Psychology - A Self-Teaching Guide

Table of contents

- Cover Page (Page 1)
- Title Page (Page 5)
- ISBN 0471443956 (Page 6)
- Contents (Page 9)
- Preface (Page 11)
- How Do You Use the Book? (Page 11)
- 1 Introduction: The Foundations of Psychology (Page 13)
- Objectives (Page 13)
- Looking at the Word Psychology: From Ancient to Modern Meanings (Page 14)
- The Classical Schools of Psychology: Five Great Thinkers and Their Ideas (Page 16)
- Ways of Approaching the Study of Behavior: Searching for Explanations (Page 20)
- Fields of Psychology: Of Laboratories and Clinics (Page 24)
- 2 Research Methods in Psychology: Gathering Data (Page 29)
- Objectives (Page 30)
- The Scientific Method: Do the Facts Support Your Educated Guess? (Page 30)
- Naturalistic Observation: Looking at Behavior without Interference (Page 32)
- The Clinical Method: Studying Troubled People (Page 32)
- The Case Study Method: One Subject at a Time (Page 33)
- The Survey Method: Large Samples from Larger Populations (Page 33)
- The Testing Method: Mental Measurements (Page 34)
- The Correlational Method: When X Is Associated with Y (Page 35)
- The Experimental Method: A Tool with Great Power (Page 37)
- 3 The Biology of Behavior: Is the Brain the Organ of Mental Life? (Page 42)
- Objectives (Page 43)
- The Neuron: The Building Block of the Nervous System (Page 43)
- The Nervous System: The Body’s Communication Network (Page 46)
- The Brain: The CEO of the Organization (Page 47)
- The Two Hemispheres of the Brain: Does the Right Side Know What the Left Side Is Doing? (Page 50)
- The Endocrine System: Moods and Your Glands (Page 51)
- 4 Sensation: Studying the Gateways of Experience (Page 57)
- Objectives (Page 58)
- Vision: Seeing Is Believing (Page 59)
- Hearing: The Sound of Music (Page 61)
- Taste: “This Is Too Salty” (Page 63)
- Touch: Of Pain and Pressure (Page 63)
- Smell: The Nose Knows (Page 64)
- Kinesthesis: Can You Touch the Tip of Your Nose with Your Eyes Closed? (Page 65)
- The Sense of Balance: Walking in an Upright Position (Page 65)
- 5 Perception: Why Do Things Look the Way They Do? (Page 69)
- Objectives (Page 70)
- The Gestalt Laws: Is Our Perception of the World Due to Inborn Organizing Tendencies? (Page 71)
- Learned Aspects of Perception: Is the Infant’s World a Buzzing, Blooming Confusion? (Page 73)
- Illusions: What Do They Teach Us about Perception? (Page 74)
- Depth Perception: Living in a Three-dimensional World (Page 77)
- Extrasensory Perception: Is It Real? (Page 78)
- 6 Learning: Understanding Acquired Behavior (Page 84)
- Objectives (Page 85)
- Classical Conditioning: Responding to Signals (Page 86)
- Trial-and-Error Learning: Taking a Rocky Road (Page 88)
- Operant Conditioning: How Behavior Is Shaped by Its Own Consequences (Page 89)
- Consciousness and Learning: What It Means to Have an Insight (Page 93)
- Memory: Storing What Has Been Learned (Page 96)
- 7 Motivation: Why Do We Do What We Do? (Page 102)
- Objectives (Page 103)
- Biological Drives: The Need for Food and Water (Page 104)
- General Drives: Looking for New Experiences (Page 105)
- Acquired Motives: Exploring the Need to Achieve (Page 107)
- Unconscious Motives: Hidden Reasons for Our Behavior (Page 109)
- Self-Actualization: Becoming the Person You Were Meant to Be (Page 111)
- The Search for Meaning: Looking for the Why of Life (Page 114)
- 8 Emotions: Riding Life’s Roller Coaster (Page 119)
- Objectives (Page 120)
- Emotions: What Are They? (Page 120)
- Theories of Emotion: Explaining the Process (Page 122)
- Stress and Health: Wear and Tear Takes Its Toll (Page 124)
- Conflict: Making Difficult Choices (Page 126)
- 9 Thinking: Exploring Mental Life (Page 132)
- Objectives (Page 133)
- Forming Concepts: Putting the World into Mental Boxes (Page 134)
- Solving Problems: What Is the Square Root of 12? (Page 136)
- Obstacles to Solving Problems: Mental Sets Can Cause Difficulties (Page 139)
- Logical Thinking: How We Reason (Page 140)
- Creative Thinking: The Importance of Originality (Page 143)
- 10 Intelligence: In Pursuit of Rational Thought and Effective Action (Page 148)
- Objectives (Page 149)
