Psychology Contemporary Perspectives

by Okami, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780199856619
• ISBN10: 0199856613
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-07-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Research-based but highly accessible, this fresh, contemporary, and engaging volume helps students appreciate the science of psychology and understand how its principles apply to their own lives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FEATURES

CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES, NOT JUST CONTEMPORARY REFERENCES
Giving careful consideration to the field's historical foundations, Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives provides a unique balance of traditional and contemporary perspectives. This approach invites students to develop a modern appraisal of psychology.

THE MOST CURRENT RESEARCH
The book covers the latest in evolutionary psychology and behavior genetics, ecological and evolutionary theories of learning, cross-cultural work in cognition, the latest neuroscience data (and its critiques), and endophenotype research in the genetic causes of schizophrenia.

CLEAR AND COMPELLING WRITING
Exceptionally well written, Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives uses stories to help students connect with the principles of psychology.

RICH PEDAGOGY
All running features are integrated into the main body of the text, helping to maintain the flow of the narrative--and the attention of students!

* "Freeze Frame" snapshots underscoring the theme of each chapter tell the compelling stories of real-life individuals.

* "Living Psychology" applies psychology to students' everyday lives, helping them understand the benefits of what they are studying.

* "Critical Thinking about Psychology" sections give students the tools they need in order to effectively and objectively interpret research.

* "At the Forefront" highlights new and influential research in the field.

CAREFULLY CRAFTED STUDY TOOLS
Placing an emphasis on "review, retrieve, and learn," Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives takes a "back-to-basics" approach to study tools.

* "In Summary" sections provide clear, concise chapter descriptions, offering students powerful tools for review.

* "Retrieve!" questions encourage students to test their knowledge of what they have just read. Each question includes the page numbers on which the relevant material was first presented, aiding in additional review and reinforcing learning.

AN EXCELLENT VALUE
Oxford University Press USA, a department of the University of Oxford, is a not-for-profit publisher devoted to furthering the university's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Since accessible materials clearly support this mission, OUP USA uses a combination of not-for-profit status and financial discipline to offer course materials that generally cost students significantly less than those offered by commercial publishers.

SUPERIOR SUPPLEMENTS
We are proud to offer instructors and students a comprehensive set of ancillary resources.

* Instructor's Ancillary Resource Center: Available online exclusively to adopters, this valuable resource features detailed chapter outlines, lecture suggestions and activities, discussion questions, video resources, and Web resources, along with a computerized test bank containing 1,400+ test questions.

* Videos: Organized by chapter, these short contemporary video clips from YouTube are available for use as lecture starters and assignable class activities.

* PowerPoint-Based Slides: Each chapter's slide deck includes a succinct chapter outline and incorporates relevant chapter graphics.

* Course Cartridges: Available for a variety of learning management systems.

* Instructor's Companion Website: The instructor's portion of the companion website--available to adopters--includes all the teaching tools described above, which are available for immediate download (www.oup.com/us/okami).

* Online Homework: Oxford's Learning Management System delivers quality content and tools to track student progress in an intuitive, nationally hosted learning environment. Assessments are designed to accompany Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives and auto-graded so that instructors may check students' understanding without hours of grading. A color-coded gradebook shows instructors at a glance where their students are succeeding and where they need improvement; this allows instructors to adapt their lectures as needed at a moment's notice. For students, this means quality content and instant feedback. Oxford's Learning Management System features a streamlined interface that connects instructors and students with the functions that they perform most often, simplifying the learning experience in order to save instructors time and put students' progress first. (ISBN: 978-0-19-934982-1)

* Free Online Student Study Guide: Offering a variety of learning and review tools, this free online resource includes comprehensive yet concise chapter outlines, visual concept maps, and approximately twenty-five multiple-choice
questions per chapter.

