and psychotherapy.
F. The Sociocultural Perspective
1. Addresses the many ways in which people differ from one another.
2. Influences of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status on
behavior and mental processes are studied.
V.
How Psychologists Study Behavior and Mental Processes
A. Critical Thinking: Sorting Out Truth from Fiction
1. Critical Thinking
a. Taking nothing for granted.
b. Not believing just because things are in print or were uttered by
authority.
c. Thoughtfully analyzing and probing questions, statements, and
arguments of others.
B. The Scientific Method: Putting Ideas to the Test
1. Scientific method is an organized way of using experience and testing
ideas in order to expand and refine knowledge.
2. Begin by formulating a research question.
3. Hypothesis: a specific statement about behavior or mental processes
that is tested through research.
4. Test the hypothesis through controlled methods such as the
experiment.
5. Try not to confuse correlations (association) with cause and effect.
6. Selection factor is a source of bias that may occur when subjects are
allowed to choose for themselves a certain treatment in a scientific
study.
C. Samples and Populations
1. Samples must be drawn so that they accurately represent the
population. This allows for generalization or extending results from
samples to populations.
2. Individuals who are studied are referred to as a sample. A sample is a
segment of the population. The population is the group targeted for
study.
D. Problems in Generalizing from Psychological Research
1. Many factors must be considered in interpreting the accuracy of results
of scientific research.
a. Random and stratified sampling
i. Random sample: each member of the population has an equal
chance of being selected to participate.
ii. Stratified sample: selection is made so that identified
subgroups in the population are represented proportionately in
the sample.
iii. Volunteer bias: people who volunteer as participants differ
systematically from people who do not.
E. Methods of Observation
1. The Case Study
a. Information collected about individuals and small groups.
b. Typically unscientific accounts of people’s behavior referred to as
anecdotes.
c. Provide compelling portraits but may have factual inaccuracies.
i. People’s memories have gaps (Loftus, 2004).
ii. Interviewers may have expectations.
2. The Survey
a. Used to study individuals who cannot be observed in the natural
setting or studied scientifically.
b. Employs questionnaires and interviews. Also uses the examination
of public records.
c. Famous Kinsey survey results: Sexual Behavior in the Human
Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953).
d. Also have sources of inaccuracy. May recall memories with
inaccuracies, they may lie, may respond in a good light, or try to
anticipate what the researcher wants them to say.
e. May also have the inaccuracy of social desirability; subjects tell
the interviewer what they think the interviewer wants to hear (a
problem in case study as well).
3. Naturalistic Observation
a. Observe people in their natural habitats.
b. Unobtrusive measures are used to avoid interfering with the
behaviors that are being observed.
c. Jane Goodall observed the behavior of chimpanzees in their natural
environment.
F. Correlation
1. Investigates whether one observed behavior or trait is related to
(correlated) with another.
2. Positive correlation: the higher scores on one variable tend to
correspond with higher scores on the second variable. Low with low
(e.g., intelligence test scores and academic performance).
3. Negative correlation: higher scores on one variable tend to correspond
with lower scores on the second (e.g., amount of experience stress and
functioning of the immune system).
4. Correlational studies may suggest but do not prove cause and effect.
G. The Experimental Method
1. The preferred method for answering questions about cause and effect.
a. Allows psychologists to control the experiences of subjects and
draw conclusions about cause and effect.
b. Independent and dependent variables
i. Independent variable: manipulated by experimenters so that the
effects of various levels may be determined.
ii. Dependent variable: the measured outcome or result.
c. Experimental and control groups
i. Experimental groups obtain the treatment.
ii. Control groups do not receive the treatment.
d. Blind and double blinds
i. Placebo: fake treatment or “sugar pill.”
ii. Blind: control for the expectations of effects by creating
conditions where the subjects are unaware of the treatment.
iii. Double blind: neither the subjects nor the experimenters know
who has obtained the treatment.