- Intelligence: What Is It? (Page 149)
- The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Intelligent Is as Intelligent Does (Page 152)
- The Wechsler Scales: Comparing Verbal Intelligence and Performance Intelligence (Page 153)
- The Concept of an Intelligence Quotient: Following the Bell-Shaped Curve (Page 155)
- Validity and Reliability: Two Big Problems in Any Kind of Testing (Page 157)
- The Interaction of Heredity and Environment: How They Exert Joint Effects (Page 159)
- 11Developmental Psychology: How Children Become Adults (Page 165)
- Biological Aspects of Development: From Fertilized Egg to Infant (Page 167)
- Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development: From the Oral to the Genital Stage (Page 169)
- Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development: From Trust to Integrity (Page 172)
- Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development: From Magical Thinking to Logical Thinking (Page 175)
- Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development: From a Power Orientation to Living by Principles (Page 178)
- Parental Style: Becoming an Effective Parent (Page 180)
- 12 Sex and Love: Are You in the Mood? (Page 186)
- Objectives (Page 187)
- The Orgasm: The Peak of Sexual Pleasure (Page 187)
- Female Sexual Dysfunctions: When Sex Is Not Satisfactory (Page 190)
- Male Sexual Dysfunctions: Men Can Have Problems Too (Page 191)
- Dysfunctions Affecting Either Sex: When Desire Is Absent (Page 192)
- Sexual Variance: Of Fetishes and Voyeurism (Page 193)
- Intimacy: What Is This Thing Called Love? (Page 197)
- 13 Personality: Psychological Factors That Make You an Individual (Page 203)
- Objectives (Page 204)
- How Does Your Personality Affect Your Behavior? (Page 204)
- Your Traits: Are You Introverted or Extroverted? (Page 205)
- Freud’s Theory: The Three Faces of You (Page 208)
- Other Psychodynamic Theories: Is There a Collective Unconscious Mind? (Page 211)
- Learned Aspects of Personality: The Effects of Experience (Page 215)
- The Conscious Individual: The Self-Shaping of the Personality (Page 216)
- Personality Tests: “Can That Silly Inkblot Test Really Tell You Anything about People?” (Page 217)
- 14 Abnormal Psychology: Exploring Mental Disorders (Page 224)
- Objectives (Page 225)
- Defining Abnormal Behavior: It Takes More than Deviation (Page 226)
- Classifying Mental Disorders: Clusters of Signs and Symptoms (Page 227)
- Anxiety Disorders: Suffering from Chronic Worry (Page 228)
- Somatoform Disorders: When the Body Is Involved (Page 230)
- Dissociative Disorders: Loss of Identity (Page 231)
- The Mood Disorders: Emotional Ups and Downs (Page 232)
- The Psychotic Disorders: Suffering from Delusions (Page 233)
- The Personality Disorders: Making Others Suffer (Page 235)
- The Organic Mental Disorders: When the Nervous System Itself Has Pathology (Page 236)
- Viewpoints: Ways to Explain Abnormal Behavior (Page 237)
- 15 Therapy: Helping Troubled People (Page 243)
- Objectives (Page 244)
- Psychodynamic Therapy: Exploring Unconscious Roots (Page 245)
- Client-Centered Therapy: A Humanistic Approach (Page 247)
- Behavior Therapy: A “Bad” Habit Can Be Modified (Page 249)
- Cognitive-Behavior Therapy: How Thinking Affects Emotions and Actions (Page 250)
- Group Therapy: Encountering Others (Page 252)
- Drug Therapy: A Revolution in Psychiatry (Page 253)
- 16 Social Psychology: Interacting with Other People (Page 259)
- Objectives (Page 260)
- Interpersonal Attraction: Who Likes Whom, and Why? (Page 261)
- Attitudes: Exploring Psychological Positions (Page 263)
- The Art of Persuasion: Toward the Changing of Attitudes (Page 264)
- Conformity and Social Influence: Reacting to Other People (Page 266)
- Cognitive Dissonance Theory: The Square Peg Can’t Fit in the Round Hole (Page 269)
- INDEX (Page 275)
- A (Page 275)
- B (Page 276)
- C (Page 276)
- D (Page 277)
- E (Page 278)
- F,G (Page 279)
- H,I (Page 280)
- J (Page 281)
- K,L (Page 281)
- M (Page 281)
- N (Page 282)
- O (Page 282)
- P (Page 283)
- R,S (Page 285)
- T (Page 287)
- U (Page 287)
- V (Page 287)
- W,Y,Z (Page 288)
- Back Page (Page 289)