Complete Module Reviews

THE STORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

Module 1: What Is Psychology?

1-1 What were some important milestones in psychology’s early development?

Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Germany. Two early schools were structuralism and functionalism.

1-2 How did psychology continue to develop from the 1920s through today?

Early researchers defined psychology as “the science of mental life.” In the 1920s, under the influence of John B. Watson and the behaviorists, the field’s focus changed to the “scientific study of observable behavior.” In the 1960s, the humanistic psychologists and the cognitive psychologists revived interest in the study of mental processes. Psychology is now defined as the science of behavior and mental processes.

1-3 How has our understanding of biology and experience, culture and gender, and human flourishing shaped contemporary psychology?

Our growing understanding of biology and experience has fed psychology’s most enduring debate. The nature–nurture issue centers on the relative contributions of genes and experience, and their interaction in specific environments. Charles Darwin’s view that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies led to evolutionary psychology’s study of our similarities because of our common biology and evolutionary history, and behavior genetics’ focus on the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

Cross-cultural and gender studies have diversified psychology’s assumptions while also reminding us of our similarities. Attitudes and behaviors may vary somewhat by gender or across cultures, but because of our shared human kinship, the underlying processes and principles are more similar than different.

Psychology’s traditional focus on understanding and treating troubles has expanded with positive psychology’s call for more research on human flourishing and its attempt to discover and promote traits that help people to thrive.

1-4 What are psychology’s levels of analysis and related perspectives?

The biopsychosocial approach integrates information from three differing but complementary levels of analysis: the biological, psychological, and social-cultural. This approach offers a more complete understanding than could usually be reached by relying on only one of psychology’s current perspectives (neuroscience, evolutionary, behavior genetics, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and social-cultural).

1-5 What are psychology’s main subfields?

Within the science of psychology, researchers may conduct basic research to increase the field’s knowledge base (often in biological, developmental, cognitive, personality, and social psychology) or applied research to solve practical problems (in industrial-organizational psychology and other areas).

Those who engage in psychology as a helping profession may assist people as counseling psychologists, helping people with problems in living or achieving greater well-being, or as clinical psychologists, studying and assessing people with psychological disorders and treating them with psychotherapy. (Psychiatrists also study, assess, and treat people with disorders, but as medical doctors, they may prescribe drugs in addition to psychotherapy.) Community psychologists work to create healthy social and physical environments (in schools, for example).

1-6 How can psychological principles help you learn and remember?

The testing effect shows that learning and memory are enhanced by actively retrieving, rather than simply rereading, previously studied material. The SQ3R study method—survey, question, read, retrieve, and review—applies principles derived from memory research. Four additional tips are (1) distribute your study time; (2) learn to think critically; (3) process class information actively; and (4) overlearn.

THINKING CRITICALLY WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Module 2: The Need for Psychological Science

2-1 How does our everyday thinking sometimes lead us to a wrong conclusion?

Our everyday thinking can be perilous because of three phenomena: hindsight bias, overconfidence, and a tendency to perceive patterns in random events. Hindsight bias (also called the “I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon”) is the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that we would have foreseen it. Overconfidence in our judgments results partly from our bias to seek information that confirms them. These tendencies, plus our eagerness to perceive patterns in random events, lead us to overestimate our intuition. Although limited by the testable questions it can address, scientific inquiry can help us overcome our intuition’s biases and shortcomings.

2-2 How do the scientific attitude’s three main components relate to critical thinking?

The scientific attitude equips us to be curious, skeptical, and humble in scrutinizing competing ideas or our own observations. This attitude carries into everyday life as critical thinking, which puts ideas to the test by examining assumptions, appraising the source, discerning hidden values, evaluating evidence, and assessing conclusions.

Module 3: Research Strategies: How Psychologists Ask and Answer Questions

3-1 How do theories advance psychological science?

Psychological theories are explanations that apply an integrated set of principles to organize observations and generate hypotheses—predictions that can be used to check the theory or produce practical applications of it. By testing their hypotheses, researchers can confirm, reject, or revise their theories. To enable other researchers to replicate the studies, researchers report them using precise operational definitions of their procedures and concepts. If others achieve similar results, confidence in the conclusion will be greater.

3-2 How do psychologists use case studies, naturalistic observations, and surveys to observe and describe behavior, and why is random sampling important?

Descriptive methods, which include case studies, naturalistic observations, and surveys, show us what can happen, and they may offer ideas for further study. The best basis for generalizing about a population is a representative sample; in a random sample, every person in the entire population being studied has an equal chance of participating. Descriptive methods cannot show cause and effect because researchers cannot control variables.

3-3 What does it mean when we say two things are correlated, and what are positive and negative correlations?

When we say two things are correlated, we are saying that they accompany each other in their movements. In a positive correlation, two factors increase or decrease together. In a negative correlation, one item increases as the other decreases. The strength of their relationship is expressed as a correlation coefficient, which ranges from +1.00 (a perfect positive correlation) through 0 (no correlation) to −1.00 (a perfect negative correlation). Their relationship may be displayed in a scatterplot, in which each dot represents a value for the two variables.

3-4 What is regression toward the mean?

Regression toward the mean is the tendency for extreme or unusual scores to fall back toward their average.

3-5 Why do correlations enable prediction but not cause-effect explanation?

Correlations enable prediction because they show how two factors move together, either positively or negatively. A correlation can indicate the possibility of a cause-effect relationship, but it does not prove the direction of the influence, or whether an underlying third factor may explain the correlation.

3-6 What are the characteristics of experimentation that make it possible to isolate cause and effect?

To discover cause-effect relationships, psychologists conduct experiments, manipulating one or more factors of interest and controlling other factors. Using random assignment, they can minimize confounding variables, such as preexisting differences between the experimental group (exposed to the treatment) and the control group (given a placebo or different version of the treatment). The independent variable is the factor the experimenter manipulates to study its effect; the dependent variable is the factor the experimenter measures to discover any changes occurring in response to the manipulations. Studies may use a double-blind procedure to avoid the placebo effect.

3-7 Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?

Researchers intentionally create a controlled, artificial environment in the laboratory in order to test general theoretical principles. These general principles help explain everyday behaviors.

3-8 Why do psychologists study animals, and what ethical guidelines safeguard human and animal research participants? How do human values influence psychology?

Some psychologists are primarily interested in animal behavior; others want to better understand the physiological and psychological processes shared by humans and other species. Government agencies have established standards for animal care and housing. Professional associations and funding agencies also establish guidelines for protecting animals’ well-being. The APA ethics code outlines standards for safeguarding human participants’ well-being, including obtaining their informed consent and debriefing them later.

Psychologists’ values influence their choice of research topics, their theories and observations, their labels for behavior, and their professional advice. Applications of psychology’s principles have been used mainly in the service of humanity.

Module 4: Statistical Reasoning in Everyday Life

4-1 How do we describe data using three measures of central tendency, and what is the relative usefulness of the two measures of variation?

A measure of central tendency is a single score that represents a whole set of scores. Three such measures that we use to describe data are the mode (the most frequently occurring score), the mean (the arithmetic average), and the median (the middle score in a group of data).

Measures of variation tell us how diverse data are. Two measures of variation are the range (which describes the gap between the highest and lowest scores) and the standard deviation (which states how much scores vary around the mean, or average, score). Scores often form a normal (or bell-shaped) curve.

4-2 How do we know whether an observed difference can be generalized to other populations?

To feel confident about generalizing an observed difference to other populations, we would want to know that the sample studied was representative of the larger population being studied; that the observations, on average, had low variability; that the sample consisted of more than a few cases; and that the observed difference was statistically significant.

THE BIOLOGY OF MIND

Module 5: Neural and Hormonal Systems

5-1 Why are psychologists concerned with human biology?

Psychologists working from a biological perspective study the links between biology and behavior. We are biopsychosocial systems, in which biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors interact to influence behavior.

5-2 What are neurons, and how do they transmit information?

Neurons are the elementary components of the nervous system, the body’s speedy electrochemical information system. A neuron receives signals through its branching dendrites, and sends signals through its axons. Some axons are encased in a myelin sheath, which enables faster transmission. Glial cells provide myelin, and they support, nourish, and protect neurons; they may also play a role in learning and thinking.

If the combined signals received by a neuron exceed a minimum threshold, the neuron fires, transmitting an electrical impulse (the action potential) down its axon by means of a chemistry-to-electricity process. The neuron’s reaction is an all-or-none process.

5-3 How do nerve cells communicate with other nerve cells?

When action potentials reach the end of an axon (the axon terminals), they stimulate the release of neurotransmitters. These chemical messengers carry a message from the sending neuron across a synapse to receptor sites on a receiving neuron. The sending neuron, in a process called reuptake, then normally reabsorbs the excess neurotransmitter molecules in the synaptic gap. If incoming signals are strong enough, the receiving neuron generates its own action potential and relays the message to other cells.

5-4 How do neurotransmitters influence behavior, and how do drugs and other chemicals affect neurotransmission?

Neurotransmitters travel designated pathways in the brain and may influence specific behaviors and emotions. Acetylcholine (ACh) affects muscle action, learning, and memory. Endorphins are natural opiates released in response to pain and exercise.

Drugs and other chemicals affect brain chemistry at synapses. Agonists increase a neurotransmitter’s action, and may do so in various ways. Antagonists decrease a neurotransmitter’s action by blocking production or release.

5-5 What are the functions of the nervous system’s main divisions, and what are the three main types of neurons?

The central nervous system (CNS)—the brain and the spinal cord—is the nervous system’s decision maker. The peripheral nervous system (PNS), which connects the CNS to the rest of the body by means of nerves, gathers information and transmits CNS decisions to the rest of the body. The two main PNS divisions are the somatic nervous system (which enables voluntary control of the skeletal muscles) and the autonomic nervous system (which controls involuntary muscles and glands by means of its sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions).

Neurons cluster into working networks. There are three types of neurons: (1) Sensory (afferent) neurons carry incoming information from sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord. (2) Motor (efferent) neurons carry information from the brain and spinal cord out to the muscles and glands. (3) Interneurons communicate within the brain and spinal cord and between sensory and motor neurons.

5-6 How does the endocrine system transmit information and interact with the nervous system?

The endocrine system is a set of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream, where they travel through the body and affect other tissues, including the brain. The endocrine system’s master gland, the pituitary, influences hormone release by other glands, including the adrenal glands. In an intricate feedback system, the brain’s hypothalamus influences the pituitary gland, which influences other glands, which release hormones, which in turn influence the brain.

Module 6: Tools of Discovery and Older Brain Structures

6-1 How do neuroscientists study the brain’s connections to behavior and mind?

Clinical observations and lesioning reveal the general effects of brain damage. Electrical, chemical, or magnetic stimulation can also reveal aspects of information processing in the brain. MRI scans show anatomy. EEG, PET, and fMRI (functional MRI) recordings reveal brain function.

6-2 What structures make up the brainstem, and what are the functions of the brainstem, thalamus, reticular formation, and cerebellum?

The brainstem, the oldest part of the brain, is responsible for automatic survival functions. Its components are the medulla (which controls heartbeat and breathing), the pons (which helps coordinate movements), and the reticular formation (which affects arousal).

The thalamus, sitting above the brainstem, acts as the brain’s sensory control center. The cerebellum, attached to the rear of the brainstem, coordinates muscle movement and balance and also helps process sensory information.

6-3 What are the limbic system’s structures and functions?

The limbic system is linked to emotions, memory, and drives. Its neural centers include the hippocampus (which processes conscious memories); the amygdala (involved in responses of aggression and fear); and the hypothalamus (involved in various bodily maintenance functions, pleasurable rewards, and the control of the endocrine system). The hypothalamus controls the pituitary (the “master gland”) by stimulating it to trigger the release of hormones.

Module 7: The Cerebral Cortex and Our Divided Brain

7-1 What are the functions of the various cerebral cortex regions?

The cerebral cortex has two hemispheres, and each hemisphere has four lobes: the frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal. Each lobe performs many functions and interacts with other areas of the cortex.

The motor cortex, at the rear of the frontal lobes, controls voluntary movements. The somatosensory cortex, at the front of the parietal lobes, registers and processes body touch and movement sensations. Body parts requiring precise control (in the motor cortex) or those that are especially sensitive (in the somatosensory cortex) occupy the greatest amount of space.

Most of the brain’s cortex—the major portion of each of the four lobes—is devoted to uncommitted association areas, which integrate information involved in learning, remembering, thinking, and other higher-level functions. Our mental experiences arise from coordinated brain activity.

7-2 To what extent can a damaged brain reorganize itself, and what is neurogenesis?

If one hemisphere is damaged early in life, the other will pick up many of its functions by reorganizing or building new pathways. This plasticity diminishes later in life. The brain sometimes mends itself by forming new neurons, a process known as neurogenesis.

7-3 What do split brains reveal about the functions of our two brain hemispheres?

Split-brain research (experiments on people with a severed corpus callosum) has confirmed that in most people, the left hemisphere is the more verbal, and that the right hemisphere excels in visual perception and the recognition of emotion. Studies of healthy people with intact brains confirm that each hemisphere makes unique contributions to the integrated functioning of the brain.

7-4 What does research tell us about being left-handed? Is it advantageous to be right-handed?

Some 10 percent of us (somewhat more among males, somewhat less among females) are left-handed. Handedness appears to be influenced by genetic or prenatal factors. Most left-handers process speech in the left hemisphere, as right-handers do, but some do so in the right hemisphere or use both hemispheres. Left-handers are more likely to be among those with reading disabilities, allergies, and migraine headaches, but sometimes do better academically. Left-handedness is also more common among musicians, mathematicians, architects, artists, and in professional baseball and cricket players. The pros and cons of being left-handed seem roughly equal.

CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE TWO-TRACK MIND

Module 8: Brain States and Consciousness

8-1 What is the place of consciousness in psychology’s history?

Since 1960, under the influence of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive neuroscience, our awareness of ourselves and our environment—our consciousness—has reclaimed its place as an important area of research. After initially claiming consciousness as its area of study in the nineteenth century, psychologists had abandoned it in the first half of the twentieth century, turning instead to the study of observable behavior because they believed consciousness was too difficult to study scientifically.

8-2 What is the “dual processing” being revealed by today’s cognitive neuroscience?

Scientists studying the brain mechanisms underlying consciousness and cognition have discovered that the mind processes information on two separate tracks, one operating at an explicit, conscious level (conscious sequential processing) and the other at an implicit, unconscious level (unconscious parallel processing). This dual processing affects our perception, memory, attitudes, and other cognitions.

8-3 How does selective attention direct our perceptions?

We selectively attend to, and process, a very limited portion of incoming information, blocking out much and often shifting the spotlight of our attention from one thing to another. Parallel processing takes care of the routine business, while sequential processing is best for solving new problems that require our attention. Focused intently on one task, we often display inattentional blindness to other events and change blindness to changes around us.

Module 9: Sleep and Dreams

9-1 What is sleep?

Sleep is the periodic, natural loss of consciousness—as distinct from unconsciousness resulting from a coma, general anesthesia, or hibernation. (Adapted from Dement, 1999.)

9-2 How do our biological rhythms influence our daily functioning?

