Оглавление
Lisa J. Cohen. The Handy Psychology Answer Book
About the Author
THE HANDY PSYCHOLOGY ANSWER BOOK
Contents
Acknowledgments
Photo Sources
Introduction
CHANGES IN THE SECOND EDITION
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
WHO IS THIS BOOK INTENDED FOR?
INTRODUCING PSYCHOLOGY
THE BASICS. What is psychology?
How does psychology relate to everyday life?
How does psychology interact with biology and sociology?
What do psychologists do?
What is the major professional association of American psychologists?
What is the difference between psychologists and psychiatrists?
What are the divisions of the American Psychological Association?
PSYCHOLOGY BEFORE PSYCHOLOGY. When was the field of psychology established?
What came before psychology?
What did the ancient Greeks have to say about psychology?
What is the Greek root of the word “psychology”?
Did Homer have a concept of the mind?
When did the Greeks turn to questions of psychology?
What are the four bodily humors?
What did Plato and Aristotle have to say about psychology?
Does life have a purpose?
Did Plato’s ideas anticipate Freud in any way?
Did the Roman statesman Cicero have anything to add about the mind?
What happened to the Greeks’ ideas after the fall of the Roman Empire?
How were questions of psychology addressed in medieval Christianity?
What was happening in the Muslim world during the Middle Ages?
When did more modern approaches to psychology begin?
Who were some influential philosophers in early modern times and what did they have to say about the mind?
What was Descartes’s contribution to the history of psychology?
How did Descartes understand the workings of the brain and the nervous system?
How did Spinoza contribute to the history of psychology?
What is folk psychology and how does it deal with the issues of everyday life?
What were Thomas Hobbes’s views about the relationships between ideas?
How did John Locke build on earlier ideas?
How is the scientific revolution relevant to psychology?
What was the scientific revolution?
PSYCHOLOGY IN OTHER CULTURES. How have other cultures addressed psychological issues?
How is shamanism relevant to psychology?
Do Eastern religions have concepts about psychology?
What tenets of Buddhism are relevant to psychology?
What aspects of Hinduism are relevant to psychology?
How do the tenets of Eastern religions relate to modern Western psychology?
HISTORY AND PIONEERS. What was the scientific climate at the birth of psychology?
What is the scientific method and how is it relevant to the history of psychology?
Why is Wilhelm Wundt considered the father of psychology?
What is phrenology?
Why is William James considered the father of American psychology?
How did James differ from Wundt in his approach to psychology?
How did James’s functionalism differ from Wundt’s structuralism?
Who was Francis Galton?
What were the contributions of Francis Galton?
What is eugenics?
How can social prejudice impact psychological data?
What influence did Emil Kraepelin and Eugen Bleuler have on views of mental illness?
SIGMUND FREUD. Who was Sigmund Freud?
What are the major tenets of his theory of psychoanalysis?
What was Freud’s view of the unconscious?
What was Freud’s theory of the instincts?
Where does childhood come in with Freud?
What was revolutionary about Freud?
How original were Freud’s ideas?
What was controversial about Freud?
How has Freudian theory influenced culture?
JOHN B. WATSON AND B. F. SKINNER. Who was John B. Watson?
What was unusual about Watson’s personal life?
Who was B.F. Skinner?
What is Skinner’s concept of operant conditioning?
What was Skinner’s contribution to behavioral modification?
Did Skinner raise his daughter in a baby-tender?
What is the Skinner box?
What were Skinner’s contributions to educational practices?
JEAN PIAGET. Who was Jean Piaget?
How was Piaget influenced by working with intelligence tests?
What did Piaget discover?
What did Piaget think about the nature/nurture debate?
How do children learn by action?
What is object permanence?
What is a schema?
What are assimilation and accommodation?
How have Piaget’s theories been criticized?
What role did Piaget’s children have in the development of his theories?
MAJOR MOVEMENTS IN PSYCHOLOGY
BEHAVIORISM. What is behaviorism?
What was Thorndike’s Law of Effect?
What is the black box theory of the mind?
How do behaviorists understand learning?
What famous experiment did Ivan Pavlov perform using dogs?
What is associative or classical conditioning?
What is the difference between the conditioned and the unconditioned stimulus?
What is the difference between the conditioned and the unconditioned response?
How is classical conditioning relevant to everyday life?
How is classical conditioning relevant to animal behavior?
What is operant conditioning?
What are reinforcers?
What is the difference between positive and negative reinforcement?
How effective is punishment?
How is operant conditioning relevant to everyday life?
How is operant conditioning relevant to animal life?
How is classical conditioning related to drug addiction?
What is extinction?
How do reinforcement conditions affect learning?
Why is intermittent reinforcement more resistant to extinction?
What problems with behaviorism started to show up even among the faithful?
How did Tolman’s contributions mark the beginning of the end of the behaviorist era?
How were mental processes evident even in rats running mazes?
What was the Cognitive Revolution?
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY. What is the basic concept of Gestalt psychology?
What is a gestalt?
How do Gestalt ideas pertain to perception?
Who were the pioneers of Gestalt theory?
Why is Gestalt theory important?
How did the holistic view of Gestalt theory go against the scientific worldview of the time?
What does “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” mean?
How did William James’s functionalism anticipate Gestalt theory?
What other principles of perception come from Gestalt theory?
What were Wolfgang Köhler’s studies on insight learning?
What did Köhler’ studies with chimps show?
What is the difference between Gestalt psychology and Gestalt psychotherapy?
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY. What is psychoanalytic theory?
What is Freud’s topological model?
What is the structural model?
What is Freud’s theory of libido?
What did Freud say about Thanatos, the death instinct?
Why was Freud so focused on sex?
What about Freud’s own Oedipal complex?
What is the Oedipal period?
How is Freudian theory seen today?
How has psychoanalytic theory changed over the years?
JUNGIAN ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY. Who was Carl Jung?
What was Jung’s relationship with Freud?
Why was Carl Jung interested in the Eastern practice of creating mandalas?
How did Jung’s view of the unconscious differ from Freud’s?
What are the personality traits that guide our conscious awareness?
What personality tests are derived from Jung’s theory of personality?
What are archetypes?
HUMANISTIC THEORIES. What is humanistic psychology?
What philosophical and psychological schools influenced humanistic psychology?
What is meant by third force psychology?
Who was Abraham Maslow?
What did Maslow mean by self-actualization?
What did Maslow mean by peak experiences?
What is the difference between D-love and B-love?
What impact did humanistic psychology have on the practice of psychotherapy?
Who was Carl Rogers?
What did Rogers mean by unconditional positive regard?
