· 3. Psychologys past: from the armchair to the laboratory All psychologists want to describe, predict, understand, and modify behavior Early psychologists o Primarily used anecdotes

“Psychology”.

In Section 1 of this course you will cover these topics:The Science Of Psychology

How Psychologists Do Research.

Genes, Evolution, And The Environment

The Brain: Source Of Mind And SelfTopic : The Science Of Psychology

Topic Objective:

At the end of this topic students will be able to:

Understand the psychology is a science

Understand the eight critical thinking guidelines that help in understanding psychological

issues

Understand the basic principles of structuralism

Understand the basic principles of functionalism

Understand the basic principles of psychoanalysis

Understand the biological perspective explain thoughts, feelings, and behavior

Understand the learning perspective approach explain understanding behavior

Understand the cognitive perspective in psychology emphasize

Understand the socio cultural perspective in psychology focus on

Understand the psychodynamic perspective explain thoughts and behavior

Understand the role did humanism and feminism play in shaping the development of modern

psychology

Understand the main differences between basic and applied psychology

Understand the psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and psychiatrists differ from one another in

their training, background, and approach to treatment

Definition/Overview:

Psychology: Psychology (from Greek ψῡχή, psȳkhē, "breath, life, soul"; and -λογία, -logia) is

an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and

behavior. Psychologists study such phenomena as perception, cognition, emotion,

personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships. Psychology also refers to the

application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including issues related

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to everyday life (e.g. family, education, and employment) and the treatment of mental health

problems. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of these functions in individual and

social behavior, while also exploring the underlying physiological and neurological

processes. Psychology includes many sub-fields of study and application concerned with such

areas as human development, sports, health, industry, media, and law.

Key Points:

1. psychology, pseudoscience, and popular opinion

Psychology, pseudoscience, and popular opinion

o Psychology is based on rigorous research

o Its claims are testable

o Popular opinion is sometimes wrong

2. thinking critically and creatively in psychology

Critical thinking is the ability and willingness to assess claims and make judgments on the

basis of well-supported research

Eight guidelines for critical thinking

o Ask questions; be willing to wonder

o Define your terms

▪ A hypothesis is a statement that tries to describe or explain a given

behavior

▪ Operational definitions specify how the phenomena are to be measured

o Examine the evidence

o Analyze assumptions and biases: falsifiability is a good practice!

o Avoid emotional reasoning

o Dont oversimplify

o Consider other interpretations

o Tolerate uncertainty



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3. Psychologys past: from the armchair to the laboratory

All psychologists want to describe, predict, understand, and modify behavior

Early psychologists

o Primarily used anecdotes or descriptions of individual cases as evidence, instead of empirical

evidence

o Phrenology

▪ Early 1800s and Joseph Gall

▪ Discredited theory that different brain areas account for character and

personality traits, and can be read from bumps on the skull

The birth of modern psychology

o Germany and Wilhelm Wundt

▪ Considered the father of psychology

▪ Established first experimental psychology lab in 1879

▪ rained introspectiontechnique by which participants were trained to

describe their sensations, mental images, and emotions

Three early psychologies

o Structuralism

▪ Titchener (student of Wundt) popularized Wundts ideas in the United

States

▪ Introspection was method of choice to determine what happens

o Functionalism

▪ William James interested in how and why behavior occurs; causes and

consequences of behavior



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▪ Influenced by Darwin and asked how certain attributes enhance survival

and adapt to the environment

▪ Used a variety of methods and studied a broader range of subjects

o Psychoanalysis

▪ Sigmund Freud

▪ Believed that patients symptoms had mental, not bodily, causes

▪ Unconscious part of mind has strong influence on behavior

4. psychologys present: behavior, body, mind, and culture

The major psychological perspectives

o The biological perspective

▪ Examines how bodily events affect behavior, feelings, and thoughts

▪ Related to evolutionary psychology, which examines how evolutionary

past may explain some present behaviors and psychological traits

o The learning perspective

▪ Behaviorism

o Examines how the environment and experience affect a persons

actions

o Does not use the mind to explain behavior: they study only what

they can observe and measure directly

▪ Social-cognitive learning theories

o Combines behaviorism with research on mental processes like

thoughts, values, expectations, and intentions



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o Expands behaviorism beyond the study of behavior to include

learning by observation, insight, imitation

o The cognitive perspective

▪ Emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, language, problem

solving, and other areas of behavior

▪ One of the strongest forces in psychology today

o The socio-cultural perspective

▪ Emphasizes social and cultural influences on behavior

▪ Social psychologists focus on social rules and roles, and on the influence

of groups, friends, lovers, and others

▪ Cultural psychologists examine how cultural rules and values affect

peoples development, behavior, and feelings

o The psychodynamic perspective

▪ Deals with unconscious dynamics within the individual, such as inner

forces, conflicts, or instinctual energy

▪ Based on Freuds theory of psychoanalysis, but other theories also exist

▪ Focuses on unconscious origins of self-defeating behavior

▪ Language, methods, standards of evidence differ from other approaches

Two influential movements in psychology

o Humanistic psychology

▪ Rejects psychoanalytic perspective as too pessimistic and behaviorism as

too mechanistic



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▪ Rejects determinism by the unconscious (psychoanalysis) or by the

environment(behaviorism); believes in free will

▪ Goal of humanism is to help people express themselves and reach their

full potential

▪ Positive psychologymodern humanism

o Feminist psychology

▪ Identifies biases in research and psychotherapy

▪ Feminist psychologists may identify with any of the major perspectives

▪ Analyzes gender identity, roles, relations, and behavior of the sexes

▪ Motivates the study of new topics such as motherhood, menstruation, and

menopause

▪ Reminds us that research and psychotherapy are social processes,

affected by all the attitudes and values that people bring to any

endeavor

5. what psychologists do

Psychological research

o Basic researchers seek knowledge for its own sake

o Applied researchers focus on the practical uses of their findings

Psychological practice

o Practitioners work to understand and improve physical and mental health

o They work in hospitals, schools, and counseling centers

o Types of practitioners

▪ Counseling psychologists help people deal with problems of everyday

life



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▪ School psychologists work to enhance students performance

▪ Clinical psychologists diagnose, treat, and study mental and emotional

problems

o Differences between therapists

▪ The term psychotherapist is unregulated; anyone can claim to be one

▪ A psychoanalyst is a person who practices psychoanalysis. This requires

an advanced degree and specialized training

▪ A psychiatrist is a medical doctor with training in psychiatry;

psychiatrists often focus on biological causes and treat them with

medication

▪ Social workers and counselors usually have a Masters degree in social

work or psychology

Psychology in the community--psychologists contribute to the welfare of their communities

by helping out within their areas of expertise

Topic : How Psychologists Do Research

Topic Objective:


Understand the five characteristics of an ideal scientist

Understand the defining elements of descriptive research Can you give an example of a case

study, observational research, a psychological test, and a survey

Understand the positive and negative correlations look like, and what do they signify

Understand the a correlation not establish a causal relationship between two variables

Understand the difference between an independent variable and a dependent variable

Understand the difference between an experimental group and a control group

Understand the random assignment necessary when conducting an experiment



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Understand the two advantages and two disadvantages of conducting an experiment,

compared to other research techniques

Understand the a psychological scientist use descriptive statistics versus inferential statistics

Understand the major ethical guidelines researchers must follow when conducting research

with human participants

Understand the major ethical guidelines researchers must follow when conducting research

with animals


Psychologist:A psychologist is a practitioner of psychology, the systematic investigation of

the mind, including behavior, cognition, and affect. The two major categories of

psychologists are those who conduct scientific research and those who work in an applied

psychology area. Applied psychologists are further subdivided into a number of mental health

and other professions, the most well-recognized being clinical and counseling psychologists.

Doctoral level trained psychologists are also the experts in the provision/administration and

interpretation of psychological tests and assessment.

Key Points:

1. What Makes Psychological Research Scientific

Characteristics of the ideal psychologist as scientist

o Precision

▪ Begin with a theory (an organized set of assumptions and principles used

to explain a particular phenomenon)

▪ Develop a hypothesis (a specific statement that attempts to describe or

explain a particular phenomenon)

▪ Create operational definitions of a phenomenon so that one can

objectively measure that phenomenon

o Skepticism



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▪ Do not accept explanations of phenomena based on blind faith or

authority

o Reliance on empirical evidence

▪ Show me the data

o Willingness to make risky predictions

▪ Principle of falsifiability

o Theory must make predictions that are specific enough that they

can be refutedthis allows for growth of the theory

o Theory must predict both what will happen and what will not

happen

▪ Confirmation bias

o Theory must make predictions that are specific enough that they

can be refutedthis allows for growth of the theory

o Scientists try to avoid confirmation bias via the scientific method

o Openness

▪ Science relies on openness and full disclosure of methodological,

statistical, and ethical procedures

▪ Need to replicate novel findings (e.g., need to check the Mozart effect to

see if it is the phenomenon it is purported to be)

▪ Need to disseminate results via a peer review process

2. Descriptive Studies: Establishing The Facts

Although psychologists would like to measure representative samples, obtaining them can

often be a tall order



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o Much research is based on convenience samples

Case studies

o Detailed descriptions of individuals

o A drawback is that the person studied may not be representative of the population, therefore

strong conclusions cant be drawn using only this method

Observational studies involve nonobtrusive, systematic measurement of behavior

o Naturalistic observation takes place in the organisms normal environment

o A laboratory observation allows the researcher to control the environment

o A drawback is that we cant infer cause and effect because we dont know why the people or

animals are acting the way they are based only on observation

Tests are procedures for measuring traits, states, interests, abilities, and values

o Objective tests measure characteristics of which the individual is aware

o Projective tests tap unconscious feelings or motives

o Qualities of a good test

▪ Standardized

▪ Normed

▪ Reliable

▪ Valid

Surveys are questionnaires and interviews that ask people about themselves directly

o A representative sample is essential--watch out for volunteer bias

o People sometimes lie, especially if the information is sensitive and anonymity is not

guaranteed

o Think about how the questions are phrased



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3. Correlational Studies: Looking For Relationships

A positive correlation means that high values of one variable tend to go with high values of

the other

A negative correlation means that high values of one variable tend to go with low values of

the other

The coefficient of correlation varies between +1.00 (perfect positive) and -1.00 (perfect

negative)

Correlation does not mean causation

4. The Experiment: Hunting For Causes

All studies must meet ethical guidelines

o Informed consent, humane treatment, etc., are all good ideas

Experimental variables

o Independent variables are manipulated by the researcher

o Dependent variables are a measure of the reaction of the participants to the independent

variable

o Everything but the independent variable is held constant (to as great an extent as possible)

Experimental and control conditions

o In the control condition, participants are not exposed to the treatment, whereas they are when

in the experimental condition

o In the control condition, participants may receive a placebo--a fake treatment (e.g., no active

ingredients)

o Control groups are important for both experimental and nonexperimental studies

Experimenter effects

o Participants responses may be influenced by the experimenters subtle cues

o One solution is to use double-blind studies

Advantages and limitations of experiments



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o Like any method, experimentation offers a range of advantages and limitations

▪ Field versus lab, control versus realism, etc.

5. Evaluating The Findings

Why psychologists use statistics

o Descriptive statistics summarize the data

▪ The arithmetic mean is the sum of scores divided by the number of

scores

▪ The standard deviation tells how clustered or spread out the scores are

o Inferential statistics allow the researcher to draw inferences about the results.

▪ If the likelihood of getting the result by chance is very low, the result is

statistically significant

From the laboratory to the real world

o Choosing the best explanation--the hypothesis may need to be tested in different ways (e.g.,

cross-sectionally and longitudinally)

o Judging the results importance

▪ Researchers may disagree on its relevance for theory or practice

▪ Meta-analysis is a technique that combines data from many studies

6. Keeping the EnterpriseEthical

The ethics of studying human beings

ethics of studying animals

o Why study animals

▪ To conduct basic research on a particular species



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▪ To discover practical applications

▪ To study issues that cannot be studied experimentally using humans

because of practical or ethical reasons

▪ To clarify theoretical questions

▪ To improve human welfare

Topic : Genes, Evolution, And The Environment

Topic Objective:


Understand the evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics related to each other

Understand the genes, DNA, chromosomes, and amino acids related to one another

Understand the genetic markers

Understand the principle of natural selection

Understand the five innate human characteristics

Understand the difference between the deep structure and the surface structure of a language

Understand the five converging lines of research evidence in support of the language

acquisition device

Understand the sociobiology and evolutionary psychology related

Understand the socio biological explanation for the different sexual strategies of women and

men

Understand the genetic leash

Understand the heritability estimate and how is it computed

Understand the three important considerations to keep in mind when interpreting heritability

estimates

Understand the evidence is there that intelligence has a strong genetic component, and what

evidence is there that intelligence has a strong environmental component


Genes, Evolution, and the Environment: The gene-centered view of evolution, gene

selection theory or selfish gene theory holds that natural selection acts through differential



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survival of competing genes, increasing the frequency of those alleles whose phenotypic

effects successfully promote their own propagation. According to this theory, adaptations are

the phenotypic effects through which genes achieve their propagation.

The predominant modern scientific explanation for the adaptation of living beings was

initially tailored by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who proposed the theory of

evolution by natural selection as opposed to the Lamarckian idea of evolution via acquired

changes.

The theory of evolution by natural selection was initially based on a vague concept of

heredity. Darwin endorsed the blending inheritance hypothesis due to the absence, at that

time, of a rigorous theory of heredity. Subsequently, significant discoveries about both the

mechanisms of inheritance and those of development have revolutionised this area of

biology.

Key Points:

1. Unlocking the Secrets of Genes

Genes

Chromosomes

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

Genome

Linkage studies

2. The Genetics of Similarity

Evolution and natural selection

o Traits and preferences

▪ These can be seen as successful adaptations to the environment

o Mental modules

▪ The mind developed and evolved as a system of specialized units or

modules



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Innate human characteristics

o Infant reflexes

o Interest in novelty

o Desire to explore and manipulate objects

o Impulse to play and fool around

o Basic cognitive skills

3. Our Human Heritage: Language

The nature of languagedefinition of language

The innate capacity for language

o Chomskys positionlanguage acquisition deviceuniversal grammar

o Surface structure versus deep structure

o Role of syntax

o Evidence in support of Chomskys position

▪ Children in different cultures go through similar stages of linguistic

development

▪ Children combine words in ways that adults never woulde.g.,

overregularizations

▪ Adults do not consistently correct their childrens syntax, yet children

learn to speak or sign correctly anyway

▪ Children not exposed to adult language may invent a language of their

owne.g., deaf children in Nicaragua

▪ Infants as young as 7 months can derive simple linguistic rules from a

string of soundsresearch on infant preferences for novel patterns

o Evidence for genetic contributions to language acquisitionstudies of British families with a

genetic disorder that prevents normal language acquisition

Learning and language



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o Neural network models

o Adult recasting of childrens sentences

o Role of biologically determined critical period for language acquisition

4. Our Human Heritage: Courtship And Mating

Evolution and sexual strategies

o Definition of sociobiology

o Sociobiological basis of male-female differences in mating and survival strategies

o Evolutionary psychologists rely less on comparisons with other species, focus on

commonalities in human mating practices

o Both sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists emphasize evolutionary origins of

human sex differences that appear to be universal

Culture and the genetic leash

o Critics say that evolutionary explanations of sex differences in courtship and mating are

based on simplistic stereotypes

o Human sexual behavior is highly varied and changeable

o Similarity and proximity are among the strongest predictors of mate selection

o Social Darwinism

5. The Genetics of Difference

The meaning of heritability

o Definition of heritability

o Heritability of traits is expressed as a proportion

o An estimate of heritability applies only to a particular group living in a particular

environment

o Heritability estimates do not apply to individuals, only to variations within a group

o Even highly heritable traits can be modified by the environment

Computing heritability

o Heritability of traits must be inferred by studying people with known genetic similarity



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o Adoption studies

o Twin studiesidentical versus fraternal twins

6. Our Human Diversity: The Case of Intelligence

Genes and individual differences

o IQ = intelligence quotient

o IQ determined by dividing mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100.

o Distribution of IQ scores in the population approximates a bell-shaped curve

o Average IQ score is 100; two-thirds of IQ scores fall between 85 and 115

The question of group differences

o Racial differences in IQ scores

o The Bell Curve

o Within-group versus between-group differences

The environment and intelligence

o Some environmental influences are associated with reduced mental ability

▪ Poor prenatal care

▪ Malnutrition

▪ Exposure to toxins

▪ Stressful family circumstances

o Healthy, stimulating environments are associated with increased mental ability

▪ Abecedarian project

▪ IQ scores in developing countries are increasing



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7. Beyond Nature And Nurture

An either/or approach to genes and the environment is not as productive as a how much of

each approach

Topic : The Brain: Source Of Mind And Self

Topic Objective:


Understand the two main divisions of the human nervous system

Understand the two parts of the central nervous system

Understand the divisions of the peripheral nervous system

Understand the divisions of the autonomic nervous system

Understand the three components of a neuron

Understand the neurons communicate with one another

Understand the neurotransmitters and what do they do

Understand the endorphins and what do they do

Understand the hormones and what do they do

Understand the eight techniques researchers use for understanding the workings of the brain

Understand the the major functions of the brain stem, the cerebellum, and the thalamus

Understand the the major functions of the hypothalamus, the amygdala, and the hippocampus

Understand the the four lobes of the cerebral cortex, and Understand the the major functions

of each

Understand the studies of split-brain patients help researchers understand the functions of the

left and right cerebral hemispheres

Understand the some of the arguments in favor of and against the conclusion that womens

and mens brains differ anatomically and functionally


Brain: The brain is the center of the nervous system in animals. All vertebrates, and the

majority of invertebrates, have a brain. Some "primitive" animals such as jellyfishes and

starfishes have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any



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nervous system at all. In vertebrates, the brain is located in the head, protected by the skull

and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision, hearing, balance, taste, and smell.

