Introduction to Psychology 11th Edition

Book Preface

Some years ago, I was on a plane that had to turn around shortly after takeoff because one of its two engines had failed. When we were told to get into crash position, the first thing I thought was, “I don’t want to die yet! I was looking forward to writing the next edition of my textbook!” true story. I remember taking my first course in psychology as a freshman at Duke University in 1965. Frequently, I would describe the fascinating facts I had just learned to my roommate, friends, relatives, or anyone else who would listen. I haven’t changed much since then. When I read about new research or think of a new example to illustrate some point, I want to tell my wife, children, and colleagues. Psychology is fun. Although I retired from teaching after 35 years at North Carolina State University, I still volunteer to “pinch hit” when any of my colleagues are ill or out of town. I wake up in the morning and think, “Wow! I get to teach about optical illusions today!” or “Great! today’s topic is emotions!” Do professors in other fields enjoy teaching so much? Does someone in the French department wake up thinking how exciting it will be to teach about adverbs today? I doubt it. Ideally, a course or textbook in psychology should accomplish two goals. the first is to instill a love of learning so that our graduates will continue to update their education. Even if students permanently remembered everything they learned—and of course they won’t—their understanding would gradually go out of date unless they continue to learn about new developments. I hope that some of our students occasionally read Scientific American Mind or similar publications. the second goal is to teach students the skills of evaluating evidence and questioning assertions, so that when they do read about some new research, they will ask the right questions before drawing a conclusion. that skill can carry over to fields other than psychology. Throughout this text, I have tried to model the habit of critical thinking or evaluating the evidence, particularly in the What’s the Evidence? features that describe research studies in some detail. I have pointed out the limitations of the evidence and the possibilities for alternative interpretations. The goal is to help students ask their own questions, distinguish between good and weak evidence, and ultimately, appreciate the excitement of psychological inquiry.

Approaches, Features, and Student Aids Many years ago, I read an educational psychology textbook that said children with learning disabilities and attention problems learn best from specific, concrete examples. I remember thinking, “Wait a minute. I do, too! Don’t we all learn best from specific, concrete examples?” For this reason, science classes use laboratories to let students see for themselves. Few introductory psychology classes offer laboratories, but we can nevertheless encourage students to try procedures that require little or no equipment. At various points, the text describes simple Try It Yourself exercises, such as negative afterimages, binocular rivalry, encoding specificity, and the Stroop effect. Additional activities are available as Online Try It Yourself activities on Mindtap. Students who try these activities will understand and remember the concepts far better than if they merely read about them. Cognitive psychology researchers find that we learn more if we alternate between reading and testing than if we spend the same amount of time reading. The Concept Checks pose questions that attentive readers should be able to answer. Students who answer correctly can feel encouraged. Those who miss a question should use the feedback to reread the relevant passages. Each chapter of this text is divided into two to five modules, each with its own summary. Modules provide flexibility for instructors who wish to take sections in a different order—for example, operant conditioning before classical conditioning—or who wish to omit a section. Modular format also breaks up the reading assignments so that students read one or two modules for each class. Key terms are listed at the end of each module. At the end of the text, a combined Subject Index and Glossary defines key terms and provides page references. Education was long a traditional field in which the procedures hardly changed since the invention of chalk. today, however, educators use the power of new technologies, and this text offers several important technological enhancements. The digital Mindtap for Introduction to Psychology includes online try It Yourself exercises as well as an integrated eBook, videos with assessment, mastery training, validated essay assignments, quizzes, and an online glossary.

What’s New in the Eleventh Edition?

Anyone familiar with previous editions will notice two changes in the format: A list of learning objectives starts each module, and a few multiple-choice review questions end each module. This edition has more than 600 new references, including more than 500 from 2012 or later. Nearly every topic in the book has at least a minor revision or update. The three modules of Chapter 2 were combined into two, and the first module of Chapter 10 was substantially reorganized. A few new topics were added, including social neuroscience, individual differences in taste and smell, and how to take notes in class. Many topics were substantially revised, including replicability, epigenetics, and autism. Many of the figures are new or revised. Here are a few of my favorite new studies:

●● Hearing loss in old age occurs not only in the ears, but also in the brain. A decrease of inhibitory synapses makes it harder to attend to one voice among many, and the auditory cortex may deteriorate from insufficient input, such as when someone delays getting hearing aids. (Chapter 4)

●● The “collectivist attitude” typical of Asian cultures is stronger in some parts of China than others, and correlates strongly with a history of rice farming. Unlike wheat farming, rice farming requires extensive cooperation among neighboring farmers. (Chapter 5)

●● In contrast to the previous view that expertise results from 10,000 hours of practice, new research clearly demonstrates important individual differences. Some chess players reach expert levels after only 3,000 hours of practice, whereas others fail to achieve expertise after 25,000 hours. (Chapter 8)

●● The brain mechanisms for self-initiated (“spontaneous”) movements differ from those for stimulus-elicited movements, and self-initiated movements almost always have a slow, gradual onset. That finding is critical for interpreting Libet’s study reporting that brain activity for a muscle movement starts before a conscious decision to move. The problem is that a conscious decision for a spontaneous movement, like the movement itself, is gradual and hard to pinpoint in time. (Chapter 10)

●● People at an all-you-can-eat buffet tend to eat until they think they got their money’s worth. People given a half-off coupon to a pizza buffet ate less than others did, on average. (Chapter 11)

●● People with anorexia nervosa seldom experienced depression or any other psychological troubles prior to becoming anorexic, and treating them for depression is generally ineffective in relieving anorexia. A new study starts with the assumption that the decreased eating is the original problem, and that the increased activity characteristic of anorexia is an unconscious attempt for temperature control. (Chapter 11) ●● Sex hormones influence the differentiation of several brain areas, but the chemical mechanisms differ from one brain area to another. Therefore, it is common for a person to be more masculinized or more feminized in one brain area than another, just as someone can be behaviorally more male-typical in some ways and more female-typical in others. (Chapter 11)

●● A woman with damage to her amygdala previously seemed unable to experience fear or anxiety. A new study shows that she feels intense anxiety in response to breathing concentrated carbon dioxide. The amygdala damage doesn’t prevent fear; it just blocks processing cognitive information relating to fear. (Chapter 12)

●● More recent birth cohorts report greater life satisfaction than older birth cohorts, at all ages. (Chapter 12)

●● Love doesn’t always fade over time. Many older couples continue to experience passionate love. (Chapter 13)

brief contents
1 What Is Psychology? 1
2 Scientific Methods in Psychology 25
3 Biological Psychology 55
4 Sensation and Perception 99
5 Development 143
6 Learning 181
7 Memory 213
8 Cognition and Language 249
9 Intelligence 287
10 Consciousness 311
11 Motivated Behaviors 343
12 Emotions, Stress, and Health 377
13 Social Psychology 411
14 Personality 449
15 Abnormal Psychology: Disorders and Treatment 481