1.8 CHAPTER REVIEW

KEY POINTS

• Psychology is defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. The four goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict, and influence human behavior and mental processes.

• Early philosophers, such as Aristotle and Descartes, used logic and intuition to understand psychological topics. Later, the discoveries of physiologists demonstrated that scientific methods could be applied to psychological topics.

• Wilhelm Wundt, a German physiologist, is credited with founding psychology as an experimental science in 1879. Wundt’s student, Edward B. Titchener, established structuralism, the first school of psychology. The structuralists used introspection to try to identify the structures of conscious experiences.

• William James founded and promoted psychology in the United States. James established functionalism, a school of psychology that emphasized the adaptive role of behavior. James’s students, G. Stanley Hall and Mary Whiton Calkins, were two important figures in early American psychology. Margaret Floy Washburn was the first woman and Francis C. Sumner was the first African American to be awarded a Ph.D. in psychology.

• Sigmund Freud established psychoanalysis as a theory of personality and form of psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis emphasized the role of unconscious conflicts in determining behavior and personality.

• Behaviorism was based on Ivan Pavlov’s research and emerged in the early 1900s. Behaviorism was first championed by John B. Watson and further developed by B. F. Skinner. Behaviorism rejected the study of mental processes and emphasized the study of observable behavior, especially the principles of learning.

• Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow promoted humanistic psychology, which emphasized psychological growth and the importance of choice in human behavior.

• Psychology has become progressively more diverse as a science. Topics can be approached from several different perspectives, which include the biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, positive psychology, cognitive, cross-cultural, and evolutionary psychology perspectives.

• Important specialty areas in psychology include biological, clinical, cognitive, counseling, educational, experimental, developmental, health, industrial/organizational, personality, social psychology, and applied psychology. Psychiatry is a medical specialty. Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists differ in their training and credentials.

• Psychology is based on empirical evidence. Psychologists are trained in the scientific method, which has four steps: (1) generate a hypothesis that can be tested empirically, (2) design the study and collect the data, (3) analyze the data and draw conclusions, and (4) report the findings. Variables must be operationally defined.

• Research methods include descriptive and experimental methods. Statistics are used to analyze the data and to determine whether findings are statistically significant. Meta-analysis can be used to combine and analyze data from multiple studies on a single topic. Reporting the results of a study allows other researchers to replicate the study.

• As research findings accumulate from individual studies, theories or models develop to explain the different findings on a related topic. Theories are tools for understanding and explaining behavior and mental processes. Theories can evolve and change as new evidence emerges.

• Descriptive research is used to observe and describe behavior. Naturalistic observation is used to detect behavior patterns as they exist in their natural settings. A case study involves intensive study of a single subject or a small group of subjects.

• Surveys, questionnaires, and interviews are administered to a sample of the larger group to be investigated. For results to be generalizable to the larger population, the sample must be a representative sample. Participants are usually chosen through random selection.

• Correlational studies investigate how strongly two factors are related to each other. The relationship is expressed in terms of a correlation coefficient. A positive correlation indicates that two factors vary in the same direction, whereas a negative correlation indicates that two factors vary in opposite directions.

• Even when two factors are strongly related, conclusions cannot be drawn about causality because a third factor may actually be responsible for the association. However, correlational evidence can be used to identify important relationships and to make meaningful predictions.

• Experimental research can demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between one variable and another. An experiment involves manipulating the independent variable, then measuring what changes occur in the dependent variable. Researchers strive to anticipate and control for the unwanted influences of confounding variables.

• An experiment investigating the testing effect used random assignment of the participants to the experimental group or a control group.

• In the experiment testing whether ginkgo biloba improved memory and other mental abilities, the control group received a placebo. In experiments testing the therapeutic effectiveness of a treatment or procedure, it is important to determine if the placebo effect or practice effect contributed to the observed changes. The ginkgo experiment also showed how using the double-blind technique helps guard against the influence of inadvertent demand characteristics.

• Not all questions can be studied experimentally. Experiments are sometimes criticized for using artificial laboratory conditions. Although not a true experiment, a natural experiment can measure the impact of a naturally occurring event on subjects.

• Brain-imaging technology is used in some descriptive studies and experiments. PET scans and fMRI scans reveal which brain areas are active during a task. MRI scans produce detailed images of the brain’s structures. Limitations of brain-imaging research include focusing on simple behaviors and small numbers of participants.

• All psychological research is subject to regulations contained in an ethical code developed by the American Psychological Association. For research with human subjects, the ethical code requires informed consent and voluntary participation. Student participants must be given alternatives to participating in research. Deceptive techniques can be used only under specific conditions. Records are kept confidential, and participants are to be debriefed and allowed to learn more about the study.

• Comparative psychology studies the behavior of different animal species. Research with animal subjects is governed by an ethical code developed by the American Psychological Association as well as state and federal regulations.

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KEY PEOPLE