H. Ethics of Research with Humans
1. Intended to promote individual dignity, human welfare, and scientific
integrity.
2. Do not undertake research methods that are harmful.
3. Ethics review committees are found in colleges, hospitals, etc., to help
researchers consider the potential harm of their methods. Review
research according to ethical guidelines.
4. Informed consent: individuals give consent before they can participate
in research.
5. Confidentiality is kept.
6. Subjects are debriefed if deception is used.
I. Ethics of Research with Animals
1. Psychologists use animals to conduct research that cannot be carried
out with humans (effects of early separation from mother).
2. Psychologists generalize to humans the results of research conducted
with animals.
3. Animals may be harmed only when there is no alternative and
researchers believe that the benefits of the research justify the harm.
Chapter 2
Biology and Psychology
I. The Nervous System: On Being Wired
A. Neurons: Into the Fabulous Forest
1. Neurons: specialized cells of the nervous system that conduct
impulses.
a. Cell body (soma): contains the nucleus that generates energy.
b. Dendrites: receive incoming messages from adjourning cells
(roots).
c. Axons: carry messages away from the cell body (trunk).
d. Terminals (terminal buttons): bulb-shaped structure at the end of
the axon.
e. Myelin: fatty substance around axons that facilitate conduction.
B. The Neural Impulse
1. Neural impulse: message traveling along the neuron; between 2 and
225 miles an hour.
2. An electrochemical voyage
a. Neuron resting potential: the electrical potential when it is not
responding to other neurons.
b. Action potential: the electrical impulses that provides the basis for
the conduction of a neural impulse along an axon of a neuron.
3. How do messages voyage from neuron to neuron?
a. Neuron firing: neurons attempt to transmit messages to other
neurons, muscles, or glands.
b. Threshold: each neuron has a threshold; the cell will not fire until
the threshold is reached.
c. All-or-none principle: when the threshold is reached, the neuron
fires an impulse of the same strength.
d. Refractory period: a period of time when the neuron will not fire;
period of recovery during which positive sodium is not allowed to
pass through the neural membrane.
e. Synapse: junction (fluid filled gap) between neurons.
C. Neurotransmitters: The Chemical Keys to Communication
1. Synaptic vesicles: sacs in the axon terminals that contain
neurotransmitters.
2. Neurotransmitters: the chemical keys to communication; spilled into
the synaptic cleft (synapse) and influence the receiving neuron.
3. Receptor site: specifically tailored site on the receiving neuron where
the chemical key (neurotransmitter) fits.
4. Reuptake: reabsorption of neurotransmitters by the sending neuron.
5. Excitatory: neurotransmitter influence on the receiving cell causing it
to fire.
6. Specific neurotransmitters have specific functions.
a. Acetylcholine (ACh): controls muscle contractions; can be both
excitatory and inhibitory
i. Curare and botulism both lead to paralysis.
ii. Hippocampus: ACh is also found in the hippocampus and
facilitates memory; decreases with Alzheimer’s disease,
leading to memory problems.
b. Dopamine: affects voluntary movements, learning, memory, and
arousal.
i. Deficiencies are linked to Parkinson’s disease, in which people
progressively lose control over their muscles.
ii. Schizophrenia: people with schizophrenia may have more
receptor sites for dopamine leading to confusion and false
perceptions.
c. Norepinephrine: produced largely in the brain stem; acts as a
neurotransmitter and as a hormone; involved in general arousal,
learning and memory, and eating; linked to mood disorders.
i. Example of cocaine, which creates an excess of norepinephrine
leading to persistent arousal.
d. Serotonin: involved in emotional arousal and sleep. Deficiencies
have been linked to eating disorders, alcoholism, depression,
aggression, and insomnia.
e. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA): inhibitory neurotransmitter
that may help calm anxiety reactions. Tranquilizers and alcohol
may quell anxiety by binding with GABA receptors.
f. Endorphins: inhibitory neurotransmitter; endogenous morphine.