What contributions to psychotherapy research did Carl Rogers make?
ATTACHMENT THEORY. What is attachment theory?
Who was John Bowlby?
What was John Bowlby’s concept of attachment?
What was Bowlby’s concept of the internal working model?
How did Mary Ainsworth create a scientific means to measure attachment?
What does it mean to be securely attached?
What does it mean to be insecurely attached?
What are the ways that insecure attachment manifests?
Are insecurely attached children less attached to their parents than are securely attached children?
What kind of parenting results in securely attached babies?
What kind of parenting results in insecurely attached babies?
How might the principles of behaviorism apply to attachment theory?
What implications does attachment style have for later child development?
How did Mary Main apply attachment theory to adults?
When is attachment status more likely to change?
What is the adult attachment interview?
How can the three child attachment styles be mapped onto Mary Main’s three adult attachment styles?
What are some examples of adult attachment interviews?
Dismissing
Secure
Preoccupied
How do securely attached adults act?
What characterizes dismissing adults?
How do preoccupied adults behave?
What is self-reflective functioning and how does it relate to attachment?
SOCIOBIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY. What is sociobiology?
What is evolutionary psychology?
What is the theory of evolution?
How important is evolutionary theory to the biological sciences?
Why was the theory of evolution controversial?
Is the theory of evolution still controversial?
Who was Charles Darwin?
What is natural selection?
What does evolutionary fitness mean?
How is reproductive success relevant to evolution?
What does survival of the fittest mean?
What did Gregor Mendel contribute to the theory of evolution?
What did Watson and Crick contribute to the theory of evolution?
How does the theory of evolution connect with natural selection?
What is Lamarckian evolution?
How does evolution affect animal behavior?
Who is Edward O. Wilson?
Why was sociobiology considered controversial when it first came out?
What is the difference between proximate and ultimate causation?
If our behavior is genetically determined, where does learning come in?
What is Social Darwinism?
How do evolutionary theorists understand altruism?
How do evolutionary theorists understand sexual behavior of males and females?
Are men inherently polygamous?
What is sexual selection?
So, is evolution only about competition?
Do females compete for males?
How do scientists test the evolutionary significance of behavior?
How do twin studies help illuminate the role of genetics?
NEUROBIOLOGICAL THEORIES. What are neurobiological theories of psychology?
What is neuropsychology?
How do neurobiological theories of psychology dovetail with evolutionary psychology?
How do advances in brain imaging technology affect neurobiological theories of psychology?
How does a PET scan work?
How does an fMRI work?
What is the difference between a structural MRI and functional MRI (fMRI)?
What does an EEG measure?
What other kind of brain imaging technologies are there?
What advances have been made in gene studies?
What are the limitations of gene studies?
What are the problems with correlational studies?
What are association, necessity, and sufficiency in neurobiological research?
COGNITIVE SCIENCE. What is cognitive science?
What is artificial intelligence?
PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE. What is the purpose of psychological research?
Is psychological research ever completely objective?
What is a variable?
What are the major methods used in psychological research?
How have laws changed to protect people from abusive scientific experiments?
Do all psychological studies use numbers?
How do the methods of the social sciences differ from those of the hard sciences?
Why is sample selection important in psychological research?
What are statistics and how do they work?
What are measures of central tendency?
What is the difference between the median and the mean and why does it matter?
What is the standard deviation?
What does it mean to say that a finding is statistically significant?
How do we compare mean values across different groups?
What does correlation mean?
What does a study confound mean?
Why do we covary for certain variables?
What are the advantages of multivariate analysis?
What are the critical concepts one needs to know when interpreting the results of a study?
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS. What role do psychological tests play in the science of psychology?
What are the different kinds of tests?
How are tests and measurements developed?
What are some examples of test questions that measure emotional or behavioral traits?
What does it mean to say a test is reliable?
What does it mean to say a test is valid?
Can you have reliability without validity?
What is the Rorschach inkblot test?
What criticisms have been leveled at the Rorschach?
How did Exner’s system improve the Rorschach’s scientific legitimacy?
How does the R-PAS update the Exner system?
What is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)?
What is the Minnesota Multiphasic Inventory (MMPI)?
INTELLIGENCE TESTING. What is an IQ test?
What does it mean to say that an IQ test is normed?
What is the Wechsler Adult Intelligence (WAIS) IQ test?
What are the four index scores of the WAIS-IV?
Does the WAIS measure intelligence?
Is there agreement on what intelligence means?
What are the best ways to reduce cultural bias in IQ tests?
Are there other kinds of intelligence that the WAIS doesn’t measure?
What were the Alpha and Beta Tests developed by the U.S. Army?
Who devised the first intelligence test?
What was the Binet-Simon test?
What is the Stanford-Binet intelligence test?
What were the problems with the early IQ tests?
THE BRAIN: ANATOMY AND DEVELOPMENT
BASIC CONCEPTS IN NEUROSCIENCE. Why do we study the brain?
What do neuroscientists assume about brain evolution and how does that influence our understanding of the brain?
What are the costs and benefits of brain complexity?
How costly is our brain?
What terminology is important in brain anatomy?
How do the Latin terms differ from the English ones?
What have we learned from animals?
What does the word phylogeny mean?
THE MAJOR STRUCTURES OF THE BRAIN. What are the major structures of the brain?
THE CORTEX. Why is the cortex so wrinkled?
What are the four lobes of the cortex?
What is the frontal lobe?
What do the other cortical lobes do?
How do Brodmann areas map the cortex?
Do both sides of the brain do the same thing?
BENEATH THE CORTEX. What is the limbic system?
What do the amygdala and the hypothalamus do?
What does the hippocampus do?
What do the other limbic structures do?
What are the regions of the brain and their functions?
What are the basal ganglia?
What does the thalamus do?
What is the brain stem?
What is the triune model?
THE NEURON. What is a neuron?
What are the input and output sections of the cell?
What is a synapse?
What are neurotransmitters and what do they do?
How do neurons fire?
What is the difference between white matter and gray matter?
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT. THE HUMAN BRAIN ACROSS EVOLUTION. How has the human brain changed across evolution?
How has the human cortex grown compared to other animals?
Do the different brain regions ever perform redundant functions?
Has the frontal lobe grown across human evolution?
How has the olfactory bulb changed across human evolution?
THE BRAIN SINCE EARLY HOMINIDS. When did human beings evolve from early hominids?
How do we compare our brains with those of extinct species?
How has brain size changed from early hominids?
Has the frontal lobe increased?
What do we know about Neanderthals?
What does pedomorphy mean?
What does “phylogeny recapitulates ontogeny” mean?
