Chapter 1 Introduction to the Science of Psychology

Evaluating Research: Would You Authorize This Research?

This activity introduces students to Ethical Principles of Psychologists, the APA’s code of ethics. Students are asked to decide if they would authorize fourteen hypothetical research projects and to defend their responses by referring to a specific section of Article VI of the code (available by hot link). The student’s responses can be e-mailed to the instructor or printed and handed in.

The activity also suggests that students compare their responses with those of other students. If done as part of a class discussion, chat room, or bulletin board, this would be a good opportunity to discuss the fact that the code is merely a guide and that interpretations of ethical conduct will vary by individual ethical standards.

Chapter 2 Biology and Behavior

Evaluating Research: Building a Better Brain

This activity begins with a discussion of the importance of infant and early childhood brain development and its relationship to development of intelligence and other cognitive functions. The process of developing synaptic connections is explained. Then students link to a 1997 Time Magazine article that discusses the research of Anne Fernald and others about the impact of early brain development on later functioning. After reading the article, students evaluate the research discussed in the article, answer the Evaluating Research questions, and either e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: Strokes and Loss of Knowledge

Students link to a Scientific American article that explores the problem of stroke patients who are unable to perceive that they are paralyzed or to recognize paralysis like their own in other people. The article offers some explanations of why some stroke patients' perceptions are so distorted. After reading the article and answering the Evaluating Research questions, students can e-mail their answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: What Neuroscience Can Contribute to the False Memory Debate

Students read two short articles from Discover Magazine that discuss research about how brain scanning techniques may help unravel the difference between true and false memories. The activity features images of the brain areas discussed in the articles. The images can be enlarged for better viewing. After reading the articles, students answer the Evaluating Research questions and either e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 3 Sensation and Perception

Evaluating Research: The Perfect Face

The activity opens with a brief discussion of research that demonstrates infants’ ability to discern faces from nonfaces and of evolutionary psychologists’ explanation of this ability as a way for infants to focus on the caregiver upon whom they depend for support. Then students read an article from Discover Magazine that discusses research into the types of faces that men and women find appealing and the conclusion that adults' attraction for particular faces is also the result of evolutionary needs hard-wired into the brain. Students answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: Synesthesia

Students read a Discover Magazine article about neuroscience research into the nature and origins of synesthesia. After reading the article, students answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 4 Consciousness

Evaluating Research: Hypnosis

Students read an article from the APA Monitor about recent research that discusses the efficacy of hypnosis for the treatment of certain disorders and argues that insurance should cover treatment costs for hypnosis. After reading the article, students answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: Mindfulness

Students read a New York Times article about Ellen Langer's research on mindlessness and mindfulness, answer the Evaluating Research questions, and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: Transcendental Meditation

The activity begins with a brief description of transcendental meditation as an altered state of consciousness. Students then read an article by David Orme-Johnson, one of the leading researchers in the field of transcendental meditation, that reviews more than 500 studies dealing with the efficacy of TM on positive mental, physical, and social functioning. Students answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 5 Learning

Evaluating Research: Is Media Violence Harmful to Children?

Students read a summary of a meta-analysis of more than 1,000 research studies about the long-term effects of media violence on children that was undertaken jointly by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Medical Association. The summary concludes that there is a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children and that the effects of media violence on these children persist throughout their adult lives. After reading the summary, students answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: Learning to Be Violent

Students read a portion of an APA position paper on family violence titled, If Violence Is Learned, Who Teaches It? They answer the Evaluating Research questions about the effect of family violence on children’s behavior and either e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 6 Memory

Evaluating Research: The Origins of False Memories

Students read an article from the APA Monitor that summarizes research into how false memories are made. They evaluate each of the research projects mentioned and answer the Evaluating Research questions. The answers can be e-mailed to the instructor or printed and handed in.

Evaluating Research: Visual Memory

Students read an article from the APA Monitor about research into the processes that govern visual encoding into short-term memory. They answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail them to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 7 Thought, Language, and Intelligence

Evaluating Research: Bilingualism

Students read an article from Discover Magazine about different brain areas involved in acquiring a second language as a child and in later life. Students answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail their answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: Teaching Hearing Babies to Sign

The activity begins with a discussion of the relatively recent phenomenon of teaching hearing babies to sign--and to recognize parents’ and caregivers’ signing--before they learn to speak. Students then read an article from the APA Monitor that describes research about the value of the practice. They answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 8 Motivation and Emotion

Evaluating Research: What’s in a Face

Students are referred to a site that contains composite photos of the ideal face and asked to evaluate the research about the type of face that seems to appeal to people. The answers can be e-mailed to the instructor or printed and handed in.

Chapter 9 Human Development

Evaluating Research: Can a Negative Attitude Hasten Death?

This activity begins with a discussion of how attitudes and cognitive styles that we develop as young people may affect how we live as adults, as well as how we die. Students then read an article from the APA Monitor about research indicating that people who catastrophize or globalize a negative event as young adults are more likely to die before the age of 65—not from illness or disease but from accidents or violence. After reading the article, students answer the Thinking Critically questions and e-mail their answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 10 Health, Stress, and Coping

Evaluating Research: Exercise and Stress

Students read an APA monograph about research indicating that regular exercise acts as a stress buffer. They answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: Social Support and the Immune System

Students read an APA monograph about how structured support therapy suggests that social support improves immune system functioning in cancer patients so that people respond better to treatment and live longer. They answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: Stress and the Young Brain

Students read an APA monograph that studies the research into why some people are more at risk for stress-related disorders than others. The article discusses animal studies that suggest that early childhood stress may make a person more susceptible to negative effects of stress as an adult. Students answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail their answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 11 Personality

Evaluating Research: Adolescents and the Eysenck Personality Inventory

After an introduction to the Eysenck Personality Inventory and the dimensions it measures, students read about the correlations between Croatian adolescents' profiles on the Eysenck Juvenile Personality Inventory (EJPI) and behavioral disorders. They answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 12 Psychological Disorders

Evaluating Research: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Students read a comprehensive article from Scientific American that explains the nature of ADHD and discusses diagnostic and treatment issues. They answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail their answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 13 Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Evaluating Research: Psychotherapy: Can It Change the Way the Brain Works?

After an introduction to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and a reference to the Jack Nicholson character in the movie As Good As It Gets, students read an article from Discover Magazine that discusses the role of neurochemicals in OCD and the efficacy of behavioral and medication interventions. Students answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.

Evaluating Research: Treating Depression

After an introduction about the nature and extent of depressive disorders in society today, students read the summary of a meta-analysis of treatments for depression conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Students evaluate the research summarized in the report and send their answers to the instructor by e-mail or print them and hand them in.

Chapter 14 Social Psychology

Evaluating Research: The Aftermath of Violence

After an introduction to the topic of domestic violence, students read an article from Scientific American about the effect of domestic violence on women and children. Students answer the Evaluating Research questions and e-mail the answers to the instructor or print them and hand them in.