Key Points:

1. The nervous system: a basic blueprint

The central nervous system

o Functions--receives, processes, interprets, and stores incoming information; sends out

messages to muscles, glands, internal organs

o Parts--brain and spinal cord (an extension of the brain)

The peripheral nervous system--nervous system outside brain and spinal cord

o Functions

▪ Sensory nerves--bring input from skin, muscles, and organs

▪ Motor nerves--carry output to muscles, glands, and organs

o Divisions

▪ Somatic nervous system

o Nerves connected to sensory receptors

o Nerves connected to skeletal muscles--voluntary action

▪ Autonomic nervous system--works automatically

o Functions--regulates blood vessels, glands, organs

o Biofeedback--helps people control autonomic responses

o Divisions

o Healthy, stimulating environments are associated with increased mental ability



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▪ Abecedarian project

▪ IQ scores in developing countries are increasing

2. Communication in The Nervous System

Components of the nervous system

o Glial cells--hold neurons in place; nourish, insulate neurons

o Neurons--cells that communicate to, from, or within the CNS

The structure of the neuron

o Dendrites--receive messages from other neurons, transmit to cell body

o Cell body--keeps the neuron alive, determines whether to fire

o Axon--transmits messages away from cell body to other neurons

▪ Ends in branches or axon terminals

▪ Many axons insulated by fatty material or myelin sheath

▪ Bundles of axons in the peripheral nervous system form nerves

o Precursor cells can give rise to new neurons

▪ Physical and mental activity promote survival of these new cells

▪ Stress and nicotine have detrimental effects

▪ Neurons in the news: Advances in neuroscience attract our interest

almost daily

How neurons communicate

o Synapse = axon terminal + synaptic cleft (small space between one axon and next dendrite) +

covering membrane of receiving dendrite or cell body

▪ Many thousands of neurons may communicate at a synapse



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▪ Synaptic connections continue to change throughout life

o How neurons communicate

▪ Wave of electric voltage, called action potential, moves down axon to

end of axon terminal, called synaptic end bulb

▪ Action potentials travel more rapidly in myelinated axons than in

unmyelinated axons

▪ Synaptic end bulb releases chemical neurotransmitters (transmitters)

which have been stored in synaptic vesicles (sacs in the end bulb)

▪ Transmitters cross the synaptic cleft and briefly lock onto receptor sites

on the receiving dendrites

▪ They can increase or decrease the likelihood that the receiving neuron

will generate an action potential

▪ Receiving neuron averages the excitatory and inhibitory incoming

messages to determine if it reaches firing threshold

▪ Neurons either fire or do not fire (all or none); the strength of firing does

not vary

Chemical messengers in the nervous system

o Neurotransmitters: Versatile couriers

▪ Many have been identified, more are being found

▪ Neurotransmitters exist throughout the body

▪ Better understood neurotransmitters and some of their effects

o Serotonin--sleep, mood, eating

o Dopamine--movement, learning, memory, emotion [pleasure]



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o Acetylcholine--muscle action, memory, emotion

o Norepinephrine--heart rate, learning, memory

o GABA--major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain

▪ Levels that are too high or too low may produce problems

o Low levels of serotonin and norepinephrine associated with

depression

o Abnormal GABA levels associated with sleep and eating disorders

and convulsive disorders

o Loss of cells that produce acetylcholine associated with Alzheimers

disease

▪ Each neurotransmitter plays many roles and functions overlap

▪ Cause and effect between neurotransmitters and behavior unclear

o Endorphins: The brains natural opiates

▪ Endorphins are endogenous opioid peptides

▪ Produce effects similar to natural opiates; reduce pain, promote pleasure,

as well as playing a role in other functions

▪ Most act as neuromodulators--influence actions of neurotransmitters

▪ Work by binding to receptors in brain

▪ Levels increase during stress or fear response

▪ Release of endorphins may also be linked to the pleasures of social

contact

o Hormones: Long-distance messengers



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▪ Substances produced in one part of the body but affect another

▪ riginate primarily in endocrine glands that release hormones into the

bloodstream, which carries them to other organs and cells

▪ A chemical may act as either a neurotransmitter or a hormone, depending

where it is located

▪ Hormones of particular interest to psychologists

o Melatonin--secreted by the pineal gland, regulates biological

rhythms

o Oxytocin--secreted by the pituitary gland

o Adrenal hormones

o Sex hormones--three major types; all three types occur in both

sexes

3. Mapping The Brain

Researchers study the brains of those who have experienced disease or injury

Lesion method--involves damaging or removing section of brain in animals and then

observing the effects

Electrical and magnetic detection

o Electroencephalogram (EEG) involves brain wave recording; not very specific

o Needle electrodes

▪ Thin wires inserted into the brain to record electrical activity and to

stimulate brain

▪ Microelectrodes--fine wires that can be inserted into single cells

o Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)



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▪ Most recent technique; holds a great deal of promise

o Positron-Emission Tomography--PET scan

▪ Records biochemical changes in the brain as they occur

▪ Utilizes a radioactive glucose-like substance

▪ Used to diagnose abnormalities or to learn about normal brain activity

o Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)--uses magnetic fields and radio frequencies

4. A Tour Through The Brain

The brain stem--located at base of skull; old part of brain

o Pons--involved in sleeping, waking, and dreaming

o Medulla--regulates breathing and heart rate; automatic functions

o Reticular activating system [RAS]--network of neurons, extends upward and connects

with higher brain areas; screens information, responsible for arousal and

alertness

Cerebellum--regulates balance and coordination of movement; also involved in remembering

certain skills and acquired reflexes

Thalamus--directs incoming sensory messages (except olfactory) to higher center

Hypothalamus--associated with drives, such as hunger, thirst, emotion, sex and reproduction,

body temperature, and the autonomic nervous system

Pituitary gland--master gland governed by hypothalamus

Limbic system--loosely interconnected structures involved in emotions

o Amygdala--evaluates sensory information to determine its importance, involved in mediating

anxiety and depression

o Hippocampus--gateway to memory that enables us to form new memories; The case of H.M.

illustrates its importance

Cerebrum--responsible for higher forms of thinking--divided into two halves or cerebral

hemispheres



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o Connected by band of fibers called corpus callosum

o Right hemisphere in charge of left side of the body

o Left hemisphere in charge of right side of the body

o Lateralization--each hemisphere has somewhat different tasks and talents

o Covered by layer of densely packed cells--cerebral cortex

▪ Grayish appearance = gray matter

o Made up of cell bodies of nerve cells

o White matter beneath cortex is formed by myelinated axons

▪ Contains three-fourths of all cells in the brain

▪ Divided into four regions

o Occipital lobes--contain the visual cortex

o Parietal lobes--contain somatosensory cortex, that receives

information about pressure, pain, touch, and temperature from

all over the body

o Temporal lobes--contain auditory cortex

o Frontal lobes--contain the motor cortex; responsible for making

plans, taking initiative, and thinking creatively

▪ Association areas make up large parts of the cerebral cortex

▪ Prefrontal association areas involved in personality

o Damage to the prefrontal cortex may affect this

o Case of Phineas Gage shows the outcomes of damage to the

prefrontal cortex

o Involved in social judgment, rational decision making, and the

ability to set goals and make and carry through plans



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o Involved in determining the proper order of behaviors and knowing

when to stop

5. The Two Hemispheres Of The Brain

Split brains: A house divided

o Corpus callosum, which connects the cerebral hemispheres in normal brains, is severed

o This surgery has been performed in animal studies and for some human conditions such as

severe epilepsy

o Effects

▪ Split-brain patients are able to lead normal lives

▪ Effects on perception and memory are observable under experimental

conditions

o The work of Sperry and colleagues is described

A question of dominance

o Left hemisphere handles language for nearly all right-handed people and a majority of left-

handers

o Left side more active than right during some logical, symbolic, and sequential tasks, such as

math

o Many researchers believe the left side is dominant because cognitive skills, including rational

and analytic abilities, originate here

o Others point to abilities of the right hemisphere: superior visual-spatial abilities, facial

recognition, appreciation of art and music; some researchers claim it is holistic and intuitive

o In real life, the two hemispheres cooperate automatically in most activities



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6. Two Stubborn Issues In Brain Research

Where is the self

o Conscious sense of a unified self may be an illusion

▪ Many actions and choices we make are without conscious direction

▪ Brain operates outside of consicous awareness

▪ Not a unified thing--but a collection of thoughts, concepts, and feelings

that shift from moment to moment --consistent with Buddhist

teachings

Are there his and her brains

o Efforts to identify male-female differences have reflected biases of the times

o Two questions must be asked:

▪ Are male and female brains physically different

o Sex differences have been found in animal brains

o Human sex differences more elusive

▪ If there are brain differences, what do they mean for the behavior of men

and women in real life

o Many supposed sex differences are stereotypes

o Biological differences do not necessarily mean behavioral

differences

o Sex differences in the brain could be the result rather than the cause

of behavioral differences

In Section 2 of this course you will cover these topics:Body Rhythms And Mental States

Sensation And Perception



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Learning And Conditioning

Behavior In Social And Cultural Context

Topic : Body Rhythms And Mental States

Topic Objective:


Understand the a circadian rhythm and how do the hypothalamus and hormones affect it

Understand the evidence that moods can be affected by seasons, menstrual cycles, or

testosterone

Understand the stages of non-REM sleep are there, and Understand the characterizes each

stage

Understand the is REM sleep different from non-REM sleep

Understand the body cycle through the stages of sleep during a nights rest

Understand the some of the consequences of a lack of sleep

Understand the some of the benefits of a good nights sleep

Understand the four explanations of the significance of dreaming

Understand the differences between stimulants and depressants

Understand the effects do opiates and psychedelic drugs have on human consciousness

Understand the drugs affect behavior at a physiological level

Understand the six main conclusions that can be reached about the nature of hypnosis

Understand the dissociation explanation of hypnosis

Understand the socio-cognitive explanation of hypnosis


Mental States: In psychology, mental state is an indication of a person's mental health.

As computer technology proliferated, so emerged the metaphor of mental function as

information processing. This, combined with a scientific approach to studying the mind, as

well as a belief in internal mental states, led to the rise of cognitivism as a popular model of

the mind. Cognitive psychology differs from other psychological perspectives in two key

ways. First, it accepts the use of the scientific method, and generally rejects introspection as a

method of investigation, unlike symbol-driven approaches such as Freudian psychodynamics.



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Second, it explicitly acknowledges the existence of internal mental states (such as belief,

desire and motivation), whereas behaviorism does not.

Key Points:

1. Biological rhythms: the tides of experience

Biological rhythms

o Regular fluctuations in biological systems

o Endogenous rhythms--occur in absence of external cues

Circadian rhythms

o Endogenous rhythms that occur every 24 hours

o Exist in plants, animals, insects, and humans

o Can be studied by isolating subjects from environmental time cues

o The bodys clock

▪ Circadian rhythms controlled by a master biological clock located in the

suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus

▪ SCN regulates neurotransmitters and hormones which provide feedback

to the SCN and affect its functioning

▪ Melatonin, a hormone regulated by the SCN, responds to light-dark

o When the clock is out of sync

▪ Internal desynchronization--a state in which biological rhythms are not in

phase (synchronized) with one another

▪ Cycles are affected by environmental and individual factors (e.g., jet lag,

night-shift workers)

▪ Bright lights may be used to help re-synchronize body rhythms

Moods and long-term rhythms



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o Does the season affect moods

▪ Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

o Depression during winter months only

o Deficiency of melatonin

▪ Bright light treatment and negative ion exposure treatment effective in

alleviating symptoms of SAD

o Does the menstrual cycle affect moods

▪ First half of the cycle, estrogen increases; midcycle, ovaries release egg,

then progesterone increases; if conception does not occur, estrogen and

progesterone levels fall

▪ Feelings of PMS versus true PMS

o Many women experience cramping, breast tenderness, water

retention, etc., and many report feeling moody

o However, true PMS includes predictable emotional symptoms of

depression and irritability

o True PMS affects less than 5 percent of the female population

o Retrospective reports differ across the menstrual cycle, but daily

reports of mood across the menstrual cycle do not

2. The rhythms of sleep

The realms of sleep

o Ultradian cycle occurs, on average, every 90 minutes

▪ Non-REM stages

o 1 - small, irregular brain waves; light sleep



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o 2 - high-peaking waves called sleep spindles

o 3 - delta waves begin; slow with high peaks

o 4 - mostly delta waves and deep sleep

o Normal sleep cycle: 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, rapid eye movement (REM)

▪ REM sleep

o Active brain waves

o Increased heart rate and blood pressure, limp muscles, twitching

o Dreaming

▪ REM and non-REM sleep cycle throughout the night

▪ The purpose of REM sleep is unclear

Why we sleep

o Sleep is recuperative for the body

o The mental consequences of sleeplessness

▪ Sleep deprivation affects attention, creativity, stress levels

▪ Sleepdisorders resulting in daytime sleepiness:

o Sleep apnea

o Narcolepsy

o The mental benefits of sleep

▪ Memory consolidation and enhanced problem solving are improved



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3. Exploring the dream world

Characteristics of dreams

o Focus of attention is inward

Dreams as unconscious wishes (Freud)

o Royal road to the unconscious

o In dreams we express unconscious wishes, desires (usually sexual or violent in nature)

o Freudian dream interpretation

▪ Manifest content--what we experience and remember

▪ Latent content--hidden, symbolic; unconscious wishes

o Many people disagree with Freuds interpretations

Dreams as efforts to deal with problems

o Problem-focused approach in which dreams convey true, not symbolic, meaning

o Dreams reflect ongoing conscious preoccupations of waking life

o Dreams often contain material related to current concerns

o Some believe dreams provide an opportunity for resolving problems

Dreams as thinking

o Physiological and information-processing approach

o Unnecessary neural connections are eliminated and important ones are strengthened

o Associated with consolidation

o Dreams are the remains of the sorting, scanning, and sifting process

Dreams as interpreted brain activity

o Activation-synthesis theory

▪ Dreams are the result of neurons firing spontaneously in the lower brain

(in the pons) that are sent to the cortex



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▪ Signals from pons have no meaning, but the cortex tries to synthesize

them

▪ Accordingly, dreams should be bizarre and disjointed in terms of their

meaning

o Critics say sometimes dreams do make meaningful sense

Evaluating dream theories

o No single theory explains all facets of dreaming

o All approaches account for some of the evidence

4. The riddle of hypnosis

Hypnosis

o Procedure in which the practitioner suggests changes in the sensations, perceptions, thoughts,

feelings, or behavior of the subject

o Suggestions involve performance of an action

o Compliance with suggestions feels involuntary

The nature of hypnosis

o Responsiveness depends more on person being hypnotized than hypnotists skill

o Participants cannot be forced to do things against their will

o Hypnotic inductions increase suggestibility but only to a modest degree; people accept

suggestions with and without hypnosis

o Hypnosis does not increase memory accuracy; it can increase amount of information

remembered, but it also increases errors

o Does not produce a literal re-experiencing of long-ago events

Theories of hypnosis

o Dissociation theories



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▪ Like lucid dreaming and simple distractions, hypnosis involves

dissociation, a split in consciousness in which one part of the mind

operates independently of the rest of consciousness

▪ Several theories of dissociation attempt to explain the state

▪ These theories fit well with recent research and brain theories

o The sociocognitive approach

▪ The effects are a result of the interaction between the hypnotist and the

abilities, beliefs, and expectations of the participant

▪ Individual plays the role of a hypnotized person without faking

▪ This role, like others, is so engrossing, it is done without intent

▪ Individual uses imagination and fantasy to fulfill the role requirements

5. Consciousness-altering drugs

Altering mood and consciousness

o Efforts to alter mood and consciousness appear to be universal

o During the 1960s, people sought to produce altered states of consciousness

Classifying Drugs

o Psychoactive drugs -- substance affecting perception, mood, thinking, memory, or behavior by

changing the bodys biochemistry

o Classifying drugs

▪ Stimulants

o Speed up activity in central nervous system

o Include cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine, caffeine, MDMA, Ritalin

▪ Depressants (sedatives)



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o Slow down activity in central nervous system

o Include alcohol, tranquilizers, barbiturates

▪ Opiates

o Mimic endorphins

o Include opium, morphine, heroin, methadone

▪ Psychedelics

o Alter perception

o Include LSD, mescaline, psilocybin

▪ Anabolic steroids and marijuana--dont fit other classifications

Physiology of drug effects

o Can produce cognitive or emotional effects

o Repeated use of certain drugs can cause permanent brain damage

o Some drugs lead to tolerance (needing more over time) and withdrawal (symptoms upon

removal of the drug)

Psychology of drug effects

o Effects depend on a persons physical condition, experience with the drug, environmental setting,

and mental set

o Alcohol may be used as an excuse for violent or other behavior

The drug debate

o Often people fail to distinguish between drug abuse and drug use

o Legality of drugs not always linked to dangerousness

o



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Topic : Sensation And Perception

Topic Objective:


Understand the the separate sense receptors, and what kinds of stimulation do they respond to

Understand the absolute thresholds and difference thresholds, and how does signal detection

theory help us understand them

Understand the primary distinctions among sensory adaptation, sensory deprivation, and

selective attention

Understand the three psychological dimensions of vision

Understand the rods and cones differ in their structure and functions

Understand the the trichromatic theory and opponent-process theory explain color vision

Understand the four main Gestalt principles of perception

Understand the five visual constancies that contribute to visual perception

Understand the three psychological dimensions of hearing

Understand the major structures of the inner ear that contribute to the sense of hearing

Understand the taste and smell called chemical senses

How does gate-control theory account for our perception of pain

Understand the evidence that some perceptual abilities are present from birth Understand the

these abilities, and what is the evidence

Understand the four psychological and cultural factors that influence how we perceive things

Understand the evidence for the existence of subliminal perception or extrasensory

perception


Sensation: In psychology, sensation is the first stage in the biochemical and neurologic

events that begins with the impinging of a stimulus upon the receptor cells of a sensory

organ, which then leads to perception, the mental state that is reflected in statements like "I

see a uniformly blue wall." In other words, sensations are the first stages in the functioning of

senses.