THE BRAIN IN UTERO. How does the brain develop in utero?
What is the neural tube?
What does the hindbrain become?
What does the midbrain become?
What does the forebrain become?
What does the diencephalon turn into?
What develops from the telencephalon?
What impact does brain injury have during fetal development?
THE BRAIN ACROSS CHILDHOOD. How does the brain change across childhood?
How is our brain development dependent on our experience?
How are synapses formed or strengthened?
How can I maintain a healthy brain?
What is pruning?
What are critical periods of development?
What role does myelination play?
How does the frontal lobe change across development?
How does the brain become more complex with development?
How does the brain change across the life span of an individual?
THE AGING BRAIN. How does the brain age?
What is cortical atrophy?
What happens to the dendrites?
What impact does brain aging have on mental functioning?
What is the difference between crystallized and fluid intelligence?
Are there any benefits of an aging brain?
Can the brain regenerate?
NEUROTRANSMITTERS AND OTHER BRAIN CHEMICALS. What are neurotransmitters and why are they important?
How do neurotransmitters act at synapses?
What are the main neurotransmitters?
What are the major classes of psychiatric medications?
What functions does dopamine serve?
How are neurotransmitter tracts like the New York City subway?
What is the reward system?
How is serotonin involved in mood and behavior?
How are glutamate and GABA important?
How does norepinephrine impact mental life?
What does research on voles tell us about the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin?
What are opioids, the natural pain killers?
How are opiates different from opioids?
What are the “love chemicals”?
How do psychiatric drugs act on our brain chemicals?
How can drugs of abuse change the brain?
IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENT ON THE BRAIN. How does learning change the brain?
What does the plasticity of the brain say about the nature/nurture debate?
How did Eric Kandel demonstrate that learning physically changes the brain?
How does the environment affect the brain in childhood?
How does nutrition affect the brain?
How does language exposure affect brain development?
How does psychological trauma affect the brain?
How does interpersonal experience affect brain development in childhood?
FROM BRAIN TO MIND
What can we know of how the brain creates the mind?
What is qualia?
THE BRAIN AS MAPMAKER. How does the brain act as a mapmaker?
What does it mean to map something?
How does the brain stem act as a mapmaker?
What does the frontal cortex map?
SENSATION AND PERCEPTION. What is the difference between sensation and perception?
How does the brain process sensory information?
What do the primary sensory cortices do?
Does the brain also process sensory information from inside our bodies?
How does the brain process perception?
What are association cortices and what role do they play in perception?
What is the difference between unimodal and multimodal association areas?
Do different people perceive the same event differently?
How does the brain process vision?
What is delusional misidentification syndrome?
How does the brain process sound?
Why do some people hear voices that aren’t really there?
How does the brain process touch?
How does the brain process smell?
What about taste?
MOTOR BEHAVIOR AND INTENTIONAL ACTION. How does our brain generate motor behavior?
What is the difference between voluntary and involuntary movements?
How does the brain process involuntary movements?
How does psychiatric medication affect extrapyramidal neurons?
How does the brain control voluntary movements?
What role does the cerebellum play?
Is imagined movement different than actual movement?
What are mirror neurons?
Does the brain process complex behavior differently than simple behavior?
What role does the basal ganglia play?
What are fixed action patterns and what do they tell us about our “animal instincts”?
What fixed action patterns do we see in humans?
COGNITION AND BEHAVIORAL CONTROL. How does cognition serve to regulate behavior?
What does goal-correction mean?
What are executive functions?
How does impulse control relate to executive functions?
EMOTIONS. What are emotions?
What purposes do emotions serve?
What are the different classes of emotions?
Do we always know what we are feeling?
EMOTION AND THE LIMBIC SYSTEM. How is the limbic system involved in emotion?
What role does the amygdala play in emotion?
How does the hypothalamus act as the gateway to the autonomic nervous system?
What is the HPA axis?
How does the hippocampus affect emotional processing?
How does the insula provide information about internal bodily states?
FRONTAL CONTROL OF THE LIMBIC SYSTEM. Are Freud’s ego and id concepts rooted in biological fact?
How does the frontal lobe control the limbic system?
What role does the orbital frontal region play?
What is the role of the medial frontal cortex?
Does an immature frontal lobe mean poor emotional regulation?
What happens when the frontal lobe deteriorates?
What are frontal release signs?
EMOTIONS IN MAMMALS. How are our emotions rooted in our mammalian history?
How do human emotions differ from animal emotions?
Has the limbic system changed much across evolution?
CHARLES DARWIN’S STUDY OF EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIONS. What did Darwin write about the emotional expression of humans and animals?
Why are Darwin’s theories controversial?
How did Darwin believe that emotional expressions were transmitted across generations?
What role did habit and association play in Darwin’s theory of emotional evolution?
How are Darwin’s ideas still relevant to modern neuroscience?
Why do babies squeeze their eyes shut when they cry, according to Darwin?
How did Darwin understand the mechanics of laughter?
How did Darwin describe the expression of rage?
JAAK PANKSEPP AND SEVEN BASIC EMOTIONAL SYSTEMS. Who is Jaak Panksepp?
How does Panksepp’s view of the biology of emotions differ from other views?
What is the difference between the primary, secondary, and tertiary emotional systems?
What are the seven core affective systems?
What is the SEEKING system?
What brain regions are involved with the SEEKING system?
What is the FEAR system?
What parts of the brain are involved with the FEAR system?
What brain chemicals are involved with the FEAR system?
What is the RAGE system?
What brain areas are involved with the RAGE system?
What brain chemicals are involved with the RAGE system?
What is the LUST system?
How does the LUST system differ from the other core affective systems?
Do males’ and females’ LUST systems differ from one another’s?
What is the primary brain region involved in the LUST system?
What chemicals are involved with the LUST system?
What is the CARE system?
What brain chemicals are involved with the CARE system?
What brain regions are involved with the CARE system?
How did the CARE system evolve?
What is the PANIC/GRIEF system?
What areas of the brain are involved with the PANIC/GRIEF system?
What brain chemicals are involved in the PANIC/GRIEF system?
How is emotional pain related to physical pain?
Does the PANIC/GRIEF system last across the life span?
What is the PLAY system?
What brain areas are involved with the PLAY system?
What brain chemicals are involved with the PLAY system?
How is the PLAY system related to human laughter?
Where does tickling fit in the PLAY system?
Which brain regions are involved with the seven core affective systems?
PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE LIFE SPAN
What does psychology have to say about life span development?
What are the major theories of child development and why are they important?
Are there theories of adult development?
How can we compare the major developmental stage theories of Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, and Margaret Mahler?