Our bodies have an internal biological clock, roughly synchronized with the 24-hour cycle of night and day. This circadian rhythm appears in our daily patterns of body temperature, arousal, sleeping, and waking. Age and experiences can alter these patterns, resetting our biological clock.

9-3 What is the biological rhythm of our sleeping and dreaming stages?

Younger adults cycle through four distinct sleep stages about every 90 minutes. (The sleep cycle repeats more frequently for older adults.) Leaving the alpha waves of the awake, relaxed stage, we descend into the irregular brain waves of non-REM stage 1 (NREM-1) sleep, often with hallucinations, such as the sensation of falling or floating. NREM-2 sleep (in which we spend the most time) follows, lasting about 20 minutes, with its characteristic sleep spindles. We then enter NREM-3 sleep, lasting about 30 minutes, with large, slow delta waves.

About an hour after falling asleep, we begin periods of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Most dreaming occurs in this stage (also known as paradoxical sleep) of internal arousal but outward paralysis. During a normal night’s sleep, NREM-3 sleep shortens and REM and NREM-2 sleep lengthens.

9-4 How do biology and environment interact in our sleep patterns?

Our biology—our circadian rhythm as well as our age and our body’s production of melatonin (influenced by the brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus)—interacts with cultural expectations and individual behaviors to determine our sleeping and waking patterns.

9-5 What are sleep’s functions?

Sleep may have played a protective role in human evolution by keeping people safe during potentially dangerous periods. Sleep also helps restore and repair damaged neurons. REM and NREM-2 sleep help strengthen neural connections that build enduring memories. Sleep promotes creative problem solving the next day. Finally, during deep sleep, the pituitary gland secretes a growth hormone necessary for muscle development.

9-6 How does sleep loss affect us, and what are the major sleep disorders?

Sleep deprivation causes fatigue and irritability, and it impairs concentration, productivity, and memory consolidation. It can also lead to depression, obesity, joint pain, a suppressed immune system, and slowed performance (with greater vulnerability to accidents).

Sleep disorders include insomnia (recurring wakefulness); narcolepsy (sudden uncontrollable sleepiness or lapsing into REM sleep); sleep apnea (the stopping of breathing while asleep; associated with obesity, especially in men); night terrors (high arousal and the appearance of being terrified; NREM-3 disorder found mainly in children); sleepwalking (NREM-3 disorder also found mainly in children); and sleeptalking.

9-7 What do we dream?

We usually dream of ordinary events and everyday experiences, most involving some anxiety or misfortune. Fewer than 10 percent of dreams among men (and less among women) have any sexual content. Most dreams occur during REM sleep.

9-8 What functions have theorists proposed for dreams?

There are five major views of the function of dreams. (1) Freud’s wish-fulfillment: Dreams provide a psychic “safety valve,” with manifest content (story line) acting as a censored version of latent content (underlying meaning that gratifies our unconscious wishes). (2) Information-processing: Dreams help us sort out the day’s events and consolidate them in memory. (3) Physiological function: Regular brain stimulation may help develop and preserve neural pathways in the brain. (4) Neural activation: The brain attempts to make sense of neural static by weaving it into a story line. (5) Cognitive development: Dreams reflect the dreamer’s level of development.

Most sleep theorists agree that REM sleep and its associated dreams serve an important function, as shown by the REM rebound that occurs following REM deprivation in humans and other species.

Module 10: Drugs and Consciousness

10-1 What are substance use disorders, and what roles do tolerance, withdrawal, and addiction play in these disorders?

Those with a substance use disorder may exhibit impaired control, social disruption, risky behavior, and the physical effects of tolerance and withdrawal. Psychoactive drugs alter perceptions and moods. They may produce tolerance—requiring larger doses to achieve the desired effect—and withdrawal—significant discomfort accompanying attempts to quit. Continued use may lead to addiction, which is the compulsive craving of drugs or certain behaviors (such as gambling) despite known adverse consequences.

10-2 How has the concept of addiction changed?

Psychologists debate whether the concept of addiction has been stretched too far, and whether addictions are really as irresistible as commonly believed. Addictions can be powerful, and many with addictions do benefit from therapy or group support. But viewing addiction as an uncontrollable disease can undermine people’s self-confidence and their belief that they can change. The addiction-as-disease-needing-treatment idea has been extended to a host of excessive, driven behaviors, but labeling a behavior doesn’t explain it. The concept of addiction continues to evolve, as psychiatry’s manual of disorders now includes behavior addictions such as “gambling disorder” and proposes “Internet gaming disorder” for further study.

10-3 What are depressants, and what are their effects?

Depressants, such as alcohol, barbiturates, and the opiates, dampen neural activity and slow body functions. Alcohol tends to disinhibit, increasing the likelihood that we will act on our impulses, whether harmful or helpful. It also impairs judgment, disrupts memory processes by suppressing REM sleep, and reduces self-awareness and self-control. User expectations strongly influence alcohol’s behavioral effects.

10-4 What are stimulants, and what are their effects?

Stimulants—including caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, the amphetamines, methamphetamine, and Ecstasy—excite neural activity and speed up body functions, triggering energy and mood changes. All are highly addictive. Nicotine’s effects make smoking a difficult habit to kick, yet the percentage of Americans who smoke has been dramatically decreasing. Cocaine gives users a fast high, followed within an hour by a crash. Its risks include cardiovascular stress and suspiciousness. Use of methamphetamines may permanently reduce dopamine production. Ecstasy (MDMA) is a combined stimulant and mild hallucinogen that produces euphoria and feelings of intimacy. Its users risk immune system suppression, permanent damage to mood and memory, and (if taken during physical activity) dehydration and escalating body temperatures.

10-5 What are hallucinogens, and what are their effects?

Hallucinogens—such as LSD and marijuana—distort perceptions and evoke hallucinations—sensory images in the absence of sensory input. The user’s mood and expectations influence the effects of LSD, but common experiences are hallucinations and emotions varying from euphoria to panic. Marijuana’s main ingredient, THC, may trigger feelings of disinhibition, euphoria, relaxation, relief from pain, and intense sensitivity to sensory stimuli. It may also increase feelings of depression or anxiety, impair motor coordination and reaction time, disrupt memory formation, and damage lung tissue (because of the inhaled smoke).

10-6 Why do some people become regular users of consciousness-altering drugs?

Some people may be biologically vulnerable to particular drugs, such as alcohol. Psychological factors (such as stress, depression, and hopelessness) and social factors (such as peer pressure) combine to lead many people to experiment with—and sometimes become addicted to—drugs. Cultural and ethnic groups have differing rates of drug use. Each type of influence—biological, psychological, and social-cultural—offers a possible path for drug misuse prevention and treatment programs.

NATURE, NURTURE, AND HUMAN DIVERSITY

Module 11: Behavior Genetics: Predicting Individual Differences

11-1 What are chromosomes, DNA, genes, and the human genome? How do behavior geneticists explain our individual differences?

Genes are the biochemical units of heredity that make up chromosomes, the threadlike coils of DNA. When genes are “turned on” (expressed), they provide the code for creating the proteins that form our body’s building blocks. Most human traits are influenced by many genes acting together. The human genome is the shared genetic profile that distinguishes humans from other species, consisting at an individual level of all the genetic material in an organism’s chromosomes. Behavior geneticists study the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

11-2 How do twin and adoption studies help us understand the effects and interactions of nature and nurture?

Studies of identical (monozygotic) twins versus fraternal (dizygotic) twins, separated twins, and biological versus adoptive relatives allow researchers to tease apart the influences of heredity and environment. Research studies on separated identical twins maintain the same genes while testing the effects of different home environments. Studies of adoptive families let researchers maintain the same home environment while studying the effects of genetic differences. Heritable individual differences (in traits such as height and weight) do not necessarily explain gender or ethnic group differences. Shared family environments have little effect on personality.

11-3 What have psychologists learned about temperament?

The stability of temperament, a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity, from the first weeks of life suggests a genetic predisposition. The genetic effect appears in physiological differences such as heart rate and nervous system reactivity.

11-4 What is heritability, and how does it relate to individuals and groups?

Heritability describes the extent to which variation among members of a group can be attributed to genes. Heritable individual differences (in traits such as height or intelligence) need not imply heritable group differences. Genes mostly explain why some people are taller than others, but not why people are taller today than they were a century ago.

11-5 How is molecular genetics research changing our understanding of the effects of nature and nurture?

Molecular genetics research on structure and function of genes is building new understandings of how teams of genes influence many human traits. One goal of molecular behavior genetics, the study of how the structure and function of genes interact with our environment to influence behavior, is to find some of the many genes that together orchestrate complex traits (such as body weight, sexual orientation, and impulsivity). Environments can trigger or block genetic expression. The field of epigenetics studies the influences on gene expression that occur without changes in DNA.

11-6 What are some benefits and risks of prenatal genetic testing?

Genetic tests can now reveal at-risk populations for dozens of diseases, and the search is on to discover the markers of genetically influenced disorders. But prenatal screening poses ethical dilemmas. For example, testing for an offspring’s sex has enabled selective abortions, which in some cultures has resulted in millions more male births. And future screening for vulnerability to psychological disorders could deprive the world of great talents. (Handel, van Gogh, Churchill, Lincoln, Tolstoy, and Dickinson were all troubled people, for example.)

Module 12: Evolutionary Psychology: Understanding Human Nature

12-1 How do evolutionary psychologists use natural selection to explain behavior tendencies?

Evolutionary psychologists seek to understand how our traits and behavior tendencies are shaped by natural selection, as genetic variations increasing the odds of reproducing and surviving in their particular environment are most likely to be passed on to future generations. Some variations arise from mutations (random errors in gene replication), others from new gene combinations at conception. Humans share a genetic legacy and are predisposed to behave in ways that promoted our ancestors’ surviving and reproducing. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is an organizing principle in biology. He anticipated today’s application of evolutionary principles in psychology.

12-2 How might an evolutionary psychologist explain male-female differences in sexuality and mating preferences?

Men tend to have a recreational view of sexual activity; women tend to have a relational view. Evolutionary psychologists reason that men’s attraction to multiple healthy, fertile-appearing partners increases their chances of spreading their genes widely. Because women incubate and nurse babies, they increase their own and their children’s chances of survival by searching for mates with the potential for long-term investment in their joint offspring.

12-3 What are the key criticisms of evolutionary explanations of human sexuality, and how do evolutionary psychologists respond?

Critics argue that evolutionary psychologists start with an effect and work backward to an explanation. They also charge that evolutionary psychologists try to explain today’s behavior based on decisions our distant ancestors made thousands of years ago, noting that a better, more immediate explanation takes learned social scripts into account. And, the critics wonder, does this kind of explanation absolve people from taking responsibility for their sexual behavior? Evolutionary psychologists respond that understanding our predispositions can help us overcome them. They recognize the importance of social and cultural influences, but they also cite the value of testable predictions based on evolutionary principles.

Module 13: Culture, Gender, and Other Environmental Influences

13-1 How do early experiences modify the brain?

Our genetic predispositions and our specific environments interact. Environments can trigger gene activity, and genetically influenced traits can evoke responses from others.

As a child’s brain develops, neural connections grow more numerous and complex. Experiences then prompt a pruning process, in which unused connections weaken and heavily used ones strengthen. Early childhood is an important period for shaping the brain, but throughout our lives our brain modifies itself in response to our learning.

13-2 In what ways do parents and peers shape children’s development?

Parents influence their children in areas such as manners and political and religious beliefs, but not in other areas, such as personality. As children attempt to fit in with their peers, they tend to adopt their culture—styles, accents, slang, attitudes. By choosing their children’s neighborhoods and schools, parents exert some influence over peer group culture.

13-3 How does culture affect our behavior?

A culture is an enduring set of behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group and transmitted from one generation to the next. Cultural norms are understood rules that inform members of a culture about accepted and expected behaviors. Cultures differ across time and space.

13-4 How do individualist and collectivist cultures differ in their values and goals?

Within any culture, the degree of individualism or collectivism varies from person to person. Cultures based on self-reliant individualism, like those found in North America and Western Europe, tend to value personal independence and individual achievement. They define identity in terms of self-esteem, personal goals and attributes, and personal rights and liberties. Cultures based on socially connected collectivism, like those in many parts of Asia and Africa, tend to value interdependence, tradition, and harmony, and they define identity in terms of group goals, commitments, and belonging to one’s group.

13-5 How does the meaning of gender differ from the meaning of sex?

In psychology, gender is the socially influenced characteristics by which people define men and women. Sex refers to the biologically influenced characteristics by which people define males and females. Our gender is thus the product of the interplay among our biological dispositions, our developmental experiences, and our current situation.

13-6 What are some ways in which males and females tend to be alike and to differ?

We are more alike than different, thanks to our similar genetic makeup—we see, hear, learn, and remember similarly. Males and females do differ in body fat, muscle, height, age of onset of puberty, life expectancy, and vulnerability to certain disorders. Men admit to more aggression than women do, and they are more likely to be physically aggressive. Women’s aggression is more likely to be relational. In most societies, men have more social power, and their leadership style tends to be directive, whereas women’s is more democratic. Women focus more on social connectedness, and they “tend and befriend.”

13-7 How do sex hormones influence prenatal and adolescent sexual development, and what is a disorder of sexual development?

Both sex chromosomes and sex hormones influence development. Biological sex is determined by the father’s contribution to the twenty-third pair of chromosomes. The mother always contributes an X chromosome. The father may also contribute an X chromosome, producing a female, or a Y chromosome, producing a male by triggering additional testosterone release and the development of male sex organs. During puberty, both primary and secondary sex characteristics develop. Sex-related genes and physiology influence behavioral and cognitive differences between males and females. Disorders of sexual development are inherited conditions that involve unusual development of sex chromosomes and anatomy.

13-8 How do gender roles and gender identity differ?

Gender roles, the behaviors a culture expects from its males and females, vary across place and time. Social learning theory proposes that we learn gender identity—our sense of being male, female, or some combination of the two—as we learn other things: through reinforcement, punishment, and observation. Critics argue that cognition also plays a role because modeling and rewards cannot explain gender typing. Some children organize themselves into “boy worlds” and “girl worlds”; others prefer androgyny. Transgender people’s gender identity or expression differs from their birth sex. Their sexual orientation may be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or asexual.

13-9 What is included in the biopsychosocial approach to development?

Individual development results from the interaction of biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences. Biological influences include our shared human genome; individual variations; prenatal environment; and sex-related genes, hormones, and physiology. Psychological influences include gene-environment interactions; the effect of early experiences on neural networks; responses evoked by our own characteristics, such as gender and temperament; and personal beliefs, feelings, and expectations. Social-cultural influences include parental and peer influences; cultural traditions and values; and cultural gender norms.

DEVELOPING THROUGH THE LIFE SPAN

Module 14: Developmental Issues, Prenatal Development, and the Newborn

14-1 What three issues have engaged developmental psychologists?

Developmental psychologists study physical, mental, and social changes throughout the life span. They focus on three issues: nature and nurture (the interaction between our genetic inheritance and our experiences); continuity and stages (whether development is gradual and continuous or a series of relatively abrupt changes); and stability and change (whether our traits endure or change as we age).

