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Psychology 2e

Critical Thinking Questions

Psychology 2eCritical Thinking Questions

Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. 1 Introduction to Psychology
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1 What Is Psychology?
    3. 1.2 History of Psychology
    4. 1.3 Contemporary Psychology
    5. 1.4 Careers in Psychology
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Review Questions
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Personal Application Questions
  3. 2 Psychological Research
    1. Introduction
    2. 2.1 Why Is Research Important?
    3. 2.2 Approaches to Research
    4. 2.3 Analyzing Findings
    5. 2.4 Ethics
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Review Questions
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Personal Application Questions
  4. 3 Biopsychology
    1. Introduction
    2. 3.1 Human Genetics
    3. 3.2 Cells of the Nervous System
    4. 3.3 Parts of the Nervous System
    5. 3.4 The Brain and Spinal Cord
    6. 3.5 The Endocrine System
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. Review Questions
    10. Critical Thinking Questions
    11. Personal Application Questions
  5. 4 States of Consciousness
    1. Introduction
    2. 4.1 What Is Consciousness?
    3. 4.2 Sleep and Why We Sleep
    4. 4.3 Stages of Sleep
    5. 4.4 Sleep Problems and Disorders
    6. 4.5 Substance Use and Abuse
    7. 4.6 Other States of Consciousness
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. Review Questions
    11. Critical Thinking Questions
    12. Personal Application Questions
  6. 5 Sensation and Perception
    1. Introduction
    2. 5.1 Sensation versus Perception
    3. 5.2 Waves and Wavelengths
    4. 5.3 Vision
    5. 5.4 Hearing
    6. 5.5 The Other Senses
    7. 5.6 Gestalt Principles of Perception
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. Review Questions
    11. Critical Thinking Questions
    12. Personal Application Questions
  7. 6 Learning
    1. Introduction
    2. 6.1 What Is Learning?
    3. 6.2 Classical Conditioning
    4. 6.3 Operant Conditioning
    5. 6.4 Observational Learning (Modeling)
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Review Questions
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Personal Application Questions
  8. 7 Thinking and Intelligence
    1. Introduction
    2. 7.1 What Is Cognition?
    3. 7.2 Language
    4. 7.3 Problem Solving
    5. 7.4 What Are Intelligence and Creativity?
    6. 7.5 Measures of Intelligence
    7. 7.6 The Source of Intelligence
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary
    10. Review Questions
    11. Critical Thinking Questions
    12. Personal Application Questions
  9. 8 Memory
    1. Introduction
    2. 8.1 How Memory Functions
    3. 8.2 Parts of the Brain Involved with Memory
    4. 8.3 Problems with Memory
    5. 8.4 Ways to Enhance Memory
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Review Questions
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Personal Application Questions
  10. 9 Lifespan Development
    1. Introduction
    2. 9.1 What Is Lifespan Development?
    3. 9.2 Lifespan Theories
    4. 9.3 Stages of Development
    5. 9.4 Death and Dying
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Review Questions
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Personal Application Questions
  11. 10 Emotion and Motivation
    1. Introduction
    2. 10.1 Motivation
    3. 10.2 Hunger and Eating
    4. 10.3 Sexual Behavior, Sexuality, and Gender Identity
    5. 10.4 Emotion
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Review Questions
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Personal Application Questions
  12. 11 Personality
    1. Introduction
    2. 11.1 What Is Personality?
    3. 11.2 Freud and the Psychodynamic Perspective
    4. 11.3 Neo-Freudians: Adler, Erikson, Jung, and Horney
    5. 11.4 Learning Approaches
    6. 11.5 Humanistic Approaches
    7. 11.6 Biological Approaches
    8. 11.7 Trait Theorists
    9. 11.8 Cultural Understandings of Personality
    10. 11.9 Personality Assessment
    11. Key Terms
    12. Summary
    13. Review Questions
    14. Critical Thinking Questions
    15. Personal Application Questions
  13. 12 Social Psychology
    1. Introduction
    2. 12.1 What Is Social Psychology?
    3. 12.2 Self-presentation
    4. 12.3 Attitudes and Persuasion
    5. 12.4 Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience
    6. 12.5 Prejudice and Discrimination
    7. 12.6 Aggression
    8. 12.7 Prosocial Behavior
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary
    11. Review Questions
    12. Critical Thinking Questions
    13. Personal Application Questions
  14. 13 Industrial-Organizational Psychology
    1. Introduction
    2. 13.1 What Is Industrial and Organizational Psychology?
    3. 13.2 Industrial Psychology: Selecting and Evaluating Employees
    4. 13.3 Organizational Psychology: The Social Dimension of Work
    5. 13.4 Human Factors Psychology and Workplace Design
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary
    8. Review Questions
    9. Critical Thinking Questions
    10. Personal Application Questions
  15. 14 Stress, Lifestyle, and Health
    1. Introduction
    2. 14.1 What Is Stress?
    3. 14.2 Stressors
    4. 14.3 Stress and Illness
    5. 14.4 Regulation of Stress
    6. 14.5 The Pursuit of Happiness
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. Review Questions
    10. Critical Thinking Questions
    11. Personal Application Questions
  16. 15 Psychological Disorders
    1. Introduction
    2. 15.1 What Are Psychological Disorders?
    3. 15.2 Diagnosing and Classifying Psychological Disorders
    4. 15.3 Perspectives on Psychological Disorders
    5. 15.4 Anxiety Disorders
    6. 15.5 Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
    7. 15.6 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
    8. 15.7 Mood and Related Disorders
    9. 15.8 Schizophrenia
    10. 15.9 Dissociative Disorders
    11. 15.10 Disorders in Childhood
    12. 15.11 Personality Disorders
    13. Key Terms
    14. Summary
    15. Review Questions
    16. Critical Thinking Questions
    17. Personal Application Questions
  17. 16 Therapy and Treatment
    1. Introduction
    2. 16.1 Mental Health Treatment: Past and Present
    3. 16.2 Types of Treatment
    4. 16.3 Treatment Modalities
    5. 16.4 Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders: A Special Case
    6. 16.5 The Sociocultural Model and Therapy Utilization
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary
    9. Review Questions
    10. Critical Thinking Questions
    11. Personal Application Questions
  18. References
  19. Index
25.

