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 Brief Contents

CHAPTER 8 Motivation and Emotion 250

Module 24 Explaining Motivation 252
Module 25 Human Needs and Motivation: Eat, Drink, and Be Daring 259
Module 26 Understanding Emotional Experiences 273

CHAPTER 9 Development 286

Module 27 Nature, Nurture, and Prenatal Development 288
Module 28 Infancy and Childhood 297
Module 29 Adolescence: Becoming an Adult 315
Module 30 Adulthood 322

CHAPTER 10 Personality 334

Module 31 Psychodynamic Approaches to Personality 336
Module 32 Trait, Learning, Biological and Evolutionary, and Humanistic Approaches to
Personality 344
Module 33 Assessing Personality: Determining What Makes Us Distinctive 354

CHAPTER 11 Health Psychology: Stress, Coping, and Well-Being 364

Module 34 Stress and Coping 366
Module 35 Psychological Aspects of Illness and Well-Being 376
Module 36 Health and Wellness 381

CHAPTER 12 Psychological Disorders 390

Module 37 Normal versus Abnormal: Making the Distinction 392
Module 38 The Major Psychological Disorders 401
Module 39 Psychological Disorders in Perspective 419

CHAPTER 13 Treatment of Psychological Disorders 426

Module 40 Psychotherapy: Psychodynamic, Behavioural, and Cognitive Approaches to
Treatment 428
Module 41 Psychotherapy: Humanistic, Interpersonal, and Group Approaches to
Treatment 437
Module 42 Biomedical Therapy: Biological Approaches to Treatment 444

CHAPTER 14 Social Psychology 454

Module 43 Attitudes and Social Cognition 456
Module 44 Social Influence and Groups 464
Module 45 Prejudice and Discrimination 470
Module 46 Positive and Negative Social Behaviour 474
Glossary GL-1
References RE-1
Name Index IN-1
Subject Index IN-12

vii
Contents

Preface xv

CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Psychology 2
MODULE 1 Psychologists at Work 4
The Science of Psychology 4
Working at Psychology 5
PsychWork: Licensed Social Worker 7
MODULE 2 A Science Evolves: The Past, the Present, and the Future 9
The Roots Of Psychology 9
Historical Perspectives: What Has Stood the Test of Time? 12
The Subfields of Psychology: Psychology’s Family Tree 15
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Psychology Matters 17
Psychology’s Future: Expanding Psychology’s Frontiers 19
MODULE 3 Research in Psychology 21
The Scientific Method 21
Psychological Research 23
Descriptive Research 24
Experimental Research 27
MODULE 4 Research Challenges: Exploring the Process 34
The Ethics of Research 34
Exploring Diversity: Choosing Participants Who Represent the Scope of Human Behaviour 35
Should Animals be Used in Research? 35
Threats to Experiment Validity: Experimenter and Participant Expectations 36
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Thinking Critically About Research 37

CHAPTER 2
Neuroscience and Behaviour 42
MODULE 5 Neurons: The Basic Elements of Behaviour 44
The Structure of the Neuron 44
How Neurons Fire 46
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Mirror Mirror on the Wall: Mirror Neurons
in the Brain 48
Where Neurons Meet: Bridging the Gap 48
Neurotransmitters: Multitalented Chemical Couriers 50
MODULE 6 The Brain 52
Studying the Brain’s Structure and Functions: Spying on the Brain 52
The Hindbrain: Our “Reptilian Brain” 54
The Midbrain 54
The Forebrain 55
Neuroplasticity and the Brain 59
The Specialization of the Hemispheres: Two Brains or One? 60
The Split Brain: Exploring the Two Hemispheres 61
Exploring Diversity: Sex and the Brain 62
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 Contents

MODULE 7 The Nervous System and the Endocrine System: Communicating

Within the Body 64
The Nervous System 64
The Endocrine System: Of Chemicals and Glands 69

CHAPTER 3
Sensation and Perception 74
MODULE 8 Sensing the World Around Us 76
Absolute Thresholds: Detecting What’s Out There 77
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Driven to Distraction 78
Difference Thresholds: Noticing Distinctions Between Stimuli 79
Sensory Adaptation: Turning Down Our Responses 79
MODULE 9 Vision: Shedding Light on the Eye 81
Illuminating the Structure of the Eye 82
Colour Vision and Colour Blindness: The Seven-Million-Colour Spectrum 86
MODULE 10 Hearing and the Other Senses 89
Sensing Sound 89
Smell and Taste 93
The Skin Senses: Touch, Pressure, Temperature, and Pain 96
MODULE 11 Perceptual Organization: Constructing Our View of the World 99
The Gestalt Laws of Organization 100
Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processing 101
Perceptual Constancy 102
Depth Perception: Translating 2-D to 3-D 103
Motion Perception: As the World Turns 104
Perceptual Illusions: The Deceptions of Perceptions 104
Exploring Diversity: Culture and Perception 107

CHAPTER 4
States of Consciousness 112
MODULE 12 Sleep and Dreams 114
The Stages of Sleep 114
REM Sleep: The Paradox of Sleep 116
Why Do We Sleep, and How Much Sleep Is Necessary? 117
The Function and Meaning of Dreaming 119
Sleep Disturbances: Slumbering Problems 121
PsychWork: Sleep Technologist 122
Circadian Rhythms: Life Cycles 123
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Sleep Better 123
MODULE 13 Hypnosis and Meditation 125
Hypnosis: A Trance-Forming Experience? 125
Meditation: Regulating Our Own State of Consciousness 127
Exploring Diversity: Cross-Cultural Routes to Altered States of Consciousness 128
MODULE 14 Drug Use: The Highs and Lows of Consciousness 129
Stimulants: Drug Highs 131
Depressants: Drug Lows 135
Narcotics: Relieving Pain and Anxiety 137
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Identifying Drug and Alcohol
Problems 139

ix
Contents

CHAPTER 5
Learning 142
MODULE 15 Classical Conditioning 144
The Basics of Classical Conditioning 145
Applying Conditioning Principles to Human Behaviour 147
Extinction 148
Generalization and Discrimination 149
Beyond Traditional Classical Conditioning: Challenging Basic Assumptions 150
MODULE 16 Operant Conditioning 152
Thorndike’s Law of Effect 152
The Basics of Operant Conditioning 153
Applying Psychology in the Real World: A Nose for Danger: Saving Lives by
Sniffing Out Land Mines 155
PsychWork: Seeing Eye Guide Dog Trainer 156
Positive Reinforcers, Negative Reinforcers, and Punishment 156
The Pros and Cons of Punishment: Why Reinforcement
Beats Punishment 158
Schedules of Reinforcement: Timing Life’s Rewards 159
Discrimination and Generalization in Operant Conditioning 161
Biological Constraints on Learning: You Can’t Teach an Old Dog Just Any
Trick 162
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Using Behaviour Analysis and
Behaviour Modification 164

MODULE 17 Cognitive Approaches to Learning 166

Latent Learning 166
Observational Learning: Learning Through Imitation 168
Violence In Television and Video Games: Does the Media’s Message Matter? 169
Exploring Diversity: Does Culture Influence How We Learn? 170

CHAPTER 6
Memory 174
MODULE 18 The Foundations of Memory 176
Sensory Memory 178
Short-Term Memory 178
Long-Term Memory 181
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Enhancing Memory: Are We on the Road to
“Cosmetic Neurology”? 186

MODULE 19 Recalling Long-Term Memories 188

Retrieval Cues 188
Levels of Processing 189
Explicit and Implicit Memory 190
Flashbulb Memories 191
Constructive Processes in Memory: Rebuilding the Past 192
Exploring Diversity: Are There Cross-Cultural Differences in Memory? 196
MODULE 20 Forgetting: When Memory Fails 198
Why We Forget 198
Proactive and Retroactive Interference: The Before and After
of Forgetting 201
Memory Dysfunctions: Afflictions of Forgetting 202
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Improving Your Memory 203

x
 Contents

CHAPTER 7
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence  208
MODULE 21 Thinking and Reasoning 210
Mental Images: Examining the Mind’s Eye 210
Concepts: Categorizing the World 211
Algorithms and Heuristics 212
Solving Problems 213
Creativity and Problem Solving 221
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Eureka! Understanding the Underpinnings of
Creativity 222

MODULE 22 Language 224

Grammar: Language’s Language 224
Language Development: Developing a Way with Words 225
Understanding Language Acquisition: Identifying the Roots of Language 226
The Influence of Language on Thinking: Do the Inuit Have More Words for Snow
than Texans Do? 229
Do Animals Use Language? 229
Exploring Diversity: Teaching with Linguistic Variety: Bilingual Education 230
MODULE 23 Intelligence 232
Theories of Intelligence: Are There Different Kinds of Intelligence? 233
Emotional Intelligence: Toward a More Intelligent View of Intelligence 235
Applying Psychology in the Real World: How You Think About Intelligence Helps Determine
Your Success 235
Variations in Intellectual Ability 241
PsychWork: Director of Special Education 243
Group Differences in Intelligence: Genetic and
Environmental Determinants 243
Exploring Diversity: The Relative Influence of Genetics and Environment: Nature,
Nurture, and IQ 244

CHAPTER 8
Motivation and Emotion 250
MODULE 24 Explaining Motivation 252
Instinct Approaches: Born to Be Motivated 252
Drive-Reduction Approaches: Satisfying Our Basic Needs 253
Arousal Approaches: Beyond Drive Reduction 255
Incentive Approaches: Motivated by Temptation 255
Cognitive Approaches: Thoughts Behind Motivation 257
MODULE 25 Human Needs and Motivation: Eat, Drink, and Be Daring 259
The Motivation Behind Hunger and Eating 259
PsychWork: Nutritionist 262
Sexual Motivation 263
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Dieting and Losing Weight
Successfully 264
The Needs for Affiliation, Power, and Achievement 270
MODULE 26 Understanding Emotional Experiences 273
The Functions of Emotions 274
Determining the Range of Emotions: Labelling Our Feelings 274
The Roots of Emotions 275
Exploring Diversity: Do People in All Cultures Express Emotion Similarly? 279

xi
Contents

CHAPTER 9
Development 286
MODULE 27 Nature, Nurture, and Prenatal Development 288
Determining the Relative Influence of Nature and Nurture 290
Developmental Research Techniques 290
Prenatal Development: Conception to Birth 291
MODULE 28 Infancy and Childhood 297
The Extraordinary Newborn 297
The Growing Child: Infancy Through Middle Childhood 300
PsychWork: Child Protection Caseworker 308
MODULE 29 Adolescence: Becoming an Adult 315
Physical Development: The Changing Adolescent 315
Moral and Cognitive Development: Distinguishing Right from Wrong 317
Social Development: Finding Oneself in a Social World 318
Exploring Diversity: Rites of Passage: Coming of Age Around the World 320
MODULE 30 Adulthood 322
Physical Development: The Peak of Health 323
Social Development: Working at Life 324
The Later Years of Life: Growing Old 324
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Gaming in Late Adulthood: How Video Games May
Improve Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults 327
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Adjusting to Death 329

CHAPTER 10
Personality 334
MODULE 31 Psychodynamic Approaches to Personality 336
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping the Unconscious Mind 336
The Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysts: Building on Freud 342
MODULE 32 Trait, Learning, Biological and Evolutionary, and Humanistic Approaches to
Personality 344
Trait Approaches: Placing Labels on Personality 344
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Judged at First Sight 347
Learning Approaches: We Are What We’ve Learned 348
Biological and Evolutionary Approaches: Are We Born with Personality? 349
Humanistic Approaches: The Uniqueness of You 351
Comparing Approaches to Personality 352
MODULE 33 Assessing Personality: Determining What Makes Us Distinctive 354
Exploring Diversity: Should Race and Ethnicity Be Used to Establish Norms? 355
Self-Report Measures of Personality 356
Projective Methods 358
Behavioural Assessment 360
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Assessing Personality Assessments 360

