Figure 1.1 Psychology in Daily Life: The Dangers of Using a Cell Phone While Driving
Kelsey Raffaele took this photo of herself (photo courtesy of her mother, Bonnie Raffaele). Bonnie Raffaele helped get a new law passed in their state that prevents novice drivers from using cell phones while driving. For more information on the dangers of using a cell phone while driving, please visit thekdrchallenge.com/ Kelsey_s_Story.html.
Figure 1.2 Understanding People
Psychology can help us understand ourselves. It also provides insight into why other people think and behave as they do, such as why Lady Gaga wore a meat dress to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.
This woman is experiencing depression.
These people are friends.
This couple enjoys the thrill of roller coaster rides.
This is a color blindness test (see the 5?).
The design of this door is confusing—push or pull?
Figure 1.3 Thinking Critically About Psychology in the News
Media reports seek to grab attention. The claims can be based on psychological research, but they can also be hype. Consider what happened when research revealed small gains in one type of performance task after participants listened to a Mozart sonata for 10 minutes. The media dubbed these gains the Mozart effect and falsely reported that listening to Mozart could make people smarter.
Figure 1.4a Studying Psychology Develops Career Skills
Studying psychology helps people develop skills they can use in a wide range of careers. (a) Teachers need to understand how people learn.
Figure 1.4b Studying Psychology Develops Career Skills
Studying psychology helps people develop skills they can use in a wide range of careers. (b) People in medical professions need to know how to gauge people’s moods and their motivations to recover.
Figure 1.4c Studying Psychology Develops Career Skills
Studying psychology helps people develop skills they can use in a wide range of careers. (c) To convince people to buy products, salespeople need to understand the relationship between motivation and emotion.
How Can Psychology Help Me Study?
Figure 1.5 Descartes and the Mind/Body Problem: Dualism
According to the philosopher René Descartes, the mind and the body are separate yet intertwined. As discussed throughout this book, psychologists now reject this idea, called dualism. Instead, they view the mind as a product of brain processes.
Table 1.1
Figure 1.6 Wundt’s Experimental Psychology Laboratory
Wilhelm Wundt (third from left) established the first psychology laboratory in Germany in 1879. This event marked the beginning of modern experimental psychology.
Figure 1.7 Edward Titchener
Edward Titchener founded structuralism. This school used introspection to investigate the basic parts of the conscious mind.
Figure 1.8 Structuralism and Introspection
In structuralism, a person would perform introspection about an object. For example, the person might report on the quality (“red”) and intensity (“bright”) of an apple. The person’s verbal reports were thought to reveal the basic parts of the conscious mind.
Figure 1.9 William James
William James, the founder of functionalism, investigated the function of the conscious mind. He wanted to understand how the operations of the mind help people adapt to environmental demands.
Figure 1.10 Darwin and Natural Selection
Charles Darwin observed that species change over time. Such change enables species to adapt and survive. The mechanism of change—the engine of evolution—is called natural selection. These ideas led to the development of evolutionary theory.
Figure 1.11 Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalytic theory. Freud used psychoanalysis to treat unconscious mental forces that conflicted with acceptable behavior and produced psychological disorders.
Figure 1.12 Psychoanalysis in Our Lives
Psychoanalysis has had a large impact on the treatment of psychological disorders. But today most clinical psychologists use different techniques to treat psychological disorders.
Figure 1.13 Max Wertheimer
Max Wertheimer was a founder of Gestalt psychology. According to this school of thought, people’s experiences cannot be broken down into parts. Instead, perception is unique for each person and is affected by context.
TRY IT YOURSELF: Gestalt Theory and the Whole Versus the Parts
Figure 1.14 John B. Watson
John Watson founded behaviorism, the scientific study of how observable environmental factors affect behavior.
Figure 1.15 Behaviorism in Our Lives
Many people use the principles of behaviorism to train animals. To increase a desired behavior, the trainer provides an environmental stimulus that is rewarding. Here, a woman gives a treat reward to a dog that sits up on command. The same principles of behaviorism can be used to teach a child how to behave in a desirable way.
Figure 1.16 George Miller
George Miller was a founder of cognitive psychology. This modern school of psychology uses experimental methods to investigate how people think, remember, pay attention, make decisions, and solve problems.
