UNIT 1. The Science of Psychology

1. A Dance to the Music of the Century: Changing Fashions in 20th-Century Psychiatry, David Healy, Psychiatric Bulletin, January 2000

David Healy discusses the history and theories that have shaped psychology and psychiatry over the last century. He questions where the disciplines are headed and which theorists will continue to have an impact on our philosophy and on psychological treatments.

2. Good and Evil and Psychological Science, Ervin Staub, APS Observer, May/June 2001

Psychology can examine the causes and consequences of both good and harmful acts by humans. Ervin Staub shares his work in three different domains—child rearing, genocide, and healing/reconciliation—to illustrate this point.

3. Exploring a Controversy, George W. Albee, American Psychologist, March 2002

George Albee, noted psychologist and editor of the leading journal American Psychologist, responds to heated discord over the journal’s publication of a research article on sexual abuse of children. Along the way, Albee challenges the media, the government, the public, and even psychologists to become more familiar with the results of scientific research, social science research in particular, and with scientific methodologies.

UNIT 2. Biological Bases of Behavior

4. The Tangled Skeins of Nature and Nurture in Human Evolution, Paul R. Ehrlich, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 22, 2000

Are we slaves to our genes or does culture modify our psyche and behavior? The main point of this article is that the attributes of an organism are the product of the interaction between biology and culture or learning.

5. Altered States of Consciousness, Susan Greenfield, Social Research, Fall 2001

Susan Greenfield likens the functioning of the human brain to the functioning of an orchestra—different parts play different and complex roles. She details the organization, the plasticity, the neurochemistry, and the relationship to consciousness of the brain. She concludes by examining the difficulty of building models of the brain on computers.

6. Brain-Based Learning, Ruth Palombo Weiss, Training & Development, July 2000

Ruth Palombo Weiss connects the brain’s relationship to various psychological phenomena that enhance or hinder our ability to learn. She succinctly discusses the brain’s role in promoting attention, understanding patterns and emotions, facilitating memory and recall, and enhancing motivation.

UNIT 3. Perceptual Processes

7. The Senses, U.S. News & World Report, January 13, 1997

This article offers an introduction to the importance of the human senses in general, with a brief overview of each distinct sense. It concludes that the senses are windows to the brain.

8. Sight Unseen, Michael Abrams, Discover, June 2002

Scientists are attempting to restore human vision lost in childhood. The results of one man’s stem cell transplant are reviewed. Why this man cannot see well despite the surgery is another main focus of the article.

9. It’s a Noisy, Noisy World out There!, Richard Carmen, The Saturday Evening Post, March/April 2002

A clinical audiologist bemoans the ubiquitous assault of noise on our ears. About one-third of all hearing loss is the result of this cacophony. What we can do to avoid hearing loss is also covered in this article.

10. An Ear for Color: Exploring the Curious World of Synesthesia, Where Senses Merge in Mysterious Ways, Allison Hoover Bartlett, Washington Post, January 22, 2002

Allison Bartlett explores the world of synesthetes, people who combine sensations in unique ways. She examines what synesthesia is, how it affects daily life, and the available research on its neurology and heritability.

11. Phantom Sensations: Understanding the Pain Felt by an Amputee, Eric Haseltine, Discover, May 2002

The brain can wire itself such that amputees experience sensations from a limb no longer present. This phenomenon is called phantom limbs. Eric Hasletine discusses experiments that nonamputees can attempt in order to have a similar experience.

12. Pain and Its Mysteries, Marni Jackson, Maclean’s, May 27, 2002

Pain is something we could all live without. In fact, some people do live without it—they have congenital analgesia. Pain—how and why it is experienced and how to reduce it—is being studied by scientists.

13. Brains in Dreamland, Bruce Bower, Science News, August 11, 2001

One hundred years have passed since Freud’s work on the interpretation of dreams, and scientists still cannot agree on their function. Bruce Bower reviews seminal theories on the subject as well as some of the neurology involved in these nightly theatrics.

UNIT 4. Learning and Remembering

14. Memory and Learning, Ruth Palombo Weiss, Training & Development, October 2000

Learning and memory are two sides of the same coin. This article explains what each is and how scientific principles of learning and remembering can improve our abilities for each.

15. Understanding Our Differences, Susan Reese, Techniques, January 2002

Multiple forms of intelligence exist, so Susan Reese concludes that there are also multiple styles of learning. Reese reviews some of the various learning styles as well as the concomitant changes that must be made in assesment and in the use of learning technologies to accommodate this diversity of styles.

16. New Evidence for the Benefits of Never Spanking, Murray A. Straus, Society, September/October 2001

Murray Straus reviews five landmark studies on spanking or corporal punishment with an eye to answering the question, “Does this type of discipline change children’s behavior?” Straus determines that the answer is a resounding “no.” In fact, he believes that spanking can be harmful.