CHAPTER 11
Health Psychology: Stress, Coping, and Well-Being 364
MODULE 34 Stress and Coping 366
Stress: Reacting to Threat and Challenge 366
Coping with Stress 373

xii
 Contents

MODULE 35 Psychological Aspects of Illness and Well-Being 376

The A’s, B’s, and D’s of Coronary Heart Disease 376
Psychological Aspects of Cancer 378
Smoking 379
MODULE 36 Health and Wellness 381
Following Medical Advice 381
Well-Being and Happiness 383
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Does Money Buy Happiness? 385

CHAPTER 12
Psychological Disorders 390
MODULE 37 Normal versus Abnormal: Making the Distinction 392
Defining Abnormality 392
Perspectives on Abnormality: From Superstition to Science 394
Classifying Abnormal Behaviour: The ABCs of DSM 397
MODULE 38 The Major Psychological Disorders 401
Anxiety Disorders 401
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder 404
Mood Disorders 405
Schizophrenia 409
Personality Disorders 414
Childhood Disorders 415
Somatoform Disorders 416
Other Disorders 417
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Internet Addiction 417
MODULE 39 Psychological Disorders in Perspective 419
Prevalence of Psychological Disorders: The Mental State of North America 419
The Social and Cultural Context of Psychological Disorders 420
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Deciding When You Need Help 421

CHAPTER 13
Treatment of Psychological Disorders 426
MODULE 40 Psychotherapy: Psychodynamic, Behavioural, and Cognitive
Approaches to Treatment 428
Psychodynamic Approaches to Therapy 428
Behavioural Approaches to Therapy 431
Cognitive Approaches to Therapy 434
MODULE 41 Psychotherapy: Humanistic, Interpersonal, and Group
Approaches to Treatment 437
Humanistic Therapy 437
Interpersonal Therapy 438
Group Therapy, Self-Help Groups, and Family Therapy 439
Evaluating Psychotherapy: Does Therapy Work? 440
Exploring Diversity: Racial and Ethnic Factors in Treatment 442
MODULE 42 Biomedical Therapy: Biological Approaches to Treatment 444
Drug Therapy 444
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) 447
Psychosurgery 448
Biomedical Therapies in Perspective 448
Community Psychology: Focus on Prevention 449
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Beating the Odds: Preventing Psychological Disorders
Before They Start 451
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Contents

CHAPTER 14
Social Psychology 454
MODULE 43 Attitudes and Social Cognition 456
Persuasion: Changing Attitudes 456
Social Cognition: Understanding Others 457
Exploring Diversity: Attributions in a Cultural Context: How Fundamental Is the Fundamental
Attribution Error? 462

MODULE 44 Social Influence and Groups 464

Conformity: Following What Others Do 464
Compliance: Submitting to Direct Social Pressure 466
Obedience: Following Direct Orders 467
The Prison Study: The Power of the Situation 469
MODULE 45 Prejudice and Discrimination 470
Foundations of Prejudice 471
Reducing the Consequences of Prejudice and Discrimination 472
MODULE 46 Positive and Negative Social Behaviour 474
Liking and Loving: Interpersonal Attraction and the Development of
Relationships 474
Applying Psychology in the Real World: Friends Online: Is Facebook the New Student
Union? 477
Aggression and Prosocial Behaviour: Hurting and Helping Others 478
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Dealing Effectively with Anger 482

Glossary GL-1
References RE-1
Name Index IN-1
Subject Index IN-12

xiv
Preface

Using Essentials of Understanding Psychology, Fifth

Canadian Edition
If you’re reading this page, you’re probably taking an introductory psychology course. Maybe you’re studying
psychology because you’ve always been interested in what makes people tick. Or perhaps you’ve had a friend or
family member who has sought assistance for a psychological disorder. Or maybe you’re taking this course because it’s
required for your program.
Whatever your motivation for taking the course and reading this book, here’s our commitment to you: By the time
you finish this text, you will have a better understanding of why people—including you—behave the way they do. You
will know how, and why, psychologists conduct research, and will have an understanding of the theories that guide
their research. You will become acquainted with the breadth of the field and will obtain practical, useful information,
as well as a wealth of knowledge that hopefully will excite your curiosity and increase your understanding of people’s
behaviour.
To meet this commitment, Essentials of Understanding Psychology, Fifth Canadian Edition, has been written
and revised with you, the reader, in mind. While covering 14 chapters of material providing an extensive introduction
into psychology, it is a briefer text than its predecessor, the fourth edition. At every step in the development of the
book, students and instructors have been consulted in an effort to identify the combination of learning tools that
would maximize readers’ ability to learn and retain the subject matter of psychology. The result is a book that contains
features that will not only help you to understand psychology, but also make it a discipline that is part of your life. An
additional result is that this text looks like you want it to—because you told us what you want it to look like, and we
listened.
Now it’s your turn. You will need to take several steps to maximize the effectiveness of the learning tools in the
book. These steps include familiarizing yourself with the scope and structure of the book, using the built-in learning
aids, and employing a systematic study strategy using the text and Connect. Oh, and take a look at those assigned
course readings too! Your textbook plays a key part in supporting your learning. Reading the chapter BEFORE you go
to class will help provide context to the material covered in the lecture.

Familiarize Yourself with the Scope and Organization

of Essentials of Understanding Psychology
Begin by reading the list of modules and skimming the detailed table of contents at the front of the book. From this
exercise, you will get a sense of the topics covered and the logic behind the sequence of modules. Then take some time
to flip through the book. Choose a section that looks particularly interesting to you, skim it, and see for yourself how
the modules are laid out.
Each module provides logical starting and stopping points for reading and studying. You can plan your studying
around the modules that cover a particular topic. For instance, if your instructor assigns a group of modules to read
over the course of a week, you might plan to read and study one module each day, using later days in the week to
review the material. Your course may not cover the chapters in order, or may only cover some of the chapters. Reading
the content before it is covered in class will make it easier to process the information presented by your instructor
during class time. Your textbook will play a critical role in supporting your learning.
Finally, as you work through Chapter 1, you will notice “pop-up boxes” that describe how each of the elements in
the text will inform and engage you, and provide you with the tools you need to succeed.

xv
Preface

Students first.
If we were to use only a few words to summarize our goal for this book, as well as our teaching philosophy, we
would say “students first.” We believe that an effective textbook must be oriented to our students—informing
them, engaging them, exciting them about the field, and expanding their intellectual capabilities. When students
are engaged and challenged, they understand psychology at a deep and meaningful level. Only then are they
able to learn and retain the material.
Luckily, psychology is a science that is inherently interesting to students.
It is a discipline that speaks with many voices, offering a personal message to
each student. To some, psychology provides a better understanding of others’
behaviour. Some view psychology as a pathway to self-understanding. Others
see the potential for a future career, and some are drawn to psychology by the
opportunity for intellectual discovery that its study provides.
No matter what brings each student into the introductory course, and
regardless of their initial motivation, Essentials of Understanding Psychology,
Fifth Canadian Edition, is designed to draw students into the field, stimulate their
thinking, and integrate a variety of elements that foster their understanding of
psychology and its impact on their everyday lives. This textbook will be an
effective and important support for your student learning.

A Framework for Learning and Assessment

Essentials of Understanding Psychology, Fifth Canadian Edition, is the core of a learning-centred multimedia package
that comprises a complete framework for learning and assessment. Every component of the package is tied to specific
psychological concepts and their application to everyday life. Though the book forms the core of this framework, its
power to enrich and empirically demonstrate learning is expanded through Connect Psychology, a unique library of
electronic resources, activities and quizzes, all developed to accompany this text. Instructors can opt for a traditional,
text-based approach, or create a seamless, custom set of assignments from the available resources. Instructors and
students alike have choices depending on their specific needs.

Chapter and Modular Format

The text contains 14 numbered chapters covering the major areas of psychology. Each chapter is divided into three
or more short modules, a format that has proven highly popular. Rather than facing a long and potentially daunting
chapter, students can study material in smaller chunks, which psychological research long ago found to be the optimal
way to learn. Moreover, instructors can customize assignments for their students by asking them to read only those
modules that fit their course outline and in the sequence that matches their syllabus. Alternatively, instructors who
prefer to assign whole chapters can do so. The modular format allows the instructor to go for depth or breadth in their
course.
Many instructors find it a challenge to teach psychology to non-psychology majors in a wide variety of disciplines.
The modular format of this book facilitates changeover between programs and semesters. Instructors can customize

xvi
 Preface

each class to the background and interests of each discipline. You choose which sections of each chapter work best for
each course. You choose what to focus on. You are the expert in your own classroom.

Psychology and Everyday Life

Putting students first and teaching them the science of psychology by helping them make the connection between
psychology and everyday life has been a goal of this text from its first edition. The prologues that open each chapter,
together with Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology, Applying Psychology in the Real World, PsychWork,
and Exploring Diversity boxes, and examples presented throughout the text, help students see the real, everyday
benefits of psychological research. For example, the Applying Psychology in the Real World boxes help students make
connections between new information (in this textbook and in the classroom), and what is happening in the real world
(e.g., social networking, the dangers of texting while driving). Students are often surprised by what they already know
about psychology. Throughout the book, examples were updated and references to popular culture were included to
make the material more relevant to the life of the college or university student. In the Rethink section, program-specific
questions were added to target critical thinking in students from a variety of disciplines. Our job as instructors is to put
the framework on their knowledge and to give them the tools to apply this information every day. Each type of box can
be used very effectively as written assignments.

Ways of Connecting with Today’s Students

Today’s students are as different from the learners of the last generation as today’s discipline of psychology is different
from the field 30 years ago. Students now learn in multiple modalities; rather than sitting down and reading traditional
printed chapters in linear fashion from beginning to end, their work preferences tend to be more visual and more
interactive, and their reading and study often occur in short bursts. For many students, a traditionally formatted printed
textbook is no longer enough when they have instant, 24/7 access to news and information from around the globe.
Connect Psychology is our response to today’s student. The groundbreaking adaptive diagnostic tool helps
students “know what they know” while helping them learn what they don’t know through engaging interactivities,
exercises, videos, and readings. Instructors using Connect are reporting their students’ performance is improving by a
letter grade or more.
Through this unique tool, Essentials of Understanding Psychology gives instructors the ability to identify
struggling students quickly and easily before the first exam. Connect Psychology’s adaptive diagnostic tool develops
an individualized learning plan for every student. Confidence levels tailor the next question to each individual, helping
students to know what they don’t know. If your student is doing well, the adaptive diagnostic tool will challenge the
student with more applied and conceptual questions. If your student is struggling, the system identifies problem areas
and directs the student to the topic they need to study. In doing so, it works like a GPS, helping students to master key
concepts efficiently and effectively. Regardless of individual study habits, preparation, and approaches to the course,
students will find the modular format of Essentials of Understanding Psychology, coupled with Connect Psychology,
adapts to them individually and provides a road map for success.

Students First: The Bottom Line

Based on extensive student feedback, systematic research involving a wide range of instructors, and endorsements
received from reviewers at a variety of schools, we are confident that this fifth Canadian edition reflects what students
want and need: a book that motivates them to understand and apply psychology to their own lives. Essentials of
Understanding Psychology, Fifth Canadian Edition, exposes students to the content—and promise—of psychology,
and does so in a way that feels modern and relevant, and will nurture their excitement about psychology.

xvii
 Evaluate

Psychology
What major issues confront psychologists conducting
research? Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology: Thinking
Critically About Research
The
1. Ethics ofresearch
Ethical Researchbegins with the concept of informed consent. Before signing up to participate in an experi-
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ment, participants shouldParticipants
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the Scope of Human Behaviour
a. The procedure of the study, stated generally
Preface b. The risks that may be involved
c. Their right to withdraw at any time
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d. All of the aabove

Engaging Students
chapter, providing brief account of a real-life event that is relevant to the content of the modules, and demonstrating why the material
in the chapter is important.
2. A false treatment, such as a pill, that has no significant chemical properties or active ingredient, is known as
a __________________
3. According to a report, a study has shown that men differ from women in their preference for ice cream flavours.
This study was based on a sample of two men and three women. What might be wrong with this study?

