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Table of Contents

Instructor Preface 

Student Preface: Skills for Student Success—How to Apply Psychology to Live Your Best Life 


Psychology’s Roots, Critical Thinking, and Self-Improvement Tools 

Psychology Is a Science 

Critical Thinking and the Scientific Attitude 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Scientific Attitude 

Psychological Science’s Birth and Development 

Today’s Psychology 

The Need for Psychological Science 

The Limits of Common Sense 

Psychological Science in a Post-Truth World 

How Do Psychologists Ask and Answer Questions? 

The Scientific Method 

Description 

Correlation 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Correlation and Causation 

Experimentation 

Choosing a Research Design 

Predicting Everyday Behavior 

Psychology’s Research Ethics 

Studying and Protecting Animals 

Studying and Protecting Humans 

Values in Psychology 

Use Psychology to Become a Stronger Person—and a Better Student 

The Biology of Behavior and Consciousness 

The Power of Neuroplasticity 

Neural Communication 

A Neuron’s Structure 

How Neurons Communicate 

How Neurotransmitters Influence Us 

The Nervous System 

The Peripheral Nervous System 

The Central Nervous System 

The Endocrine System 

The Brain 

Tools of Discovery—Having Our Head Examined 

Brain Regions and Structures 

The Limbic System 

The Cerebral Cortex 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Do We Use Only 10 Percent of Our Brain? 

Damage Response and Brain Hemispheres 

Brain States and Consciousness 

Selective Attention 

Sleep and Dreams 

Developing Through the Life Span 

Developmental Psychology’s Major Issues 

Nature and Nurture 

Continuity and Stages 

Stability and Change 

Prenatal Development and the Newborn 

Conception 

Prenatal Development 

The Competent Newborn 

Twin and Adoption Studies 

Infancy and Childhood 

Physical Development 

Cognitive Development 

Social Development 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Parenting Styles—Too Hard, Too Soft, Too Uncaring, and Just Right? 

Adolescence 

Physical Development 

Cognitive Development 

Social Development 

Emerging Adulthood 

Adulthood 

Physical Development 

Cognitive Development 

Social Development 

Sex, Gender, and Sexuality 

Gender Development 

Similarities and Differences

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Gender Bias in the Workplace 

The Nature of Gender 

The Nurture of Gender 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Sexual Aggression 

Human Sexuality 

The Physiology of Sex 

The Psychology of Sex 

Sexual Orientation 

Cultural Attitudes and Prevalence 

Why Do We Differ? 

An Evolutionary Explanation of Human Sexuality 

Male-Female Differences in Sexuality 

Natural Selection and Mating Preferences 

Critiquing the Evolutionary Perspective 

Sex and Human Relationships 

Reflections on the Nature and Nurture of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality 

Sensation and Perception 

Basic Concepts of Sensation and Perception 

From Outer Energy to Inner Brain Activity 

Thresholds 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Subliminal Stimulation and Subliminal Persuasion 

Sensory Adaptation 

Perceptual Set 

Context, Motivation, and Emotion 

Light Energy and Eye Structures 

Information Processing in the Eye and Brain 

Perceptual Organization 

Perceptual Interpretation 

Sound Waves: From the Environment Into the Brain

Decoding Sound Waves

How Do We Locate Sounds?

Touch 

Chemical Senses: Taste and Smell 

Body Position and Movement 

Sensory Interaction 

Perception Without Sensation? 

Learning 

How Do We Learn? 

Classical Conditioning 

Pavlov’s Experiments 

Pavlov’s Legacy 

Operant Conditioning 

Skinner’s Experiments 

Skinner’s Legacy 

Contrasting Classical and Operant Conditioning 

Biology, Cognition, and Learning 

Biological Limits on Conditioning 

Cognitive Influences on Conditioning 

Learning by Observation 

Mirrors and Imitation in the Brain 

Observational Learning in Everyday Life 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Effects of Viewing Media Violence 

Memory 

Studying Memory 

An Information-Processing Model 

Building Memories: Encoding 

Our Two-Track Memory System 

Automatic Processing and Implicit Memories 

Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories 

Memory Storage 

Retaining Information in the Brain 

Synaptic Changes 

Retrieval: Getting Information Out 

Measuring Retention 

Retrieval Cues 

Forgetting 

Forgetting and the Two-Track Mind 

Encoding Failure 

Storage Decay 

Retrieval Failure 

Memory Construction Errors 

Misinformation and Imagination Effects 

Source Amnesia 

Recognizing False Memories 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Can Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse Be Repressed and Then Recovered? 

