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The First Exam

PROLOGUE

YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A PSYCHOLOGIST to notice that the classroom atmosphere can be a little tense the day after the first exam. As we handed back the test results, several faces fell. Many of the students were freshmen and not yet accustomed to the self-paced learning required in a college course. But there were also several older adults, including two military vets, one recently returned from Afghanistan.

“So let’s go over these test questions,” your author Sandy began. “I noticed a lot of you had trouble with the difference between independent and dependent variables. Maybe we should talk about that again before we go on to Chapter 2.”

Jacob frowned. “I can’t understand why I did so badly,” he said. “I mean, I read the chapter! Look.” He held up his textbook. The pages were heavily underlined and covered with highlight colors—yellow, blue, and green.

It isn’t unusual for students to have trouble with their first real exam in college. Knowing that, we usually take some time to talk about study skills after exams are returned. “How did you prepare for the exam?” your author Susan asked the class.

“I made flashcards,” Latisha said. “But it didn’t seem to help that much. I only got a B-, and I thought I really knew this stuff.”

“Flashcards can be a great technique,” Sandy said, “if you use them correctly.”

Latisha looked puzzled. “What do you mean? I used them the way everybody uses flashcards. I tested myself and if I knew the answer, I set the card aside. I kept running through the ones I missed until they were all gone and I knew them all.”

“Well, believe it or not,” Sandy said, “psychologists have done a lot of research on learning new material, and it turns out that that’s not the most effective way to use flashcards.”

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“What is, then?” Latisha asked.

“Stay tuned,” Sandy said with a smile. “We’re going to talk about it in today’s class.”

Jenna broke in. “I always freeze on tests. They stress me out so bad my mind goes blank.”

“I do too,” Tyler piped up. “So my girlfriend gave me this bracelet to wear for exams. She swears by hers. Do you think it helps?”

“What is that?” Sandy said. Tyler handed the heavy metal bracelet to Sandy. “What’s it supposed to do?”

“It’s made of some kind of special metal—maybe titanium?” Tyler said. “It’s magnetic. Oh, and the Web site said it generated a negative ion field, or maybe it neutralizes positive ions. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. But my girlfriend said that a lot of famous baseball players and golfers wear one. It’s supposed to help with pain but it’s also supposed to help you concentrate and give you a better memory. I figured it couldn’t hurt, so why not try it?”

“I’m not aware of any research on using magnets for concentration or memory,” Sandy said carefully. “But we can certainly look it up and let you know what we find out.”

Later in the chapter, we’ll share what we found out about magnetic jewelry—and more important, what psychologists have discovered about the most effective ways to study. You’ll also see how psychological research can help you critically evaluate new ideas and claims that you encounter outside the classroom.

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As you’ll discover, psychology has a lot to say about many of the questions that are of interest to college students. In this introductory chapter, we’ll explore the scope of contemporary psychology as well as psychology’s historical origins. The common theme connecting psychology’s varied topics is its reliance on a solid foundation of scientific evidence. By the end of the chapter, you’ll have a better appreciation of the scientific methods that psychologists use to answer questions, big and small, about behavior and mental processes.

Welcome to psychology!