FREUD’S PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES. What are Freud’s psychosexual stages?
What did Freud mean by the oral stage?
What did Freud mean by the anal stage?
What did Freud mean by the phallic stage?
How does the Oedipal complex play out during the phallic stage?
What does the latency stage refer to?
What did Freud mean by the genital stage?
How are Freud’s psychosexual stages understood today?
ERIK ERIKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES. What were Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages?
What is the Trust vs. Mistrust stage?
What is involved with the stage of Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt?
What happens during the Initiative vs. Guilt stage?
What did Erikson mean by Industry vs. Inferiority?
What is involved with Identity vs. Role Confusion?
What does Erikson mean by Intimacy vs. Isolation?
What does Generativity vs. Stagnation refer to?
What does Erikson mean by Integrity vs. Despair?
MARGARET MAHLER. Who was Margaret Mahler?
What is Margaret Mahler’s theory of separation-individuation?
How did Mahler differ from previous psychoanalytic stage theorists?
How did Mahler study infant behavior?
What are the stages, or sub-phases, of separation-individuation?
What are the forerunners of the separation-individuation phase?
What is the egg metaphor?
What is the differentiation sub-phase?
What is the practicing sub-phase?
What is the child’s love affair with the world?
What is the rapprochement sub-phase?
What are the beginnings of emotional object constancy?
JEAN PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT. What is Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development?
What did Piaget mean by the sensory-motor stage?
What does object permanence mean?
What role does language play in the preoperational stage?
What did Piaget mean by the preoperational stage?
What does Piaget mean by an operation?
How do children in the preoperational stage understand the physical world?
What did Piaget mean by conservation of volume and conservation of substance?
What about the concrete operational stage?
What are the societal implications for a child in the concrete operational stage?
What about the formal operational stage?
How do Piaget’s theories accord with what we know about brain development?
What are the social implications of reaching the stage of formal operations?
What roles do environment and education play in the attainment of formal operations?
KOHLBERG’S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT. Who was Lawrence Kohlberg?
What are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development?
What did Kohlberg mean by preconventional morality?
What did Kohlberg mean by conventional morality?
What is meant by postconventional morality?
What criticisms have been leveled at Kohlberg’s theory?
THE ROLE OF CULTURE. Is childhood development the same for all cultures?
What are some of the ways that cultures differ?
When do cultural differences become apparent?
How do cultural differences complicate our theories of psychology?
Are there cultural differences in patterns of attachment?
INFANCY. How important is development in the first year of life?
What are the major developmental milestones in the first year?
What does a neonate know?
How do we study infants’ visual abilities?
What visual skills are infants born with?
What other sensory skills do newborns have?
What evidence is there of infants’ capacity to remember?
What reflexes are infants born with?
What do we know about the subjective experience of the infant?
What other aspects of social life develop in the first year of life?
How do emotions develop in the first year of life?
What is temperament?
How stable is temperament over time?
Is temperament genetically based?
Does environment affect temperament?
TODDLER YEARS. What role does language play in the toddler years?
Are there precursors to language?
How does language develop?
What are the typical stages of language development?
How does a child develop the concept of the self?
When do toddlers start using personal pronouns?
How does possessive behavior relate to a toddler’s new self-concept?
How do self-conscious emotions reflect the emergence of the self?
What is the mirror test?
How do toddlers discover their will?
Why do toddlers have temper tantrums?
How can examples of toddler language shed light onto children’s cognitive development?
PRESCHOOL YEARS (3–5) What are the main developments of the preschool years?
What cognitive developments take place during the preschool years?
What advances in symbolic thought take place in the preschool years?
Why do children see monsters in the closet at night?
What is magical thinking?
What kind of pretend play takes place in the preschool years?
What does “theory of mind” mean?
What is the false belief task?
In what ways does self-control improve in the preschool years?
What role do friendships play in the preschool years?
What are some examples of preschool children’s language?
How do preschool children understand morality?
What gender differences are evident at this age?
SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN (6–11) What are the major changes in the school-age years?
Why are the school-age years called the latency years?
What kinds of motor development take place at the latency age?
What kind of cognitive changes take place in school-age children?
How do children develop emotionally during the school-age years?
What kinds of social developments occur during the latency period?
How do peer relations change in the school-age years?
Why are rules so important during the latency period?
What do clapping games tell us about school age children?
Why are some kids bullied and not others?
How important is it for a child to do well in school?
What are learning disabilities and why are they important?
ADOLESCENCE (12–18) What physical changes take place in adolescence?
What transpires during puberty?
What kinds of changes take place in the brain during puberty?
What cognitive changes take place in adolescence?
How do cognitive changes affect the academic abilities of adolescents?
Why are adolescents so self-conscious?
What role does identity development have during adolescence?
What kinds of emotional changes do adolescents undergo?
How does a child’s relationship with parents change during adolescence?
Why does adolescent slang change over the years?
How do peer relationships change during adolescence?
Why do adolescents dress so strangely?
Why is it so important for adolescents to be popular?
What role does sexuality play in adolescence?
Does culture influence our understanding of adolescence?
Do cultures vary with regard to the emphasis on peers?
How have changes in information technology affected adolescent development?
Why are adolescents so drawn to social networking sites?
Are there downsides to the changes in communication technology?
What do two teenagers have to say about social media and communication technology?
EARLY ADULTHOOD (19–40) What are the psychological challenges of early adulthood?
What does it entail to embark on an occupational role?
What specific challenges are involved with the beginning of committed romantic partnerships?
What are the challenges of becoming a parent in early adulthood?
What happens if these challenges are not met?
Why is college graduation so traumatic for some young adults?
Who was Daniel Levinson?
What is Daniel Levinson’s theory of adult development?
What did Levinson say about early adulthood?
Which of Erik Erikson’s psychosexual stages pertain to early adulthood?
What are the developmental tasks of early adulthood according to Roger Gould?
MIDDLE ADULTHOOD (40–60) What are the overall themes of middle adulthood?
What kind of physical changes occur in middle adulthood?
What sensory changes occur in middle adulthood?
How does cognition change in midlife?
What emotional changes transpire in middle adulthood?
Why does time seem to speed up as we age?
What impact does mortality play in middle adulthood?
How does the view of one’s options in life change during midlife??
How does the view of the self change in middle adulthood?
How is middle adulthood often a time of peak responsibilities?
What are the typical challenges of parenting during middle adulthood?
What does Roger Gould say about middle adulthood?
LATER ADULTHOOD (60 AND OLDER) What physiological changes occur in later adulthood?
What are the psychological challenges of later adulthood?
Is depression more common in later life than at younger ages?