Figure 1.17 Cognitive Psychology in Our Lives
Cognitive psychology reveals how we pay attention, remember, solve problems, and make decisions. This information can be used to improve our learning and our daily lives. Indeed, many of the features in this textbook are based on the principles of cognitive psychology, so using this book will help you learn.
Figure 1.18 Kurt Lewin
Kurt Lewin founded modern social psychology. He pioneered the use of experimental research to investigate how people influence each other.
Figure 1.19 Social Psychology in Our Lives
The rise of social psychology means that we have a stronger understanding of how people are influenced by others and by social situations. In some cases, this influence may be negative, when a person is isolated from his peers. But in other cases the presence of others can have very positive effects.
Table 1.2 Four Levels of Psychological Analysis
Figure 1.20 Your Brain on Music
Certain regions of the brain are associated more with organized sounds than with scrambled sounds. The highlighted region on the left becomes more active when you hear spoken language or music. Noise does not activate that region.
Figure 1.21a Cultural Differences in Music
Differences across cultures can include musical traditions and preferences. (a) Traditional African music involves complex rhythms, organic instrumentation, and an emphasis on drumming.
Figure 1.21 Cultural Differences in Music
Differences across cultures can include musical traditions and preferences. (b) By contrast, modern pop music in Korea, K-pop, involves glossy production, electronic elements, and the visual dazzle of girl bands or boy bands.
Figure 1.22 Where Psychologists Work and What They Do
(a) This pie chart shows the types of settings in which psychologists work, based on data from 2007. (b) This pie chart shows psychology doctoral degrees awarded for the 2007–2008 academic year.
Figure 1.22a Where Psychologists Work and What They Do
(a) This pie chart shows the types of settings in which psychologists work, based on data from 2007.
Figure 1.22b Where Psychologists Work and What They Do
(b) This pie chart shows psychology doctoral degrees awarded for the 2007–2008 academic year.
TABLE 1.3 Research-Related Subfields in Psychology
Figure 1.23 Student Participants
When you volunteer to participate in psychological research, you will be protected by ethical guidelines as you learn about psychology and contribute to the field.
Figure 1.24 Cycle of the Scientific Method
Figure 1.25 Types of Research Methods
Figure 1.26 Observational Studies
(left) The evolutionary psychologist Lawrence Sugiyama, here hunting with a bow and arrow, has conducted fieldwork in Ecuadorian Amazonia among the Shiwiar, Achuar, Shuar, and Zaparo peoples. (right) The primatologist Jane Goodall observes a family of chimpanzees.
SCIENTIFIC THINKING: The Hawthorne Effect
Figure 1.27 Self-Reports
(left) Researchers can ask participants to complete surveys or questionnaires. (right) Alternatively, the researchers can interview the participants.
Figure 1.28 Case Studies
(left) In December 2012, a 20-year-old gunman went on a shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. The gunman killed twenty-six teachers and young students before killing himself. (right) The gunman’s name was Adam Lanza. This photo shows Lanza as a seemingly happy and healthy young boy. The Sandy Hook shooting provides a case study of how an individual can become disturbed enough to commit a terrible act.
Figure 1.29 Correlational Methods
Correlational methods help us understand whether two factors are associated. A correlation may exist between how overweight parents are and how overweight their children are. A correlational study cannot demonstrate the cause of this relationship, which may include biological tendencies to gain weight, lack of exercise, and high-fat diets.
Figure 1.30 Correlations in the News
When the media present results from correlational studies, the reports often suggest that one factor causes the other. In such cases, we need to think critically and remember that just because two events are associated with each other, we cannot say whether one causes the other.
BEING A CRITICAL CONSUMER: Does Spanking Cause Long-Term Harm?
Figure 1.31 Experimental Methods
Experimental research methods provide information about the causes of particular mental activities or behaviors.
Figure 1.32 Participants in an Experiment With Simulated Driving
An experiment investigating how alcohol consumption affects driving skills can be performed safely by having participants use a driving simulator or play a driving game. Information about the participants’ driving skills would be recorded electronically.
Figure 1.33 Random Assignment and Random Sampling
For the results of an experiment to be considered useful, researchers must use random assignment and random sampling.