Author Biography

Paul Okami (BA, Hunter College, MA and PhD, University of California at Los Angeles) is Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Widener University and a member of the Association for Psychological Science. As a graduate student, Okami published frequently in the areas of sexuality, evolutionary psychology, and child development. Some of this work gained wide recognition by top experts in related fields.

A beloved instructor, Dr. Okami's grasp of contemporary perspectives in psychology--and how to teach them--has enabled him to achieve great success teaching introductory students. He has taught at every level of higher education from university to community college, reaching traditional undergraduate and graduate students as well as returning and non-traditional adult students.

Table of Contents

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHAPTER 1: PSYCHOLOGY AS SCIENCE
What Is Psychology?
Psychology Is the Scientific Study of Mind and Behavior
Psychology Is Distinct from Psychiatry
Psychology Today Is Distinguished in Three Ways
Psychology Did Not Exist in the Ancient World
Prescientific Psychology in the Age of Reason
Pioneers of Modern Psychological Science
Is Psychological Science Really Scientific?
Science Is an Empirical Way of Knowing
Intuition Is an Empirical Mixed Blessing
Science Is the Best Method of Gaining Material Knowledge
Science Has Goals and Methods
Science Has a Point of View: Skepticism
Science Uses Theories to Explain Facts
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: What Science Is Not: Pseudoscience**
Psychological Science Varies in Quality
How Do Psychologists Conduct Research?
There Are Three Categories of Research Methods
Descriptive Methods Take "Snapshots" of Individuals or Groups
Descriptive Research Is Valuable, but Limited
Correlational Methods Examine Relationships among Variables
Experiments Can Establish Cause and Effect
Why Are Statistics Important in Psychology?
Both Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Are Important
Statistical Significance and Effect Size: Are Results Real and Meaningful?
Statistical Literacy Is Urgently Important
Why Are Ethics Important in Psychology?
Ethical Concerns: Scholarship and Treatment of Research Participants
Nails in the Coffin of Research Free-for-Alls
Nonhuman Animals Also Have Rights

CHAPTER 2: THE BRAIN, THE BODY, AND BEHAVIOR
Where Is the Mind?
There Are Two Views about the Location of the Mind
How Is the Nervous System Built?
The Nervous System Is Composed of Cells
Neurons Have an Anatomy
Glia Assist Neurons in Their Work
The Action Potential: How Neurons Do Their Work
Neurotransmitters Send the Signal
How Is the Nervous System Organized?
The Central Nervous System Is "Command Central"
The Peripheral Nervous System Connects Brain, Body, and the Environment
The Autonomic Nervous System Is Also Subdivided
How Is the Brain Organized?
The Brain Is a Network of Neural Connections
The Hindbrain and Midbrain Keep House
The Forebrain Houses More Complex Brain Functions
Each Cerebral Hemisphere Is Specialized
**At the Forefront: Male and Female Brains Are Not Identical**
Although the Brain Is Specialized, It Is Also Plastic
What Is the Endocrine System?
The Nervous and Endocrine Systems Overlap
What Is Neuroscience?
Behavioral Neuroscience Is the Study of the Neural Basis of Behavior
Cognitive Neuroscience: The Neural Basis of Cognition and Emotion
There Are Limits to Neuroscience

CHAPTER 3: THE NATURE AND NURTURE OF BEHAVIOR
What Are Genes?
The Gene Is the Unit of Heredity
Phenotypes Are Observable Characteristics
Genes Have at Least Three Functions
How Do Genes and Environments Influence Behavior?
Twin and Adoption Studies Disentangle Nature and Nurture
The Heritability Statistic Is an Estimate of Genetic Influence
Genes and Environments Interact
Why Are Psychologists Interested in Evolution?
Evolution Is Both Fact and Theory
The Theory of Natural Selection Guides Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology Is a New Way of Looking at Old Problems
Human Sex Differences: A "Test Case" for Evolutionary Psychology
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Exceptions May Prove Trivers's Rule**
Questions about the Evolutionary Approach
What Is the Sociocultural Perspective?
Society and Culture Help Shape Mind and Behavior
The Sociocultural Perspective Highlights Differences and Similarities
Three Examples of Cultural Psychology
**Living Psychology: Are Friends Good to Have? Friendship in West Africa and North America**
Social Role Theory: The "Social" Is Sociocultural

