Forty into the history of psychological research_Roger R. Hock, Ph.D_9787115451125

本书从历史的角度展示了心理学史上有名的40项研究, 并介绍了这些研究的后续进展和相关研究。通过阅读本书, 读者能以一个专业人士的眼光看待这些仍炙手可热的历史研究。

　　Welcome to the seventh edition of Forty Studies that Changed Psychology. For over 20 years this book has been a mainstay for many college and high school courses around the world and has been translated into six languages. The majority of the studies included in this edition are the same ones that made up a large part of the first edition. This demonstrates how these landmark studies continue today to exert their influence over psychological thought and research. These original studies and the ones that have been added or changed over the years provide a fascinating glimpse into the birth and growth of the science of psychology, and into the insights we have acquired trying to unravel the complexities of human nature.
　　Many studies of human behavior have made remarkable and lasting impacts on the various disciplines that comprise the vast field of psychology. The findings generated from this research have changed our knowledge of human behavior, and they have set the stage for countless subsequent projects and research programs. Even when the results of some of these pivotal studies have later been drawn into controversy and question, their effect and influence in a historical context never diminish. They continue to be cited in new articles; they continue to be the topic of academic discussion, they continue to form the foundation for hundreds of textbook chapters, and they continue to hold a special place in the minds of psychologists.
　　The concept for this book originated from my three decades of teaching psychology. Most psychology textbooks are based on key studies that have shaped the science of psychology over its relatively brief history. Textbooks, however, seldom give the original, core studies the attention they richly deserve. The original research processes and findings often are summarized and diluted to the point that little of the life and excitement of the discoveries remain. Sometimes, research results are reported in ways that may even mislead the reader about the study’s real impact and influence about what we know and how we know it. This is in no way a criticism of the textbook writers who work under length constraints and must make many difficult choices about what gets included and in how much detail. The situation is, however, unfortunate because the foundation of all of modern psychology is scientific research, and through over a century of ingenious and elegant studies, our knowledge and understanding of human behavior have been expanded and refined to the advanced level of sophistication that exists today.
　　This book is an attempt to fill the gap between all those psychology textbooks and the research that made them possible. It is a journey through the headline history of psychology. My hope is that the way the 40 chosen studies are presented will bring every one of them back to life so that you can experience them for yourself. This book is intended for anyone, in any course, who wishes a greater understanding of the true roots of psychology.
　　CHOOSING THE STUDIES
　　The studies included in this book have been carefully chosen from those found in psychology texts and journals and from those suggested by leading authorities in the many branches of psychology. As the studies were selected, 40 seemed to be a realistic number both from a historical point of view and in terms of length. The studies chosen are arguably among the most famous, the most important, or the most influential in the history of psychology. I use the word arguably because many who read this book may wish to dispute some of the choices. One thing is sure: No single list of 40 studies would satisfy everyone. However, the studies included here stirred up a great deal of controversy when they were published, sparked the most subsequent related research, opened new fields of psychological exploration, changed dramatically our knowledge of human behavior, and continue to be cited frequently. These studies are organized by chapter according to the major psychology branches into which they best fit: The Biological Basis of Human Behavior; Consciousness and the Senses; Conditioning and Learning; Cognition, Memory, and Intelligence; Changes over the Human Lifespan; Motivation and Emotion; Personality; Psychological Disorders; Therapy; and Human Interaction and Social Behavior.

　　You are probably aware that the two halves of your brain are not the same and that they perform different functions. For example, in general the left side of your brain is responsible for movement in the right side of your body, and vice versa. Beyond this, though, the two brain hemispheres appear to have much greater specialized abilities.
　　It has come to be rather common knowledge that, for most of us, the left brain controls our ability to use language while the right is involved in spatial relationships, such as those needed for artistic activities. Stroke or head-injury patients who suffer damage to the left side of the brain will usually lose, to varying degrees, their ability to speak (often this skill returns with therapy and training). Many people believe that each half, or hemisphere, of your brain may actually be a completely separate mental system with its own individual abilities for learning, remembering, perceiving the world, and feeling emotions. The concepts underlying this view of the brain rest on early scientific research on the effects of splitting the brain into two separate hemispheres.
　　That research was pioneered by Roger W. Sperry (1913–1994), beginning about 15 years prior to the article examined in this chapter. In his early work with animal subjects, Sperry made many remarkable discoveries. For example, in one series of studies, cats’ brains were surgically altered to sever the connection between the two halves of the brain and to alter the optic nerves so that the left eye transmitted information only to the left hemisphere and the right eye only to the right hemisphere. Following surgery, the cats appeared to behave normally and exhibited virtually no ill effects. Then, with the right eye covered, the cats learned a new behavior, such as walking through a short maze to find food. After the cats became skilled at maneuvering through the maze, the eye cover was shifted to the cats’ left eyes. Now, when the cats were placed back in the maze, their right brains had no idea where to turn, and the animals had to relearn the entire maze from the beginning.
　　Sperry conducted many related studies over the next 30 years, and in 1981 he received the Nobel Prize for his work on the specialized abilities of the two hemispheres of the brain. When his research endeavors turned to human participants in the early 1960s, he was joined in his work at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) by Michael Gazzaniga. Although Sperry is considered to be the founder of split-brain research, Gazzaniga’ s article has been chosen here because it is a clear, concise summary of their early collaborative work with human participants and it, along with other related research by Gazzaniga, is cited often in psychology texts. Its selection is in no way intended to overlook or overshadow either Sperry’ s leadership in this field or his great contributions. Gazzaniga, in large part, owes his early research, and his discoveries in the area of hemispheric specialization, to Roger W. Sperry (see Sperry, 1968; Puente, 1995).
　　To understand split-brain research, some knowledge of human physiology is required. The two hemispheres of your brain are in constant communication with one another via the corpus callosum, a structure made up of about 200 million nerve fibers (Figure 1-1). If your corpus callosum is cut, this major line of communication is disrupted, and the two halves of your brain must then function independently. If we want to study each half of your brain separately, all we need to do is surgically sever your corpus callosum.
　　But can scientists surgically divide the brains of humans for research purposes? That sounds more like a Frankenstein movie than real science! Obviously, research ethics would never allow such drastic methods simply for the purpose of studying the specialized abilities of the brain’ s two hemispheres. However, in the late 1950s, the field of medicine provided psychologists with a golden opportunity. In some people with very rare and very extreme cases of uncontrollable epilepsy, seizures could be greatly reduced or virtually eliminated by surgically severing the corpus callosum. This operation was (and is) successful, as a last resort, for those patients who cannot be helped by any other means. When this article was written in 1966, 10 such operations had been undertaken, and four of the patients consented to participate in examination and testing by Sperry and Gazzaniga to determine how their perceptual and intellectual skills were affected by this surgical treatment.
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