WOR KB OOK
to occompony
An Introduction to
THE
PRINCIPLES
OF
PSYCHOLOGY
by
B.R. Bugelslci
University of Buffalo
HO LT, R IN E H A R T A N D WINSTON
NEW Y O R K
Copyright, © , 1961
by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
21149-0521
Printed in the United States of America
All Rights Reserved
PREFACE
This woikbfx>k has a dual purpose. First, it is a self-study
guide for the
student, a device that appears more and more necessary in days of large and
crowded classes where instiuctor-student contacts are becoming rarer and rarer,
and where a major problem for the student is: What am I supposed to know? The
second purpose is to provide, in the face of large classes, some kind of laboratory
or experimental experience for the beginning student. It is the writer's conviction
based on experience with the experiments described in the manual, that the be­
ginning student finds the course far more enjoyable and meaningful when he par­
ticipates in data-gathering experiences. While the experiments themselves are
simple in design and requirements, large classes can provide very satisfactory
and yield reliable results. Many instructors share the writer’ s view that a
scientific psychology cannot be taught effectively without experimental activity
upon the part of the learners; students, tfw, feel something is missing when they
cannot see some things for themselves and are asked to take conclusions on
faith. It is to both of these groups that this manual is offered as an aid to a more
complete learning experience.
The writer wishes to express his grateful appreciation to Miss Delia Alampay
for her invaluable assistance in the preparation of this workbook.
Buffalo, New Yorit
January, 1%1
ABOUT THIS WORKBOOK
The practice of using a workbook is common and growing. In 1960 Klaus' reviewed thirteen such
creations and found something good and bad to say about most. He concluded with the hope that
“ the science of psychology will not be judged quite yet on its ability to provide an education throu^
workbooks.“ In short, we have not yet learned how to make the perfect workbook. Psychologists
nevertheless go on producing workbooks, because they believe that they contribute to the instruc­
tional process. The basis for this belief is a rather strong conviction that we learn only by doing,
by actively seeking out the answers to questions and by formulating such answers. The current wave
of interest in teaching machines reflects the strength of the belief that learning comes from doing.
Every workbook, like a teaching machine, is designed to lead to answer-creating activity. The more
closely it attains this purpose, the greater its role in the educational process. The typical class­
room and the typical lecture course do not provide sufficient opportunity for answer-creating action.
The student must supplement what he learns in such relatively passive situations by homework or
self-study. If he does enough of the latter we may be able some day to dispense with classes and
lectures. They are not really efficient and suitable ways of learning; they are society’ s creations
for solving administrative and economic problems rather than educational ones. Until we learn how
to educate people more effectively, however, we will continue to have formal courses and lectures.
They do have their value in motivating some students, exciting some and irritating others. They pro­
vide an intellectual atmosphere where we can appreciate our own grasp of the material in comparison
with others as we discuss a lecture with our fellow students.
But learning is an individual, personal process. One could learn all that is known and add to the
subject without ever taking a “ course." After all, that is how knowledge grew. Somebody had to
learn it and know it in order to teach it. A very satisfactory degree of learning can be attained by
correspondence courses if they are well designed. What is needed, really, is to provide questions
for the learner to answer. This simple statement, however, involves considerable difficulty. The
questions must be good questions and they must be asked in the right order. The learner must have
some chance of answering the questions as they come. He must be prepared for the questions that
are asked, or they should not be asked. In a well-designed educational scheme, the answer to each
question should help provide answers to following questions. One further educational point is most
important. The student should know immediately whether he has given the right answer, and if wrong,
why he is wrong. If such immediate feedback is not provided, the question might as well not be asked.
What we have described above is a teaching machine. The teaching machine, in its essence, asks
questions for which the student has some preparation for answering. As soon as he answers, the
machine tells him whether he is right or wrong by showing him the right answer. Note that the
machine is not content with true-or-false or multiple-choice test items (those are good test devices).
The student learns nothing about the right answer if he is told that he is wrong. The machine
shows the right answer as it should have been created or generated by the learner.
