Chapter 1

Key Terms

Hindsight bias: the tendency to be wise after the event using the benefit of hindsight.

Cross-cultural psychology: the systematic study of similarities in (and differences among) cultures around the world.

Culture: the values, beliefs, and practices shared by members of a given society.

Individualistic cultures: cultures (mainly in Western societies) in which the focus is on personal responsibility rather than on group needs

Collectivistic cultures: cultures (such as many in the Far East) in which the emphasis is on group solidarity rather than on individual responsibility.

Meta-analysis: an analysis in which the findings from many studies are combined statistically to obtain an overall picture.

Weblinks

The British Psychological Society
http://www.bps.org.uk/

American Psychological Association
http://www.apa.org/

Australian Psychological Society
http://www.psychology.org.au/

AllPsych Online – comprehensive psychology website with educational material on many topics related to psychology
http://allpsych.com/

PsychWeb - contains lots of psychology-related information for students and teachers
http://www.psywww.com/index.html

A useful website overviewing many key topics in psychology
https://www.simplypsychology.org/

The Freud Museum, London
http://www.freud.org.uk/

The Institute of Psychoanalysis
http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/

Sigmund Freud on the BBC – a brief audio clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sm5YFnEPBE

Eysenck, M.W. (2009). Fundamentals of psychology. Chapter 1 of this textbook contains a longer introduction to psychology than the one presented in this chapter
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781841693729/

Colman, A. (1999). What is psychology? (3rd ed.). Andrew Colman’s book provides a very readable introduction to psychology for those with little background knowledge of the subject
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415169028/