Reading Assignment - What Is Psychology - Top Hat PDF

Exported for Kushagra Chawla on Sat, 05 Sep 2020 23:36:38 GMT
Chapter 1: What Is Psychology?
Figure 1.1: A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it can also show the many ways psychology manifests. In the image above,
many behaviors related to psychology are seen—we could ask questions about the relationships between the people in the photo,
about the child’s development, about how and why the emotions being shown are occurring, or even about the cultural issues and
dynamics of an interracial relationship. We might also ask about the usefulness of the photograph for cueing memories about the
event depicted. [1]
1.0 Learning Objectives

After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Explain how the scientific discipline of psychology emerged, as well as name and describe its major
subfields.
2. Describe, compare, and contrast the various careers within psychology, such as conducting research
or practicing in the field of psychology (e.g., clinical psychologists and psychiatrists).
3. Name and explain the major movements in the development of psychology as a scientific field, and
identify the people who led these movements.
4. Name and explain the major developments in the clinical use of psychology, and identify the
individuals involved.
5. Understand how ultimate and proximate explanations of psychological phenomena can complement
each other, leading to a fuller understanding of the field of psychology.
6. Understand, describe, and apply the major perspectives within the field of psychology today.
1.1 Introduction: What Is Psychology?

/
When you think of the word psychology, you likely imagine one or more things. Many people imagine a
therapy session: a person sitting back with a notepad, listening while a client talks. Others might imagine an
inspirational speaker, telling the world how they can become their best selves. Those with a little
background knowledge might imagine lab rats in mazes, brain scans, or even advertising executives
concocting ways to get you to buy the latest piece of technology. In truth, psychology can be all of these
things and more. As you read this book, you’ll begin to realize how broad of a field psychology really is.
Question 1.01
Review
What do you think of when you hear the word “psychology?” Order the choices below to show which ones you think
best represent the discipline, from most representative to least. There are no right or wrong answers.
Drag and drop options into correct order and submit. For keyboard navigation... Show More
Neuroscientists scanning the brains of their patients
The study of emotions and attitudes through surveys
Studies on how texting a ects driving ability
Lab rats running through mazes
Research on psychoactive medicines
Attempting to measure racial or gender bias in hiring practices
Advertising executives doing consumer research
A therapy session for a person with depression
Inspirational speakers attempting to persuade an audience
Investigating the best ways to improve student learning
Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer
Understanding the thoughts and actions of oneself and others has intrigued philosophers for thousands of
years. However, psychology as we know it today is a relatively recent field that spans less than 150 years.
Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, much of what we would now understand as psychology was relegated
/

to the realms of philosophy, theology, and anatomy. The word psychology comes from these early
traditions and has its roots in Greek, literally meaning “the study of the psyche, or soul” (psyche—“breath,
spirit, soul” + logia—“study of”). Today, however, we can better define it as the scientific study of both
behavior and mind. In this chapter, we will take a tour of early thought in psychology, learn about who
psychologists are and what they do, review the occasionally tumultuous history of psychology, and
consider how many psychologists today approach issues in the field. By the end of the chapter, you should
have a broad understanding of the types of topics psychologists are interested in and why they're interested
in them.
Figure 1.2: The psyche root of the word psychology (which means “breath, spirit, or soul”) comes from the Greek goddess whose name
is Psyche (pictured above in an eighteenth-century painting by Jacques-Louis David). [2]
/
Question 1.02
Review
Which of the following people is likely NOT investigating or working with a topic in psychology, based on the
description above?
Select an answer and submit. For keyboard navigation, use the up/down arrow keys to select an answer.
a A therapist working with her client.
b A scientist studying the swimming behavior of mice.
c An astronomer measuring the movement of Venus across the sky.
d An anatomist investigating what he believes to be the vision center of the brain.
1.1.1 Early Work in Psychology

As discussed, the notion of psychology as its own discipline is a relatively new one. Throughout history,
people have been interested in other people: Social interaction and attempting to understand others is an
essential aspect of being human. Much of the initial thought related to psychology was done by
philosophers in a discipline known as the philosophy of mind. Although religious traditions have
considered the nature of the soul for thousands of years, ancient (fourth-century BC) Greek philosophers,
including Plato and Aristotle, were some of the first recorded formal thinkers on the topic. Aristotle’s De
Anima (“On the Soul,” or Peri Psyches in the original Greek) considers topics such as the nature of thought,
sensation, and imagination, for example. He also introduced the term tabula rasa (or “blank slate”) to
describe the mind, considering it a place of potential for experience to write upon (see Figure 1.3).
Figure 1.3: Early thought in psychology, such as the concept of the mind as a tabula rasa, was o en the province of philosophers such
as Aristotle. [3] /
Parallel to thought-related philosophical questions about the mind were developments in the
understanding of anatomy and physiology, although this work was generally considered to be in the realm
of medicine or biology rather than related directly to the mind. One of the first documented efforts to
explain psychological disorders as illnesses (rather than possession by spirits, for example) was done in the
Muslim world. ‘Ali ibn al-‘Abbas al-Majusi (often Latinized as Haly Abbas) was a Persian physician who wrote
The Complete Art of Medicine during the tenth century. This book was one of the first to both describe the
neuroanatomy of the brain and discuss a variety of mental illnesses and their treatments. As psychology
began to emerge as a separate discipline, the information physiologists had collected regarding the brain,
sensory systems, and the biomechanics of nerves and muscle movement proved invaluable to the fledgling
field. Because psychology is generally focused on answering questions about the mind through behavioral
evidence, it is often considered to be a union of philosophy and physiology, with many early psychologists
attempting to answer the questions asked by philosophers with evidence gathered by physiologists.
Question 1.03
Review
Psychology is o en considered to be a union of what two fields?
a Anatomy and theology
b Physiology and philosophy
c Education and philosophy
d Anatomy and education
/
Question 1.04
Review
Aristotle believed the mind was like a blank slate upon which our experiences are written. What is the term for this
idea?
a Tabula rasa
b Haly abbas
c De anima
d Psyche
1.1.2 Mind, Body, and Behavior

Before we continue, let’s circle back and reconsider our definition of psychology as a whole: the scientific
study of both behavior and mind. There are three important terms in this definition: scientific, behavior, and
mind. First, it is important to note that psychology is a science and uses the scientific method to reach its
conclusions. The scientific method will be discussed in detail in Chapter 2: Methods, but for now it is
enough to know that the scientific method is rooted in a philosophical tradition known as empiricism.

Empiricism is the view that knowledge arises directly from what we observe and experience. As such,
psychology (as with all scientific disciplines) is inherently observational in nature.
This fact is important because much of what psychology is interested in is inherently unobservable. It is
impossible to know, for example, exactly what someone else is thinking at any given moment. Further, the

concept of mind is entirely unobservable for all intents and purposes. Yet psychology persists as a

discipline. How can this be? Here is where behavior comes into play. Psychologists use behavior—
actions, words, response times, or even brain activity—to make inferences about what is happening in the
mind. Early psychologists used findings from physiology to make inferences about the mind. How reliable
these inferences are, of course, is up for some debate (see Barrett, 2009; Poldrack, 2011). As we’ll discuss
throughout this chapter and the rest of this book, observable behaviors of all sorts are the primary form of
evidence in psychology.
One of the basic questions that psychologists have had to deal with is a concept that deals directly with the

relationship between behavior and mind—dualism. Dualism (also called mind–body dualism) is the
philosophical position that the mind and the body are separate entities. In many ways, people are
“intuitive” dualists, believing themselves and others to exist apart from their physical bodies. Consider, for
example, how many cultures consider the afterlife as a place for the soul while the body remains behind on
/
Earth (but see Hodge, 2008, for a counterargument). Dualism was best described by the seventeenth-
century French philosopher René Descartes (see Figure 1.4), who argued that the mind is inherently
immaterial. He believed that thought could not be explained in terms of the physical body, although the
mind could exert its influence over the body through the pineal gland (a small pinecone-shaped structure
located near the center of the brain that is now believed to regulate circadian rhythms). Descartes also gave
us the concept of the reflex, which he argued was the body acting without conscious action—without the
mind (see Figure 1.5). The reflex is a concept we still use today in physiology, although Descartes wasn’t
entirely aware of how reflexes worked. Where conscious muscle movement involves signals from the brain,
reflexes (such as blinking in response to an object moving toward the face or jerking your knee in response
to being tapped in a certain way) are handled entirely by the spinal cord. Descartes took his argument
further, contending that while all animal behavior was the result of unconscious reflex, human
consciousness (e.g., “I think, therefore I am”) was evidence for a mind, and thus a soul.
Figure 1.4: A portrait of René Descartes by František Ženíšek (1849–1916). [4]
/
Figure 1.5: Observe Descartes’ illustration of the reflex: Touching something hot causes an involuntary recoil. To the right is a schematic
view of the pineal gland, located near the center of the brain.
Although Descartes was influential in both philosophy and physiology, by placing the mind as an inherently
immaterial, unknowable agent that forces its will upon the body, he removed it from the realm of scientific
inquiry. If studying the body and its behaviors can provide no insight into the mind, then psychology is a
fruitless endeavor. Most psychologists today do not adopt a dualistic perspective on the mind for this
reason. Instead, they assume that the mind and the brain are in fact the same. As famously put by
psychologist Steven Pinker, most modern psychologists would agree that “the mind is what the brain does”
(Pinker, 1997, p. 21) or that “the mind is the activity of the brain” (p. 64). In other words, a modern
conception of the mind is that it is the sum of all brain activity, from every firing neuron to every chemical
message. Today’s psychologists use behavior to make inferences about the mind, an endeavor that has
been quite successful thus far. For example, it is commonly believed that many mental illnesses are a direct
result of problems with brain function or chemical imbalance. Similarly, psychologists have been able to
map specific kinds of mental processing (e.g., visual perception) to specific areas of the brain.
/
Question 1.05
Review
Which of the following is not an example of “behavior” as defined by psychologists?
a Electrical impulses in the brain
b The speed at which a rat navigates a maze
c A person's response to a question
d The subjective emotions someone feels
Please use the following diagrams below to answer Question 1.06.
Figure A
/
Figure B
Figure C
/
Figure D
/
Question 1.06
Review
Based on the description in the preceding section, which diagram do you think highlights the pineal gland correctly?
a Figure A
b Figure B
c Figure C
d Figure D
/
Question 1.07
Review
Dualism is the belief that ______________ and body are separate.
Type your answer and submit
Question 1.08
Review
Because the study of psychology is empirical, the field does which of the following?
a Arrives at conclusions through observation and analysis
b Arrives at conclusions through intuitive understanding
c Arrives at conclusions through logic and reason alone
d Cannot arrive at conclusions, as the mind is unknowable
1.2 What Do Psychologists Do?