14-2 What is the course of prenatal development, and how do teratogens affect that development?

The life cycle begins at conception, when one sperm cell unites with an egg to form a zygote. The zygote’s inner cells become the embryo, and the outer cells become the placenta. In the next 6 weeks, body organs begin to form and function, and by 9 weeks, the fetus is recognizably human.

Teratogens are potentially harmful agents that can pass through the placental screen and harm the developing embryo or fetus, as happens with fetal alcohol syndrome.

14-3 What are some newborn abilities, and how do researchers explore infants’ mental abilities?

Babies are born with sensory equipment and reflexes that facilitate their survival and their social interactions with adults. For example, they quickly learn to discriminate their mother’s smell and sound. Researchers use techniques that test habituation, such as the novelty-preference procedure, to explore infants’ abilities.

Module 15: Infancy and Childhood

15-1 During infancy and childhood, how do the brain and motor skills develop?

The brain’s nerve cells are sculpted by heredity and experience. As a child’s brain develops, neural connections grow more numerous and complex. Experiences then trigger a pruning process, in which unused connections weaken and heavily used ones strengthen. This process continues until puberty. Early childhood is an important period for shaping the brain, but our brain modifies itself in response to our learning throughout life. In childhood, complex motor skills—sitting, standing, walking—develop in a predictable sequence, though the timing of that sequence is a function of individual maturation and culture. We have no conscious memories of events occurring before about age 3½. This infantile amnesia occurs in part because major brain areas have not yet matured.

15-2 From the perspectives of Piaget, Vygotsky, and today’s researchers, how does a child’s mind develop?

In his theory of cognitive development, Jean Piaget proposed that children actively construct and modify their understanding of the world through the processes of assimilation and accommodation. They form schemas that help them organize their experiences. Progressing from the simplicity of the sensorimotor stage of the first two years, in which they develop object permanence, children move to more complex ways of thinking. In the preoperational stage (about age 2 to about 6 or 7), they develop a theory of mind. In the preoperational stage, children are egocentric and unable to perform simple logical operations. At about age 7, they enter the concrete operational stage and are able to comprehend the principle of conservation. By about age 12, children enter the formal operational stage and can reason systematically.

Research supports the sequence Piaget proposed, but it also shows that young children are more capable, and their development more continuous, than he believed.

Lev Vygotsky’s studies of child development focused on the ways a child’s mind grows by interacting with the social environment. In his view, parents and caretakers provide temporary scaffolds enabling children to step to higher levels of learning.

15-3 What is autism spectrum disorder?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a disorder marked by social deficiencies and repetitive behaviors. By age 8, 1 in 68 U.S. children now gets diagnosed with ASD, though the reported rates vary by place. The increase in ASD diagnoses has been offset by a decrease in the number of children with a “cognitive disability” or “learning disability,” suggesting a relabeling of children’s disorders.

15-4 How do parent-infant attachment bonds form?

At about 8 months, soon after object permanence develops, children separated from their caregivers display stranger anxiety. Infants form attachments not simply because parents gratify biological needs but, more important, because they are comfortable, familiar, and responsive. Many birds and other animals have a more rigid attachment process, called imprinting, that occurs during a critical period.

15-5 How have psychologists studied attachment differences, and what have they learned?

Attachment has been studied in strange situation experiments, which show that some children are securely attached and others are insecurely attached. Infants’ differing attachment styles reflect both their individual temperament and the responsiveness of their parents and child-care providers. Adult relationships seem to reflect the attachment styles of early childhood, lending support to Erik Erikson’s idea that basic trust is formed in infancy by our experiences with responsive caregivers.

15-6 How does childhood neglect or abuse affect children’s attachments?

Children are very resilient, but those who are severely neglected by their parents, or otherwise prevented from forming attachments at an early age, may be at risk for attachment problems.

15-7 How do children’s self-concepts develop?

Self-concept, an understanding and evaluation of who we are, emerges gradually. By 15 to 18 months, children recognize themselves in a mirror. By school age, they can describe many of their own traits, and by age 8 or 10 their self-image is stable.

15-8 What are three parenting styles, and how do children’s traits relate to them?

Parenting styles—authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative—reflect varying degrees of control. Children with high self-esteem tend to have authoritative parents and to be self-reliant and socially competent, but the direction of cause and effect in this relationship is not clear. Child-raising practices reflect both individual and cultural values.

Module 16: Adolescence

16-1 How is adolescence defined, and how do physical changes affect developing teens?

Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to social independence. Boys seem to benefit (though with risks) from “early” maturation, girls from “late” maturation. The brain’s frontal lobes mature and myelin growth increases during adolescence and the early twenties, enabling improved judgment, impulse control, and long-term planning.

16-2 How did Piaget, Kohlberg, and later researchers describe adolescent cognitive and moral development?

Piaget theorized that adolescents develop a capacity for formal operations and that this development is the foundation for moral judgment. Lawrence Kohlberg proposed a stage theory of moral reasoning, from a preconventional morality of self-interest, to a conventional morality concerned with upholding laws and social rules, to (in some people) a postconventional morality of universal ethical principles. Other researchers believe that morality lies in moral intuition and moral action as well as thinking. Some critics argue that Kohlberg’s postconventional level represents morality from the perspective of individualist, middle-class people.

16-3 What are the social tasks and challenges of adolescence?

Erikson theorized that each life stage has its own psychosocial task, and that a chief task of adolescence is solidifying one’s sense of self—one’s identity. This often means trying out a number of different roles. Social identity is the part of the self-concept that comes from a person’s group memberships.

16-4 How do parents and peers influence adolescents?

During adolescence, parental influence diminishes and peer influence increases, in part because of the selection effect—the tendency to choose similar others. But adolescents also do adopt their peers’ ways of dressing, acting, and communicating. Parents have more influence in religion, politics, and college and career choices.

16-5 What is emerging adulthood?

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is now taking longer. Emerging adulthood is the period from age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many young people are not yet fully independent. But observers note that this stage is found mostly in today’s Western cultures.

Module 17: Adulthood

17-1 What physical changes occur during middle and late adulthood?

Muscular strength, reaction time, sensory abilities, and cardiac output begin to decline in the late twenties and continue to decline throughout middle adulthood (roughly age 40 to 65) and late adulthood (the years after 65). Women’s period of fertility ends with menopause around age 50; men have no similar age-related sharp drop in hormone levels or fertility. In late adulthood, the immune system weakens, increasing susceptibility to life-threatening illnesses. Chromosome tips (telomeres) wear down, reducing the chances of normal genetic replication. But for some, longevity-supporting genes, low stress, and good health habits enable better health in later life.

17-2 How does memory change with age?

As the years pass, recall begins to decline, especially for meaningless information, but recognition memory remains strong. Older adults rely more on time management and memory cues to remember time-based and habitual tasks. Developmental researchers study age-related changes such as in memory with cross-sectional studies (comparing people of different ages) and longitudinal studies (retesting the same people over a period of years). “Terminal decline” describes the cognitive decline in the final few years of life.

17-3 How do neurocognitive disorders and Alzheimer’s disease affect cognitive ability?

Neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) are acquired (not lifelong) disorders marked by cognitive deficits, which are often related to Alzheimer’s disease, brain injury or disease, or substance abuse. This damage to brain cells results in the erosion of mental abilities that is not typical of normal aging. Alzheimer’s disease is marked by neural plaques, often with an onset after age 80, entailing a progressive decline in memory and other cognitive abilities.

17-4 What themes and influences mark our social journey from early adulthood to death?

Adults do not progress through an orderly sequence of age-related social stages. Chance events can determine life choices. The social clock is a culture’s preferred timing for social events, such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. Adulthood’s dominant themes are love and work, which Erikson called intimacy and generativity.

17-5 How does our well-being change across the life span?

Self-confidence tends to strengthen across the life span. Surveys show that life satisfaction is unrelated to age. Positive emotions increase after midlife and negative ones decrease.

17-6 A loved one’s death triggers what range of reactions?

People do not grieve in predictable stages, as was once supposed. Strong expressions of emotion do not purge grief, and bereavement therapy is not significantly more effective than grieving without such aid. Erikson viewed the late-adulthood psychosocial task as developing a sense of integrity (versus despair).

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

Module 18: Basic Concepts of Sensation and Perception

18-1 What are sensation and perception? What do we mean by bottom-up processing and top-down processing?

Sensation is the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting this information, enabling recognition of meaningful events. Sensation and perception are actually parts of one continuous process. Bottom-up processing is sensory analysis that begins at the entry level, with information flowing from the sensory receptors to the brain. Top-down processing is information processing guided by high-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions by filtering information through our experience and expectations.

18-2 What three steps are basic to all our sensory systems?

Our senses (1) receive sensory stimulation (often using specialized receptor cells); (2) transform that stimulation into neural impulses; and (3) deliver the neural information to the brain. Transduction is the process of converting one form of energy into another. Researchers in psychophysics study the relationships between stimuli’s physical characteristics and our psychological experience of them.

18-3 How do absolute thresholds and difference thresholds differ, and what effect, if any, do stimuli below the absolute threshold have on us?

Our absolute threshold for any stimulus is the minimum stimulation necessary for us to be consciously aware of it 50 percent of the time. Signal detection theory predicts how and when we will detect a faint stimulus amid background noise. Individual absolute thresholds vary, depending on the strength of the signal and also on our experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness. Our difference threshold (also called just noticeable difference, or jnd) is the difference we can discern between two stimuli 50 percent of the time. Weber’s law states that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (not a constant amount) to be perceived as different.

Priming (the often unconscious activation of certain associations that may predispose one’s perception, memory, or response) shows that we process some information from stimuli below our absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

18-4 Does subliminal sensation enable subliminal persuasion?

Subliminal stimuli are those that are too weak to detect 50 percent of the time. While subliminal sensation is a fact, such sensations are too fleeting to enable exploitation with subliminal messages: There is no powerful, enduring effect.

18-5 What is the function of sensory adaptation?

Sensory adaptation (our diminished sensitivity to constant or routine odors, sounds, and touches) focuses our attention on informative changes in our environment.

18-6 How do our expectations, contexts, motivation, and emotions influence our perceptions?

Perceptual set is a mental predisposition that functions as a lens through which we perceive the world. Our learned concepts (schemas) prime us to organize and interpret ambiguous stimuli in certain ways. Our physical and emotional context, as well as our motivation, can create expectations and color our interpretation of events and behaviors.

Module 19: Vision: Sensory and Perceptual Processing

19-1 What are the characteristics of the energy that we see as visible light? What structures in the eye help focus that energy?

What we see as light is only a thin slice of the broad spectrum of electromagnetic energy. The portion visible to humans extends from the blue-violet to the red light wavelengths. After entering the eye and being focused by a lens, light energy particles strike the eye’s inner surface, the retina. The hue we perceive in a light depends on its wavelength, and its brightness depends on its intensity.

19-2 How do the rods and cones process information, and what is the path information travels from the eye to the brain?

Light entering the eye triggers chemical reaction in the light-sensitive rods and color-sensitive cones at the back of the retina, which converts light energy into neural impulses. After processing by bipolar and ganglion cells, neural impulses travel from the retina through the optic nerve to the thalamus, and on to the visual cortex.

19-3 How do we perceive color in the world around us?

According to the Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory, the retina contains three types of color receptors. Contemporary research has found three types of cones, each most sensitive to the wavelengths of one of the three primary colors of light (red, green, or blue).

Hering’s opponent-process theory proposed three additional color processes (red-versus-green, blue-versus-yellow, black-versus-white). Research has confirmed that, en route to the brain, neurons in the retina and the thalamus code the color-related information from the cones into pairs of opponent colors.

These two theories, and the research supporting them, show that color processing occurs in two stages.

19-4 Where are feature detectors located, and what do they do?

Feature detectors, located in the visual cortex, respond to specific features of the visual stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement. Supercell clusters in other critical areas respond to more complex patterns.

19-5 How does the brain use parallel processing to construct visual perceptions?

Through parallel processing, the brain handles many aspects of vision (color, movement, form, and depth) simultaneously. Other neural teams integrate the results, comparing them with stored information and enabling perceptions.

19-6 How did the Gestalt psychologists understand perceptual organization, and how do figure-ground and grouping principles contribute to our perceptions?

Gestalt psychologists searched for rules by which the brain organizes fragments of sensory data into gestalts (from the German word for “whole”), or meaningful forms. In pointing out that the whole may exceed the sum of its parts, they noted that we filter sensory information and construct our perceptions.

To recognize an object, we must first perceive it (see it as a figure) as distinct from its surroundings (the ground). We bring order and form to stimuli by organizing them into meaningful groups, following such rules as proximity, continuity, and closure.

19-7 How do we use binocular and monocular cues to perceive the world in three dimensions, and how do we perceive motion?

Depth perception is our ability to see objects in three dimensions and judge distance. The visual cliff and other research demonstrate that many species perceive the world in three dimensions at, or very soon after, birth. Binocular cues, such as retinal disparity, are depth cues that rely on information from both eyes. Monocular cues (such as relative size, interposition, relative height, relative motion, linear perspective, and light and shadow) let us judge depth using information transmitted by only one eye.

As objects move, we assume that shrinking objects are retreating and enlarging objects are approaching. A quick succession of images on the retina can create an illusion of movement, as in stroboscopic movement or the phi phenomenon.

19-8 How do perceptual constancies help us construct meaningful perceptions?

Perceptual constancy enables us to perceive objects as stable despite the changing image they cast on our retinas. Color constancy is our ability to perceive consistent color in objects, even though the lighting and wavelengths shift. Brightness (or lightness) constancy is our ability to perceive an object as having a constant lightness even when its illumination—the light cast upon it—changes. Our brain constructs our experience of an object’s color or brightness through comparisons with other surrounding objects.

Shape constancy is our ability to perceive familiar objects (such as an opening door) as unchanging in shape. Size constancy is perceiving objects as unchanging in size despite their changing retinal images. Knowing an object’s size gives us clues to its distance; knowing its distance gives clues about its size, but we sometimes misread monocular distance cues and reach the wrong conclusions, as in the Moon illusion.

19-9 What does research on restored vision, sensory restriction, and perceptual adaptation reveal about the effects of experience on perception?

Experience guides our perceptual interpretations. People blind from birth who gained sight after surgery lack the experience to visually recognize shapes, forms, and complete faces.

Sensory restriction research indicates that there is a critical period for some aspects of sensory and perceptual development. Without early stimulation, the brain’s neural organization does not develop normally.

People given glasses that shift the world slightly to the left or right, or even upside down, experience perceptual adaptation. They are initially disoriented, but they manage to adapt to their new context.

Module 20: The Nonvisual Senses

20-1 What are the characteristics of air pressure waves that we hear as sound?

Sound waves are bands of compressed and expanded air. Our ears detect these changes in air pressure and transform them into neural impulses, which the brain decodes as sound. Sound waves vary in amplitude, which we perceive as differing loudness, and in frequency, which we experience as differing pitch.

20-2 How does the ear transform sound energy into neural messages?