Prologue Each chapter starts with an account of a real-life Answers to Evaluate Questions

situation that demonstrates the relevance of basic principles Prologue

drawn about ice cream preferences based on gender.
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and concepts of psychology to pertinent issues and problems. Why Psychology?

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How many times have you asked yourself: Why am I taking this course? What does this course have Grass Productions.

These prologues depict well-known people and events and to do with my job? My life? My livelihood? These are all great critical questions you should ask at
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the beginning of every course. Knowing “why we do what we do” is the foundation of inner drive and intrinsic motivation.
many were updated for this edition. Why Study Psychology?
The field of psychology gives students insight into the inner workings of the brain, vulnerability to conformity, how person-
ality traits influence occupational success, beneficial effects of meditation at work, to name just a few.

Epilogue Found at the end of every set of modules, the In addition to increased self-awareness and self-knowledge, psychology also benefits students in their chosen field.
Epilogue
For example, health science students discover how connecting with patients promotes healing (Chapter 11). Business

Epilogue relates to the Prologue at the opening of the set of

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foundation for every topic covered throughout the text.
LO2 Where do psychologists work? 5,000 BCE
Every chapter ends with Recap/Rethink segments—one for each module in the chapter. Recap sections review the key concepts found

The Science of Psychology These Future:

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used to of each module. The questions in the Rethink sections are designed to encourage you to think critically about a1915
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intelligence testing
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CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Psychology material
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Evaluate
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hypotheses concludes with an Evaluate section. These Evaluate
personality
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LO7 What role do theories play in Thus, neuroscientists consider how our bodies influence our behaviour. memory For example, they may examine the
Evaluate link between specific sites in the brain and the muscular tremors of people affected by Parkinson’s disease or attempt
MODULE 2 A Science Evolves: The Past, psychological research? 38
Forerunners
1800 1900
to determine how our emotions are related to physical sensations. Behavioural neuroscientists might want to know
First Psychologists
the Present,
1. Ethical researchand the
begins withFuture
LO8sections
the concept of informed consent. Before signing test
What research
up to participate inrecall
an experi- of the what
methods material,
do psychologists use? assessing
physiological changes
of Psychology
thewhodegree
occurred in people ofmagnitude
survived the 7.0 initial learning.
earthquake in Haiti.
ment, participants should be informed of LO9 How do psychologists establish cause-and-effect
Nova Scotia, Canada-born Donald Hebb (1904–1985) is known as the father of neuropsychology. Because every behav-
LO3 What are the origins of psychology? 09/07/15 01:27 PM1920
to some1807
feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 3
relationships using experiments? iour can be broken 1637 down
Descartes 1895 the neuroscience perspective Gestalt
extent into its biological components, has broad appeal.
psychology

TheRecap/Rethink The end of every chapter concludes with Recap andThird Rethink
a. The procedure of the study, stated generally Franz Josef Gall
describes Functionalist Pass
LO4 How did the history of psychology shape the major Psychologists who subscribe to this perspective have made major contributions
feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 38 to the understanding
proposes phrenology and betterment of becomes inluential
09/08/15 12:12 PM

b. The risks that may be involved psychology? Scientific Method animal spirits model formulated
approaches in contemporary human life, ranging from cures for certain types of deafness to drug treatments for people with severe mental disorders.
1900 Sigmund
c. Their
LO5 Whatright
are to withdraw
the at any
important time
subfields in the field of sectionsResearch
Psychological that are organized according to modules. The Recap sections review the
1890 Principles
When we get down to the basics, humans are animals made of skin
of Psychology
considers how people and nonhumans function biologically:
Freudand
develops
bones. The neuroscience
the psychodynamic
published by how individual
1904 perspective
nerve cells are joined wins
Ivan Pavlov
together,
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d. All of the above Descriptive Research perspective

concept ofquestions
such as a pill,found at thechemical
beginning of ingredient,
each
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inheritance of certain characteristics from parents and other
William Jamesancestors influences behaviour, work on digestion of
howExploring
the functioning
MODULE 4 Research Challenges: the Process
that led to
The
2. ARoots Psychology
false treatment, that has no significant Experimental
properties or active is known as the body affects hopes and fears, which behaviours are instinctual, and so forth. Even more complex kinds
fundamentalof behav-
Third
by Pass
The
2
a __________________
Rethink sections provide thought-provoking questions
3. According to a report, a study has shown that men differ from women in their preference for ice cream flavours.
Recap/Rethink
iours, such as a baby’s response to strangers, are viewed as having critical biological components psychologists
principles
who embrace the neuroscience perspective. This perspective includes the study of heredity and evolution, considering
of learning

how heredity
© Sciencemay influence
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brain andbythe nervous
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This study was based on a sample of two men and three women. What might be wrong with this study? Module
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system affect behaviour.

Answers to Evaluate Questions onRecap MODULEemotions,

uncovering the fundamental mental components of perception, consciousness, thinking, 1 Psychologists at Work
and other kinds
The Psychodynamic Perspective: Understanding
to the chemistry, withthe Inner Person
Study Alerts Study Alerts are notes found throughout the
of LO1
mental states
What and
is the activities.
science He likened psychology
of psychology? the fundamental mental components
drawn about ice cream preferences based on gender.
being
Proponents
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•Field fundamental
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study elements.
argue that
and behaviour
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just what and conflicts
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their
feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 2
1. d; 2. Placebo; 3. There are far too few participants. Without a larger sample, no valid conclusions can be
which 09/08/15
Towe 12:12 little
determine
have PM how
biological basic feelings,
awareness
activities, sensory processes
or control. Dreams
perceptions, shape
and our
memory, slips understanding
of the tongue
reasoning, of the
are
and thoughts. world,
viewed asWundt and other
indications of what structuralists
a person
modules, which point out especially important and difficult Data management
isused
truly a procedure
feeling withincalled
a introspection,
seething
LO2 Where do psychologists work?
Employee recruitment
cauldron in
of which
Preschool teacher
they
unconscious presented
psychic people
activity.
Public opinion surveyor
with a trigger or
Community outreach worker
stimulus—such
Corrections officer
as a bright
green Theobject
origins or of
a sentence printed oninaview
the psychodynamic acard—and
are of asked them
intimately linkedto with
describe,
thethe in their
man sitesown
who is words and
ofarguably in
theare as
most much
famous detail
psy-as
Key Terms
concepts and topics. These Study Alerts offer suggestions they could,
chologist,
• Psychologists
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what
living
and orthey
dead:
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are employed
were
and experiencing.
Sigmund Freud.
universities,
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many Wundt
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settings.
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Although
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that
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psychologists byphysician
are foundanalyzing
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not just in psychology but
for learning the material
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effectively and highlight
informed consent placebo
important inLabour
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related
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relations
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Loanpsychodynamic
officer
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as well. Although some of the original Freudian principles have
perspective has provided a means not only to understand and treat some
been roundly Employment
criticized,
Group
counsellor
the
homeofattendant
kinds
contempo-
psychological
1. In many colleges, psychology is a required course in programs as diverse as Nursing, Police Foundations, Early Childhood
study topics. In Module 12, for example, a Study Alert disorders
Management
STUDY ALERT!
three
Marketing
buttrainee
different
also to understand everyday phenomena such as prejudice and aggression. Occupational
Education, Behavioural Sciences, and Social Service Worker. Why do you think psychology is required in so many
major contributions
programs? Inthat whathave
wayshad an the
does incalculable influence on
study of psychology theus
make field of psychology
better
Additionally,
and even
Probation
citizens, regardless of
Freud made
therapist
on popular
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our occupationalcul-

emphasizes the importance of differentiating the five stages ture. First,

Knowing
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accessible
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he
you
was
think
the first
that
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have our
to
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propose
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the notion
may be
common sense
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areshaped
we
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forces
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the basic outlines of the history of the field will help you understand how today’s major
manager/officer
interests?
toservices
us and outside ofwhy
understanding ourpeople
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of our
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awareness.
act theRehabilitation
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was
the first
is atoscientific
propose one of the most widely acceptedhuman notions not just in psychology but in ourResidence popularcounsellor
culture: that our
ofEpilogue
sleep; and in Module 14 a Study Alert highlights the Programs/events
experiences
Public relations
approach
coordination appropriate for studying behaviour?
in early childhood shape us as adults. Finally, Freud was the first to propose that psychological
Mental health assistant difficul-
ties can be treated with psychological (rather than biomedical) means. Although there are few therapists that practice
importance of FigureThe2 field forof psychology
learning the different ways that Module
Retail
usingOver
salestime,
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representative could reveal the structure of the mind. Introspection was not a truly scientific
to Freud and
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dissatisfied
his theories.with assistant
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the assumption
is broad and diverse. It encompasses many different The
that Present, and The Future technique, because

drugs produce their effects subfields andat a neurological

specialties practised in a variety oflevel.
settings, with new subfields
Specialwere
there
had
Recap
features
Neuroscience
Staff difficulty
fewwriting/reporting
ways an outside observer could confirm the accuracy of others’ introspections.
perspective
training anddescribing
development some kinds of inner experiences, such as emotional responses.
Substance abuse
Those
Youth
counsellor
Moreover,
drawbacks led to
counsellor
people

continually arising. We have also seen that even within the various subfields The
LO3 approach
What are
Trainer/training
that
the views
officer originsbehaviour from the perspective of the brain, the nervous system, and other biological
of psychology?
of the field, it is possible to adopt several different approaches, including the functions.

Running Glossary Key

• Wilhelm Wundt laid the foundation of psychology in 1879, when he opened his laboratory in Germany.
terms
neuroscience, are highlighted
psychodynamic, in humanistic
behavioural, cognitive, and boldface per-
Introspection
Source: From The Psychology Major’s Handbook, 1st Edition by Kuther. © 2003 with permission of Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning: www.thomsonrights.com.
Psychodynamic
• Early used
A procedure
Fax 800-730-2215.
perspective
perspectives
to studythatthe guided
structure theofwork
the of psychologists
mind were structuralism
in which subjects are asked toand functionalism
describe in detailtheory.
what they are
spectives. For all its diversity, though, psychology focuses on certain key issues The
LO4 approach
How did based
experiencing when on the
they
the history ofview
are that behaviour
exposed
psychology toshape is major
a stimulus.
the motivated by unconscious
approaches inner forces
in contemporary over which the individual
psychology?
type within the textthat serve whereto unify the they are lines
field along common introduced,
and shared findings. and has little control.
• The neuroscience approach focuses on the biological components of the behaviour of people and animals.
10 • The psychodynamic perspective suggests that powerful, unconscious inner forces and conflicts about which people
definitions are given at the bottom of the page, along with
Source: © Blend Images/Ariel Skelley/Getty
Images RF.
Many chapters include
have little oranoboxawareness
that focuses
areonthe
how a non-psychologist
primary uses
determinants ofpsychology.
behaviour.
• The behavioural perspective de-emphasizes internal processes and concentrates instead on observable, measurable
13

pronunciation guides for difficult words. To facilitate study, behaviour, suggesting that understanding and control of a person’s environment are sufficient to fully explain and
modify behaviour.
•feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd
Cognitive approaches to behaviour consider how people know, understand, and think about the world. 09/08/15 12:12 PM
at the end of each module there is a list of the key terms and PsychWork 10
• The humanistic
feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 13 perspective emphasizes that people are uniquely inclined toward psychological growth
09/08/15 and higher
12:12 PM

levels of functioning and that they will strive to reach their full potential.