In this workbook we have provided a series of questions for the student to answer. Because the
material is not part of the student’ s immediate background he is not expected to answer the ques­
tions without additional preparation. In fact, if he can do so, he does not need the course. What is
necessary, rather, is that he attain the necessary background by additional work ~ reading, lec­
tures, discussions, observations in experiments, and so forth, and then begin the question-answering
exercises. With a great deal of work it is probable that ^juestions could be so devised as to provide
all of the necessary background, but that is an ideal we have not yet attained. Consequently, the
student is asked to work at background acquisition by additional activity. As each unit of work is
completed, the student who has demonstrated to himself that he has been able to answer the ques­
tions at the end of each unit should feel that he has acquired mastery of the subject to the degree
reflected by the questions. In the final analysis, no subject is really mastered; it is only learned
to some standard set by some authority. For the present purposes, the student can claim that he has
learned psychology to the level covered by the text.
^David J. Kiams, Workbooks for imtrodmetory psychology: A baker's dozen. ContempDrary Psychology, I960, J, 54-5S.
vi
A N o te about the OvgoniKotion
Host workbooks, according to Klaus, cover material that can be fitted under the following head­
in g : 1. Thought questions. 2. Brief review. 3. Self-test. 4. Demonstration or project.
5. Terms and definitions. 6. Word fill-in synopsis, and 7. Topic outline. For this manual we
have cOTjbined the thou^t questions, the brief review, and the topic outline into the word fill-in
synopsis. The fill-in project follows the text and amounts to a summary or outline of the chapter.
As for definitions, students are expected to write out their own definitions for important terms. This
is probably the only useful way to learn them. No glossary is supplied here or in the text because a
definition must be worked throu^ by the student. Memorizing it from a dictionary is of little value.
A list of new and important terms is supplied for each chapter. The student should check these
lists before attempting a chapter, watch for their definitions or usage, and restate these in his own
terms. In addition to the synopses and word lists there w ill be experiments to be done either outside
of class or in special laboratory periods. A self-test is supplied for each chapter. In general, then,
we have paid attention to the kinds of things other workbook creators have found useful or desirable.
The emphasis here, however, is not on supplementing a text with additional illustrations or materials
but on the student’s own creative activity, which, in this case, means question-answering activity.
Because question answering is such a vital part of the educational process the student is asked to
pay particular heed to the instructions on how to use the answer sheets.
To sum up: this workbook follows a simple pattern. Organize your work to follow this pattern.
Start out by defining the important words that are listed first in each chapter. This will facilitate
your reading and following of lectures and discussions. Then do the experiment or experiments that
follow. Do as much of the suggested reading as time w ill allow and consult other textbooks for
parallel chapters. After you have become familiar with the chapter contents, fill out the summary
and take the multiple-choice test. Each chapter of the workbook has a brief suggested reading list.
Only a few references are offered in each chapter, however, for the text itself provides many refer­
ences and your instructor w ill bring other material to your attention.
A N o fe about the A n s w e r * to Q u e s tio n s
Before we describe the answer sheets the student must be warned that he is not expected to be
able to answer the questions without reading the text. Reading the text, in turn, does not amount to
sitting down to a casual skimming operation. That might come as a first step to discover what the
chapter is about. A second serious reading should follow and a final self-testing session might com­
plete the study. In this last effort, the student should ask himself as he arrives at each paragraph:
Do 1 know what this paragraph is about? What matters of importance, if any, are discussed here?
What questions could anyone ask about this material? After such a session the student is ready for
the synopsis. He can be aided greatly, of course, if he examines the synopsis carefully before do­
ing any reading at all, but that might be asking a lot from the average student.
The answers to the fill-in reviews and the multiple-choice tests are at the back of the manual. It
is not very practical to look up answers there, nor will it do you much good simply to score yourself
after ctHupleting an assignment. The studies of teaching machines indicate that the correct answer
to a question should be revealed as soon as the student has attempted and/or completed his answer.
