CHAPTER 1 Chapter Summary

What is psychology?

Psychology is the scientific study of persons, the mind, and the brain.

What are some examples of the diversity characterizing the field of psychology?

The field of psychology is exceptionally diverse. Some psychologists work as researchers, investigating topics such as Internet communication among people or cell communication in the brain. Others have exceptional interpersonal skills and use them to help people in therapy.

What’s so bad about intuition?

When people have strong intuitions, they are tempted to think that they don’t need other additional information. Moreover, different people have different intuitions about the same question.

What’s a good alternative to intuition?

An alternative that psychologists rely on is the scientific method, which refers to a broad array of evidence-based procedures. The scientific method enables one to approach problems with open-minded skepticism, a concept introduced in the Research Toolkit feature.

What makes a question “scientific”?

Scientific questions are those for which one collects evidence through scientific methods that could convincingly demonstrate the correct answer. Normative questions, questions of faith, and questions of logic are not scientific because they are not answered by gathering evidence.

What characterizes the “levels-of-analysis” approach to explaining psychological phenomena?

One may study a psychological phenomenon at any of three distinct yet complementary levels: person, mind, and brain. The person level of analysis addresses the individual as a whole and the social settings in which he or she lives. The mind level of analysis addresses thinking processes, emotions, and other mental events. The brain level of analysis refers to the anatomy and functioning of the brain.

How can sex differences in math performance be explained at the person, mind, and brain levels?

At the person level, research indicates that women are affected by stereotypes that lower their performance. At the mind level, research indicates that these stereotypes create anxiety that reduces memory and lowers math performance. At the brain level, research indicates that these stereotypes influence activity in a part of the brain known to be involved in producing emotions, which are detrimental to performance on a math test.

In what ways were Aristotle and the Buddha similar to and different from modern psychologists?

Aristotle asked scientific questions about psychology and developed a scheme for classifying mental capacities. The Buddha wanted to understand the causes of emotions and then developed a “therapy” to reduce emotional suffering: meditation. Modern psychologists address these and other concerns but evaluate their ideas using the scientific method.

How did the philosophers Locke and Kant believe that humans acquire knowledge?

Locke believed the mind is a “blank slate,” shaped entirely by experience, whereas Kant believed some knowledge, such as the understanding that we exist in three-dimensional space, is innate.

Why are Wundt and James considered the founders of scientific psychology?

Wundt wrote Principles of Physiological Psychology, which included information about biological aspects of psychology and of the mind. In 1875 he established one of the first experimental psychological laboratories. James also established a laboratory but is better known for his textbook The Principles of Psychology, which defines the field’s breadth.

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What characterizes six of the most prominent schools of thought in psychology?

Structuralists were interested in how the simple components of the mind came together to create complex perceptual experiences. The functionalists focused on the mental activity of the mind, especially as it interacted with the body and with the environment. Psychoanalysts were interested in how the mind’s hidden conflicts influenced ongoing behavior. Behaviorists concentrated on how the environment shapes observable behavior, by studying simple systems such as rats. Humanistic psychologists shifted the focus back to people—in particular, the study of the human experience of the whole person. The cognitive revolution ushered in a focus on the mind as an information-processing system—that is, as a device that can acquire, store, and manipulate symbols to transform information.