Defining psychology as the scientific study of behavior and mind is a necessarily broad definition because
psychologists are involved in many different areas of study and practice. The work that psychologists do can
generally be divided into three primary areas: basic research, application, and clinical work. While these
distinctions are useful, it is important to remember that many psychologists work in several of these areas
at once.
1.2.1 Basic Research in Psychology


Psychologists who do basic research in psychology attempt to understand the fundamental principles
that govern behavior and mind. Additionally, most basic research in psychology is conducted with perfectly
healthy people, not clinical populations; in fact, much psychological research is done with introductory
/
psychology students such as yourselves. If you are required to complete a number of “research credits” (or
something similar), you are actually participating in discovering new knowledge in the field of psychology.
In today’s increasingly online world, however, research subject populations are changing. Many researchers
have begun taking advantage of online systems to collect data about the human mind, which comes with
its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Figure 1.6: Basic research in psychology can take many forms, from surveys to measuring the brain’s electrical signals. [6]
Typically, psychologists who do basic research are interested in a specific aspect of psychology, such as
social interaction, memory, or how neurons interact with one another. These specialties often belong to
larger, primary basic research areas:
Abnormal psychology research is interested in explaining how and why unusual and maladaptive
behavior patterns develop by examining thoughts and emotions as well as the underlying biology of
mental illness.
Behavioral genetics research attempts to explain individual di erences in behavior patterns in terms of
variation in genetic structure and expression.
Cognitive psychology research is broadly interested in how people process information and includes
areas such as attention, perception, memory, problem solving, language, and thought.
Comparative psychology is the study of the behavior of non-human animals, and it is o en (but not
always) interested in making a comparison to human psychology in an e ort to discover underlying
universals.
Developmental psychology studies the way that people develop across the lifespan, including how our
thoughts and behaviors change as we age.
Behavioral neuroscience (sometimes called cognitive neuroscience or neuropsychology) tries to
understand how specific brain regions or activities produce behavior, allowing psychologists to
understand the physical underpinnings of their observations.
Personality psychology studies individual di erences, investigating how and why people act di erently
based on their enduring characteristics or traits.
Social psychology is interested in how an individual’s thoughts and actions are influenced by the social
environment and the presence of others.
These major areas of basic research in psychology are summarized in Table 1.1, and each subfield will be
explored throughout this text. Please click here to view the text version of Table 1.1.
/
Table 1.1: Examples of Basic Research in Psychology.
While most psychologists who do basic research are employed in academic settings by colleges and
universities, some basic research is done by governments and private industries as well. Psychologists who
do independent basic research typically have significant postgraduate training, with a Ph.D. (doctorate of
philosophy) often required in many settings (such as professors who do research as well as teach).
Additionally, many psychologists who do basic research identify with their area of specialty (e.g., “I’m a
cognitive psychologist.”) Basic research can often be described as investigating the how and why of
behavior, without regard for the ways the information will ultimately be used. That said, basic research is
often incredibly useful. If a psychologist has a firm grasp of how a given behavior occurs, the behavior can
usually be influenced in useful ways to solve practical problems.
/
Question 1.09
Review
Which area of basic research interests you most? Rank them from “most interesting” to “least interesting.”
Comparative
Abnormal
Social
Behavioral neuroscience
Developmental
Cognitive
Behavioral genetics
Personality
/
Question 1.10
Review
Match each area of basic research with its example.
Drag and drop options on the right-hand side and submit. For keyboard navigation... Show More
Studying how much information people can

Abnormal
remember over the short term
Drawing links between addictive behavior in rats

Cognitive
and in humans
Determining how people compare themselves to

Comparative
their peers
Investigating the nature of declining mental

Social
ability with age
Describing the chemical imbalances in the brain

Developmental
that produce debilitating anxiety
Question 1.11
Review
Most research in psychology is done with clinical or special populations, such as prisoners.
a True
b False
/
Question 1.12
Review
Which of these examples is basic research?
a Searching for a cure for depression
b Attempting to understand the causes of depression
c Looking for a better anti-depressant drug
d Testing out a new therapy to combat depression
1.2.2 Applied Psychology

Solving practical problems is the major focus of applied psychology . Typically, the goal is to change
behavior to solve some practical problem, such as resolving mental health issues, improving workplace
efficiency, or improving educational outcomes. Sometimes the opposite approach is taken, however.
Rather than attempt to change behavior, a psychologist who does applied work might solve a problem by
devising a way to alter the environment so that it better matches the behaviors people already engage in.
An example of this could be improving the design of a keyboard used by helicopter pilots so that text entry
is faster and has fewer errors (Francis & Rash, 2005).
Figure 1.7: Applied psychologists work in many fields, including with military organizations. Optimizing the keyboard a pilot uses to
reduce typing time and error rates is one such example of applied psychology. [7]
Applied psychology can be further divided into two primary areas: research and practice.

Applied research is done to discover a new or more effective way to solve some specific problem, while
/

applied practice refers to the actual application of techniques to the problems themselves. Applied
research and practice can often be cyclical, with psychologists conducting research about a problem and
then applying the research to create a solution. As a result, psychologists may be involved in both or only
one of these facets of applied work, and the same psychologists may be involved in basic research as well.
Note that a great deal of research in psychology today focuses on taking research that was originally basic
in nature and applying it to practical problems. This kind of research, while applied, has its roots in basic

research. It is referred to as translational research , which is the effort to translate basic findings into
practical solutions. The distinction between translational and applied research can be confusing at first.
Translational research is applied research, but it is necessarily based on an attempt to apply discoveries
from basic research to practical problems.
An example of translational research may be useful. Recent basic research in cognitive psychology suggests
that people remember information better over the long term if they have experience successfully
remembering the information, such as on a quiz or as part of studying (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006; also see
Chapter 8: Memory). This basic finding of how memory works can be translated into a useful application in
educational settings to help solve the “problem” of improving student learning. Translational research
would attempt to discover the best ways to have students practice retrieving information. Is it best to have
students take lots of tests every day, for example? Or are there more practical ways to adhere to this basic
finding? Throughout this text, you’ll notice that you are frequently asked questions about what you just
read, and generally you will be asked more questions at the end of each section. These questions are a
translational research effort to apply the basic research finding that practicing remembering aids in long-
term retention. In addition to helping you learn, the questions asked throughout this text are also a great
example of the outcomes of translational research.
Applied psychology as a whole is typically broken up according to the problems that psychologists in the
field are trying to solve. Because there are many different kinds of problems for which psychology can
provide a relevant perspective, there are many different kinds of applied psychology. For each of these
areas, a psychologist could pursue research, practice, or both. Generally, the amount of training a
psychologist focusing on applied work has varies based on the nature of the work. In academic settings,
psychologists doing independent applied research are generally required to have a Ph.D., just like those
who do basic research. In private industry or government work, however, requirements often vary.
Generally, more practice-oriented fields require less formal training and place a higher premium on
experience. For example, management consultants may have a master’s degree in industrial/organizational
psychology, or they may simply have experience in the industry. In many cases, people who practice
applied psychology may not explicitly identify as psychologists, preferring to focus on the type of work they
do instead. Table 1.2 lists some of the major fields of work in applied psychology, with examples of the
kinds of research and practice that go on in each. This text will touch on many of these fields—keep an eye
out for each as you continue to read. Please click here to view the text version of Table 1.2.
/
Table 1.2: Examples of Applied Work in Psychology
Note: Educational psychology focuses on learning outcomes, whereas school psychology focuses on
students’ overall experience.
/
Question 1.13
Review
Which area of applied psychology interests you most? Rank them from “most interesting” to “least interesting.”
(There are no right or wrong answers.)
Human factors
Health
Political
School
Industrial/Organizational
Educational
Forensic & legal
Consumer behavior
/
Question 1.14
Review
Match each type of applied psychology with its example.
Researching ways to frame a ballot measure so

Forensic & legal
that it will be more likely to pass
Helping a business improve employee

Educational
satisfaction
Helping a defense attorney dismiss jurors who

Political
will likely vote to convict the accused
Researching e ective ways to insert questions

Health
into a textbook to optimize learning
Researching the best ways to convince people to

comply with regulations regarding wearing face Industrial & organizational
masks.
/
Question 1.15
Review
For each example, decide if it is an example of research or practice.
Discovering why people tend to quit their jobs. Practice
Helping police recognize when an eyewitness

Research
memory is likely to be false.
Creating a milk carton that is more attractive

Research
than others on the same shelf.
Finding the part of the brain that is responsible

Research
for human facial processing
Practice
Practice
/
Question 1.16
Review
Which is the best description of translational research?
a Using basic research findings to guide research on applied solutions
b Tackling only the problem without regard to its underlying mechanisms
c Researching only the fundamental causes of a psychological problem
d Cycling between applied research and applied practice
1.2.3 Clinical Psychology

In general, clinical psychology is defined by its focus on identifying, preventing, and relieving distress or
dysfunction that is psychological in origin. Technically, clinical psychology is just another form of applied
psychology with a focus on mental health and wellness. Despite this, it deserves its own section because
clinical work is by far the dominant type of work that occurs in psychology. According to the American
Psychological Association (APA), just over half of the organization’s members work in a discipline related to
clinical psychology (APA Center for Workforce Studies, 2017), but not all psychologists are required to be
members. (It is worthy to note that “school” psychology, discussed in the applied section above, is
sometimes considered a part of clinical psychology because it has a “helping” focus.) Additionally, many
students who take introductory psychology courses do so because of an interest in its clinical applications.
Psychologists who do clinical work come in many varieties. You may have noticed earlier that one area of
basic research is abnormal psychology, for example. Some clinical psychologists (typically those who work
in academic settings) do basic research on abnormal psychology in addition to seeing clients. Clinical
neuroscientists might work in hospital settings, working with doctors and patients to investigate how the
brain develops or reacts to certain other diseases or medical procedures, such as chemotherapy. Other
clinicians might work on applied research, investigating new forms of therapy. The vast majority of clinical
psychologists, however, are practice focused, diagnosing and treating mental health issues including
anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia, among others. Clinical psychologists generally have advanced
academic training, such as a Ph.D. or Psy.D. (doctor of psychology). A Ph.D. program in clinical psychology
encourages original research in addition to providing training on how to diagnose and treat mental illness,
while a Psy.D. program usually focuses mostly on practice.
/
Figure 1.8: Clinical psychologists practice the kind of psychology that most people think about when they hear the word “psychologist.”
[8]

