Themes, Issues, and Debates in Psychology

Book title......Page 4
Contents......Page 8
The lay person as psychologist: people as everyday scientists......Page 16
Common-sense psychology: looking for hidden causes of behaviour......Page 17
Man-the-scientist: Kelly's psychology of personal constructs......Page 24
Homo psychologicus: human beings as natural psychologists......Page 26
Conclusion......Page 27
Summary......Page 28
What is positive psychology?......Page 30
A brief history of PP......Page 31
The concept of happiness......Page 33
Why do we need positive psychology?......Page 38
Is positive psychology really that new? Giving psychology away......Page 39
What makes life worth living?......Page 40
Some other major topics within positive psychology......Page 43
Positive personal traits......Page 44
Conclusions: turning negatives into positives......Page 50
Summary......Page 51
Psychology: the study of individuals or the study of people?......Page 54
Historical background......Page 57
Reconciling the nomothetic and idiographic approaches......Page 64
Conclusions: A new way of looking at the research process......Page 66
Summary......Page 67
Common-sense views of personality......Page 70
Personality and social psychology......Page 71
Some key issues in the study of personality......Page 72
Summary......Page 80
Nativism, empiricism and interactionism......Page 83
The nature of 'nature'......Page 85
Heredity: chromosomes, genes and DNA......Page 86
The nature of nurture: what is the environment?......Page 87
Behaviour genetics: going beyond the nature–nurture debate......Page 95
Drawing some conclusions: applications and ethical issues......Page 97
Summary......Page 99
What is feminist psychology?......Page 101
Sexism within psychology......Page 102
Heterosexism in psychology......Page 104
The feminist critique of science......Page 105
The masculinist bias......Page 107
What's different about feminist research?......Page 112
So how is gender constructed?......Page 115
So are women and men different – and if so, how?......Page 117
Concluding comments: what's better about feminist psychology?......Page 118
Summary......Page 119
Abnormality, deviance and difference......Page 121
Criteria for defining psychological abnormality......Page 123
The case of homosexuality: normal or abnormal?......Page 127
The objective nature of mental disorders: do they exist?......Page 134
The culture-bound nature of psychiatry......Page 138
Summary......Page 141
Culture as part of the nature–nurture debate......Page 143
What is cross-cultural psychology?......Page 144
What is this thing called culture?......Page 148
Doing cross-cultural research: conceptual and methodological issues......Page 153
Some concluding comments......Page 160
Summary......Page 161
Ethical questions: why do psychologists need to ask them?......Page 164
Psychologists as investigators and practitioners......Page 165
Research with human participants......Page 167
The use of (non-human) animals in psychological research......Page 180
Psychologists as agents of change......Page 184
Summary......Page 189
Science as a recurrent theme......Page 192
A brief sketch of the history of science......Page 193
Some (other) influences on the development of psychology......Page 200
The development of psychology as a science: the early days......Page 201
What should the subject matter of psychology be?......Page 206
The social nature of science......Page 208
The uniqueness of psychology......Page 214
A shift towards studying people as people......Page 215
The changing face of science......Page 217
Summary......Page 218
Why are psychologists interested?......Page 221
What do we mean by free will?......Page 225
Free will and consciousness......Page 230
The views of William James: soft determinism......Page 234
The views of Sigmund Freud: psychic determinism......Page 235
The views of B.F. Skinner: free will as an illusion......Page 238
The views of Carl Rogers: freedom and the fully functioning person......Page 240
The views of Erich Fromm: the fear of freedom......Page 241
The views of George Kelly: freedom and personal constructs......Page 242
Sociobiology: extreme biological determinism......Page 243
Drawing some conclusions: freedom as an evolutionary reality......Page 244
Summary......Page 245
Consciousness and the subject matter of psychology......Page 248
Knowing where to start: does consciousness exist?......Page 249
The nature of consciousness......Page 255
Can a machine be conscious? Does having a brain matter?......Page 260
What is consciousness for?......Page 263
The relationship between mind and brain......Page 265
Conclusions: is functionalism a solution?......Page 270
Summary......Page 271
Paranormal, unusual and anomalistic experiences: defining terms and defining the field......Page 274
PP as science and its changing content......Page 276
Experimental investigation of paranormal phenomena......Page 278
Some recurring philosophical and methodological issues......Page 284
Conclusions: paranormal phenomena, the mind–brain relationship and the limits of science......Page 289
Summary......Page 290
The behaviourist approach......Page 292
The psychodynamic approach......Page 297
The humanistic approach......Page 303
The cognitive approach......Page 307
The social constructionist approach......Page 310
The evolutionary psychological approach......Page 315
Summary......Page 319
References......Page 322
A......Page 349
C......Page 350
E......Page 352
F......Page 353
H......Page 354
L......Page 355
N......Page 356
P......Page 357
S......Page 359
T......Page 360
Z......Page 361