concepts introduced in that module. There is also a glossary

Every chapter ends with Recap/Rethink segments—one for each module in the chapter. Recap sections review the key concepts found
Licensed
LO5 Social
What are the Worker
important subfields in the field of psychology?
• Developmental psychologists study how people grow and change throughout the life span.
Name: Christin Poirier, Hon BA, MSW, RSW
ofor issue,
all and
key termshave moreand
than oneconcepts at the end of the book.
at the beginning of each module. The questions in the Rethink sections are designed to encourage you to think critically about a topic • Personality psychologists consider the consistency and change in an individual’s behaviour, as well as the individual
they often correct answer. Position: Social Worker
differences that distinguish one person’s behaviour from another’s.
Education: Honours BA in Psychology, York University;
• Health psychologists study psychological factors that affect physical disease, while clinical psychologists consider
MA in Social Work, University of Windsor
the study, diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal behaviour. Counselling psychologists focus on educational, social,
PsychWork PsychWork introduces students to different and career adjustment problems.
• Social psychology is the study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by others.
For Christin Poirier, psychology is central to her occupation as a social worker, a field dedicated to enhancing the well-being
career paths to which the study of psychology can lead.
38
• Cross-cultural psychology examines the similarities and differences in psychological functioning among various
of individuals, families, groups, and communities. As a social worker, Poirier works at a community mental health centre
cultures.
where she helps children and adolescents who are experiencing emotional or behavioural difficulties or both. Says Poirier,
• Other increasingly important fields are evolutionary psychology, behavioural genetics, and clinical neuropsychology.
Each PsychWork profile illustrates people in a variety of “The strategies I employ in counselling sessions are derived from basic psychological concepts and theories. In addition, in
order to know what strategies are age-appropriate for a particular client, I need to consider their stage of psychological
development. Finally, it is necessary to consider how culture and ethnicity affect clients, so I incorporate these aspects into
occupations whose knowledge of psychology informs and my clients’ treatment plans.”

enhances their work. Among the individuals profiled are a social worker, a rehabilitation counsellor, a sleep technologist,
feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 38 09/08/15 12:12 PM

39

and a child protection caseworker, showing that psychology is all around us and important to many occupations.
feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 39 09/08/15 12:12 PM

xviii
feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 7 09/08/15 12:12 PM
 MODULE 4 Research Challenges: Exploring the Process

Most chapters include at least one section devoted to an aspect of racial, ethnic, gender, or cultural diversity. These features focus on the Preface
contributions of psychology to a better understanding of multicultural issues that are so central to our global society.

Exploring Diversity In addition to substantial coverage of

Exploring DIVERSITY
material relevant to diversity throughout, there are special
Choosing Participants Who Represent the Scope
of Human Behaviour sections devoted to an aspect of racial, ethnic, gender, or
When Latané and Darley, both university professors, decided who would participate in their experiment, they turned to
the most available people: college and university students. In fact, college and university students are used so frequently
cultural diversity. Examples of topics highlighted in these
boxes include cultural influences on learning and sex
in experiments that psychology has been called—somewhat contemptuously—the “science of the behaviour of the college
sophomore” (Rubenstein, 1982).
Using college and university students as participants has both advantages and drawbacks. The big benefit is that because
most research occurs in university settings, students are readily available. Typically, they cost the researcher very little: They
participate for either extra course credit or a relatively small payment.
differences in the brain. These sections highlight the way in
The problem is that college and university students may not represent the general population adequately. They tend to
be younger and better educated than a significant percentage of the rest of the North American population. Compared with
which psychology informs (and is informed by) issues
relating to the increasing multiculturalism of Third
ourPassglobal
older adults, their attitudes are likely to be less well formed, and they are more apt to be influenced by authority figures and
peers (Sears, 1986). College and university students are also disproportionately white and middle class (Graham, 1992).
Although similar, the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) codes
Third Pass
of ethics remain as unique as the two countries. Sinclair (1998; CPA, 2000), an award-winning expert in the field of ethics,
identified nine distinct features of the Canadian code of ethics. For example, one unique feature of the Canadian code is its
society.
assignment of different weights to each of the four ethical principles. MODULE 2 A Science Evolves: The Past, the Present, and the Future

Applying Psychology in the Real World These MODULE 4 Research Challenges: Exploring the Process
One of psychologists’ key ethical principles is informed consent. Before participating in an experiment, the
boxes
the musthighlight
participants
participants who
signgot nothing might
a document the
reportthat
affirming relevance
feeling
they no better
have because
been told thetheyofknew
basic psychology
that
outlines they were
of the in aand
study by
no-treatment
are aware APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY in the Real World
control
of whatgroup.
their participation will involve, what risks the experiment may hold, and the fact that their participation is
presenting
To voluntary
purely solve this and
problem, current
psychologists
they may terminatetypically and
it at any use
time. potential
a procedure
Furthermore, in which applications
all the participants
after participation receive
in a study, theya treatment, of
but
must be given Psychology Matters
those in the control
a debriefing in whichgroup
theyreceive
receiveonly placebo, a false
an aexplanation of thetreatment,
study andsuch the as a pill, “drug,”
procedures or other
involved. Thesubstance,
only timethat has no
informed Violence and its causes are among the world’s most pressing issues. What can psychologists add to our understanding of the problem?
psychological
significant
consent and
they
studyare
chemical
in getting
a publica place
properties
a debriefing can betheory
real or(Koocher,
oreliminated
a false treatment,
Norcross, any
and
active ingredient.
is in
& differences
research
Because
experiments members
in which the
in outcome
Hill, 2005; Fallon, 2006;can
findings
of both
risks groups
are minimal,
be attributed
Barnett
are kept asto
in
inthe real-world
dark about
a purely whether
observational
to the quality of the drug and not to
et al., 2007).
“Eyewitness to abduction proves unable to provide reliable clues.”

problems. For example, one box discusses the

“Murder-suicide shocked community.”
the possible psychological effects of being administered a pill or other substance (Rajagopal, 2006; Crum & Langer, 2007).
“Investigators search for clues at site of suicide bombing.”
However, there is one more safeguard that a careful researcher must apply in an experiment such as this. To
Should
psychological Animals be Used inthat Research?
drug shouldn’t know whether it isprinciples explain the dangers of
overcome the possibility that experimenter expectations will affect the participant, the person who administers the A quick review of any day’s news headlines reminds us that the world is beset by a variety of stubborn problems that resist easy
actually the true drug or the placebo. By keeping both the participant and the experi- solution. At the same time, a considerable number of psychologists are devoting their energies and expertise to addressing these
Like those
menter who who work with
interacts withhumans, researchers
the participant “blind”who to use
the nonhuman
nature of the animals in experiments
drug that have their own
is being administered, set of exact-
researchers can problems and improving the human condition. Let’s consider some of the ways in which psychology has addressed and helped work
texting
ing guidelines
more accurately while
to ensure
assess that
the effectsdriving,
the animals
of thedodrug. This while
not suffer. Specifically,
method is knownanother
researchers must make
as the double-blind highlights
every effortThe
procedure. how
to minimize dis-
double-blind toward solutions of major societal problems (Zimbardo, 2004):
comfort, illness,
procedure and pain.
represents Procedures that subject
the highest-standard of goodanimals to distress
experimental are permitted only when an alternative procedure
design.
Facebook
is unavailable and whenand otheris justifiedsocial media arethere changing social
• Why is aggression so prevalent, and how can more humane and peaceful alternatives be promoted? Aggression, whether it be
the research by its prospective value. Moreover, are federal regulations speci- on the playground or the battlefield, is arguably the world’s greatest problem. Psychologists have sought to understand how
fying how animals are to be housed, fed, and maintained. In the early 1980s, the Canadian Psychological Association aggression begins in children and how it may be prevented. For example, psychologists Brad Bushman and Craig Anderson
connections and interactions.
One of the major goals of Essentials of Understanding Psychology is to make readers more informed, critical consumers of information
published the first set of guidelines for care and research of animals. In 1982, Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC)
relating to psychological issues. These discussions give you the tools to evaluate information concerning human behaviour that you
was established to oversee all research involving animals in Canada. Not only must researchers strive to avoid causing
have been looking at the ways in which violent video games may result in heightened violence on the part of those who play
them. They have found that people who play such games have an altered view of the world, seeing it as a more violent place. In
may hear or read about in the media or on the Web.
physical discomfort, but they are also required to promote the psychological well-being of some species of research addition, they are more apt to respond to aggression even when provoked only minimally. Other psychologists are working to limit
animals, such as primates (Novak & Petto, 1991; APA, 1993; Rusche, 2003; Lutz & Novak, 2005; Auer et al., 2007).
But why should animals be used for research in the first place? Is it really possible to learn about human behaviour Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology
the prevalence of violent behaviour, and some have designed programs to teach people how to cope with exposure to violence
(Bushman & Anderson, 2001, 2002; Crawford, 2002).
fromBecoming an Informed
the results of research Consumer
employing rats, of Psychology
gerbils, and pigeons? • Why do eyewitnesses to crimes often remember the events inaccurately, and how can we increase the precision of eyewitness
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology includes
accounts? Psychologists’ research has come to an important conclusion: Eyewitness testimony in criminal cases is often inaccurate
and biased. Memories of crimes are often clouded by emotion, and the questions asked by police investigators often elicit
Thinking Critically About Research
Informed consent
A document signed by participants affirming that they have been told the basic outlines of the study and are aware of material designed to make readers more informed consumers
inaccurate responses. Work by psychologists has been used to provide national guidelines for obtaining more accurate memories
during criminal investigations (Kassin, 2005; Loftus & Bernstein, 2005).
If you
what wereparticipation
their about to purchase an automobile, it is unlikely that you would stop at the nearest car dealership
will involve.
and drive off with the first car a salesperson recommended. Instead, you would probably mull over the purchase, read about
automobiles, consider the alternatives, talk to others about their experiences, and ultimately put in a fair amount of thought before
of psychological information by giving them the ability to
• Who studies acts of terrorism? What are the practice areas of psychologists who study terrorism? Psychologists that do research
on terrorism often work in a variety of criminal justice and forensic settings. For example, the Criminal Justice Psychology
35
evaluate critically what the field of psychology offers. These
you made such a major purchase. Section (CJPS) of the Canadian Psychological Association published several articles on terrorism in Crime Scene, a journal which
In contrast, many of us are considerably less conscientious when we expend our intellectual, rather than financial, assets. covers a wide range of issues in criminal justice psychology (CPA, 2007)
People often jump to conclusions on the basis of incomplete and inaccurate information, and only rarely do they take the time to • What are the causes of terrorism? What motivates suicide bombers? Are they psychologically disordered, or can their behaviour
critically evaluate the research and data to which they are exposed.
Because the field of psychology is based on an accumulated body of research, it is crucial for psychologists to scrutinize
discussions also provide sound, useful guidance concerning
be seen as a rational response to a particular system of beliefs? As we’ll see in Chapter 12 when we discuss abnormal

common problems. For example, one box explains how you

feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 35 09/08/15 12:12 PM
thoroughly the methods, results, and claims of researchers. Yet it is not just psychologists who need to know how to evaluate
research critically; all of us are constantly exposed to the claims of others. Knowing how to approach research and data can be
helpful in areas far beyond the realm of psychology.
Several basic questions can help us sort through what is valid and what is not. Among the most important questions to ask are can apply findings in psychological research on sleep/wake
the following:

• What was the purpose of the research? Research studies should evolve from a clearly specified theory. Furthermore, we must cycles to improve your own sleep, while another discusses
take into account the specific hypothesis that is being tested. Unless we know what hypothesis is being examined, it is not
possible to judge how successful a study has been. how to identify if you or a loved one is struggling with
• How well was the study conducted? Consider who the participants were, how many were involved, what methods were employed,
and what problems the researcher encountered in collecting the data. There are important differences, for example, between a
case study that reports the anecdotes of a handful of respondents and a survey that collects data from several thousand people.
alcohol or other substance abuse issues.
• Are the results presented fairly? It is necessary to assess statements on the basis of the actual data they reflect and their logic. For
instance, when the manufacturer of car X boasts that “no other car has a better safety record than car X,” this does not mean that
car X is safer than every other car. It just means that no other car has been proved safer, though many other cars could be just as
safe as car X. Expressed in the latter fashion, the finding doesn’t seem worth bragging about. On May 6, 2013, Tim Bosma was abducted from his Ancaster, Ontario home when he went on a test-drive with two men who had

Market Leading Technology

These three basic questions can help you assess the validity of research findings you come across—both within and outside
the field of psychology. The more you know how to evaluate research in general, the better you will be able to assess what the field
of psychology has to offer.
responded to his ad on Kijiji, selling his truck. On May 14, Bosma’s body was recovered on a rural property in Ayr, Ontario belonging
to Dellen Millard. Millard and his accomplice, Mark Smich, were arrested shortly after the discovery (The Globe and Mail, 2013). Psy-
chologists study criminal behaviour to try to understand it—and hopefully prevent tragedies such as the Tim Bosma case.
Source: © Nathan Denette/CP Images.