Clinical psychologists are often contrasted with psychiatrists , who are medical doctors that focus on the
diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. The difference lies in their training and approach to treatment.
While clinical psychologists receive advanced graduate training in clinical psychology, psychiatrists are
required to first complete medical school before completing a residency in psychiatry as their area of
specialization. Because psychiatrists are medical doctors and do not have the same type of training as a
clinical psychologist, psychiatrists typically focus on pharmacotherapy (prescribing medications) as the
primary means of treating mental illness. Most clinical psychologists lack the training to prescribe
medication; however, a handful of states allow clinical psychologists to complete additional training
programs in psychopharmacology to gain prescription privileges (McGrath, 2010). At present, clinical
psychologists typically work together with psychiatrists or general practitioners to meet the needs of their
clients.
In addition to clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, counseling psychologists are another major career
path in clinical psychology. The largest difference between clinical and counseling psychologists is in terms
of the severity of the issues they treat. Whereas clinical psychologists tend to diagnose and treat more

severe forms of mental illness, counseling psychologists generally focus on helping people deal with
ongoing life problems or stressors, or dealing with the transition from one life situation to another.
Examples of counseling psychologists include marriage and family therapists, career counselors, and
addiction counselors. Many colleges and universities also have counselors on campus to help students with
the transition from secondary school. Counseling psychologists are generally required to have some
graduate training in counseling, whether at the master’s or Ph.D. level. Table 1.3 summarizes the different
kinds of people who practice clinical psychology. Please click here to view the text version of Table 1.3.
/
Table 1.3: Types of Clinicians
Question 1.17
Review
What is the primary di erence between clinical psychologists and psychiatrists?
a The ability to treat mental illness
b The kinds of training they receive
c They do not both earn doctoral degrees
d The kinds of mental illness they treat
/
Question 1.18
Review
What is clinical psychology?
a A form of applied psychology
b Focused only on the treatment of severe mental illness
c Practiced primarily by medical doctors
d A pseudoscientific discipline
Question 1.19
Review
According to the above text, which degree(s) are required to qualify as a clinical psychologist?
a O.D.
b Ed.D
c M.D.
d Psy.D. or Ph.D.
/
Question 1.20
Review
If you had to choose, would you be more interested in basic research, applied psychology (other than clinical), or
clinical work? (There are no right or wrong answers.)
a Basic research
b Applied psychology
c Clinical work
Question 1.21
Review
If you had to choose, would you be more interested in psychology research or psychology practice? (There are no
right or wrong answers.)
a Research
b Practice
Assigned as Review
 Question 1.22
Describe what most interests you about psychology. In which area(s) do you think it fits best? (e.g., clinical psychology, social
psychology, cognitive psychology, etc.)
/
Question 1.23
Review
Basic research is to ________ as applied research is to ________.
a Causes; problems
b Problems; solutions
c Causes; solutions
d Solutions; causes
Question 1.24
Review
Translational research can be thought of as the bridge between what and what?
a Applied research and applied practice
b Basic research and applied practice
c Basic research and clinical research
d Applied research and clinical practice
/
Question 1.25
Review
Psychologists are usually only qualified to do either basic or applied research; few do both.
a True
b False
1.3 The History of Psychology

So far we have discussed the nature of psychology and what modern-day psychologists do. But how did we
arrive where we are today? Before discussing specific movements in psychology, it’s useful to explore a few
of the influential questions, issues, and theories that have shaped the way psychology has developed and
continues to develop today. While psychology as its own discipline has a relatively recent history, its
intellectual roots in both philosophy and physiology continue to influence thought in psychology today.
1.3.1 Influential Themes in the History of Psychology

The work of philosophers tends toward ultimate questions that are in many ways speculative and difficult
to study scientifically, such as “Where does knowledge come from?” or “What is the nature of the mind and
soul?” Many of these questions still guide psychologists today, as we continue to consider the nature of the
mind through more advanced measurement techniques.
1.3.1.1 Nature versus Nurture
The question about where knowledge comes from speaks to an issue you have likely heard of before: the
nature–nurture debate. Put simply, to what extent is the human experience shaped by nature, and to what
extent does the environment play a role? The science of psychology is rooted in an empiricist tradition—the
idea that true knowledge about psychology can only be obtained through observation—but we can apply
empiricism to this problem as well. An entirely empiricist perspective on human experience would argue
that the mind begins as a blank slate and who we are is shaped entirely by the experiences we have. A

contrasting position to empiricism is nativism , which hypothesizes that some forms of knowledge are

innate. Taken to its logical extreme, this position is called biological determinism .
The biological determinist position is largely untenable, however—it is obvious that people learn and
change as a result of their experiences. Nativism should not be dismissed completely, though. For many of
the basic processes of perception, for example, it is difficult to change the way a person sees something
given additional experience. Optical illusions demonstrate this well.
/
Question 1.26
Review
Which line do you perceive as longer?

The top line or the bottom line?
(There are no right or wrong answers.)
a Top
b Bottom
Observers tend to perceive the top line in this situation (called the “Ponzo illusion”) as longer relative to the
bottom line, despite their equal length—even when aware that the lines are the same size (see Figure 1.9).
Similarly, even though we can tell you that the blue-and-yellow “rotating snakes” image in Figure 1.10 is
static and unchanging, it is nearly impossible for you not to perceive movement in the image. Additionally, a
large variety of individual differences in temperament, intelligence, and personality have been shown to
have at least some biological component (Plomin & Deary, 2015; Saudino, 2005; South, Reichborn-
Kjennerud, Eaton, & Krueger, 2015).
/
Figure 1.9: This image shows the “Ponzo illusion," first described by Mario Ponzo (1882–1960). Despite knowing that the lines are of
equal length, people tend to perceive the top line as longer. It is hypothesized that this is due to an innate understanding of depth cues,
similar to how we understand the components of a train track. [9]
Figure 1.10: This is one version of the rotating snakes illusion (Kitaoka, 2003). Motion is spontaneously perceived, despite knowing that
the image is static. [10]
While these demonstrations might be compelling, it is difficult to prove that these kinds of illusions are in
fact innate. However, researchers have attempted to gather evidence in support of the nativist theory all the
same. For example, children who were born blind and receive surgical correction for their vision are still /
susceptible to the Ponzo illusion immediately after surgery, despite not having any visual experience at all
(Gandhi, Kalia, Ganesh, & Sinha, 2015). They are also susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion in Figure 1.11.
Figure 1.11: The Müller-Lyer illusion is shown here. Most people report observing that the middle line appears longer than the other
two. [11]
1.3.1.2 Evolutionary Psychology
Related to the nature–nurture debate, many early psychologists were heavily influenced by the discipline of
biology. In particular, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution (1859) has played a significant role in shaping
thought in psychology, and evolutionary theory continues to be influential today (as we will discuss later in
this chapter). Darwin’s insight was that over the course of many generations, traits that tend to be
advantageous for survival and reproduction generally spread through a population more readily than traits
that are not advantageous. Darwin called traits that are advantageous for survival and reproduction (such
as a thick fur coat in an environment that is consistently cold) adaptive traits. He reasoned that adaptive

traits tend to spread throughout a population by means of a process called natural selection because of
the benefits they provide. Importantly, Darwin also recognized that these inherited traits could extend to
behavioral tendencies, including human behavior (Darwin, 1871). Because the brain is a part of the body, it
too is subject to natural selection. The video below describes natural selection. Watch it and answer the
questions that follow.
Video
Please visit the textbook on a web or mobile
device to view video content.
/
Question 1.27
Review
The video describes four basic principles involved in natural selection. Which principle describes the fact that a trait
must be able to be passed down from one generation to the next in order for it to be selected?
a Variations in phenotypes
b Heritability
c The “struggle for existence”
d Variations in survival and reproduction
Question 1.28
Review
The video describes four basic principles involved in natural selection. Which principle describes the fact that in
order for selection to occur, there must be di erent physical traits present in the population?
a Variations in phenotypes
b Heritability
c The “struggle for existence”
d Variations in survival and reproduction
/
Question 1.29
Review
A ______________ describes one’s genetic structure, while a ______________ describes one’s physical traits.
a Phenotype; genotype
b Directional selection; stabilizing selection
c Genotype; phenotype
d Stabilizing selection; directional selection
Question 1.30
Review
The peppered moth example could be applied to psychological traits. Which hypothetical example below is most
similar to the peppered moths’ situation?
As humans have begun to use computers, people who learn to use technology are e ectively evolving over
a
the course of their own lifespans.
b As many humans now live in large cities, sootier skin tones will help protect them from predatory birds.
c As most humans no longer need to hunt and produce their own food, evolution has e ectively ended.
As humans began to live in larger social groups, those who could e ectively communicate with other
d
humans survived and reproduced in greater numbers.
Most psychologists today recognize that many human faculties are at least in part products of natural
selection, such as the capacity for language (Pinker, 2003; Bolhuis & Everaert, 2013). The theory of evolution
lent additional support to nativist positions in psychology. Today, psychologists generally agree that most
psychological phenomena are the result of interactions between nature and nurture rather than one over
the other, and instead they argue over the extent to which nature and nurture are responsible. The recent
boom in studies related to epigenetics attests to this tension.
/
1.3.1.3 The Mind–Body Connection
While philosophers have often guided the questions that psychologists ask, the work of physiologists has
helped psychologists forge links between the mind and the body. Early work in physiology often reached
beyond its means, however, with phrenology as a prime example (see Figure 1.12). Popular in the early

nineteenth century, phrenology made the case that the shape of the skull was the result of the size of
brain structures beneath it. Further, because these different brain areas corresponded to different
characteristics or abilities, phrenologists believed that knowing about the shape of a person’s skull could
tell you about the person’s mental capacities as well. For example, phrenologists might claim to be able to
tell you about a person’s tendency toward benevolence or attentiveness based on the shape of his or her
head. Although now completely discredited, phrenology is a good example of how early, unscientific ideas
about the relationship between the body and the mind have influenced how psychology has developed.
The underlying assumption of phrenology—that brain areas are associated with specific functions—has
been verified in more recent decades, although the proportions of the skull have nothing to do with it.
Figure 1.12: An example of a phrenological map. Phrenology was insightful in that it linked brain regions to specific functions, but the
links it proposed were entirely unsupported. [12]
/
Question 1.31
Review
Nativism is best contrasted with ________.
a Empiricism
b Biological determinism
c Dualism
d Phrenology
Question 1.32
Review
Evidence that the Ponzo illusion exists even in newly-sighted people demonstrates that which of the following is
true?
a Not all knowledge is native
b All knowledge is native
c Not all knowledge is a result of experience
d All knowledge is a result of experience
1.3.2 Studying Psychology as a Science

While early thought on psychology provided promising starts, the scientific study of psychology did not
emerge in earnest until the latter half of the nineteenth century. Wilhelm Wundt (see Figure 1.13)
established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 at the University of Leipzig in Germany, although he
had already been conducting research in psychology prior to the lab’s founding. Trained as a physiologist
and medical doctor, but also as a competent philosopher, Wundt knew how the experimental process /
worked and began applying it to psychology. In particular, Wundt was interested in sensation and
perception—how people understand the world and turn it into ideas and thoughts. Mental experience—the
mind—was his major area of study.
Further, Wundt was the first person to self-identify as a psychologist, largely because of his interest in the
mind. Today, Wundt is widely regarded as the “father of modern psychology” because of both the work he
did in his laboratory and his efforts to establish psychology as its own discipline (Hunt, 1993). Many of his
first experiments involved testing response time, such as how quickly people could respond to a presented
sound.
Figure 1.13: Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), in 1902. [13]
1.3.2.1 Laying the Foundations: Structuralism
Wundt and his students treated the mind much like chemists and physicists of their day treated the world
itself: They wanted to break it down into fundamental pieces. John Dalton’s work on atomic theory in the
early 1800s was particularly influential, as he demonstrated that substances such as water contained
definitive proportions of hydrogen and oxygen. Wundt and many of the early thinkers in psychology
adopted a similar position, attempting to break down immediate conscious experience into its basic
elements. Introspection was a method developed by Wundt to understand the components of mental
processes by relying on trained participants’ self-reports of their thoughts, feelings, and mental images.
/
Figure 1.14: Wilhelm Wundt and his colleagues working in his University of Leipzig lab in roughly 1880. [14]