It is impractical to arrange answers in a workbook in such a way that the student cannot see them
before he attempts an answer. Students inclined to consult answers before trying their own can beat
any system that puts the answers into their hands. It is suggested that you turn to the answer sec­
tion for any particular assignment, cover it with another sheet and attempt the first answer. As soon
as you have written yours in, consult the answer sheet for that answer. If you are right, the chances
are good that you know that material adequately. If you are wrong, mark the answer in some fashion
to indicate that you were wrong on the first attempt. Go on to the next question, try an answer, con­
sult the answer sheet, and so on. When you are finished with your first trial run, go over the wrong
answers and try to substitute correct ones. Continue this routine until you have answered every
question in accordance with the answer sheet, Studies have indicated that it w ill do you vir­
tually no good if you merely copy correct answers. If you want to learn, you must try to
create or make up your own answers. Remember, if you can answer these questions, you can
vii
feel confident about the progress you are making in the course.
Follow the same procedure with the multiple-choice tests. The alternative answers in most cases
have been selected to mislead or confuse you. You are meant to " b it e " on some of them. In taking
these tests, convince yourself that the chosen answer is correct and try to determine why the in­
correct ones are wrong. These tests will give you practice in handling similar tests administered
by the instructor.
Remember, again, that an answer to a question is of no value, even if it is correct, if you do not
know it is correct. If you can be fairly sure of why it is correct and why other possible answers ate
wrong, you are that much better off.
In the fill-in summaries, you are expected to make up your own answers. Your choice of words
may not correspond exactly with the answer sheet, but score yourself as conect if you have the same
meaning even if the words are somewhat different.
k N e t* obout th« Exp *rlin « n ts
Psychologists are fairly well agreed that learning comes from doing. As part of your work in
psychology you should begin to make some first-hand investigations of the kind that, when substan­
tiated repeatedly, make up the data of psychology.
The investigations that you can carry out as part of a beginning psychology course are neces­
sarily limited and relatively simple, as are all exercises in beginning science courses. One differ­
ence from the other sciences will be the absence (for beginning students) of any formal room or
building called "Laboratory," equipped with benches, test tubes, microscopes, and the like. Psycho­
logists use such rooms and equipment when the problems call for them, and you may have the opporhmity to serve as subjects in such research conducted by the faculty or more advanced students.
For many kinds of problems, however, no specific kind of physical environment is required. Normally
all that is needed is a place where you can work free from interruption or distraction. It all depends
upon the problem under investigation. The problems to be studied in this manual can be handled in
your home, your room, a classroom — even out of doors. The essential element is to control the con­
ditions under which an observation is made. This means that your observations are not being affected
by factors you personally do not manipulate or hold constant.
On the chance that some students may react negatively to experiments that do not involve complex
equipment or that they may assume that all research in psychology is of a low order of complexity,
you should be assured that some kinds of research involve high levels of competence in handling
electronic apparatus, surgical tools, computers and calculators complex enough to call for the great­
est sophistication in physics, biology, and the allied sciences. Beginners must begin at the begin­
ning. The experiments in this workbook are designed only to give you a taste of experimental pro­
cedure and to introduce you to some of the complexities involved in getting even simple kinds of
information. There are several experiments for some chapters and none for others. This arrangement
was followed because of the desirability of covering certain kinds of material in more detail. Where
there are no experiments it is primarily because the material does not lend itself well to experiments
that can be done readily.
Now that you have been told how to use the woricbook, how much you will get out of the course
is almost entirely up to you.
viii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
1.
Introduction.................................................................................................
Experimait 1. Extrasensory perception
1
CHAPTER
2.
The Science of Psychology.........................................................................
Experifflent 2. Introdactioa to experfmentation
9
CHAPTER
3.
Nature and Nurture..................................................................................... 16
Experiment 3, An examptfe of ” late** learning
CHAPTER
4.
The Basic Equipment - Senses and Sensory P ro ce ss e s ..................
Experiment 4. Constancy in visual size
Experiment 5. The horizontal^vertical i7/nsion
Experiment 6, Weber’s Law
^Experiment 7, JVentaf set in perception
CHAPTER
5.
The Basic Equipment — The Nervous System............................................... 35
CHAPTER
6.
Psychometrics -T h e Problem of Measurement.............................................
/^Experiment B. Attitude scales
Experiment 9. Human engineering
CHAPTER
7.
The Modified Organism. The Nature of Learning......................................... 54
Experim ent JO. Retroactive inhibition
CHAPTER
8.
The Influence of Past Experience - The Transfer of Training..................... 64
^Experiment I I . Relearning
CHAPTER
9.