Children’s Eyewitness Recall 

Improving Memory 

Thinking, Language, and Intelligence 

Thinking 

Concepts 

Solving Problems 

Making Good (and Bad) Decisions and Judgments 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Fear Factor 

Thinking Creatively 

Do Other Species Share Our Cognitive Skills? 

Language 

Language Acquisition and Development 

The Brain and Language 

Thinking Without Language 

Do Other Species Have Language? 

Intelligence 

What Is Intelligence? 

Assessing Intelligence 

The Nature and Nurture of Intelligence 

Intelligence Across the Life Span 

Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores 

Motivation and Emotion 

Motivational Concepts 

Drives and Incentives 

Arousal Theory 

A Hierarchy of Needs 

Hunger 

The Physiology of Hunger 

The Psychology of Hunger 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Challenges of Obesity and Weight Control 

The Need to Belong 

The Benefits of Belonging 

The Pain of Being Shut Out 

Connecting and Social Networking 

Achievement Motivation 

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation 

Goal Setting

Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and Cognition 

James-Lange Theory: Arousal Comes Before Emotion 

Cannon-Bard Theory: Arousal and Emotion Happen at the Same Time 

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory: Arousal + Label = Emotion 

Zajonc, LeDoux, and Lazarus: Emotion and the Two-Track Brain 

Embodied Emotion 

The Basic Emotions 

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System 

The Physiology of Emotions 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Lie Detection 

Expressed and Experienced Emotion 

Detecting Emotion in Others 

Culture and Emotion 

The Effects of Facial Expressions 

Stress, Health, and Human Flourishing 

Stress: Some Basic Concepts 

Stressors—Things That Push Our Buttons 

Stress Reactions—From Alarm to Exhaustion 

Stress Effects and Health 

Stress and Heart Disease 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Stress and Health 

Coping With Stress 

Coping Strategies

Personal Control 

Optimism and Pessimism

Emotion Regulation

Social Support 

Finding Meaning 

Managing Stress Effects 

Aerobic Exercise 

Relaxation and Meditation 

Faith Communities and Health 

Happiness and Well-Being 

When Are We Happiest? 

What Makes Us Happy?

Evidence-Based Suggestions for a Happy Life

Questioning Some Myths About Happiness 

Social Psychology 

What Is Social Psychology’s Focus? 

Social Thinking 

The Fundamental Attribution Error 

Attitudes and Actions 

Persuasion 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: How to Be Persuasive 

Social Influence 

Cultural Influences

Conformity and Obedience 

Group Influence 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Internet as Social Amplifier 

Social Relations 

Prejudice 

Aggression 

Attraction 

Altruism 

From Conflict to Peace 

Personality 

What Is Personality? 

Psychodynamic Theories 

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective: Exploring the Unconscious 

The Neo-Freudian and Later Psychodynamic Theorists 

Assessing Unconscious Processes 

Evaluating Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective and Modern Views of the Unconscious 

Humanistic Theories 

Abraham Maslow’s Self-Actualizing Person 

Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Perspective 

Assessing the Self 

Evaluating Humanistic Theories 

Trait Theories 

Exploring Traits 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Stigma of Introversion 

Assessing Traits 

The Big Five Factors 

Evaluating Trait Theories 

Social-Cognitive Theories 

Reciprocal Influences 

Assessing Behavior in Situations 

Evaluating Social-Cognitive Theories 

Exploring the Self 

The Benefits and Costs of Self-Esteem 

Self-Serving Bias 

Culture and the Self 

Psychological Disorders 

What Is a Psychological Disorder? 

Defining Psychological Disorders 

Understanding Psychological Disorders 

Classifying Disorders—and Labeling People 

Anxiety Disorders 

Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 

Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders

Understanding Anxiety-Related Disorders 

Substance Use Disorders 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Tolerance and Addiction  

Types of Psychoactive Drugs 

Understanding Substance Use Disorders 

Depressive Disorders and Bipolar Disorders 

Depressive Disorders 

Bipolar Disorders 

Understanding Depressive Disorders and Bipolar Disorders 

Schizophrenia 

Symptoms of Schizophrenia 

Onset and Development of Schizophrenia 

Understanding Schizophrenia 

Dissociative, Personality, and Eating Disorders 

Dissociative Disorders 

Personality Disorders

Eating Disorders 

Risk of Harm to Self and Others 

Understanding Suicide 

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury 

Does Disorder Equal Danger? 