This first movement in psychology is known as structuralism , and its contributors are known as
structuralists. Because Wundt (and one of his most successful students, Edward Titchener) believed that
psychology should focus on decomposing immediate conscious experience into its basic elements and
understanding how those elements combine to create experience (Titchener, 1899; Wundt, 1896), they
believed that self-reports of conscious experience should be the primary form of evidence in psychology.
Two people’s descriptions of a subjective experience can be wildly different, however, and it is difficult to
have any kind of objective sense of accuracy about another person’s internal experiences. As we discussed
earlier, making inferences about the mind is one of the fundamental problems psychology as a science

faces. Titchener believed that the problem could be solved through systematic introspection . Where
introspection simply considered experiences of one individual, the process of systematic introspection
attempted to standardize the way conscious experiences were reported so that one person’s experiences
could be compared to another’s more effectively. Titchener’s laboratory used the technique extensively,
and he developed an extremely detailed manual that was designed to train a person how to introspect
“properly” (Titchener, 1901).
/
Figure 1.15: Edward B. Titchener (1867–1927). [15]
Near the end of the nineteenth century, psychology as its own scientific discipline had begun to take off,
with many of Wundt’s students spreading the study to other European countries as well as North America.
Titchener himself immigrated to the United States and founded a laboratory at Cornell University. He
(among others) is widely considered responsible for popularizing the study of experimental psychology in
North America, and he was also a charter member of the American Psychological Association (APA), which
was founded in 1892 (Boring, 1929). Because of its experimental nature and widespread influence,
structuralism is recognized as the first significant movement in the history of psychology as a science.
Question 1.33
Review
Where was the first psychology laboratory founded?
a The University of Leipzig
b Cornell University
c Vienna, Austria
d The University of Chicago
/
Question 1.34
Review
Which of the following was the primary goal of structuralism?
a To break down behaviors into the smallest units possible
b To understand the relationship between structures of the brain and their functions
c To break down conscious experience into its most basic parts
d To scientifically study people’s reactions to stimuli
1.3.2.2 Considering Purpose: Functionalism
As the study of psychology progressed, structuralism and the practice of systematic introspection began
receiving significant criticism, particularly in North America. Among these critics was William James (see
Figure 1.16). William James was an American physician and philosopher, and he was the first person to offer
a course on experimental psychology in the United States beginning in 1875 at Harvard University. These
courses educated students on work that was being done in Germany prior to the official establishment of
Wundt’s lab in 1879. As described by another famous psychologist of the time, G. Stanley Hall, James’
course was “up to the present time the only course in the country where students can be made familiar with
the methods and results of recent German researches in physiological psychology” (Hall, 1879, p. 97). Hall
was James’ student and the first person in the United States to receive a doctorate degree in psychology in
1878 (and also the first president of the American Psychological Association; Thorne & Henley, 2004).
Figure 1.16: William James (1842–1910); the “father of American psychology.”. [16]
/
James’ position was that the structuralist movement was fundamentally misguided. In fact, he went so far
as to say in a textbook that he wrote for undergraduates that “[Psychology] is no science, it is only the hope
of science . . . at present psychology is in the state of physics before the laws of motion" (James, 1892, p.
468). This was meant to be inspiring—fundamental truths had yet to be discovered. While structuralists may
be able to break down conscious experience into its basic elements, he argued that studying these pieces
without an understanding of their function would provide little to no actual insight into the workings of the
mind (James, 1884, 1890). The position that psychologists must first understand the function of a behavior

or mental process to understand how its parts work together is called functionalism , and its proponents
are called functionalists.
Importantly, the functionalist movement was heavily influenced and inspired by Darwin’s theory of
evolution (1859, 1871). Evolutionary theory heavily emphasizes the functional nature of traits and describes
how adaptive traits exist to solve specific problems. Examples of physical adaptive traits would be the
selection for hairiness in environments where cold weather is common, or camouflaged body patterns in
animals whose primary defense from predators is to hide. While a structuralist might understand the length
of each individual hair and the average spacing from one follicle to the next, a functionalist would argue
that those details are meaningless without knowing that the purpose of fur is to keep the body warm.
Functionalists simply extended the argument from physical traits to include psychological processes as
well. James himself had a list of 37 “instincts” that he believed humans possess, from walking,
acquisitiveness, and anger to cleanliness, sympathy, love, and a fear of strange men (James, 1892). Not all of
these are still supported, of course.
Because of his early work in the field of psychology as well as his influence with functionalism, William
James is often considered the “father of American psychology.” However, James was not the only
functionalist. In fact, James Rowland Angell is credited with defining the primary tenets of functionalism in
his presidential address to the American Psychological Association (1907). Due to functionalism’s focus on
the problems that psychological processes solve, it also opened up the range of topics psychologists
explored. For example, John Dewey was an early pioneer of educational psychology, and Edward Thorndike
was influential in the field of animal learning.
While functionalism may have offered an alternative perspective to structuralism for how to go about the
process of psychological research, it would be unfair to say that functionalism superseded structuralism—
structuralist approaches continued vigorously in Europe despite functionalism’s criticisms. For example,
Oswald Külpe and his students at the University of Würzburg attempted to extend Wundt’s work to higher-
order thought processes (Ogden, 1951). Similarly, a movement known as Gestalt psychology took root in
Berlin, focusing on understanding how people perceived a unified whole out of the many chaotic individual
elements of sensation (although this was in some opposition to traditional structuralism as well). The
“snakes” optical illusion presented in Figure 1.10, for example, leads to a perception that is different from
simply the sum of its parts—motion is perceived where none exists. Finally, both structuralism and
functionalism (and most early work in psychology) focused on exploring immediate conscious experience,
and they often used similar methods to do so. The next movement in psychology sought to shift
psychology’s focus substantially.
/
Question 1.35
Review
The functionalist movement in psychology began in:
a Austria
b The United States
c Germany
d The United Kingdom
Question 1.36
Review
Early functionalists were heavily influenced by which of the following?
a Aristotle’s concept of the blank slate
b Descartes’ concept of dualism
c Darwin’s evolutionary theory
d Phrenologists’ work on the skull
1.3.2.3 Refining Methodology: Behaviorism
As work in psychology continued into the early twentieth century, several factors led to the rise of a new

movement: behaviorism . Many psychologists were growing increasingly skeptical of introspection and its
inherently subjective nature. Because introspection was the primary method of studying conscious
experience at the time, skepticism developed around how possible it was to study the mind in a scientific
fashion. As these fears were rising, the study of animal psychology found itself gaining prominence as well.
Importantly, introspection isn’t possible with animals—you can’t simply ask a dog or a lab rat to tell you
/
what it’s thinking. Because of this, psychologists working with animals were forced to observe their
behaviors: how quickly a rat can navigate a maze, the rate at which a dog learns that a bell indicates dinner
is on its way, and so on.
While both skepticism about the measurability of the mind and the increasing methodological rigor of
animal psychology contributed to the eventual shift toward behaviorism, it was American psychologist
John B. Watson who finished the job. Watson popularized the notion that the mind and internal mental
states were beyond the scope of psychology, rebuking introspection as a meaningful technique and
proposing that psychology should focus its efforts solely on the study of observable behavior (1913, 1919;
see Figure 1.17 for a famous experiment conducted by Watson). Because of his belief that psychology
should focus solely on behavior, he called his perspective behaviorism.
Figure 1.17: John Watson (1878–1978) famously believed that people were purely a product of their experiences. In the above “Little
Albert” experiment (so named for the boy pictured, “Albert”), Watson and his assistant, Rosalie Rayner (1898–1935), conditioned a child
to fear the prosthetic beard Raynor wore (pictured above). [17]
Although Watson published his initial manifesto in 1913, World War I (1914–1918) may have delayed the rise
of behaviorism. By the early 1920s, however, it was the dominant approach to psychology in North America.
The influence of behaviorism on the study of psychology was extensive, with systematic introspection and
references to consciousness virtually eliminated from work done in the field by the 1930s. Behaviorism
continued to dominate the majority of scientific work done in psychology for decades, and psychologists
generally constrained their research to observing animal behavior. Although a focus on the mind was
mostly lost during these years, in many ways psychology became a much more methodologically rigorous
science because of behaviorism.
/
Figure 1.18: John B. Watson took a strong stance on how research in psychology should be conducted, as evidenced by some of his
writings. [18]
By the 1950s, B. F. Skinner (see Figure 1.19) was one of the leading thinkers in behaviorist psychology.
Skinner is best known for his work on operant conditioning in particular—the study of how behavior can be
modified using a system of rewards and punishments (1953). Many of his basic theories on operant
conditioning are still valid, and they continue to be influential today. Because the principles of operant
conditioning focus on behavior in general, they can be applied to incredibly different tasks: Therapies to
reduce self-harming behaviors in people with autism (Myers & Johnson, 2007), the treatment of cocaine
addiction (Silverman, 2004), and the training of police dogs (Gerritsen & Haak, 2014) all use concepts related
to operant conditioning.
Figure 1.19: B.F. Skinner (1904–1990). [19]
/
Question 1.37
Review
Which of these was not a factor in the rise of behaviorism?
a Increasing skepticism regarding systematic introspection
b A rise in work done studying animal behavior
c John B. Watson’s e orts to popularize the movement
d The beginning of World War I
Question 1.38
Review
Most of the discoveries made by behaviorists are no longer considered valid today.
a True
b False
1.3.2.4 A Return to Mind: The Cognitive Revolution
Although behaviorism’s grip on psychology was extensive, a renewed interest in mental processes and the
mind began in the 1950s. Advances in methodology and measurement, as well as limitations in purely
behaviorist models, spurred this renewed interest. This so-called cognitive revolution was a major shift away
from the strict behaviorism that had dominated the field for several decades. Steven Pinker wrote about the
cognitive revolution in his book The Blank Slate (2002) and discusses its importance in the video below.
Video
/
Question 1.39
Review
According to Steven Pinker, what device was instrumental in reshaping understanding of the mind?
a The computer
b Cerebral angiography
c Radioactive neuroimaging devices
d Space shuttles
Question 1.40
Review
Pinker lists a few topic areas that all fall under one “umbrella” term. What is this term?
a Neuroscience
b Cognitive science
c Linguistics
d Computing
/
Today, most research in psychology does not take a strict behaviorist approach, preferring to use behavior
as a means to make inferences about the processes happening in the mind. As Pinker argues in the video,
the computer (and its increased “accessibility,” at least to researchers) was critical in shifting how
psychologists thought about making inferences about the mind. Other technologies that allowed scientists
to “peek under the hood” and see the brain in action were developed around the 1950s and 1960s as well,
including cerebral angiography (the mapping of blood vessels in the brain), computerized tomography (CT)
scans, and in the early 1970s radioactive neuroimaging, such as positron emission tomography (PET); see
Figure 1.20.
Figure 1.20: Le : A positron emission tomography (PET) scan of the brain. Right: A computerized tomography (CT) scan of the brain.
[20]
Together, these new technologies (with the computer at the forefront) allowed psychologists to reevaluate
their abilities to make inferences about people’s internal mental states. Furthermore, while “cognitive”
refers to information processing in general, the cognitive revolution did not only help psychologists
interested in cognitive psychology (remember, cognitive psychology is the study of topics such as attention,
perception, and memory). By returning the focus of psychology to the scientific understanding of mind,
many more avenues of research blossomed in psychology. To review the history of psychology, click
through the interactive slides below.
iFrame
device to view iframe content.
/
1.3.3 Development of Psychology in the Clinic
Early thought on the treatment of mental illness was unsystematic and varied, with causes of mental illness
thought to be anything from an imbalance of four bodily fluids (referred to as humors) to demonic
possession. Notably, some early thinkers, such as the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, tenth-century
Persian physician Haly Abbas, and Swiss “renaissance man” Paracelsus, did make ties between mental
illness and the physical body, including the brain—even if these ties were incorrect. More modern
conceptions of mental illnesses and their treatment didn’t emerge until the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, with Sigmund Freud at the forefront.
Figure 1.21: A young Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), in roughly 1885. [21]
1.3.3.1 Freud and Psychoanalysis
As psychology was beginning to develop as a science in the laboratories of Europe and the United States,
Sigmund Freud (see Figure 1.21) was busy formalizing some of the first widely influential theories regarding
the cause and treatment of mental illness in Vienna, Austria. Freud made a living as a physician, and he was
drawn to psychology in an attempt to understand patients whose symptoms he believed had no physical
cause (1953). His training as a neurologist (a doctor who specializes in diseases of the nervous system) led
him to the conclusion that these patients were suffering from maladies that were psychological in nature.
Specifically, Freud believed that these illnesses originated from the unconscious mind—a portion of the
mind that is closed off from conscious analysis.
Over the course of the next several decades, Freud described a system for understanding the unconscious