(continued)
Placebo
A false treatment, such as a pill, “drug,” or other substance, without any significant chemical properties or active ingredient. 17

37

Learn without Limits

feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 37 09/08/15 12:12 PM
feL24644_ch01_002-041.indd 17 09/08/15 12:12 PM

McGraw-Hill Connect® is an award-winning digital teaching and learning platform that gives students the means to
better connect with their coursework, with their instructors, and with the important concepts that they will need to
know for success now and in the future. With Connect, instructors can take advantage of McGraw-Hill’s trusted content
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Connect Key Features:

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learn. SmartBook creates a personalized reading experience by highlighting the most important concepts a student needs
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xix
Preface

Connect Insight® Connect Insight is Connect’s new one-of-a-kind visual analytics dashboard—now available for both
instructors and students—that provides at-a-glance information regarding student performance, which is immediately
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• Instructors can edit existing questions and create their own questions.
• Draw from a variety of text specific questions, resources, and test bank material to assign online.
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help you present concepts more visually and engagingly.
xx
 Preface

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Resource area of Connect and easily imbedded into instructors’ PowerPoint slides.

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Chapter Changes
The chapter-by-chapter changes listed below represent only a small number of the literally hundreds of changes made
to the fifth Canadian edition of the text. Research has been updated in every chapter. For this edition over 1,000 new
and updated references have been added.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Psychology

• Updated Canadian data on where psychologists work
• Discussion of perspectives and subfields of psychology integrated into one cohesive section
• Continuous example threaded throughout discussion of theory and hypothesis in section on Research methods
• Section on the History of Psychology expanded to be more comprehensive
• Viktor Frankl included in History of Psychology to provide more context to humanistic psychology movement
• Tightened focus of Diversity box to look at issues involved in using student participants
• More recent Canadian example used in Applying Psychology special topic
• Program-specific critical thinking questions added to Recap/Rethink section

Chapter 2: Neuroscience and Behaviour

• New topic added for Applying Psychology in the Real World on Mirror Neurons
• Reference to new Canadian research on the therapeutic application of oxytocin in Autism Spectrum Disorders was
added in the discussion of hormones in the endocrine system
• Section on neural plasticity revised to emphasize the universal implications of plasticity, including brain fitness and
aging
• New research on neural plasticity integrated with a focus on synaptogenesis
• Section on the forebrain was divided into two separate subsections on Subcortical Structures and the Neocortex to
enhance clarity and readability

Chapter 3: Sensation and Perception

• Updated hearing loss and deaf culture reference
• Expanded on hearing loss in teenagers and dangerous noise levels

Chapter 4: States of Consciousness

• New information added on the serious consequences of sleep deprivation
• Canadian statistics added to section on Alcohol Use
• Section on marijuana use and its risks heavily revised to reflect new understandings and research findings
• Canadian data on use and abuse of prescription drugs added
• Benzodiazepines added to section on frequently used and abused substances
• Term addict replaced with person-first language

Chapter 5: Learning
• Section on biological constraints on learning was updated to reflect current understandings in research
• New section on biological preparedness theory added to section on classical conditioning
• More examples added to section on negative reinforcement to make this concept clearer

xxi
Preface

• References to corporal punishment and the use of electrical shocks as a teaching method were removed to reflect
current reinforcement-based directions in behavioural intervention
• Link between schedules of reinforcement and gambling addiction added to section on operant conditioning
• Information on sports aggression added to section on Observational Learning

Chapter 6: Memory
• Updated Applying Psychology in the Real World “Enhancing Memory: Are We on the Road to ‘Cosmetic Neurology’?”
section
• Updated content on Alzheimer’s Syndrome

Chapter 7: Thinking, Language, and Intelligence

• Updated references
• Updated content on DSM-IV to reflect DSM-5
• Updated IQ tests to most current version (WISC-V and WAIS-IV)

Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion

• Updated content on Sexual Motivation
• Applying the different approaches to motivation section condensed
• Eating disorders section condensed

Chapter 9: Development
• Added information on methadone treatment with pregnant women
• Updated and improved section on prenatal environmental influences
• Nature versus Nurture section condensed

Chapter 10: Personality

• Biological and Evolutionary Approaches condensed
• New example added in “Freud’s Defence Mechanisms”

Chapter 11: Health Psychology, Stress, Coping, and Well-Being

• Included Canadian content on soldier suicide
• New Applying Psychology in the Real World “Does Money Buy Happiness?”
• Updated references
• Smoking content condensed
• Changed module title to Health and Wellness

Chapter 12: Psychological Disorders

• Updated references
• Updated content to reflect DSM-5
• New Applying Psychology in the Real World “Internet Addiction”
• New Becoming an Informed Consumer of Psychology “When You Need Help”
• Updated figures

Chapter 13: Treatment of Psychological Disorders

• Updated “Getting Help from the Right Person”
• Added content on mindfulness therapy

Chapter 14: Social Psychology

• Section added on Zimbardo’s classic study, the Stanford Prison Experiment
• Issue of domestic violence integrated into the section on Aggression
• Evolutionary psychology theory introduced into section on Physical Attractiveness, with reference to new Canadian
research
• New Prologue: A Heroic Escape—referencing the Ariel Castro Cleveland Kidnapping Case and Charles Ramsey, the
hero who assisted the victims in escaping
• Canadian research on prejudice and discrimination integrated into this section of the text
• New research information added on the effect of observation and social influence on helping behaviour

xxii
 Preface

Acknowledgments

One of the central features of Essentials of Understanding Psychology is the involvement of both professionals
and students in the review process. The fifth Canadian edition of Essentials of Understanding Psychology has
relied heavily—and benefited substantially—from the advice of instructors and students from a wide range of
backgrounds.
We are extraordinarily grateful to the following instructors who provided their time and expertise to help ensure
that Essentials of Understanding Psychology, Fifth Canadian Edition, reflects the best that psychology has to offer.
Anastasia Bake, St. Clair College
Alice Barron, St. Clair College
Wendy Bourque, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
Kristen Buscaglia, Niagara College
Maria Iannuzziello, Durham College
Manuela Keeler, Niagara College
Todd Leader, St. Mary’s University
Karen Mcdonald, Mount St. Vincent University
Jennifer Potton-Roberts, Mohawk College
Kimberly J. Robinson, St. Mary’s University
Joel St. Pierre, Mohawk College
Lisa Sinclair, University of Winnipeg
Selina Tombs, Sheridan Davis

xxiii
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction to
Psychology

Source: © Blend Images/Ariel Skelley/Getty Images RF.

Each module begins with the key concepts discussed in that section. The key concepts, phrased as questions, provide a framework for
understanding and organizing the material that follows. They will also help you to understand what the important content is.

Key Concepts for Chapter 1 Historical Perspectives: What Has Stood the Test of
Time?
MODULE 1 Psychologists at Work The Subfields of Psychology: Psychology’s Family Tree
LO1 What is the science of psychology? Applying Psychology in the Real World: Psychology
LO2 Where do psychologists work? Matters

The Science of Psychology Psychology’s Future: Expanding Psychology’s Frontiers

Working at Psychology
MODULE 3 Research in Psychology
PsychWork: Licensed Social Worker
LO6 What is the scientific method?
What role do theories and hypotheses play in
LO7 
MODULE 2 A Science Evolves: The Past, psychological research?
the Present, and the Future LO8 What research methods do psychologists use?
How do psychologists establish cause-and-effect
LO9 
LO3 What are the origins of psychology? relationships using experiments?
How did the history of psychology shape the major
LO4 
The Scientific Method
approaches in contemporary psychology?
What are the important subfields in the field of
LO5  Psychological Research
psychology? Descriptive Research
The Roots of Psychology Experimental Research
2
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
accelerated Bodo’s resolution, though contemporary indignation
traced it to the direct agency of Satan.
843 The golden age of Franko-Jewish history continued
under Charles the Bald, son of Louis and Judith, who
numbered amongst his closest friends the Jewish physician
Zedekiah and another Jew called Judah. But the same causes
brought about similar effects. The favour shown to the Jews by
Louis’s successor excited the enmity of the pious, who found a
leader in Agobard’s successor and other bishops, and held several
councils with the object of inventing means for the curtailment of
imperial power, the exaltation of ecclesiastical authority, and the
suppression of the Jews. Again letters were addressed to the
Emperor, in which he was recommended to enforce towards the
murderers of Christ the measures which had been originated by
Constantine the Great and Theodosius the Younger, adopted by the
Spanish Visigoths and the Merovingian Kings of France, and
sanctioned by the unanimous intolerance of so many Synods in the
East and West. But these new enemies of the Jews proved no more
successful than their predecessors. Charles the Bald
877
contented himself with extorting one-tenth of their
earnings from the Jews, while his Christian subjects paid one-
eleventh. Thanks to their commercial enterprise and integrity the
“murderers of Christ” continued to prosper under the judicious
fleecing of the Carlovingians, until the partition of the empire into a
number of small states, the wane of the secular and the growth of
the spiritual power brought about a change.
899–914 Charles the Simple was induced by his love of God
and fear of the Pope to surrender all the lands and
vineyards of the Jews in the Duchy of Narbonne to the Church.
Boso, King of Burgundy and Provence, also made to the Church a
gift of the property of his Jewish subjects, and this cavalier treatment
of the wretched people continued under the first Capets, their
degradation keeping pace with the progress of Papal influence. So
deep was the suspicion now inspired by them, that when King Hugh
Capet died in 996 his Jewish physician was generally accused of
having murdered him.
 A parallel evolution took place in Germany. When
965
Otto the Great wished to show his piety by endowing
the newly-built church of Magdeburg, he did so by bestowing upon it
the revenue which he derived from the Jews. Likewise Otto II.,
sixteen years later, made an offering of the Jews of Merseburg to the
local bishops. At the beginning of the eleventh century there
occurred in Germany an event which may be regarded as the
prelude to the subsequent persecutions of Judaism.
1005
The chaplain of the Duke Conrad suddenly
scandalised the Christian world by going over to the Synagogue, and
exasperated the brethren whom he had forsaken by producing a
scurrilous lampoon on Christianity. The Emperor Henry caused to be
published a reply in every respect worthy of the apostate’s pamphlet.
Six years after the Jews were driven forth from Mayence, a decree
was issued ordering the Jews of various towns to be branded, that
they might not seek refuge in baptism, and so rigorous was the
persecution that a contemporary Jewish poet commemorates it in
lugubrious songs, wherein he expresses the fear that the children of
Israel might be forced to forget the faith of their fathers. But the
alarm was premature. Though, as a general rule, traffic in goods and
in money were the only callings left open to the Jews, in some of the
German states they still possessed the rights of citizenship and were
permitted to own real estate.
Thus the first period of the mediaeval drama came to a close, as
the second was opening.
 CHAPTER VII

