Chapter 1 - Questions

Question 1

Who established the first psychology laboratory in 1879?

Answer 1

William Wundt

Question 2

Structuralists argued that psychological research should focus on the study of _______.

Answer 2

the elements of consciousness

Question 3

Early topics of interest to the _____ included mental testing and the effectiveness of various educational practices.

Answer 3

functionalists

Question 4

The work of Sigmund Freud was initially very controversial because of his focus on ______.

Answer 4

sexual urges

Question 5

Who argued against the study of mental processes, claiming that they could not be studied scientifically?

Answer 5

John Watson

Question 6

B. F. Skinner argued that behaviour is governed by _____.

Answer 6

rewards and punishments

Question 7

The advent of the computer spurred on research in the field of _____ psychology.

Answer 7

cognitive

Question 8

Which perspective has dominated the psychological literature since the mid 1970s?

Answer 8

cognitive perspective

Question 9

Natural selection favours behaviours that enhance an organism’s reproductive fitness. What type of psychology is this the basic premise of?

Answer 9

evolutionary psychology

Question 10

When researchers look at students’ ability to predict their scores on tests, what have they have found that students tend to do?

Answer 10

overestimate their performance

Question 11

“Our conclusion is that we have no real evidence of the inheritance of traits. I would feel perfectly confident in the ultimately favourable outcome of careful upbringing of a healthy, well-formed baby born of a long line of crooks, murderers and thieves, and prostitutes.”

Answer 11

John B. Watson dismissing the importance of genetic inheritance while arguing that traits are shaped entirely by experience

Question 12

“The book which I present to the public is an attempt to mark out a new domain of science…. The new discipline rests upon anatomical and physiological foundations…. The experimental treatment of psychological problems must be pronounced from every point of view to be in its first beginnings.”

Answer 12

Wilhelm Wundt campaigning for a new, independent science of psychology.

Question 13

“Consciousness, then, does not appear to itself chopped up in bits. Such words as ‘chain’ or ‘train’ do not describe it fitly…. It is nothing jointed; it flows. A ‘river’ or ‘stream’ is the metaphor by which it is most naturally described.”

Answer 13

William James commenting negatively on the structuralists’ efforts to break consciousness into its elements and his view of consciousness as a continuously flowing stream.

Question 14

“In the traditional view, a person is free…. He can therefore be held responsible for what he does and justly punished if he offends. That view, together with its associated practices, must be re-examined when a scientific analysis reveals unsuspected controlling relations between behaviour and environment.”

Answer 14

B. F. Skinner (1971, p. 17), explaining why he believed that freedom is an illusion.

Question 15

“He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If the lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore. And thus the task of making conscious the most hidden recesses of the mind is one which it is quite possible to accomplish.”

Answer 15

Sigmund Freud arguing that it is possible to probe into the unconscious depths of the mind.

Question 16

“I do not have a Pollyanna view of human nature…. Yet one of the most refreshing and invigorating parts of my experience is to work with [my clients] and to discover the strongly positive directional tendencies which exist in them, as in all of us, at the deepest levels.”

Answer 16

Carl Rogers
commenting on others’ assertion that he had an overly optimistic (Pollyannaish) view of human potential and discussing humans’ basic drive toward personal growth.

Question 17

Three crucial ideas behind the field of psychology are:

Answer 17

(1) psychology is empirical,

(2) psychology is theoretically diverse, and

(3) psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context.

Question 18

Themes related to psychology as a field of study:

Answer 18

(1) psychology is empirical,

(2) psychology is theoretically diverse, and

(3) psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context.

Question 19

Themes related to psychology as a subject matter:

Answer 19

4) behaviour is determined by multiple causes,

(5) behaviour is shaped by cultural heritage,

(6) heredity and environment jointly influence behaviour, and

(7) people’s experience of the world is highly subjective.

Question 20

Research areas in psychology:

Answer 20

(1) developmental psychology,

(2) social psychology,

(3) experimental psychology,

(4) behavioural neuroscience/biological psychology,

(5) cognitive psychology,

(6) personality,

(7) psychometrics,

(8) educational psychology, and

(9) health psychology.

Question 21

Professional specialties in psychology:

Answer 21

(1) clinical psychology,

(2) counselling psychology,

(3) educational and school psychology, and

(4) industrial and organizational psychology.