mind and treating the illnesses that stem from it (1900, 1910, 1940). He called this system psychoanalysis .
Psychoanalysis proposes multiple theories about the unconscious mind that touch on a variety of topics in
psychology, including personality, development, and of course causes of mental illness. According to
Freud’s system of psychoanalysis, the critical component to resolving mental health issues was the process
of analyzing the contents of the unconscious mind so that relevant thoughts and feelings could be brought
up to the level of consciousness. Another way of phrasing this is to say that he believed patients needed to
gain insight into the unconscious factors that were causing them distress. To do this, he used a variety of
/
techniques that he believed tapped into the unconscious mind, however obliquely—including analyzing
minor errors or slips in speech, listening to his patients’ fantasies, having a patient report her thoughts freely
and without filtering their content (i.e., free association), and dream analysis. Freud would spend hours and
hours with his patients in an attempt to discover and analyze the contents of their unconscious minds.
Freud’s focus on the unconscious mind was unique in his day, when other psychologists were busy studying
introspection and behavior. Because of the broad nature of psychoanalytic theory and its place as one of
the initial forms of modern therapy, Freud’s influence continues to be felt throughout popular culture and
psychology today, although newer research and later movements in clinical psychology have certainly
lessened his impact. We will explore Freud’s ideas in greater detail in Chapter 12: Personality and Chapter
15: Treatment of Psychological Disorders.
Question 1.41
Review
From where did Freud believe psychological problems originate?
a The nervous system
b An imbalance in bodily humors
c A mismatch between our visions of our own identity
d The unconscious mind
/
Question 1.42
Review
Psychoanalysis is Freud’s system for:
Multiple answers: Multiple answers are accepted for this question
Select one or more answers and submit. For keyboard navigation... Show More
a Tapping into the contents of the unconscious mind
b Allowing people to gain insight into their unconscious mind
c Helping people learn to lead healthier mental lives
1.3.3.2 The Humanists and Positive Psychology
While Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis dominated the clinical landscape for the beginning of the
twentieth century, all members of the growing mental health community did not readily accept them.
Freud’s development of psychoanalysis was greatly influenced by his understanding of Darwinian
evolutionary theory, which led him to focus on “base” unconscious urges related to sexual frustration and
aggression. This unflattering portrait of human nature, the arguably sexist assumptions of some of his
theories, and his assertion that people are generally powerless to do anything to address their unconscious
urges without extensive analysis did not sit well with many clinicians.
By the mid-twentieth century, a growing number of critics of psychoanalysis, including Carl Rogers and
Abraham Maslow, had unified under the banner of humanistic psychology. A response to Freud’s dark view

of the human condition and behaviorism’s focus on mechanistic behavior, humanistic psychology
proposes that people have free will and the capacity to realize their own potential. Further, it focuses on
positive aspects of the human condition, including creativity, choice, and the potential for growth. By
shifting the focus away from the unconscious mind and onto the capacity for change, humanistic
psychologists aimed to give control back to their clients.
Rogers and Maslow were two of the most influential humanists, with Rogers' person-centered approach to
therapy refocusing the clinical environment on the needs of the client rather than the expertise of the
clinician (1951). In person-centered therapy, the role of the therapist is to support and listen, in contrast to a
psychoanalyst’s need to analyze and direct; this shift continues to be seen in many therapeutic settings
today. Abraham Maslow (see Figure 1.22) similarly reconstructed Freud’s view of human nature, choosing to
emphasize the internal driving force for humans to satisfy their basic needs for survival. He went further
than Freud, however—once basic needs are met, Maslow believed that people are motivated to fulfill their
/
psychological needs and ultimately strive for self-actualization, which is an ideal state of reaching one’s
fullest potential (1943).
Figure 1.22: Abraham Maslow (1908–1970). [22]
More recently, psychologist Martin Seligman has created a renewed interest in studying the more positive
aspects of the human condition through his focus on what he has termed positive psychology.

Positive psychology is a branch of psychology focused not on what can go wrong with human
functioning (as is the case with much of clinical psychology), but instead on studying how humans flourish
and how positive outcomes can be achieved (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Recently, Christopher
Peterson and Martin Seligman have worked together to create a classification of character strengths and
virtues that is designed to complement classifications of mental illness and dysfunction (2004).
Question 1.43
Review
The humanist movement in clinical psychology was largely a reaction to ___________.
a Wundt’s structuralism
b James’ functionalism
c Beck's cognitivism
d Freud’s psychoanalysis
/
Question 1.44
Review
Positive psychologists focus on which of the following?
a How to treat psychological disorders
b Improving human functioning and the positive side of human nature
c The positive aspects of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis
d Making clients feel at ease and putting the client at the center of the therapeutic experience
Question 1.45
Review
Which historical approach to the science of psychology appears most reasonable to you? (There are no right or
wrong answers)
a Structuralism
b Functionalism
c Behaviorism
/
Question 1.46
Review
Select the name of any psychologist that you had heard of before reading this textbook. (There are no right or wrong
answers.)
a Wilhelm Wundt
b William James
c John B. Watson
d B. F. Skinner
e Sigmund Freud
f Carl Rogers
g Abraham Maslow
/
Question 1.47
Review
If you’ve heard of Sigmund Freud before, what are your general opinions on his work? (There are no right or wrong
answers)
a Positive
b Somewhat positive
c Neutral
d Somewhat negative
e Negative
f I had not heard of Freud before reading.
Question 1.48
Review
Who is considered the “father of modern psychology?”
a Sigmund Freud
b Wilhelm Wundt
c James Watson
d William James
/
Question 1.49
Review
Who is considered the “father of American psychology?”
a Sigmund Freud
b Wilhelm Wundt
c James Watson
d William James
Question 1.50
Review
Order the movements in the scientific study of psychology chronologically.
Behaviorism
Structuralism
Functionalism
The Cognitive Revolution
/
Question 1.51
Review
What was the fundamental disagreement between the psychoanalysts and the humanists?
a The role of outside influences on mental illness
b The biological basis of mental illness
c The capacity for free will and change
d The techniques used by Freud
1.4 Modern Approaches to Psychology

While the movements of the past continue to influence modern thought on psychology, today’s
psychologists are generally more likely to identify with the kinds of work they do rather than the approaches
they adopt. Further, most psychologists reject the notion that there is one “true” way to study or practice
psychology and instead acknowledge that different schools of thought can offer different insights and
strengths.
Considering the effectiveness of different theoretical approaches has become especially prevalent in
clinical settings as scientific evidence continues to accumulate about what kinds of therapies are most
effective for different types of mental illness and other clinical populations. Choosing the most effective

therapeutic technique given the present circumstances is known as an eclectic approach. (“Eclectic”
means that ideas are taken from a variety of sources.) As discussed earlier, therapies rooted in the analysis
of behavior can be quite effective for improving outcomes for people with autism, but other clinical issues
can require a therapist to analyze the client’s history more thoroughly and assist the client in dealing with
past traumas or difficulties.
For psychologists interested in research, much of the recent focus in psychology has been in terms of levels
of explanation rather than the development of an all-encompassing approach. The following sections first
describe these levels of explanation and then go on to discuss four different modern approaches to issues
in psychology, each of which offers a unique and important perspective.
1.4.1 Ultimate and Proximate Explanations
/
For any psychological phenomenon, there are multiple ways of explaining its cause. A primary way to divide

these levels of explanation is in terms of ultimate and proximate explanations, a tradition that began in
biology (Ariew, 2003; Mayr, 1961; Scott-Phillips, Dickins, & West, 2011). As we have seen throughout this
chapter, biological theories have significantly influenced the development of psychology, with Darwin’s
theory of evolution playing a large role in the conception of both functionalism and psychoanalysis.

Ultimate explanations attempt to address the reasons why a psychological phenomenon occurs by
appealing to its role in the process of evolution. A now-classic example of the distinction between ultimate
and proximate explanations in human behavior is the many ways in which we can attempt to explain why
babies cry (Zeifman, 2001). An ultimate explanation of crying appeals to its evolutionary role: crying is a
signal to caregivers that the infant needs care of some kind. In other words, the “crying as a signal to
caregivers” explanation provides the ultimate reason for why crying occurs.