THE CRUSADES

Towards the end of the eleventh century there arose in Europe a

gale of religious enthusiasm that boded no good to infidels. The
zealous temper which at an earlier period had found a congenial
pursuit in the extirpation of heathenism from Saxony, Lithuania,
Poland, and the Baltic provinces, and in the suppression of heresy
among the Vaudois, the Cathari or Albigenses, and others at a later,
was now to be diverted into a different channel. During the preceding
ages the authority of the Popes had been advancing with stealthy,
but undeviating and steady, strides. Their own industry, foresight,
and prudence laid the foundations of their political power; the piety
and the ignorance of the nations which recognised their spiritual rule
consolidated it. Every succeeding age found the Bishop of Rome in a
higher position than that occupied by his predecessors, until there
came one who was fitted to make use of the immense heritage of
authority bequeathed to him.
Gregory VII., surnamed Hildebrand, ascended St. Peter’s throne
in 1073. Though born in an obscure village and of humble
parentage, he was a person endowed by nature with all the qualities
necessary to make a successful master of men: strong and
ambitious, and possessed of an ideal, he was a stranger to fear as to
scruple. It was related of him that, whilst a lad in his father’s
workshop and ignorant of letters, he accidentally framed out of little
bits of wood the words: “His dominion shall be from one sea to the
other.” To his contemporaries the story was prophetic (we may be
content to regard it, true or not, as characteristic) of his career.
Gregory’s dream was to deliver the papacy from the secular
influence of the Emperor and to establish a theocratic Empire. This
was the guiding principle of his policy, and, though his plans were
flexible to circumstance, his purpose remained fixed. Like all great
men, Hildebrand knew that, where there is a strong will, all roads
lead to success. The first step to this end was the purification of the
Church of the corruption into which it had sunk under his depraved
predecessors, and the organisation of its soldiers under strict rules of
discipline. This was effected by the suppression of simony and the
enforcement of celibacy on the clergy. At the same time Gregory did
not neglect that which was the main object of his life: to make
Europe a vassal state to the pontifical see. The thunderbolts of
excommunication, which Gregory, the son of Bonic the carpenter,
wielded with Zeus-like majesty and impartiality, were freely hurled
against his enemies in the East and West. In the Emperor Henry IV.
the Pope met an adversary worthy of his heavenly artillery. But,
undismayed by Henry’s power, and unrestrained by considerations
of humanity, he plunged Christendom into that long-drawn strife
between the Guelf and Ghibelline factions which makes the history
of Europe for generations a melancholy tale of murder and outrage,
ending in a blood-stained triumph for St. Peter.
After having temporarily humbled Henry IV. and forced him in the
dead of winter to do penance in his shirt, the iron Pope turned his
weapons against the Jews. In 1078 he promulgated a canonical law
forbidding the hated people to hold any official post in Christendom,
and especially in Spain. Alfonso VI., King of Castile, two years later
received an Apostolic epistle congratulating him on his successes
over the Mohammedans, and admonishing him that “he must cease
to suffer the Jews to rule over the Christians, and to exercise
authority over them,” for such conduct, his Holiness affirmed, was
“the same as oppressing God’s Church and exalting Satan’s
Synagogue. To wish to please Christ’s enemies,” he added, “means
to treat Christ himself with contumely.” However, Alfonso was too
busy in the campaign against his own enemies to devote much
attention to the enemies of Christ—or of Gregory Hildebrand. None
the less, the letter marks an epoch. What hitherto was prejudice now
became law.
 In Germany also the Pope’s anti-Jewish decrees met with only
partial obedience. Bishop Rudiger of Speyer granted many privileges
to the Jews of his diocese. Their Chief Rabbi enjoyed the same
judicial authority over his own community as the burgomaster over
the Christian burgesses. The Jews were allowed to buy Christian
slaves and to defend themselves against the intrusion of the mob.
For all these boons they paid three and a half pounds of gold
annually. The Emperor Henry IV., Gregory’s antagonist, confirmed
and augmented these privileges. He forbade his subjects, under
severe penalties, to compel the Jews, or their slaves, to be baptized.
In litigation between Jews and Christians the Jewish law and form of
oath were to be followed; and the former were exempted from the
ordeals of fire and water. But in spite of these favours their lot was
such as to encourage Messianic expectations. The Redeemer, a
prince of the house of David, was confidently awaited about this time
(1096) to lead the chosen people back to the Holy Land. However,
fate had other things in store for them.
It was a time when the Eastern and Western halves of mankind
agreed in regarding the conversion, or, at least, the extermination of
each other as their divinely appointed task. If the followers of
Mohammed considered it an article of faith that the propagation of
Islam at all costs was the supreme duty of every true believer, the
propagation of the belief in the divinity of Christ, or the annihilation of
those who denied it, was not less firmly held by all good Christians
as a sacred obligation. A collision between the rival creeds was
inevitable. All that was wanting was union on the part of the
Christians equal to that which characterised the Mohammedans.
This consummation was prepared by Peter the Hermit and was
brought about by the exertions of the Pope.
1095 At the great Council of Clermont Urban II.
described to the noble crowd of prelates and barons,
assembled from all parts of Western Christendom, the sufferings of
the Eastern Christians at the hands of the Saracens. With burning
eloquence, and, no doubt, considerable exaggeration, he depicted
the dark deeds of “the enemies of God”: their destruction and
desecration of Christian churches; their slaughter, torture, and
forcible conversion of Christian men, and their violation of Christian
women; and he ended with a passionate appeal to all present to
hasten to the assistance of the Holy Land, “enslaved by the godless
and calling aloud to be delivered”; promising, at the same time, a
plenary indulgence and general remission of sins to all who should
enlist under the banner of the Cross. The effect of the Pontiff’s
harangue on his chivalrous, sinful, and bigoted hearers was
stupendous. It was the first official instigation to that hatred of the
non-European and non-Christian which, however loth we may be to
acknowledge the fact, in a less furious form, still survives amongst
us. Many obeyed the summons with fervour born of pure piety; many
more saw in the enterprise a comparatively cheap means of
obtaining pardon for all their crimes, past and to come; while others
welcomed an opportunity for satisfying their adventurous
dispositions, for gaining wealth and renown, or for quenching in the
blood of foreigners that fanatical zeal which could not find its full
gratification in the butchery of fellow-countrymen.
Among such foreigners—Asiatic at once and infidel—the nearest
were the Jews. Cruelty, like its opposite, begins at home. It was
natural that the champions of the Cross should begin the vindication
of their sacred emblem by the extermination of the race which had
made so criminal a use of it. The shadow of the Old Crime once
more fell upon the hapless people, and darkened their lives.
Religious frenzy kindled the ancient feud, and greed fanned it. The
vast and motley rabble of savage peasants who, under the
command of a monk and the guidance of a goat, followed in the
wake of the knightly army, incited by the lower clergy, fell upon the
Jewish colonies which lay along their route through Central Europe
—at Rouen, on the Moselle and the Rhine, at Verdun, Trèves,
Speyer, Metz, Cologne, Mayence, Worms, Strasburg—massacring,
pillaging, raping, and baptizing, without remorse or restraint.
But the Jews, as on so many occasions before and since, so
now proved in a practical and ghastly manner that they dreaded
death less than apostasy. Many of them met bigotry with bigotry, and
cheated their assailants of both glory and gain by committing their
property, their families and themselves to destruction. Martyrdom is a
pathetic yet forcible reply to oppression. At Trèves the Jews, on
hearing that the holy army was drawing near, were so terrified that
some of them killed their own children; matrons and maidens
drowned themselves in the Moselle in order to escape baptism or
disgrace; and the rest of the community vainly implored the hard-
hearted Bishop for protection. His answer was that nothing could
save them but conversion. Thereupon the wretches hastened to be
converted. The scene must have been a perfect study in the grimly
ludicrous. The enemy was outside ready to pounce upon his prey.
The latter said to the Bishop: “Tell us quickly what to believe.” The
Bishop recited the creed, and the converts repeated it after him with
all the fervour and fluency which the fear of death can only inspire.
At Speyer the Jews stoutly refused to be baptized, and many
were, therefore, massacred. Those who succeeded in escaping
sought shelter in the palace of the Bishop, who not only protected
them, but incurred the censures of his contemporaries by ordering
the execution of some of the holy murderers. A similar tragedy was
acted at Worms, where some of the victims were temporarily saved
by the Bishop, while a few were baptized, and the rest, men and
women, committed suicide. At Mayence, they were slaughtered in
the Archbishop’s palace, where they had taken refuge, and many
murdered each other rather than betray their faith. At Cologne the
majority of the community were rescued by the good burghers and
their humane Bishop Hermann III. The Emperor Henry IV, also, on
his return from his third Italian campaign, publicly denounced the
crimes of the Crusaders, instituted proceedings against the
Archbishop of Mayence, who had shared the spoils of the Jews, and
permitted the surviving converts to return to Judaism;
1097
thereby drawing down upon himself an indignant
reproof from his own antipope, Clement III., on whose behalf he had
undertaken that expedition to Italy. For, however grateful Clement
might be to Henry, he could not conscientiously connive at his
impious interference with the designs of Providence.
1146 Similar scenes were repeated at the Second
Crusade. Pope Eugenius III. issued a Bull, announcing
that all who joined in the Holy War would be released from the
interest which they owed to the Jewish money-lenders. St. Bernard
seconded the Pope’s recruiting efforts. Peter the Venerable, Abbot of
Clugny, exerted himself by might and main to inflame King Louis VII.
of France and other noble Crusaders against the Jews: “Of what use
is it,” wrote he to the king, “to go forth to seek the enemies of
Christendom in distant lands, if the blasphemous Jews, who are
much worse than the Saracens, are permitted in our very midst to
scoff with impunity at Christ and the Sacrament?... Yet, I do not
require you to put to death these accursed beings, because it is
written ‘Do not slay them.’ God does not wish to annihilate them, but
like Cain, the Fratricide, they must be made to suffer fearful
torments, and continue reserved for greater ignominy, and to an
existence more bitter than death.” In conformity with this charitable
doctrine, the Jews of France were forced to yield their ill-gotten gains
for the service of the cause of God.
Far worse was their fate in Germany. Even the partial protection
which the citizens of the Rhineland had afforded the persecuted
people in the First Crusade was now withdrawn, and the
undisciplined mob gave the reins to the gratification of its religious
zeal and of its lust. St. Bernard endeavoured to curb the demon of
fanaticism, which his own eloquence had raised, by admonishing the
enthusiasts, with more earnestness than consistency, that “the Jews
are not to be persecuted, not to be butchered.” But his well-meant
efforts produced no other effect than to turn the fury of the mob
against himself; for a rival monk, Rudolf, had been going up and
down the Rhineland, everywhere preaching, with tears in his eyes,
that all Jews who were found by the Crusaders should be slain as
“murderers of our dear Lord”—an appeal far more acceptable to the
brutal herd of besotted hinds to whom it was addressed. The
persecution commenced at Trèves, in August, 1146, where a Jew
was seized by the Crusaders, and, on refusing to be saved by
baptism, was murdered and mutilated. Soon afterwards a Jewess at
Speyer was tortured on the rack. Many others were waylaid and
made to suffer for their constancy at Würsburg and elsewhere. From
Germany the frenzy passed into France. At Carenton, Rameru, and
Sully the Jews were hunted and massacred.
 For one who, in the face of such deeds, strives to preserve his
faith in human nature, it is reassuring to note that the German
bishops exerted themselves on behalf of the miserable victims, and,
by accepting a simulated and temporary conversion, rescued many
from martyrdom. The Emperor also extended to them his protection.