What do the theorists of adult development say about this period?
What is the psychological impact of retirement?
What factors contribute to a positive adjustment to later adulthood?
How has aging in America changed in recent years?
How does the role of older adults vary across cultures and historical time periods?
What is dementia?
How has DSM-5 changed the diagnosis of cognitive decline?
What is the nun study?
THE END OF LIFE: DEATH AND DYING. What is thanatology?
What contributes to a “good death”?
What are Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief?
What do other theorists have to say about grief?
Is there research on the grief process?
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE: LOVE, MARRIAGE, BABY CARRIAGE
LOVE. How do we define love?
What do we mean by love?
How are factor analyses used in the study of love?
What arguments were given about the nature of love at Plato’s symposiums?
Are there different types of love?
What is the triangular theory of love?
How does love differ for lovers, family, and friends?
What are the basic principles of evolution?
What makes a man attractive to the opposite sex?
What is the theory of sexual selection?
Is attachment important in evolution?
Is romantic love related to parental love?
What is the evolutionary function of falling in love?
What makes a woman physically attractive to men?
What do we know about the neurobiology of love?
Do views of love vary across cultures?
MARRIAGE. Why talk about marriage?
What has recent U.S. Census data shown about the rate of marriage in America?
Are there health benefits to marriage?
What makes a marriage last?
What makes a marriage fail?
How important are common interests?
How important is communication in marriage?
Is it normal to argue during marriage?
Are there good and bad ways to fight in a marriage?
What is the impact of avoiding conflict in a marriage?
What are some dos and don’ts in marital spats?
How important is sex to a marriage?
Are men really all that different from women?
What impact do changing sex roles have on marriages?
THE CHANGING FACE OF MARRIAGE. How have the rates of marriage changed over time in the United States?
Has the age of marrying changed over time in the United States?
Has cohabitation become more common?
Do demographic factors affect the likelihood of marriage?
How have marital patterns changed for women in recent decades?
What about gay marriages?
PREGNANCY. Are there psychological challenges to parenting?
What are the psychological challenges of pregnancy?
What are the changes in identity the first-time parent undergoes?
How does the relationship with the parent’s own parent impact the psychological challenge of pregnancy?
How do parents’ relationships with their own parents tend to change with a pregnancy?
How do family dynamics change with single mothers?
What physiological changes does the pregnant woman undergo?
What is the impact of hormones on the experience of pregnancy?
What role does oxytocin play in the psychological make-up of the expectant mother?
What is “couvade”?
What are the challenges that fathers undergo during their partner’s pregnancy?
PARENTING: BECOMING A PARENT. How important is parent–child attachment?
What are the biggest stresses for parents during the first year of the baby’s life?
How do people vary in their understanding of gender roles in parenting?
What factors help a marriage transition into parenting?
PARENTING: THE WORK OF RAISING A CHILD. What are the major tasks of raising a child?
What psychological skills do parents need to impart to their child?
Why is limit setting so important in parenting?
How does limit setting promote frustration tolerance?
What are the dangers of being too strict a parent?
What is Diana Baumrind’s classification of parenting styles?
When does corporal punishment turn into abuse?
How important is consistency in parenting?
What has research shown about the importance of tactile stimulation in early development?
How important is affection?
What roles do parents play in teaching their children to manage emotion?
FAMILY STRUCTURE. What is a family?
How have family structures changed in the past few decades?
What does the U.S. Census tell us about American households in 2012?
What impact do the different family structures have on children?
How common are single-parent families?
How do family structures vary across cultures?
FAMILY DYNAMICS. What do we mean by family dynamics?
What is meant by the term family systems?
How is a family a system?
What is meant by boundaries in a family?
What is the difference between rigid, firm, and permeable boundaries?
What is the importance of generational boundaries?
What is meant by triangulation?
How are the boundaries between the family and the outside world defined?
How do marital problems play out in the family dynamics?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of extended family involvement?
How do family dynamics change across development?
How are generational boundaries negotiated in single-parent families?
DIVORCE. How has the frequency of divorce changed over the last few decades?
How have the U.S. divorce rates changed over the last half century?
What are the most frequent contributors to divorce?
What kind of relationship problems contribute to divorce?
What is the psychological impact of divorce?
How long does it take people to recover from a divorce?
What factors contribute to a hostile and acrimonious divorce?
What are the processes involved with adjusting to divorce?
What happens when there is ongoing conflict and hostility following a divorce?
What impact does divorce have on children?
How can parents best protect their children’s emotional health during a divorce?
What behaviors are most damaging to children during a divorce?
What are some common mistakes that parents make during a divorce?
How important is it to stay together for the children’s sake?
SEXUALITY. What do we mean by sexuality?
Why is it so difficult to talk about sex?
What is sexology?
Who was Alfred Kinsey?
Do men and women differ with regard to sexuality?
What does Roy Baumeister propose with regard to gender differences in sexuality?
How important is sex to a healthy relationship?
What are the most common sexual complaints of women?
What are the most common sexual complaints of men?
How does anxiety interfere with sexual functioning?
What role does conditioning play in sexual response?
What roles do hormones play in human sexual response?
What are the most effective treatments for sexual problems?
What is sensate focus?
How do values about sexuality vary across cultures?
How do cultures vary with regard to attitudes about female sexuality?
Is there an evolutionary function to controlling women’s sexuality?
What are some ways in which cultures differ regarding sexual behavior and taboos?
How have values about sexuality in industrialized Western societies changed over the past several decades?
SEXUAL ORIENTATION. What is sexual orientation?
Is sexual orientation a category or a continuum?
What is the Kinsey scale?
What did a 2000 study of men and women show about sexual orientation?
How prevalent is homosexuality?
What are the causes of homosexuality?
What are other biological theories of homosexuality?
What are some of the non-biological causes of homosexuality?
How does gender-typical behavior relate to sexual orientation?
Do men and women differ with regards to sexual orientation?
Where does bisexuality fit in?
What does the research by J. Michael Bailey and colleagues tell us about bisexuality?
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE: MOTIVATION AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HAPPINESS. Why study happiness?
What is happiness?
What function does happiness serve?
How much does the intensity of happiness matter?
How do we measure happiness?
What does happiness do?
What is a meta-analysis?
What effect does happiness have on our social life?
What effect does happiness have on our work life?
What does and does not lead to happiness?
What is the happiness set point?
What is the evidence supporting the happiness set point?
How did a 1978 study help support the theory that we are born with a “happiness set point” that is largely unaffected by events in our lives?
What is the current view on the happiness set point?
What factors seem to affect our general level of happiness?
How much do genetics contribute to our level of happiness?