In contrast, proximate explanations attempt to describe an immediate cause of a psychological
phenomenon. Proximate explanations of infants’ crying would include both specific, functional reasons
(such as getting a caregiver to provide food) as well as explanations that appeal to specific mental or
physical processes (such as the experience of fear or the activation of biological systems that cause tears to
well up in the eyes). For our purposes, it is useful to divide proximate explanations further based on the

types just described: functional explanations and process-oriented explanations. Functional explanations
are proximate explanations that seek to identify a specific problem as the cause of a psychological
phenomenon, such as getting a caregiver to provide food or remove a painful object in our crying example.

Process-oriented explanations are proximate explanations that focus on how a specific mental or
physical process explains a psychological phenomenon, such as how crying is the result of biological
processes happening in the tear duct.
Figure 1.23: Why do babies cry? Well, it depends on what you mean by “why.” [23]
Ultimate and proximate explanations are complementary in nature, as they explain different aspects of the
same phenomena. Generally, knowing the ultimate explanation (the “evolutionary function”) for a
phenomenon in psychology helps us make predictions about its proximate explanations, including specific
/
situational functions for the phenomenon and the mental and physical processes involved in its execution
(Nairne, 2015; although see Laland et al., 2011).
It is important to note that not all phenomena in psychology are products of evolution—these phenomena
do not have truly ultimate explanations (as ultimate explanations must be rooted in evolutionary theory)
and instead have only functional or process-oriented explanations. For example, some psychologists
believe that motion sickness is simply a byproduct of how our nervous systems happen to be arranged: our
balancing circuitry and our vomiting circuitry just happen to be close together (Golding, 2016). Because this
explanation for motion sickness stems from the arrangement of the nervous system (a process-oriented
explanation) and not the functional or evolutionary purpose of motion sickness, no functional or ultimate
explanation is necessary.
Psychologists today are concerned with addressing these different levels of explanation and understanding
how they work with and inform one another. To this end, psychologists study the evolutionary influences,
cultural influences, biological influences, and cognitive influences on behavior and mind.
Question 1.52
Review
Match each explanation with its proper level.
Language exists because it was adaptive for

humans to be able to communicate with one
Ultimate explanation
another over the course of evolutionary
history.
Language can be used to explain how people

Functional explanation deceive one another to gain an advantage in
a trade.
Language is produced and understood by

Process-oriented explanation
portions of the temporal lobe of the brain.
1.4.2 Evolutionary Influences
We have touched on the influence of Darwin’s theory of evolution repeatedly throughout this chapter. While
evolutionary theory had a great deal of influence on the development of psychology, its influence waned in
the middle part of the twentieth century because of attacks on the theory itself and its cultural and scientific
relevance to human behavior. In particular, observations that some of the behaviors that people and
/
animals exhibit appear to actually hurt one’s chances for survival and reproduction rather than help it were
problematic for understanding how behavior is influenced by evolution. For example, how does helping
someone else (altruism) improve your own ability to survive and reproduce? Why would a mother sacrifice
her life for that of her children? Don’t rising obesity rates imply that our eating patterns are maladaptive?
The rise of behaviorism coincided with evolution's loss of influence, and many psychologists decided to
simply study how the environment shaped behavior rather than try to appeal to any kind of ultimate
explanation.
As the science of psychology and biology progressed, however, some psychologists and biologists returned
to the evolutionary study of behavior—particularly those behaviors that seemed inexplicable by evolution.
The discovery of DNA and genetic transfer revolutionized the way biologists understand evolution. While
natural selection was originally thought to act primarily on individuals and their traits, the study of genetics
allowed scientists to treat individual genes as the unit of selection instead (Dawkins, 1976). Although
behaviors are rarely the result of a single gene, when the focus of evolution and natural selection is
reoriented to the genetic level, some of the behaviors that were originally inexplicable become
understandable. For example, helping others is not necessarily immediately beneficial to the individual, but
altruism can be a highly adaptive trait in animals that are extremely social, like humans (Hamilton, 1964;
Trivers, 1971).
Figure 1.24: Why do we help others if it doesn’t benefit ourselves? Gene-based perspectives of helping behavior can account for
seemingly paradoxical behaviors such as altruism. [24]
Another realization was that in order to understand a behavior completely, its context must be considered
as well. Behaviors that appear maladaptive today may not always have been so: A preference for sweet
foods may lead to an increased incidence of diabetes in today’s world of fast food and high fructose corn
syrup, but it was likely useful throughout much of humanity’s evolutionary past. Fruits and other sweet food
are calorie dense and important sources of nutrients for many apes and other animals. Further, it’s
important to recognize that not all behaviors necessarily have an evolutionary origin, as we’ve already
discussed (Gould, 1991; Gould & Lewontin, 1979). Writing and written language is an excellent example.
While the mental and physical processes involved in language and communication almost certainly have
/
evolutionary origins (Chomsky, 1986), it is difficult to say the same for written forms of language. While
writing is certainly functional and serves important uses in society, it is likely just a useful combination of
verbal and motor skills rather than its own unique genetic creation.
Some psychologists today continue to apply the theory of evolution to psychology, searching for ultimate
explanations of psychological phenomena. This approach to psychology is known as

evolutionary psychology , and it strives to explain how mental processes and behavior have developed
over the course of evolutionary history. Evolutionary psychologists often encounter resistance for their
claims, because it is incredibly difficult to gather definitive evidence for ultimate explanations—there are no
fossilized mental processes or behaviors to collect and analyze. Still, many evolutionary psychologists
persist by attempting to accumulate evidence for adaptation from a variety of sources to support their
claims. Others, such as James Nairne, attempt to flip the process on its head by first identifying adaptive
problems humans would have had to solve, and then proposing ways to test for mental processes that
solve these problems (Nairne, 2015). For example, Nairne and his colleagues hypothesized that information
about people and animals would likely be more important to remember than information about non-living
things and have collected data that support their position (Nairne, VanArsdall, & Cogdill, 2017).
As a final thought exercise, let's consider psychological processes relevant to a timely topic: The coronavirus
pandemic. If we are interested in protecting human health, we might consider how humans have coped
with disease from an evolutionary standpoint to see if these coping strategies can be leveraged to help in
the current crisis. For example, humans have what's called a "behavioral immune system" -- a suite of
behaviors we perform in response to environmental and emotional cues to reduce the likelihood of disease
transmission (Schaller & Park, 2011). If we can adopt strategies that align well with or otherwise address the
tendencies humans have developed over evolutionary time, this may be beneficial in public health crisis
such as the current one.
/
Question 1.53
Review
Evolutionary psychologists’ claims are o en di icult to verify because of which of the following reasons?
a Their claims rely on experimental evidence
b It is di icult to know exactly what happened over the course of evolutionary history
c Their claims are non-scientific
d It is di icult to know the di erence between an ultimate and a proximate explanation
1.4.3 Cultural Influences
Humans are social beings with elaborate cultural rituals and behaviors that vary widely from place to place.
It should come as no surprise then that the influence of culture on behavior and mind is an amazingly rich

field of study. Psychologists refer to culture as the shared set of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and customs
belonging to a specific group or community of people. These groups and communities are generally
organized around a shared characteristic or set of characteristics, such as race or ethnicity, nationality,
income, sexual orientation, religious identity, or even sets of ideas such as political affiliation. In the early
days of psychological research, much of the focus was on the attempt to uncover “psychological universals”
that apply to everyone. More recently, however, psychologists have begun to consider how culture can
influence behavior and mind in meaningful ways. Classically, much of the work on cultural influences in
psychology focuses on development, especially the ways cultural differences and social interactions affect
children as they grow (Vygotsky, 1978).
Figure 1.25: Di erent cultures have many of the same traditions, such as street festivals and parades. But how do these traditions
manifest di erently across cultures? Can you think of some traditions unique to certain cultures? [25]
/
Generally, cultural considerations of behavior help provide us with functional explanations, describing why
a behavior manifests differently based on a person’s cultural background or specific situational demands.

Feminist psychology , for example, analyzes the role that gender plays in a person’s development and
behaviors, appealing to cultural differences in the ways societies raise and treat men and women
(Rutherford, 2010). Similar approaches exist for other cultural influences, including critical analyses of race,
religion, military experience, and lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) issues in psychology. The
American Psychological Association has 50+ divisions, many of which are devoted to these specific cultural
influences and experiences (see apa.org/about/division for a full list of divisions).
Of course, people belong to many of these groups simultaneously, and analyses limited to only one group
may be constrained in their scope. Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw was the first to propose an