But this favour was to cost the recipients dearly. Henceforth the
German Jews were regarded as the Emperor’s protégés, which
gradually came to mean the Emperor’s serfs. All they possessed,
including their families and their own persons, were the Emperor’s
chattels to be bought, sold, or pledged by him at pleasure. They
were designated “Chamber-servants” (Servi Camerae or
Kammerknechte); a servitude, however, that had the advantage of
making it the Emperor’s interest to safeguard them against
oppression, and to suffer no one to fleece them but himself.
And yet, such is the wonderful vitality of the race, the Jewish
traveller, Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the Jewry on the Rhine
only seventy years after the First, and twenty after the Second,
Crusade, describes these colonies as rich in money and culture and
hope; the brethren whom he found there as hospitable, cheerfully
alive, and awaiting the Messiah. This expectation had never been
entertained in vain. The wish had always yielded its own fulfilment.
About this time, it gave rise to David Alroy, another Redeemer
destined to delude the hapless nation for a while. He appeared in
Asia Minor, and summoned his brethren to his banner. Many gave up
all they possessed in order to respond to the call, and the
enthusiasm spread from Baghdad to East and West. But the
Messiah was excommunicated by the Synagogue, and murdered by
49
his own father-in-law while asleep. According to another version,
Alroy, when face to face with the Sultan, exclaimed: “Cut off my head
and I shall yet live.” He thus astutely exchanged prompt death for
lingering torture. Many Jews, however, continued to believe in him
for generations after his death.
The same spirit of religious mania which gave birth and
sustenance to the Crusades animated other movements, more
enduring in their results, if less romantic in their form. In 1198 the
throne of St. Peter was filled by Innocent III., a young and zealous
priest, fired with the lofty ambition to make Romanism the dominant
creed over East and West, and himself the autocrat of a united
Roman Catholic world. His genius was all but equal to this Titanic
task, and in a reign of eighteen years Innocent, favoured by the
convulsions and feuds which rent the whole of Europe, succeeded in
raising the Papacy to a pinnacle of power only dreamt of by his
predecessors, and attained by few of his successors. A worthy
spiritual descendant of Gregory VII., he made and unmade
Emperors and Kings at will, visiting the disobedience of princes upon
whole nations, or compelling them to submission by releasing their
subjects from their oath of allegiance. He exercised an absolute
sway over the conscience and the mind of contemporary
Christendom, and his pontificate was distinguished, in Gibbon’s
scathing phrase, by “the two most signal triumphs over sense and
humanity, the establishment of transubstantiation and the origin of
the Inquisition.” It was he, who by a rigorous interdict
1200
laid upon the Kingdom of France, compelled the
headstrong Philip Augustus to recall the wife whom he had
dismissed; who by the ban of excommunication forced
1208
John, King of England, to lay his crown at the feet of
his legate, and who by the execution of a like sentence
1211
against the Emperor Otho, John’s nephew, had
humbled that mighty and haughty monarch to the dust. It was under
his auspices that the Fifth Crusade was undertaken,
1203
and it was with his connivance that the forces,
ostensibly recruited for the deliverance of the holy Sepulchre from
the infidels, were employed to subjugate the Christian Empire of the
East, and thus to pave the way for the advent of the Turk.
However, these and many other triumphs notwithstanding,
Innocent’s dream of world-wide dominion could not be fully realised
while such a thing as individual conscience remained in the world,
and individual conscience could not be abolished without
persecution. Innocent was too great a despot to shrink from the
difficulties of the work; too sincere a Catholic to show any pity to
unbelief. The thirteenth century opened under evil omens for
dissenters. Immediately on his accession Innocent had demanded
the suppression of the Albigenses of Southern France, those
unfortunate forerunners of the Reformation, because they, choosing
to follow the dictates of their own conscience, refused to conform to
the practices of the Church and to comply with the commands of her
clergy. Raymund VI., Count of Toulouse, however,
1207
declined to consider the massacre of his subjects one
of his duties as a sovereign, and was excommunicated. In the
following year the Pope, seizing the pretext offered by the murder of
his legate, proclaimed an unholy war against the heretics. And so
great was the Pope’s power over the superstitious and unscrupulous
world of mediaeval Europe, that thousands volunteered to carry out
the Pontiff’s atrocious orders. Raymund, who alone among the
Christian princes had ventured to raise his voice in defence of the
persecuted, had meanwhile been stripped of his dominions, dragged
naked into the Church, scourged by the Pope’s legate, and was now
forced to lead the crusade against his own people. The harmless
population was almost exterminated by the most barbarous means,
their heresy was all but quenched in blood; and one of the most
prosperous and civilised provinces of Europe was laid waste. The
ferocity of the soldiers was eclipsed by that of the monks and priests,
great numbers of whom swelled the ranks of the butchers. On the
22nd of July, 1209, the city of Beziers was taken by storm. The
Abbot Arnold, being asked how the heretics were to be distinguished
from true believers, replied, “Slay all; God will know his own.” “We
spared,” said the same monk in his report to the Pope, “no dignity,
no sex, no age; nearly twenty thousand human beings have perished
by the sword. After that great massacre the town was plundered and
burnt, and the revenge of God seemed to rage upon it in a wonderful
manner.”
So fared European heretics within the Church. Infidels of alien
blood could hardly expect better treatment. The popular notion that
the dispersion and sufferings of the Jews were a divine punishment
for the crucifixion of Christ was raised by Innocent to the dignity of a
dogma. It followed as a logical corollary that it was the sacred duty of
Christ’s Vicar on earth to make the culprits feel the full rigour of the
sentence. After the fashion of fanatics, Innocent mistook his own
intolerance for holy enthusiasm, and, while indulging his own hatred,
he imagined that he was only hating the enemies of Heaven. It was
also currently believed that the example and the teaching of the
Jews tended to pervert their Christian neighbours, and to encourage
protest and heresy. The Albigensian sect in France, already
mentioned, like the Hussite reform movement in Bohemia two
centuries later, was attributed to Jewish influence. For both these
reasons, their own infidelity and their tendency to foster infidelity in
others, the Jews ought to be crushed.
The times were propitious. In 1167 the assassination of
Raymund, Viscount of Beziers, had deprived the Jews of their
protector. His successor Roger, who favoured the
1170
Albigensian heretics, had Jewish sheriffs; but his
partiality to these two classes of enemies of Catholicism had
provoked the wrath of the Pope and led to the prince’s tragic death.
At Montpellier William VIII. and his sons excluded the Jews from the
office of Sheriff. But these restrictions were not
1178–1201
sufficient. Innocent began the attack methodically in
1205, when he wrote to Philip Augustus, King of France, complaining
of the usurious extortions of the Jews in that country, of their being
allowed to employ Christian servants and nurses, and of the fact that
Christians were not admitted to depose against Jews—things which
were contrary to the resolution of the Third Lateran Council held
under Pope Alexander III. Moreover, Innocent
1179
complained that the Jewish community of Sens had
built a new synagogue which rose to a greater height than the
neighbouring Christian church, and disturbed the service in the latter
by loud and insolent chanting; that they scoffed at Christianity, and
that they murdered Christians; and he ended by exhorting Philip
Augustus to oppress the enemies of Christ. A similar epistle was
addressed to Alfonso, King of Castile, threatening him with St.
Peter’s displeasure, should he continue to allow the Synagogue to
thrive at the expense of the Church. Three years later a pastoral
epistle to the same effect was sent to the Count of Nevers, urging
him to coerce the Jews and condemn them to serfdom, for they, “like
the fratricide Cain, are doomed to wander about the earth as
fugitives and vagabonds, and their faces must be covered with
insult.” The writer further pointed out that it is disgraceful for
Christian princes to receive Jews into their towns and villages, to
employ them as usurers in order to extort money from the Christians,
and to allow them to press wine which was used in the Lord’s
Supper.
1209 All the above exhortations were systematised by
the Council of Avignon. By the Statutes then passed
the Jews were officially pronounced as polluted and polluting. It was
decreed that “Jews and harlots should not dare to touch with their
50
hands bread or fruits exposed for sale.” The old Church law which
forbade the Jews to employ Christian servants was renewed and
enforced. The faithful were warned neither to receive services from
Jews nor to render services to them, but to avoid them as a pest. All
who had any dealings with Jews who transgressed these decrees
were threatened with excommunication. Raymund of Toulouse, the
protector of the Albigensian heretics and friend of the Jews, and all
the barons of free cities, were bound by oath to carry out the
decisions of the Council.
1211 Once more oppression from without fanned the
longing for Redemption in the hearts of the Jews. The
yearning after Zion, invigorated by Jehuda Halevi’s poetry, impelled
more than three hundred Rabbis of France and England to emigrate
to the Holy Land, where they visited the spots hallowed by the spirits
of the past, wept over the ruins of their departed glory, and built
synagogues and schools in order to keep alive the memory and the
hope of a better day.
Meanwhile the Pope did not allow the iron to cool. In 1215 a
great Œcumenical Council was convoked in Rome, under his
presidency, to complete the ruin of the Albigenses, to stimulate the
Crusades against the Saracens of Spain and Palestine, and,
generally, to promote the kingdom of God on earth. The Jews,
knowing from experience that any measures taken to that end could
not fail to redound to their detriment, hastened to send deputies to
Rome, in order to ward off the blow. But their endeavours proved
fruitless. Four out of the seventy canonical decrees passed by the
Council referred to them. The King of France, the Duke of Burgundy,
and all other princes were called upon to lend their help in reducing
the doomed people in their respective dominions to that state of
bondage which was ordained for it by the divine will, as interpreted
by theological bigotry. The Pope’s order met with general obedience.
In most European countries the Jews were forbidden to hold any
public appointment of trust, or to show themselves in the streets at
Easter. They were obliged to pay tithes to the Church that
persecuted them, and the head of each Jewish family was forced to
subscribe an annual sum at the Easter festival. They were compelled
by heavy fines and penalties to wear a yellow badge of distinction,
which in their case meant a badge of shame, and the Christians
were exhorted by their pastors not to allow their homes or their
shops to be defiled by the presence of Heaven’s enemies.
However, papal decrees and anathemas notwithstanding, self-
interest might have prevailed over religious fanaticism, and the
sovereigns who had hitherto sold their connivance to the Jews might
have continued to shield them. In fact, the Duke of Toulouse and the
barons, despite the oath which they had been obliged to take,
continued to invest the Jews with public dignities, and in Spain the
Pope’s commands were strenuously ignored. But there now came
into being a power of persecution, even more formidable than
Papacy itself. The pan-Catholic enthusiasm, which had inspired
Innocent’s anti-Jewish policy was bequeathed to two bodies of
apostles, through whose organised zeal it was destined to spread far
and wide, and, like a poisonous breath, to blight many a noble flower
in the bud. The age of stationary and corpulent monks was
succeeded by the age of lean and wandering friars. A
1223
few years after Innocent’s death were instituted the
Order of Dominic and the Order of Francis, the precursors of the
stakes and scaffolds of the Inquisition. The latter order had been
called into existence with the special object of stamping out the
Albigensian heresy. But an essential part of the mission of both
bodies was to hunt out dissent, to root out free-thought, and to
realise the bigot’s ideal of spiritual peace by means of intellectual
starvation. Uniformity was their idol, and to that idol they were
prepared to sacrifice the moral sense of mankind and the lives of
their fellow-creatures. The Jews supplied them with a splendid field
for the exercise of their missionary ardour: numerous, obstinate, rich
and unpopular, they offered a prey as tempting as it was safe. The
