PSYC& 100 - Licht et al. - Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology – Part I—Study Guide
Many first time college students struggle adjusting to expectations of college-level courses. One reason for this is that college-level courses require students to
learn new content, then apply that content to new situations. These worksheets are designed to highlight the difference between simple content knowledge and
application of that knowledge. Your answers to content questions will come from your text, and classroom lectures and discussions. Your answers to application
questions will come from your own thinking about the content and puzzling out the answer. To reiterate, answers to application questions are not in the text. In
class, I’ll probably refer to these as C1 (for Q1 under Content) and A1 (for Q1 under Application).
This first chapter of your textbook contains a lot of critical information. I chose to divide the chapter into two parts and to spend extra time on it to ensure that
students have time to learn this foundational information.
Part I. History and basics
1
Content
What took place in the Chilean mine on August 5, 2010?
1
Application
To what extent did you follow this story in the news when it happened?
2
What is psychology? (include adjustment from class)
2
Does this definition differ from what you expected? If so, in what way?
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PSYC& 100 - Licht et al. - Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology – Part I—Study Guide
3
Content
List some sub-fields in psychology that either (a) you are interested
in learning more about or (b) you were surprised by.
3
Application
If you are planning to major in psychology, which of these would appeal
most to you? If you are planning to major in something else, what
4
Explain the difference between basic and applied research.
4
Which type appeared in the "Prisoners of Silence" video? Explain.
5
(a) What is “common sense?
5
a. Give an example to show why psychologists are concerned about using
common sense.
(b) Explain the problem in using "common sense" in psychology.
b. How does hindsight bias play a role in common sense?
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PSYC& 100 - Licht et al. - Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology – Part I—Study Guide
6
Content
“Science is not defined by the subject studied.” Explain what this
means.
7
List and describe the goals of psychology.
8
What do your authors mean by “commonsense myth”?
Application
6
Which of the "Commonsense" myths have you heard the most often?
Where did you hear it?
Roots, Schools, and Perspectives of Psychology
9
Explain the concept of empiricism in the context of psychology.
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PSYC& 100 - Licht et al. - Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology – Part I—Study Guide
10
Content
Explain what the authors mean by "the relative contributions naturenurture."
11
a. Who is Wilhelm Wundt? (Say ‘Vil-helm Voont’ for proper
pronunciation).
7
Application
I recently attended a lecture during which the speaker reported that, in
Yakima, domestic violence accounts for the majority of police service
calls. Explain how a person’s tendency toward violence could be a
product of both nature and nurture.
Be sure to add notes from class!
b. What did the school of thought called “structuralism” propose?
c. What was the role of introspection in structuralism?
8
Why do you suppose introspection was problematic?
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PSYC& 100 - Licht et al. - Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology – Part I—Study Guide
Content
12
Application
Be sure to add notes from class!
a. Who is William James?
b. What did the school of thought called “functionalism” propose?
13
List and describe the different theoretical perspectives in psychology.
Be sure to add details provided in class.
9
Consider a specific behavior of a particular public figure and see if you
can describe what each perspective would investigate.
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PSYC& 100 - Licht et al. - Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology – Part I—Study Guide
14
Content
Once the miners were discovered, how long did authorities think it
would take to rescue them?
10
15
What is pseudopsychology?
11
Application
How long did it actually take? Feel free to look online for the chronology
of this event:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Copiap%C3%B3_mining_accident
(a) Describe an interesting (or boring!) example of pseudopsychology (or
pseudoscience of some kind) not included in your text.
(b) What makes it “pseudo”?
(c) Identify at least one way in which this example of pseudopsychology
could possibly lead to harm. (Note: not all scientifically-valid findings are
harmless.)
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PSYC& 100 - Licht et al. - Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology – Part I—Study Guide
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Content
How do the authors’ of your text characterize critical thinking?
1.
17
12
Application
Give an example of critical thinking not being used in popular culture
(TV show, viral YouTube video, advertisement) or among your friends
(don’t identify them by full name!). Describe the thinking in your
example. Then explain how it violates principles of critical thinking.
The Scientific Method
(a) In a general sense, what is the scientific method?
13
Imagine that Dr. Biklen, of facilitated communication fame, were a true
scientist. List and explain the steps in the scientific method that he should
have followed. In your explanation, be specific to the issues surrounding
facilitated communication.
(b) What is the goal of the scientific method?
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PSYC& 100 - Licht et al. - Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology – Part I—Study Guide
Content
(c) Describe the steps of the scientific method. (Don’t get hung up on
the number of steps.)
Application
Be sure to include information from class.
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PSYC& 100 - Licht et al. - Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology – Part I—Study Guide
18
Content
Provide definitions of the following terms:
14
Application
Consider the O. D. Heck Center’s test of facilitated communication. They
may or may not have stated these explicitly, but you can figure it out.
*hypothesis
*What was their hypothesis?
*theory
*What was their “theory” of autism? For our purposes, what this is
asking is what assumptions or beliefs did they make about autism prior to
their test?
*operational definition
*To what extent did they have to revise their “theory” (i.e., assumptions
and beliefs) of autism after their findings came in?
*What was their operational definition of “valid communication”?
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