Dept. of Psychology
Prof. Windy Jefferson-Jackson
  Office Location:  PF 218
   Phone:   240-567-1383
   E-mail: windy.jefferson-jackson@montgomerycollege.

Textbook Resources:  Read Chapter 1- Take notes on all identified terms.

Chapter1Text Media: Review Chapter 1 PowerPoint Presentation

What is psychology? What are its goals and main career specialties?
1. Contrast psychology, critical thinking, and pseudopsychology (pp. 5-6).
2. List and describe the four goals of psychology (p. 7).
3. Describe the difference between a psychiatrist and psychologist, and describe the major career options in psychology (pp. 7-9).

Who are the important contributors to psychology; and what are the seven primary perspectives that guide modern psychology?
4. Contrast the nine approaches/perspectives in psychology: structuralism, functionalism, psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive, neuroscience/biopsychology, evolutionary, and sociocultural (pp. 10-14).
5. Briefly describe the seven perspectives in psychology today, and explain how the biopsychosocial model integrates these perspectives (pp. 15-16).

What is the scientific method; and what are the key ethical issues in psychological research?
6. Define basic and applied research, then describe the first four basic steps involved in scientific research (pp. 17-20).
7. Name the last two basic steps in research, and describe the relevance of publication, replication, and citations in determining the legitimacy of research results (pp. 20-21).

The Stanford Experiment

The Milgram Experiment

8. Describe the guidelines for respecting the rights of human and non-human animal participants in research (pp. 21-23).
9. Describe the rights of psychotherapy patients (p. 23).


What are the four major methods of psychological research?
10. Describe researcher and participant problems in research and the experimental safeguards related to them (pp. 27-29).
11. Define descriptive research and contrast the merits and limitations of naturalistic observations, surveys, and case studies (pp. 25, 30-33).
12. Define correlational research and the three types of correlations; determine the strength of a correlation from a correlation coefficient; and define the major limitation of correlations (pp. 33-35).
13. Define biological research and describe the basic techniques used to study the brain and nervous system (pp. 35-38).