The outer ear is the visible portion of the ear. The middle ear is the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea. The inner ear consists of the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs. Through a mechanical chain of events, sound waves traveling through the auditory canal cause tiny vibrations in the eardrum. The bones of the middle ear amplify the vibrations and relay them to the fluid-filled cochlea. Rippling of the basilar membrane, caused by pressure changes in the cochlear fluid, causes movement of the tiny hair cells, triggering neural messages to be sent (via the thalamus) to the auditory cortex in the brain.

Sensorineural hearing loss (or nerve deafness) results from damage to the cochlea’s hair cells or their associated nerves. Conduction hearing loss results from damage to the mechanical system that transmits sound waves to the cochlea. Cochlear implants can restore hearing for some people.

20-3 How do we detect loudness, discriminate pitch, and locate sounds?

Loudness is not related to the intensity of a hair cell’s response. The brain interprets loudness from the number of activated hair cells.

Place theory explains how we hear high-pitched sounds, and frequency theory explains how we hear low-pitched sounds. (A combination of the two theories explains how we hear pitches in the middle range.) Place theory proposes that our brain interprets a particular pitch by decoding the place where a sound wave stimulates the cochlea’s basilar membrane. Frequency theory proposes that the brain deciphers the frequency of the neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve to the brain.

Sound waves strike one ear sooner and more intensely than the other. To locate sounds, the brain analyzes the minute differences in the sounds received by the two ears and computes the sound’s source.

20-4 How do we sense touch?

Our sense of touch is actually several senses—pressure, warmth, cold, and pain—that combine to produce other sensations, such as “hot.”

20-5 What biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences affect our experience of pain? How do placebos, distraction, and hypnosis help control pain?

Pain reflects bottom-up sensations (such as input from nociceptors, the sensory receptors that detect hurtful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals) and top-down processes (such as experience, attention, and culture). One theory of pain is that a “gate” in the spinal cord either opens to permit pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers to reach the brain, or closes to prevent their passage. The biopsychosocial perspective views our perception of pain as the sum of biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences. For example, our experience of pain is influenced by activity in the spinal cord’s large and small fibers (a biological influence), attention to pain (a psychological influence), and cultural expectations (a social-cultural influence).

Pain treatments often combine physical and psychological elements. Placebos can help by dampening the central nervous system’s attention and response to painful experiences. Distractions draw people’s attention away from painful stimulation. Hypnosis, which increases our response to suggestions, can also help relieve pain. Posthypnotic suggestion is used by some clinicians to control undesired symptoms.

20-6 In what ways are our senses of taste and smell similar, and how do they differ?

Taste and smell are both chemical senses. Taste is a composite of five basic sensations—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami—and of the aromas that interact with information from the taste receptor cells of the taste buds.

There are no basic sensations for smell. We smell something when molecules of a substance carried in the air reach a tiny cluster of 20 million receptor cells at the top of each nasal cavity. Odor molecules trigger combinations of receptors, in patterns that the olfactory cortex interprets. The receptor cells send messages to the brain’s olfactory bulb, then to the temporal lobe, and to parts of the limbic system.

20-7 How do we sense our body’s position and movement?

Through kinesthesia, we sense the position and movement of our body parts. We monitor our head’s (and thus our body’s) position and movement, and maintain our balance, with our vestibular sense.

20-8 How does sensory interaction influence our perceptions, and what is embodied cognition?

Our senses can influence one another. This sensory interaction occurs, for example, when the smell of a favorite food amplifies its taste. Embodied cognition is the influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments.

20-9 What are the claims of ESP, and what have most research psychologists concluded after putting these claims to the test?

Parapsychology is the study of paranormal phenomena, including extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis. The three most testable forms of ESP are telepathy (mind-to-mind communication), clairvoyance (perceiving remote events), and precognition (perceiving future events).

Skeptics argue that (1) to believe in ESP, you must believe the brain is capable of perceiving without sensory input, and (2) researchers have been unable to replicate ESP phenomena under controlled conditions.

LEARNING

Module 21: Basic Learning Concepts and Classical Conditioning

21-1 What is learning, and what are some basic forms of learning?

Learning is the process of acquiring through experience new information or behaviors. In associative learning, we learn that certain events occur together. In classical conditioning, we learn to associate two or more stimuli (a stimulus is any event or situation that evokes a response). We associate stimuli that we do not control, and we respond automatically. This is called respondent behavior. In operant conditioning, we learn to associate a response and its consequences. These associations produce operant behaviors. Through cognitive learning, we acquire mental information that guides our behavior. For example, in observational learning, we learn new behaviors by observing events and watching others.

21-2 What was behaviorism’s view of learning?

Ivan Pavlov’s work on classical conditioning laid the foundation for behaviorism, the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes. The behaviorists believed that the basic laws of learning are the same for all species, including humans.

21-3 Who was Pavlov, and what are the basic components of classical conditioning?

Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, created novel experiments on learning. His early twentieth-century research over the last three decades of his life demonstrated that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning.

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. In classical conditioning, an NS is a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning. A UR is an event that occurs naturally (such as salivation), in response to some stimulus. A US is something that naturally and automatically (without learning) triggers the unlearned response (as food in the mouth triggers salivation). A CS is a previously neutral stimulus (such as a tone) that, after association with a US (such as food) comes to trigger a CR. A CR is the learned response (salivating) to the originally neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus.

21-4 In classical conditioning, what are the processes of acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination?

In classical conditioning, acquisition is associating an NS with the US so that the NS begins triggering the CR. Acquisition occurs most readily when the NS is presented just before (ideally, about a half-second before) a US, preparing the organism for the upcoming event. This finding supports the view that classical conditioning is biologically adaptive. Through higher-order conditioning, a new NS can become a new CS.

Extinction is diminished responding when the CS no longer signals an impending US. Spontaneous recovery is the appearance of a formerly extinguished response, following a rest period. Generalization is the tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to a CS. Discrimination is the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other irrelevant stimuli.

21-5 Why does Pavlov’s work remain so important?

Pavlov taught us that significant psychological phenomena can be studied objectively, and that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning that applies to all species.

21-6 What have been some applications of Pavlov’s work to human health and well-being? How did Watson apply Pavlov’s principles to learned fears?

Classical conditioning techniques are used to improve human health and well-being in many areas, including behavioral therapy for some types of psychological disorders. The body’s immune system may also respond to classical conditioning.

Pavlov’s work also provided a basis for Watson’s idea that human emotions and behaviors, though biologically influenced, are mainly a bundle of conditioned responses. Watson applied classical conditioning principles in his studies of “Little Albert” to demonstrate how specific fears might be conditioned.

Module 22: Operant Conditioning

22-1 What is operant conditioning?

In operant conditioning, behaviors followed by reinforcers increase; those followed by punishers often decrease.

22-2 Who was Skinner, and how is operant behavior reinforced and shaped?

B. F. Skinner was a college English major and aspiring writer who later entered psychology graduate school. He became modern behaviorism’s most influential and controversial figure.

Operant behavior operates on the environment, producing consequences. Expanding on Edward Thorndike’s law of effect, Skinner and others found that the behavior of rats or pigeons placed in an operant chamber (Skinner box) can be shaped by using reinforcers to guide closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

22-3 How do positive and negative reinforcement differ, and what are the basic types of reinforcers?

Reinforcement is any consequence that strengthens behavior. Positive reinforcement adds a desirable stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior. Negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior.

Primary reinforcers (such as receiving food when hungry or having nausea end during an illness) are innately satisfying—no learning is required. Conditioned (or secondary) reinforcers (such as cash) are satisfying because we have learned to associate them with more basic rewards (such as the food or medicine we buy with them). Immediate reinforcers (such as a purchased treat) offer immediate payback; delayed reinforcers (such as a weekly paycheck) require the ability to delay gratification.

22-4 How do different reinforcement schedules affect behavior?

A reinforcement schedule defines how often a response will be reinforced. In continuous reinforcement (reinforcing desired responses every time they occur), learning is rapid, but so is extinction if rewards cease. In partial (intermittent) reinforcement (reinforcing responses only sometimes), initial learning is slower, but the behavior is much more resistant to extinction. Fixed-ratio schedules reinforce behaviors after a set number of responses; variable-ratio schedules, after an unpredictable number. Fixed-interval schedules reinforce behaviors after set time periods; variable-interval schedules, after unpredictable time periods.

22-5 How does punishment differ from negative reinforcement, and how does punishment affect behavior?

Punishment administers an undesirable consequence (such as spanking) or withdraws something desirable (such as taking away a favorite toy) in an attempt to decrease the frequency of a behavior (a child’s disobedience). Negative reinforcement (taking an aspirin) removes an aversive stimulus (a headache). This desired consequence (freedom from pain) increases the likelihood that the behavior (taking aspirin to end pain) will be repeated.

Punishment can have undesirable side effects, such as suppressing rather than changing unwanted behaviors; teaching aggression; creating fear; encouraging discrimination (so that the undesirable behavior appears when the punisher is not present); and fostering depression and feelings of helplessness.

22-6 Why did Skinner’s ideas provoke controversy, and how might his operant conditioning principles be applied at school, in sports, at work, and at home?

Critics of Skinner’s principles believed the approach dehumanized people by neglecting their personal freedom and seeking to control their actions. Skinner replied that people’s actions are already controlled by external consequences, and that reinforcement is more humane than punishment as a means for controlling behavior.

At school, teachers can use shaping techniques to guide students’ behaviors, and they can use interactive software and websites to provide immediate feedback. In sports, coaches can build players’ skills and self-confidence by rewarding small improvements. At work, managers can boost productivity and morale by rewarding well-defined and achievable behaviors. At home, parents can reward desired behaviors but not undesirable ones. We can shape our own behaviors by stating our goals, monitoring the frequency of desired behaviors, reinforcing desired behaviors, and gradually reducing rewards as behaviors become habitual.

22-7 How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?

In operant conditioning, an organism learns associations between its own behavior and resulting events; this form of conditioning involves operant behavior (behavior that operates on the environment, producing rewarding or punishing consequences). In classical conditioning, the organism forms associations between stimuli—events it does not control; this form of conditioning involves respondent behavior (automatic responses to some stimulus).

Module 23: Biology, Cognition, and Learning

23-1 How do biological constraints affect classical and operant conditioning?

Classical conditioning principles, we now know, are constrained by biological predispositions, so that learning some associations is easier than learning others. Learning is adaptive: Each species learns behaviors that aid its survival. Biological constraints also place limits on operant conditioning. Training that attempts to override biological constraints will probably not endure because animals will revert to predisposed patterns.

23-2 How do cognitive processes affect classical and operant conditioning?

In classical conditioning, animals may learn when to expect a US and may be aware of the link between stimuli and responses. In operant conditioning, cognitive mapping and latent learning research demonstrate the importance of cognitive processes in learning. Other research shows that excessive rewards (driving extrinsic motivation) can undermine intrinsic motivation.

23-3 How does observational learning differ from associative learning? How may observational learning be enabled by mirror neurons?

In observational learning, as we observe and imitate others we learn to anticipate a behavior’s consequences because we experience vicarious reinforcement or vicarious punishment. In associative learning, we merely learn associations between different events.

Our brain’s frontal lobes have a demonstrated ability to mirror the activity of another’s brain. Some psychologists believe mirror neurons enable this process. The same areas fire when we perform certain actions (such as responding to pain or moving our mouth to form words) as when we observe someone else performing those actions.

23-4 What is the impact of prosocial modeling and of antisocial modeling?

Children tend to imitate what a model does and says, whether the behavior being modeled is prosocial (positive, constructive, and helpful) or antisocial. If a model’s actions and words are inconsistent, children may imitate the hypocrisy they observe.

MEMORY

Module 24: Studying and Encoding Memories

24-1 What is memory, and how is it measured?

Memory is learning that has persisted over time, through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. Evidence of memory may be recalling information, recognizing it, or relearning it more easily on a later attempt.

24-2 How do psychologists describe the human memory system?

Psychologists use memory models to think and communicate about memory. Information-processing models involve three processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Our agile brain processes many things simultaneously (some of them unconsciously) by means of parallel processing. The connectionism information-processing model focuses on this multitrack processing, viewing memories as products of interconnected neural networks. The three processing stages in the Atkinson-Shiffrin model are sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. This model has since been updated to include two important concepts: (1) working memory, to stress the active processing occurring in the second memory stage; and (2) automatic processing, to address the processing of information outside of conscious awareness.

24-3 How do explicit and implicit memories differ?

The human brain processes information on dual tracks, consciously and unconsciously. Explicit (declarative) memories—our conscious memories of facts and experiences—form through effortful processing, which requires conscious effort and attention. Implicit (nondeclarative) memories—of skills and classically conditioned associations—happen without our awareness, through automatic processing.

24-4 What information do we process automatically?

In addition to skills and classically conditioned associations, we automatically process incidental information about space, time, and frequency.

24-5 How does sensory memory work?

Sensory memory feeds some information into working memory for active processing there. An iconic memory is a very brief (a few tenths of a second) sensory memory of visual stimuli; an echoic memory is a three- or four-second sensory memory of auditory stimuli.

24-6 What is the capacity of our short-term and working memory?

Short-term memory capacity is about seven items, plus or minus two, but this information disappears from memory quickly without rehearsal. Working memory capacity varies, depending on age, intelligence level, and other factors.

24-7 What are some effortful processing strategies that can help us remember new information?

Effective effortful processing strategies include chunking, mnemonics, hierarchies, and distributed practice sessions. The testing effect is enhanced memory after consciously retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information.

24-8 What are the levels of processing, and how do they affect encoding?

Depth of processing affects long-term retention. In shallow processing, we encode words based on their structure or appearance. Retention is best when we use deep processing, encoding words based on their meaning. We also more easily remember material that is personally meaningful—the self-reference effect.

Module 25: Storing and Retrieving Memories

25-1 What is the capacity of long-term memory? Are our long-term memories processed and stored in specific locations?

Our long-term memory capacity is essentially unlimited. Memories are not stored intact in the brain in single spots. Many parts of the brain interact as we encode, store, and retrieve memories.

25-2 What are the roles of the frontal lobes and hippocampus in memory processing?

Explicit (declarative) memories—our conscious memories of facts and experiences—form through effortful processing, which requires conscious effort and attention. The frontal lobes and hippocampus are parts of the brain network dedicated to explicit memory formation. Many brain regions send information to the frontal lobes for processing. The hippocampus, with the help of surrounding areas of cortex, registers and temporarily holds elements of explicit memories before moving them to other brain regions for long-term storage. The neural storage of long-term memories is called memory consolidation.

25-3 What roles do the cerebellum and basal ganglia play in memory processing?

Implicit (nondeclarative) memories—of skills and classically conditioned associations—happen without our awareness, through automatic processing. The cerebellum and basal ganglia are parts of the brain network dedicated to implicit memory formation. The cerebellum is important for storing classically conditioned memories. The basal ganglia are involved in motor movement and help form procedural memories for skills. Many reactions and skills learned during our first three years continue into our adult lives, but we cannot consciously remember learning these associations and skills, a phenomenon psychologists call “infantile amnesia.”

25-4 How do emotions affect our memory processing?

Emotional arousal causes an outpouring of stress hormones, which lead to activity in the brain’s memory-forming areas. Significantly stressful events can trigger very clear flashbulb memories.