In this section, there was a discussion about researchers arriving at different conclusions about the use of technology in certain student populations, with one study determining that a smartphone app for surgery students seemed effective, but another study finding negative impacts on sleep, communication, and time management resulting from the use of technology by undergraduates. How might an educational leader best work through these discrepancies?

26.

The scientific method is often described as self-correcting and cyclical. Briefly describe your understanding of the scientific method with regard to these concepts.

27.

In this section, conjoined twins, Krista and Tatiana, were described as being potential participants in a case study. In what other circumstances would you think that this particular research approach would be especially helpful and why?

28.

Presumably, reality television programs aim to provide a realistic portrayal of the behavior displayed by the characters featured in such programs. This section pointed out why this is not really the case. What changes could be made in the way that these programs are produced that would result in more honest portrayals of realistic behavior?

29.

Which of the research methods discussed in this section would be best suited to study the impact of diet and exercise on the prevalence of a disease such as diabetes? Why?

30.

Aside from biomedical research, what other areas of research could greatly benefit by both longitudinal and archival research?

31.

Earlier in this section, we read about research suggesting that there is a correlation between eating cereal and weight. Cereal companies that present this information in their advertisements could lead someone to believe that eating more cereal causes healthy weight. Why would they make such a claim and what arguments could you make to counter this cause-and-effect claim?

32.

Recently a study was published in the journal, Nutrition and Cancer, which established a negative correlation between coffee consumption and breast cancer. Specifically, it was found that women consuming more than 5 cups of coffee a day were less likely to develop breast cancer than women who never consumed coffee (Lowcock, Cotterchio, Anderson, Boucher, & El-Sohemy, 2013). Imagine you see a newspaper story about this research that says, “Coffee Protects Against Cancer.” Why is this headline misleading and why would a more accurate headline draw less interest?

33.

Sometimes, true random sampling can be very difficult to obtain. Many researchers make use of convenience samples as an alternative. For example, one popular convenience sample would involve students enrolled in Introduction to Psychology courses. What are the implications of using this sampling technique?

34.

Peer review is an important part of publishing research findings in many scientific disciplines. This process is normally conducted anonymously; in other words, the author of the article being reviewed does not know who is reviewing the article, and the reviewers are unaware of the author’s identity. Why would this be an important part of this process?

35.

Some argue that animal research is inherently flawed in terms of being ethical because unlike human participants, animals do not consent to be involved in research. Do you agree with this perspective? Given that animals do not consent to be involved in research projects, what sorts of extra precautions should be taken to ensure that they receive the most humane treatment possible?

36.

At the end of the last section, you were asked to design a basic experiment to answer some question of interest. What ethical considerations should be made with the study you proposed to ensure that your experiment would conform to the scientific community’s expectations of ethical research?

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