Intro to Psychology

Psychology: scientific study of behaviors and mental processes; focuses on individuals

Mental Processes Behaviors
COPED = Observe, Predict, Explain, Describe, Control
Thinking walking
Observe people at event
Feeling talking
Predict event causes feeling
Dreaming breathing
Explain that event causes feeling because …
Memories eating/drinking
Describe feelings’ effects
Learning sleeping Control feeling by continuing/stopping it
Perceptions brain activity

History
 125 years old; among the youngest sciences
 focused first on mental processes and then on behaviors
 roots in philosophy and biology

People
 Wilhelm Wundt – Father of Psychology
 E.B. Tichener – student of Wundt, structuralism, (Gestalt)
 William James – first American psychologist , first textbook, Functionalism
 Stanley Hall – founder of American Psychological Association
 Freud – psychoanalysis, unconscious conflicts and desires
 Ivan Pavlov – Learning, observable behavior
 John Watson – Founder of Behaviorism
 B.F. Skinner- Behaviorism (focuses on observable behaviors and how we learn through rewards and
punishments)
 Maslow & Rogers – Humanistic (focuses on how healthy people strive to reach their full potential and that if it is
free, will that govern their behaviors)
 Piaget – child development

Perspectives
 Cognitive perspective – process, store and retrieve information.
 Biological – Brain & physical structures influence on our behaviors, thoughts and emotions
 Socio-Cultural – thinking and behavior are related to our situation such as gender, economics, and culture we
live in.
 Behavioral/Learning – learning through rewards and punishments.
 Humanistic – focuses on self, self-actualization, health, hope, love, creativity, nature, being, becoming,
individuality, and meaning—that is, the understanding of "the personal nature of the human experience".
 Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic – study our unconscious conflicts and drives.
 Behavioral Genetics – nature vs. nurture and how our genes and environment influence us.
 Positive psychology –focus on how to help everyday people thrive. Very similar to humanistic.

Careers
 Clinical – see patients
 Academic – teach, do basic research
 Biological – brain and behavior
 Social – group behaviors
 Developmental – infancy to elderly development
 Cognitive – memory and thought processes
 Applied – organizational, (advertising/corporations) human factor, (humans/technology) psychometricians
(standardized testing)
 Educational – schools
 Nature vs. Nurture

Behavioral genetics: field of study that focuses on the effects of genes and the environment on our behavior.

Nature: is the genetic information you get from your parents the moment you are conceived.

Nurture: are the environmental factors that we are exposed to, such as:
 Being exposed to drugs while you are in the womb
 Food you eat
 Culture
 Economics

Chromosomes  genes  DNA

 You are made up of 46 chromosomes (23 from mom and 23 from dad).
 Genes are made of a chemical called DNA.

Genome: the complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in its chromosomes.
99.9% of your DNA matches all human beings.

Mutations: Random errors in gene replication that lead to a change in individual’s genetic code; makes diversity.

Predisposition: the possibility exists that you may get some disease. NOT a guarantee. Lifestyle or nurture may be
responsible for you actually getting that disease.

Evolutionary psychologists: These people use the concept of natural selection to explain the evolution of our behaviors
and mental processes.

Natural selection: idea that traits that contribute to our survival and pass those on to future generations.

Heritability: the amount of variation we can see in people because of genes. Twin studies:
 Identical: one egg. Genetically the same.
 Fraternal: two eggs just like any other brother and sister.

The research suggests that identical twins show more similarities in things such as intelligence or lifestyle choices than
fraternal twins. That would support the argument for nature of genetics influencing our mental processes and
behaviors.

