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Chapter 1: The Scope and Methods of Psychology


Chapter Outline

Chapter 1: The Scope and Methods of Psychology

  1. Introducing Psychology
    1. Definition of Psychology
    2. Exploring Psychology's History
      1. Wilhelm Wundt
      2. Edward Bradford Titchener
      3. William James
    3. Contemporary Perspectives
      1. Behavioral
      2. Psychoanalytic
      3. Humanistic
      4. Neurobiological
      5. Cognitive
      6. Evolutionary
      7. Sociocultural
    4. Psychology's Specializations and Careers
      1. Major areas of specialization
        1. clinical and counseling
        2. experimental
        3. neuroscience and physiological
        4. developmental
        5. social
        6. cross-cultural
        7. psychology of women
        8. industrial and organizational
        9. forensic
        10. school and educational psychology
      2. Careers in Psychology
  2. Conducting Psychological Research
    1. The Scientific Method
      1. Identify and analyze a problem
      2. Develop tentative explanations
      3. Collect data
      4. Draw conclusions
      5. Confirm or revise theory
    2. Research Strategies in Psychology
      1. Selecting appropriate sample of participants
      2. Choosing a Research Setting
        1. laboratory
        2. naturalistic settings
      3. Selecting measures
        1. direct observation
        2. interviews and questionnaires
        3. standardized tests
      4. Selecting a Strategy with Appropriate depth of Explanation
        1. descriptive method
        2. correlational method
        3. experimental method
          1. independent variable
          2. dependent variable
          3. experimenter bias
        4. Ethics in Research
          1. Human participants
          2. Animal Research
  3. Thinking Critically about Behavior
    1. Making Sense of Behavior Claims
      1. How are important terms defined and measured?
      2. What is the nature of the sample?
      3. Was individual behavior predicted from group results?
      4. Was a single study put forth as resulting in a definitive conclusion?
      5. Was the research descriptive, correlational, or experimental?
      6. Are the sources credible?
      7. Is the claim too simplistic?
    2. Psychology vs. Pseudoscience

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