An Introduction to the Traditional Problems of Psychology..........................
70
CHAPTER 10.
Cognitive Functioos — Symbolic Processes and Meanings............................
Experiment 12. Insight
Experiment 13. The semantic differential
73
CHAPTER 11.
Conative Functions — The EMerminers of Behavior..................................
Experiment 14. Motivation in problem solving
83
CHAPTER 12.
Affective Processes — Emotional Aspects of Behavior............................... 91
Experiment 15. The parameters o f emoti<m
CHAPTER 13.
Conflict and Adjustment.............................................................................. 99
CHAPTER 14.
Man as an Integrated Or^mism — The Nature of Personality..........................105
^Experiment 16. Peramiality: to know ourselves as others
as
CHAPTER 15.
Mao^amottg Men — Social Interaction......................................; ....................112
'^Experiment 17. Social behavior — the J'Carve
CHAPTER 16.
Retrospect and Prospect.................................................................
22
41
119
ANSWER SECTION.................................................................................................................. 125
ix
Chapter 1 - I N T R O D U C T I O N
SUGGESTED READINGS
M. Gardner. Fads amd P a tla c ie s in the Name o f Science. New York: Dover, 1957.
E.
Havemann. The Age o f P sy chology . New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957.
The Skinner-Rogers debate. In 5cte»ce, 19S6, 124, No. 3231, 1057-1065.
IMPORTANT TERMS TO BE D EFIN ED
1. Behaviorism..........
2. Neo-Behaviorism ..
3. Psychiatry............
4. Psychology...........
5. Psychoanalysis . ..
6. Clinical psychology
7. Psychometrics.......
8. Dualism................
9. Interactionisffl.......
10. Parallelism ...........
11. Introspection.........
12. Structuralism.........
13. Functionalism.......
14. Scientific..............
15. Hypothetical.........
16. Determinism.........
17. Idealism .
.......
18. Rational................
19. Empirical..............
20. Materialism...........
21. Monism..................
IMPORTANT NAMES
1. B.F. Skinner ..
2. Carl Rogers . . .
3. John B. Watson
4. -John Dewey. . .
-1 .
5. Wilhelm Wundt. .
6. E.B. Titchener .
1, Rene Descartes.
8. Max Wertheimer.
EXPERIM EN T 1
Do mot read this material until instructed to do so by your instructor.
In many experiments the subject is not supposed to be informed about
the nature or purpose o f the et^eriment until it is over.
Extrasensory Perception
Intioduetlon
Although most psychologists do not look kindly upon claims for the existence of anything like
“ a sixth sense" or “ extrasensory perception" (ESP), many people either believe that they or
some people (or d o ^ , or horses) are able to attain information without using any of the normal
senses, or would like to believe that this is possible. At Duke University, Dr. J.B. Rhine for
many years has been “ experimenting” with ESP by asking Ss* to guess the symbols printed on
cards that the Ss are not able to see. Rhine uses a special deck of cards of his own design, but
any ordinary deck of playing cards can be used for the same type of exercise. The general pro­
position amounts to this: if a person can guess the kind of cards that someone else is looking at
more often than chance would presumably allow, then that person has some special suprachance
advantage or ability — in short, ESP.
Method
Apparatus: A deck of 40 ordinary playing cards (poker deck without the “ picture" cards) con­
taining 10 spades, 10 hearts. 10 diamonds, and 10 clubs.
Procedure: The instructor can serve as E for a whole class or each student can perform the
study with some friend. The basic step is to have the S prepare a table of numbers from 1 to 40.
E then shuffles the deck thoroughly and taking precautions against S seeing the cards (such as
having 5 face the wall) begins to look at the cards one at a time, announcing the number of the
card and waiting 3 or 4 seconds for S to record on his table the suit name of the card and its
value—for example, Hg, Sj, D^ce'
When the run through the deck is completed, E compares
the table of guesses with the actual order of the cards and notes the number of “ h its." The total
number of times s guessed the correct suit is noted as well as any “ h its" of individual card
values. E then shuffles the cards again and compares the new order with the o ld guesses. Note
that this procedure was not anticipated by 5 and he could not be expected to perceive an order
that did not exist at the time of the original guesses.