Perception: In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of attaining

awareness or understanding of sensory information. It is a task far more complex than was



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imagined in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was predicted that building perceiving machines

would take about a decade, a goal which is still very far from realizable. The word perception

comes from yje weird Latins word perception, percepio, , meaning "receiving, collecting,

action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses."

Key Points:

1. Our Sensational Senses

Definitions

o Sensation--the detection of physical energy emitted or reflected by physical objects

o Perception--processes that organize sensory impulses into meaningful patterns

o Introduction to the senses

▪ There are five widely known senses and other lesser known senses

▪ All senses evolved to help us survive

The riddle of separate sensations

o Sense receptors stimulate sensory neurons which stimulate brain cells

o Encoding the electrical messages--the nervous system uses two kinds of codes

▪ Anatomical codes

o Doctrine of specific nerve energies--signals received by the sense

organs stimulate different nerve pathways, which terminate in

different areas of the brain

o Does not fully explain separate sensations; different skin senses do

not have distinct nerve pathways; different colors do not have

distinct pathways

▪ Functional codes

o Particular receptors fire or are inhibited in the presence of certain

stimuli



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o Codes relate to which cells, how many, and the rate and pattern of

firing

▪ Synesthesia occurs when stimulation of one sense evokes sensations in

another

Measuring the senses

o Psychophysics--how the physical properties of stimuli are related to our psychological

experience of them

o Absolute threshold--the smallest amount of energy a person can detect reliably (50 percent of the

time)

o Difference threshold--the smallest difference in stimulation that a person can detect reliably (50

percent of the time); also called just noticeable difference (jnd)

o Signal detection theory

▪ Accounts for response bias (tendency to say yes or no to a signal)

▪ Separates sensory processes (the intensity of the stimulus) from the

decision process (influenced by observers response bias)

Sensory Adaptation

o Decline in sensory responsiveness occurs when a stimulus is unchanging; nerve cells

temporarily stop responding

o Sensory deprivation studies

▪ Early deprivation study subjects became edgy, disoriented, confused,

restless, and had hallucinations

▪ Early studies exaggerated negative reactions

o Brain requires minimum stimulation to function normally

Sensing without perceiving

o Cocktail party phenomenon--we routinely block out unimportant sensations



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o Selective attention protects us from being overwhelmed with sensations

2. Vision

What we see

o Stimulus for vision is light, which travels in waves

o Characteristics of light waves

▪ Hue--color that is related to wavelength

▪ Brightness--intensity, corresponds to amplitude of the wave

▪ Saturation--colorfulness--complexity of the range of wavelengths

o Psychological dimensions of visual experience--hue, brightness, saturation

o Physical properties of light--wavelength, intensity, complexity

An eye on the world

o Cornea--front part of the eye; protects the eye and bends light rays toward lens

o Lens--located behind the cornea; focuses light by changing curvature

o Iris--muscles that control the amount of light that gets into the eye

o Pupil--round opening surrounded by iris; widens and dilates to let light in

o Retina--located in the back of the eye, contains visual receptors

▪ Parts of retina

o Two types of receptors

o Fovea--center of retina, sharpest vision, contains only cones

▪ Processing visual information

o Dark adaptation--time it takes to adjust to dim illumination--

reflects mainly increase in sensitivity of rods



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o Rods and cones connect to bipolar neurons that connect to ganglion

cells, whose axons converge to form optic nerve, that carries

information out of the eye to the brain

o Optic nerve--leaves the eye at optic disc--no rods or cones--blind

spot on retina

Why the visual system is not a camera

o Eyes are not a passive recorder of external world; neurons build picture of the external world by

detecting its meaningful features

o Special feature-detector cells in visual cortex code complex features

o Other cells in the visual system respond maximally to certain specific visual information like

faces, bulls-eyes, or starlike shapes

o Frequency, pattern, and rhythm of firing all provide information to the brain

How we see colors

o Trichromatic (Young-Helmholtz) theory

▪ This approach applies to the first level of processing (in the retina)

▪ Retina contains three types of cones: one responds to blue, another to

green, another to red; these combine to make all colors

▪ People with color deficiencies lack particular types of cones

o Opponent-process theory

▪ Second stage of color processing in the ganglion cells of the retina and

neurons in the thalamus and visual cortex (opponent process cells)

▪ They turn off to one wavelength in a pair and on to the other

▪ Another opponent-process system responds in opposing fashion to black

and white, providing information about brightness

▪ Opponent-process theory can explain why we see negative afterimages



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o Perceived color of an object also depends on the wavelengths reflected by the other objects

around it

Constructing the visual world

o Visual perception--the mind interprets the retinal image and constructs the world using

information from other senses

o Form perception

▪ Gestalt psychologists studied how people organize the visual world into

meaningful patterns

▪ Strategies for building perceptual units include use of: figure/ground

distinction, proximity, closure, similarity, and continuity

o Depth and distance perception--objects location inferred from distance or depth cues

▪ Binocular cues--dependent on information from both eyes

o Changes in angle of convergence of the image seen by each eye

provide distance cues

o Retinal disparity--disparity in the lateral separation between two

objects as seen by the two eyes is used to infer depth or distance

▪ Monocular cues--cues that do not depend on using both eyes include

interposition and linear perspective

o Visual constancies: When seeing is believing

▪ Perceptual constancy--our perception of objects is unchanging though the

sensory patterns they produce are constantly shifting

▪ Visual constancies--shape, location, size, brightness, and color

o Visual illusions: When seeing is misleading--visual constancies may occasionally fool us,

resulting in visual illusions



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3. Hearing

What we hear

o Stimulus for sound is a wave of pressure created when an object vibrates; that causes molecules

in a transmitting substance (such as air) to move

o Characteristics of sound waves

▪ Loudness--intensity of a waves pressure; corresponds to amplitude; also

affected by pitch; units of measure are decibels

▪ Pitch--frequency (and intensity) of wave; units of measure are hertz

(cycles per second)

▪ Timbre--complexity of wave; the distinguishing quality of a sound

o When all frequencies of the sound spectrum are present, white noise occurs

An ear on the world

o Sound wave passes into the outer ear through a canal to strike the eardrum

o Eardrum vibrates at the same frequency and amplitude as the wave

o The wave vibrates three small bones in the inner ear--the hammer, anvil, and stirrups--intensify

the sound; the third bone pushes on a membrane that guards the entrance to the inner ear, of

which the cochlea is a part

o The cochlea contains the receptor cells called cilia, or hair cells, that are embedded in the basilar

membrane stretching across the cochlea

o Pressure causes movement in the basilar membrane; the hair cells initiate a signal to the auditory

nerve, which carries the message to the brain

o The pattern of movement of the basilar membrane influences the pattern and frequency of how

the neurons fire, which determines what is heard

Constructing the auditory world

o Perception is used to organize patterns of sounds to construct meaning

o Strategies used to organize and interpret sounds include the Gestalt principles of figure/ground,

proximity, continuity, similarity, closure



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o Loudness is a distance cue

o Differences in loudness and/or time of arrival of auditory stimuli to the two ears allows us to

estimate direction

4. Other Senses

Taste

o Chemicals stimulate receptors (inside taste buds) on tongue, throat, and roof of mouth

▪ Papillae--bumps on tongue, contain taste buds

▪ Taste receptors are replaced every 10 days--number of taste buds and

receptor cells declines with age

o Four basic tastes: salty, sour, bitter, sweet

▪ Each taste produced by a different type of chemical

▪ Each can be perceived wherever there are receptors

▪ Flavors are a combination of the four, but unclear how this occurs

▪ Natural tastes--preference for sweet

▪ Taste influenced by smell, culture, individual differences, temperature,

texture

▪ There are genetic differences in sensitivity to certain tastes

Smell

o The sense of smell is called olfaction

o Receptors are millions of specialized neurons embedded in a mucous membrane in upper part of

nasal passage; respond to chemical molecules in the air

o Signals travel from receptors to olfactory bulb in the brain

o Not well understood--no agreement on which smells are basic; there may be a thousand different

receptor types



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o Sense of smell allows us to sniff out danger--smoke, spoiled food, poison gases

o Odor preferences influenced by culture, context, and experience

Senses of the skin

o Skin protects innards, helps identify objects, involved in intimacy, serves as boundary

o Skin senses include: touch (pressure), warmth, cold, and pain

▪ No correspondence among four sensations and types of receptors, except

for pressure

▪ Many aspects of touch continue to baffle scientists

The mystery of pain

o Pain differs from the other skin senses in that removal of stimulus doesnt always terminate

sensation

o Chronic pain puts stress on the body

o Gate-control theory of pain

▪ To experience pain sensation, impulses must pass a gate to central

nervous system

▪ The gate is made of neurons that either transmit or block pain message

▪ Chronic pain results when fibers that close the gate are damaged

o The neuromatrix theory of pain

▪ Gate-control theory can't explain phantom pain

o The brain can generate pain without external stimulation

o The neuromatrix gives us a sense of our own bodies

o Abnormal activity can occur in the neuromatrix as a result of

memories and expectations



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The environment within

o Kinesthesis--tells us about location and movement of body parts using pain and pressure

receptors in muscles, joints, and tendons

o Equilibrium--gives information about position and motion of the body as a whole using three

semicircular canals in the inner ear

5. Perceptual Powers: Origins And Influences

Inborn abilities and perceptual lessons

o Studies with animals show that experience during a critical period may ensure survival of skills

present at birth

o Research concludes that infants are born with many perceptual abilities

▪ Ability to detect edges, angles, sizes, and colors

▪ Visual cliff experiment shows depth perception by 2 months of age

▪ Taste and smell preferences, ability to discriminate odors, distinguish

voices from other sounds, localize sound is present early

Psychological and cultural influences on perception

o Needs, beliefs, emotions, expectations (perceptual set) influence perception

o Culture affects perception by shaping stereotypes and directing attention

6. Puzzles Of Perception

Subliminal perception

o Evidence exists for perceptual processing without awareness

o A visual stimulus of which one is not aware can influence responses

o Evidence for influence of nonconscious processes in memory, thinking, decision making

o ubliminal perception is the perception of stimuli that are presented at below-threshold levels

o Subliminal stimuli can affect responses to simple stimuli, but there is no empirical evidence of

subliminal persuasion



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Extrasensory perception: Reality or illusion

o Reported ESP experiences include telepathy and precognition

o Evidence or coincidence

▪ Most evidence for ESP comes from unreliable anecdotal accounts

▪ Parapsychology: Field concerned with the study of ESP

▪ Studies under controlled conditions by parapsychologists

o Some positive results found but there were methodological

problems and results have not been replicated

o There is presently no empirical evidence to support the existence of

any of the phenomena included in the definition of ESP

▪ Magicians trick us by relying on the tendency of the mind to impose its

own interpretation on perceptions

Topic : Learning And Conditioning

Topic Objective:


Understand the the two types of stimuli and the two types of responses that form the basis of

classical conditioning

Understand the process of extinction work in classical conditioning

Understand the stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination refer to in classical

conditioning

Understand the principles of classical conditioning contribute to acquired preferences and

acquired fears

Understand the principles of classical conditioning contribute to food aversions and reactions

to medical treatments

Understand the three types of consequences that a behavior might produce



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Understand the the difference between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement in

operant conditioning

Understand the extinction, generalization, and discrimination take place in operant

conditioning How are those processes different in classical conditioning

Understand the the difference between a continuous schedule of reinforcement and an

intermittent schedule of reinforcement

Understand the six reasons why punishment usually fails to change behavior

Understand the some circumstances under which reward might backfire

Understand the latent learning

Understand the observational learning


Learning: In the fields of neuropsychology, personal development and education, Learning

is one of the most important mental function of humans, animals and artificial cognitive

systems. It relies on the acquisition of different types of knowledge supported by perceived

information. It leads to the development of new capacities, skills, values, understanding, and

preferences. Its goal is the increasing of individual and group experience. Learning functions

can be performed by different brain learning processes, which depend on the mental

capacities of learning subject, the type of knowledge which has to be acquitted, as well as on

socio-cognitive and environmental circumstances.

Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of

behavior. Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning (also called

respondent conditioning, or Pavlovian conditioning) in that operant conditioning deals with

the modification of "voluntary behavior" or operant behavior. Operant behavior "operates" on

the environment and is maintained by its consequences, while classical conditioning deals

with the conditioning of respondent behaviors which are elicited by antecedent conditions.

Behaviors conditioned via a classical conditioning procedure are not maintained by

consequences.



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Key Points:

1. Introduction To Learning Concepts

Learning--any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs due to experience

Behaviorism--school of psychology that accounts for behavior in terms of observable events

Conditioning--involves forming associations between environmental stimuli and responses

o Classical conditioning

o Operant conditioning

Other theories reject the idea of omitting mental processes from explanations of human

behavior

o Social learning theories

o Cognitive theories

2. classical conditioning

New reflexes from old

o Pavlov was the first to describe and document the form of learning we now call classical

conditioning

o Terminology

▪ Unconditioned stimulus (US)--stimulus eliciting an automatic or

reflexive response

▪ Unconditioned response (UR)--response that is automatically produced

▪ Conditioned stimulus (CS)--an originally neutral stimulus that comes to

elicit a conditioned response after being paired with a US

▪ Conditioned response (CR)--response that is elicited by a CS

o Learning occurs when a neutral stimulus is regularly paired with a US and the neutral stimulus

becomes a CS that elicits a CR that is similar to the original, unlearned one

o Classical conditioning is also called Pavlovian or respondent conditioning



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Principles of classical conditioning

o Extinction--when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned

stimulus, the conditioned response eventually disappears

o Spontaneous recovery--after a response has been extinguished, it may spontaneously reappear

after the passage of time, with exposure to the conditioned stimulus

o Higher-order conditioning--a neutral stimulus can become a conditioned stimulus by being

paired with an already established conditioned stimulus

o Stimulus generalization--after a stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus for some response,

similar stimuli may produce the same reaction

o Stimulus discrimination--different responses are triggered by stimuli that resemble the

conditioned stimulus in some way

What is actually learned in classical conditioning

o For effective conditioning to occur, it is not enough to pair the stimuli; the neutral stimulus must

reliably signal the unconditioned one

o Conditioning is less certain in everyday life

3. classical conditioning in real life

Learning to like

Learning to fear

o Some things may be more easily learned because of a biological predisposition based on

evolutionary considerations

o Little Albert example

o Therapy techniques that have developed to reverse classically conditioned

fears include counterconditioning and systematic desensitization

Accounting for taste--food and odor likes and dislikes

Reacting to medical treatments



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4. operant conditioning

The birth of radical behaviorism

o Introduced at the turn of the twentieth century

o Thorndike observed that behavior is controlled by its consequences

o B.F. Skinner--behavior is explainable by looking outside of the individual

The consequences of behavior

o A response can lead to three types of consequences: neutral consequences, reinforcers, (increase

the probability that the response they follow will recur), and punishers (make the response they

follow less likely to recur)

o Consequences are most effective when there is no delay between response and consequence

o Primary and secondary reinforcers and punishers

▪ Primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs

▪ Primary punishers are inherently unpleasant

▪ Secondary reinforcers are reinforcing through association with other

(possibly primary) reinforcers

▪ Secondary punishers are punishing through association with other

punishers

o Positive and negative reinforcers and punishers

▪ Reinforcers--always increase the likelihood of a response

o Positive reinforcement--something pleasant is presented

o Negative reinforcement--something unpleasant is removed

▪ Punishers--decrease the likelihood of a response

o Positive punishment--something unpleasant occurs



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o Negative punishment--something pleasant is removed

5. principles of operant conditioning

Skinner boxes and cumulative recorders are often used when conditioning animals

Extinction--a previously learned response stops occurring because it is no longer reinforced

o Spontaneous recovery is the return of a response that has been extinguished

Generalization and discrimination

o Stimulus generalization--a response occurs to stimuli that resemble the stimuli present during the

original learning

o Stimulus discrimination--the ability to distinguish between similar stimuli and to respond only to

the one that results in the reinforcer

o Discriminative stimulus is a signal whether a response will pay off; it is said to exert stimulus

control over the response because it signals whether the conditions in which the response will

be reinforced are present

Schedule of reinforcement--the pattern of delivery of reinforcements; can have powerful

effects on rate, form, and timing of behavior

o Continuous reinforcement--reinforcing a response each time it occurs; most effective for

initial learning

o Partial or intermittent schedules--reinforcement occurs only after a certain amount of time has

passed or only after a certain number of responses have been made

o Superstitious behavior can be learned when behavior is coincidentally reinforced

o Reinforcement on an intermittent schedule makes a response more resistant to extinction

when reinforcement is discontinued

Shaping--method of getting a response to occur in the first place by reinforcing successive

approximations to the desired response

Principles of conditioning are limited by genetic dispositions and physical characteristics

Skinner: The man and the myth



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6. operant conditioning in real life

Operant principles may explain why people do not always behave as we or they would like

Behavior modification--the use of classical and operant conditioning techniques in real-

world settings

Pros and cons of punishment

o Punishment is widely used as a means of controlling behavior; punishment is appropriate in

situations where the individual's behavior is dangerous

o Punishment is often administered inappropriately or in a state of rage

o The recipient often responds with anxiety, fear, or rage

o Effects can be temporary and may depend on the presence of the punisher

o Most behavior is hard to punish immediately

o Punishment conveys little information about how to behave differently

o An action intended to punish may be reinforcing because it brings attention

Guidelines

o No physical abuse

o Describe appropriate behavior

o Reinforce desirable behavior as soon as possible

o Alternative to punishment--combine extinction of undesirable behavior with the

reinforcement of desirable behavior

The problems with reward

o Rewards must be tied to the activity being reinforced

o Intrinsic reinforcers involve enjoyment of the task itself, feelings of accomplishment

o Extrinsic reinforcement may undermine intrinsic reinforcement because the behavior is now

viewed as work, so they should be used sparingly

7. learning and the mind

Latent learning

o Tolmans experiment with rats demonstrated latent learning



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o Latent learning is learning that is not immediately revealed through a change in behavior

o Latent learning occurs without obvious reinforcement

o Perceptions of the model and of themselves influence individuals learning

Social-cognitive learning theory

o The importance of observational learning was demonstrated by Bandura

o Media violence in movies, on television, in video games spotlights these issues

Topic : Behavior In Social And Cultural Context

Topic Objective:


Understand the distinctions among a norm, a role, and a culture

Understand the four reasons why people obey the commands of an authority figure

Understand the difference between a situational attribution and a dispositional attribution, and

fundamental attribution error highlight this distinction

Understand the six conditions under which coercive persuasion should be effective

Under what circumstances is groupthink likely to occur

Understand the diffusion of responsibility and deindividuation each predict antisocial

behavior by individuals in a group

Understand the six situational factors that predict acting courageously in the face of

opposition

Understand the ethnic identity, and how might it contribute to ethnocentrism

Understand the stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination differ from one another

Understand the three broad origins of prejudice

Understand the four ways of measuring prejudicial attitudes

Understand the four conditions that promote the reduction of prejudice and inter-group

conflict


Social Behavior: In biology, psychology and sociology social behavior is behavior directed

towards society, or taking place between, members of the same species. Behavior such as



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predation which involves members of different species is not social. While many social

behaviors are communication (provoke a response, or change in behavior, without acting

directly on the receiver) communication between members of different species is not social

behavior.