25-5 How do changes at the synapse level affect our memory processing?

Long-term potentiation (LTP) appears to be the neural basis of learning. In LTP, neurons become more efficient at releasing and sensing the presence of neurotransmitters, and more connections develop between neurons.

25-6 How do external cues, internal emotions, and order of appearance influence memory retrieval?

External cues activate associations that help us retrieve memories; this process may occur without our awareness, as it does in priming. The encoding specificity principle is the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it. Returning to the same physical context or emotional state (mood congruency) in which we formed a memory can help us retrieve it. The serial position effect accounts for our tendency to recall best the last items (which may still be in working memory) and the first items (which we’ve spent more time rehearsing) in a list.

Module 26: Forgetting, Memory Construction, and Improving Memory

26-1 Why do we forget?

Anterograde amnesia is an inability to form new memories. Retrograde amnesia is an inability to retrieve old memories. Normal forgetting can happen because we have never encoded information (encoding failure); because the physical trace has decayed (storage decay); or because we cannot retrieve what we have encoded and stored (retrieval failure). Retrieval problems may result from proactive (forward-acting) interference, as prior learning interferes with recall of new information, or from retroactive (backward-acting) interference, as new learning disrupts recall of old information. Some believe that motivated forgetting occurs, but researchers have found little evidence of repression.

26-2 How do misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our memory construction? How do we decide whether a memory is real or false?

In experiments demonstrating the misinformation effect, people have formed false memories, incorporating misleading details, after receiving wrong information after an event, or after repeatedly imagining and rehearsing something that never happened. When we reassemble a memory during retrieval, we may attribute it to the wrong source (source amnesia). Source amnesia may help explain déjà vu. False memories feel like real memories and can be persistent but are usually limited to the gist of the event.

26-3 How reliable are young children’s eyewitness descriptions?

Children are susceptible to the misinformation effect, but if questioned in neutral words they understand, they can accurately recall events and people involved in them.

26-4 Why are reports of repressed and recovered memories so hotly debated?

The debate (between memory researchers and some well-meaning therapists) focuses on whether most memories of early childhood abuse are repressed and can be recovered during therapy using “memory work” techniques using leading questions or hypnosis. Psychologists now agree that (1) sexual abuse happens; (2) injustice happens; (3) forgetting happens; (4) recovered memories are commonplace; (5) memories of things that happened before age 3 are unreliable; (6) memories “recovered” under hypnosis or the influence of drugs are especially unreliable; and (7) memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting.

26-5 How can you use memory research findings to do better in this and other courses?

Memory research findings suggest the following strategies for improving memory: Study repeatedly, make material meaningful, activate retrieval cues, use mnemonic devices, minimize interference, sleep more, and test yourself to be sure you can retrieve, as well as recognize, material.

THINKING AND LANGUAGE

Module 27: Thinking

27-1 What is cognition, and what are the functions of concepts?

Cognition refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. We use concepts, mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people, to simplify and order the world around us. We form most concepts around prototypes, or best examples of a category.

27-2 What cognitive strategies assist our problem solving, and what obstacles hinder it?

An algorithm is a methodical, logical rule or procedure (such as a step-by-step description for evacuating a building during a fire) that guarantees a solution to a problem. A heuristic is a simpler strategy (such as running for an exit if you smell smoke) that is usually speedier than an algorithm but is also more error prone. Insight is not a strategy-based solution, but rather a sudden flash of inspiration that solves a problem.

Obstacles to problem solving include confirmation bias, which predisposes us to verify rather than challenge our hypotheses, and fixation, such as mental set, which may prevent us from taking the fresh perspective that would lead to a solution.

27-3 What is intuition, and how can the availability heuristic, overconfidence, belief perseverance, and framing influence our decisions and judgments?

Intuition is the effortless, immediate, automatic feelings or thoughts we often use instead of systematic reasoning. Heuristics enable snap judgments. Using the availability heuristic, we judge the likelihood of things based on how readily they come to mind, which often leads us to fear the wrong things. Overconfidence can lead us to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs. When a belief we have formed and explained has been discredited, belief perseverance may cause us to cling to that belief. A remedy for belief perseverance is to consider how we might have explained an opposite result. Framing is the way a question or statement is worded. Subtle wording differences can dramatically alter our responses.

27-4 What factors contribute to our fear of unlikely events?

We tend to be afraid of what our ancestral history has prepared us to fear (thus, snakes instead of cigarettes); what we cannot control (flying instead of driving); what is immediate (the takeoff and landing of flying instead of countless moments of trivial danger while driving); and what is most readily available (vivid images of air disasters instead of countless safe car trips).

27-5 How do smart thinkers use intuition?

As people gain expertise, they grow adept at making quick, shrewd judgments. Smart thinkers welcome their intuitions (which are usually adaptive), but when making complex decisions they gather as much information as possible and then take time to let their two-track mind process all available information.

27-6 What is creativity, and what fosters it?

Creativity, the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas, correlates somewhat with aptitude, but is more than school smarts. Aptitude tests require convergent thinking, but creativity requires divergent thinking. Robert Sternberg has proposed that creativity has five components: expertise; imaginative thinking skills; a venturesome personality; intrinsic motivation; and a creative environment that sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas.

27-7 What do we know about thinking in other animals?

Researchers make inferences about other species’ consciousness and intelligence based on behavior. Evidence from studies of various species shows that other animals use concepts, numbers, and tools and that they transmit learning from one generation to the next (cultural transmission). And, like humans, other species also show insight, self-awareness, altruism, cooperation, and grief.

Module 28: Language and Thought

28-1 What are the structural components of a language?

Phonemes are a language’s basic units of sound. Morphemes are the elementary units of meaning. Grammar—the system of rules that enables us to communicate—includes semantics (rules for deriving meaning) and syntax (rules for ordering words into sentences).

28-2 What are the milestones in language development, and how do we acquire language?

Language development’s timing varies, but all children follow the same sequence. Receptive language (the ability to understand what is said to or about you) develops before productive language (the ability to produce words). At about 4 months of age, infants babble, making sounds found in languages from all over the world. By about 10 months, their babbling contains only the sounds found in their household language. Around 12 months of age, children begin to speak in single words. This one-word stage evolves into two-word (telegraphic) utterances before their second birthday, after which they begin speaking in full sentences.

Linguist Noam Chomsky has proposed that all human languages share a universal grammar—the basic building blocks of language—and that humans are born with a predisposition to learn language. We acquire a specific language through learning as our biology and experience interact. Childhood is a critical period for learning to speak and/or sign fluently. This is an important consideration for parents of deaf children, who might master oral communication if given a cochlear implant during this critical period. Deaf culture advocates oppose such implants on the grounds that deafness is a difference, not a disability.

28-3 What brain areas are involved in language processing and speech?

Aphasia is an impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage. Two important language- and speech-processing areas are Broca’s area, a region of the frontal lobe that controls language expression, and Wernicke’s area, a region in the left temporal lobe that controls language reception. Language processing is spread across other brain areas as well, where different neural networks handle specific linguistic subtasks.

28-4 What do we know about other animals’ capacity for language?

A number of chimpanzees and bonobos have (1) learned to communicate with humans by signing or by pushing buttons wired to a computer, (2) developed vocabularies of nearly 400 words, (3) communicated by stringing these words together, (4) taught their skills to younger animals, and (5) demonstrated some understanding of syntax. But only humans communicate in complex sentences. Nevertheless, other animals’ impressive abilities to think and communicate challenge humans to consider what this means about the moral rights of other species.

28-5 What is the relationship between thinking and language, and what is the value of thinking in images?

Although Benjamin Lee Whorf’s linguistic determinism hypothesis suggested that language determines thought, it is more accurate to say that language influences thought. Different languages embody different ways of thinking, and immersion in bilingual education can enhance thinking. We often think in images when we use implicit (non-declarative, procedural) memory—our automatic memory system for motor and cognitive skills and classically conditioned associations. Thinking in images can increase our skills when we mentally practice upcoming events.

INTELLIGENCE

Module 29: What Is Intelligence?

29-1 How do psychologists define intelligence, and what are the arguments for g?

Intelligence is a mental quality consisting of the potential to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. Charles Spearman proposed that we have one general intelligence (g) underlying all other specific mental abilities. He helped develop factor analysis, a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related abilities. L. L. Thurstone disagreed and identified seven different clusters of mental abilities. Yet a tendency remained for high scorers in one cluster to score high in other clusters. Studies indicate that g scores are most predictive in novel situations and do not much correlate with skills in evolutionarily familiar situations.

29-2 How do Gardner’s and Sternberg’s theories of multiple intelligences differ, and what criticisms have they faced?

Savant syndrome seems to support Howard Gardner’s view that we have multiple intelligences. He proposed eight independent intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. (He has also proposed a ninth possible intelligence—existential intelligence—the ability to ponder deep questions about life.) Robert Sternberg’s triarchic theory proposes three intelligence areas that predict real-world skills: analytical (academic problem-solving), creative, and practical.

Critics note research that has confirmed a general intelligence factor. But highly successful people also tend to be conscientious, well-connected, and doggedly energetic.

29-3 What are the four components of emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence, which is an aspect of social intelligence, is the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions. Emotionally intelligent people achieve greater personal and professional success. Some critics question whether calling these abilities “intelligence” stretches that concept too far.

Module 30: Assessing Intelligence

30-1 What is an intelligence test, and what is the difference between achievement and aptitude tests?

An intelligence test is a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with others, using numerical scores. Aptitude tests measure the ability to learn, while achievement tests measure what we have already learned.

30-2 When and why were intelligence tests created, and how do today’s tests differ from early intelligence tests?

In the late 1800s, Francis Galton, who believed that genius was inherited, attempted but failed to construct a simple intelligence test. Alfred Binet, who tended toward an environmental explanation of intelligence differences, started the modern intelligence-testing movement in France in 1904 when he developed questions to help predict children’s future progress in the Paris school system. During the early twentieth century, Lewis Terman of Stanford University revised Binet’s work for use in the United States. Terman believed intelligence was inherited, and he thought his Stanford-Binet could help guide people toward appropriate opportunities. From such tests, William Stern contributed the concept of the IQ (intelligence quotient). During this period, intelligence tests were sometimes used to “document” scientists’ assumptions about the innate inferiority of certain ethnic and immigrant groups.

The most widely used intelligence tests today are the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and Wechsler’s tests for children. These tests differ from their predecessors in the way they offer an overall intelligence score as well as scores for various verbal and performance areas.

30-3 What is a normal curve, and what does it mean to say that a test has been standardized and is reliable and valid?

The distribution of test scores often forms a normal (bell-shaped) curve around the central average score, with fewer and fewer scores at the extremes.

Standardization establishes a basis for meaningful score comparisons by giving a test to a representative sample of future test-takers. Reliability is the extent to which a test yields consistent results (on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or when people are retested). Validity is the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to. A test has content validity if it samples the pertinent behavior (as a driving test measures driving ability). It has predictive validity if it predicts a behavior it was designed to predict. (Aptitude tests have predictive ability if they can predict future achievements; their predictive power is best for the early school years.)

Module 31: The Dynamics of Intelligence

31-1 How stable are intelligence test scores over the life span, and how does aging affect crystallized and fluid intelligence?

Cross-sectional studies (comparing people of different ages) and longitudinal studies (retesting the same group over a period of years) have shown that fluid intelligence declines in older adults, in part because neural processing slows. However, crystallized intelligence tends to increase.

The stability of intelligence test scores increases with age. At age 4, scores fluctuate somewhat but begin to predict adolescent and adult scores. By early adolescence, scores are very stable and predictive.

31-2 What are the traits of those at the low and high intelligence extremes?

At the low extreme are those with unusually low scores. An intelligence test score of or below 70 is one diagnostic criterion for the diagnosis of intellectual disability; other criteria are limited conceptual, social, and practical skills. One condition included in this category is Down syndrome, a developmental disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.

People at the high-intelligence extreme tend to be healthy and well-adjusted, as well as unusually successful academically. Schools sometimes “track” such children, separating them from students with lower scores. Such programs can become self-fulfilling prophecies as both groups live up to—or down to—others’ perceptions and expectations.

Module 32: Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence

32-1 What evidence points to a genetic influence on intelligence, and what is heritability?

Studies of twins, family members, and adoptees indicate a significant hereditary contribution to intelligence scores. Intelligence seems to be polygenetic, and researchers are searching for genes that exert an influence. Heritability is the proportion of variation among individuals that can be attributed to genes.

32-2 What does evidence reveal about environmental influences on intelligence?

Studies of twins, family members, and adoptees also provide evidence of environmental influences. Test scores of identical twins raised apart are slightly less similar (though still very highly correlated) than the scores of identical twins raised together. Studies of children raised in extremely impoverished environments with minimal social interaction indicate that life experiences can significantly influence intelligence test performance. No evidence supports the idea that normal, healthy children can be molded into geniuses by growing up in an exceptionally enriched environment.

32-3 How and why do the genders differ in mental ability scores?

Males and females tend to have the same average intelligence test scores, but they differ in some specific abilities. Girls are better spellers, more verbally fluent, better at locating objects, better at detecting emotions, and more sensitive to touch, taste, and color. Boys outperform girls at spatial ability and related mathematics, though in math computation and overall math performance, boys and girls hardly differ. Boys also outnumber girls at the low and high extremes of mental abilities. Evolutionary and cultural explanations have been proposed for these gender differences.

33-4 How and why do racial and ethnic groups differ in mental ability scores?

Racial and ethnic groups differ in their average intelligence test scores. The evidence suggests that environmental differences are responsible for these group differences.

33-5 Are intelligence tests inappropriately biased?

Aptitude tests aim to predict how well a test-taker will perform in a given situation. So they are necessarily “biased” in the sense that they are sensitive to performance differences caused by cultural experience. By “inappropriately biased,” psychologists mean that a test predicts less accurately for one group than for another. In this sense, most experts consider the major aptitude tests unbiased. Stereotype threat, a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype, affects performance on all kinds of tests.

WHAT DRIVES US: HUNGER, SEX, FRIENDSHIP, AND ACHIEVEMENT

Module 33: Basic Motivational Concepts

33-1 How do psychologists define motivation? From what perspectives do they view motivated behavior?

Motivation is a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. The instinct/evolutionary perspective explores genetic influences on complex behaviors. Drive-reduction theory explores how physiological needs create aroused tension states (drives) that direct us to satisfy those needs. Environmental incentives can intensify drives. Drive-reduction’s goal is homeostasis, maintaining a steady internal state. Arousal theory proposes that some behaviors (such as those driven by curiosity) do not reduce physiological needs but rather are prompted by a search for an optimum level of arousal. The Yerkes-Dodson law states that performance increases with arousal, but only to a certain point, after which it decreases. Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs proposes a pyramid of human needs, from basic needs such as hunger and thirst up to higher-level needs such as self-actualization and self-transcendence.

Module 34: Hunger

34-1 What physiological factors produce hunger?

