Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

2 CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Research MethodsWhat Do Psychologists Study? Conformityand confrontation, friendliness and fear,assertiveness and aggression. Privatethoughts, public behavior. Optimism andhope, pessimism and distress. These arejust a few of the wide range of topicsstudied in psychology, the science ofbehavior and mental processes. Butwhether psychologists study the behaviorof a single brain cell or the behavior of acrowd of people, they rely on the scientificmethod to guide their investigations.Brenda, but can I ask whyyou’re asking about this?”Brenda glanced aroundthe classroom, checkingto make sure no one elsewas listening to our conversation.“I have a sonnamed Adam. He wasdiagnosed with schizophreniaabout three yearsago, just after his thirteenthbirthday,” she explained.“There’s a therapistwho works withAdam’s psychiatrist whotold us to buy this magneticvest. She said the magnets will helptreat Adam’s schizophrenia.”“Really? How is it supposed to help?”“I don’t understand it,” Brenda admitted.“But my son has been wearing themagnetic vest for the last two weeks, evenat school. It cost about $250, and he hatesit! It’s heavy and hot and it makes his skinitch. The therapist wants us to buy a magneticmattress that costs about a thousanddollars. That’s a lot of money in our household.Do you think it might help?”“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Donreplied cautiously. “Is the vest helping?”“It doesn’t seem to be,” Brenda ans -wered, frowning. “But the therapist saidwe need to give it time. She said she’s seenthe magnetic mattress work miracles withsome of her patients. And my neighborswears that his arthritis is much better sincehe started wearing magnetic bracelets.”“Miracles, huh? Honestly, Brenda, I’mnot aware of any research about using regularmagnets to treat schizophrenia or anyother psychological disorder. Then again,this could be something that slipped byboth me and Sandy. Let me scan theresearch this weekend and we’ll talk onMonday,” Don said.Later in the chapter, we’ll share what wefound out about magnet therapy.Like Brenda, many of our studentsrespond personally to the topics we coverin our introductory psychology class. Asteachers and authors, we’ve found thatbuilding on the many links between psychologicalknowledge and our students’personal experiences is a very effective wayto learn about psychology. Our goal is tobuild a conceptual bridge between yourexisting knowledge and new ways ofunderstanding your experiences.In this introductory chapter, this conceptualbridge will help us establish someimportant foundations and themes forthe rest of the text. You’ll see howpsychology evolved into a very diversescience that studies many different areasof human and animal experience. Thecommon theme connecting these diverseinterests is that psychology rests on asolid foundation of scientific evidence. Bythe end of the chapter, you’ll have abetter appreciation of the scientificmethods that psychologists use to answerquestions, big and small, about behaviorand mental processes.Welcome to psychology!>> Introduction: The Origins of PsychologyKey Theme• Today, psychology is defined as the science of behavior and mentalprocesses, a definition that reflects psychology’s origins and history.Key Questions• What roles did Wundt and James play in establishing psychology?• What were the early schools and approaches in psychology, and how didtheir views differ?psychologyThe scientific study of behavior and mentalprocesses.We begin this introductory chapter by stepping backward in time to answer severalimportant questions: How did psychology begin? When did psychology begin? Whofounded psychology as a science?It’s important to consider these historical issues for several reasons. First, studentsare often surprised at the wide range of topics studied by contemporary psychologists.