In sociology, "behavior" itself means an animal-like activity devoid of social meaning or

social context, in contrast to "social behavior" which has both. In a sociological hierarchy,

social behavior is followed by social action, which is directed at other people and is designed

to induce a response. Further along this ascending scale are social interaction and social

relation. In conclusion, social behavior is a process of communicating.

Key Points:

1. Social And Cultural Psychology

Social psychologists study how social roles, attitudes, relationships, and groups influence

people to do things they would not necessarily do on their own

Cultural psychologists study the origins of roles, attitudes, and group norms in peoples ethnic,

regional, and national communities

2. Roles And Rules

Definitions

o Norms--rules about how people are supposed to act

o Roles--positions in society that are regulated by norms about how people in those positions

should behave

Milgrams obedience study

o Method

▪ Subjects thought they were in an experiment about the effect of

punishment on learning, and were instructed to give increasing levels

of shock to another subject every time an error was made

▪ No one received shocks, but the subjects did not know this



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o Results

▪ Every subject administered at least one shock to the learner; two-thirds

obeyed the experimenter and gave all the levels of shock, even though

they thought the victim was in pain

▪ Many subjects were visibly upset by being asked to administer shocks,

but continued anyway

▪ Subsequent studies examined conditions for disobedience

o nothing the victim said or did decreased the subjects compliance

o participants were more likely to disobey orders to give shocks

when:

o Conclusions

▪ Obedience is a function of the situation, not of personalities

▪ The nature of the relationship to authority influences obedience

Stanford Prison Study (Zimbardo)

o Method

▪ College students were randomly assigned to the roles of prisoners or

guards

▪ No further instructions were given on how to behave

o Results

▪ Some prisoners quickly became distressed, helpless, and panicky; others

became rebellious and angry

▪ Half of the prisoners begged to be let out of the study after a few days



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▪ Guards acted like guards; one-third became tyrannical

▪ Guards seemed to enjoy their roles

▪ Researchers terminated the study early, because they had not expected

such a quick transformation from college student to prisoner or guard

o Conclusions

▪ Critics said students knew those roles from the media and were only

acting

▪ Researchers say that is their point--peoples behavior depends in part on

their roles; situations can outweigh personality

Why people obey

o In both studies described above, subjects behaviors depended on their assigned roles

o Factors that cause people to obey when they would rather not

▪ Legitimization of authority, which allows people to feel absolved of

responsibility for their actions

▪ Routinization--behavior becomes normalized

▪ Wanting to be polite--people do not want to rock the boat or appear rude

▪ Entrapment--obedience escalates through a commitment to a course of

action

3. Social Influences On Beliefs

Social cognition--area in social psychology concerned with social influences on thought,

memory, perception, and other cognitive processes

Attributions

o Attribution theory--theory that people are motivated to explain their own and others behavior

by attributing causes of that behavior to a situation or a disposition



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▪ Situational attributions--identify the cause of an action as something in

the environment

▪ Dispositional attributions--identify the cause of an action as something in

the person, such as a trait or motive

▪ Fundamental attribution error

o Tendency to overestimate personality factors and underestimate the

influence of the situation when explaining someone elses

behavior

o More prevalent in Western cultures

o Self-serving bias--when explaining ones own behavior, people take

credit for good actions and attribute the bad ones to the situation

o Just-world hypothesis

o Most human actions are determined by both the situation and personality

Attitudes

o Attitudes are relatively stable opinions containing a cognitive element and an emotional

element

o Affected by many social and environmental influences

▪ Some arise from the characteristic attitudes of each generation

▪ Events that occur when a person is between the ages of 16 to 24 appear

to be critical for the formation of generational identity

o Friendly persuasion

▪ Repetition of information increases the likelihood it will be believed--

called the validity effect



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▪ Exposure to an argument from an attractive person is also persuasive

▪ Pairing a message with something pleasant, such as food, also increases

persuasion

▪ Fear

o Often causes people to resist arguments that are in their own best

interest

o May aid persuasion if the information produces moderate anxiety

levels and if message provides information on how to avoid the

danger

o Coercive persuasion (brainwashing) involves the following processes:

▪ The person is put under physical or emotional distress

▪ The persons problems are defined in simplistic terms and simple answers

are offered repeatedly

▪ The leader offers unconditional love, acceptance, and attention

▪ A new identity based on the group is created

▪ The person is subjected to entrapment

▪ The persons access to information is severely controlled. Attitudes and

behavior can affect each other

4. Individuals In Groups

Conformity--taking action or adopting attitudes as a result of real or imagined pressures

o Aschs conformity study--judgment of line length--showed that many people will conform to

incorrect judgments

o Influences on conformity



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▪ Prevailing social norms

▪ Culture--more conformity in group-oriented cultures than in

individualistic cultures

▪ Conditions of study--conformity increases when:

Groupthink

o Groupthink--the tendency for all members of the group to think alike and suppress dissent

▪ Occurs when the need for agreement overwhelms the need for the wisest

decision

▪ Symptoms of groupthink

o Illusion of invulnerability

o Self-censorship

o Direct pressure on dissenters to conform

o There is an illusion of unanimity

▪ Groupthink is less likely when:

o Conditions explicitly encourage and reward the expression of doubt

and dissent

o Groups decision is based on majority rule rather than demand for

unanimity

The anonymous crowd

o Diffusion of responsibility

▪ Tendency of individuals to fail to take action because they believe

someone else will do so



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▪ Bystander apathy reflects diffusion of responsibility

o Social loafing

▪ Diffusion of responsibility in work groups

▪ Individuals slow down and let others work harder

▪ Does not happen in all groups

o Deindividuation

▪ Losing all awareness of individuality and sense of self

▪ Increases under anonymous conditions

▪ In anonymous situations, people are more likely to conform to the norms

of the situation

Altruism and dissent

o Altruism--a willingness to take selfless or dangerous action on behalf of others

o Factors that predict independent action and altruism

▪ The individual perceives the need for intervention or help

▪ The individual decides to take responsibility

▪ The individual decides that the costs of doing nothing outweigh the costs

of getting involved

▪ The individual has an ally; the presence of another dissenter increases the

likelihood of dissent

▪ The individual becomes entrapped; once initial steps have been taken,

most people will increase their commitment



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5. Us Versus Them: Group Identity

Ethnic identity

o Personal identity--a sense of self that is based on our own unique traits and history

o Social identities--aspects of our self-concepts that are based on nationality, ethnicity, religion,

and social roles

▪ Many people face a dilemma of balancing ethnic identity (close

affiliation with a religious or ethnic group) with acculturation

(identifying with and feeling part of the dominant culture)

▪ Four patterns of ethnic identity and acculturation are possible:

o Bicultural--strong ties to ones ethnicity and larger culture

o Assimilated--weak ethnic feelings, strong acculturation

o Ethnic separatists--strong ethnic identity, weak acculturation

o Marginal--connected neither to ones ethnicity nor the dominant

culture

Ethnocentrism

o The belief that ones own culture or ethnic group is superior

o Generates us-them thinking--example of Tajfel study

Stereotypes

o Summary impression of a group in which all members of that group are viewed as sharing a

common trait or traits

o They help us quickly process new information, retrieve memories, and organize experience

o Stereotypes lead to distortions of reality in three ways:

▪ They accentuate differences between groups



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▪ They produce selective perception

▪ They underestimate differences within other groups

▪ Stereotypes stem from cultural values, which affect how people evaluate

action

6. Group Conflict And Prejudice

Consists of a negative stereotype of a group and a strong emotional dislike of its members

The origins of prejudice

o It can ward off feelings of doubt and fear

o Prejudice is a tonic for low self-esteem

o Economic benefits and justification of majority group dominance in times of job competition

Reducing conflict and prejudice

o Both sides have equal status and economic standing

o Both sides have opportunities to work and socialize together, formally and informally

o Both sides must have the moral, legal, and economic support of the authorities

o Both sides cooperate in working toward a common goal

7. The Question Of Human Nature

Bad people do bad things, but good people (in certain circumstances) also do bad things

o The person in the situationthe eternal dialogue

In Section 3 of this course you will cover these topics:Thinking And Intelligence

Memory

Emotion



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Topic : Thinking And Intelligence

Topic Objective:


Understand the distinctions among a concept, prototype, proposition, schema, and mental

image

Understand the evidence is there that many types of thinking and decision making occur

outside of conscious awareness How do the concepts of mindlessness, subconscious

processes, and non conscious processes contribute to our understanding of this phenomenon

Understand the difference between deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning

Understand the difference between an algorithm and a heuristic

Understand the six main barriers to reasoning rationally

Understand the availability heuristic, the hindsight bias, and the confirmation bias

Understand a mental set

Understand the three conditions that contribute to cognitive dissonance reduction

Why were IQ tests originally invented How was IQ originally measured How is IQ measured

currently

Understand the evidence is there that cultural background affects performance on intelligence

tests

Understand the three components of the triarchic theory of intelligence

Understand the evidence that intelligence is influenced by both genetics and the environment


Thinking: Thinkingconsists of mental processes of discernment, analysis and evaluation. It

includes possible processes of reflecting upon a tangible or intangible item in order to form a

solid judgment that reconciles scientific evidence with common sense. In contemporary usage

"critical" has a certain negative connotation that does not apply in the present case. Though

the term "analytical thinking" may seem to convey the idea more accurately, critical thinking

clearly involves synthesis, evaluation, and reconstruction of thinking, in addition to analysis.

Intelligence: Intelligence(also called intellect) is an umbrella term used to describe a

property of the mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason,

to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to



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learn. There are several ways to define intelligence. In some cases, intelligence may include

traits such as creativity, personality, character, knowledge, or wisdom. However, most

psychologists prefer not to include these traits in the definition of intelligence.

Key Points:

1. Thought: Using What We Know

The elements of cognition

o Concept--a mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities

having common properties

▪ Concepts simplify information about the world so that we can make

decisions effectively

▪ Prototypes are instances that are the most representative example of a

concept. We use prototypes to decide if something belongs to a

concept

▪ Concepts are the building blocks of thought

o Proposition--unit of meaning made up of concepts that express a unitary idea

o Cognitive schemas--propositions that are linked together in networks of knowledge,

associations, beliefs, and expectations--serve as mental models of the world

o Mental images--mental representations formed through any of the senses

How conscious is thought

o Subconscious processes--outside of awareness but can be made conscious; include many

automatic routines; enable us to perform more than one task simultaneously

o Nonconscious processes--outside of awareness but affect behavior; intuition

o Mindlessness--acting, speaking, making decisions without really processing relevant

information



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2. Reasoning Rationally

o Reasoning--purposeful mental activity that involves operating on information in order to

reach conclusions; drawing inferences from observations, facts, or assumptions

o Formal reasoning: Algorithms and logic

▪ Algorithms--set of procedures guaranteed to produce a solution, even if

you dont know how they really work

▪ Deductive reasoning--if the premises are true, the conclusion must be

true

▪ Inductive reasoning--the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the

premises, although the premises support the conclusion; conclusion

may not be true

Informal reasoning: Heuristics and dialectical thinking--information may be incomplete;

many viewpoints compete; no established problem-solving procedures

o Heuristics--rules of thumb that suggest a course of action without guaranteeing a correct

solution

o Dialectical reasoning--ability to evaluate opposing points of view

Reflective judgment--critical thinking; the ability to evaluate and integrate evidence, relate

evidence to theory or opinion, and to reach and defend conclusions

General outline of seven cognitive stages of King and Kitchener

o Prereflective stages--assume a correct answer exists and is knowable through the senses or

from authorities; dont distinguish between knowledge and belief, or belief and evidence

o Middle or quasi-reflective stages--recognize that some things cannot be known with certainty,

but unsure how to deal with this

o Last stages of reflective judgment--understand that although some things cannot be known

with certainty, some judgments are more valid than others



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3. Barriers To Reasoning Rationally

Exaggerating the improbable; influenced by the availability heuristic (the tendency to judge

the probability of an event by how easy it is to think of examples or instances)

Avoiding loss--people making decisions try to avoid or minimize risks and losses

Fairness biasnotions of equity and fairness influence reasoning

Hindsight bias--believing that an outcome was predictable all along

Confirmation bias--paying attention to information that confirms what we believe while

ignoring information that opposes our beliefs

Mental set--tendency to try to solve new problems using procedures that worked before on

similar problems

The need for cognitive consistency

o Cognitive dissonance is a state of tension that occurs when a person simultaneously holds two

cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent or holds a belief that is inconsistent with the

persons behavior

o People are motivated to reduce dissonance by changing a belief or behavior or by

rationalizing

o Conditions under which people are most likely to reduce dissonance

▪ When people feel they have freely made a decision

▪ When what people do violates their self-concept

▪ When people put a lot of effort into a decision and the results are less

than they hoped for--justification of effort

Overcoming cognitive biases

o When people have some expertise in an area

o When decisions have real-life consequences

o When people understand the bias



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4. Measuring Intelligence: The Psychometric Approach

Disagreements exist on the nature of intelligence

o Factor analysis is a procedure used to identify which abilities underlie performance on certain

tasks on an intelligence test

o Some believe in a general ability, or g factor, underlying all other abilities

Invention of IQ tests

o Focus on peoples performance on standardized mental tests

▪ Achievement test--measures skills and knowledge that have been taught

▪ Aptitude test--measures ability to acquire skills and knowledge in the

future

o Binets brainstorm--a test to identify slow learners

▪ Measured a childs mental age (MA)--intellectual development relative to

other childrens

▪ A later scoring system divided mental age by chronological age (CA) to

yield intelligence quotient (IQ)

▪ The scoring system was revised again, using the normal distribution as

the criterion

▪ Test was brought to the United States, and Terman revised it and

established norms for U.S.children; became Stanford-Binet

Intelligence Scale

▪ Wechsler developed test for adults (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, or

WAIS) and children (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children or

WISC); provides both general IQ



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▪ Recognized that the test merely sampled intelligence--didnt measure

everything covered by the term and should not be confused with

intelligence itself

o Problems with the tests and their use in the United States

▪ Tests used in different ways and for different purposes in France and in

the United States

▪ Overlooked background and experience differences prevalent in the

U.S.population that resulted in the tests favoring certain groups

▪ Used incorrectly to categorize people according to their "natural" ability

o Culture-free and culture-fair tests

▪ Tried to address biases present in other IQ tests

▪ Culture-free tests--nonverbal tests

▪ Culture-fair tests--tried to eliminate the influence of culture

▪ Stereotype threat creates anxiety, which can adversely affect

performance

o Beyond the IQ test--some conclusions

▪ IQ tests put some groups at a disadvantage, yet measrue skills and

knowledge useful in the classroom

▪ Scores on IQ tests may be poor predictors of how intelligently people

behave in real life

5. Dissecting Intelligence: The Cognitive Approach

Emphasizes problem-solving strategies

Sternbergs triarchic theory of intelligence--three aspects



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o Componential intelligence--internal information-processing strategies; the only one measured

by most IQ tests; involves recognizing problems, selecting a method to solve them, mastering

and carrying out the strategy, and evaluating the result

o Metacognition--part of Sternbergs componential intelligence--knowledge or awareness of

own cognitive processes and ability to monitor and control those processes

o Experiential intelligence--creativity and ability to transfer skill to new situations

o Contextual intelligence--practical application of intelligence; requires that people take into

account different contexts in which they find themselves

o The experiential and contextual components are not measured on most IQ tests

▪ Allow us to use tacit knowledge--strategies for success that are not

formally taught, but must be inferred

▪ Tacit knowledge scores predict effectiveness on the job and academic

success

Domains of intelligence--Gardners theory of multiple intelligences

o Seven domains: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic,

intrapersonal, and interpersonal intelligence

o These are independent talents and may have their own neural structure

o Intra- and interpersonal intelligences correspond to what some psychologists call emotional

intelligence

▪ Ability to identify own and other peoples emotions accurately

▪ Ability to express emotions clearly

▪ Ability to regulate one's own and others emotions

Motivation, hard work, and intellectual success

o Terman study--showed that motivation was determining factor in life success

o Study by Stevenson and colleagues: Asian students outperformed American students



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▪ American parents, teachers, and children were more likely than Asians to

believe math ability was innate; Asian teachers saw studying hard as

the key to success

▪ American parents had lower standards for performance and for schools

than did Asian parents

▪ American students did not value education as much as Asian students

6. Animal Minds

Animal intelligence

o Kohler demonstrated problem solving in chimps

o Cognitive ethology--the study of cognitive processes in nonhuman animals

▪ Some animals show ability to use rudimentary tools

▪ Some animals show some mathematical abilities

Animals and language

o Early efforts to teach language to primates had good success followed by skepticism

o Newer research better controlled; has found that animals can develop some language abilities

▪ Some chimps use signs, symbols, some understanding of words and

sentences, spontaneous communication, learning without formal

training

▪ Some evidence nonprimates can acquire aspects of language

o Dolphins have been able to respond to two artificial languages

o Alex the African grey parrot shows some language ability

Thinking about the thinking of animals

o Meaning of the studies questioned; concerns about anthropomorphism a anthropocentrism



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Topic : Memory

Topic Objective:


Understand the memory that largely a reconstructive process rather than an accurate

recording process

Understand the flashbulb memories

Understand the four a circumstance under which confabulation is likely to take place

Understand the difference between recognition and recall Understand the difference between

explicit memory and implicit memory

Understand the three boxes in the three-box model of memory

Understand the sensory register What role does it play in memory

Understand the capacity limits of short-term memory What is chunking, and how does it help

overcome these capacity limits

Understand the differences among procedural, declarative, semantic, and episodic memories

Understand the long-term potentiation contribute to the formation of memories

Understand the some effective strategies for encoding information for storage in long-term

memory

Understand the decay, replacement, and interference each contribute to forgetting

Understand the evidence is there both for and against the existence and accuracy of repressed

memories

Understand the four explanations for childhood amnesia


Memory: In psychology, memoryis an organism's ability to store, retain, and subsequently

retrieve information. Traditional studies of memory began in the realms of philosophy,

including techniques of artificially enhancing the memory. The late nineteenth and early

twentieth century put memory within the paradigms of cognitive psychology. In recent

decades, it has become one of the principal pillars of a branch of science called cognitive

neuroscience, an interdisciplinary link between cognitive psychology and neuroscience.



