Chapter 1 Study Guide

You should be able to define and understand all the terms in this chapter and identify the important contributions of the people mentioned in this chapter as well as answer the following questions:

· Define psychology and indicate what kinds of behaviors it incorporates.

· What types of questions are involved in critical thinking?

· How does basic and applied research differ?

· What are the five major goals of psychology? How are these goals related to one another?

· Describe the levels of analysis framework.

· Compare the people, goals and methods of structuralism and functionalism.

· What causal factors are the focal points of the psychodynamic perspective? What are defense mechanisms, and what is repression? What influences have Freud’s theory had on contemporary psychology?

· What are the important causal factors of behavior within the behavioral perspective? What is behaviorism? Which important individuals are associated with this movement? What is cognitive behaviorism? How does it differ from behaviorism?

· How does the humanistic conception of human nature and motivation differ from that which is advanced by the psychodynamic and behavioral perspectives? What does Gestalt mean? How does this meaning relate to the goals and findings of Gestalt psychology?

· What factors led to a renewed interest in studying cognitive processes in the 1950s? What is studied in the area of cognitive neuroscience? What do behavioral neuroscientists study?

· Define culture and norms. What function does a culture serve? Contrast individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Describe the role of love in selecting a marital partner as it occurs in different cultures.

· For each of the psychological perspectives, differentiate between their conceptions of human nature, major causal factors of behavior, and the predominant focus and methods of behavior.

· Using levels of analysis methods, what does the biological level tell us about the causes of depression? What kinds of psychological causal factors have been identified in depression? Which causal factors in depression are seen at the environmental level of analysis?

· Describe the activities associated with various specialty areas within psychology.

· What is the difference between psychologists and psychiatrists?

· Describe three important principles of time management. What are two important suggestions for improving study habits? When taking tests, what strategies do test-wise students use?