friars were in some ways an undoubted power for good; but the Jews
experienced none of this better side of their activity.
In 1227 a Council at Narbonne confirmed the canonical
ordinances against the Jews, and many ancient decrees of the
Merovingian kings were revived. Not only were the Jews forbidden to
take interest on money and compelled to wear the badge and to pay
taxes to the Church, but they were again prohibited from stirring
abroad during Easter. Shortly afterwards two other
1231
Councils at Rouen and Tours re-enacted and enlarged
the anti-Jewish statutes of the Council of Rome.
But the Dominicans were as subtle as they were zealous. They
felt that the citadel of Judaism which had held out for so many
centuries, could not be carried by storm. They resorted to less crude
tactics. With a patience, perseverance, and ingenuity worthy of their
high ambition, they devoted themselves to the study of the Hebrew
language and literature, their Master Raymund de Peñaforte
prevailing upon the Kings of Aragon and Castile to found special
colleges for the purpose. The Prophets of the Old Testament had
already supplied the apologists of the Church with proofs of the truth
51
of Christianity. The Talmud was now to supply them with fresh
proofs of the falsity of Judaism. From the pages of that marvellous
compilation of noble thoughts and multifarious absurdity, they culled
everything that was likely to reflect discredit on the morality or the
intelligence of their adversaries. In this campaign the Dominicans
were fortunate enough to enlist the services of renegade Jews, who,
after the fashion of renegades, strove to prove their loyalty to the
faith they embraced by a bitter persecution of the one they deserted.
One of these apostates, Nicolas Donin by name, in 1239 submitted
to Pope Gregory IX. a minute indictment of the pernicious book, and
induced him to issue Bulls to the Kings of England, Spain, and
France, as well as to the bishops in those countries, ordering a
general confiscation of the Talmud, and a public enquiry into the
charges brought against its contents. The Pope’s instructions, so far
as we know, appear to have produced no impression in the first two
kingdoms, but in France there reigned Louis IX., known to fame as
St. Louis: in mundane affairs a brave, high-minded, just and humane
prince; but not far in advance of his age in things celestial. In fact, he
possessed all the prejudices of an ordinary mediaeval knight, and
more than the superstition of an ordinary mediaeval monk. He was
sincerely convinced that the road to heaven lay through Jerusalem.
Acting on this conviction, he led the last two Crusades, and laid
down his life in the cause of Catholicism; a sacrifice which earned
him a place among the saints of the Church. Such a prince could
not, without flagrant inconsistency, ignore the Pontiff’s wishes. He,
therefore, ordered that a careful search for the suspected book
should be made throughout his dominions, that all copies should be
seized, and that a public disputation should be held, in which four
Rabbis were to take up the challenge thrown down by Donin.
The antagonists met in the precincts of the Court, and a brilliant
assembly of secular and spiritual magnates formed the audience.
Donin warmly denounced the Talmud as a farrago of blasphemy,
slander, superstition, immorality and folly, and the Rabbis defended it
as warmly as they dared. The debate, though distinguished by all the
scurrility and more than all the ferocity of a village prize-fight, seems
to have been conducted on the principle that whichever side had the
best of the argument, the Christian should win; and the Court of
Inquisitors returned a verdict accordingly. The Talmud was found
guilty of all the charges brought against it and was sentenced to the
flames. Execution was delayed for two years through bribery; but it
was carried out in 1242. Fourteen—some say four and twenty—
cartloads of Rabbinical lore and legislation fed the bonfire. The grief
of the French Jews at the loss of their sacred books was bitter, and
the most pious amongst them kept the anniversary of the cremation
52
as a day of fasting.
1263 Twenty-one years later a similar tourney took place
in Barcelona by order, and in the presence, of Jayme
I., King of Aragon. Don Jayme had borrowed from his northern
neighbours the axiom that the Jews were to be treated as royal
chattels. Moreover, his conscience was in the keeping of Raymund
de Peñaforte, the Master of the Dominicans, a great Inquisitor born
before his time. King Jayme had led an amorous and not immaculate
youth. He was, therefore, in his old age, peculiarly susceptible to his
Confessor’s admonitions. The sins of love should be atoned for by
acts of persecution. The religious freedom of the Jews should be
offered up as a sacrifice of expiation. It was the logic and the
morality of the Middle Ages.
The outcome of Jayme’s remorse was a theological contest at
the royal court of Barcelona. There again the lists were held for
Christianity by a Dominican friar of Jewish antecedents, while the
champion of Judaism was Nachmanides, famed in the annals of
Israel as the greatest philosopher, physician, theologian, and
controversialist of his age. Pablo Christiani politely endeavoured to
prove that the prophets of the Jews had predicted the advent and
recognised the divinity of Jesus. Nachmanides with equal politeness
denied that they had done anything of the kind. After five days’
refined recrimination the Court unanimously pronounced in favour of
Christianity. The books of the Jews were expurgated of all “anti-
Christian” passages, Nachmanides’s account of the controversy was
burnt publicly as blasphemous, and the author, then in his seventieth
year, banished from Spain, ended his days in Jerusalem. Pablo,
whose ambition was kindled by victory, undertook a tour through the
Iberian Peninsula and Provence, and, armed with a royal edict,
compelled the Jews to engage in religious controversies with him
and to defray the expenses of his missionary journeys.
Missions to the Jews became the fashion of the day, and the
kingdoms of the West were overrun by itinerant dialecticians seeking
whom they might convert. The Jews were forced to attend church
and to listen to sermons against their own religion. Thanks to their
long training in Rabbinical subtleties, the benighted people
sometimes proved more than a match for their assailants, and, if fair
play were not contrary to the laws of ecclesiastical warfare, they
might succeed in converting the would-be convertors. But, though
religious discussion was invited, nay, forced by the Church, it was
always on the clear understanding that the Christians might beat the
Jews, but that the Jews should under no circumstances be allowed
to beat the Christians. To prevent any misconception on the subject,
Thomas Aquinas, justly celebrated as one of the least bigoted of
theologians, and distinguished among schoolmen for his tolerance of
Judaism, gravely cautioned his readers to have no intercourse with
the Jews, unless they felt sure that their faith was proof against
reason.
In later years the work of conversion in the various countries was
entrusted by the Popes to Dominican friars and inquisitors, who
carried it on with a diligence never practised except by men
fanatically believing in the truth of their doctrines and with a
ruthlessness only possible in men too firmly persuaded of the
holiness of the end to be scrupulous about the means. These
apostles were authorised to reinforce the powers of their eloquence
by an appeal to the secular arm. Even so modern missionaries in
China have been known in time of peril to forget that an apostle
should be above earthly weapons and “to clamour for a gunboat with
53
which to ensure respect for the Gospel.”
And while disappointed theologians represented the Jew’s
loyalty to his religion as a proof of his anti-Christian tendencies,
scholars represented his aloofness as a proof of his anti-social
nature, and they both agreed in denouncing him as “an enemy of
mankind.” This lesson, to use the words of a distinguished Jewish
writer, “was dinned into the ears of the masses until the calumny
became part of the popular creed. The poets formulated the idea for
54
the gentry, the friars brought it to the folk.”
The animosity thus fomented against the Jews found frequent
opportunities of translating itself into acts of horror. In France, after
the war declared against the unfortunate people by the Church, they
lost the royal protection which they had enjoyed hitherto, and were
henceforth exposed not only to the spasmodic fury of the populace,
but also to systematic persecution on the part of bishops, barons and
towns. Bishop Odo of Paris, in 1197, forbade the Christians to have
1236
any dealings, social or commercial, with the Jews. The
Crusaders called to arms by Gregory IX. attacked the
Jewish communities of Anjou, Poitou, Bordeaux, Angoulème, and
elsewhere, and on the Jews refusing to be baptized, the holy
warriors trampled many of them, men, women and children, to death
under the hoofs of their horses, burned their synagogues, and
pillaged and sacked their private dwellings. St. Louis encouraged the
conversion of the Jews, permitting the children of baptized fathers to
be torn away from their unregenerate mothers. By a
1246
decree of the Council of Beziers the disabilities of the
Jews were once more confirmed, and the Christians were now
forbidden to call in Jewish doctors, thus depriving the Jews of the
profession which they had hitherto almost monopolised in Europe. A
few years after Pope Alexander IV., who had just
1257
established the Inquisition in France at the request of
St. Louis, issued another Bull in which the ruler of that kingdom and
other princes were again exhorted to enforce the distinctive garb
upon the Jews and to burn all copies of the Talmud. To omit minor
acts of oppression, the fanatical sect of the “Shepherds,” following
the example of the Crusaders, massacred the Jews on the Garonne
in 1320.
In Germany the sufferings of Israel were equally
1218–1250
severe. The Emperor Frederick II., despite his infidelity
and his enmity towards the Papacy, adopted the Pope’s anti-Jewish
decrees. He excluded the Jews from public offices, he censured the
Archduke of Austria for tolerating and protecting them, he enforced
the use of the badge in his Italian and Sicilian dominions, and he
oppressed them with heavy taxes, dwelling with especial satisfaction
on the dictum that the Jews were the Emperor’s serfs. In the
troublous period which followed Frederick’s death the Jews were
slain and burnt in great numbers at Weissenberg, Magdeburg, and
Erfurt, while other cities year after year witnessed wholesale
slaughter, and “Jew-roaster” became a coveted title of honour. In
addition to occasional massacre, from the end of the twelfth to the
middle of the fifteenth century the German Jews underwent eight
expulsions and confiscations of their communal property: Vienna
(1196), Mecklenburg (1225), Frankfort (1241), Brandenburg (1243),
Nuremberg (1390), Prague (1391), Heidelberg (1391), and Ratisbon
(1476).
In Switzerland the persecution commenced about the middle of
the fourteenth century, and several expulsions are recorded in the
ensuing century. In Eastern Europe the Jews suffered in Russia and
Hungary. The semi-civilised and semi-Christianized Magyars, who
had hitherto tolerated the Jews, were incited to acts of oppression by
the Western friars. Poland and Lithuania were the only European
countries where the Jews of the later Middle Ages found shelter, and
consequently both those countries received large numbers of
fugitives from the Western fields of carnage.
Credulity joined hands with bigotry. No story told of the Jews was
too extravagant for belief; no charge brought against them too trivial
for repetition, provided it afforded an excuse for persecution. Some
of the odious crimes attributed by the heathens in the early centuries
to the Christians, as a justification of their suppression, were now
revived by the Christians against the Jews. The latter were accused
of enveigling Christian children into their houses and sacrificing them
for ritual or medicinal purposes, of travestying the sacraments of the
Church, of poisoning wells and of committing all kinds of
abominations, which plainly rendered their utter extermination a
public duty. Similar charges, curiously enough, are still brought
against the Jews by the Christians of Eastern Europe, by the Jews
themselves against Hebrew converts to Islam in Turkey, and by the
Chinese against Protestant missionaries—“charges of gross
personal immorality and of kidnapping and mutilation of children,
which, however monstrous and malevolent, are not the less, but the
more serious, because they are firmly believed by the ignorant
55
audiences to whom they are addressed.” To the vulgar all that is
strange is sinister.
The free propagation of these heinous and disgusting myths
among the vulgar masses of mediaeval Europe led, as it had done in
ancient times and as it has done more recently, to a horrible
persecution of those against whom they were levelled.
1171
The Jews were ruthlessly burnt by order of Duke
Theobalt at Blois, were massacred by the populace in Languedoc
1321
and Central France, and on the plague breaking out in
the following year, they were burnt en masse—men,
women and children. A season of alternate persecution and
toleration ensued, until they were banished from Central France and