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Key Points:

1. Reconstructing The Past

The manufacture of memory--a reconstructive process

o Source amnesia--other information is integrated into memories and cannot be distinguished

from original memory

o Flashbulb memories--memories of emotional events that seem photographic--are not always

complete or accurate, especially over time

o The conditions of confabulation (remembering something incorrectly)

▪ Person has thought about imagined event many times

▪ The image of the event contains a lot of details

▪ The event is easy to imagine

2 .Memory And The Power Of Suggestion

The eyewitness on trial

o People reconstruct memories, so eyewitness testimony can be incorrect

o Errors are particularly likely to occur when the suspects ethnicity differs from that of the

witness

o Recollection of past events is influenced by the way a question is asked

Studies on childrens testimony describe the conditions under which a child might be

suggestible

o Preschoolers are more suggestible and more likely to have source amnesia than school-aged

children

o Pressure to conform to expectations and a desire to please an interviewer lead to more errors



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3. In Pursuit Of Memory

Measuring memory

o Ways to measure explicit memory (conscious recollection of an event or item of information)

▪ Recall--the ability to retrieve information that is not present

▪ Recognition--the ability to identify information you previously

experienced

o Ways to measure implicit memory (information that affects our thoughts and actions even

when we do not consciously or intentionally remember it)

▪ Priming--exposure to one set of information affects answers on a

different type of task

▪ Relearning method--relearning a previously learned task and measuring

savings (also a test of explicit memory)

Models of memory

o Information processing models are based on computers--we encode information, store it, and

retrieve it

▪ After encoding, next step is storage (maintenance of memory over time)

▪ After storage, then retrieval (recovery of stored memory)

o Storage takes place in three interacting systems (three-box model)

▪ Sensory memory--retains incoming information for a second or two

▪ Short-term memory (STM)--holds limited amount of information for

about 30 seconds

▪ Long-term memory (LTM)--accounts for longer storage

o Parallel distributed processing model--rejects information-processing models



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▪ Maintains that memory is different than a computer; the human brain

processes information simultaneously

▪ Considers knowledge to be stored in connections among thousands of

units

5. The Three-Box Model Of Memory

Sensory register: Fleeting impressions

o Includes separate memory subsystems for each sense

o Stores information as visual images (up to 1/2 sec.) and auditory images (up to 2 sec.)

o Acts as a holding bin until we select items for attention

o Pattern recognition occurs during transfer of information from sensory memory to short-term

memory

o Information that does not go on to STM is lost forever

Short-term memory: Memorys scratch pad

o Holds information up to about 30 seconds as an encoded representation

o Transfers information to LTM or information decays and is lost

o Holds information retrieved from long-term memory for temporary use, which is why this

part of memory is often referred to as working memory

o Holds seven (plus or minus two) chunks of information

o Memory limitations may be overcome by chunking--grouping small bits of information into

larger units, using our knowledge

Long-term memory: Final destination

o Organization in long-term memory

▪ By semantic category

o Research has shown that people recall information by category

o Clinical data supports semantic organization



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o Network models assume that information is organized

semantically

▪ By sound and form of words--evidence from tip-of-the-tongue states

o Contents of long-term memory

▪ Procedural memories--knowing how

▪ Declarative memories--knowing that

o Semantic memories--internal representations of the world,

independent of context

o Episodic memories--representations of personally experienced

events

o Serial position effect provides evidence for the existence of short- and long-term memories

▪ The three-box model has been used to explain recency and primacy

effects

o Primacy effect--tendency to remember items that occur early on a

list--thought to be due to transfer of items to LTM

o Recency effect--tendency to remember items that occur near the

end of a list--thought to be due to items still being in STM at time

of recall

▪ Cannot fully explain the recency effect

Changes in neurons and synapses

o In STM, changes within neurons temporarily alter neurotransmitter release

o LTM changes involve permanent structural changes in the brain

▪ Long-term potentiation occursincreases synaptic responsiveness



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▪ Consolidation is the time required for physical changes to occur in LTM;

until this occurs, memories in LTM are vulnerable to disruption

Locating memories

o STM tasks frontal lobes

o Formation of long-term declarative memories hippocampus

o Encoding of pictures and words prefrontal cortex, association areas of cortex

o Procedural memories of classically conditioned responses to unpleasant stimuli cerebellum

o Many more brain areas associated with memory are currently being investigated

Hormones and memory

o Adrenalin connectionhormones released during stress enhance memory, but high levels of

those hormones interfere with ordinary learning (especially with females)

o Sweet memoriesthe effect of these hormones may be due to glucose

o Still many unknowns about the connection between hormones and memory

6. How We Remember

Some kinds of information are encoded automatically (e.g., location of objects in space),

while others require effort (e.g., learning information from a textbook)

Rehearsal--review or practice of to-be-remembered material

Techniques

o Maintenance rehearsal (rote repetition)--maintains information in STM but does not lead to

LTM retention

o Elaborative rehearsal (elaboration of encoding)--associating new items of information with

information that has already been stored in LTM

o Deep processing--processing the meaning of what you are trying to remember

o Mnemonics--strategies for encoding, storing, and retaining information

7. Why We Forget

The decay theory--holds that memories fade with time if they are not used; does not apply

well to lapses in LTM



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Replacement--new memories for old--new information sometimes wipes out old information

Interference

o Retroactive interference--new information interferes with old

o Proactive interference--old information interferes with new

Cue-dependent forgetting--forgetting due to lack of retrieval cues

o Retrieval cues are important for remembering

o Context or mental/physical states (state-dependent memory) can be retrieval cues

o We remember better when the material matches our current mood

The repression controversy

o Repression--pushing upsetting information into the unconscious mind (a controversial

proposition)

▪ False memories of sexual abuse can arise as a result of the use of

"recovered memory" techniques

▪ A court has ruled that recovered memories are not admisssible

▪ In some cases, it is posible to distiguish false from true memories of

abuse

8. Autobiographical Memories

Childhood amnesia: The missing years--the inability to remember things from the first years

of life

o May occur because brain areas involved in formation or storage of events are not well

developed until a few years after birth

o Several cognitive explanations have been offered for childhood amnesia

▪ Lack of a sense of self

▪ Impoverished encoding



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▪ A focus on the routine

▪ Differences between early and later cognitive schemas

Memory and narrative: The stories of our lives

o Narratives are a unifying theme to organize the events of our lives

o Narratives rely on memory, which is constructed

Memory and myth

Topic : Emotion

Topic Objective:


Understand the three main biological components of emotion

Understand the evidence is there that facial expressions of primary emotions have a universal

quality

Understand the four reasons why people from different cultures might disagree about the

meaning of a facial expression of emotion

Understand the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex each play a role in the experience of

emotions

Understand the attributions for an event shape our emotional reactions to that event

Understand the display rules

Understand who is likely to engage in emotion work as a requirement of a job or social status

Understand the evidence is there that people can discern emotional states from body language

other than facial expressions

Understand the five main areas in which the sexes differ in emotional experience

Understand the five factors that contribute to the ability to accurately read the emotional

signals of another person

Understand the North American women and men differ in their emotional expressiveness

Understand the overall conclusion can be drawn regarding the question, Which sex is more

emotional



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Emotion: An emotionis a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of

feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. It is a prime determinant of the sense of subjective well-

being and appears to play a central role in many human activities. As a result of this

generality, the subject has been explored in many, if not all of the human sciences and art

forms. There is much controversy concerning how emotions are defined and classified.

Key Points:

1 .Elements Of Emotion 1: The Body

The face of emotion

o Certain facial expressions are hard-wired

▪ Ekmans cross-cultural work identified seven universal expressions:

anger, happiness, fear, surprise, disgust, sadness, and contempt

▪ Neuro-cultural theory--universal face muscle physiology and cultural

variations contribute to the facial expression of emotion

▪ Facial expressions that convey genuine emotions may use different sets

of muscles and last for different durations than faked facial

expressions

▪ Facial expressions have evolved to express internal states and

communicate with others

▪ Facial expressions of parents have important impact on infants

o Facial-feedback hypothesis suggests that ones own facial expression influences the

experience of emotion

▪ Studies of mimicry and contagion stem from this line of research

o Facial expressions occur in a social and cultural context



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▪ Familiarity affects the ability to decode facial expressions

▪ Expressions can mean different things at different times for different

posers

▪ Cultures differ in the amount of attention paid to expressions

▪ Expressions can be used deceptively

The brain and emotion

o The amygdala plays a crucial and central role in emotional experience

▪ Source of fear-related emotions appears to be the amygdala

▪ Cortex allows us to override emotional response triggered by amygdala

o Right hemisphere is activated when processing incoming emotional information and

expressing emotion

▪ Two cerebral hemispheres process different emotions; left = positive

emotions, right = negative emotions

o Mirror neurons play a critical part in empathy and imitation

Hormones and emotion

o Epinephrine and norepinephrine produced by adrenal gland activate the sympathetic nervous

system

o At high hormone levels, we may feel flooded by an emotion, but we can learn to control our

actions

o Both physiological similarities and differences exist between emotions



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2 .Elements Of Emotion 2: The Mind

Explanations of events predict emotion better than events themselves

Many emotions distinguished by particular thoughts or perceptions--they cannot be

experienced without a sense of self and an understanding of social expectations (e.g., envy

and jealousy, shame and guilt)

3. Elements Of Emotion 3: The Culture

Cultural differences exist in norms; norm violations lead to the experience of anger

How culture shapes emotions

o Many psychologists believe that it is possible to identify a number of primary emotions that

are experienced universally

o Secondary emotions are culture-specific

o Many think searching for primary emotions is misleading and masks the influence of culture

on all emotions

▪ What is considered basic or primary is influenced by culture

▪ Culture determines much of what people feel emotional about

Communicating emotion

o Display rules--the cultural rules that govern how and when emotions may be expressed--

specify what to do when feeling an emotion

o Body language is important in the communication of emotion

o Some rules tell us how and when we should show an emotion we do not feel called emotion

work

4. Putting The Elements Together: Emotion And Gender

Seeming gender differences in emotionality may be explained by differing expectations for

men and women

o These differences may show up in reactivity, cognition, expression, emotion work

In Section 4 of this course you will cover these topics:



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Motivation

Theories Of Personality

Development Over The Lifespan

Topic : Motivation

Topic Objective:


Understand the psychologists define motivation

Understand the is the bodys set point, and how does it contribute to weight gain and weight

maintenance

Understand the kinds of cultural factors contribute to perceptions of weight .

Understand the anorexia and bulimia

Understand the three attachment styles

Understand the hormones influence sexual response

Understand the evidence is there that women and men differ in their sex drives

Understand the six motives for having sex

Understand the four motives for rape

Understand the is a sexual script

Understand the three conditions that allow goal-setting to improve motivation and

performance

Understand the is the difference between approach goals and avoidance goals

Understand the is the difference between performance goals and mastery goals

Understand the three kinds of common motivational conflicts


Motivation: Motivationis the reason or reasons for engaging in a particular behavior,

especially human behavior as studied in philosophy, conflict, economics, psychology, and

neuropsychology. These reasons may include basic needs such as food or a desired object,

hobbies, goal, state of being, or ideal. The motivation for a behavior may also be attributed to

less-apparent reasons such as altruism or morality. According to Geen, motivation refers to

the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of human behavior.



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Key Points:

1. Introduction

Motivation an inferred process within a person or animal that causes that organism to move

toward a goal

Intrinsic motivation enjoyment of an activity for its own sake

Extrinsic motivation pursuit of goals for external rewards (e.g., money, praise)

2. The Hungry Animal: Motives To Eat

The biology of weight

o Set point--the weight one stays at when not consciously trying to gain or lose weight

▪ Basal metabolism rate--the rate at which the body burns calories

▪ Fat cells store fat for energy; they can change in size but not in number

▪ When a heavy person diets, the metabolism slows down; when a thin

person overeats, the metabolism speeds up

o Twin and adoption studies estimate the heritability of body weight and shape at between 40

and 70 percent

o Other studies on humans provide further evidence for the importance of genes

o Researchers have isolated a genetic variation in mice that causes these animals to become

obese

Culture, gender, and weight

o Culture influences when, what, and with whom we eat

o Many people today are eating foods high in fat and not exercising as much as in previous

times

o Culture affects people's notions of what the ideal body should look like

▪ The ideal in the Western hemisphere has been getting thinner, especially

for women



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▪ The big-breasted ideal tends to be fashionable in eras that celebrate

women's roles as mothers

▪ In eras when women have entered traditionally males spheres, they have

tried to look boyish and muscular

▪ In men, having a muscular body is a sign of affluence

o An obsession with weight can lead to eating disorders

▪ Evolution has programmed women for a reserve of fat necessary for

menstruation, childbearing, and so forth

▪ Bulimia--sufferer binges and then purges

▪ Anorexia nervosa--sufferer stops eating

▪ Some men abuse steroids and exercise compulsively because of a belief

that their bodies are "puny"

3. The Social Animal: Motives To Love

The biology of love

o Varieties of love

▪ Passionate versus companionate love

o Passionate = romantic love--intense, unstable, fragile, highly

sexualized

o Companionate = characterized by affection and trust

The psychology of love

o Attachment theory of love

▪ Research supports Ainsworths three attachment styles in adults: secure,

avoidant, anxious-ambivalent



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▪ Adult styles originate in infant-parent relationship

o Sternbergs trianglular theory of love

▪ Three ingredients: passion, intimacy, and commitment

▪ These basic ingredients may be combined in various ways to form new

styles

Gender, culture, and love

o No evidence that one sex loves more than the other

o Men and women differ in how they express love

▪ These differences are influenced by gender role expectations

▪ Gender differences are changing as womens roles change

4 .The Erotic Animal: Motives For Sex

The biology of desire

o Hormones and sexual response

▪ Testosterone promotes sexual desire in both sexes

▪ Testosterones role is a two-way street--testosterone contributes to sexual

arousal and sexual stimulation also produces higher levels of

testosterone

▪ Psychological factors are as important as testosterone

o Arousal and orgasm

▪ Kinsey et al. pointed out that males and females are very much alike in

anatomy and physiology

▪ Masters and Johnsons studies confirmed that male and female orgasms

are remarkably similar



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o Suggested that womens capacity for sexual response might even

surpass that of men (e.g., multiple orgasms)

o Did not do research to learn how sexual response might vary

according to culture and experience

o Physiological responses can be a result of fear, anger, or other

emotions

o Sex and the sex drive

▪ Men and women differ in sex drive, sexual desire, sexual behavior

▪ The origin of these differencesevolution or social learningis debatable

o Evolution and sex

▪ Sex differences in courtship and mating practices evolve in response to a

species's survival needs

o It is adaptive for men to inseminate as many women as possible

o Women are more discriminating, because they can conceive and

bear only a limited number of offspring

o The result is that men are more fickle and promiscuous, whereas

women are more devoted and faithful

▪ Evolutionary psychologists support their views with research that shows

that men are universally more violent than women, more interested in

youth and beauty, more jealous, and so forth

▪ Critics claim that this view is an after-the-fact explanation of a

stereotype; sexual behavior is extremely varied and changeable

The psychology of desire



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o The many motives for sex--enhancement, intimacy, coping, self-affirmation, partner

approval, peer approval

o Sexual coercion and rape

▪ Men and women differ in their perceptions of coercion

▪ In most cases, the rapist is known to the victim

▪ Fourteen percent of American women have been raped

▪ Rape is primarily an act of dominance and hostility

▪ Rapists may also be motivated by pressure to prove their masculinity

▪ Sexually aggressive males are characterized by a cluster of traits:

insecurity, defensiveness, and hostility toward women

The culture of desire--sexual motivation and behavior occur in a cultural context

o Men and women acquire notions of proper sexual behavior from cultural norms and parental

lessons

o Sexual attitudes, practices, and behavior are highly variable across cultures

o Sexual behavior is shaped by gender roles and sexual scripts

o As women become more self-supporting and able to control their fertility, the differences

between men and women become smaller

Gender, culture, and sex

o Lopsided sex ratios can lead to sex markets in some environments

5. The Competent Animal: Motives To Achieve

The effects of motivation on work

o Goals most likely to improve performance when three conditions are met

▪ The goal is specific



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▪ The goal is framed positively