CHAPTER 4: HUMAN LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT
Why Study Development?
Four Assumptions of the Life-Span Perspective
How Does the Unborn Embryo become a Newborn Infant?
The Embryo and Fetus Face Challenges
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: The "Crack Baby": Crackpot Idea?**
The Newborn Infant Is Already Skilled
How Does the Infant become a Child?
Brain Development Is Rapid
Social and Emotional Development Require Nature and Nurture
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Early Child Care Has Benefits--and Costs**
Cognitive Development: What Infants and Toddlers Know
How Does the Child become Adolescent?
Adolescence Is a Process
The Adolescent Brain Is a "Work in Progress"
Parents Matter--But How?
Peers Matter More than Ever
**Living Psychology: Our Parents Were Right (Sort of): Choose Your Friends Wisely**
Moral Development in Adolescence Is Complex
**At the Forefront: The Neural Basis of Morality**
How Does the Adolescent become Adult?
Development in Adulthood: More Stages and Continuities
Work, Marriage, and Parenthood Still Define Adulthood for Most People
How Does the Adult Age?
Physical Changes Are Associated with Aging
Cognitive Changes Are Associated with Aging
Social and Emotional Changes Involve Loss and Gain
Death Is a Process

CHAPTER 5: PERCEPTION AND THE SENSES
How Do Sensing and Perceiving Differ?
Psychophysicists Study the Relationship between Stimuli and Perception
Signal Detection Theory Acknowledges the "Human" Factor
Sensory Adaptation Reduces Sensitivity to Stimuli
Subliminal Perception Occurs below the Level of Awareness
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Can Subliminal Persuasion Make You Buy Coca-Cola or Boost Your Self-Esteem?**
How Does the Eye Work?
The Eye Receives Light
Eyes Form Images of the World, but Do Not "See"
Visual Signals Are Interpreted in the Visual Cortex
Brains--Not Objects--Have Color
How Does the Ear Work?
Sound Is Vibration
The Ear Collects, Amplifies, and Transforms Sound Waves
Both Ears Are Necessary to Locate Sounds
How Do the Nose and Tongue Receive Chemical Signals?
The Nose Detects Odors
The Nose Also Detects Chemical Communications
The Tongue Tastes, but It Needs the Nose for Flavor
How Do the Skin and Body Feel?
Skin: The Agony and the Ecstasy
How Do We Perceive Visual Images?
Visual Images Are Organized
Visual Images Have Depth
Visual Images Have Constancy
How Do Evolution, Culture, and Experience Affect Perception?
Face Recognition: Specialized Tool of Perception?
Perception Is Influenced by Expectation and Attention
Perceptual Set
People from Different Cultures May "See Things Differently"

CHAPTER 6: VARIETIES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
What Is Consciousness? No One Knows
A Commonsense Definition of Consciousness
The Hard Problem: How Do We Get from Brain to Self?
Consciousness Comes in Many Varieties
How--and Why--Do We Sleep?
How Much Sleep Is Enough?
Sleep Patterns Are Regulated by Two Processes
Falling Asleep Is a Gradual Process
Sleep Comes in Two Types and Five Stages
The Function of Sleep Is Unknown
What Are Dreams?
Sleep Mentation Includes Thinking and Two Levels of Dreaming
Dreams Have Meaning to the Dreamer
What Are Sleep Disorders?
"Sleep Problems" and "Sleep Disorders" Are Not the Same
Insomnia Has a Life of Its Own
**Living Psychology: Getting a Good Night's Sleep**
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Can Be Life-Threatening
Parasomnias Can Be Nightmarish
Narcolepsy Destroys the Boundaries between Sleep and Wakefulness
Is Hypnosis an Altered State of Consciousness?
Hypnosis Is a Social Event
Special State vs. Nonstate Debate
What Is the Nature of Meditation?
Meditation Has at Least Two Basic Characteristics
Meditation as an Altered State
How Do Psychoactive Drugs Affect Consciousness?
Use of Psychoactive Drugs Is an Ordinary Part of Most People's Lives
"Addiction" Has Many Definitions
All Substances Are Potentially Toxic
Narcotics
Stimulants
Depressants
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: The Most Common Date Rape Drug Is Alcohol**
Psychedelics
"Legal Highs"