Does money make us happy?
Does the relationship between money and happiness differ across rich and poor countries?
How can we understand the international data about money and happiness?
How important is our perception of how much money we have?
Is sense of control important?
How important are interpersonal relationships to happiness?
Do our attitudes affect our level of happiness?
Does religion make people happier?
Is sense of meaning important to happiness?
Can meditation benefit your health and emotional wellbeing?
Is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs relevant to the study of happiness?
How does Maslow’s hierarchy of needs explain the contradictory findings on happiness?
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY. What is positive psychology?
Why is positive psychology a shift from traditional trends in psychology?
What are Seligman’s three aspects of happiness?
What does Seligman mean by the pleasant life?
What does Seligman mean by the engaged life?
What is meant by the meaningful life?
Which aspects of happiness are most important?
How do Seligman’s findings accord with other happiness research?
What are the virtues?
What are the character strengths?
What does Seligman’s research say about the virtues and character strengths?
What is positive psychotherapy?
OPTIMISM. What is optimism?
What is the difference between dispositional and explanatory optimism?
What impact does optimism have on people’s lives?
What is the Revised Learned Helplessness Theory?
What is an optimistic explanatory style?
Where does control come in?
HAPPINESS ACROSS CULTURES. How do we compare happiness across cultures?
What problems are associated with international happiness studies?
What is the World Database of Happiness?
What factors seem to contribute to happiness across nations?
How do the wealthiest countries do in terms of happiness?
How does inequality in happiness come into play?
What are the ten happiest and ten least happy countries and how does happiness relate to per capita income?
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MONEY. What is the theory of rational economic man?
What is wrong with the theory of rational economic man?
What is behavioral economics?
How much debt were Americans carrying before and after the Great Recession of 2008?
What role does evaluation of risk and reward have in financial behavior?
How has evolution shaped our evaluation of risk and reward?
How important are our emotions in our decisions about money?
What problems do our emotions cause us when making financial decisions?
How are we biased toward immediate consequences over long-term consequences?
What does it mean to be stimulus-bound?
What is the anchoring effect?
What is the framing effect?
What is loss aversion?
Why does “buy low, sell high” go against human nature?
Does cognition play any role in financial decisions?
What are the limits of our own analytic ability?
How does our sensitivity to context affect our decision-making?
How does too much information damage our impulse control?
Does our emotional state affect our propensity to make risky decisions?
How does a positive affect state influence risky decisions?
How does a negative affect state influence risky decisions?
What about the social context of worth and value?
THE BIOLOGY OF MONEY. What is neuroeconomics?
How do scientists study neuroeconomics?
What parts of the brain are involved with financial decisions?
What function does the prefrontal cortex serve?
What are the drawbacks with the prefrontal cortex?
How much is the prefrontal cortex involved in purchasing decisions?
What function does the dopaminergic reward system serve?
How strongly does the reward system affect motivation?
How does the dopamine system set expectations?
How do different patterns of dopamine-firing influence reward-seeking behavior?
How do D1 and D2 neurons influence each other?
What are the effects of the lack of sensitivity to probability?
How is the reward system reactive to intermittent reinforcement?
How does the reward system make us susceptible to gambling?
How does the dopaminergic reward system respond to randomness?
What role does the amygdala play?
What is the role of the insula?
GROUP DYNAMICS AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE
GROUP DYNAMICS. What are group dynamics?
Why are group dynamics important?
What benefits do groups offer?
How do we define a group?
What role does social psychology play in the study of group dynamics?
Did psychoanalysis have any influence on the study of group dynamics?
What is group identity?
How does group identity affect personal identity?
What are group norms?
What happens when group members violate group norms?
What is group cohesion?
What factors enhance group cohesion?
What are group boundaries?
What is the difference between in-groups and out-groups?
What function do initiation rituals serve?
Are there examples of modern initiation rites?
How does group conformity shape individual opinions?
What important experiments have shown people’s tendency to conform to group norms?
What happens in our brains when we make socially conforming decisions?
When is conformity strongest?
How do groups react to new ideas?
Are all group roles the same?
What role do subgroups play in groups?
Are there in-groups within in-groups?
Who was Wilfred Bion?
What is meant by splitting?
How is splitting related to group polarization?
How do bullies and dictators manipulate group dynamics to consolidate their power?
PREJUDICE AND RACISM. How do we define prejudice and racism?
What is stereotyping and how does it relate to social prejudice?
How does our tendency to categorize lend itself to stereotyping?
What impact does stereotyping have on people’s reasoning?
What impact does stereotyping have on the stereotyped?
How are intergroup relations relevant to an understanding of social prejudice?
How did Kenneth and Mamie Clark use dolls to demonstrate the effect of racism on African-American children’s self-concept?
What are the main causes of intergroup strife?
Is in-group chauvinism natural?
How do group goals affect intergroup relations?
Where does deprivation come in?
How are norms of deprivation developed?
Where does scapegoating come in?
How do we reduce social prejudice?
Do cross-group friendships reduce social prejudice?
What improves group-to-group relationships and reduces intergroup prejudice?
MORALITY. How does morality relate to the social group?
Can psychology determine what moral choices should be?
In what ways does morality have an evolutionary basis?
What are the five categories of moral instincts?
How do we account for the extreme variation in the moral beliefs of people?
Do political liberals and conservatives differ in the way they understand morality?
How has morality changed over the course of history?
How does morality relate to the capacity to reason?
How does morality relate to empathy?
What parts of the brain are involved in moral responses?
What does the neurobiology of morality tell us about the evolution of human morality?
At what age do children start understanding moral issues?
What is Lawrence Kohlberg’s approach to moral development?
Why is it so easy to rationalize immoral behavior?
How did Carol Gilligan challenge Kohlberg’s approach to moral development?
PSYCHOLOGY IN THE WORKPLACE. How do group dynamics impact the workplace?
What is an organization?
How do organizations differ?
What is organizational psychology?
What are the classic theories of organization?
What about the human element in an organization?
What is the “Hawthorne Effect”?
What does a systems approach involve?
What about office politics?
Where does power come in?
Does the degree of hierarchy affect the motivation for power?
How important is leadership?
Are there certain personality traits that make a better leader?
What role does charisma play?
What is the difference between task-oriented and socio-emotional leadership styles?
How important is structure in the workplace?
How much should decision-making power be shared?
What did one study tell us about the fit between different leadership styles and different decision-making conditions?
What motivates employees?
What was Frederick Hertzberg’s approach to motivation?
What are some dos and don’ts that managers should keep in mind?
How are different personality types suited for different types of jobs?
What is the Myers-Briggs Personality Test?