17. The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers, Daniel Schacter, Psychology Today, May/June 2001

Daniel Schacter explains why so much routine forgetting occurs. He discusses such processes as transience, absentmindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence. He even delves into biological factors such as Alzheimer’s disease and points out the paradox that memory’s vices may also be its virtues.

18. Memory’s Mind Games, Sharon Begley, Newsweek, July 16, 2001

There are interesting and important reasons why people forget. The study of forgetting has led psychologists to deduce that certain biases such as misattribution create memory problems.

UNIT 5. Cognitive Processes

19. Cognitive Development in Social and Cultural Context, Mary Gauvain, Current Directions in Psychological Science, December 1998

Our cultural and social environments shape our cognitions in complex ways. Why and how this occurs is Mary Gauvain’s focus in this article. She suggests that as the field of cognitive psychology advances, social and cultural aspects of development will receive greater attention.

20. Mind in a Mirror, Rachel K. Sobel, U.S. News & World Report, November 12, 2001

Brain mapping by means of MRIs and other tools is giving scientists a glimpse into the complexity of the human mind. As scientists try to understand the neural underpinnings of complex psychological phenomena such as morality and perspective taking, they are quick to remind us that the science is only at a rudimentary stage.

21. Intelligence: The Surprising Truth, Stephen Ceci, Psychology Today, July/August 2001

What is intelligence? Psychologist Stephen Ceci lays out several myths and known facts about what intelligence is and is not. For example, he explores whether head size is correlated with intelligence.

22. The Inner Savant, Douglas S. Fox, Discover, February 2002

The human mind has remarkable intellectual and cognitive processing abilities. Savants are those individuals who possess extraordinary and lightning-fast ability, usually with regard to a particular aspect of cognitive functioning. What causes savant-like potential and whether we all have this potential are the main themes of this article.

UNIT 6. Emotion and Motivation

23. Fundamental Feelings, Antonio Damasio, Nature, October 25, 2001

Antonio Damasio states that the scientific study of emotions is advancing. At present, one of the important issues is the discovery of the relationship of the nervous system to bodily emotional responses.

24. Medical Detection of False Witness, Brandon Spun, Insight, February 4, 2002

Given the vagaries of modern polygraphs or lie detectors, scientists are searching for better techniques to detect lying. Newer methodologies using the MRI and brain fingerprinting are discussed, but each has its own set of problems as well.

25. What’s Your Emotional IQ?, Melissa Abramovitz, Current Health 2, December 2001

Emotional intelligence (EI) has captured the attention of psychologists and the public. Just what EI is and how to promote it are the subjects of this article. A short self-test is included.

26. How to Multitask, Catherine Bush, New York Times Magazine, April 8, 2001

We are asked to complete many tasks in our daily lives—often several tasks at the same time. We admire those who can multitask and are upset when we fail. How we can motivate ourselves, be better at multitasking, and not feel disappointed when we fail are topics covered in this article. The role of the brain in such complex situations is also explained.

UNIT 7. Development

27. The Biology of Aging, Geoffrey Cowley, Newsweek, Special Issue, Fall/Winter 2001

Despite the title’s implication that this article pertains only to the elderly, Geoffrey Cowley’s comprehensive commentary provides an overview of the important developmental and maturational sequences that humans follow as they mature. While primary attention is given mostly to biological aspects, there is coverage of the psychological aspects of maturation as well.

28. Fetal Psychology, Janet L. Hopson, Psychology Today, September/October 1998

Birth is a significant occasion, but it is only one milestone in a series of important developmental events, many of which precede birth. Janet Hopson reviews the latest findings on just how fascinating and significant fetal life is.

29. Parenting: The Lost Art, Kay S. Hymowitz, American Educator, Spring 2001

Parents blame schools and schools blame parents for children’s misconduct and failures. Kay Hymowitz explores this tangled web of blame and helps the reader to understand today’s parents and their relationship to their children.

30. Living to 100: What’s the Secret?, Harvard Health Letter, January 2002

The trend of a growing elderly population has no end in sight. More and more Americans are living to 100. If being a centenarian is your goal, this article contains a wealth of information on how to achieve this objective.

31. Start the Conversation, AARP Modern Maturity, September/October 2000

Death is stigmatized in American society to the point that most people don’t talk about it. This article is designed to motivate people to assess their attitudes toward death, to plan for the future, and to increase understanding of this issue when they or others are dying.

UNIT 8. Personality Processes

32. Psychoanalyst: Sigmund Freud, Peter Gay, Time, March 29, 1999

Sigmund Freud “invented” psychoanalysis, and the world has not been the same since. Author Peter Gay reviews the development of Freud’s now famous theory as well as criticisms of Freud’s work. Gay also shows us how we “speak” Freudian in our everyday language and explains Freud’s impact on a myriad of other psychologists.

