Table of Contents

Preface vii About eBookPLUS ix About eGuidePLUS x Acknowledgements xi Unit 1 Introduction to psychology Chapter 1 Nature of psychology 3 Defining psychology 3 Behaviour and mental processes 4 Distinction between psychology and psychiatry 5 Psychology as a profession 8 Areas of specialisation within psychology 8 Origins of contemporary psychology 12 Philosophical roots of psychology 12 Scientific roots of psychology 14 Classic perspectives and theories in psychology 15 Structuralism ? Wilhelm Wundt 15 Functionalism ? William James 16 Psychoanalysis ? Sigmund Freud 17 Behaviourism ? John B. Watson 18 Humanism ? Carl Rogers 19 Contemporary perspectives and theories in psychology 21 Biological perspective 22 Behavioural perspective 25 Cognitive perspective 26 Socio-cultural perspective 28 An eclectic perspective 30 Scientific nature of psychology 31 Use of scientific method 32 Scientific versus non-scientific explanations 34 Psychics and psi abilities 34 Astrology 36 Chapter summary 39 Chapter test 40 Chapter 2 Research methods 1 43 Steps in psychological research 43 Step 1: identification of the research problem 43 Step 2: construction of a hypothesis 45 Step 3: designing the method 45 Step 4: collecting the data 45 Step 5: analysing the data 46 Step 6: interpreting the data 46 Step 7: reporting the research findings 47 Research methods 48 Experimental research 49 Independent and dependent variables 49 Extraneous variables 50 Experimental and control groups 51 Advantages and limitations of experimental research 52 Sampling procedures 53 Descriptive research 58 Case studies 58 Observational studies 60 Qualitative and quantitative data 64 Qualitative data 64 Quantitative data 65 Qualitative and quantitative research 66 Making sense of data 68 Percentages 68 Tables 69 Graphs 70 Ethics and professional conduct in psychological research 75 Roles and responsibilities of the experimenter 76 Participants? rights 76 Professional conduct 78 Use of animals in psychological research 79 Role of ethics committees 80 Chapter summary 83 Chapter test 84 Chapter 3 THE VISUAL PERCEPTION SYSTEM?89 Roles of the eye in visual perception 90 Characteristics of the visual perception system 92 Reception 92 Transduction 94 Transmission 94 Organisation and interpretation 94 Visual perception principles 99 Gestalt principles 99 Depth principles 106 Perceptual constancies 113 Perceptual set and visual perception 116 Perceptual set 117 Distortions of visual perception by illusions 125 Muller-Lyer illusion 126 Chapter summary 131 Chapter test 132 Chapter 4 Lifespan development 135 Defining lifespan development 135 Stages of lifespan development 136 Areas of lifespan development 138 Interaction of different areas of development 138 How development proceeds 139 Interaction of hereditary and environmental factors in shaping psychological development 143 Nature versus nurture 143 Role of maturation in development 148 Sensitive periods in development 148 Developmental psychology from different perspectives 151 Biological perspective 151 Behavioural perspective 151 Cognitive perspective 152 Socio-cultural perspective 152 Research methods for studying development 153 Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies 153 Cohort sequential method 154 Twin studies 155 Adoption studies 156 Chapter summary 159 Chapter test 160 Chapter 5 Theories of psychological development 162 Gibson?s theory of perceptual development 163 Affordances 163 Differentiation 165 Emotional development 167 Attachment theory 168 Harlow?s experiments on attachment in monkeys 175 Cognitive development 180 Piaget?s four-stage theory of cognitive development 181 Criticisms of Piaget?s theory 190 Moral development 191 Kohlberg?s theory of moral development 191 Criticisms of Kohlberg?s theory 196 Psychosocial development 199 Erikson?s theory of psychosocial development 199 Criticisms of Erikson?s theory 208 Psychological changes in the very old 209 Cognitive changes 210 Psychosocial changes 211 Successful ageing 212 Baltes? Selection, Optimisation and Compensation theory 213 Chapter summary 217 Chapter test 218 Chapter 6 Mental illness across the lifespan 221 What is mental illness? 