CHAPTER 7: LEARNING
What Is Learning?
Learning Is Difficult to Define
"Learned" Is Not the Opposite of "Innate"
Habituation and Sensitization Are the Simplest Forms of Learning
Associative Learning Is More Complex
What Is Classical Conditioning?
Classical Conditioning Prepares an Organism for What Is to Come
Classical Conditioning Includes Stimulus and Response
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Will the Real Little Albert Please Crawl Forward?**
What Are the Limits of Classical Conditioning?
Cognition Plays a Part in Classical Conditioning
Evolution Prepares Each Animal to Form Certain Associations
The Ecology of the Organism Affects Conditioning
What Is Operant Conditioning?
In Operant Conditioning, the Organism Teaches Itself
Reinforcement and Punishment Are the Conditioning Factors
Shaping: The Building Blocks of Operant Behavior
Reinforcers Differ in Strength and Origin
Reinforcement Schedules Affect Conditioning
Punishment May Be Effective but Can Also Pose Problems
What Are the Limits of Operant Conditioning?
Cognition and Evolution Also Affect Operant Conditioning
What Is Observational Learning?
Modeling Is Learning through Imitation
Vicarious Conditioning Is Learning by Observing Consequences
Mirror Neurons May Be the "How" of Observational Learning
**At the Forefront: Mirror Neurons and Autism**
Effects of Media Violence: An Unsettled, and Unsettling, Question

CHAPTER 8: MEMORY
What Are Memories?
Memories Are Encoded, Stored, and Retrieved
The Modal Model of Memory Consists of "Stores"
**Living Psychology: How Not to Prepare for Exams**
What Is "Remembering"?
Retrieval Cues
Working Memory Is Working with Memory
There Are Two Types (and Two Subtypes) of LTM
Levels of Processing Framework: Are Memory Stores Real?
**At the Forefront: Are "Brain Steroids" Useful (and Ethical)?**
How Do We Forget Things That Happened (and Remember Things That Never Happened)?
Memories Are Constructed, Not Recorded
Eyewitness Testimony Is Surprisingly Unreliable
Children's Memories Can Be Manipulated
The Seven "Sins" of Memory
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Memories of Trauma, False and True**
Are Our Memories Defective?

CHAPTER 9: THINKING, LANGUAGE, AND INTELLIGENCE
How Does the Mind Work?
Thinking and Cognition Are Not the Same
Mental Images Represent Information in Picture Form
Concepts Are Mental Categories
Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow: Kahneman's Two-System Theory
How Do We Use Thinking to Solve Problems?
Trial and Error Eliminates Solutions One at a Time
Algorithms Never Fail, but They Are Not Always Available
Heuristics Are Mental "Rules of Thumb"
Aha! Insight!
Creativity: Finding Problems and Solving Them
How Do Biases Affect Decision Making?
The Confirmation Bias Tells Us What We Want to Hear
Belief Persistence
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Chance Is Lumpy: The Gambler's Fallacy**
Language: What Is It, and How Do We Learn It?
Language Is an Open-Ended Code
Language May Also Be a "Mental Organ"
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: There Ain't No Such Thing as Bad Grammar, Yo': The Linguistic View**
Language May Influence the Way We Think
Do Nonhuman Animals Have Language?
Washoe, Nim, and Kanzi: Conversationalists or Trained Chimps?
What Is Intelligence?
There Are Two General Meanings of the Word "Intelligence"
General Intelligence (g) Is One Way of Describing "Book Smarts"
IQ Is the Most Commonly Accepted Measure of Intelligence
IQ Measures Something Important, but It May Not Be Intelligence
Multiple Intelligences: An Alternative to g and IQ
Most Theories of Intelligence Incorporate the Idea of g
Where Does Intelligence Come from?
Genes and Environments Determine Cognitive Ability