33. Positive Psychology: An Introduction, Martin E. P. Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, American Psychologist, January 2000

Two prominent psychologists trace the history of psychology with an emphasis on how psychology changed its focus from human deficits and problems to positive human characteristics such as well-being, contentment, and optimism. The authors would be remiss if they did not also include commentary on where psychology needs to direct its attention in the future.

34. Oldest, Youngest, or In Between, Margaret Renkl, Parenting, June/July 2002

Margaret Renkl examines the perennial issue of whether birth order determines personality traits. Renkl takes the stance that the two indeed are connected, in fact that birth order heavily influences personality. The article delineates what some of the consequent differences in personality are as well as the advantages and challenges of these differences. The article also discloses how parents can cope with raising siblings of different ages.

UNIT 9. Social Processes

35. Got Time for Friends?, Andy Steiner, Utne Reader, September/October 2001

Busy lives mean that adults often neglect friendships, which are psychologically important and valuable for many reasons. Adult friendships differ from children’s.

36. Rational and Irrational Fears Combine in Terrorism’s Wake, Erica Goode, New York Times, October 2, 2001

People faced with something that is involuntary, threatening, and unfamiliar respond in ways that often seem irrational, as Erica Goode points out.

37. Whodunit—The Media?, Maggie Cutler, The Nation, March 26, 2001

Does media violence cause aggression in our society in our children? Maggie Cutler attempts to answer this very complicated question.

38. The Feminization of American Culture, Leonard Sax, The World & I, October 2001

Leonard Sax charts the feminizing of our culture in the media, in politics, and in entertainment—trends that many in society are applauding. He discusses the increase in chemicals in our environment—a not-so-pleasant trend. He surmises that the two trends might indeed be related.

39. The Emperor Has No Clothes, or, Do You See Individualist-Collectivist Societies?, Elizabeth Nair, International Psychology Reporter, Fall/Winter 2001

A commonly researched dimension differentiating cultures is discussed by Elizabeth Nair in this article. In individualist societies, the individual takes precedence. In collective societies, group cohesiveness is important. Nair claims that this distinction is too simplistic—cultures vary on more than this dimension.

40. Disarming the Rage, Richard Jerome, People Weekly, June 4, 2001

More than one-third of sixth- to tenth-graders—5.7 million children nationwide—report being the victims of bullying. Some victims turn their rage outward and start shooting; others turn it inward and kill themselves. Why bullying occurs and how schools and parents can prevent bullying are highlighted in this article.

UNIT 10. Psychological Disorders

41. Mental Health Gets Noticed, David Satcher, Psychology Today, January/February 2000

David Satcher reveals the surprisingly high frequency of mental disorders in the United States and discusses what can be done to assist those who need help.

42. Up From Depression, Peggy Eastman, AARP Bulletin, February 2001

Peggy Eastman reviews the causes, symptoms, and treatments for clinical depression. Differences between normal and clinical depression are also revealed. Eastman pays special attention to the depressed elderly, who represent a large and often ignored group of depressed individuals.

43. The Quest for a Cure, Mark Nichols, Maclean’s, December 1, 1997

Depression afflicts thousands of people. Scientists have long sought a cure. Today a plethora of treatments for depression are available, which helps 90 percent of depressed individuals. Prozac, in particular, is showcased in this article.

44. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Harvard Health Letter, November 2001

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) became a more important issue after the terrorist attacks in America. PSTD has specific causes and symptoms. Who is at risk and how PSTD can be treated are revealed in this article.

45. The Schizophrenic Mind, Sharon Begley, Newsweek, March 11, 2002

Recent movies and cases in criminal courts have brought the baffling illness schizophrenia to our attention. This article discusses what schizophrenia is and how it can be treated.

46. The Secrets of Autism, J. Madeleine Nash, Time, May 6, 2002

Autism is an intriguing yet distressing disorder of children. The number of children diagnosed with autism is exploding, causing scientists to ask why as they begin to understand the biology and psychology of the disorder.

UNIT 11. Psychological Treatments

47. Are We Nuts?, Mary McNamara, Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 8, 2000

Americans appear to be in love with psychotherapy. In a way, therapy has replaced religion as a form of healing. Do we really need all this treatment, and can therapy really help us? Mary McNamara answers these questions and others in this interesting article.

48. Support Groups: Study Casts Some Doubts, Harvard Health Letter, April 2002

Support groups that help individuals cope more effectively with life crises and medical, or psychological problems have become popular. Recent research, however, suggests that such groups may not be as effective as was previously thought.

49. Treating Anxiety, Sarah Glazer, CQ Researcher, February 8, 2002

Anxiety disorders are rather pervasive in American society. The article presents information on how to identify anxiety disorders in adults and children, some of the available treatments, and a chronology of the study of anxiety disorders.

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