Psychology in everyday life

562 Pages·2009·137.023 MB·English

by  Myers, David G

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David G.
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HOW DOES PSYCHOLOGY APPLY TO YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE?
How has natural selection contributed to How can "mental practice" improve my athletic, musical,
gender differences in sexuality? and academic performances? PP. 214-215
PP. 105-106,117-120
What factors affect our How could I injure myself
use and abuse of while playing a sport and
drugs? PP. 332-334 not realize it until after
the game? PP. 137-140
Why are sports teams
What are the ingredients for a rewarding and
more likely to win when
companionable love relationship? P. 398
they play at home? P. 384
How am I similar to, and how do I differ
from people of the opposite sex?
Why do I feel good after
PP. 104-105
exercising? PP. 29-30,
337-338
What effect does being physically
attractive have on first impressions, Why do we kiss
dating, and employment? PP. 395-396 How do daily rhythms with our lips? P. 41
affect my mood and
alertness? P. 50
Why do I fall in love
with some people and
not others?
PP. 394-398
• • • • ••
What should I do if I want to
i/ny do smells trigger certain
lose weight and keep it off?
lemories? P. 141
PP. 245-246
——
l/hatelse, besides
How can relaxation and
intidepressant drugs, can boost
meditation enhance my
noods? P. 366
well-being? PP. 281-283,
Why do I need to sleep, and 354-355
how much sleep do I need?
PP. 53-55
Is intelligence all I need to
be successful? P. 220
Where do we draw the line
between depression and
understandable sadness?
PP. 314, 335
low does stress affect my
lealth and my ability to fight
ifections and disease, such as
How can I motivate myself
IDS and cancer? PP. 271-275
and others to achieve more?
PP. 410-412
loes modern life make us more Are my personality traits
ulnerable to psychological evident in my musical
isorders, such as anxiety and taste? P. 304
epression? PP. 322, 337
How can I best remember
/hat does my messy (or neat) what I'm learning in this
)om (or web site) say about my course? PP. xxix-xxxiii,
ersonality? P. 304 22, 200-201
L A
See inside back cover for complete list.
Psychology
in veryday, czLsije
David G. Myers
Hope College
Holland, Michigan
WORTH PUBLISHERS
r
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2008929130
paperback:
ISBN-13: 978-1-4292-0789-8
ISBN-10:1-4292-0789-2
hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-1-4292-2561-8
ISBN-10:1-4292-2561-0
© 2009 by Worth Publishers
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
First printing 2008
All royalties from the sale of this book are assigned to the David and
Carol Myers Foundation, which exists to receive and distribute funds to
other charitable organizations.
Worth Publishers
41 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.worthpublishers.com
{*>
In memory of Guy Edward Geraghty (1950-2008),
with gratitude and fond memories.
• P " ¥ " " i!
About the
M feb
Author
D
AVID MYERS RECEIVED
his psychology Ph.D. from
the University of Iowa. He
has spent his career at Hope
College, Michigan, where he has
taught dozens of introductory
psychology sections. Hope College
students have invited him to be
their commencement speaker and
voted him "outstanding professor."
Myers' scientific articles have, with support from National Science
Foundation grants, appeared in more than two dozen scientific
periodicals, including Science, American Scientist, Psychological Science,
and the American Psychologist. In addition to his scholarly writing and
his textbooks for introductory and social psychology, he also digests
psychological science for the general public. His writings have
appeared in three dozen magazines, from Today's Education to Scientific
American. He also has authored five general audience books, including
The Pursuit of Happiness and Intuition: Its Powers and Perils.
David Myers has chaired his city's Human Relations Commission,
helped found a thriving assistance center for families in poverty, and
spoken to hundreds of college and community groups. Drawing on
his experience, he also has written articles and a book (A Quiet World)
about hearing loss, and he is advocating a transformation in American
