Psychology for Dummies Read Online Free PDF

like to call the z-factor. A
z-factor
is something affecting the hypothesis that I am unaware of or not accounting for; it is an extraneous variable that I need to control in order to have confidence in my theory. Some possible z-factors in the bus stop study might be culture, age, and time of day. Good research studies try to eliminate z-factors or extraneous variables by controlling for their influence and factoring it out of the explanation.
    A descriptive or observational study won’t account for z-factors, so instead I set up an experiment in which I approach people at bus stops and try a variety of things to test my hypothesis. I might go up and try to talk to someone after two minutes. I might wait for ten minutes. I might conduct studies during a thunderstorm or while dressed in particular ways, and I would try to prove my hypothesis wrong! I would seek to find that people have conversations at bus stops before five minutes. If this is the case, then the five-minute rule would be inaccurate. The more often I failed to prove my five-minute-or-more rule wrong, the more it would deserve my confidence.
    Is this confusing you? Why would I try to disprove my hypothesis instead of just proving it right? In any scientific investigation, I can never really prove a hypothesis true. Instead, I set out to disprove the opposite of my hypothesis. For example, we once thought the earth was flat. Everything we observed at that time was consistent with this idea. However, someone came along and provided evidence that disputed this idea, which showed the flaw in this thinking. If I have a hypothesis and I keep finding evidence for it, I can be more and more confident in my hypothesis but never really know for sure. But if I can find just one example that contradicts my hypothesis, then this casts doubt on my hypothesis. If I say all swans are white, what happens when I find one black swan? The notion that all swans are white is false!
    The rest of this book introduces you to various theories and research. There’s a lot of stuff in here! Because psychology is about people, some people might argue that everything about people is “psychology.” I couldn’t write a book about everything. This is not
Everything About People For Dummies.
I established a way to decide what to put in the book and what not to so I used scientific research and theory as my measuring rod. The information you find in this book is considered part of legitimate psychological science and theory. Are you ready? Here we go.

Part II

Picking Your Brain

    In this part . . .
    I n Part II, I discuss the basic structures of the nervous system and the important role that biology plays in psychological knowledge. After introducing you to the brain and its parts (“Nice to meet you,”), I introduce the concept of conscious awareness and its important role in psychology. Finally, I explain the faculties that permit us to stay in contact with the world around us — our senses.

Chapter 3

Hardware, Software, and Wetware
In This Chapter
    Biologizing psychology
    Getting up the nerve
    Slicing and dicing the brain
    Fueling behavior
    S ometimes psychology can be pretty abstract, seemingly having more in common with philosophy than biology. In this book, I introduce you to all kinds of “psychological” concepts, such as thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and personalities. But have you ever wondered where all of these things exist? If I wanted to find a thought or feeling, where would I look?
    One place that seems logical to look for these psychological concepts is inside the human mind. But where can I find a mind? That’s easy — it’s inside my skull, in my brain. So if you take a flashlight and look in someone’s ear, you can see all kinds of thoughts, feelings, and other psychological stuff floating around inside, right? If you’ve ever tried this procedure, you know that it’s a pretty poor investigative technique. But what if you opened up someone’s skull and