Natural painkiller.
i. Experienced by runners as the runner’s high.
g. Billions and billions of vesicles pouring neurotransmitters into
synaptic clefts at any given time; several hundred times every
second.
D. The Parts of the Nervous System
1. Central nervous system: brain and spinal cord.
2. Peripheral nervous system: neurons which transmit messages from the
brain or spinal cord to muscles and glands.
3. The peripheral nervous system includes the body’s peripheral devices.
a. Somatic nervous system: controlling sights, sounds, smells,
temperature, body positions, etc. Includes purposeful body
movements.
b. Autonomic nervous system: regulates the glands and internal organ
muscles; heartbeat, respiration, digestion, dilation of the pupils,
etc.
i. Sympathetic division: active during processes that involve
spending body energy; fight or flight.
ii. Parasympathetic division: active during processes that
replenish reserves of energy.
4. The central nervous system is the body’s central processing unit.
a. Spinal cord: column of nerves transmits messages from sensory
receptors to the brain and from the brain to muscles and glands
throughout the body.
II. The Brain: Wider Than the Sky
1. Accidents
a. Accidents provide unplanned, uncontrolled opportunities of
studying the brain (see Phineas Gage).
B. A Voyage Through the Brain
1. Hindbrain: where the spinal cord meets the brain. Contains three
structures, the medulla, pons, and cerebellum.
a. Medulla: regulates vital functions such as heart rate, blood
pressure, and respiration.
b. Pons: transmits information about body movements and is
involved in functions related to attention, sleep/alertness, and
respiration.
c. Cerebellum: involved in maintaining balance and controlling
motor behavior.
d. Reticular formation: vital in the functions of attention, sleep, and
arousal.
2. Forebrain: forward-most part of the brain containing the thalamus,
hypothalamus, limbic system, and the cerebrum.
a. Thalamus: relay station for sensory stimulation.
b. Hypothalamus: vital for the regulation of body temperature,
concentration of fluids, storage of nutrients, and various aspects of
motivation and emotion.
i. Also involved in hunger, thirst, and sexual behavior. (Pleasure
center of the brain; see the rat experiment.)
c. Limbic system: made up of several structures including the
amygdala, hippocampus, and parts of the hypothalamus.
i. Involved in memory, emotion, and in the drives of hunger, sex,
and aggression.
ii. Amygdala: connected with aggression, fear response, and
vigilance.
d. Cerebrum: responsible for thinking and language.
i. Surface of the cerebrum is the cerebral cortex.
3. Corpus callosum: a bundle of some 200 million nerve fibers
connecting the two hemispheres.
C. The Cerebral Cortex
1. Cerebral cortex: outer layer of the cerebrum.
2. Involved in almost every bodily activity, including most sensations
and most responses.
3. Divided into two hemispheres, with each hemisphere containing four
lobes.
4. Frontal lobe: in front of the central fissure; contains the motor cortex,
which causes our body to move.
5. Parietal lobe: behind central fissure; contains the somatosensory
cortex, which receives messages from skin senses all over the body.
6. Temporal lobe: lies below the lateral fissure, contains the auditory area
(hearing).
7. Occipital lobe: lies behind the temporal lobe and is involved with
vision.
8. Somatosensory cortex: located in the parietal lobe; receives messages
from skin sensors all over the body.
9. Motor cortex: located in the frontal lobe; causes parts of our body to
move.
D. Thinking, Language, and the Cortex
a. Association areas: areas of the cerebral cortex that are not
primarily involved in sensation or motor activity.
b. Make possible the breadth and depth of human learning, thought,
memory, and language.
c. Prefrontal region of the brain (frontal lobes) are the brain’s
executive center: solving problems, planning, and decisionmaking.
III. The Endocrine System
A. Glands: Secrete Hormones
1. With ducts (saliva, sweat, tears).
2. Without ducts (released into the blood stream; the endocrine system).
a. Hormones are released into the blood stream.
