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Perhaps the most fascinating and mysterious universe of

all is the one within us.
+CARL SAGAN

aiting in line at the theater, Ray put his arms around Kira and playfully kissed her cheek.
W “Remember that party where we met last year?” he asked. “You caught my eye the moment
you walked into the room.” “Sure,” Kira laughed, “but you were so shy. Your friends practically
had to drag you over to talk to me! You’re lucky I’m so outgoing.”
Ray knew he was shy, especially around women, yet he wasn’t sure why. He had been too
nervous to enjoy the few dates he had gone on in high school. During his first semester at college,
he met a few women he really liked but was afraid to ask them out. He didn’t make many male
friends either, and by winter the loneliness was getting to him. He became mildly depressed, he
couldn’t sleep well, and his schoolwork suffered.
After a good visit with his family during spring break, Ray turned things around. He studied
hard, did well on his tests, and made friends with some guys in the dorm. His mood improved,
and toward the end of the semester he met Kira. Attracted to Ray and sensing both his shyness
and his interest, Kira asked Ray out. Now dating Kira for a year and doing well in school, Ray is
happy and self-confident. He and Kira have even talked about getting married after they graduate.

THE NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY better-informed consumer of the many claims

made in the name of psychology. For one thing, this
 Focus 1 Why are some individuals shy and others outgo- course will teach you that many widely held beliefs
What is psychology’s focus? In ing? What causes people, such as Kira and Ray, to about behavior are inaccurate. Can you distinguish
science and daily life, what does become attracted to one another and fall in love? the valid claims from the invalid ones in Table 1.1?
critical thinking involve, and why
is it important? (These focus Can we predict which relationships will last? Perhaps even more important than the con-
questions will help you identify Why is it that we remember a first date from long cepts you learn in this course will be the habits of
key concepts as you read, study, ago yet forget information during a test that we thought that you acquire—habits that involve
and review; they also tie in with
studied for only hours before? How and where in critical thinking. Critical thinking involves taking
the “Learning Objectives” in the
Online Learning Center and other the brain are memories stored? Why did Ray be- an active role in understanding the world around
supplements.) come depressed? Was it his lack of a social life, or you, rather than merely receiving information. It’s
was something else going on? important to reflect on what that information
Welcome to psychology, the discipline that means, how it fits in with your experiences, and
studies all of these questions and countless more. its implications for your life and society. Critical
We can define psychology as the scientific study of thinking also means evaluating the validity of
behavior and the mind. The term behavior refers to ac- something presented to you as fact. For example,
tions and responses that we can directly observe, when someone tells you a new “fact,” ask yourself
whereas the term mind refers to internal states and the following questions:
processes—such as thoughts and feelings—that
cannot be seen directly and that must be inferred What exactly are you asking me to believe?
from observable, measurable responses. For exam- How do you know? What is the evidence?
ple, we cannot see Ray’s feeling of loneliness di- Are there other possible explanations?
rectly. Instead, we must infer how Ray feels based What is the most reasonable conclusion?
on his verbal statement that he is lonely.
Because behavior is so complex, its scientific We hope that after completing this course you
study poses special challenges. As you become will be more cautious about accepting psycholog-
familiar with the kinds of evidence necessary to ical claims and less likely to form simplistic judg-
validate scientific conclusions, you will become a ments about why people behave and think as they
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THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY 3

do. These critical-thinking skills will serve you

TABLE 1.1 Widely Held Beliefs about Behavior: Fact or Fiction?
well in many areas of your life.
In this book, we hope to share with you our
Directions: Decide whether each statement is true or false.
enthusiasm about psychology. As you will see,
psychology relates to virtually every aspect of 1. Most people with exceptionally high IQs are well adjusted in other areas of their life.
your life. Psychological research provides us with
2. In romantic relationships, opposites usually attract.
a greater understanding of ourselves and with
powerful tools to improve our lives and promote 3. Overall, married adults are happier than adults who aren’t married.
human welfare. 4. In general, we only use about 10 percent of our brain.
5. A person who is innocent of a crime has nothing to fear from a lie detector test.
6. People who commit suicide usually have signaled to others their intention to do so.
PSYCHOLOGY AS A BASIC AND APPLIED
SCIENCE 7. If you feel that your initial answer on a multiple-choice test is wrong, leave it alone;
students usually lose points by changing answers.
Science involves two types of research: basic re-
8. On some types of mental tasks, people perform better when they are 70 years old than
search, which reflects the quest for knowledge purely when they are 20 years old.
for its own sake, and applied research, which is de-
9. Usually, it is safe to awaken someone who is sleepwalking.
signed to solve specific, practical problems. For psy-
chologists, most basic research examines how and 10. A schizophrenic is a person who has two or more distinct personalities, hence the term
why people behave, think, and feel the way they split personality.
do. Basic research may be carried out in laborato-
ries or real-world settings, with human partici- better than random guessing.)
pants or other species. Psychologists who study items are false. (If you correctly answered 9 or 10 of these items, you’ve done significantly
other species usually attempt to discover princi- Answers: Items 1, 3, 6, 8, and 9 are supported by psychological research. The remaining
ples that ultimately will shed light on human be-
havior, but some study animal behavior for its
own sake. In applied research, psychologists often
created several small emergencies to test a final  Focus 2
use basic scientific knowledge to design, imple- How do basic and applied
hypothesis—that placing hostile groups in situa-
ment, and assess intervention programs. Consider research differ? Explain how
tions requiring cooperation to attain important,
the following examples. knowledge from basic research
common goals would reduce intergroup conflict. helps solve practical problems.
In one “emergency,” a heavy truck bringing food
Robber’s Cave and the Jigsaw Classroom
to the hungry boys supposedly stalled, forcing the
How do hostility and prejudice develop between Eagles and Rattlers to pool their strength and tow
groups, and what can be done to reduce them? In it with a rope to get it started. This and other co-
today’s multicultural world, where religious and operative experiences gradually reduced hostility
ethnic groups often clash, this question has great between the groups, and many new friendships
importance. developed.
To provide an answer, psychologists conduct The Robber’s Cave study, which has since be-
basic research on factors that increase and reduce come a classic (that is, an older but widely known
intergroup hostility. In one experiment, researchers and influential study), represents basic research
divided 11-year-old boys into two groups when the because its goal was to discover general principles
boys arrived at a summer camp in Robber’s Cave, of intergroup conflict, not to solve some preexist-
Oklahoma (Sherif et al., 1961). The groups, named ing problem. Prejudice between the Eagles and
the “Eagles” and “Rattlers,” lived in separate cab- Rattlers did not exist from the outset; rather, the
ins but did all other activities together. Initially, researchers created it. They showed that hostility
they got along well. could be bred by competition and reduced by
To test the hypothesis that competition would making hostile groups dependent on one another
breed intergroup hostility, the researchers began to reach a common goal. But could this principle,
to pit the Eagles and Rattlers against one another derived from basic research, also be applied to
in athletic and other contests. As predicted, hostil- real-life situations?
ity soon developed between the groups. Next the Years later, during a stormy desegregation of
researchers examined whether conflict could be public schools in Texas, psychologist Elliot Aron-
reduced by having the two groups share enjoy- son and his coworkers (1978) developed and eval-
able activities, such as watching movies together. uated a classroom procedure called the “jigsaw
Surprisingly, these activities only bred more program.” This program, which is now widely
taunting and fighting. The researchers then used to foster cooperation among children,