CHAPTER 10: MOTIVATION
What Are Motivations?
Motivations Initiate and Direct Behavior
Motivations Include Instincts and Adaptations
Motivations Also Include Drives, Incentives, and Needs
Some Motivations Are Universal or "Nearly Universal"
How Is Work a Window onto Motivation?
Traits Influence Work Performance
Perceived Self-Efficacy
Goal Setting
**Living Psychology: "Do What You Are": Using Positive Psychology to Help Choose a Career
Why Do We Eat?
Hunger and Appetite Are Not the Same
People Tend to Maintain an Energy Balance
Eating Disorders Have become More Common
Overweight and Obesity Are Epidemic
The Social Motivations: Why Do We Turn toward One Another?
Affiliation Means Being Near, but Not Necessarily Close
Belonging Means Caring Relationships that Endure
Aggression: Why Do We Turn against One Another?
Aggression May Be Violent or Non-Violent
Aggression May Be Hostile or Instrumental
There Are Sex Differences in Aggression
Aggression Is Triggered by Specific Factors
Aggressors Believe They Are in the Right
Competence: Why Do People Seek to Do Well?
Approach and Avoidance Are Two Strategies for Competence
Achievement Is a Part of Competence Motivation

CHAPTER 11: EMOTION AND HEALTH
What Is Emotion?
How Are Your Feelings?
Unpleasant Emotions Outnumber Pleasant Ones
Emotions Serve Important Functions
Everyone Wants to Feel Good--But What Is "Feeling Good"?
Are Some Emotions "Basic"?
Basic Emotions Are Primary
Basic Emotions Are Affected by Culture
Deception Is Linked to Emotion and Cognition
How Do Psychologists Explain Emotion?
Early Theories: Which Comes First, Feeling or Emotion?
Cognitive Theories Stress Interpretation of Events
Some Emotional Experiences May Bypass Cognition
Embodied Emotion: The Body Is the Mind
Which Theory of Emotion Is "Right"?
How Do People Deal with Anger?
Anger Is Common, Varied, and Dangerous
"Venting" Is Not an Effective Strategy for Dealing with Anger
**Living Psychology: To Forgive Is Human as Well as Divine**
Who Is Happy (and Why)?
Most People Are Reasonably Happy
When Money Buys Happiness
When Money Buys Unhappiness
Happiness "Set Points" Are Not Set in Stone
What Makes People Happy
What Is Stress?
Stress Is a Response to Challenging or Threatening Events
We Need Stress
The Stress Response Involves Activation and Adaptation
Hans Selye and the GAS Model
Tend and Befriend: The Female Fight or Flight?
Ethnic Minorities Experience Unique Stressors
Does Stress Cause Illness?
Stress Affects Immune Systems
**At the Forefront: Placebo: Treatment or Non-Treatment?**
Coping: How Can Stress Be Managed?
Optimism
Aerobic Exercise
Meditation
**Living Psychology: How to Meditate**
Social Support
Religion and Spiritual Life
If All Else Fails, Get a Dog

