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This book aims to provide an approach to learning and teaching research methods in the psychological field. Jackson stresses on the importance to of using the scientific method, which is a combination of empiricism and rationalism, to gain knowledge in psychology. She discusses three categories of research methods used by psychologists: descriptive methods, predictive methods, and the explanatory method, and she devote one chapter for each to further expand on these methods. Jackson also introduces the method to start a research project and the APA’s ethical principles. Other topics include variables, describing data and making inferences to understand results, and APA communication guidelines.
This book approaches ideas in psychology from considering historical controversies. It argues that the discipline is shaped by the ways in which it interrelates with society, and that positions taken towards fundamental issues in psychology are reflections of that social context. After the introduction of the notion of psychology as a reflexive discipline shaped by society, examples of specific issues are organized into chapters, including intelligence and IQ, race, women, the nature-nurture debate, state service, ethical standards, personality, mental health, Freud, parapsychology, psychology in everyday life, etc. Further issues are discussed at the end of the book as well.
This book contains 13 chapters that examine psychology’s development through ancient times, mid-millennium transitions, the age of modernity, and through the 20th century. The main emphasis of the book is psychology’s formative experiences during the past 150 years. Psychological science is presented here as increasingly interdisciplinary. A serious cross-cultural and cross-national focus brings diversity to this book. Besides, the book focuses on the interaction between scientific psychology and society in different periods of history. The book also pays attention to critical thinking, the relevance of yesterday’s knowledge to students’ diverse experience today, and psychology’s progressive mission.
This book explores the interplay between psychology, science, and pseudoscience. It is organized around three main sections. The opening section comprises four chapters that consider the overall scope of the problem, including the nature of science, the nature of pseudoscience, the nature of psychology, and the nature of reasoning. The second section examines practical examples, containing three chapters that look at the way pseudoscientific reasoning has been applied to psychological subject matter. The final section attempts to locate the overall discussion within a social context, comprising three chapters that examine the biases and influences that lead to pseudoscientific thinking.