intersectional approach to studying issues related to culture and cultural identity, emphasizing that
people are not defined by any single aspect of their identities (Crenshaw, 1989). Her original proposal
related to the situation of Black women: in many critical analyses of race and gender, “Black” issues were
generally only the issues Black men faced, while much of early feminist thought ignored issues faced by
Black women and women of color in general. Intersectional approaches to issues in psychology emphasize
the examination of how multiple social identities intersect at the level of the individual person, influencing
the ways in which they experience the world. We will explore social and cultural influences in psychology
thoroughly over the course of this text.
Figure 1.26: Intersectional approaches to understanding cultural influences strive to understand how multiple identities all intersect on
the level of the person. For example, the experiences of Black women are di erent from those of both White women and Black men in
unique ways. Similarly, LGBT people of color have di erent, unique experiences compared to White LGBT people and heterosexual
people of color. This photo from the Women’s March (January 21, 2017) shows how many social movements are beginning to adopt
intersectional thinking. How many di erent cultural identities and backgrounds can you spot represented in the image? [26]
/
Question 1.54
Review
Early work on cultural influences on psychological processes focused on which of the following?
a Discovering “psychological universals” that exist across cultures
Comparing and contrasting Eastern and Western cultures to discover how they are fundamentally di erent
b
from each other
c Investigating intersections of di erent identities
d Describing the e ects of cultural expectations on gender roles
Question 1.55
Review
An intersectional approach looks at _________.
a The unique experiences that people of color have
b The commonalities shared by all minority groups
c The unique experiences that result from having multiple social identities
d The commonalities shared by minority and majority groups
1.4.4 Biological Influences
Advances in biomedical science have also led to improvements in the ways psychologists comprehend the
biological underpinnings of behavior and mind. Today, we can “peek” at mental processes as they are
happening in the brain using equipment such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), allowing us
to view changes in blood flow to different regions of the brain in real time as people think (see Figure 1.27).
Primarily in animals, the electrical activity of different, individual brain cells can also be recorded /
independently using single-cell recording techniques, giving incredibly granular insight into the biological
correlates of behavior and thought.
/
Figure 1.27: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has given psychologists much more insight into the biological processes
happening in the brain during mental functioning. The image on the top shows how fMRI can be used to isolate functioning to
particular regions, while the image on the bottom shows successive cross-section scans of a brain. [27]
Most research into the biological influences on psychology is informative because it provides us with insight
into process-oriented explanations, specifically concerning the biological processes that are linked to
behavior. These biological processes range from explaining how neuron activity relates to the specific
functions of different areas of the brain to predicting what changes in brain physiology accompany various
forms of mental illness, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. Often, insight into the
biological origins of behavior can help clinicians and researchers treat mental illness and develop new ways
to think about its origin. Chapter 3: Biology & Neuroscience explores the biological components of
psychology in detail.
/
Question 1.56
Review
To what level of explanation do biological influences on psychology generally point?
a Ultimate
b Functional
c Process-oriented
d Low-level
1.4.5 Cognitive Influences
Finally, we arrive at cognitive influences on human behavior, which are primarily process-oriented
explanations about mental processes. Recall from earlier in this chapter that cognitive psychology deals
with information processing, asking questions such as “How do people perceive the world around them?”
and “How do people learn and remember information?” In many ways, cognitive approaches to
understanding behavior seek to provide prior context for behavior in terms of experience.
Where evolutionary approaches often speak to more nativist explanations of psychology, knowing about
the influence of experience on behavior is useful for understanding the “nurture” component of the human
experience. Cognitive psychologists often use computer-related metaphors in their models of information
processing, relating the mental states and processes of the mind to analogs in computer systems. While the
computer metaphor for mental processes isn’t perfect, it’s generally seen as an effective way to think about
them.
Cognitive approaches to understanding clinical behavior are also useful. Many clinicians believe that
depression is fundamentally a disorder related to maladaptive thought patterns more than anything else: If
patients can be taught how to interrupt and change their negative thoughts, then depression can be
alleviated. Further, evidence shows that cognitive therapies compared to antidepressants alone (a
biological intervention) may result in lower relapse rates over the long term (Gloagen, Cottrauz, Cucherat, &
Blackburn, 1998), although the combination of both types of therapies is generally most effective.
Finally, because learning and experience create physical changes in the structure of the brain (Hebb, 1949),
we can think of cognitive and biological influences on psychology as relating to descriptions of either the
mind (cognitive) or the brain (biological). Thus, cognitive approaches to psychology describe the mind that
/
the brain is creating. Throughout this text, we will explore cognitive approaches to explaining behavior and
the mind in a variety of situations.
Question 1.57
Review
Psychologists studying cognitive influences on psychology typically investigate which of the following?
a The role of information processing on a problem or situation
b The role of brain structures on a problem or situation
c The role of upbringing on a problem or situation
d The role of adaptations to solve a problem or situation
Question 1.58
Review
Which influence on psychology do you find most interesting? Rank them from “most interesting” to “least
interesting.”
Cultural influences
Evolutionary influences
Biological influences
Cognitive influences
Watch the video below and answer the questions that follow. Please click here to view the full transcript of
the video below entitled, “Capuchin monkey fights for equal rights - Inside the Animal Mind: Episode 3-BBC
Two.”
/
Video
Question 1.59
Review
Which influence would we most likely be studying if we tried to understand whether di erent groups of the same
species of monkey had di erent rules regarding what was fair?
a Evolutionary influences
b Cultural influences
c Biological influences
d Cognitive influences
/
Question 1.60
Review
Which influence would we most likely be studying if we tried to understand how a “sense of fairness” developed in
humans compared to capuchin monkeys?
Question 1.61
Review
Which influence would we most likely be studying if we tried to understand the hormones and neurons involved in
activating a “sense of fairness?”
1.5 Summary
This chapter has addressed four primary areas of psychology: what it is, what psychologists do, the history
of psychology, and how psychologists think today. These four areas help us build a framework for
/
understanding each of the topics covered in the chapters of this text, as well as the modern approaches to
psychology as a science.
As you continue to read, consider coming back to this chapter to think about how each of the various
influences in psychology informs the topics discussed in the text and what level of explanation the topics
attempt to explore. Additionally, Section 1.3: The History of Psychology will be useful for you going forward,
as you may be able to draw connections to other areas of psychology based on the time the research you
are reading about was conducted. Good luck on your journey, and have fun exploring a world of
psychological phenomena!
In this chapter, you learned:
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mind and is rooted in the disciplines of philosophy
and physiology.
Early philosophers thought that the mind and body were separate, but modern psychologists reject
this idea—the mind is understood to be “what the brain does.”
There are two types of work within psychology: basic and applied. Research (both basic and applied)
answers questions about psychology, while applied practice puts those answers to work solving
problems in the real world. Clinical practice is a form of applied work.
The di erence between empiricism and nativism is whether knowledge must be learned or is innate;
both are relevant to our understanding of how people understand the world around them.
The theory of evolution and the concept of natural selection have been very influential in the field of
psychology, shaping how we understand the function of the brain.
Wilhelm Wundt founded the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany,
initiating the formal scientific study of psychology.
The structuralist movement in psychology sought to break down conscious experience to its most
basic elements using systematic introspection, while the functionalist movement preferred to consider
psychological processes in terms of their functions.
William James is considered the “father of American psychology” and helped to widely popularize
both psychology and functionalism in North America.
The behaviorist movement in psychology discounted the study of the mind and mental processes in
favor of analyzing only observable behavior; this movement helped refine and improve psychology as
a science.
The computer helped spark the cognitive revolution in psychology, which was a return to studying
mental processes (using computer processing as a metaphor for mental processing).
Freud made e orts to understand the unconscious mind through psychoanalysis, a method used to
treat mental disorders.
The humanists preferred to consider the treatment of mental illness in terms of helping people
become their best selves, contrary to Freud’s darker view of human nature.
Multiple levels of explanation are o en necessary when considering psychological phenomena:
Ultimate explanations consider the evolutionary purpose of a phenomenon, functional explanations
consider the immediate causes, and process-oriented explanations provide mechanistic explanations
(e.g., biological or psychological mechanisms).
/
References
American Psychological Association Center for Workforce Studies (2017). Current major field of APA members
by membership type, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/workforce/publications/16-member-
profiles/index.aspx?tab=2
Angell, J. R. (1903). The relations of structural and functional psychology to philosophy. Philosophical
Review, 12, 203.
Angell, J. R. (1907). The province of functional psychology. Psychological Review, 14(2), 61.
Barrett, L. F. (2009). The future of psychology: Connecting mind to brain. Perspectives on Psychological
Science, 4, 326-339.
Bolhuis, J. J. & Everaert, M. (Eds.). (2013). Birdsong, speech, and language: Exploring the evolution of mind
and brain. MIT press.
Boring, E. G. (1929). A history of experimental psychology. New York: Century.
Boring, E. G. (1942). Sensation and perception in the history of experimental psychology. New York: D.
Appleton-Century Company.
Chomsky, N. (1986). Knowledge of language: Its nature, origin, and use. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of
antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, Vol.
1989, 139-167.
Darwin, C. (1859). On the origin of species. London: Murray.
Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man. London: Murray.
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Francis, G., & Rash, C. (2005). Analysis and design of keyboards for the AH-64D helicopter. Fort Rucker,
Alabama: US Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory. USAARL Report No. 2005-11.
Freud, S. (1900). The interpretation of dreams. (Translated by A. A. Brill, 1913). New York: Macmillan.
Freud, S. (1910). The origin and development of psychoanalysis. American Journal of Psychology, 21, 181-
218.
Freud, S. (1940). An outline of psychoanalysis. New York: Norton.
/
Freud, S. (1953). On aphasia; a critical study. (Translated by E. Stengel, original work published in German in
1891). Oxford, England: International Universities Press.
Gerritsen, R., & Haak, R. (2014). K9 schutzhund training: A manual for IPO training through positive
reinforcement (2nd ed.). Calgary: Brush Education.
Gloaguen, V., Cottraux, J., Cucherat, M., & Blackburn, I. M. (1998). A meta-analysis of the effects of cognitive
therapy in depressed patients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 49(1), 59-72.
Golding, J. F. (2016) Motion sickness. In J. M. Furman & T. Lempert (Eds.), Neuro-otology (pp. 371-390), In M. J.
Aminoff, F. Boller, & D. F. Swaab (Eds.), Handbook of clinical neurology, 3rd series, (Vol. 137). Amsterdam,
Netherlands: Elsevier.
Gould, S. J. (1991). Exaptation: A crucial tool for an evolutionary psychology. Journal of Social Issues, 47(3),
43-65.
Gould, S. J., & Lewontin, R. C. (1979). The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique
of the adaptationist programme. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences,
205(1161), 581-598.
Hall, G. S. (1879). Philosophy in the United States. Mind, 4, 89-105.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. II. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7(1), 17-
52.
Hebb, D. O. (1949). The organization of behavior: A neuropsychological approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Hodge, K. M. (2008). Descartes' mistake: How afterlife beliefs challenge the assumption that humans are
intuitive Cartesian substance dualists. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 8, 387-415.
Hunt, M. (1993). The story of psychology. New York: Doubleday.
James, W. (1884). On some omissions of introspective psychology. Mind, 9, 1-26.
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. New York: Holt.
James, W. (1892). Psychology: Briefer course. New York: Holt.
Laland, K. N., Sterelny, K., Odling-Smee, J., Hoppitt, W., & Uller, T. (2011). Cause and effect in biology
revisited: Is Mayr’s proximate-ultimate dichotomy still useful?. Science, 334(6062), 1512-1516.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370.
Mayr, E. (1961). Cause and effect in biology. Science, 134(3489), 1501-1506.
/
McGrath, R. E. (2010). Prescriptive authority for psychologists. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 6, 21-47.
Myers, S. M., & Johnson, C. P. (2007). Management of children with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics,
120(5), 1162-1182.
Nairne J. S. (2015). Adaptive memory: Novel findings acquired through forward engineering. In Lindsay, D.
S., Kelley, C. M., Yonelinas, A. P., & Roediger, H. L. (Eds.). Remembering: Attributions, processes, and control in
human memory. New York: Psychology Press.
Nairne, J. S., VanArsdall, J. E., & Cogdill, M. (2017). Remembering the living: Episodic memory is tuned to
animacy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(1), 22-27.
Ogden, R. M. (1951). Oswald Külpe and the Würzburg school. The American Journal of Psychology, 64(1), 4-
19.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification.
Oxford University Press.
Pinker, S. (1997). How the mind works. NY: Norton.
Pinker, S. (2002). The blank slate: The modern denial of human nature. New York: Viking.
Plomin, R., & Deary, I. J. (2015). Genetics and intelligence differences: Five special findings. Molecular
Psychiatry, 20(1), 98-108.
Poldrack, R. A. (2011). Inferring mental states from neuroimaging data: From reverse inference to large-scale
decoding. Neuron, 72(5), 692-697.
Rogers, C. R. (1951) Client-centered therapy. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
Rutherford, A. (2010). Feminism and American psychology: The science and politics of gender. In W. E.
Pickren & A. Rutherford, A history of modern psychology in context (pp. 262-285). New York: Wiley.
Saudino, K. J. (2005). Behavioral genetics and child temperament. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral
Pediatrics: JDBP, 26(3), 214-223.
Schaller, M., & Park, J. H. (2011). The behavioral immune system (and why it matters). Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 20(2), 99-103.
Scott-Phillips, T. C., Dickins, T. E., & West, S. A. (2011). Evolutionary theory and the ultimate–proximate
distinction in the human behavioral sciences. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(1), 38-47.
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American