Intellectual Disability

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: ADHD—Normal High Energy or Disordered Behavior? 

Therapy 

Treating Psychological Disorders 

The Psychological Therapies 

Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Therapies 

Humanistic Therapies 

Behavior Therapies 

Cognitive Therapies 

Group, Couple, and Family Therapies 

Evaluating Psychotherapies 

Is Psychotherapy Effective? 

Which Psychotherapies Work Best? 

How Do Psychotherapies Help People? 

Human Diversity and Psychotherapy 

Seeking Psychotherapy

Ethical Principles in Psychotherapy

The Biomedical Therapies 

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Therapeutic Lifestyle Change 

Drug Therapies 

Brain Stimulation 

Psychosurgery 

Preventing Psychological Disorders and Building Resilience 

Preventive Mental Health 

Building Resilience 

A Statistical Reasoning in Everyday Life 

B Psychology at Work 

C The Story of Psychology: A Timeline 

D Career Fields in Psychology   

E Complete Chapter Reviews 

F Answers to the Retrieve & Remember and Chapter Test Questions 

Glossary 

Glosario 

References 

Name Index 

Subject Index 

Authors

David G. Myers

David Myers received his B.A. in chemistry from Whitworth University, and 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.” His research and writings have been recognized by the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize, an Honored Scientist award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences, an Award for Distinguished Service on Behalf of Social-Personality Psychology, a Presidential Citation from APA Division 2, election as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, and three honorary doctorates.

With support from National Science Foundation grants, Myers’ scientific articles have appeared in three dozen scientific periodicals, including Science, American Scientist, Psychological Science, and American Psychologist. In addition to his scholarly and textbook writing, he digests psychological science for the general public. His writings have appeared in four dozen magazines, from Today’s Education to Scientific American. He also has authored six general audience books, including, in 2022, How Do We Know Ourselves? Curiosities and Marvels of the Human Mind. And he blogs about psychology and life at TalkPsych.com.

David Myers has chaired his city’s Human Relations Commission, helped found a thriving assistance center for low-income families, and spoken to hundreds of college, community, and professional groups worldwide. Drawing on his experience of hearing loss, which now includes a cochlear implant, he also has written articles and a book (A Quiet World) about hearing loss, and he is advocating a transformation in U.S. assistive listening technology (see HearingLoop.org). For his leadership, he has received awards from the American Academy of Audiology, the hearing industry, and the Hearing Loss Association of America.

David and Carol Myers met and married while undergraduates, and have raised sons Peter and Andrew, and a daughter, Laura. They have one grandchild, Allie.

C. Nathan DeWall

Nathan DeWall is professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky. He received his bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in social science from the University of Chicago, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in social psychology from Florida State University. DeWall received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award, which recognizes excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching. The Association for Psychological Science identified DeWall as a “Rising Star” early in his career for “making significant contributions to the field of psychological science.” He has been included in the top 1 percent of all cited scientists in psychology and psychiatry on the Institute for Scientific Information list, according to the Web of Science. DeWall conducts research on close relationships, self-control, aggression, the psychology of religion, and intellectual humility. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the John Templeton Foundation, he has published 225 scientific articles and chapters. DeWall’s research awards include the SAGE Young Scholars Award from the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology, the Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Research on Aggression, and the Early Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity. His research has been covered by numerous media and entertainment outlets, including Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Harvard Business Review, USA Today, National Public Radio, The Guardian, the BBC, and Netflix. He has lectured nationally and internationally, including in Hong Kong, China, the Netherlands, England, Greece, Hungary, Sweden, Australia, and France.

Nathan is happily married to Alice DeWall and is the proud father of Beverly “Bevy” and Ellis. He also enjoys taking care of the family dog, “Artie.” As an ultramarathon runner, he completed numerous races, including the Badwater 135 in 2017 (dubbed “the World’s toughest foot race”). In his spare time now, he enjoys hiking, attending live concerts, setting up and maintaining aquariums, watching sports, and playing guitar and singing in local rock bands.

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