▪ The goal is challenging but achievable

o Performance goals--people may stop trying to improve if they fail at these goals

o Learning and mastery goals--failure is interpreted as another learning experience

o Children acquire learning goals when they are praised for effort rather than ability

Expectations and self-efficacy

o Work harder if success expected; creates a self-fulfilling prophecy

o How hard you work for something depends on how much you want it, which depends on

your values

o Competence results from self-efficacy--conviction that you can accomplish what you set out

to do

The effects of work on motivation

o Working conditions

▪ Meaningfulness, autonomy, variety, rule consistency, support, useful

feedback, and chances for growth increase workers motivation and

satisfaction

▪ High income does not increase work motivation; rather, how and when

money is paid influences work motivation

o Opportunities to achieve

▪ Achievement highly related to opportunity

▪ Stereotypes affect motivation to work in certain fields

▪ Perception of a glass ceiling lowers motivation to succeed



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6 .Motives, Values, And Well-Being

Three kinds of motivational conflicts

o Approach-approach--equal attraction to two or more goals

o Avoidance-avoidance--when you dislike two alternatives

o Approach-avoidance--when one activity has a positive and negative aspect

Consequences of high levels of conflict and ambivalence

o Some internal conflict inevitable

o Unresolved conflict has physical and emotional cost

o Associated with anxiety, depression, headaches, and other symptoms

o Being true to one's self leads to greater self-integrity

Maslows hierarchy of needs

o Survival needs at the bottom, self-actualization needs at the top

o Lower-level needs must be met before higher-level needs can be addressed

o Popular theory, but unsupported by research

▪ People experience many needs simultaneously

▪ Those whose lower needs are met do not necessarily go on to meet

higher needs

▪ Higher needs may overcome lower needs

Topic : Theories Of Personality

Topic Objective:


Understand the three elements that make up the structure of personality, according to Freud

Understand the are six common defense mechanisms in psychodynamic theory

Understand the five stages of psychosexual development, according to Freud

Understand the is the collective unconscious Understand the are archetypes



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Understand the are three major shortcomings of psychodynamic theories

Understand the Big Five personality dimensions currently favored by personality researchers

Understand the are temperaments, and how are they related to personality traits

Understand the does heritability refer to

Understand the is reciprocal determinism

Understand the are three lines of evidence that suggest parents have a minor influence on the

development of their childrens personality

Understand the main differences between an individualist culture and a collectivist culture

Understand the basic tenets of humanism

Understand the major shortcomings of humanistic theories of personality


Personality: Personality psychologystudies personality based on theories of individual

differences. One emphasis in this area is to construct a coherent picture of a person and his or

her major psychological processes (Bradberry, 2007). Another emphasis views personality as

the study of individual differences, in other words, how people differ from each other. A third

area of emphasis examines human nature and how all people are similar to one other. These

three viewpoints merge together in the study of personality.

Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a

person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviors in various

situations (Ryckman, 2004). The word "personality" originates from the Latin persona, which

means mask. Significantly, in the theatre of the ancient Latin-speaking world, the mask was

not used as a plot device to disguise the identity of a character, but rather was a convention

employed to represent or typifythat character.

The pioneering American psychologist, Gordon Allport (1937) described two major ways to

study personality, the nomothetic and the idiographic. Nomothetic psychology seeks general

laws that can be applied to many different people, such as the principle of self-actualization,

or the trait of extraversion. Idiographic psychology is an attempt to understand the unique

aspects of a particular individual. The study of personality has a rich and varied history in

psychology, with an abundance of theoretical traditions. Some psychologists have taken a

highly scientific approach, whereas others have focused their attention on theory



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development. There is also a substantial emphasis on the applied field of personality testing

with people.

Key Points:

1. Defining Personality

Personality--distinctive and stable pattern of behaviors, thoughts, motives, and emotions that

characterize an individual over time

2. Psychodynamic Theories Of Personality

Freuds psychoanalytic theory was the first psychodynamic theory

Freuds theory and the theories of his followers are called psychodynamic theories

Elements shared by all psychodynamic theories

o Based on movement of psychic forces within the mind (intrapsychic dynamics)

o Adult behavior and problems determined primarily by early childhood experiences

o Psychological development occurs in fixed stages

o Unconscious fantasies and symbols are main influences on personality and behavior

o Reliance on subjective methods of getting at the truth of a persons life

Freud and psychoanalysis

o Freud believed that unconscious forces have more power to control behavior than conscious

thought

o The unconscious reveals itself in free association and through slips of the tongue

o Personality is made up of three systems that balance in a healthy personality

▪ The id--operates according to the pleasure principle and contains the life

(sexual) instinct (fueled by libido) and death (aggressive) instincts.

Energy buildup results in tension

▪ The ego--referee between demands of id and society, obeys the reality

principle, represents reason and good sense



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▪ The superego--morality and rules of parents and society, consists of

moral standards and conscience, judges the activities of the id

o Defense mechanisms

▪ Used by ego to reduce anxiety when ids wishes conflict with society

▪ They are unconscious and deny or distort reality

▪ Some defense mechanisms: repression, projection, displacement (and

sublimation), reaction formation, regression, denial

o The development of personality

▪ Occurs in psychosexual stages. Child may remain fixated if too much

anxiety or conflict is present

o Oral stage--focus on the mouth--fixation at this stage may result in

constantly seeking oral gratification

o Anal stage--issue is control--people fixated at this stage become

excessively tidy or excessively messy

o Phallic stage--Oedipus complex emerges, sexual sensation located

in penis or clitoris. Identification with the same-sex parent then

occurs in boys; by the end of

o this stage, personality is formedLatency stage--sexual feelings

subside

o Genital stage--beginning of mature adult sexuality

▪ Criticisms

o Pressured patients to accept his ideas

o Ignored disconfirming evidence



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Other psychodynamic approaches

o Carl Jung--biggest difference was the nature of the unconscious

▪ Collective unconscious contains universal memories

▪ Archetypes are themes and symbolic images that appear repeatedly in

myths

▪ Two major archetypes are those of maleness and femaleness

o Masculine and feminine psychological qualities appear in both

sexes

o Anima = feminine archetype in men

o Animus = masculine archetype in women

▪ Perceived humans as more positively motivated than did Freud

▪ Identified introversion-extraversion as a central personality orientation

o Object-relations school--emphasizes need for relationships

▪ Object--a representation or complex cognitive schema about the mother

that the child constructs unconsciously

▪ Object-relations reflect numerous representations of self and others and

the psychodynamic interplay among them

▪ Central tension is balance between independence and connection to

others

▪ Children of both sexes identify with mother; males must separate

▪ Males identity is less secure than females

Evaluating psychodynamic theories



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o Problems with psychodynamic theories

▪ Principle of falsifiability violated--cant confirm or disprove ideas

▪ Universal principles drawn from the experiences of selected atypical

patients

▪ Theories based on the retrospective memories of patients--creates illusion

of causality

o Some researchers are trying to study psychodynamic concepts empirically

3. The Modern Study Of Personality

Personality Inventories

o Popular personality tests

▪ Standardized questionnaires that require written responses

▪ Typically include scales on which individuals rate themselves

▪ MMPI, MPQ

o Factor analysis

▪ Statistical method for analyzing intercorrelations among various

measures or scores

▪ Clusters of measures or scores that are strongly correlated are assumed to

measure the same underlying trait or ability

Core personality traits

o Trait--characteristic assumed to describe a person across many situations

o Allports trait theory--individual traits make people unique

▪ Central traits--characteristic ways of behaving



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▪ Secondary traits--the more changeable aspects of personality

o Cattell--studied traits using factor analysis

o The Big Five traits--supported by research as fundamental traits

▪ Extroversion versus introversion

▪ Neuroticism versus emotional stability

▪ Agreeableness versus antagonism

▪ Conscientiousness versus impulsiveness

▪ Openness to experience versus resistence to new experience

4. Genetic Influences On Personality

Puppies and personality

o Members of other species show reliably discerned trait-like characteristics

Heredity and temperament--temperaments are relatively stable, characteristic physiological

dispositions that appear in infancy and have some genetic basis

o Kagans reactive and nonreactive temperamental styles--detectable in infancy, tend to remain

stable throughout childhood

o Children with reactive temperaments are shy and timid, react negatively to novel situations

o Children with nonreactive temperaments are outgoing and curious

o Reactive children show increased sympathetic nervous system activity during mildly stressful

tasks

o Suomi found similar characteristics in reactive monkeys

Heredity and traits

o Computing heritability

▪ Behavioral geneticists study the genetic bases of ability and personality



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▪ Heritability tells the proportion of variation in a trait that is due to genes

▪ Heredity is investigated with adoption and twin studies

o How heritable are personality traits

▪ Regardless of the trait, heritability is typically about .50

▪ The only environmental effects on personality come from nonshared

(with family members) experiences--shared environment and parental

child-rearing practices do not seem related to adult personality traits

Evaluating genetic theories

o Not all traits are equally heritable or unaffected by shared environment

o Studies may underestimate the impact of environment

o Even traits that are highly heritable are not fixed

5. Environmental Influences On Personality

Situations and social learning

o People dont have traits--instead, they show patterns of behavior

o Reason for inconsistencies in behavior is that different behaviors are rewarded, punished, or

ignored, depending on the situation

Social-cognitive learning theory

o Habits, beliefs, and behavior

▪ Modern social-cognitive learning theories depart from classic

behaviorism in their emphasis on three things:

o Observational learning and the role of models

o Cognitive processes, such as perception and interpretation of

events



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o Motivating values, emotions, and beliefs, such as expectations of

success or failure and confidence in ability to achieve goals

▪ Habits and beliefs seen as exerting their own effects on behavior

o Perceptions of control--much of human behavior is self-regulated, shaped by our thoughts,

emotions, and goals

▪ Reciprocal determinism is the interaction between aspects of the

individual and aspects of the situation that shape personality

▪ Nonshared enviroment refers to the unique aspects of a persons

enviroment and experience that are not shared by family members

Parental influence and its limits

o Belief that personality is determined by how parents treat their children is challenged by three

lines of empirical evidence:

▪ The shared environment of the home has little, if any, influence on

personality

▪ Few parents have a single child-rearing style that is consistent over time

and that they use with all of their children

▪ Even when parents try to be consistent in the way they treat their

children, there may be little relation between what they do and how the

children turn out

The power of peers

o Peer environment consists of different peer groups, organized by interests,ethnicity, and/or

popularity

▪ Children and adolescents who are temperamentally fearful and shy are

more likely to be bullied

▪ Peers have a stronger influence on academic achievement than parents



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6. Cultural Influences On Personality

Culture, values, and traits

o Two kinds of cultures

▪ Individualist--individual needs take precedence over group needs

▪ Collectivist--group harmony takes precedence over individual wishes

o Cultures norms and values vary

▪ Conversational distance

▪ Tardiness

o In monochronic cultures, people do one thing at a time; value

promptness (e.g., northern Europe, Canada,United States)

o In polychronic cultures, people do several things at a time;

promptness not valued (e.g., southern Europe, Middle East, South

America, Africa)

Evaluating cultural approaches

o Cultural psychologists describe cultural influences on personality, avoiding stereotyping

o Regional variations occur in every society

o Many cultures share many human concerns (e.g., need for love, attachment, family, work,

religion)

7. The Inner Experience

Humanist approaches

o Developed as a reaction against psychoanalysis and behaviorism

o Abraham Maslows approach

▪ Emphasized good side of human nature, peak experiences



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▪ Emphasized movement toward state of self-actualization

o Carl Rogerss approach

▪ Interested in the fully functioning person--requires congruence between

self-image and true feelings

▪ Fully functioning--means a person is trusting, warm, and open to new

experiences

▪ Becoming fully functional requires unconditional positive regard

▪ Conditional love results in incongruence and unhappiness

o Rollo May--brought aspects of existentialism to American psychology

▪ Emphasized the burdensome aspects of free will

▪ The burden of responsibility can lead to anxiety and despair

Narrative approaches

o Whats your story holds more truth than may appear at first glance

Evaluating humanist and narrative approaches

o Many assumptions of humanism cannot be tested

o Humanist concepts are difficult to define operationally

o Both humanism and the narrative approach balance psychologys traditional view of

personality

Topic : Development Over The Lifespan

Topic Objective:


Understand the six harmful influences that can disrupt the development of an embryo or fetus



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Understand the three forms of attachment that can develop between a child and a caregiver

How is the Strange Situation used to reveal these attachment styles

Understand the evidence is there for or against the idea that the first three years of life are

critical for shaping later development

Understand the language develop between 6 months and 6 years of age

Understand the four stages of cognitive development, according to Piaget

Understand the is object permanence and Understand the does a lack of it reveal about

cognitive development

Understand the two defining characteristics of childrens thinking during the preoperational

stage of cognitive development

Understand the five major challenges to Piagets view of cognitive development

Understand the stages of moral development, according to Kohlberg

Understand the four problems with stage theories of moral development

Understand the is the distinction between authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles, and

how are these styles related to power assertion and induction in the development of moral

behavior

Understand the do gender typing, gender identity, and gender schemas refer to

Understand the major physiological changes that girls and boys undergo during adolescence

Understand the eight stages or crises of development over the lifespan that were proposed by

Erik Erikson

Understand the kinds of intellectual changes take place as people reach adulthood and old age

Do decrements in performance or ability necessarily have to take place


Development over the Lifespan: Developmental psychology, also known as human

development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes that occur in human

beings over the course of the life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the

field has expanded to include adolescence and adult development, aging, and the entire life

span. This field examines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and

other psycho-physiological processes; cognitive development involving areas such as

problem solving, moral understanding, and conceptual understanding; language acquisition;

social, personality, and emotional development; and self-concept and identity formation.



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Developmental psychologists investigate key questions, such as whether children are

qualitatively different from adults or simply lack the experience that adults draw upon. Two

important issues concern the nature of development. One concerns whether development

occurs through the gradual accumulation of knowledge or through shifts from one stage of

thinking to another. The other concerns whether children are born with innate knowledge or

figure things out through experience. A third significant focus of research involves the

interaction between social context and development.

Developmental psychology informs several applied fields, including: educational psychology,

child psychopathology, and forensic developmental psychology. Developmental psychology

complements several other basic research fields in psychology including social psychology,

cognitive psychology, ecological psychology, and comparative psychology.

Key Points:

1. From Conception Through The First Year

Prenatal development

o Maturation--the sequential unfolding of genetically influenced behavior and physical

characteristics

o Three stages of prenatal development

▪ Germinal stage--0-14 days: fertilized egg (zygote) divides and attaches to

the uterine wall; outside becomes placenta, inner part becomes embryo

▪ Embryonic stage--after implantation (about 2 weeks) to eighth week:

embryo develops, organs and limbs develop, testosterone is secreted in

males

▪ Fetal stage--after eighth week, further development of organs and

systems: marked increase in nervous system development and brain

weight



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o Harmful influences that can cross the placental barrier -- include German measles, radiation,

toxic chemicals, sexually transmitted diseases, cigarette smoking, heavy alcohol

consumption, prescription and nonprescription drugs

The infants world

o Physical abilities

▪ Newborns have functional motor reflexes

▪ Newborns are able to see, but are nearsighted

o Will show evidence of depth perception within a few months

o Prefer faces over other stimuli in the environment

▪ Many aspects of development depend on cultural customs

o Attachment--provides a secure base from which children can explore

▪ The Harlows demonstrated the importance of touching, or contact

comfort

▪ Between 7 and 9 months, babies may show stranger anxiety and

separation anxiety until the middle of the second year or later

▪ Ainsworth devised an experimental method called the Strange Situation

in which the babys behavior is observed when the mother leaves the

baby with a stranger

o Securely attached children are clearly more attached to the mother

o Insecurely attached children show avoidance or anxiety and

ambivalence

▪ Factors affecting attachment



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o Neglect, abuse, and deprivation adversely affect attachment;

however, differences in normal child-rearing practices have no

effect

o Day care does not affect attachment

Temperament, chronic stress, and rejection can affect attachment

o Cultural expectations also play a role

How critical are the early years

o Eh.