assistive listening technology (see hearingloop.org).
He bikes to work year-round and plays daily pick-up basketball. David
and Carol Myers have raised two sons and a daughter.
V 1
Brief Contents
Preface x
IV
Time Management: Or, How to Be a Great
Student and Still Have a Life! xxvii
CHAPTERi Psychology's Roots, Big Ideas, and Critical
Thinking Tools 1
CHAPTER 2 Neuroscience and Consciousness 26
CHAPTER 3 Developing Through the Life Span 62
CHAPTER 4 Gender and Sexuality 102
CHAPTERS Sensation and Perception 124
CHAPTER 6 Learning 156
CHAPTER 7 Memory iso
CHAPTER8 Thinking, Language, and Intelligence 204
CHAPTER 9 Motivation and Emotion 234
CHAPTER 10 Stress, Health, and Human Flourishing 268
CHAPTER 11 Personality 288
CHAPTER 12 Psychological Disorders 312
CHAPTER 13 Therapy 348
CHAPTER 14 Social Psychology 374
APPENDIX Psychology at Work 407
Glossary G-I
Glosario GE-I
References R-I
Name Index NI-I
Subject Index si-i
Contents
Preface xiv CHAPTER 2
Neuroscience and
Time Management: Or, How to Be a Great
Consciousness 26
Student and Still Have a Life! xxvii
Neural Communication 28
CHAPTER 1 A Neuron's Structure 28
Psychology's Roots, Big How Neurons Communicate 28
Ideas, and Critical How Neurotransmitters Influence Us 29
Thinking Tools l
The Nervous System 31
Psychology's Roots 1 The Peripheral Nervous System 31
Psychological Science Is Born 1 The Central Nervous System 32
Contemporary Psychology's Subfields 3 The Endocrine System 33
Four Big Ideas in Psychology 5 The Brain 34
Big Idea 1: Critical Thinking Is Smart Older Brain Structures 34
Thinking 5
CLOSE-UP: The Tools of Discovery: Having
Big Idea 2: Behavior Is a Biopsychosocial Our Head Examined 35
Event 6
The Cerebral Cortex 39
Big Idea 3: We Operate With a Two-Track
Our Divided Brain 45
Mind (Dual Processing) 7
Right-Left Differences in the Intact
Big Idea 4: Psychology Explores Human
Brain 47
Strengths as Well as Challenges 8
Brain States and Consciousness 48
Why Do Psychology? 9
Selective Attention 48
The Limits of Intuition and Common
Sense 9 Sleep and Dreams 50
The Scientific Attitude 10
How Do Psychologists Ask and Answer **§ CHAPTER 3
Questions? 11 Developing Through the
The Scientific Method 11 Life Span 62
Description 12
Prenatal Development and the
Correlation 14
Newborn 64
Experimentation 16
Conception 64
Frequently Asked Questions About Prenatal Development 66
Psychology 19 The Competent Newborn 68
CLOSE-UP: How to Be a Better Student 22 CLOSE-UP: Twin and Adoption Studies 69
V 1 1 1
CONTENTS i x
Infancy and Childhood 70 An Evolutionary Explanation of Human
Physical Development 70 Sexuality 117
Cognitive Development 72 Gender Differences in Sexuality 118
Social Development 76 Natural Selection and Mating
Preferences 118
Parents and Peers 80
Critiquing the Evolutionary Perspective 119
Parent Influence 80
CLOSE-UP: For Those Troubled by the
Peer Influence 82 Scientific Understanding of Human
Origins 120
Thinking About Nature and Nurture 83
Thinking About Gender, Sexuality, and
Adolescence 84
Nature-Nurture Interaction 121
Physical Development 84
Cognitive Development 85
Social Development 86 f * j | CHAPTER 5
• fffl^i Sensation and
Emerging Adulthood 88
Thinking About Continuity and LgjT'i Perception 124
Stages 89
Sensing the World: Some Basic
Adulthood 90 Principles 126
Physical Development 90 From Energy to Neural Impulse 126
Cognitive Development 92 Thresholds 126
* *
Social Development 94 Sensory Adaptation 127
Thinking About Stability and Chang* 3 97
Vision 128
The Stimulus Input: Light Energy 129
P ^ f ^ i l CHAPTER 4 The Eye 130
y ^ t J l Gender and Visual Information Processing 132
L B M I Sexuality 102
The Other Senses 133
Gender Development 103 Hearing 134
How Are We Alike? How Do We Touch 136
Differ? 104 Pain 137
The Nature of Gender: Our Biology 105 Taste 140
The Nurture of Gender: Our Culture 106 Smell 141
Human Sexuality 108 Body Position and Movement 141
The Physiology of Sex 109 Perceptual Organization 142
The Psychology of Sex 112 Form Perception 143
CLOSE-UP: Sex and Human Values 113 Depth Perception 144
Sexual Orientation 113 Perceptual Constancy 145
Environment and Sexual Orientation 114 Perceptual interpretation 148
Biology and Sexual Orientation 115 Sensory Deprivation and Restored
Vision 148