1. Describe the subject matter of psychology and the use of operational definitions.
2. Describe why we may claim that psychology is a science.
3. Explain why psychologists are sometimes referred to as scientist-practitioners.
4. Describe psychology’s roots in philosophy and science.
5. Discuss how Descartes, Locke, and Darwin influenced psychology.
6. Compare and contrast structuralism and functionalism.
7. Discuss the contribution of women and minorities to the early development of psychology.
8. Describe psychoanalysis, behaviorism, humanistic, and Gestalt psychology.
9. Discuss the biological, evolutionary, psychodynamic, cognitive, developmental, cross-cultural, and positive approaches to psychology.
10. Compare and contrast the different sampling methods (i.e., naturalistic observation, surveys, and case history methods).
11. Distinguish between correlational and experimental research.
12. Explain the function of a correlation and discuss when this method is appropriate.
13. Explain the meaning of positive, negative, and zero correlation coefficients and their magnitude.
14. Understand the process of doing an experiment, and be able to identify and define independent, dependent, and extraneous variables.
15. Name and explain the major benefit provided by experimental research that is lacking in observational and correlational research.
16. Explain the advantage of factorial experiments over single-variable experiments.
17. Explain how matching, random assignment, and baseline designs contribute to control in experiments.
18. Explain the general process of meta-analysis and its contribution to research.
19. Discuss the ethical considerations that are unique to psychological research for both human and animal participants.
20. Discuss problems in understanding and interpreting psychological research.