▪ Stimulating development is good, but not as gaspingly critical as

popularly believed

2. Cognitive Development

Language

o From cooing to communicating

▪ In first months, babies responsive to pitch, intensity, and sound of

language; people talk to babies with more varied pitch and intonation

▪ By 4 to 6 months, babies have learned many basic sounds of their

language, and over time lose the ability to perceive speech sounds in

another language

▪ Between 6 months and 1 year, babies enter the babbling phase; infants

become more familiar with the sound structure of their native language

▪ Starting at around 11 months, babies develop repertoire of symbolic

gestures; gestures spur language learning

▪ Between 18 months and 2 years, two- and three-word combinations are

produced; first combinations have a telegraphic quality



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Thinking

o Piaget proposed that children must make two types of mental adaptations

▪ Assimilation--fitting new information into present system of knowledge,

beliefs, and schemas (categories of things and people)

▪ Accommodation--must change or modify existing schemas to

accommodate new information that doesnt fit

o Piagets cognitive stages

▪ Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years old)

▪ Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7)

▪ Concrete operations stage (ages 7 to 11)

▪ Formal operations stage (ages 12 to adulthood)

o Current views of cognitive development

▪ Shifts from stage to stage not as sweeping or clear-cut as Piaget implied

▪ Children understand more than Piaget gave them credit for

▪ Preschoolers are not as egocentric as Piaget thought

▪ Childrens cognitive development depends on education and culture

▪ Piaget overestimated the cognitive skills of many adults

▪ Most psychologists accept Piagets major point, that new reasoning

abilities depend on the emergence of previous ones



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▪ Most people agree that children actively interpret their worlds

3. Learning To Be Good

Moral reasoning

o Kohlberg developed a theory that states that there are three levels of moral reasoning that are

universal and occur in invariant order--moral stages determined by answers people give to

hypothetical moral dilemmas

▪ Levels and stages

o Level 1--preconventional morality

o Level 2--conventional morality, typically reached around 10 or 11

years of age

o Level 3--postconventional (principled) morality

▪ Limitations

o Stage theories tend to overlook cultural and educational influences

on reasoning

o Peoples moral reasoning is often inconsistent across situations

o Moral reasoning and behavior are often unrelated

o Parents enforce moral standards

▪ Power assertion

▪ Induction

▪ Authoritative versus authoritarian styles



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4. Gender Development

Terminology

o Gender identity--fundamental sense of maleness or femaleness regardless of what one wears

or does

o Gender typing--society's expectations governing male and female attitudes and behavior

o Sex and gender have lost their previous biological and cultural distinctions

Influences on gender development

o Biological influences--toy and play preferences may have a biological basis

o Cognitive influences

▪ Children develop gender schemas (mental network of beliefs and

expectations about what it means to be male or female) as they mature;

these schemas influence their behavior

▪ At 9 months most babies can discriminate male and female faces

▪ Once children can label themselves as boys or girls, they begin to prefer

same-sex playmates and sex-typed toys

▪ Ages 2 to 4 important for development of gender schemas, which expand

into many areas

▪ Boys express stronger preferences for masculine toys and activities than

girls do for feminine ones; differences appear to be related to gender

differences in status

▪ As abilities mature, children understand exceptions to gender schemas

▪ Gender schemas change throughout our lives, but continue to influence

us

o Learning influences



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▪ Differences between boys and girls are also the result of gender

socialization

▪ Assertiveness is rewarded more in boys; verbal behavior is rewarded

more in girls

▪ Children learn to adjust their behavior, making it more gender-typed

▪ Parents stereotypical expectations influence childrens performance and

feelings of competence in math, English, and sports

▪ Gender over the life span--gender development has become a lifelong

process

5. Adolescence

Definition: Period of development between puberty (the age at which a person becomes

capable of sexual reproduction) and adulthood

Physiology of adolescence

o Males produce higher levels of androgens than females; females produce higher levels of

estrogens than males

o In males, reproductive glands stimulated to produce sperm from the testes; in females,

reproductive glands stimulated to produce eggs from the ovaries

o In females, menstruation (menarche) begins and breasts develop; in males, nocturnal

emissions, growth of testes, scrotum, and penis occur

o Hormones are responsible for secondary sex characteristics in both sexes

o Age of puberty has been declining in developing countries

o Growth spurt occurs in both sexes; occurs earlier for girls than for boys

o Timing of puberty significant; early and late maturers may have special problems

Psychology of adolescence

o Studies find that extreme turmoil and unhappiness are the exception

o One's peer group is particularly influential during adolescence



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o During adolescence externalizing problems become more common in boys, internalizing

problems become more common in girls; suicide rates increasing in boys

o Preteens who encounter problems are often reacting to specific changes in the environment;

conflicts often stem from their need to individuate

o The extent to which parents and teens quarrel depends on cultural norms

6. Adulthood

Stages and ages

o Eriksons psychosocial theory says that all people go through eight stages in their lives,

resolving an inevitable crisis at each one

▪ Trust versus mistrust (during first year)

▪ Autonomy versus shame and doubt (toddlerhood)

▪ Initiative versus guilt (preschool years)

▪ Competence versus inferiority (elementary school age)

▪ Identity versus role confusion (adolescence)

▪ Intimacy versus isolation (young adulthood)

▪ Generativity versus stagnation (middle adulthood)

▪ Ego integrity versus despair (old age)

o How easily one passes between stages depends on cultural and economic factors

o Erikson showed that development is an ongoing process that is never finished

o Eriksons stages are not universal; they do not occur in the same order for everyone

The transitions of life

o Todays theories of adult development emphasize the transitions that mark adult life, rather

than a rigid developmental sequence

o Starting out: The social clock



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▪ Most people still unconsciously evaluate their transitions according to a

social clock

▪ Adjusting to anticipated transitions is easier than adjusting to

unanticipated transitions or nonevent transitions

▪ People who wish to do things on time and are not able to do so may feel

depressed and anxious

o The middle years

▪ The years between 35 and 65 are considered the prime of life for most

Americans

▪ Menopause--midlife cessation of menstruation; ovaries stop producing

estrogen and progesterone

▪ Only about 10 percent of all women have severe physical symptoms

▪ Most postmenopausal women view menopause positively

▪ Menopause itself has no effect on most womens mental and physical

health

▪ Men lack biological equivalent of menopause

▪ For both sexes, physical changes of midlife and the biological fact of

aging do not predict how people will feel about aging or how they will

respond to it

o Old age

▪ The definition of old has gotten older

▪ Various aspects of mental functioning decline with age



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▪ In aging, fluid intelligence tends to decline, but crystallized intelligence

remains stable or improves--may compensate for the brains declining

efficiency late in life

▪ Many problems in old age are not inevitable and are correctable

▪ Short-term training programs can boost memory and other cognitive

skills dramatically

▪ People who have complex or challenging occupations and interests and

who are flexible are most likely to maintain their cognitive abilities in

later life

▪ Many people get happier and calmer with age

▪ In extreme old age rates of cognitive impairment and dementias rise

dramatically

7. The Wellsprings Of Resilience

Traumatized children are more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems

Evidence from the following suggests that negative effects are not inevitable

o Recovery from war

o Recovery from abusive or alcoholic parents

o Recovery from sexual abuse

Resilience can come from one's personality, other supportive people, and meaningful

activities

In Section 5 of this course you will cover these topics:Health Stress And Coping

Psychological Disorders

Approaches To Treatment And Therapy



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Topic : Health Stress And Coping

Topic Objective:


Understand the four common sources of stress

Understand the three stages of the general adaptation syndrome

Understand the HPA axis prepare the body to respond to stressors

Understand the components of the Type A personality pose a threat to health and wellness

Understand the evidence is there that positive emotions contribute to health and wellness

Understand the evidence is there that negative emotions contribute to poor health and illness

Understand the onfession, forgiveness, and optimism contribute to improved health

Understand the some examples of how a sense of control confers health benefits to an

individual

Understand the is the distinction between primary control and secondary control

Understand the four effective cognitive coping strategies

Understand the women and men differ in seeking social support or asking for help


Health stress: Stress is a biological term which refers to the consequences of the failure of a

human or animal body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats to the

organism, whether actual or imagined. It includes a state of alarm and adrenaline production,

short-term resistance as a coping mechanism, and exhaustion. It refers to the inability of a

human or animal body to respond. Common stress symptoms include irritability, muscular

tension, inability to concentrate and a variety of physical reactions, such as headaches and

accelerated heart rate.

The term "stress" was first used by the endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1930s to identify

physiological responses in laboratory animals. He later broadened and popularized the

concept to include the perceptions and responses of humans trying to adapt to the challenges

of everyday life. In Selye's terminology, "stress" refers to the reaction of the organism, and

"stressor" to the perceived threat. Stress in certain circumstances may be experienced

positively. Eustress, for example, can be an adaptive response prompting the activation of

internal resources to meet challenges and achieve goals.



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The term is commonly used by laypersons in a metaphorical rather than literal or biological

sense, as a catch-all for any perceived difficulties in life. It also became a euphemism, a way

of referring to problems and eliciting sympathy without being explicitly confessional, just

"stressed out". It covers a huge range of phenomena from mild irritation to the kind of severe

problems that might result in a real breakdown of. In popular usage almost any event or

situation between these extremes could be described as stressful.

Coping: The coping is the process of managing taxing circumstances, expending effort to

solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master, minimize, reduce or

tolerate stress or conflict.

In coping with stress, people tend to use one of the three main coping strategies: either

appraisal focused, problem focused, or emotion focused coping.

Appraisal-focused strategies occur when the person modifies the way they think, for

example: employing denial, or distancing oneself from the problem. People may alter the way

they think about a problem by altering their goals and values, such as by seeing the humor in

a situation.

Key Points:

1. The stress-illness mystery

Hassles are hassling, but stressors can be sickening

o Uncontrollable, chronic, and durable stressors are particularly nasty

Some sources of stress

o Work-related problems

▪ Increase one's chances of catcing a cold

▪ Workers who have little control are most at risk from a variety of

illnesses

o Noise is an unhealthy stressor if it is chronic and cannot be controlled



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o Bereavement and loss

▪ Loss of a loved one or close relationship is one of the most powerful

stressors in life

▪ Widowed and divorced married people are more susceptible to a variety

of diseases and their mortality rate is higher than average

o Poverty, powerlessness, and racism

▪ Poor people cannot afford good medical care and healthy food

▪ Poor people are exposed to many continuous stressors such as high crime

rates and run-down housing

▪ Urban blacks have a higher incidence of hypertension

▪ Racial discrimination is a major stressor

o Everyone does not react to stressors in the same way; it is necessary to take perceptions into

account

2. The physiology of stress

Stress and the body

o Stressors force the body to respond by mobilizing its resources--prepare the individual to

fight or flee

o Hans Selye concluded that stress consists of a series of physiological reactions that occur in

three phases:

▪ Alarm phase--organism mobilizes to meet the threat with a package of

biological responses

▪ Resistance phase--organism attempts to resist or cope with a threat that

cannot be avoided



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▪ Exhaustion phase--occurs if the stressor persists--bodys resources

become overwhelmed--body becomes vulnerable to fatigue, physical

problems, and illness

o Not all stress is bad

o The immune system is affected by stress--prolonged stress can suppress cells that fight

disease and infection

▪ The HPA-axis is implicated in these processes

The mind-body link

o Psychoneuroimmunology explores the links between mind and body in a health context

3. The psychology of stress

Hostility and depression

o Type A personality characteristics--determined to achieve, have a sense of time urgency, are

irritable, are impatient with anybody who gets in their way

o Type B characteristics--calmer, less intense

o Recent research shows that Type As who are characterized by cynical or antagonistic

hostility are at increased risk for heart disease

o Clinical depression may put people at increased risk for heart disease

Positive emotions: Do they help

o Yes, they do

Managing negative emotions

o Confession confers a range of health benefits on an individual

o Forgiveness confers a range of health benefits on an individual

o Optimism and pessimism

▪ Optimism--associated with greater longevity

▪ Health and well-being may depend on having positive illusions



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▪ Several programs and strategies have been developed to help overcome

pessimism

o The sense of control

▪ Locus of control

▪ People with internal locus of control tend to believe that they are

responsible for what happens to them

▪ People with external locus of control tend to believe that they are victims

of circumstance

▪ The most debilitating aspect of chronically stressful situations is feeling

out of control

▪ Sense of control affects the immune systems

o The limits of control--ideas about control are strongly influenced by culture

▪ Primary control--more Western approach--people try to influence

existing reality by changing other people, events, circumstances

▪ Secondary control--more Eastern approach--people try to accommodate

reality by changing their own aspirations or desires

▪ Both primary and secondary control have benefits--people who are ill can

combine these two forms of control by taking responsibility for future

actions while not blaming themselves for past ones

4. Coping with stress

Cooling off--stress reduction strategies include relaxation techniques, exercise, and massage

Solving the problem

o Emotion-focused coping concentrates on the emotions the problem has caused

o Problem-focused coping involves learning as much as possible about the problem from

professionals, friends, books, and others in the same predicament



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o Problem-focused coping tends to increase a persons sense of self-efficacy, control, and

effectiveness

Rethinking the problem

o Reappraisal--when people cannot eliminate a stressor, they can choose to reassess its

meaning

o Learning from the experience--finding useful lessons in it

o Social comparisons--successful copers often compare themselves both to those less fortunate

and those more fortunate

Drawing on social support

o Friends can help by providing concern, affection, evaluation, ideas for planning, and other

needed resources

o Social support is medically beneficial, but stressful relationships can create more stress

o People who give support are healthier and happier than those who are self-involved

5. How much control do we have over our health

The public wants simple messages, but sometimes the answers arent so simple

o Nonetheless, making sensible choices, and recognizing the benefits of some actions and the

harmfulness of others, goes a long way toward improving health

Topic : Psychological Disorders

Topic Objective:


Understand the three primary considerations in defining a behavior as disordered

Understand the four concerns with using the DSM to diagnose psychological disorders

Understand the main differences between objective tests and projective tests

Understand the three disorders that are characterized by feelings of anxiety and panic

Understand the phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder classified as anxiety disorders

Understand the two types of mood disorders Understand the do they have in common



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Understand the three contributing factors in the vulnerability-stress model of depression

Understand the four kinds of personality disorders

Understand the three lines of evidence that suggest antisocial personality disorder has a

strong physiological component

Understand the four kinds of research evidence that illustrate the psychological, social, and

cultural contributions to understanding drug addiction

Understand the evidence is there for or against the existence of multiple personality disorder

as a well-defined psychological disorder

Understand the are four active or positive symptoms of schizophrenia In general, how do

these differ from negative symptoms

Understand the hallucinations and delusions differ from one another

Understand the five factors that contribute to the onset of schizophrenia


Psychological Disorders: Psychological disorder or illness is a psychological or behavioral

pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not

expected as part of normal development or culture. The recognition and understanding of

mental disorders have changed over time and across cultures. Definitions, assessments, and

classifications of mental disorders can vary, but guideline criteria listed in the ICD, DSM and

other manuals are widely accepted by mental health professionals. Categories of diagnoses in

these schemes may include dissociative disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders,

psychotic disorders, eating disorders, developmental disorders, personality disorders, and

many other categories. In many cases there is no single accepted or consistent cause of

mental disorders, although they are often explained in terms of a diathesis-stress model and

biopsychosocial model. Mental disorders have been found to be common, with over a third of

people in most countries reporting sufficient criteria at some point in their life. Mental health

services may be based in hospitals. Mental health professionals diagnose individuals using

different methodologies, often relying on case history and interview. Psychotherapy and

psychiatric medication are two major treatment options, as well as supportive interventions.

Treatment may be involuntary where legislation allows. Several movements campaign for

changes to mental health services and attitudes, including the Consumer/Survivor Movement.

There are widespread problems with stigma and discrimination.



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Key Points:

1. Defining and Diagnosing Disorder

Mental disorders are not the same as abnormal behavior

Insanity is a legal term that depends on whether the person is aware of the consequences of

behavior and is able to control it

Several criteria for defining mental disorders are currently in use

o Violation of cultural standards--behavior that conforms to norms in one culture might be seen

as abnormal in another setting

o Emotional distress--when people suffer from anxiety, fear, anger, depression, or guilt

o Maladaptive or harmful behavior--either for the individual or for the community

Mental disorder (text definition)--any behavior or emotional state that causes an individual

great suffering or worry; is self-defeating or self-destructive; or is maladaptive and disrupts

the persons relationships or the larger community

Diagnosis: Art or science

o Cultural factors and subjective interpretations still affect the process of diagnosis

o The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the bible of

psychological and psychiatric diagnosis

▪ Primary aim of the DSM is descriptive--to provide clear criteria for

diagnostic categories

▪ Classifies each disorder on five axes or factors

o Primary clinical problem

o Ingrained aspects of the individuals personality

o General medical conditions relevant to the disorder

o Social and environmental problems that can make the disorder

worse



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o Global assessment of the clients overall functioning

o Limitations of the DSM

▪ It may foster overdiagnosis

▪ It may increase the risk of creating self-fulfilling prophecies

▪ It may confuse serious mental disorders with normal problems in living

▪ Diagnoses reflect prevailing attitudes and prejudice

Psychological tests

o Projective tests

▪ Rely on the projection of unconscious conflicts and motivations onto

ambiguous stimulus materials

▪ Good for establishing rapport with clients

▪ These tests have low reliability and validity

o Objective tests or inventories

▪ Standardized questionnaires--typically multiple choice or true-false

▪ Have better reliability and validity than projective tests, but remain far

from perfect

o Conclusions concerning diagnoses and testing

▪ Advocates say when the DSM is used correctly, diagnoses are more

accurate

▪ Correct labeling of a disorder may help people identify the source of their

unhappiness and lead to a proper treatment



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▪ Some disorders are recognized as such in all societies; the fact that some

diagnoses reflect cultural biases does not mean that they all do

2. Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety is adaptive in certain situations, but some individuals are prone to irrational fears or

chronic states of anxiety

Anxiety and panic

o Generalized anxiety disorder

▪ Symptoms

o Continuous, uncontrollable anxiety or worry

o Feelings of foreboding and dread

o Duration of at least 6 months

o Restlessness, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and jitteriness

▪ Predisposing factors

o Physiological tendency

o Unpredictable environment in childhood

▪ Have mental habits that produce anxiety and keep it going

o Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

▪ Can occur as a result of uncontrollable and unpredictable danger such as

rape, war, or natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes

▪ Symptoms

o Reliving the trauma in thoughts or dreams

o Psychic numbing



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o Increased physiological arousal