CHAPTER 12: PERSONALITY
What Is Personality?
Like All Others, Some Others, and No Other
Organized, Integrated and Relatively Enduring
What Are the "Grand Theories" of Personality?
Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis: The Life of the Unconscious Mind
The Neo-Freudians: Keeping the Baby, Throwing out the Bathwater
The Behaviorists: Personality Is a Learning Experience
The Humanists: Faith in Humankind
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Self-Esteem: It Feels Good, but What Does It Actually Do?**
Winds of Change
How Do Traits and Situations Affect Personality?
Traits Describe--but Do Not Explain--Personality
**Living Psychology: What Is Your Big Five Score?**
Situations Can Powerfully Influence Behavior
Traits and Situations Form Revealing Patterns
Social-Cognitive Theories: Creating Your Own Personality
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Astrology: Is Personality in the Stars?**
How Do Genes, Environments, and Culture Influence Personality?
Genes Play an Important Role in Personality Development
Nonshared Environments Are Equally Important
Culture Influences Personality, But In Unexpected Ways
How Is Personality Measured?
Projective Tests Interpret Personality
Objective Tests Are Constructed Empirically
How Much Does Personality Change over Time?
Traits Are Surprisingly--but Not Entirely--Stable
Other Aspects of Personality May Also Change

CHAPTER 13: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
What Is a Psychological Disorder?
The DSM View: Disorder = Dysfunction and Distress (or Impairment)
The Myth of Mental Illness View: Disorders Are Social Judgments, Not "Illnesses"
The Harmful Dysfunction View: Fact and Social Judgment Define Disorder
What about "Insanity?"
The Number of People with Disorders Is Not Known with Certainty
Major Mental Disorders and Personality Disorders
What Are Anxiety Disorders?
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Defines the Experience of Anxiety
Phobias Are Irrational Fears
Panic Disorder: Anxious about Fear
Anxiety Results from Combinations of Causes
Obsessive-Compulsive and Trauma-Related Disorders Are in Categories All Their Own
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Can Dominate a Person's Life
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Rare Response to Trauma
**Living Psychology: Beware of Psychology Students' Disease!**
What Are Depressive and Bipolar Disorders?
Major Depressive Disorder: The Most Severe Form of Depression
How Depression Arises
Women Have Much Higher Rates of Depression
Bipolar Disorders Are a Spectrum, Not a Single Disorder
Depressive and Bipolar Disorders Increase the Risk of Suicide
Are Depression and Anxiety Overdiagnosed?
Social Phobia: When Is It Truly Dysfunctional?
When Ordinary Sadness becomes Disorder
What Is Schizophrenia?
Symptoms May Be Positive and Negative
The Search for Causes of Schizophrenia
Partial Recovery Is Possible
What Are Personality Disorders?
Paranoid Personality Disorder Fosters Mistrust
Borderline Personality Disorder Leads to a Stormy Life
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder Wants Rules Obeyed
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Sybil and the Epidemic of Multiple Personalities**

CHAPTER 14: TREATMENT
What Is Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy Involves a Healing Personal Relationship
People Enter Psychotherapy for Many Reasons
There Are Different Styles of Psychotherapy
Psychotherapists' Training Varies Widely
How Do Styles of Psychotherapy Differ?
Psychoanalysis: Uncommon, but Influential
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Behavior Therapy: Changing Maladaptive Behavior
Cognitive Therapies: Changing Feelings by Changing Thoughts
**Living Psychology: Cognitive Therapy to Fight Depression**
Integrative Therapy: Using What Works
Bibliotherapy: Reading Your Way to Relief?
What Are Group, Couple, and Family Therapies?
Group Therapy Involves Three or More
Family Therapy: The Family as a System
Couple Therapy for Marital or Individual Distress
Does Psychotherapy Work?
What Does "Works" Mean? Efficacy and Effectiveness
No One Style of Therapy Has Proved Superior Overall
Psychotherapy May Work for the "Wrong Reasons"
Psychotherapy Can Also Cause Harm
Culture Plays a Role in Psychotherapy
Therapists Are People
Psychological Services beyond Psychotherapy
What Is Pharmacotherapy?
Pharmacotherapy Uses Psychoactive Medications
Anxiety Is Treated with Anxiolytics
Depression Is Treated with Antidepressants
Bipolar Disorders Are Treated with Mood Stabilizers
Schizophrenia Is Treated With Antipsychotics
Does Pharmacotherapy Work?
Large Corporations Manage Information about Pharmacotherapy
Eliminating Publication Bias Reveals a Different Picture of Antidepressants
What Other Biological Treatments Are Available?
Electroconvulsive Treatment Is Controversial
Magnetic Brain Stimulation
Psychosurgery
Closing Remarks: The Future of Treatment Is Integrative