R a s u lt s
The possibility that any one S will have a great many “ h its" above chance is small. It is de­
sirable to pool the data of as many 5s as possible for class discussion. Results should be col­
lected by the instructor, who can tabulate individual scores and average the group data. Each 5,
by chance, should be able to guess the suit names of 10 of the 40 cards since there are only
four suits. In general, if no ESP is at work, we would expect the class to average 10 correct
guesses. It is not likely, however, that many people w ill score exactly 10; some w ill score more,
some less, but the average might well be quite close to 10. Now average similarly the number o f
hits with the “ control" procedure.
* The term **subjecP* is abbretdated S (plural, Ss) tmd **et^erimemter** is abbreviated B im psyeho/ogioaf
jomraal reports. Sometimes O is used to stand for **observer.**
■2.
TABLE 1
The O r^ r of Cords
end
the Geesses ol the Sobject
C o rd
A c tu a l
$ub|acff*s
S ac u n d
C ard
A c tu a l
Sub| a c t 's
Second
No.
C o rd
G u sse
Sftuffle
No.
C ord
G u e ss
S h u ffle
1
21
2
22
3
23
4
24
5
25
6
7
27
8
28
9
29
10
30
11
31
12
32
13
33
14
34
15
35
14
36
17
37
18
38
19
39
20
40
(Suits)
Total number of hits. 1st shuffle
Chance = 10
Total number of hits. 2nd shufile
(Numbers) Total number of hits, 1st shuffle
Chance
Total number of hits. 2nd shuffle
(Exact
card)
Total number of hits. 1st shuffle
Chance
Total number o f hits, 2nd Muffle
D is c u s s io n
Undoubtedly some Ss will score above 10. Do they have ESP? What about the Ss who score
less? Do they have negative EISP? (Rhine has suggested this.) What was the average score in the
second procedure? What is the meanii^ of th is score? How many hits were scored in idiich the
actual value of a suit was named correctly? We would expect this to happen only once in 40 times
-3-
by chance. If 5s are able to guess the suit name, why should it be mote difficult to guess the
value, too, if they are actually perceiving something in some fitshion? Can one respond to color
or form without responding to the number of items that makes up such a fonn? On the basis of the
results, what do you believe about ESP? What does a high score mean? How many cards is it
possible to guess by chance? If a person did possess ESP, why should he not guess alt of the
cards?
R *f« r« n e e
B.R. Bugelski. A First Course iu Bxperimemtal Psychology, New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1951.
FILL-IN SUMMARY
In this Age of Psychology, some psychologists are ready to claim that our knowledge in the
field is adequate for revising our behavior, personalities, and institutions. One behavioristic
psychqjogist who believes we can make great changes in behavioral areas is (1) .....................
...................................... A "c lin ic a l" psychologist who agrees that this is possible is (2 )....
......................................................... The
latter, however, feels we have no ( 3 ) .............
................................... to control humanity. An earlier behaviorist, ( 4 ) ...............................
......................... . claimed he could make any child into a doctor, lawyer, merchant, thief, etc.
Most psychologists regard their subject as an infant science. It actually began as a laboratory
study in (5) (d a te )..................................................... under ( 6) ..................................................
..................The early German psychology was concerned mainly with the functions of ( 7 ) .........
.....................................................
Kenneth
Spence believes psychology is just beginning to be­
come a science now and is only now developing (8) ........................................................... laws.
Psychology is frequently confused with psychiatry. One definite distinction between them is
that a psychiatrist must have (9 )
degree. When psy­
chologists practice therapy they are restricted to the use of ( 10) ................................................
............... andthey frequently confine their efforts to less severe cases, known as ( 11) ...........
........................................... ratherthan seriously disturbed patients, the ( 12) ...........................
...................................
Psychoanalysts,besides regular psychiatric training, are required to be
(1 3 )
Perhaps the easiest way of identifying a psycho­
logist is to find out if he belongs to the (14)............................................................... There are
about (15)................................................................ psychologists in the United States, not a very
large number compered with plumbers or physicians.
Physiologists are usually concerned with the functions of (1 6 )..............................................
while psychologists are more concerned with (17)..................................................
.................. Onetrouble with defining psychology is that it is both a science and (18)...............