222 Psychological dysfunction 222 Distress 222 Impaired ability 222 Atypical 222 Socially or culturally inappropriate 223 Psychotic and non-psychotic mental illnesses 223 Psychotic illness 223 Non-psychotic illness 223 Incidence of mental illness in Australia 224 Diagnosing a mental illness 228 Labelling someone with a mental illness 230 Rosenhan?s (1973) classic research 230 Disruptions to normal development 232 Autism 232 Autism Spectrum Disorder 234 Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) 237 Anorexia nervosa 239 Anxiety disorders 243 Schizophrenia 249 Dementia 253 Chapter summary 258 Chapter test 259 Unit 2 S elf and others Chapter 7 Research methods 2 263 More on experimental research 263 Correlational studies 269 Descriptive statistics 273 Frequency distribution 273 Measures of central tendency 275 Variability 278 Reliability and validity in research 282 Reporting conventions 283 Research report 284 Chapter summary 287 Chapter test 288 Chapter 8 Attitud e formation and change 292 Attitude formation 292 Tri-component model of attitudes 293 Attitudes and behaviour 296 Factors influencing attitude formation 298 Attitudes towards people 300 Stereotyping 300 Prejudice and discrimination 302 Factors contributing to the development of prejudice 307 Factors that may reduce prejudice 309 Measurement of attitudes 319 Observational studies 319 Self-report methods 319 Advantages and limitations of attitude measurement devices 324 Ethics in conducting research on attitude measurement 326 Chapter summary 328 Chapter test 329 Chapter 9 S ocial influences on the individu al 332 Social influence 332 What is a group? 332 Status and power within groups 334 Types of power 334 Effects of status and power within groups 336 Zimbardo?s Stanford Prison Experiment 337 Ethical issues in Zimbardo?s experiment 339 Obedience 341 Milgram?s experiments on obedience 341 Factors affecting obedience 344 Ethical issues in obedience studies 346 Conformity 350 Asch?s experiments on conformity 350 Factors affecting conformity 352 Group influences on behaviour 360 The peer group 360 Peer pressure 362 Risk-taking behaviour 365 Chapter summary 368 Chapter test 369 Chapter 10 PRO-SOCIAL AND ANTI -SO CIAL BEHA VIO UR?372 Pro-social behaviour 373 Factors influencing pro-social behaviour 374 Altruism 384 Factors influencing reluctance to help 386 Diffusion of responsibility 386 Audience inhibition 388 Cost?benefit analysis 389 Ethical considerations in studies on pro-social behaviour 389 Anti-social behaviour 391 Aggression 391 Explanations of aggression 392 Chapter summary 403 Chapter test 403 Chapter 11 Intelligence 406 Ways of describing intelligence 406 Binet ? intelligence as an age-related set of abilities 407 Wechsler ? intelligence as verbal and performance abilities 408 Gardner?s theory of multiple intelligences 409 Sternberg?s triarchic theory of intelligence 414 Cattell-Horn-Carroll model of psychometric abilities 416 Salovey and Mayer?s ability-based model of emotional intelligence 421 Measuring intelligence 424 Binet?s test of intelligence 424 Stanford?Binet test of intelligence 425 Wechsler?s tests of intelligence 426 IQ and its calculation 430 Does IQ = intelligence? 431 Variability of intelligence test scores 432 Test validity and test reliability 433 Test standardisation and test norms 435 Standardised testing procedures 436 Culture-biased and culture-fair tests 436 Strengths and limitations of intelligence tests and IQ scores 438 Factors that influence intelligence 440 Interaction of genetic and environmental factors 440 Chapter summary 447 Chapter test 448 Chapter 12 Personality 451 Ways of describing personality 451 Theories of personality 452 Psychodynamic theories of personality 453 Freud?s theory 453 The structure of personality 454 Development of personality 459 Strengths and Iimitations of psychodynamic theories 462 Trait theories of personality 464 Key assumptions 464 Scales for traits and dimensions 465 Allport?s hierarchy of traits 465 Cattell?s 16 personality factor model 467 Eysenck?s PEN model 469 Costa and McCrae Five-Factor Model 472 Strengths and limitations of trait theories 475 Humanistic theories of personality 475 Rogers? person-centred theory 476 Strengths and limitations of humanistic theories 478 Influence of genetic and environmental factors 479 Longitudinal studies 479 Twin studies 480 Adoption studies 482 Measuring personality 486 Personality tests 486 Use of personality and aptitude inventories in vocational selections 489 Holland?s Self-Directed Search 493 Strengths and limitations of inventories 497 Projective tests 498 Strengths and limitations of projective tests 500 Validity and reliability of personality tests 501 Test validity 501 Test reliability 501 Chapter summary 505 Chapter test 506 Answers 509 Glossary 510 References 523 Index 540