Hunger pangs correspond to stomach contractions, but hunger also has other causes. Neural areas in the brain, some within the hypothalamus, monitor blood chemistry (including level of glucose) and incoming information about the body’s state. Appetite hormones include ghrelin (secreted by an empty stomach); insulin (controls blood glucose); leptin (secreted by fat cells); orexin (secreted by the hypothalamus); and PYY (secreted by the digestive tract). Basal metabolic rate is the body’s resting rate of energy expenditure. The body may have a set point (a biologically fixed tendency to maintain an optimum weight) or a looser settling point (also influenced by the environment).

34-2 What cultural and situational factors influence hunger?

Hunger also reflects our memory of when we last ate and our expectation of when we should eat again. Humans as a species prefer certain tastes (such as sweet and salty), but our individual preferences are also influenced by conditioning, culture, and situation. Some taste preferences, such as the avoidance of new foods, or of foods that have made us ill, have survival value.

34-3 What factors predispose some people to become and remain obese?

Genes and environment interact to produce obesity. Obesity correlates with depression, especially among women. Twin and adoption studies indicate that body weight is also genetically influenced. Environmental influences include lack of exercise, an abundance of high-calorie food, and social influence.

Those wishing to lose weight are advised to make a lifelong change in habits: Get enough sleep; boost energy expenditure through exercise; limit variety and minimize exposure to tempting food cues; eat healthy foods and reduce portion sizes; space meals throughout the day; beware of the binge; monitor eating during social events; forgive the occasional lapse; and connect to a support group.

Module 35: Sexual Motivation

35-1 How do hormones influence human sexual motivation?

For all but the tiny fraction of us considered asexual, dating and mating become a high priority from puberty on. The female estrogen and male testosterone hormones influence human sexual behavior less directly than they influence sexual behavior in other species. Women’s sexuality is more responsive to testosterone level than to estrogen level. Short-term shifts in testosterone level are normal in men, partly in response to stimulation.

35-2 What is the human sexual response cycle, and how do sexual dysfunctions and paraphilias differ?

William Masters and Virginia Johnson described four stages in the human sexual response cycle: excitement, plateau, orgasm (which seems to involve similar feelings and brain activity in males and females), and resolution. During the resolution phase, males experience a refractory period in which renewed arousal and orgasm are impossible.

Sexual dysfunctions are problems that consistently impair sexual arousal or functioning. They include erectile disorder and female orgasmic disorder, and can often be successfully treated by behaviorally oriented therapy or drug therapy. Paraphilias are conditions, which may be classified as disorders, in which sexual arousal is related to nonhuman objects, the suffering of self or others, and/or nonconsenting persons.

35-3 How can sexually transmitted infections be prevented?

Safe-sex practices help prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Condoms are especially effective in preventing transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A vaccination administered before sexual contact can prevent most human papilloma virus infections.

35-4 How do external and imagined stimuli contribute to sexual arousal?

External stimuli can trigger sexual arousal in both men and women. In experiments, depictions of sexual coercion have increased acceptance of rape. Men respond more specifically to sexual depictions involving their preferred sex. Sexually explicit material may lead people to perceive their partners as comparatively less appealing and to devalue their relationships. Imagined stimuli (dreams and fantasies) also influence sexual arousal.

35-5 What factors influence teenagers’ sexual behaviors and use of contraceptives?

Rates of teen intercourse vary from culture to culture and era to era. Factors contributing to teen pregnancy include minimal communication about birth control with parents, partners, and peers; guilt related to sexual activity; alcohol use; and mass media norms of unprotected and impulsive sexuality. High intelligence, religious engagement, father presence, and participation in service learning programs have been predictors of teen sexual restraint.

35-6 What has research taught us about sexual orientation?

Sexual orientation is an enduring sexual attraction toward members of one’s own sex (homosexual orientation), the other sex (heterosexual orientation), or both sexes (bisexual orientation). About 3 or 4 percent of men and 2 percent of women in Europe and the United States identify as exclusively homosexual, and 3.4 percent of Americans describe themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. There is no evidence that environmental influences determine sexual orientation. Evidence for biological influences includes the presence of same-sex attraction in many animal species; straight-gay brain differences; higher rates in certain families and in identical twins; exposure to certain hormones during critical periods of prenatal development; and the fraternal birth-order effect.

35-7 Is scientific research on sexual motivation value free?

Scientific research on sexual motivation does not attempt to define the personal meaning of sex in our lives, but sex research and education are not value free.

Module 36: Affiliation and Achievement

36-1 What evidence points to our human affiliation need—our need to belong?

Our need to affiliate or belong—to feel connected and identified with others—had survival value for our ancestors, which may explain why humans in every society live in groups. Because of their need to belong, people suffer when socially excluded, and they may engage in self-defeating behaviors (performing below their ability) or in antisocial behaviors. Feeling loved activates brain regions associated with reward and safety systems. Ostracism is the deliberate exclusion of individuals or groups. Social isolation can put us at risk mentally and physically.

36-2 How does social networking influence us?

We connect with others through social networking, strengthening our relationships with those we already know. When networking, people tend toward increased self-disclosure. People with high narcissism are especially active on social networking sites. Working out strategies for self-control and disciplined usage can help people maintain a healthy balance between social connections and school and work performance.

36-3 What is achievement motivation?

Achievement motivation is a desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard. Achievements are more closely related to grit (passionate dedication to a long-term goal) than to raw ability.

EMOTIONS, STRESS, AND HEALTH

Module 37: Introduction to Emotion

37-1 How do arousal, expressive behavior, and cognition interact in emotion?

Emotions are psychological responses of the whole organism involving an interplay among physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience.

Theories of emotion generally address two major questions: (1) Does physiological arousal come before or after emotional feelings, and (2) how do feeling and cognition interact? The James-Lange theory maintains that emotional feelings follow our body’s response to emotion-inducing stimuli. The Cannon-Bard theory proposes that our physiological response to an emotion-inducing stimulus occurs at the same time as our subjective feeling of the emotion (one does not cause the other).

37-2 To experience emotions, must we consciously interpret and label them?

The Schachter-Singer two-factor theory holds that our emotions have two ingredients, physical arousal and a cognitive label, and the cognitive labels we put on our states of arousal are an essential ingredient of emotion. Lazarus agreed that many important emotions arise from our interpretations or inferences. Zajonc and LeDoux, however, believe that some simple emotional responses occur instantly, not only outside our conscious awareness, but before any cognitive processing occurs. This interplay between emotion and cognition illustrates our dual-track mind.

37-3 What is the link between emotional arousal and the autonomic nervous system? How does arousal affect performance?

The arousal component of emotion is regulated by the autonomic nervous system’s sympathetic (arousing) and parasympathetic (calming) divisions. In a crisis, the fight-or-flight response automatically mobilized your body for action.

Arousal affects performance in different ways, depending on the task. Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks.

37-4 Do different emotions activate different physiological and brain-pattern responses?

Emotions may be similarly arousing, but some subtle physiological responses, such as facial muscle movements, distinguish them. More meaningful differences have been found in activity in some brain pathways and cortical areas.

37-5 How effective are polygraphs in using body states to detect lies?

Polygraphs, which measure several physiological indicators of emotion, are not accurate enough to justify widespread use in business and law enforcement. The use of guilty knowledge questions and new forms of technology may produce better indications of lying.

Module 38: Expressing Emotion

38-1 How do we communicate nonverbally?

Much of our communication is through body movements, facial expressions, and voice tones. Even seconds-long filmed slices of behavior can reveal feelings.

38-2 Do the genders differ in their ability to communicate nonverbally?

Women tend to read emotional cues more easily and to be more empathic. Their faces also express more emotion.

38-3 Do gestures and facial expressions mean the same thing in all cultures?

The meaning of gestures varies with culture, but facial expressions, such as those of happiness and sadness, are common the world over. Cultures also differ in the amount of emotion they express.

38-4 How do our facial expressions influence our feelings?

Research on the facial feedback effect shows that our facial expressions can trigger emotional feelings and signal our body to respond accordingly. We also mimic others’ expressions, which helps us empathize. A similar behavior feedback effect is the tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Module 39: Experiencing Emotion

39-1 What are some basic emotions, and what two dimensions help differentiate them?

Carroll Izard’s 10 basic emotions are joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt.

Two dimensions that help differentiate emotions are positive-versus-negative valence and low-versus-high arousal.

39-2 What are the causes and consequences of anger?

Anger is most often evoked by misdeeds that we interpret as willful, unjustified, and avoidable. But smaller frustrations and blameless annoyances can also trigger anger. Chronic hostility is one of the negative emotions linked to heart disease. Emotional catharsis may be temporarily calming, but in the long run it does not reduce anger. Expressing anger can make us angrier. Controlled assertions of feelings may resolve conflicts, and forgiveness may rid us of angry feelings.

39-3 What is the feel-good, do-good phenomenon, and what is the focus of positive psychology research?

A good mood brightens people’s perceptions of the world. Subjective well-being is your perception of being happy or satisfied with life. Happy people tend to be healthy, energized, and satisfied with life. They also are more willing to help others (the feel-good, do-good phenomenon).

Positive psychologists use scientific methods to study human flourishing, including topics such as positive emotions, positive health, positive neuroscience, and positive education. The three pillars of positive psychology are positive well-being; positive character; and positive groups, communities, and cultures.

39-4 How do time, wealth, adaptation, and comparison affect our happiness levels?

The moods triggered by good or bad events seldom last beyond that day. Even significant good events, such as sudden wealth, seldom increase happiness for long. Happiness is relative to our own experiences (the adaptation-level phenomenon) and to others’ success (the relative deprivation principle).

39-5 What are some predictors of happiness?

Some individuals, because of their genetic predispositions and personal histories, are happier than others. Cultures, which vary in the traits they value and the behaviors they expect and reward, also influence personal levels of happiness. Researchers have found that happy people tend to have high self-esteem (in individualist countries); be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable; have close friendships or a satisfying marriage; have work and leisure that engage their skills; have an active religious faith (particularly in more religious cultures); and sleep well and exercise.

Module 40: Stress and Illness

40-1 What events provoke stress responses, and how do we respond and adapt to stress?

Stress is the process by which we appraise and respond to stressors (catastrophic events, significant life changes, and daily hassles) that challenge or threaten us. Walter Cannon viewed the stress response as a “fight-or-flight” system. Hans Selye proposed a general three-phase (alarm-resistance-exhaustion) general adaptation syndrome (GAS). Facing stress, women may have a tend-and-befriend response; men may withdraw socially, turn to alcohol, or become aggressive.

40-2 How does stress make us more vulnerable to disease?

Health psychology is a subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine. Psychoneuroimmunologists study mind-body interactions, including stress-related physical illnesses, such as hypertension and some headaches. Stress diverts energy from the immune system, inhibiting the activities of its B and T lymphocytes, macrophages, and NK cells. Stress does not cause diseases such as AIDS and cancer, but by altering our immune functioning it may make us more vulnerable to them and influence their progression.

40-3 Why are some of us more prone than others to coronary heart disease?

Coronary heart disease, the United States’ number one cause of death, has been linked with the reactive, anger-prone Type A personality. Compared with relaxed, easygoing Type B personalities, Type A people secrete more stress hormones. Chronic stress also contributes to persistent inflammation, which heightens the risk of clogged arteries and depression.

Module 41: Health and Coping

41-1 In what two ways do people try to alleviate stress?

We use problem-focused coping to change the stressor or the way we interact with it. We use emotion-focused coping to avoid or ignore stressors and attend to emotional needs related to stress reactions.

41-2 How does a perceived lack of control affect health?

A perceived lack of control provokes an outpouring of hormones that put people’s health at risk. Being unable to avoid repeated aversive events can lead to learned helplessness. People who perceive an internal locus of control achieve more, enjoy better health, and are happier than those who perceive an external locus of control.

41-3 How can our self-control be depleted, and why is it important to build this strength?

Exercising willpower temporarily depletes the mental energy needed for self-control on other tasks. Self-control requires attention and energy, but it predicts good adjustment, better grades, and social success.

41-4 How does an optimistic outlook affect health and longevity?

Studies of people with an optimistic outlook show that their immune system is stronger, their blood pressure does not increase as sharply in response to stress, their recovery from heart bypass surgery is faster, and their life expectancy is longer, compared with their pessimistic counterparts.

41-5 How does social support promote good health?

Social support promotes health by calming us, reducing blood pressure and stress hormones, and by fostering stronger immune functioning.

41-6 How effective is aerobic exercise as a way to manage stress and improve well-being?

Aerobic exercise is sustained, oxygen-consuming activity that increases heart and lung fitness. It increases arousal, leads to muscle relaxation and sounder sleep, triggers the production of neurotransmitters, and enhances self-image. It can relieve depression and, in later life, is associated with better cognitive functioning and longer life.

41-7 In what ways might relaxation and meditation influence stress and health?

Relaxation and meditation have been shown to reduce stress by relaxing muscles, lowering blood pressure, improving immune functioning, and lessening anxiety and depression. Massage therapy also relaxes muscles and reduces depression.

41-8 What is the faith factor, and what are some possible explanations for the link between faith and health?

The faith factor is the finding that religiously active people tend to live longer than those who are not religiously active. Possible explanations may include the effect of intervening variables, such as the healthy behaviors, social support, or positive emotions often found among people who regularly attend religious services.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Module 42: Social Thinking

42-1 What do social psychologists study? How do we tend to explain others’ behavior and our own?

Social psychologists use scientific methods to study how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. They study the social influences that explain why the same person will act differently in different situations. When explaining others’ behavior, we may—especially if we come from an individualist Western culture—commit the fundamental attribution error, by underestimating the influence of the situation and overestimating the effects of stable, enduring traits. When explaining our own behavior, we more readily attribute it to the influence of the situation.

42-2 How do attitudes and actions interact?

Attitudes are feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in certain ways. Peripheral route persuasion uses incidental cues (such as celebrity endorsement) to try to produce fast but relatively thoughtless changes in attitudes. Central route persuasion offers evidence and arguments to trigger thoughtful responses. When other influences are minimal, attitudes that are stable, specific, and easily recalled can affect our actions.

Actions can modify attitudes, as in the foot-in-the-door phenomenon (complying with a large request after having agreed to a small request) and role playing (acting a social part by following guidelines for expected behavior). When our attitudes don’t fit with our actions, cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we will reduce tension by changing our attitudes to match our actions.

Module 43: Social Influence

43-1 What is automatic mimicry, and how do conformity experiments reveal the power of social influence?

Automatic mimicry (the chameleon effect)—our tendency to unconsciously imitate others’ expressions, postures, and voice tones—is a form of conformity.

Solomon Asch and others have found that we are most likely to adjust our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard when (a) we feel incompetent or insecure, (b) our group has at least three people, (c) everyone else agrees, (d) we admire the group’s status and attractiveness, (e) we have not already committed to another response, (f) we know we are being observed, and (g) our culture encourages respect for social standards. We may conform to gain approval (normative social influence) or because we are willing to accept others’ opinions as new information (informational social influence).

43-2 What did Milgram’s obedience experiments teach us about the power of social influence?

Stanley Milgram’s experiments—in which people obeyed orders even when they thought they were harming another person—demonstrated that strong social influences can make ordinary people conform to falsehoods or give in to cruelty. Obedience was highest when (a) the person giving orders was nearby and was perceived as a legitimate authority figure; (b) the research was supported by a prestigious institution; (c) the victim was depersonalized or at a distance; and (d) there were no role models for defiance.

43-3 How is our behavior affected by the presence of others?

In social facilitation, the mere presence of others arouses us, improving our performance on easy or well-learned tasks but decreasing it on difficult ones. In social loafing, participating in a group project makes us feel less responsible, and we may free ride on others’ efforts. When the presence of others both arouses us and makes us feel anonymous, we may experience deindividuation—loss of self-awareness and self-restraint.

43-4 What are group polarization and groupthink, and how much power do we have as individuals?

In group polarization, group discussions with like-minded others strengthen members’ prevailing beliefs and attitudes. Internet communication magnifies this effect, for better and for worse. Groupthink is driven by a desire for harmony within a decision-making group, overriding realistic appraisal of alternatives.

The power of the individual and the power of the situation interact. A small minority that consistently expresses its views may sway the majority.

Module 44: Antisocial Relations

44-1 What is prejudice? What are its social and emotional roots?

Prejudice is an unjustifiable, usually negative, attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice’s three components are beliefs (often stereotypes), emotions, and predispositions to action (discrimination). Overt prejudice in North America has decreased over time, but implicit prejudice—an automatic, unthinking attitude—continues.

The social roots of prejudice include social inequalities and divisions. Higher-status groups often justify their privileged position with the just-world phenomenon. We tend to favor our own group (ingroup bias) as we divide ourselves into “us” (the ingroup) and “them” (the outgroup).

Prejudice can also be a tool for protecting our emotional well-being, as when we focus our anger by blaming events on a scapegoat.

44-2 What are the cognitive roots of prejudice?

The cognitive roots of prejudice grow from our natural ways of processing information: forming categories, remembering vivid cases, and believing that the world is just and that our own and our culture’s ways of doing things are the right ways.

44-3 How does psychology’s definition of aggression differ from everyday usage? What biological factors make us more prone to hurt one another?

In psychology’s more specific meaning, aggression is any act intended to harm someone physically or emotionally. Biology influences our threshold for aggressive behaviors at three levels: genetic (inherited traits), neural (activity in key brain areas), and biochemical (such as alcohol or excess testosterone in the bloodstream). Aggression is a complex behavior resulting from the interaction of biology and experience.

44-4 What psychological and social-cultural factors may trigger aggressive behavior?

Frustration (frustration-aggression principle), previous reinforcement for aggressive behavior, observing an aggressive role model, and poor self-control can all contribute to aggression. Media portrayals of violence provide social scripts that children learn to follow. Viewing sexual violence contributes to greater aggression toward women. Playing violent video games increases aggressive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Module 45: Prosocial Relations

45-1 Why do we befriend or fall in love with some people but not others?

Proximity (geographical nearness) increases liking, in part because of the mere exposure effect—exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of those stimuli. Physical attractiveness increases social opportunities and improves the way we are perceived. Similarity of attitudes and interests greatly increases liking, especially as relationships develop. We also like those who like us.

45-2 How does romantic love typically change as time passes?

Intimate love relationships start with passionate love—an intensely aroused state. Over time, the strong affection of companionate love may develop, especially if enhanced by an equitable relationship and by intimate self-disclosure.

45-3 When are people most—and least—likely to help?

Altruism is unselfish regard for the well-being of others. We are most likely to help when we (a) notice an incident, (b) interpret it as an emergency, and (c) assume responsibility for helping. Other factors, including our mood and our similarity to the victim, also affect our willingness to help. We are least likely to help if other bystanders are present (the bystander effect).

45-4 How do social exchange theory and social norms explain helping behavior?

Social exchange theory is the view that we help others because it is in our own self-interest; in this view, the goal of social behavior is maximizing personal benefits and minimizing costs. Others believe that helping results from socialization, in which we are taught guidelines for expected behaviors in social situations, such as the reciprocity norm and the social-responsibility norm.

45-5 How do social traps and mirror-image perceptions fuel social conflict?

A conflict is a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas. Social traps are situations in which people in conflict pursue their own individual self-interest, harming the collective well-being. Individuals and cultures in conflict also tend to form mirror-image perceptions: Each party views the opponent as untrustworthy and evil-intentioned, and itself as an ethical, peaceful victim. Perceptions can become self-fulfilling prophecies.

45-6 How can we transform feelings of prejudice, aggression, and conflict into attitudes that promote peace?

Peace can result when individuals or groups work together to achieve superordinate (shared) goals. Research indicates that four processes—contact, cooperation, communication, and conciliation—help promote peace.

PERSONALITY

Module 46: Introduction to Personality and Psychodynamic Theories

46-1 What historically significant and current theories inform our understanding of personality?

Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. Psychodynamic theories view personality from the perspective that behavior is a dynamic interaction between the conscious and unconscious mind. These theories trace their origin to Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis. The humanistic approach focused on our inner capacities for growth and self-fulfillment. Trait theories examine characteristic patterns of behavior (traits). Social-cognitive theories explore the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context.

46-2 How did Sigmund Freud’s treatment of psychological disorders lead to his view of the unconscious mind?

In treating patients whose disorders had no clear physical explanation, Freud concluded that these problems reflected unacceptable thoughts and feelings, hidden away in the unconscious mind. To explore this hidden part of a patient’s mind, Freud used free association and dream analysis.

46-3 What was Freud’s view of personality?

Freud believed that personality results from conflict arising from the interaction among the mind’s three systems: the id (pleasure-seeking impulses), ego (reality-oriented executive), and superego (internalized set of ideals, or conscience).

46-4 What developmental stages did Freud propose?

He believed children pass through five psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital). Unresolved conflicts at any stage can leave a person’s pleasure-seeking impulses fixated (stalled) at that stage.

46-5 How did Freud think people defended themselves against anxiety?

For Freud, anxiety was the product of tensions between the demands of the id and superego. The ego copes by using unconscious defense mechanisms, such as repression, which he viewed as the basic mechanism underlying and enabling all the others.

46-6 Which of Freud’s ideas did his followers accept or reject?

Freud’s early followers, the neo-Freudians, accepted many of his ideas. They differed in placing more emphasis on the conscious mind and in stressing social motives more than sex or aggression. Most contemporary psychodynamic theorists and therapists reject Freud’s emphasis on sexual motivation. They stress, with support from modern research findings, the view that much of our mental life is unconscious, and they believe that our childhood experiences influence our adult personality and attachment patterns. Many also believe that our species’ shared evolutionary history shaped some universal predispositions.

46-7 What are projective tests, how are they used, and what are some criticisms of them?

Projective tests attempt to assess personality by showing people ambiguous stimuli (open to many possible interpretations) and treating their answers as revelations of unconscious motives. One such test, the Rorschach inkblot test, has low reliability and validity except in a few areas, such as hostility and anxiety.

46-8 How do contemporary psychologists view Freud’s psychoanalysis?

They give Freud credit for drawing attention to the vast unconscious, to the struggle to cope with our sexuality, to the conflict between biological impulses and social restraints, and for some forms of defense mechanisms (false consensus effect/projection; reaction formation) and unconscious terror-management defenses. But his concept of repression, and his view of the unconscious as a collection of repressed and unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories, cannot survive scientific scrutiny. Freud offered after-the-fact explanations, which are hard to test scientifically. Research does not support many of Freud’s specific ideas, such as the view that development is fixed in childhood. (We now know it is lifelong.)

46-9 How has modern research developed our understanding of the unconscious?

Current research confirms that we do not have full access to all that goes on in our mind, but the current view of the unconscious is that it is a separate and parallel track of information processing that occurs outside our awareness. This processing includes schemas that control our perceptions; priming; implicit memories of learned skills; instantly activated emotions; and stereotypes that filter our information processing of others’ traits and characteristics.

Module 47: Humanistic Theories and Trait Theories

47-1 How did humanistic psychologists view personality, and what was their goal in studying personality?

The humanistic psychologists’ view of personality focused on the potential for healthy personal growth and people’s striving for self-determination and self-realization. Abraham Maslow proposed that human motivations form a hierarchy of needs; if basic needs are fulfilled, people will strive toward self-actualization and self-transcendence. Carl Rogers believed that the ingredients of a growth-promoting environment are genuineness, acceptance (including unconditional positive regard), and empathy. Self-concept was a central feature of personality for both Maslow and Rogers.

47-2 How did humanistic psychologists assess a person’s sense of self?

Some rejected any standardized assessments and relied on interviews and conversations. Rogers sometimes used questionnaires in which people described their ideal and actual selves, which he later used to judge progress during therapy.

47-3 How have humanistic theories influenced psychology? What criticisms have they faced?

Humanistic psychology helped renew interest in the concept of self. Critics have said that humanistic psychology’s concepts were vague and subjective, its values self-centered, and its assumptions naively optimistic.

47-4 How do psychologists use traits to describe personality?

Trait theorists see personality as a stable and enduring pattern of behavior. They describe our differences rather than trying to explain them. Using factor analysis, they identify clusters of behavior tendencies that occur together. Genetic predispositions influence many traits.

47-5 What are some common misunderstandings about introversion? Does extraversion lead to greater success than introversion?

Introversion is often misunderstood as shyness, but introverted people often simply seek low levels of stimulation from their environment. Introversion is also sometimes thought to be a barrier to success, but in fact introverts often experience great achievement, even in sales, through characteristics such as their superior listening skills.

47-6 What are personality inventories, and what are their strengths and weaknesses as trait-assessment tools?

Personality inventories (such as the MMPI) are questionnaires on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors. Test items are empirically derived, and the tests are objectively scored. But people can fake their answers to create a good impression, and the ease of computerized testing may lead to misuse of the tests.

47-7 Which traits seem to provide the most useful information about personality variation?

The Big Five personality factors—conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion (CANOE)—currently offer the clearest picture of personality. These factors are quite stable and appear to be found in all cultures.

47-8 Does research support the consistency of personality traits over time and across situations?

A person’s average traits persist over time and are predictable over many different situations. But traits cannot predict behavior in any one particular situation.

Module 48: Social-Cognitive Theories and the Self

48-1 How do social-cognitive theorists view personality development, and how do they explore behavior?

Albert Bandura first proposed the social-cognitive perspective, which emphasizes the interaction of our traits with our situations. Social-cognitive researchers apply principles of learning, cognition, and social behavior to personality. Reciprocal determinism is a term describing the interaction and mutual influence of behavior, internal personal factors, and environmental factors.

48-2 What criticisms have social-cognitive theorists faced?

Social-cognitive theorists build on well-established concepts of learning and cognition. They tend to believe that the best way to predict someone’s behavior in a given situation is to observe that person’s behavior in similar situations. They have been faulted for underemphasizing the importance of unconscious motives, emotions, and biologically influenced traits.

48-3 Why has psychology generated so much research on the self? How important is self-esteem to psychology and to human well-being?

The self is the center of personality, organizing our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Considering possible selves helps motivate us toward positive development, but focusing too intensely on ourselves can lead to the spotlight effect.

Self-esteem is our feeling of self-worth; self-efficacy is our sense of competence on a task. High self-esteem correlates with less pressure to conform, with persistence at difficult tasks, and with happiness. But the direction of the correlation is not clear. Psychologists caution against unrealistically promoting children’s feelings of self-worth. It’s better to reward their achievements, which leads to feelings of competence.

48-4 How do excessive optimism, blindness to one’s own incompetence, and self-serving bias reveal the costs of self-esteem, and how do defensive and secure self-esteem differ?

Excessive optimism can lead to complacency and prevent us from seeing real risks, while blindness to one’s own incompetence may lead us to make the same mistakes repeatedly. Self-serving bias is our tendency to perceive ourselves favorably, as when viewing ourselves as better than average or when accepting credit for our successes but not blame for our failures. Narcissism is excessive self-love and self-absorption. Defensive self-esteem is fragile, focuses on sustaining itself, and views failure or criticism as a threat. Secure self-esteem enables us to feel accepted for who we are.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Module 49: Introduction to Psychological Disorders

49-1 How should we draw the line between normality and disorder?

According to psychologists and psychiatrists, psychological disorders are marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior.

49-2 How do the medical model and the biopsychosocial approach influence our understanding of psychological disorders?

The medical model assumes that psychological disorders are mental illnesses with physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured through therapy, sometimes in a hospital. The biopsychosocial perspective assumes that three sets of influences—biological (evolution, genetics, brain structure and chemistry), psychological (stress, trauma, learned helplessness, mood-related perceptions and memories), and social and cultural circumstances (roles, expectations, definitions of “normality” and “disorder”)—interact to produce specific psychological disorders. Epigenetics also informs our understanding of disorders.

49-3 How and why do clinicians classify psychological disorders, and why do some psychologists criticize the use of diagnostic labels?

The American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) contains diagnostic labels and descriptions that provide a common language and shared concepts for communication and research. Most U.S. health insurance organizations require a DSM diagnosis before paying for treatment.

Some critics believe the DSM editions have become too detailed and extensive. Others view DSM diagnoses as arbitrary labels that create preconceptions, which bias perceptions of the labeled person’s past and present behavior.

49-4 Why is there controversy over attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder?

A child (or, less commonly, an adult) who displays extreme inattention and/or hyper-activity and impulsivity may be diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and treated with medication and other therapy. The controversy centers on whether the growing number of ADHD cases reflects overdiagnosis or increased awareness of the disorder. Long-term effects of stimulant-drug treatment for ADHD are not yet known.

49-5 Do psychological disorders predict violent behavior?

Mental disorders seldom lead to violence, but when they do, they raise moral and ethical questions about whether society should hold people with disorders responsible for their violent actions. Most people with disorders are nonviolent and are more likely to be victims than attackers.

49-6 How many people have, or have had, a psychological disorder? Is poverty a risk factor?

Psychological disorder rates vary, depending on the time and place of the survey. In one multinational survey, rates for any disorder ranged from less than 5 percent (Shanghai) to more than 25 percent (the United States). Poverty is a risk factor: Conditions and experiences associated with poverty contribute to the development of psychological disorders. But some disorders, such as schizophrenia, can drive people into poverty.

Module 50: Anxiety Disorders, OCD, and PTSD

50-1 How do generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and phobias differ?

Anxious feelings and behaviors are classified as an anxiety disorder only when they form a pattern of distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety. People with generalized anxiety disorder feel persistently and uncontrollably tense and apprehensive, for no apparent reason. In the more extreme panic disorder, anxiety escalates into periodic episodes of intense dread. Those with a phobia may be irrationally afraid of a specific object, activity, or situation. Two other disorders (OCD and PTSD) involve anxiety but are classified separately from the anxiety disorders.

50-2 What is OCD?

Persistent and repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both characterize obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

50-3 What is PTSD?

Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) include four or more weeks of haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or sleep problems following some traumatic experience.

50-4 How do conditioning, cognition, and biology contribute to the feelings and thoughts that mark anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD?

The learning perspective views anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD as products of fear conditioning, stimulus generalization, fearful behavior reinforcement, and observational learning of others’ fears and cognitions (interpretations, irrational beliefs, and hypervigilance). The biological perspective considers the role that fears of life-threatening animals, objects, or situations played in natural selection and evolution; genetic predispositions for high levels of emotional reactivity and neurotransmitter production; and abnormal responses in the brain’s fear circuits.