..............................................
In
their training psychologists are exposed to a heavy emphasi
on (1 9 )..............................................................
Originally the Greek term "p sych e" meant (20)......................................................................
-4 -
Psychologists today hesitate about using the tenn **mind” liecause it (2 1 )................................
............................
The French philosopher (2 2 ).....................................................................is
largely responsible for current beliefs that we have both a mind and a body to consider. This po­
sition is known as (23)............................................................... He used what is called the
^24)...........................................
..............................
methodincontrasttothe( 2 5 ) ................
According to this philosopher’s views, the mind (2 6 ) .............................. .
.............................. with the body. Other philosophers held that the mind and body mirror eadi
other’s functions, a position known as (27)................................................................................ Gall and Spunheim, working about (28) (d a te )....................................................... developed
adiat was then a science, (2 9 )............................................................... Their views were based
on then current psycholo^cal thinking that the mind worked tfarou^ various separate capacities
or components known as (3 0 )...............................................................
When Wundt began his studies, he relied on the (31)...............................................................
method. By using this method he believed he could get at the (32)...............................................
.......................of the mind. Mental life, according to Wundt, consisted of three basic processes or
elements — images, sensations, and (33).......................................................................... Wundt’ s
most famous student, (34)...................................
started psychology in the
United States. Americans, however, rejected Wundtian Structuralism in favor of ( 3 5 ) ..................
which later, under Watson, became( 3 6 ) ...........................................
...........................Watson was also an atomistic psydtologist; his elements, however, were (37)
A German group, about 1912, came to be known as (38)............................................................
psychologists. They objected to both Wundt and Watson because they believed that (3 9 )...........
................................................. destroyed behavior and made it impossible to study.
Today most psychologists identify their subject as a study first of all. It is generally agreed
that it is a study of (4 0 )....................................................................and.( 4 1 )..............................
.................................... Psychology is considered a science because it depends on the reports
of (42)................................................................who work under (43)..........................................
............ ...............conditions.
Parapsychology means ^toutside of” psychology or “ beside” psychology. The term covets
such alleged phenomena as ” extras«isory perception” and “ psychokinesis.’ ’ The experiments
engaged in by believers in such processes illustrate the moral that the results of an experiment
do n ot(44)..............................................................
Psychologists like all scientists are interested in prediction md (45)....................................
...........................: not for practical purposes, however, but simply to test ( 4 6 ) .........................
................................ .
There is no real difference between applied and “ pure” research
-5-
procedures. They differ only in (4 7 )..............................................................
Most pure prob­
lems arise from (4 8 )................................................................situations.
Philosophers who challenge the belief in a real world are known as (49)................................
............................. Besides belief in a real world, scientists endorse a belief or assumption of
(50)................................................................ Athird assumption is that the world is (51)..........
.................................................... An implied assumption that amounts to stating that whatever
happens had to happen and could not have happened otherwise is known as (5 2 ).........................
.................................... The general assumptions of science can be summarized under the label
(53)..................................................................
M U LTIPLE-C H O IC E TEST 1
1- B.F. Skinner claims that psychology
a. is an infant science
b.~ can be applied to make people happy and creative
greatest value in the field of testing
d. should be under the control of psychiatrists
2. Psychologists who practice therapy and diagnosis are known as
0. "clinical psychologists
b. human engineers
c. behaviorists
4- parapsychologists
3. Psychoanalysts are psychiatrists with specialized training who
a. work with encephalographs
b. need not have medical degrees
c. Ihust be analyzed themselves
d. studied with SigmundFreud
4. Wundt started his laboratory at Leipzig in
5.
o. 1879
b. 1895
c. 1903
d. 1923
Wundt's method was known as
a.
functional analysis
b. rationalism
introspection
d. empiricism
6. Wundt claimed that mental activity was composed of sensations,
a.
perceptions and reactions
c.
reactions and feelings
fa. images and perceptions
HfT images and feelings
7. A leader of the Functionalist school was
a.
Skinner
b.
Spence
c.
Dewey
d.
Rogers
0. Gestalt psychology
b.
Structuralism
c.
d.
fUm'ctionalism
8. Behaviorism arose from
Rationalism
c. is o f
-6-