B. The Pituitary and the Hypothalamus
1. The hypothalamus secretes hormones that influence the pituitary.
2. Pituitary gland: implicated in growth, sometimes referred to as the
master gland as it influences other glands in the endocrine system.
C. The Pineal Gland
1. Melatonin: secreted by the pineal gland and helps regulate the sleepwake cycle.
D. The Thyroid Gland
1. Thyroxin: secreted by the thyroid and affects the body’s metabolism.
a. Hypothyroidism is too little thyroxin and results in being
overweight.
b. Hyperthyroidism is too much thyroxin and is characterized by
excitability, insomnia, and weight loss.
2. The Adrenal Glands
a. Adrenal glands: release hormones to increase resistance to stress
called corticosteroids.
b. Epinephrine: is also known as adrenaline; produced by the adrenal
glands.
3. Steroids, Behavior, and Mental Processes
a. Steroids increase the muscle mass, heighten resistance to stress,
increase the body’s energy.
b. Testosterone is connected with the sex drive in both males and
females.
4. The Testes and the Ovaries
a. Testosterone: produced by the testes and in small amounts by the
ovaries.
b. Considered to be the male sex hormone as it aids in the
development of male sex organs.
c. During puberty, the release of testosterone promotes the
development of primary and secondary sex characteristics.
d. Estrogen and progesterone: produced by the ovaries and in small
amounts by the testes.
IV. Evolution and Heredity
A. Theory of Evolution
1. Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man in 1871.
2. The struggle for existence is at the core.
a. Natural selection: species that are better adapted to their
environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.
3. Biology serves as the material base for our behaviors, emotions, and
cognitions.
4. Mutations: small variations, random genetic variations, lead to
differences among individuals, which affect the ability to adapt to
change.
B. Evolutionary Psychology: Doing What Comes Naturally
1. Evolutionary psychology: applying adaptation and natural selection to
mental processes and behavior (psychological traits).
2. Behavior patterns that help an organism to survive and reproduce may
be transmitted to the next generation.
a. Examples include aggression strategies and altruism.
3. Instincts: stereotyped pattern of behavior triggered in specific
situations.
C. Heredity, Genetics, and Behavioral Genetics
1. Heredity: one’s biological structures and processes transmitted from
generation to generation.
a. The subfield of biology that studies heredity is called genetics.
b. Behavioral genetics: bridges the sciences of psychology and
biology. Concerned with the genetic transmission of traits that give
rise to patterns of behaviors.
i. The focus is on individual differences.
c. Heredity appears to be a factor in almost all aspects of human
behavior.
2. Genes and Chromosomes
a. Genes: basic building blocks of heredity; 20,000 to 25,000 genes
within every cell of a person’s body.
b. Chromosomes: strings of genes. Each cell contains 46 arranged in
23 pairs.
c. DNA: chromosomes are large complex molecules of
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
3. Kinship Studies
a. Parents and children share 50% of their genes. Aunts and uncles
have a 25% overlap with nieces and nephews; 12.5% overlap with
cousins.
b. Kinship studies: attempt to compare the presence of traits and
behavior patterns in people who are biologically related or
unrelated to help determine the role of genetic factors.
c. Twin studies
i. Monozygotic twins (MZ): identical twins from the same
fertilized egg.
ii. Dizygotic twins (DZ): fraternal twins, two separate fertilized
eggs.
iii. Twin studies compare the presence of traits in MZ twins, DZ
twins, and others to help determine the role of genetic factors.
 If MZ twins show greater similarity on a trait than DZ
twins, a genetic basis for the trait has been suggested.
 MZ twins reared apart are about as similar as MZ twins
reared together on a variety of measures of intelligence,
personality, temperament, occupational and leisure-time
interests, and social attitudes.
d. Adoption Studies
i. Adoption studies: look for similarities between children and
their natural and adoptive parents.
 When children reared by adoptive parents are more similar
to their natural parents in a particular trait, strong evidence
exists for a genetic role.