▪ Reaction may be immediate or delayed with PTSD

▪ Symptoms of PTSD may recur for 10 years or more

o Panic disorder

▪ Characterized by sudden attacks of intense fear, with feelings of

impending doom

▪ Symptoms of panic attacks include heart palpitations, dizziness, and

faintness

▪ Panic attacks are often related to stress, prolonged emotion, exercise, or

traumatic experiences

▪ Panic attacks are not uncommon; whether it develops into a disorder

depends on how the bodily reactions are interpreted

▪ Culture influences the particular symptoms of a panic attack

Fears and phobias

o Unrealistic fear of a specific situation, activity, or thing

o Social phobia--persistent, irrational fear of situations in which one will be observed by others

o Agoraphobia--fear of being alone in a public place from which escape might be difficult or

help unavailable

o The most disabling phobia--most common phobia for which people seek treatment

o May begin with panic attacks--sudden onset of intense fear, then avoiding situations that

might provoke another attack

Obsessions and compulsions

o Obsessions

▪ Recurrent, persistent, unwished-for thoughts



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▪ May be frightening or repugnant

o Compulsions

▪ Repetitive, ritualized behaviors that the person feels must be carried out

to avoid disaster

▪ People feel a lack of control over the compulsion

▪ Common compulsions include repeated hand washing, counting,

touching, and checking things

o Most OCD sufferers do not enjoy the rituals and realize the behavior is senseless, but if they

try to break off the ritual, they feel mounting anxiety

o Several parts of the brain are overactive in OCD sufferers, resulting in the person

experiencing a constant state of danger

3..Mood Disorders

Clinical depression is more severe than normal sadness over lifes problems; however, serious

depression is so widespread that it is referred to as the common cold of psychiatric

disturbances

Depression

o Major depression--disrupts ordinary functioning for at least six months; symptoms include

emotional, behavioral, and cognitive changes

▪ Despair and hopelessness: thoughts of death or suicide, loss of pleasure

in usual activities

▪ Unable to do everyday activities (e.g., takes tremendous effort to get up

and get dressed)

▪ Exaggerate minor failings, discount positive events, interpret things that

go wrong as evidence that nothing will ever go right, low self-esteem,

losses interpreted as sign of personal failure



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▪ Person may stop eating or overeat, have difficulty falling asleep or

staying asleep, have trouble concentrating, feel tired all the time

o Bipolar disorder--depression alternates with mania

Origins of depression

o Biological explanations--focus on genetics and brain chemistry

▪ Low norepinephrine and/or serotonin levels implicated in depression

▪ Mania may be caused by excessive production of norepinephrine

▪ Drugs help to bring the levels of neurotransmitter into balance

▪ Brain scans show reduced frontal lobe activity in depressed people

o Social explanations--focus on stressful conditions of peoples lives; may explain gender

differences in depression rates

▪ Marriage and employment associated with lower rates of depression

▪ In women, having more children is associated with higher rates of

depression

▪ A history of exposure to violence is related to depression

o Attachment explanations--focus on disturbed relationships and separations and a history of

insecure attachments

▪ Disruption of a primary relationship most often sets off a depressive

episode

▪ Direction of cause and effect is not clear

o Cognitive explanations--propose that depression results from particular habits of thinking and

interpreting events



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▪ Depression involves three negative habits of thinking

o Internality

o Stability

o Lack of control

▪ Learned helplessness theory held that people become depressed when

their efforts to avoid pain or control the environment fail--however, not

all depressed people have actually experienced failure

▪ Ruminating response style may also lead to longer, more intense periods

of depression

o Women more likely to adopt this style than men

o May account for sex differences in depression

▪ Negative thinking may be both a cause and a result of depression

4 Personality Disorders

Personality disorders--characterized by rigid, maladaptive traits that cause great distress

orinability to get along with others or (DSM-IV definition) an enduring pattern of inner

experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individuals

culture

Problem personalities

o Narcissistic personality disorder--exaggerated sense of self-importance, preoccupation with

fantasies of unlimited success; demands for constant attention and admiration

o Paranoid personality disorder--pervasive, unfounded suspiciousness and mistrust of others;

irrational jealousy and secretiveness

Criminals and psychopaths - Antisocial personality disorder

o Characterized by a lack of conscience, morality, emotional attachments, empathy, and guilt



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o Individuals may be superficially charming, but form no emotional connections to others and

do not feel guilt about wrongdoing

o Occurs in 3 percent of males, less than 1 percent of females

o May account for more than half of serious crimes committed in the U.S.

o Begin with serious problem behaviors in childhood which continue through adulthood

Biological and social factors

o Do not respond physiologically to punishments that would affect other people

o Show a lack of emotional arousal which may suggest a central nervous system abnormality

o Problems with impulse control--an inherited characteristic shared by those who are antisocial,

hyperactive, addicted, or impulsive

o Vulnerability-stress model--holds that brain damage can interact with social deprivation and

other experiences to produce individuals who are impulsive or violent

5. Drug Abuse And Addiction

Substance abuse (DSM-IV definition)--maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to

clinically significant impairment or distress

The biological model

o Jellinek argued that alcoholism is a disease over which people have no control--complete

abstinence is the only solution

o Biological model of addiction--when alcoholism begins in adolescence, linked to impulsivity,

antisocial behavior, and violent criminality; does seem to have a hereditary component

o It may be that consumption of alcohol causes biological dependence, inability to metabolize

alcohol, and psychological problems

Learning, culture, and addiction

o Learning model says that addiction is not a disease, but a central activity of an individuals life

o Arguments in support of the learning model include:

▪ Addiction patterns vary according to cultural practices and the social

environment



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o Alcoholism more likely to occur in societies that forbid children to

drink but condone drunkenness in adults

o Rates of alcoholism may increase when people move from culture

of origin into a culture that has different drinking rules

▪ Policies of total abstinence tend to increase rates of addiction rather than

reducing them, perhaps by denying people the opportunity to learn to

drink moderately

▪ Not all addicts go through withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking a

drug

▪ Addiction does not depend on the drug alone, but also on the reason the

person is taking the drug

o Persons taking drugs for chronic pain may be able to discontinue

their use without any proble

o People who drink to cope with uncomfortable feelings are more

likely to become addicted than those who take drugs to enhance

positive feelings

Debating solutions to addiction

o A central issue in the debate between biological and learning theories of alcoholism has been

the debate over controlled drinking

a. According to the disease model, total abstinence is the only way to manage the

disease of addiction

b. According to learning theory, controlled drinking is possible

o Alcoholics Anonymous (disease) model has helped many people, but does not work for

everyone

o Best predictors of an addicts ability to learn to control excessive drug use are:



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▪ Previous severity of dependence on drug,

▪ Social stability

▪ Beliefs about the necessity of maintaining abstinence

o Drug abuse and addiction appear to reflect interactions of physiology and psychology,

person, and culture

6.Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative disorders--disorders in which consciousness, behavior, and identity are severely

split or altered

o Dissociative states are intense, long lasting, and seem out of ones control

o Often occur in response to shocking events

Dissociative identity disorder (Multiple personalityor MPD)

o The appearance of two or more identities within one person

o Two opposing views of MPD exist among mental health professionals

▪ A real disorder, common but often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed--

believed to develop in childhood as a response to trauma

▪ A creation of mental health clinicians who believe in it

o Research used to support the diagnosis, including claims of

physiological differences between personalities, is seriously

flawed

o Clinicians are creating it through the power of suggestion--MPD

may be the result of unwitting collusion between clinicians and

suggestible clients

o The influence of the media

o The sociocognitive explanation



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▪ Seen as an extreme form of a normal human process: the ability to

present different aspects of our personalities to others

▪ May be a way for troubled people to understand and legitimize their

problems

▪ Rewarded by clinicians with attention

7. Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia--a psychosis or mental condition involving distorted perceptions of reality and

an inability to function in most aspects of life

Symptoms of schizophrenia

o Active or positive symptoms--involve exaggerations or distortions of normal processes and

behavior

▪ Bizarre delusions--false beliefs about reality

▪ Hallucinations and heightened sensory awareness

▪ Disorganized, incoherent speech--illogical jumble of ideas

▪ Grossly disorganized and inappropriate behavior ranging from childlike

silliness to violent agitation

o Negative symptoms--involve loss of former traits and abilities

▪ Loss of motivation

▪ Poverty of speech--brief, empty replies reflecting diminished thought

▪ Emotional flatness--unresponsive facial expressions, poor eye contact,

diminished emotionality

▪ Tend to occur before and last after positive symptoms

▪ Severity and duration of symptoms vary; onset can be abrupt or gradual



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▪ Prognosis is unpredictable when onset is gradual

Origins of schizophrenia

o Biological factors that have been studied

▪ Genetic predispositions

o Risk of schizophrenia for general population is 1-2 percent

o No specific genes for schizophrenia have been identified

o 88 percent of people with a schizophrenic parent do not develop

schizophrenia

▪ Structural brain abnormalities

o May have decreased brain weight, reduced volume in specific brain

areas, or reduced number of neurons in certain brain areas

o May have enlarged ventricles

o Schizophrenics are more likely to have abnormalities in the

thalamus

o Antipsychotic medications might affect the brain

▪ Neurotransmitter abnormalities--schizophrenics may have low levels of

serotonin and high levels of dopamine activity

▪ Prenatal abnormalities--damage to fetal brain may increase likelihood of

schizophrenia--possible causes of prenatal damage include:

▪ Adolescent abnormalities



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Topic : Approaches To Treatment And Therapy

Topic Objective:


Understand the four general classes of drugs used to treat psychological disorders

Understand the four cautions regarding drug treatments for psychological disorders

Understand the main differences between psychosurgery and electroconvulsive therapy

Understand the basic principles of psychodynamic therapy

Understand the four main techniques of behavioral therapy

Understand the behavioral and cognitive therapies generally focus on in the treatment of

psychological disorders

Understand the basic principles of rational-emotive behavior therapy

Understand the client-centered therapy and existentialist therapy both representatives of the

humanist approach to treatment

Understand the scientist-practitioner gap

Understand the therapeutic alliance predict the successfulness of therapy outcomes

Understand the evidence is there that therapy helps alleviate psychological disorders

Understand the four ethical risks to clients in therapy

Understand the three important considerations when deciding to enter therapy


Approaches to Treatment and Therapy: Psychotherapy is an interpersonal, relational

intervention used by trained psychotherapists to aid clients in problems of living. This usually

includes increasing individual sense of well-being and reducing subjective discomforting

experience. Psychotherapists employ a range of techniques based on experiential relationship

building, dialogue, communication and behavior change and that are designed to improve the

mental health of a client or patient, or to improve group relationships (such as in a family).

Psychotherapy may be performed by practitioners with a number of different qualifications,

including psychologists, marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers,

counselors, psychiatric nurses, music therapists, and psychiatrists.



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Key Points:

1. Biological Treatments for Mental Disorders

Biological (organic) approach regards mental disorders as diseases that can be treated

medically

The question of drugs

o Main classes of drugs used for treatment of mental and emotional disorders

▪ Antipsychotic drugs or neuroleptics have transformed the treatment of

schizophrenia and other psychoses

o Although they may lessen the most dramatic symptoms, they

usually cannot restore normal thought patterns or relationships

o Allow people to be released from hospitals, but individuals may be

unable to care for themselves or may stop taking medication

o Overall success is modest

▪ Antidepressant drugs--used primarily to treat depression, anxiety,

phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder--come in three classes:

o Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors--elevate levels of

norepinephrine and serotonin by blocking or inhibiting the

enzyme that deactivates these neurotransmitters

o Tricyclic antidepressants--also elevate levels of norepinephrine and

serotonin, but by blocking reabsorption or reuptake of these

neurotransmitters

o Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)--e.g., Prozac,

specifically elevate levels of serotonin by preventing its reuptake

▪ Tranquilizers are often incorrectly prescribed for panic, anxiety, and

unhappiness



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o These are the least effective drugs for above symptoms

o Many people develop problems with tolerance and withdrawal--in

particular, cessation of Xanax can result in rebound panic attacks

▪ Lithium carbonate--prescribed for bipolar disorder; must be administered

in the correct dose or can be dangerous

o Psychologists cannot currently prescribe drugs, but are lobbying for prescription privileges

o Cautions about drugs

▪ Placebo effects may account for much of the apparent effectiveness of

drugs; recent evidence suggests that drugs are not very effective

▪ High drop-out rates from side effects of drugs

▪ People who take antidepressant drugs without learning how to cope with

their problems are highly likely to relapse on discontinuing medication

▪ Dosage problems--challenge is to find the therapeutic window (the

amount that is enough, but not too much); race, gender, and age all

influence dosage

▪ Long-term risks

o Some drugs have known risks when taken long term

o Long-term risks of taking other drugs, such as antidepressants, are

not known

o Because a disorder may have biological origins does not mean the only appropriate treatment

is medical

o There is considerable pressure for physicians to prescribe drugs as a result of pressure from

drug companies and managed-care organizations

o Many psychotherapies work as well or better and teach people how to cope

Direct brain intervention



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o Psychosurgery--surgery to destroy selected areas of the brain thought to be responsible for

emotional disorders

▪ Most famous form of psychosurgery is the prefrontal lobotomy

o Never assessed scientifically

o Left patients with personality changes and/or unable to function

▪ Rarely used today

o Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or shock therapy

▪ Used for treatment of the suicidally depressed, who cannot wait for

antidepressants to take effect; not effective with other disorders

▪ Critics claim that it is often used improperly and can cause brain damage

o Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) offers a new alternative

2. Kinds Of Psychotherapy

Common goal of psychotherapies--to help clients think about their lives in new ways and find

solutions for problems that plague them

Psychodynamic therapy

o Probes the past and the mind to produce insight and emotional release which eliminates

symptoms

o Freuds original method was called psychoanalysis--has evolved into psychodynamic

therapies

o Psychodynamic therapies considered depth therapies because they explore the unconscious

by using techniques such as free association and transference

o Does not aim to solve an individuals immediate problem

o Many psychodynamic therapists use Freudian principles, but not methods

o Brief psychodynamic therapy does not go into whole history, but focuses on main issue, as

well as self-defeating habits and recurring problems



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Behavior and cognitive therapy

o Behavioral and cognitive therapies focus on changing current behavior and attitudes rather

than striving for insight

o Behavioral techniques--derived from behavioral principles

▪ Systematic desensitization--a step-by-step process of desensitizing a

client to a feared object or experience; based on counterconditioning

▪ Aversive conditioning--substitutes punishment for the reinforcement that

has perpetuated a bad habit

▪ Flooding or exposure treatments--therapist accompanies client into the

feared situation

▪ Behavioral records and contracts identify current unwanted behaviors

and their reinforcers

▪ Skills training--practice in specific acts needed to achieve goals

o Cognitive techniques

▪ Aim is to identify thoughts, beliefs, and expectations that might be

prolonging a persons problems

▪ Albert Ellis and rational emotive behavior therapy--therapist challenges

illogical beliefs directly with rational arguments

▪ Aaron Beck's approach encourages clients to test their beliefs against the

evidence

o Cognitive-behavior therapy--combines the above two approaches; most common treatment

Humanist and existential therapy

o Humanistic therapies--assume that people seek self-actualization and self-fulfillment

o Do not delve into the past; help people to feel better about themselves here and now

o Client-centered or nondirective therapy by Carl Rogers



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▪ Therapist offers unconditional positive regard to build self-esteem

▪ No specific techniques, but therapists must be warm, genuine, and

empathic; client adopts these views and becomes self-accepting

o Existential therapies--help clients explore the meaning of existence and utilize the powe to

choose a destiny and accept responsibility for their life predicament

Family and couples therapy

o Problems develop in a social context; therefore, the entire context (usually the family) is

treated

o Observing the family together reveals family tensions and imbalances in power and

communication

o Some use genograms--family tree of psychologically significant events--identifies repetitive

patterns across generations

o Family systems approach--recognizes that if one member in the family changes, the others

must change too

Psychotherapy in practice

o Most psychotherapists use techniques from different approaches

o Group therapy

▪ Clients learn that their problems are not unique

▪ Often used in institutional settings, but also in other settings

▪ Different from self-help or personal growth groups

o A common process in all therapies is to replace self-defeating narratives or life stories with

ones that are more hopeful and attainable

3. Evaluating Psychotherapy

The therapeutic alliance

o Successful therapy depends on the bond between client and practitioner



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▪ Personality traits of the client contribute to this relationship

▪ Cultural context contributes to this relationship

The scientist-practitioner gap

o Conflict between scientists and practitioners about the relevance of research findings to

clinical practice

▪ Practitioners believe it is very difficult to study psychotherapy

empirically

▪ Scientists want the effectiveness of psychotherapy scientifically

demonstrated

o Short-term treatment is usually sufficient

Which therapy for which problem

o Problems of assessing therapy

▪ Placebo effect

▪ Justification of effort principle

o Empirically validated treatments must meet stringent criteria

o For many specific problems and emotional disorders, behavioral and cognitive therapies are

the method of choice--particularly effective for anxiety disorders, depression, health

problems, and anger and impulsive violence

o Depth therapies may be more appropriate for less clearly defined therapeutic issues

o Cognitive-behavior therapies do not succeed well with personality disorders and psychoses,

or people who are not motivated to carry out a cognitive and behavioral program

o Combined approaches

▪ For certain problems, combinations of medication and psychotherapy

work best



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▪ Other types of problems require use of a combination of

psychotherapeutic approaches

When therapy harms

o Coercion by the therapist to accept the therapists advice, sexual intimacies, or other unethical

behavior

o Bias on the part of a therapist who does not understand some aspect of the client

o Therapist-induced disorders--unconsciously inducing the client to produce the symptoms they

are looking for



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Documents

· 3. Psychologys past: from the armchair to the laboratory All psychologists want to describe, predict, understand, and modify behavior Early psychologists o Primarily used anecdotes