Introduction to Psychology

Study Guide Ch. 1 (30 pts.)

Please include the question before your answer when completing
the study guidesit makes it easier for me to grade them! Thanks.
Begin by reading page 1 about Reality and TV Reality. It sets up the study for
this course nicely. People seem to be innately curious about other people. I
think youll enjoy this course of study!
1. Define Psychology. What are the three key terms in this definition? Explain
each of them. Psychology the scientific study of behavior and mental
processes. The three key terms are science, behavioral and mental. Science
is the use of systematic methods to observe the natural world, including
human behavior and to draw conclusions. Behavioral is everything we do
that can be directly observed. Mental processes are thoughts, feelings, and
motives that people experience privately but that cannot be observed
directly.
2. After psychologists observe behavior, what are the goals of psychological
science? The goals of psychological science are describe, predict, and
explain behavior. In addition, psychologist are often interested in controlling
or changing behaviors, and they use scientific methods to examine
interventions that might help, for example, reduce violence or promote
happiness.
3. Give a brief review of some of the early roots of psychology. Include some
of the early explanations of human behavior and the psychologists who
studied behavior. Psychologists approach human behavior as scientists who
think critically and who are curious, skeptical, and objective. Psychology
emerged as a science from philosophy and physiology. Two founders of the
science of psychology are Wilhelm Wundt and William James.
4. Differentiate between structuralism and functionalism. Include the words
what and why and how they fit into these theories. Structuralism is
Wundts approach to discovering the basic elements or structure of mental
process. It was called structuralism because of its focus on identifying the
structures of the human mind. Functionalism is Jamess approach to mental
processes, emphasize the functions and process of the mind and behavior in
the individuals adaptation to the environment. The differential between
structuralism and functionalism is that structuralism emphasized the
components of the mind while functionalism probed the functions and

purposes of the mind and behavior in the individuals adaptation to the

environment. Structuralists were looking inside the mind and searching for
its structures, functionalists focused on what was going on in human
interactions with the outside world and trying to understand the purpose of
thoughts. Structuralism is about the what of the mind and functionalism is
about the why.
5. Who is the theorist associated with natural selection? Define it. Charles
Darwin is the theorist associated with natural selection. Natural selection is
Darwins principle of an evolutionary process in which organisms that are
best adapted to their environment will survive and produce offspring
1. 6. List and give the main theme of each of the seven contemporary

approaches to psychology. The seven contemporary approaches are:

Biological- an approach to psychology focusing on the body,
especially the brain and nervous systems.
Behavior- an approach psychology emphasizing the scientific study of
observable behavioral responses and their environmental
determinates.
Psychodynamic- an approach to psychology emphasizing
unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives (such as
the drive for sex) and societies demands, and early childhood family
experiences.
Humanistic- emphasizes a persons positive qualities, the capacities
for positive growth, and the freedom to choose ones destiny.
Cognitive- emphasizes the mental processes involved in knowing,
how we direct our attention, perceive, remember, think and solve
problems.
Evolutionary- centered on evolutionary ideas such as adaptation,
reproduction and natural selection and the basis for explaining specific
human behaviors.
Sociocultural- examines the influences of social and cultural
environments on behavior.
7. Study carefully the section on Experimental Research on page 23-24.
Explain in your own words the independent variable and the dependent
variable. Independent variable is a manipulated experimental factor.

Dependant variable is the outcome- the factor that can change an

experiment in response to changes in the independent variable. The
independent variable is the types of music: happy music and neutral music.
This is because it is controlled by the experimenters on which music they will
listen to. The dependant variable is the outcome which is the meaning in life.
8. Identify the control group, experimental group, independent variable and
the dependent variable in the following experiment: A researcher wants to
find out if asking open ended questions while reading to young children will
raise their vocabulary skills. The dependant variable would be the raising of
vocablulary skills, the independent variable would be the asking of open
ended questions to create an outcome, the control group would be the
children who are being read to, and the experimental group would be the
children who are being read to and asked open ended questions.
9. A study on obesity had four groups, each with a different assignment. One
group of participants read a brochure about diet and nutrition; another group
had a 30-minute nutrition counseling session; a third group read the
newspaper; a fourth group watched a video about exercise and fitness. The
control group is
a. the group that had a counseling session.
b. the group that read the newspaper.
c. the group that read the brochure.
d. the group that watched the video
10. List the four ethical guidelines that must be followed when conducting
research. These will ensure that no participant leaves the experiment worse
off than before the experiment began. The four ethical guidelines that must
be followed when conducting research are informed consent, confidentiality,
debriefing, (participants should be fully informed about the process of the
study one it is over) and explaining fully the use of deception in a study.
11. Of the 18 categories of Psychology given in your text on page 12, which
one, upon initial reaction, interests you the most? Which one do you think
would benefit you most in your career choice? Why? Upon initial reaction, the
one that interested me the most was the industrial and organization (I/O). I
am not sure if I completely understand the meaning or significance of that
specific one however, I feel it would benefit me the most because it deals
with all the areas of psychology to the workplace and I am hoping one day to
have my own business and understand everything that goes along with
being an owner.

Note: These next questions are worth 5 pts. Eachtake time to

formulate a well written and carefully thought out response in order
to receive full credit! Think critically. (Maybe you should reread
page 3!)
12. Read page 19. Take the Satisfaction with Life Scale and record your score
here. Do you agree or disagree with the results? How do you compare to
others from your same culture? Comment on happiness among different
cultures. (5 pts.) According to the results using Ed and Carol Diener scale, I
am quite happy as my results were above 3.5. I would say that I do agree
with it, however I do not feel that those 5 questions alone can give an
accurate result. There are many things in my life I see that I can improve and
I feel that at times I am unhappy with life however with the questions asked,
yes I am happy. My score was around 5.4 which would put me in comparison
to the Masai. However, with reading their lifestyle, I can say that I feel that I
would not be happy. However, I know that when you live a certain lifestyle
and become accustomed to it, others may see it as wrong or a hard life while
the one living the life sees it as normal and enjoyable. I can see how other
cultures would say that they are happy, and I personally believe they are. I
have spoken with many different cultures of people and am very friendly,
therefore I have had an opportunity to not only see the differences but
understand the differences among other cultures.
13. Give an explanation both of how the mind affects the body and also how
the body affects the mind. Can you think of examples from your own life of
how this is true? (5 pts.)
14. A video clip called The Evolution of Dance was posted to YouTube by
comedian Judson Laipply and quickly went viral, receiving more than 116
million views. In the clip, Laipply dances to music by artists as varied as the
Brady Bunch, Vanilla Ice, and New Kids on the Block. Why would a video of a
guy dancing to a variety of pop songs, be so popular? Explain how a theorist
from each of the following approaches would explain: Psychodynamic,
behaviorist, and humanistic. (5 pts)
15. College students participated in a study to determine whether the
number of hours of sleep a person gets determines how well they will do on
an exam the next day were randomly assigned to either the group that was
woken up at various times throughout the night or the group that was
allowed to sleep through the entire night. Determine the following elements
of that experiment. (4 pts.)
Control group:

Experimental group:
Independent variable:
Dependent variable: