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1 Discovering MODULE Psychology A. Definition & Goals 4 Summary Test 22...

1 Discovering MODULE Psychology A. Definition & Goals 4 Summary Test 22 Photo Credit: © David Spurdens/Corbis B. Modern Approaches 5 Critical Thinking 24 C. Historical Approaches 12 How Do Autistic People Think? D. Cultural Diversity: Early Discrimination 14 Links to Learning 25 Concept Review 15 E. Research Focus: Taking Class Notes 16 F. Careers in Psychology 17 G. Research Areas 18 H. Application: Study Skills 20 2  Introduction Growing Up in a Strange World repeating the same behaviors (hand flapping), or following the same ritu- When Donna was about 3 years old, she ate als. Signs of autism usually appear when a child is 2 or 3 years old Why does lettuce because she liked rabbits and they (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Donna flap ate lettuce. She ate jelly because it looked A very small percentage of individuals with autism are called her hands? like colored glass and she liked to look at savants because they have incredible math skills, spatial abilities, colored glass. musical talent, or near picture-perfect memory. For example, one She was told to make friends, but Donna had her savant memorized 7,600 books; another plays 7,000 songs; another own friends. She had a pair of green eyes named lists world events that happened on any given day; another per- Willie, which hid under her bed, and wisps, forms amazing calculations, such as doubling 8,388,628 twenty- which were tiny, transparent spots that hung in four times in only seconds (answer: 140,737,488,355,328) (D. S. the air around her. Fox, 2009; Treffert, 2006; Treffert & Wallace, 2002). When people spoke, their words were strange Donna Williams (1992) is an example of a savant who sounds with no meaning, like mumble jumble. developed exceptional language skills. At age 25, in four Donna did learn the sounds of letters and how almost-nonstop weeks, she wrote a 500-page book that they fit together to make words. Although she described what it was like to be autistic. In this and her didn’t learn the meanings of words, she loved three other autobiographies (D. Williams, 1994, 1999, 2004), their sounds when she said them out loud. As Some autistic children show Donna describes how common sights, sounds, and images a child, she was tested for deafness because she rapid hand flapping. become strangely distorted, which makes getting through did not use language like other children. She an ordinary day like finding one’s way out of a terribly did not learn that words had meaning until she was a teenager. complex maze. When people talked to Donna, especially people with loud or As we describe Donna’s experiences, you’ll see how psycholo- excited voices, she heard only “blah, blah, blah.” Too much excited gists try to answer questions about complex behaviors, such as talk or overstimulation caused Donna to stare straight ahead and autism, as well as countless other behaviors discussed throughout appear to be frozen. Donna later called this state “involuntarily this text. For example, one question that psychologists have studied anesthetized.” involves a problem that you may be interested in—test anxiety. Donna was in and out of many schools because she failed her exams, refused to take part in class activities, walked out of classes Test Anxiety she didn’t like, and sometimes threw things. If you’re like many other students, you prob- When Donna did make a friend, she tried to avoid getting a Why are ably experience some degree of test anxiety. friendly hug, which made her feel as if she were burning up inside your hands Test anxiety refers to a combination of physio- and going to faint. Eventually she learned to tolerate being hugged sweating? logical, emotional, and cognitive components that but never liked it (D. Williams, 1992). Donna Williams had all the are caused by the stress of taking exams and may symptoms of autism. interfere with one’s concentration, planning, and Although relatively rare (1 in 150), autism affects 3 to 4 times as academic performance (Flippo et al., 2009). many boys as girls, occurs in all parts of the world, and is thought For some students, test anxiety is an to be 10 times more prevalent now than it was 20 years ago (Fom- unpleasant experience but doesn’t neces- bonne, 2005; NICHD, 2005). Some parents blamed the increase sarily interfere with exam performance. in autism on childhood vaccinations, but after a thorough inves- For other students, test anxiety not tigation, a U.S. federal court ruled this is not true (USCFC, 2009). only is an unpleasant experience Researchers believe the increase in autism is due, in part, to bet- but also seriously interferes with ter diagnosis in recent years as well as to various environmental doing well on exams. We’ll dis- and genetic factors (C. Kalb, 2008; Kraft, 2006). Researchers are cuss what psychologists have dis- making great strides in understanding the genetic covered about test anxiety, such as links to autism and have identified a number of its different components, why students genes involved in autism (Arking et al., 2008; There are several differ in how much test anxiety they ways to decrease Morrow et al., 2008; Weiss et al., 2008). test anxiety. feel, and, perhaps most important, how Autism is marked by especially abnormal or to decrease test anxiety. impaired development in social interactions, such as hiding to avoid people, not making eye What’s Coming contact, not wanting to be touched. Autism is In this module, we’ll explore the goals of psychology, the major marked by difficulties in communicating, such approaches that psychologists use to understand behavior and as grave problems in developing spoken lan- answer questions, the historical roots of psychology, current Some autistic guage or in initiating conversations. Individuals research areas, and possible careers in the broad field of psycholo- children avoid social with autism are characterized by having very few gy. Let’s begin with how psychologists study complex problems, interactions. activities and interests, spending long periods such as Donna’s autistic behaviors. INTRODUCTION 3 A. Definition & Goals Definition of Psychology actions or responses in both humans and animals. Behaviors might When you think of psychology, you may include eating, speaking, laughing, running, reading, and sleeping. What do think of helping people with mental prob- Mental processes, which are not directly observable, refer to a wide psychologists lems. However, psychologists study a broad range of complex mental processes, such as thinking, imagining, study? range of behaviors, including Donna’s autis- studying, and dreaming. The current broad definition of psychol- tic behaviors and students’ test anxiety, as ogy grew out of discussions and heated arguments among early well as hundreds of other behaviors. For this reason, we need a very psychologists, who defined psychology much more specifically, as broad definition of psychology. we’ll discuss later in this module. Psychology is the systematic, scientific study of behaviors and mental Although the current definition of psychology is very broad, processes. psychologists usually have four specific goals in mind when they What’s important about this definition is that each of its terms study some behavior or mental process, such as Donna’s autistic has a broad meaning. For example, behaviors refers to observable experiences. Goals of Psychology Donna (photo below) knows that she has some unusual behaviors. For example, she says that she doesn’t like What are some of to be touched, held, or hugged, doesn’t like to make eye contact when speaking to people, hates to talk to some- Donna’s unusual one who has a loud voice, and really dislikes meeting strangers. If you were a psychologist studying Donna’s behaviors? unusual behaviors, you would have the following four goals in mind: to describe, explain, predict, and control her behavior. 1 Describe Donna says that when she was 3 Predict Donna says that one of her biggest problems is being a child, she wondered what people were saying so overloaded by visual sensations that she literally freezes in place. to her because words were just lists of meaning- She tries to predict when she will freeze up by estimating how less sounds. When people or things bothered many new stimuli she must adjust to. her, she would endlessly tap or twirl her fin- The third goal of psychology is to predict how organisms will gers to create movements that completely held behave in certain situations. her attention and helped her escape from However, psychologists may have difficulty predicting a world that often made no sense. how autistic children will behave in certain situations The first goal of psychology is to unless they have already described and explained their describe the different ways that organ- Psychology’s goals are to describe, behaviors. For example, from the first two goals, psy- isms behave. explain, predict, and control Donna’s chologists know that autistic children are easily over- As psychologists begin to describe the autistic behaviors. whelmed by strange stimuli and have difficulty paying behaviors and mental processes of autistic attention. Based on this information, psychologists can children, such as difficulties in learning language, predict that autistic children will have difficulty learning in a school environ- they begin to understand how autistic children ment because there are too many activities and stimuli in the classroom (Heflin & behave. After describing behavior, psychologists Alaimo, 2006; M. Pittman, 2007). However, if psychologists can predict behavior, try to explain behavior, the second goal. then they can often control behavior. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Chris Samuel, by permission of Chris Samuel 2 Explain Donna’s mother believed that 4 Control Donna knows one reason she fears meeting people is that social autism was caused by evil spirits. Donna thinks interactions cause a tremendous sensory overload that makes her freeze up. She her autism may result from metabolic imbalance. controls her social fear by making a rule to meet only one person at a time. The second goal of psychology is to explain the For some psychologists, the fourth goal of psychology is to control an organism’s causes of behavior. behavior. However, the idea of control has both positive and negative sides. The The explanation of autism has changed as psy- positive side is that psychologists can help people, such as Donna, learn to control chologists learn more about this complex problem. undesirable behaviors by teaching better methods of self-control and ways to deal In the 1950s, psychologists explained that children with situations and relationships (Eikeseth et al., 2007; Hall, 2008). The negative became autistic if they were reared by parents side is the concern that psychologists might control people’s behaviors without their who were cold and rejecting (Blakeslee, 2000). In knowledge or consent. In Module 2, we’ll discuss the strict guidelines that psycholo- the 1990s, researchers discovered that autism is gists have established to prevent potential abuse of controlling behavior and to pro- caused by genetic and biological factors that result tect the rights and privacy of individuals, patients, and participants in experiments. in a maldeveloped brain (Courchesne et al., 2003). Because many behaviors, such as autism, are enormously complex, psycholo- Being able to describe and explain behavior helps gists use a combination of different approaches to reach the four goals of describing, psychologists reach the third goal, which is to explaining, predicting, and controlling behavior. To reach these goals, psychologists predict behavior. may use one or a combination of the following seven approaches. 4 MODULE 1 DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY  B. Modern Approaches Answering Questions Psychologists have many ques- own signaling system, such as scrunching her toes to How do tions about Donna’s unusual signal that no one could reach her? Why did she freeze psychologists behaviors. For example, up when staring at soap bubbles in the sink? In try- answer why did Donna believe ing to answer questions about Donna’s strange and questions? that objects were alive and intriguing behaviors, psychologists would use a made their own sounds? combination of approaches. “My bed was my friend; my coat protected me and An approach refers to a focus or perspective, which kept me inside; things that made noise had their may use a particular research method or technique. Donna would tell her shoes own unique voices, which said vroom, ping, or what- where she was going so they The approaches to understanding behavior ever. I told my shoes where they were going so they would take her there. include the biological, cognitive, behavioral, psy- would take me there” (Blakely, 1994, p. 14). choanalytic, humanistic, cross-cultural, and, most Why did Donna initially hear words as meaningless sounds recently, evolutionary. We’ll summarize these seven approaches that people were constantly saying to her? Why did she develop her and then discuss them in more detail on the following pages. 1 As a child, was Donna unable to 5 How was Donna able to overcome her learn that words had meaning because early language problems and write a of some problem with the development book in four weeks? of her brain? The humanistic approach emphasizes Photo Credit: Jacket cover from Somebody Somewhere by Donna Williams. Used by permission of Times Books, a division of Random House, Inc. The biological approach focuses on that each individual has great freedom in how our genes, hormones, and nervous directing his or her future, a large capac- system interact with our environments ity for personal growth, a considerable to influence learning, personality, amount of intrinsic worth, and enor- memory, motivation, emotions, and mous potential for self-fulfillment. coping techniques. 2 How was Donna able to develop her 6 Why did her mother believe autism was caused by evil spirits? What do other own signaling system that involved peoples and cultures believe causes it? gestures instead of words? The cross-cultural approach exam- The cognitive approach examines ines the influence of cultural and ethnic how we process, store, and use infor- similarities and differences on the psy- mation and how this information chological and social functioning of a influences what we attend to, perceive, culture’s members. learn, remember, believe, and feel. 3 Why did Donna make it a rule to 7 How might Donna’s unique behaviors avoid leaving soap bubbles in the sink? help her to adapt to the environment? The behavioral approach studies How did autism evolve during the course how organisms learn new behaviors of our human ancestry? or modify existing ones, depending on The evolutionary approach studies whether events in their environments how evolutionary ideas, such as adap- reward or punish these behaviors. tation and natural selection, explain human behaviors and mental processes. 4 Why did Donna develop alternate personalities, such as Willie, who had By using one or more of these seven approaches, psychologists can “hateful glaring eyes, a rigid corpselike look at autism from different viewpoints and stand a better chance stance, and clenched fists”? of reaching psychology’s four goals: to describe, explain, predict, T he psychoanalytic approach and control behavior. The first six approaches are well-established stresses the influence of unconscious and commonly used approaches to understanding behavior. We’ll fears, desires, and motivations on use the problems of autism and test anxiety to show how each of thoughts, behaviors, and the develop- these six approaches examines these problems from a different per- ment of personality traits and psycho- spective. Then, we’ll provide more information about the relatively logical problems later in life. recent and increasingly popular evolutionary approach. B. MODERN APPROACHES 5 B. Modern Approaches PowerStudy 4.5™ Module 4 A. Genes & Evolution Biological Approach B. Studying the Living Brain As Donna explains, autism has a huge Psychobiologists, researchers who use the Are their effect on all parts of her life. “Autism biological approach, have shown that genetic brains makes me feel everything at once factors influence a range of human behaviors, different? without knowing what I am feeling. which we’ll discuss throughout this text. The Or it cuts me off from feeling any- genes (p. 68) use a chemical alphabet to write thing at all” (D. Williams, 1994, p. 237). Donna’s descrip- instructions for the development of the brain tion of how autism so drastically affects her life raises and body and the manufacture of chemicals questions about whether her brain has not developed nor- that affect mental health, learning, emotions, mally or functions differently. To answer these questions, and everything we do (Rutter & Silberg, 2002). researchers use the biological approach. Normal brain For example, it is known that autism runs in The biological approach examines how our genes, hormones, families, and this genetic involvement is sup- and nervous system interact with our environments to influence ported by the finding that if one identical twin learning, personality, memory, motivation, emotions, and other has autism, then there is as high as a 90% chance traits and abilities. the other twin will have signs of autism (M. H. Figure/Text Credit: Graph data from “Arithmetic calculation, deep inspiration or handgrip exercise-mediated pre-operational active palmar sweating responses in Autism is thought to originate in early brain develop- Lewis & Lazoritz, 2005). Researchers recently ment. In children with autism, brain cells appear to con- identified a number of genes involved in autism nect irregularly, leading to abnormal functioning in brain (Arking et al., 2008; Weiss et al., 2008) and are humans,” by Masayoshi Kobayashi, Noriko Tomioka, Yoshihisa Ushiyama and Toshio Ohhashi Autonomic Neuroscience, Volume 104, Issue 1, pp. 58–65. areas responsible for thoughts, movement, and emotions. now using genetic screening to help identify the These abnormalities may explain why these children seem causes of autism (Cai et al., 2008). uninterested in their environment and in social interac- Also using the biological approach, research- tion. Brain imaging research has shown that children with Autistic brain ers found that social problems associated with autism show different brain activity than other children autism are linked to less activity in brain cells while looking at faces (D. S. Fox, 2009). For example, the top figure responsible for human empathy (mirror neurons). These cells shows that the normal brain uses one area (blue—fusiform gyrus) to allow us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and experience process faces of people and a different area (red—inferior temporal how they feel. Reduced activity in these cells helps explain why gyrus) to process inanimate objects, such as a chair. The bottom figure children with autism misunderstand verbal and nonverbal cues shows that the autistic brain uses the area that processes inanimate suggesting different emotions felt by others, including joy, sad- objects (red—inferior temporal gyrus) to also process human faces ness, and anger, and why they have difficulty empathizing with (R. T. Schultz et al., 2000). This study uses the biological approach to others (Dapretto et al., 2006; Iacoboni, 2008). look inside the brain to explain why people with autism show little Essentially, psychobiologists study how the brain affects the interest in looking at a person’s face during social interactions or in mind, and vice versa. They may study an experience that many identifying facial emotional expressions. students are familiar with, called test anxiety. Biological Approach to Test Anxiety You’ve probably experienced one The graph on the right shows how Stressful Thoughts Trigger Sweating Why do my component of test anxiety, called easily your stressful thoughts can hands sweat? the emotional component. This trigger palmar sweating, which is one 2.5 Amount of Sweating component includes a variety of measure of the emotional component 2.0 physiological responses, such as increased heart rate, dry of test anxiety. As subjects listened to 1.5 mouth, and sweaty palms. An interesting feature of sweaty instructions telling them to do men- 1.0 palms, called palmar sweating, is that it is caused by stress- tal arithmetic, which involved them 0.5 ful feelings and is not related to changes counting backward from 100 in steps in room temperature (L. A. Gold- of 7, there was a significant increase in 0 Relax Instructions Mentally smith, 2008). In fact, palmar sweat- palmar sweating. Then, once subjects Count ing is one of the measures used in started to actually do the mental arith- the lie detector test, which we’ll dis- metic, their palmer sweating increased even more (Kobayashi et al., 2003). If cuss in Module 16. simply listening to instructions about having to do a simple task of counting As you take an exam—or even backward increased palmar sweating, a sign of physiological and emotional t hin k about ta k ing one—your arousal, imagine the increased arousal that occurs while taking an exam! Sweaty hands often indicate stress. st ressf u l t houg hts t r ig ger t he In fact, symptoms of test anxiety may include shaky legs, racing heart, emotional component, which can physical illness, or even crying during an exam (Strauss, 2004). In Module interfere with processing information and increase your 21, we’ll describe several methods of controlling stress that will be useful in chances of making mistakes (Cassady & Johnson, 2002). controlling the emotional component of test anxiety. 6 MODULE 1 DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY  PowerStudy 4.5™ Cognitive Approach Module 10 E. Cognitive Learning Individuals with autism usually have In his writings, he explains that his brain Was Donna an difficulty developing language skills. has difficulty processing different senses at the same time, such as unusual autistic? For example, Donna writes, “Autism sound, sight, and touch. This is the reason he avoids eye contact makes me hear other people’s words when talking with people, as he usually chooses to focus on hear- but be unable to know what the words mean. Autism stops me from ing (McEdwards, 2008). Thus, there is a cognitive difference between finding and using my own words when I want to. Or makes me use normal individuals who can respond simultaneously to more than all the words and silly things I do not want to say” (D. Williams, one sensory input, such as seeing and hearing, and individuals with 1994, p. 237). Although Donna did not understand words until she autism who are limited to concentrating on one sense at a time. was an adolescent, she eventually learned to both speak and write, Some cognitive researchers combine the study of cognitive skills has written several creative books (D. Williams, 1992, 1994, 1999, with identifying their corresponding areas in the brain. This exciting 2004), and has learned French and German. Because of her remark- new approach is called cognitive neuroscience (Purves et al., 2008). able language abilities, Donna is said to be a high-functioning autis- Cognitive neuroscience involves taking pictures and identifying the tic, or savant. To discover why individuals with autism differ in their structures and functions of the living brain during performance of a variety language and social skills, psychologists use the cognitive approach. of mental or cognitive processes, such as thinking, planning, naming, and The cognitive approach focuses on how we process, store, and use recognizing objects. information and how this information influences what we attend to, per- For example, when listening to a conversation, 95% of right- ceive, learn, remember, believe, and feel. handers use primarily the left sides of their brains and very little Unlike Donna Williams, who speaks fluently and is considered of the right sides to process this verbal information. In contrast, a high-functioning autistic, the photo on the right shows Tito Muk- researchers found that individuals with autism used primarily the hopadhyay, a teenager with severe autism who often right sides of their brains and very little of the left seems overcome by various movements, whose sides when listening to a conversation (E. J. Flagg speech is virtually unintelligible, but who has the et al., 2005). This reversing of brain sides as well as unusual ability to answer questions or explain difficulties in processing verbal information may what he’s thinking or doing by writing or typing help explain why autistic individuals have problems on the keyboard he is holding. For example, when acquiring cognitive, language, and communication Tito was being tested in a laboratory, he repeatedly skills. stopped and started bursts of activity, standing Recently, the cognitive approach and its newer rel- and spinning, making loud smacking noises, or ative, cognitive neuroscience, have become popular flapping his fingers. When asked why he does this, because they have proved useful in answering ques- Tito didn’t answer verbally but wrote, “I am calm- tions about emotions, personality, cognitive skills, Tito is severely autistic but ing myself. My senses are so disconnected I lose my can type answers to questions. and social behaviors (Cacioppo et al., 2005; Harmon- body, so I flap. If I don’t do this, I feel scattered and Jones & Winkielman, 2007). For example, the cogni- anxious” (Blakeslee, 2002, p. D1). Tito has written books inviting tive approach has much to say about test anxiety, especially about others to share in his inner life (Mukhopadhyay, 2000, 2003, 2008). worrying too much. Cognitive Approach to Test Anxiety Students who experience test anxi- measuring students’ test anxiety in elementary school, college, and graduate Can you ety must deal with two components. school shows that females report significantly greater test anxiety than males worry too The f irst component, which we (Chapell et al., 2005; Lynch, 2008; Reteguiz, 2006). Even though females report much? already described, is increased phys- greater test anxiety, there is no difference in their academic performance when iological arousal, which is the emo- compared to males (Chapell et al. 2005). tional component. The second component is the The reason females report greater worry and anxiety than males, yet dem- cognitive component, which is excessive worrying, onstrate the same academic performance, may have something to do with usually about doing poorly on exams. differences in how the sexes channel their worry and anxiety. For instance, Excessive worrying about your perfor- researchers found that the cognitive component could either help or hin- mance can interfere with your ability to der performance. Students who channeled their worry into complaining Photo Credit: © Dana Fineman/Vistalux read accurately, understand what you are rather than studying performed poorly because their worry interfered reading, and identify important concepts with their reading and caused them to make more reading errors (Cassady & Johnson, 2002). Thus, it (Calvo & Carreiras, 1993). In contrast, students who channeled is easy to see how excessive anxiety their worry into studying performed better and achieved higher and worrying can decrease students’ grades because they were better prepared (Endler et al., 1994). confidence and impair their study- These studies indicate that the cognitive component ing and academic performance of test anxiety—excessive worrying—may either help or (Cassady, 2004; Flippo et al., 2009; hinder cognitive performance, depending on how students Miesner & Maki, 2007). Research channel their worries. B. MODERN APPROACHES 7 B. Modern Approaches PowerStudy 4.5™ Module 10 A. Operant Conditioning Behavioral Approach E. Cognitive Learning No leaving soap suds in the sink! use symbols to communicate, and to perform behaviors on cue in movies and television shows. If Donna happened to leave soap suds in the Why have a Largely through the creative work and original ideas of B. F. sink, she might see a rainbow “no soap Skinner (1989), the behavioral approach of colors reflected in the bub- suds” rule? has grown into a major force in psychology. bles. She would become so Skinner’s ideas stress the study of observable completely absorbed in look- behaviors, the importance of environmental ing at the brilliant colors that she could not move; reinforcers (reward and punishment), and the she would be in a state of temporary paralysis. exclusion of mental processes. His ideas, often Donna made her “no soap suds” rule to prevent the referred to as strict behaviorism, continue to environment from triggering an autistic behavior— have an impact on psychology. In Module 10, temporary paralysis. Donna and her husband, who we’ll explain how Skinner’s ideas were inte- is also autistic, have developed many rules to con- grated into a program that taught autistic chil- trol some of their unwanted behaviors. Here are dren new social behaviors that enabled them to some of their rules: No lining feet up with furniture; enter and do well in public grade schools. No making the fruit in the bowl symmetrical; No reading newspaper headlines in gas stations or at However, some behaviorists, such as Albert Seeing a dazzling rainbow in soap newsstands (Blakely, 1994, p. 43). These rules, which suds stopped Donna in her tracks. Bandura (2001a), disagree with strict behavior- help Donna and her husband avoid performing repet- ism and have formulated a theory that includes itive and stereotyped behaviors, illustrate the behavioral approach. mental or cognitive processes in addition to The behavioral approach analyzes how organisms learn new behav- observable behaviors. According to Bandura’s social cognitive iors or modify existing ones, depending on whether events in their environ- approach, our behaviors are influenced not only by environmen- ments reward or punish these behaviors. tal events and reinforcers but also by observation, imitation, and Donna and her husband’s rules are examples of a basic behav- thought processes. In Module 10, we’ll discuss how Bandura’s ideas ioral principle: Rewards or punishments can modify, change, explain why some children develop a fear of bugs. or control behavior. Psychologists use behavioral principles to Behaviorists have developed a number of techniques for chang- teach people to be more assertive or less depressed, to toilet train ing behaviors that can be applied to both animals and humans. young children, and to change many other behaviors. Psycholo- Next, you will see how they have used self-management skills to gists use behavioral principles to train animals to press levers, to reduce the cognitive component of test anxiety. Behavioral Approach to Test Anxiety We discussed how excessive worrying, which is the cogni- Effectiveness of Self-Management Can I redirect tive component of test anxiety, can improve test perfor- my worrying? mance if you can channel your worry into studying for exams. One method to redirect worry into studying more    53% is to use a system of self-management based on a number of behavioral principles   
 


  (D. V. Kennedy & Doepke, 1999). 

  Researchers found that the following self-management practices are related to 


 increasing studying time and achieving better grades: (1) select a place that you 

 

   use exclusively for study; (2) reward yourself for studying; (3) keep a record of your 

 study time; (4) establish priorities among projects; (5) specify a time for each task; 
 
 and (6) complete one task before going on to another. Notice 

 

 
 that each of these self-management practices derives from our basic behavioral principle: Events in your environment can modify your behaviors through rewards and punish- ments. As the graph on the right shows, 53% of freshmen 7% who learned and used self-management practices survived into their sophomore year compared to the survival rate of 


 


 only 7% of freshmen who did not learn self-management did not take 
 did take 
 practices (Long et al., 1994).   
   



 


In later modules, we’ll give many examples  

  


of how behavioral principles can be used 

  

  to modify a wide range of behaviors and thought patterns. 8 MODULE 1 DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY Psychoanalytic Approach When she was about 3 years old, idea that the first five years have a profound effect on How was Donna faced a number of personal later personality development. According to the psy- Donna’s problems: having an alcoholic choanalytic approach, Donna’s first five years with a childhood? mot her who hit and verba lly verbally abusive mother and mostly absent father would abused her, having a father who profoundly affect her later personality development. was often gone, and being sent to a “special needs” In addition, Freud reasoned that thoughts or feel- school. Apparently in trying to deal with these prob- ings that make us feel fearful or guilty, that threaten lems, Donna developed other personalities. One per- Donna had an alcoholic and our self-esteem, or that come from unresolved sex- verbally abusive mother and a sonality was Willie, a child with “hateful glaring eyes, mostly absent father. ual conflicts are automatically placed deep into our a pinched-up mouth, rigid corpselike stance, and unconscious. In turn, these unconscious, threat- clenched fists,” who stamped and spit but also did well in school. ening thoughts and feelings give rise to anxiety, fear, or psycho- The other was Carol, a charming, cooperative little girl who could logical problems. Because Freud’s patients could not uncover their act normal and make friends (S. Reed & Cook, 1993). Why Donna unconscious fears, he developed several techniques, such as dream developed other personalities to deal with difficult childhood expe- interpretation, to bring hidden fears to the surface. Freud’s belief in riences would be carefully looked at in the psychoanalytic approach an unconscious force that influenced human thought and behavior (Lanyado & Horne, 1999). was another of his revolutionary ideas (Fayek, 2005). The psychoanalytic approach is based on the belief that childhood Many of Freud’s beliefs, such as the existence of unconscious experiences greatly influence the development of later personality traits feelings and fears, have survived, while other ideas, such as the and psychological problems. It also stresses the influence of unconscious all-importance of a person’s first five years, have received less sup- fears, desires, and motivations on thoughts and behaviors. port. Many of Freud’s terms, such as id, ego, superego, and libido, In the late 1800s, Sigmund Freud, a physician, treated a number have become part of our everyday language. We’ll discuss Freud’s of patients with psychological problems. On the basis of insights theory of personality in Module 19. from therapy sessions, Freud proposed some revolutionary ideas Unlike the biological, cognitive, and behavioral approaches, the about the human mind and personality development. For example, psychoanalytic approach would search for hidden or unconscious one hallmark of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic approach is the forces underlying test anxiety. Psychoanalytic Approach to Test Anxiety We discussed two components of test unconscious personality problems that may underlie procrastina- Is test anxiety a n x iet y— excessive wor r y i ng a nd tion and test anxiety. Because unconscious reasons for procrastina- related to increased physiological responses—that tion and test anxiety are difficult to uncover, psychologists use a procrastination? can impair a student’s performance on variety of standard personality tests in their research. exams. Researchers also found that stu- Based on personality tests, researchers concluded that students dents with high test anxiety are much more likely to procrastinate who are regular procrastinators may have low self-esteem, are too than students with low test anxiety (N. A. Milgram et al., 1992). dependent on others, or have such a strong fear of failure that they Procrastination refers to the tendency to always put off completing a do not start the task (Blunt & Pychyl, 2000). Personality tests also task to the point of feeling anxious or uncomfortable about one’s delay. show that neuroticism (persistent anxiety; see p. 463) and an exter- Researchers estimate that about 20% of adults are chronic nal locus of control (feeling little control over events; see p. 459) procrastinators and from 80 to 95% of students procrastinate or are associated with test anxiety (Carden et al., 2004; Chamorro- deliberately delay Premuzic et al., 2008). Thus, the psychoanalytic approach points to The best thing for completing assign- underlying personality problems as the probable cause of procras- you to do is to put off doing anything ments or studying tination and test anxiety. for a few more days. for exa ms (Gura, The psychoanalytic approach would also study how child- 2008b; E. Hoover, hood experiences may have led to procrastination. For instance, 2005; Steel, 2007). Some of researchers found that procrastinators tend to be raised by authori- the more obvious reasons stu- tarian parents who stress overachievement, set unrealistic goals dents give for procrastinating for their children, or link achievement to giving parental love and include being lazy or undisci- approval. A child who is raised by parents like these may feel anx- plined, lacking motivation, and ious when he or she fails at some task and will be tempted to put off not knowing how to organize such tasks in the future (Pychyl et al., 2002). their time or set deadlines (Ariely Psychologists know that ingrained personality characteristics, & Wertenbroch, 2002). such as procrastination, remain relatively stable and persist across However, t he psychoana ly tic time unless a person makes a deliberate effort to change them. In approach would look beneath these Modules 21, 23, and 24, we’ll discuss several methods that psychol- obvious reasons and try to identify ogists have developed to change personality characteristics. B. MODERN APPROACHES 9 B. Modern Approaches Humanistic Approach Donna says that one reason FIGHT AUTISM.... I WILL CONTROL IT.... What was she wrote her books was to IT WILL NOT CONTROL ME” (D. Williams, Donna’s escape her prison of autism. 1994, p. 238). potential? Autism has trapped her in a Humanists believe that, like Donna, we may world where she sometimes have to struggle to reach our potential, but we blinks compulsively, switches lights on and off have control of our fate and are free to become for long periods of time, rocks back and forth, whatever we are capable of being. The humanistic freezes up, stares off into space without being approach emphasizes the positive side of human able to stop herself, hates to be touched, cannot nature, its creative tendencies, and its inclina- stand to enter public places, and hates to make tion to build caring relationships. This concept of eye contact with others (D. Williams, 1992). human nature—freedom, potential, creativity— Even though Donna has serious life challeng- is the most distinctive feature of the humanistic es, she strives toward reaching her potential, and approach and sets it far apart from the behavioral her achievements are impressive. She has pub- and psychoanalytic approaches (Giorgi, 2005). lished autobiographies and textbooks on autism. The humanistic approach officially began in Her creative paintings and sculptures can be seen the early 1960s with the publication of the Jour- Photo Credit: center, Jacket cover from Somebody Somewhere by Donna Williams. Used by permission of Times Books, a division of Random House, Inc. at exhibits. Donna is also a singer–songwriter nal of Humanistic Psychology. One of the major Although the majority of people with who has released two incredible albums. Also, autism have difficulty with language, figures behind establishing the journal and the she married a man she refers to as a “diamond of Donna has an amazing ability for humanistic approach was Abraham Maslow, a person” (D. Williams, 2009). written and spoken language. who had become dissatisfied with the behavioral Donna’s struggle to free herself from autism, and psychoanalytic approaches. To paraphrase develop close personal relationships, and reach her potential char- Maslow (1968), the humanistic approach was to be a new way of acterizes the humanistic approach. perceiving and thinking about the individual’s capacity, freedom, The humanistic approach emphasizes that each individual has great and potential for growth. Many of humanism’s ideas have been freedom in directing his or her future, a large capacity for achieving per- incorporated into approaches for counseling and psychotherapy. sonal growth, a considerable amount of intrinsic worth, and enormous Because of its free-will concept of human nature and lack of potential for self-fulfillment. experimental methods, many behaviorists regard the human- Donna echoes the humanistic approach when she writes, istic approach as more of a philosophy of life than a science of “Autism tried to rob me of life, of friendship, of caring, of shar- human behavior. ing, of showing interest, of using my intelligence... it tries The humanistic approach also applies to dealing with a student’s to bury me alive....” The last words in her book are “I CAN problems, such as test anxiety and procrastination. Humanistic Approach to Test Anxiety The first year of college can be a diffi- Psychologists have also studied students whose academic per- How can cult adjustment for many students, formance ranged from poor to very good in order to develop a pro- students reach since it is more demanding and stress- file of a successful student. Studies showed that successful students their potentials? ful than high school. Researchers share a number of similar characteristics: they feel competent about wanted to learn which specific meeting the demands of their classes; they believe factors lead to high academic performance and successful they can handle test situations; they are very good adjustment among first-year college students. They at organizing their study time and leisure time; found that students who were confident in their aca- they prepare themselves for tests and do not demic abilities performed significantly better than procrastinate (Kleijn et al., 1994). students who were less confident, and they adjusted Based on studies of students’ performances, better to college. Also, students who had higher expec- the humanistic approach would say that just as tations for academic success, such as performing well successful students found ways to reach their in courses, received better grades (Chemers et al., academic potential, all students should search 2001). Based on these findings, it is evident that believ- for ways to reach their own potentials. The ing in one’s abilities and potential is an important fac- humanistic approach emphasizes that students tor in being a successful student. These results may be have the capacity to choose, that each is unique useful for educators in helping students who do poorly or special, and that students should have in school to not give up but rather try to develop their faith in their personal or subjective feelings academic potential. (Hansen, 2000). 10 MODULE 1 DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY  PowerStudy 4.5™ Module 10 I. Application: Behavior Cross-Cultural Approach Modification Autism is believed to exist South Korea. The number of people with How is autism in every culture (Grinker autism in South Korea is unknown, as the dis- perceived in other 2007). Let’s look at how dif- order has a terrible stigma and children with cultures? ferent cu ltures perceive autism are often kept at home hidden from the autism. public. Parents in South Korea may fear that their United States. A psychologist in family will lose face if people know someone with autism lives there and the United States first described the that marriage prospects for their other children will be negatively affected symptoms of autism almost 70 years as a result of having a child with an abnormality. ago (L. Kanner, 1943). Then autism Physicians in South Korea usually diagnose what would be considered was thought to be caused by environmental factors, autism in the United States as reactive attachment disorder (see p. 377), such as having “cold” parents. In the 1960s, the focus which they interpret as “lack of love.” This is a less stigmatizing diagnosis, changed to searching for biological causes (Rimland, 1964). as parents believe they can help their child by providing more love. Also, Today, researchers believe the probable causes of autism it doesn’t negatively harm the family as much as a genetic disease might. include environmental and genetic factors (C. Kalb, 2008; The unfortunate result, however, is that children with autism do not get Kraft, 2006). the treatment they need. Within only the past few years, the perceptions There are between 1 million and 1.5 million Americans of autism have begun to positively change in South Korea. Some children with autism (ASA, 2008). Early diagnosis is a priority in the with autism are now going to school and even walking out in public with United States. While the diagnosis of autism usually occurs their families (Grinker, 2007). between ages 2 and 3, the American Academy of Pediat- The differences in how autism is perceived in the United States and South rics (2007) is now recommending screening as early as 18 Korea show the influence of cultural factors and the use of the cross-cultural months, recognizing the importance of early intervention. approach in psychology (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008; Shiraev & Levy, 2009). Treatment is provided by psychiatrists and other physi- The cross-cultural approach studies the influence of cultural and ethnic simi- cians, psychologists, teachers, speech therapists, play thera- larities and differences on psychological and social functioning. pists, and other professionals who understand autism. There are also differences in how other cultures experience test anxiety. Cross-Cultural Approach to Test Anxiety Culture plays an important role parents are less involved with their children’s school- How do other in determining the intensity work and they promote independence and personal cultures deal with and expression of test anxiety, responsibility. A related cross-cultural difference is test anxiety? and test an x iet y has been how children express test anxiety. Indian students examined in countries across express their anxiety through physical symptoms, the globe (Bodas & Ollendick, 2005). whereas American students experience more The development and severity of test anxiety appear cognitive symptoms, such as excessive worrying This symbol indicates a to be different between Asian and non-Asian students. cultural diversity topic. (Bodas & Ollendick, 2005; Verma et al., 2002). For example, students in India experience heightened test This research shows how the cross-cultural anxiety due to several factors, including the cultural emphasis on approach provides different and interesting answers to the same academic achievement, parental and social pressures to perform, question (Shiraev & Levy, 2009). In each module, we will high- and the stressful, competitive nature of exams. In contrast, Ameri- light a cross-cultural study, which will be indicated by the cultural can students don’t experience as much test anxiety, in part because diversity symbol shown above. Evolutionary Approach Eclectic Approach The most recent modern approach to psychology Rather than strictly focusing on one of the seven approaches, emerges out of evolutionary theory and is called most of today’s psychologists use an eclectic approach, which the evolutionary approach. means they use different approaches to study the same behavior. By The evolutionary approach studies how evolu- combining information from the biological, cognitive, behav- tionary ideas, such as adaptation and natural selec- ioral, psychoanalytic, humanistic, cross-cultural, and evolu- tion, explain human behaviors and mental processes. tionary approaches, psychologists stand a better chance of Although the evolutionary approach is rela- reaching their four goals of describing, explaining, predicting, tively new, research has already examined how and controlling behavior. evolution influences a variety of behaviors and mental processes, such We have discussed the approaches used by modern psychol- as aggression, mate selection, fears, depression, and decision making ogists so you can compare them with the different approaches (Buss, 2004, 2007, 2009). We’ll discuss the evolutionary approach again used by early psychologists. As you compare early and mod- in Module 4 (p. 69) and include some of the exciting research resulting ern approaches, you can appreciate how much psychology has from this approach throughout the text. changed in the past 100 years. B. MODERN APPROACHES 11 C. Historical Approaches Imagine living in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the electric light, radio, and airplane were being invented How did and the average human life span was about 30 years. This was the time when psychology broke away from philoso- psychology phy and became a separate field of study. As they developed this new area, early psychologists hotly debated its begin? definition, approach, and goals (Benjamin, 2000). We’ll highlight those early psychologists whose ideas and criti- cisms shaped the field. We’ll begin with the person considered to be the father of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt. Structuralism: Elements of the Mind Functionalism: Functions of the Mind There were no bands or celebrations For twelve years, William James labored Who when Wilhelm Wundt established the Who wrote over a book called The Principles of Psy- established first psychology laboratory in 1879, in the first chology, which was published in 1890 and the first lab? Leipzig, Germany. In fact, his laboratory textbook? included almost every topic that is now was housed in several rooms in a shabby part of psychology textbooks: learning, building that contained rather simple sensation, memory, reasoning, attention, equipment, such as platforms, various feelings, consciousness, and a revolution- balls, telegraph keys, and metronomes. ary theory of emotions. The heavily bearded Wundt, now consid- For example, why do you feel fear when ered the father of psychology, would ask running from a raging wolf? You might subjects to drop balls from a platform or answer that an angry wolf (figure below) listen to a metronome (figure below) and is a terrifying creature that causes fear report their own sensations. Wundt and and makes you run—fear makes you run. his followers were analyzing their sensa- Not so, according to James, who reasoned tions, which they thought were the key to that the act of running causes a specific analyzing the structure of the mind (Her- William James set of physiological responses that your Wilhelm Wundt 1832–1920 genhahn, 2009). For this reason they were 1842–1910 brain interprets as fear—running makes called structuralists and their approach you afraid. According to James, emotions was called