What are the personality traits of people who succeed in their professions?
What are some dos and don’ts for employees?
PSYCHOLOGY IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE. What role can psychology play in the public sphere?
Do politicians have particular personality traits?
What is narcissism?
What are the DSM-5 criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
What is the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)?
Does narcissism create the politician or does politics create the narcissist?
Do politicians score higher on the NPI than people in other professions?
Why do so many politicians get trapped in scandals?
Are celebrities narcissistic in the same way that politicians are?
Who are some American politicians who have been caught in sex scandals?
VOTING BEHAVIOR. Why do people vote?
Do people vote out of habit?
Does social pressure cause people to vote?
Does genetics play a role in voting behavior?
What role does altruism play in voting behavior?
How do people make decisions on how to vote?
How do politicians use psychology in their campaigns?
What is the psychological effect of familiarity?
What does Frank Luntz say about the use of language to influence opinions?
How does language affect the emotional impact of political rhetoric?
Can psychology contribute to ballot design?
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY: MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL ILLNESS
DEFINITIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS. How do we define mental illness?
What is the relationship between abnormal behavior and mental illness?
Why do we classify mental illness?
Who are the Lizard People?
How do we classify mental illness?
What are the categories of mental disorders listed in DSM-5?
What is the DSM?
How does the DSM system relate to the ICD system?
What changes were made in DSM-5?
What is DSM-5?
What is the history of the DSM system?
Why do psychiatric classifications change over time?
What are the drawbacks to classification systems?
Have there been difficulties with the transition from DSM-IV-TR to DSM-5?
What are the RDoCs and how do they relate to the DSM system?
What role does culture play in mental illness?
What cultural issues does DSM-5 consider to be important in mental health care?
What are some examples of culture-bound syndromes?
MAJOR MENTAL ILLNESSES. What is schizophrenia?
What are the symptoms of schizophrenia?
What is thought disorder?
What are the different kinds of thought disorder?
What are some examples of thought disorder?
Is split personality the same as schizophrenia?
Is schizophrenia curable?
Is all psychosis schizophrenia?
What is bipolar disorder?
Can a person have schizophrenia and bipolar disorder at the same time?
What was the mental ailment that tormented the painter Vincent van Gogh?
What is depression?
What is the relationship between mental illness and creativity?
What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?
What is autism?
How does DSM-5 diagnose autism spectrum disorder?
How is Asperger’s syndrome different from autism?
Why has the number of people diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder increased?
What have we learned about the genetics of autism?
Why are there more people with autism in Silicon Valley?
What is attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)?
How common is ADHD?
Is ADHD genetic?
What do we know about the biology of ADHD?
Is ADHD adaptive in some circumstances?
What are the causes of mental illness?
So what’s the verdict when it comes to mental health: nature or nurture?
Who are some famous people who suffered from mental illnesses?
Can any one gene cause mental illness?
Are some psychiatric disorders more genetically based than others?
DISORDERS OF PERSONALITY. What are personality disorders and how are they distinct from other types of mental disorders?
What is meant by the term axis II disorders?
How do we define personality pathology?
How do we define personality?
What is the schema approach?
What is the history of the schema approach?
How does the categorical approach relate to diagnosis?
What are the strengths and limitations of the DSM-5 diagnoses for personality disorders?
What is the dimensional approach?
How has the Five Factor Model been adapted for clinical purposes?
What is the Five Factor Model?
What personality dimensions does the SIPP introduce?
What changes were proposed to the diagnosis of personality disorders in DSM-5?
What are the advantages of the new proposed model?
What are the criticisms against the new proposed model?
What causes personality pathology?
What is temperament?
What is Cloninger’s concept of character?
What personality traits are genetic?
What personality traits are learned?
What does Kenneth Kendler’s work tell us about the genetics of personality?
What is borderline personality disorder?
Is it necessarily bad to be narcissistic?
What is narcissistic personality disorder?
What is the difference between covert and overt narcissism?
Are we more narcissistic than we used to be?
What is antisocial personality disorder?
How is psychopathy different from ASPD?
Was Soviet Union ruler Joseph Stalin mentally disturbed or just a successful dictator?
What is schizotypal personality disorder?
If your environment supports your behavior, do you still have a personality disorder?
SUBSTANCE ABUSE. What is addiction?
What do recent statistics say about drug use in the United States?
Is there a difference between recreational drug use and addiction?
What is the difference between addiction, substance abuse, and substance dependence?
What do tolerance and withdrawal mean?
How does DSM-5 handle the distinction between abuse and dependence?
Are addictions pleasurable?
What role does dopamine have in addiction?
How does drug addiction change the brain?
Why is methamphetamine so addictive?
Are some drugs more addictive than others?
What are some recent statistics on the percentage of the U.S. population that abuses or is dependent on drugs or alcohol?
Is there a genetic basis to addiction?
What is the relationship between childhood trauma and addiction?
What is the relationship between addiction and crime?
How does drug use vary across age groups in the United States?
How much control do addicts have over their addiction?
What are the stages of change?
What kinds of treatments are used for addiction?
What are the pharmacological treatments for addiction?
What is methadone and how does it help?
What is Antabuse and how does it help?
What psychological treatments are most useful for addictions?
What are twelve-step programs?
PSYCHOTHERAPY. What is psychotherapy?
How does psychotherapy work?
Does psychotherapy work?
What did a 1995 Consumer Reports survey say about the effectiveness of psychotherapy?
What are the major schools of psychotherapy?
What is psychoanalysis?
What is psychodynamic therapy?
What are transference and countertransference?
What is the difference between a one-person and a two-person model of psychoanalysis?
What do psychoanalysts mean by defense mechanisms?
What is behavioral psychotherapy?
What is classical conditioning?
How is classical conditioning used in psychotherapy?
What is systematic desensitization?
How does operant conditioning work?
How are operant conditioning principles applied in psychotherapy?
What are the ABCs of behavioral therapy?
What is cognitive psychotherapy?
What are cognitive distortions?
What are humanistic therapies?
What is the empty chair technique?
What is family therapy?
Which therapies are best for which kinds of problems?
What factors matter most to the success of the therapy?
How necessary is training in psychotherapy?
What should someone look for in choosing a therapist?
How long should therapy last?
PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY. How have medications influenced the treatment of the mentally ill?
What are the major classes of psychiatric drugs?
What are the antipsychotics and how do they work?
What does a drug’s potency mean?
What is the CATIE study?
What are some commonly prescribed psychiatric drugs?
What are the antidepressants and how do they work?
What are the antianxiety drugs and how do they work?
What are mood stabilizers?
Are there problems classifying medications by the disorders that they treat?