Psychologist, 55(1), 5-14.
/
Silverman, K. (2004). Exploring the limits and utility of operant conditioning in the treatment of drug
addiction. The Behavior Analyst, 27(2), 209-230.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: The Free Press.
South, S. C., Reichborn-Kjennerud, T., Eaton, N. R., & Krueger, R. F. (2012). Genetics of personality. In I. B.
Weiner, H. A. Tennen, & J. M. Suls (Eds.), Handbook of psychology, volume five: Personality and social
ssychology (pp. 3-25). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Thorne, B. M, & Henley, T. B. (2004). Connections in the history and systems of psychology (3rd ed.). Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
Titchener, E. B. (1901). Experimental psychology: A manual of laboratory practice. New York: The Macmillan
Company.
Trivers, R. L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 46(1), 35-57.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2016). Occupational employment statistics, May 2016
national data. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/oes/
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as a behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, 158-177.
Watson, J. B. (1919). Psychology from the standpoint of a behaviorist. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Zeifman, D. M. (2001). An ethological analysis of human infant crying: Answering Tinbergen's four questions.
Developmental Psychobiology, 39(4), 265-285.
Image Credits
[1] Image 1 courtesy of Greg Carpenter under CC BY-SA 2.0.
[2] Image 2 courtesy of Jacques-Louis David in the Public Domain.
[3] Image 3a courtesy of Peter van der Sluijis under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Image 3b courtesy of Jastrow in the Public Domain.
[4] Image 4 courtesy of Gumruch in the Public Domain.
[5] Image 5a courtesy of Life Science Databases under CC BY-SA 2.1 JP.
/
Image 5b courtesy of Life Science Databases under CC BY-SA 2.1 JP.
Image 5c courtesy of Life Science Databases under CC BY-SA 2.1 JP.
Image 5d courtesy of Life Science Databases under CC BY-SA 2.1 JP.
[6] Image 6a courtesy of Jtneill in the Public Domain.
Image 6b courtesy of Antoine Lutz in the Public Domain.
[7] Image 7 courtesy of Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway in the Public Domain.
[8] Image 8 courtesy of Kendl123 under CC BY-SA 3.0.
[9] Image 9 courtesy of S-kay in the Public Domain.
[10] Image 10 courtesy of Cmglee under CC BY-SA 3.0.
[11] Image 11 courtesy of Fibonacci under CC BY-SA 3.0.
[12] Image 12 courtesy of Wellcome Images under CC BY 4.0.
[13] Image 13 courtesy of Weltrundschau zu Reclams Universum 1902 in the Public Domain.
[14] Image 14 courtesy of Kenosis in the Public Domain.
[15] Image 15 courtesy of anonymous in the Public Domain.
[16] Image 16 courtesy of Notman Studios in the Public Domain.
[17] Image 17 courtesy of John B Watson in the Public Domain.
[18] Image 18 courtesy of John Broadus Watson in the Public Domain.
[19] Image 19 courtesy of Michaelrayw2 under CC BY 3.0.
[20] Image 20a courtesy of Unknown photographer in the Public Domain.
Image 20b courtesy of Andrew Ciscel under CC BY-SA 2.0.
[21] Image 21 courtesy of Unknown in the Public Domain.
[22] Image 22 courtesy of Mehramooze under CC0 1.0.
[23] Image 23 courtesy of Beth under CC BY 2.0.
/
[24] Image 24 courtesy of Gary Dee under CC BY-SA 2.0.
[25] Image 25a courtesy of Unsplash in the Public Domain.
Image 25b courtesy of Afreeman under CC BY 3.0.
[26] Image 26 courtesy of bones64 in the Public Domain.
[27] Image 27a courtesy of M.R.W.HH in the Public Domain.
Image 27b courtesy of the author.
Table 1.1:
Fields of Basic Research Area of Focus Specific Example
Understanding how and why
Researching how depression
unusual and maladaptive
Abnormal might develop after a
behavioral, emotional, and
traumatic event.
thought patterns develop.
Searching for genetic
Linking individual differences
markers for autism,
Behavioral genetics in behavior to genetic
extraversion, or
factors.
schizophrenia.
Understanding mental Figuring out how people
processes, and how people transform sensations
Cognitive
process information in produced by the eyes into an
general. understandable image.
Studying non-human animal Testing whether a certain
behavior, often (but not chemical affects eating
Comparative
always) looking for behavior in mice before
commonalities with humans. studying it in humans.
Describing and
Investigating how children
understanding how and why
Developmental learn to speak, or why
behavior changes across the
memory declines in old age.
lifespan.
Linking specific behavior
Linking the processing of
patterns to underlying
Behavioral neuroscience faces to a specific area of
physical components or
brain cortex.
activities in the brain.
Personality Understanding how and why Describing how some people
people differ, and how these are extraverted, and how
/
Psychologists today o en take an eclectic approach to understanding behavior and mind, applying
various perspectives as needed; these perspectives include considering psychological phenomena
evolutionarily, culturally, biologically, and cognitively.
Introduction to Psychology In-Chapter
Feedback (Optional)
* 1 Please con rm which chapter you're in.
* 2 What did you like best about this chapter?
* 3 How could this chapter be improved?
If you have experienced any technical issues, please contact

support@tophat.com for assistance.
Done
/
differences may influence extraversion predicts specific
behavior. behavior patterns.
Studying how people
understand themselves and Investigating how and why
Social others, and how behavior people are persuaded by an
can be influenced by other argument or advertisement.
people.
Table 1.1: Examples of Basic Research in Psychology
Please click here to return to Section 1.2.1.
Table 1.2:
Fields of Applied
Area of Focus Research Example Practice Example
Psychology
Understanding the Investigating the Designing a product
decisions consumers effectiveness of label in ways known
Consumer behavior
make about products different kinds of to increase consumer
and services. advertisements. interest.
Testing how effective
Improving learning in Designing a textbook
online homework is
Educational classroom and other to take advantage of
in raising
educational settings. research on learning.
understanding.
Designing products
Studying which Designing a user
or processes in ways
keyboard layout for interface for a
that improve
Human factors helicopter pilots computer program
usefulness or
improves efficiency with the target
comfort for the
and reduces errors. audience in mind.
people using them.
Applying Testifying that a
Investigating the
psychological defendant is
Forensic & Legal accuracy of
principles to features competent to stand
eyewitness memory.
of the legal system. trial.
Improving physical Creating a public
health and Researching ways to health campaign that
healthcare by improve patients’ explains known
Health
applying adherence to a strategies for
psychological medication regimen. reducing HIV
principles. transmission.
Industrial & Helping Determining what Consulting with a
Organizational organizations kinds of job stresses company to improve
improve member
/
performance, lead to increased its management
motivation, or other turnover rates. training program.
role-related
outcomes.
Understanding the Figuring out what
Using demographic
role of psychology in kinds of
information to make
the political process, demographic factors
Political decisions about
and the role of predict how
where a candidate
politics in someone will vote in
should campaign.
psychology. a given election.
Meeting with a
Using psychology to
Researching effective student’s parents to
improve the
ways to prevent recommend a course
School academic and social
absenteeism in high of action for a
experiences of
school settings. student with anger
children in school.
issues.
Table 1.2: Examples of Applied Work in Psychology
Table 1.3:
Type of Clinician Area of Focus Required Training Example Activities
Research: Evaluating
the effectiveness of
Identifying, different treatments
preventing, and for depression.
relieving distress or Practice: Diagnosing
Clinical psychologists Ph.D. or Psy.D.
dysfunction that is a mental illness;
psychological in helping a client learn
origin. coping strategies to
overcome his social
anxiety.
Psychiatrists Identifying, M.D., multiple years Research: Medical
preventing, and of specialist training research on physical
relieving distress or causes of mental
dysfunction that is illness.
psychological in
origin. As medical Practice: Managing a
doctors, they attempt patient’s
to determine psychoactive
whether symptoms medication.
/
could be the result of
physical illness as
well.
Research: Developing
a new technique to
Helping people deal Ph.D. in counseling,
help veterans
with ongoing Ed.D. (doctor of
Counseling transition back to
situations, or education), or a
psychologists civilian life. Practice:
transitions from one master’s program in
Helping a married
situation to another. a specific specialty
couple work through
a rough patch.
Table 1.3: Types of Clinicians
Exported for Kushagra Chawla on Sat, 05 Sep 2020 23:36:38 GMT

Reading Assignment - What Is Psychology - Top Hat PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Reading Assignment - What Is Psychology - Top Hat PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Exported for Kushagra Chawla on Sat, 05 Sep 2020 23:36:38 GMT

Chapter 1: What Is Psychology?

1.0 Learning Objectives

1.1 Introduction: What Is Psychology?

Neuroscientists scanning the brains of their patients

The study of emotions and attitudes through surveys

Studies on how texting a ects driving ability

Lab rats running through mazes

Research on psychoactive medicines

Attempting to measure racial or gender bias in hiring practices

Advertising executives doing consumer research

A therapy session for a person with depression

Inspirational speakers attempting to persuade an audience

Investigating the best ways to improve student learning

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

a A therapist working with her client.

b A scientist studying the swimming behavior of mice.

c An astronomer measuring the movement of Venus across the sky.

d An anatomist investigating what he believes to be the vision center of the brain.

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

1.1.1 Early Work in Psychology

Psychology is o en considered to be a union of what two fields?

a Anatomy and theology

b Physiology and philosophy

c Education and philosophy

d Anatomy and education

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

1.1.2 Mind, Body, and Behavior

Figure 1.4: A portrait of René Descartes by František Ženíšek (1849–1916). [4]

Which of the following is not an example of “behavior” as defined by psychologists?

a Electrical impulses in the brain

b The speed at which a rat navigates a maze

c A person's response to a question

d The subjective emotions someone feels

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

Please use the following diagrams below to answer Question 1.06.

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

Dualism is the belief that ______________ and body are separate.

Type your answer and submit

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

a Arrives at conclusions through observation and analysis

b Arrives at conclusions through intuitive understanding

c Arrives at conclusions through logic and reason alone

d Cannot arrive at conclusions, as the mind is unknowable

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

1.2 What Do Psychologists Do?

1.2.1 Basic Research in Psychology

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

Match each area of basic research with its example.

Studying how much information people can

Drawing links between addictive behavior in rats

Determining how people compare themselves to

Investigating the nature of declining mental

Describing the chemical imbalances in the brain

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

Show Submitted Answer Show Correct Answer Check My Answer

Which of these examples is basic research?

a Searching for a cure for depression

b Attempting to understand the causes of depression

c Looking for a better anti-depressant drug

d Testing out a new therapy to combat depression

Basic research is to as applied research is to .