Module 51: Depressive Disorders and Bipolar Disorder

51-1 How do major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder differ?

A person with major depressive disorder experiences two or more weeks with five or more symptoms, at least one of which must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure. Persistent depressive disorder includes a mildly depressed mood more often than not for at least two years, along with at least two other symptoms. A person with the less common condition of bipolar disorder experiences not only depression but also mania—episodes of hyperactive and wildly optimistic, impulsive behavior.

51-2 How can the biological and social-cognitive perspectives help us understand depressive disorders and bipolar disorder?

The biological perspective on depressive disorders and bipolar disorder focuses on genetic predispositions and on abnormalities in brain structures and function (including those found in neurotransmitter systems). The social-cognitive perspective views depression as an ongoing cycle of stressful experiences (interpreted through negative beliefs, attributions, and memories) leading to negative moods and actions and fueling new stressful experiences.

51-3 What factors increase the risk of suicide, and what do we know about nonsuicidal self-injury?

Suicide rates differ by nation, race, gender, age group, income, religious involvement, marital status, and (for gay and lesbian youth, for example) social support structure. Those with depression are more at risk for suicide than others are, but social suggestion, health status, and economic and social frustration are also contributing factors. Environmental barriers (such as jump barriers) are effective in preventing suicides. Forewarnings of suicide may include verbal hints, giving away possessions, withdrawal, preoccupation with death, and discussing one’s own suicide.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) does not usually lead to suicide but may escalate to suicidal thoughts and acts if untreated. People who engage in NSSI do not tolerate stress well and tend to be self-critical, with poor communication and problem-solving skills.

Module 52: Schizophrenia

52-1 What patterns of perceiving, thinking, and feeling characterize schizophrenia?

Symptoms of schizophrenia include disturbed perceptions, disorganized thinking and speech, and diminished, inappropriate emotions. Delusions are false beliefs; hallucinations are sensory experiences without sensory stimulation. Schizophrenia symptoms may be positive (the presence of inappropriate behaviors) or negative (the absence of appropriate behaviors).

52-2 How do chronic and acute schizophrenia differ?

Schizophrenia typically strikes during late adolescence, affects men slightly more than women, and seems to occur in all cultures. In chronic (or process) schizophrenia, the disorder develops gradually and recovery is doubtful. In acute (or reactive) schizophrenia, the onset is sudden, in reaction to stress, and the prospects for recovery are brighter.

52-3 What brain abnormalities are associated with schizophrenia?

People with schizophrenia have increased dopamine receptors, which may intensify brain signals, creating positive symptoms such as hallucinations and paranoia. Brain abnormalities associated with schizophrenia include enlarged, fluid-filled cerebral cavities and corresponding decreases in the cortex. Brain scans reveal abnormal activity in the frontal lobes, thalamus, and amygdala. Interacting malfunctions in multiple brain regions and their connections may produce schizophrenia’s symptoms.

52-4 What prenatal events are associated with increased risk of developing schizophrenia?

Possible contributing factors include viral infections or famine conditions during the mother’s pregnancy; low weight or oxygen deprivation at birth; and maternal diabetes or older paternal age.

52-5 Do genes influence schizophrenia? What factors may be early warning signs of schizophrenia in children?

Twin and adoption studies indicate that the predisposition to schizophrenia is inherited. Multiple genes probably interact to produce schizophrenia. No environmental causes invariably produce schizophrenia, but environmental events (such as prenatal viruses or maternal stress) may “turn on” genes for this disorder in those who are predisposed to it.

Possible early warning signs of later development of schizophrenia include both biological factors (a mother with severe and long-lasting schizophrenia; oxygen deprivation and low weight at birth; separation from parents; short attention span and poor muscle coordination) and psychological factors (disruptive or withdrawn behavior; emotional unpredictability; poor peer relations and solo play).

Module 53: Dissociative, Personality, and Eating Disorders

53-1 What are dissociative disorders, and why are they controversial?

Dissociative disorders are conditions in which conscious awareness seems to become separated from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings. Skeptics note that dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, increased dramatically in the late twentieth century; is rarely found outside North America; and may reflect role playing by people who are vulnerable to therapists’ suggestions. Others view this disorder as a manifestation of feelings of anxiety, or as a response learned when behaviors are reinforced by anxiety-reduction.

53-2 What are the three clusters of personality disorders? What behaviors and brain activity characterize the antisocial personality?

Personality disorders are disruptive, inflexible, and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning. This disorder forms three clusters, characterized by (1) anxiety, (2) eccentric or odd behaviors, and (3) dramatic or impulsive behaviors.

Antisocial personality disorder (one of those in the third cluster) is characterized by a lack of conscience and, sometimes, by aggressive and fearless behavior. Genetic predispositions may interact with the environment to produce the altered brain activity associated with antisocial personality disorder.

53-3 What are the three main eating disorders, and how do biological, psychological, and social-cultural influences make people more vulnerable to them?

In those with eating disorders (most often women or gay men), psychological factors can overwhelm the body’s tendency to maintain a normal weight. Despite being significantly underweight, people with anorexia nervosa (usually adolescent females) continue to diet and exercise excessively because they view themselves as fat. Those with bulimia nervosa (usually females in their teens and twenties) secretly binge and then compensate by purging, fasting, or excessive exercise. Those with binge-eating disorder binge but do not follow with purging, fasting, and exercise. Cultural pressures, low self-esteem, and negative emotions interact with stressful life experiences and genetics to produce eating disorders.

THERAPY

Module 54: Introduction to Therapy and the Psychological Therapies

54-1 How do psychotherapy and the biomedical therapies differ?

Psychotherapy is treatment involving psychological techniques; it consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth. The major psychotherapies derive from psychology’s psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, and cognitive perspectives. Biomedical therapy treats psychological disorders with medications or procedures that act directly on a patient’s physiology. An eclectic approach combines techniques from various forms of therapy.

54-2 What are the goals and techniques of psychoanalysis, and how have they been adapted in psychodynamic therapy?

Through psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud tried to give people self-insight and relief from their disorders by bringing anxiety-laden feelings and thoughts into conscious awareness. Psychoanalytic techniques included using free association and interpretation of instances of resistance and transference. Psychodynamic therapy has been influenced by traditional psychoanalysis but differs from it in many ways, including the lack of belief in id, ego, and superego. This contemporary therapy is briefer, less expensive, and more focused on helping the client find relief from current symptoms. Psychodynamic therapists help clients understand how past relationships create themes that may be acted out in present relationships. Interpersonal therapy is a brief 12- to 16-session form of psychodynamic therapy that has been effective in treating depression.

54-3 What are the basic themes of humanistic therapy? What are the specific goals and techniques of Rogers’ client-centered approach?

Both psychoanalytic and humanistic therapists are insight therapies—they attempt to improve functioning by increasing clients’ awareness of motives and defenses. Humanistic therapy’s goals have included helping clients grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance; promoting personal growth rather than curing illness; helping clients take responsibility for their own growth; focusing on conscious thoughts rather than unconscious motivations; and seeing the present and future as more important than the past.

Carl Rogers’ client-centered therapy proposed that therapists’ most important contributions are to function as a psychological mirror through active listening and to provide a growth-fostering environment of unconditional positive regard, characterized by genuineness, acceptance, and empathy.

54-4 How does the basic assumption of behavior therapy differ from the assumptions of psychodynamic and humanistic therapies? What techniques are used in exposure therapies and aversive conditioning?

Behavior therapies are not insight therapies. Their goal is to apply learning principles to modify problem behaviors.

Classical conditioning techniques, including exposure therapies (such as systematic desensitization or virtual reality exposure therapy) and aversive conditioning, attempt to change behaviors through counterconditioning—evoking new responses to old stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors.

54-5 What is the main premise of therapy based on operant conditioning principles, and what are the views of its proponents and critics?

Operant conditioning operates under the premise that voluntary behaviors are strongly influenced by their consequences. Therapy based on operant conditioning principles uses behavior modification techniques to change unwanted behaviors through positively reinforcing desired behaviors and ignoring or punishing undesirable behaviors.

Critics maintain that (1) techniques such as those used in token economies may produce behavior changes that disappear when rewards end, and (2) deciding which behaviors should change is authoritarian and unethical. Proponents argue that treatment with positive rewards is more humane than punishing people or institutionalizing them for undesired behaviors.

54-6 What are the goals and techniques of cognitive therapy and of cognitive-behavioral therapy?

The cognitive therapies, such as Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy for depression, assume that our thinking influences our feelings, and that the therapist’s role is to change clients’ self-defeating thinking by training them to view themselves in more positive ways. The widely researched and practiced cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) combines cognitive therapy and behavior therapy by helping clients regularly act out their new ways of thinking and talking in their everyday life.

54-7 What are the aims and benefits of group and family therapies?

Group therapy sessions can help more people and costs less per person than individual therapy would. Clients may benefit from exploring feelings and developing social skills in a group situation, from learning that others have similar problems, and from getting feedback on new ways of behaving. Family therapy views a family as an interactive system and attempts to help members discover the roles they play and to learn to communicate more openly and directly.

Module 55: Evaluating Psychotherapies

55-1 Does psychotherapy work? How can we know?

Clients’ and therapists’ positive testimonials cannot prove that psychotherapy is actually effective, and the placebo effect makes it difficult to judge whether improvement occurred because of the treatment.

Using meta-analyses to statistically combine the results of hundreds of randomized psychotherapy outcome studies, researchers have found that those not undergoing treatment often improve, but those undergoing psychotherapy are more likely to improve more quickly, and with less chance of relapse.

55-2 Are some psychotherapies more effective than others for specific disorders?

No one type of psychotherapy is generally superior to all others. Therapy is most effective for those with clear-cut, specific problems. Some therapies—such as behavior conditioning for treating phobias and compulsions—are more effective for specific disorders. Psychodynamic therapy has been effective for depression and anxiety, and cognitive and cognitive-behavioral therapies have been effective in coping with anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression. Evidence-based practice integrates the best available research with clinicians’ expertise and patients’ characteristics, preferences, and circumstances.

55-3 How do alternative therapies fare under scientific scrutiny?

Abnormal states tend to return to normal on their own, and the placebo effect can create the impression that a treatment has been effective. These two tendencies complicate assessments of alternative therapies (nontraditional therapies that claim to cure certain ailments). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) has shown some effectiveness—not from the eye movement but rather from the exposure therapy nature of the treatments. Light exposure therapy does seem to relieve depression symptoms for those with a seasonal pattern of major depressive disorder by activating a brain region that influences arousal and hormones.

55-4 What three elements are shared by all forms of psychotherapy?

All psychotherapies offer new hope for demoralized people; a fresh perspective; and (if the therapist is effective) an empathic, trusting, and caring relationship. The emotional bond of trust and understanding between therapist and client—the therapeutic alliance—is an important element in effective therapy.

55-5 How do culture and values influence the therapist-client relationship?

Therapists differ in the values that influence their goals in therapy and their views of progress. These differences may create problems if therapists and clients differ in their cultural or religious perspectives.

55-6 What should a person look for when selecting a therapist?

A person seeking therapy may want to ask about the therapist’s treatment approach, values, credentials, and fees. An important consideration is whether the therapy seeker feels comfortable and able to establish a bond with the therapist.

Module 56: Biomedical Therapies and Preventing Psychological Disorders

56-1 What are the drug therapies? How do double-blind studies help researchers evaluate a drug’s effectiveness?

Psychopharmacology, the study of drug effects on mind and behavior, has helped make drug therapy the most widely used biomedical therapy. Antipsychotic drugs, used in treating schizophrenia, block dopamine activity. Side effects may include tardive dyskinesia (with involuntary movements of facial muscles, tongue, and limbs) or increased risk of obesity and diabetes. Antianxiety drugs, which depress central nervous system activity, are used to treat anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. These drugs can be physically and psychologically addictive. Antidepressant drugs, which increase the availability of serotonin and norepinephrine, are used for depression, with modest effectiveness beyond that of placebo drugs. The antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (often called SSRI drugs) are now used to treat other disorders, including strokes and anxiety disorders. Lithium and Depakote are mood stabilizers prescribed for those with bipolar disorder. Studies may use a double-blind procedure to avoid the placebo effect and researcher’s bias.

56-2 How are brain stimulation and psychosurgery used in treating specific disorders?

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient, is an effective, last-resort treatment for severely depressed people who have not responded to other therapy. Newer alternative treatments for depression include repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and, in preliminary clinical experiments, deep-brain stimulation that calms an overactive brain region linked with negative emotions.

Psychosurgery removes or destroys brain tissue in hopes of modifying behavior. Radical psychosurgical procedures such as lobotomy were once popular, but neurosurgeons now rarely perform brain surgery to change behavior or moods. Brain surgery is a last-resort treatment because its effects are irreversible.

56-3 How, by taking care of themselves with a healthy lifestyle, might people find some relief from depression? How does this reflect our being biopsychosocial systems?

Depressed people who undergo a program of aerobic exercise, adequate sleep, light exposure, social engagement, negative thought reduction, and better nutrition often gain some relief. In our integrated biopsychosocial system, stress affects our body chemistry and health; chemical imbalances can produce depression; and social support and other lifestyle changes can lead to relief of symptoms.

56-4 What is the rationale for preventive mental health programs, and why is it important to develop resilience?

Preventive mental health programs are based on the idea that many psychological disorders could be prevented by changing oppressive, esteem-destroying environments into more benevolent, nurturing environments that foster growth, self-confidence, and resilience. Struggling with challenges can lead to posttraumatic growth. Community psychologists are often active in preventive mental health programs.

APPENDIX A

PSYCHOLOGY AT WORK

A-1 What is flow, and what are the three subfields of industrial-organizational psychology?

Flow is a completely involved, focused state of consciousness with diminished awareness of self and time. It results from fully engaging one’s skills. Industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology’s three subfields are personnel, organizational, and human factors psychology.

A-2 How do personnel psychologists help organizations with employee selection, work placement, and performance appraisal?

Personnel psychologists work with organizations to devise selection methods for new employees; recruit and evaluate applicants; design and evaluate training programs; identify people’s strengths; analyze job content; and appraise individual and organizational performance. Unstructured, subjective interviews foster the interviewer illusion; structured interviews pinpoint job-relevant strengths and are better predictors of performance. Checklists, graphic rating scales, and behavior rating scales are useful performance appraisal methods.

A-3 What is the role of organizational psychologists?

Organizational psychologists examine influences on worker satisfaction and productivity and facilitate organizational change. Employee satisfaction and engagement tend to correlate with organizational success.

A-4 What are some effective leadership techniques?

Effective leaders harness job-relevant strengths; set specific challenging goals; and choose an appropriate leadership style. Leadership style may be goal-oriented (task leadership), group-oriented (social leadership), or some combination of the two.

A-5 How do human factors psychologists work to create user-friendly machines and work settings?

Human factors psychologists contribute to human safety and improved design by encouraging developers and designers to consider human perceptual abilities, to avoid the curse of knowledge, and to test users to reveal perception-based problems.