CHAPTER 15: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
What Is Psychological Self-Defense?
Cognitive Biases Are Potent Self-Defense Weapons
The Ups and Downs of Comparing Yourself to Others
Cognitive Dissonance: When Attitudes and Behavior Clash
When Self-Defense Fails, the Self May Attempt to Change
How Do We Present Ourselves to Others?
Impression Management Involves Motivation and Construction
Self-Presentation in Cyberspace
Our Ideas of How Others See Us Are Often Wildly Off Track
How Do We Explain Our Own and Others' Behavior?
The Fundamental Attribution Error: Mistaking the Situation for the Person
The Actor-Observer Bias: Mistaking the Person for the Situation
Who Attracts Whom?
Positive Assortment
The Mere Exposure Effect
Beauty Is Not Entirely in the Eye of the Beholder
How Do Other People Affect Our Opinions and Behavior?
People Conform for Many Reasons
Groupthink Is Dangerous
Bystander Apathy, Tragedy, and Public Outrage
Deindividuation in Groups: Human Beings at Their Worst
Altruism: Human Beings at Their Best
How Does Intergroup Conflict Lead to Aggression?
Stereotyping Can Lead to Prejudice
Ingroup Bias May Also Lead to Prejudice
Prejudice Can Be Subtle and Unconscious
Prejudice in the Face of Terror and Death
Obedience to Authority
**At the Forefront: "Ultimate" Aggression: What Motivates a Suicide Terrorist?**
Intergroup Contact: Reducing Prejudice in Jittery Times
Lessons of Abu Ghraib

CHAPTER 16: SEX, GENDER, AND SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
Are "Sex" and "Gender" Different?
Sex at Birth Is Chromosomal, Gonadal, Hormonal, and Anatomical
"Gender" Is Less Easy to Define than "Sex"
Gender Identity Begins in Early Childhood
Gender Roles Are Beliefs about How Men and Women Ought to Behave
Gender Stereotypes Are Beliefs about What Men and Women Are Like
How Do the Sexes Differ?
There Are Sex Differences in Play Styles and Toy Preferences
Sex Differences in Cognition Favor Men and Women in Different Ways
Sex Differences in Cognition Might Exist in Three Ways
**Critical Thinking about Psychology: Stereotype Threat: Are Scientific Theories about Sex Differences Dangerous?**
Sexual Behavior: What Is "Having Sex" and Why Do People Have It?
People Do Not Agree on What Constitutes "Having Sex"
The Physiology of Sexual Response Proceeds in Stages
**Living Psychology: Sexual Aggression: What Should You Do if You Are Raped or Sexually Assaulted?**
How Does Sexuality Develop?
Child Sexuality Is Human Sexuality, but It Isn't Adult Sexuality
Sexual Development in Adolescence Is Multifaceted
What Is Sexual Orientation?
Sexual Orientation Includes Behavior, Desire, and Identity
Patterns of Sexual Orientation Differ for Men and Women
Causes of Sexual Orientation Are Not Known with Certainty
How Closely Are Sex and Love Linked?
Love as a Set of Characteristic Feelings, Thoughts, and Behaviors
Love Is a Human Universal--with Cultural Variations
Love and Sex: The Biobehavioral Model

GLOSSARY
REFERENCES
CREDITS
NAME INDEX
SUBJECT INDEX