Chapter 1 Questions

Chapter 1 Topics
1. fMRI and why it is an important research tool.
fMRI stands for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.  It helps scan a person's brain, shows when certain brain structures are activated.

2. What "empirical" means, and how psychology is an empirical science.
Empirical has to do with what we're able to know through our senses.  Psychological science relies on empirical evidence in order to achieve an accurate understanding.  Empirical sciences is founded on observations that we make with out senses.

3. An example of the adaptive value of the mind.
An example of the adaptive value of the mind is that humans have a need to belong to a group, and all societies discourage behaviors that may lead to social exclusion.

4. When psychology became a discipline and the two main founders of the discipline.
Psychology became a discipline in 1879.  The main founders of the discipline are Wilhelm Wundt and William James.

5. How at least two professions make use of psychological knowledge.
Lawyers, advertisers, and physicians make use of psychological knowledge.  Lawyers need to know how groups make decisions in order to persuade jurors.  Advertisers must know how attitudes are formed or changed and to what extent people's attitudes predict their behavior.  Physicians need to know how to relate to their patients, how their behaviors are linked to health, and what motivates or discourages them from seeking medical care.


Chapter 1 Questions
1. What is psychological science?
Psychological science is the study of mind, brain, and behavior.  Psychologists try to understand how people perceive, think, and act in a variety of situations.  Different developments in study methods are helping improve the understanding of the human mind and behavior.  Research helps psychologists explain human behaviors in real-life contexts.  Psychologists try to figure out what makes other people tick.  What people do, think and feel.

2. How are the mind and brain related to each other?
The mind refers to mental activity.  The perceptual experiences while a person interacts with the world.  Sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch are all examples of the mind in action.  Memories, thoughts, and feelings also show the mind in action.  Mental activity comes from actions of nerve cells, neurons, and chemical reactions within the brain.  The physical brain enables the mind.  The "Mind is what the brain does".

3. What are the levels of analysis, and how are these levels illustrated by human use and experience of music?
The first level of analysis is the biological level.  Studies of music's effects on mood at the biological level have shown that pleasant music may be associated with increased activation of one brain chemical, serotonin, which is relevant to mood.  Case studies have shown that some patients with certain types of brain injury become unable to hear tones and melody but not speech or environmental sounds.  The second level is the individual level of analysis.  Studies have shown that mood may be affected not only by the tempo of music but by whether the music is in major or minor mode.  In Western music, major mode is associated with positive moods and minor mode is associated with sad moods.  Children can distinguish mood effects by age seven or eight.  The third level is the social level of analysis.  When people are alone they might like quiet, contemplative music, with others they might like more upbeat music that encourages dancing.  The final level is cultural analysis.  African music has rhythmic structures different from those in Western music which might reflect the important rule of dancing and drumming in African folktales  The influences of major and minor modes on mood hold only within certain cultures.

4. What is the role of women in the discipline of psychology, and how has it changed since the late 19th century?
Many women like Mary Whiton Calkins, and Margaret Flay Washburn have contributed to psychology history.  Today women make up about 70 percent of psychology majors and nearly half of all new psychology doctorates.  Today, contributions from women are acknowledged but in the early 19th century they were ignored.  Calkins had a hard time continuing her studies at Harvard.  After she completed all the requirements for a PhD, she took the qualifying exam and scored higher than all her male classmates.  Even then, Harvard refused to give her a degree.  Calkins became the first woman president of the American Psychological Association.  Margaret Flay Washburn was the first woman to be officially granted a PhD in psychology and was the second woman president of the American Psychological Association.

5. What is critical thinking, and how can you improve your critical thinking activities as you study psychology?
Critical thinking is a systematic way of evaluating information to reach reasonable conclusions.  Thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal oriented.  Considering alternative explanations, looking for holes in evidence, and using logic and reasoning to see if information makes sense.  It involves keeping an open mind.  In order to improve my critical thinking skills I need to be skeptical of overblown media reports of new findings gained by research.  Critical thinkers consider alternative explanations for behavior and seek quality research.