How are new drugs developed?
What are the stages of FDA testing?
What psychiatric medications are more likely to be abused?
How do we know that a drug works?
Why are drugs compared to placebos?
How do we know which drugs work best?
What impact does the pharmaceutical industry have on the practice of psychiatry?
How does the clinical trial registry protect against publication bias?
What is ECT?
POPULAR PSYCHOLOGY. What is popular psychology?
What is the history of popular psychology?
How do popular psychologists differ from licensed professional psychologists?
Who was Dr. Joyce Brothers?
Who were Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby)?
Who is Dr. Phil?
Who is Dr. Laura?
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TRAUMA
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF TRAUMA. What is psychological trauma?
Why do we study trauma?
What kinds of psychological problems are associated with trauma?
How did Freud’s seduction theory account for the childhood trauma?
What role did war play in the development of trauma studies?
What is post-traumatic stress disorder?
What is complex PTSD?
What factors in the event increase the risk of getting PTSD?
How does the emotional impact of human traumas differ from that of natural disasters?
What factors in a person increase the risk of PTSD?
What are the biological effects of trauma?
What is dissociation?
Are traumatic memories really repressed?
How do we treat the effects of trauma?
Is long-term childhood trauma treated differently than acute trauma in adulthood?
CHILD ABUSE. What is child abuse and why is it so important in psychology?
How common is child abuse?
What kinds of abuse do children suffer?
Who commits child abuse?
How does the type of maltreatment children suffer change as they get older?
What are the aftereffects of child abuse?
What factors increase the long-term damage of child abuse?
Which age groups are most vulnerable to child abuse?
What is the generational cycle of abuse?
What factors protect against the aftereffects of child abuse?
What do we know about resilient children?
SEXUAL ABUSE. What is child sexual abuse?
Is child sexual abuse violent?
Who are the victims of child sexual abuse?
What are the effects of childhood sexual abuse?
Is sexual abuse transmitted across generations?
What is pedophilia?
Are there different kinds of pedophilia?
Do all individuals with pedophilia sexually abuse children?
Are people with pedophilia attracted to children because they lack mature social skills?
Is pedophilia caused by neurological damage?
Were people with pedophilia sexually abused as children?
What are the signs that a child has been sexually abused?
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. What is domestic violence?
What is the difference between domestic violence and wife battering?
What is the history of attitudes toward domestic violence?
What role did feminism play in the understanding of domestic violence?
How has the study of domestic violence changed from the early feminist approach?
What is Lenore Walker’s model of the cycle of violence?
What is Evan Stark’s model of coercive control?
How is domestic abuse similar to other forms of coercive control?
Who is Patty Hearst and why is she still remembered today?
What did Judith Herman say about the psychological effects of captivity?
What is traumatic bonding?
What is the Stockholm syndrome and how is it different from coercive control?
Why do battered women stay?
What are the practical reasons that battered women stay?
What are the psychological reasons that battered women stay?
How does domestic violence affect the children?
Do only men batter?
What are the criminal statistics about intimate partner violence?
Does the rate of domestic violence vary across cultures?
What affects the prevalence of violence against women?
How do women’s rights vary across countries?
How do attitudes towards domestic violence vary across cultures?
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
What is forensic psychology?
What is criminal profiling?
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. What can psychology tell us about criminal behavior?
Do all law-breakers have abnormal psychological traits?
What is psychopathy?
How is psychopathy measured?
How common is psychopathy?
What are the different dimensions of psychopathy?
Who was Ted Bundy?
What is the difference between antisocial behavior and antisocial attitudes?
What does Hare’s Factor 1 correlate with?
What does Hare’s Factor 2 correlate with?
What role do narcissistic traits play in antisocial attitudes and behavior?
What role does intellectual ability play in criminal behavior?
Do criminals “age out”?
CAUSES OF ANTISOCIAL TRAITS. What are the causes of antisocial traits?
What role does environment play in the development of antisocial traits?
What role does neurobiology play in the development of antisocial traits?
Is there an interaction between neurobiology and environment?
What social factors contribute to the development of antisocial behavior?
What role do social norms play in the determination of criminal behavior?
What role does gender play in antisocial traits?
Does child abuse cause antisocial traits?
Do all abused children develop antisocial traits?
What psychological traits raise the risk of juvenile delinquency?
What biological factors contribute to delinquency?
What do we know about the neurobiology of antisocial traits?
What does heart rate tell us about psychopathy?
What do we know about the neurobiology of psychopathic criminals?
Is there a genetic basis for antisocial traits?
What specific genes have been linked to antisocial traits?
What is the relationship between addiction and criminality?
SPECIFIC FORMS OF CRIMES. What do we know about the psychology of violent criminals?
What do we know about the psychology of nonviolent criminals?
What do we know about child molesters?
Are there different types of child molesters?
Are homosexual child molesters really homosexual?
Were most child molesters molested as children themselves?
Do all individuals with pedophilia molest children?
What can psychology tell us about child testimony?
What was the Kelly Michaels case?
How do white-collar criminals differ from other forms of criminals?
What do we know about the psychology of serial killers?
What is the difference between organized and disorganized serial killers?
MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE LAW. What is the relationship between mental illness and criminal behavior?
What is the relationship between mental illness and competence?
What is the relationship between mental illness and culpability?
What does “not guilty by reason of insanity” mean?
What does “guilty but insane” mean?
How often is the insanity defense successful?
How does neurobiological research into criminality affect the law?
What does mitigating factors mean?
What is the relationship between personality disorders and culpability?
COGNITION AND THE LAW. How do the laws of human cognition affect the legal system?
Is eyewitness testimony always accurate?
How does the nature of memory affect eyewitness testimony?
How does stress affect memory?
What happens to memory over time?
Does jury bias also influence the impact of eyewitness testimony?
What can be done to increase the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?
COGNITIVE BIAS AND POLICE SHOOTINGS. How is the psychology of cognition related to police shootings?
What is the difference between conscious and unconscious bias?
What kind of unconscious bias might lead to police shootings of unarmed African-American men?
Where might police biases come from?
How might the stress of police work affect decision-making in high stress situations?
What is the difference between implicit and explicit memory?
What brain structures are involved in implicit and explicit memory?
How is memory related to decision-making?
How does stress affect the likelihood of using either implicit or explicit memory?
What can be done to reduce unnecessary police shootings, especially of young men of color?
Further Reading
Praise. for the previous edition of The Handy Psychology Answer Book
Praise. for The Dream Encyclopedia
for The Handy Anatomy Answer Book
for The Handy Philosophy Answer Book
for The Handy Science Answer Book