structuralism. were caused by physiological changes; thus, running produced Structuralism was the study of the most basic elements, primarily sen- fear. You’ll find out if James’s theory of emotions was correct in sations and perceptions, that make up our conscious mental experiences. Module 16. Just as you might assemble hundreds of pieces of a jigsaw puz- Unlike Wundt, who saw mental activities as composed of basic zle into a completed picture, structuralists tried to combine hun- elements, James viewed mental activities as having developed dreds of sensations into a complete conscious experience. Perhaps through ages of evolution because of their adaptive functions, Wundt’s greatest contribution was his method of introspection. such as helping humans survive. James was interested in the Introspection was a method of exploring conscious mental process- goals, purposes, and functions of the mind, an approach called es by asking subjects to look inward and report their sensations and functionalism. perceptions. Functionalism, which was the study of the function rather than the For example, after listening to a beating metronome, the structure of consciousness, was interested in how subjects would be asked to report whether their sensations were our minds adapt to our changing environment. pleasant, unpleasant, exciting, or relaxing. However, Functionalism did not last as a unique introspection was heavily criticized for being an approach, but many of James’s ideas grew unscientific method because it was solely into current areas of study, such as emotions, dependent on subjects’ self-reports, which attention, and memory (Hergenhahn, 2009). could be biased, rather than on objective In addition, James suggested ways to apply measurements. Although Wundt’s approach psychological principles to teaching, which was the first, it had little impact on modern psy- had a great impact on educational psychol- chology. The modern-day cognitive approach ogy. For all these reasons, James is considered also studies mental processes, but with differ- the father of modern psychology. ent scientific methods and much broader inter- Notice that James disagreed with Wun- Does running from an ests than those of Wundt. dt’s structural approach and pushed psy- angry wolf cause fear? It wasn’t long before Wundt’s approach was chology toward looking at how the mind criticized for being too narrow and subjective Can you describe functions and adapts to our ever-changing world. About the same in primarily studying sensations. These criti- each sensation time that James was criticizing Wundt’s structuralism, another you hear? cisms resulted in another new approach, called group also found reasons to disagree with Wundt; this group was functionalism. the Gestalt psychologists. 12 MODULE 1 DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY  PowerStudy 4.5™ Gestalt Approach: Behaviorism: Module 10 A. Operant Conditioning Sensations Versus Perceptions Observable Behaviors When you see a road hazard sign like the one in “Give me a dozen healthy infants, Who said, the photo below, you think the lights forming Who well-formed, and my own special “Wundt is the arrow are actually moving in one direction. offered a world to bring them up in and I’ll wrong”? This motion, however, is only an illusion; the guarantee? guarantee to take any one at ran- lights are stationary and are only flashing on dom and train him to become any and off. type of specialist I might select— The illusion that f lashing lights appear to doctor, lawyer, artist...” (Watson, move was first studied in 1912 by three psy- 1924). chologists: Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, These words come from John B. and Kurt Koffka. They reported that they had Watson, who published a landmark created the perception of movement by briefly paper in 1913 titled “Psychology flashing one light and then, a short time later, a as a Behaviorist Views It.” In it, he second light. Although the two bulbs were fixed, rejected Wundt’s structuralism and the light actually appeared to move from one to its study of mental elements and the other. They called this the phi phenomenon; conscious processes. He rejected today it is known as apparent motion. introspection as a psychological Max Wertheimer Wertheimer and his colleagues believed that John B. Watson technique because its results could 1883–1943 the perception of apparent motion could not be 1878–1958 not be scientifically verified by other explained by the structuralists, who said that psychologists. Instead, John Watson the movement resulted from simply adding together the sensations from boldly stated that psychology should be considered an objec- two fixed lights. Instead, Wertheimer argued that perceptual experiences, tive, experimental science, whose goal should be the analysis such as perceiving moving lights, result- of observable behaviors and the prediction and control of ed from analyzing a “whole pattern,” or, those behaviors (Harzem, 2004). It is a small step from these in German, a Gestalt. ideas to Watson’s boast, “Give me a dozen The Gestalt approach emphasized that healthy infants... ,” which illustrates the Can anyone guarantee what perception is more than the sum of its parts behavioral approach. I will become? and studied how sensations are assembled The behavioral approach emphasized the into meaningful perceptual experiences. objective, scientific analysis of observable In our example, Gestalt psychologists behaviors. would explain that your experience of From the 1920s to the 1960s, behav- perceiving moving traffic lights is much iorism was the dominant force in more than and very different from what American psychology. Part of this is actually happening—fixed lights dominance was due to the work of f lashing in sequence. These kinds of B. F. Skinner and other behaviorists, Photo Credits: right, © Image Source Black/Alamy; left, © Tony Freeman/PhotoEdit findings could not be explained by the who expanded and developed Watson’s structuralists and pointed out the limi- Why do blinking lights ideas into the modern-day behavioral seem to move? tations of their approach (D. P. Schultz approach, which is fully discussed in & Schultz, 2008). Module 10. However, beginning in the 1970s and continuing After all these years, many principles of the Gestalt approach are into the present, behaviorism’s dominance was challenged still used to explain how we perceive objects. We’ll discuss many of the by the cognitive approach, whose popularity now surpasses Gestalt principles of perception in Module 6. behaviorism (Evans, 1999; Glassman & Hadad, 2004). Survival of Approaches The survival of each approach—structur- disagreed with Watson’s strict behavioral approach and developed