Research Methods

Scientific Method
1. Observe
2. Invent theory (hypothesis: testable/tentative theory)
3. Predict
4. Test theory
5. Modify theory

Psychology is a science…
• do tests & research
• continuously observes behaviors & tests for patterns
• brain research led to credibility
• uses scientific method
 Type of Research Good Bad
Case study: when you study a person may be the only ethical thing; gives expensive; takes a lot of time; useless
in depth detailed info for other cases
Survey: descriptional & correlational cheap; anonymous; diverse & random low response rate; people lie;
research by internet, mail, phone, wording effects
interview
Longitudinal: 1 group over a long accuracy of info takes lot of time; expensive
period
Cross sectional: people from each age fast; cheaper factors may influence results (ex:
group at the same time different generations & raised
differently)
Naturalistic observation: observing & behavior is natural no control; lot of time; may be caught
recording behavior in natural observing
environment
Experiment: explores cause and effect controlled may have confounding variables
relationships

Correlations: detects relationship between variables

can be positive/negative (positive when variables are related)
DOES NOT = CAUSATION

Experimental Steps
1. Hypothesis
2. Pick random people & assignments
3. Independent/dependent variables
4. Confounding variables
5. Type of experiment: blind, double blind…
6. Gather data
7. Analyze results: must be reliable (replication) & valid (accuracy)

Experimental Vocabulary
• independent: manipulated factor (what experimenter changes)
• dependent: measured factor
• confounding: factors that affect the DV, not the IV
• experimental group: group exposed to IV
• control group: group not exposed to IV
• placebo: treatment without active ingredients but can produce change in DV because subject believes it will

Research Pitfalls
• researcher bias: researcher tends to notice evidence that supports their hypothesis
• participant bias: when participant responds to what researcher is predicting
• confounding variables: uncontrolled factors
• SOLVE BY critical thinking: question and evaluate conclusions & repeat experiment

4 Ethical Principals Why do we use animals on tests?

• informed consent: subject knows all procedure • interest in animals
• protect from harm/discomfort • biological similarities
• confidentiality: anonymous • develop rapidly & can be studied for more time
• debriefing: tell them not to reveal experiment? • more control
• may not be ethical for humans
 Learning

Vocabulary
• Cognition – mental processes
• Behaviorism – study of observable behaviors
• Learning – a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.
• Ex: learn to tie your shoes after experiencing the process over and over again.
• Classical Conditioning – learning where a stimulus gains the power to cause a response.
• Stimulus – something you can respond to
• Response – any behavior or action

Classical Conditioning
• Unconditioned response UCR – naturally occurring behavior
• Unconditioned stimulus UCS – something that causes a natural response
• Conditioned response CR – a behavior that is learned
• Conditioned stimulus CS – something that causes a learned behavior not necessarily a natural one
• Acquisition – acquiring or getting a behavior (conditioning). Neutral stimulus + UCS = learned behavior

UCS – hot water UCS – food UCS – loud noise Taste Aversion…
UCR – jump out UCR – salivation UCR – fear
CS – “flush” CS – bell CS – rat UCS – food
CR – jump out CR – salivation CR – fear UCR – get sick
Learned behavior – jump out Learned behavior – salivate Learned behavior – fear of CS – sight/smell of food
of the water when you hear to bell and not to food rat and not to loud noise CR – get sick
the word “flush” which is a natural response

Taste Aversion: when the principles of conditioning are applied to a person’s avoidance of certain tastes
Classical Conditioning examples: smells/sounds that cause an emotion/reaction Ex:
 dog running when it hears the sound of the car or the rattle of the leash

Extinction – learned behavior stops

Spontaneous Recovery – learned behavior stops but reappears some time again later
Generalization – learned behavior is applied to things that are similar to the conditioned stimulus.
Discrimination – learned behavior only occurs in response to the conditioned stimulus even though another stimulus
might be similar.

Operant Conditioning – learning where behavior depends on consequences that follow it (reinforcement/punishment)
Thorndike’s Law of Effect – behaviors with favorable consequences will occur more frequently
Reinforcement – consequences that increase the behavior. Ex: certificate, food, money, affection
Punishment – consequences that decrease the behavior. Ex: jail, yelling, grounded, kicked out

Types of Reinforcement
Positive – increases behavior by adding a desirable stimulus
Negative – increases behavior by taking away an undesirable behavior
 Taking an aspirin takes away on desirable behavior (headache)
 Turning off the alarm takes away the beeping noise
 Drive makes honking stop
 Study to let you play sports

Immediate reinforcement is more effective than delayed reinforcement. Ex:

 send questionnaire w/ $1 > YES!
 send questionnaire & promise $1 > NO!
Primary reinforcement: naturally rewards. (No one tells me that food makes me happy) Ex: food, sex, water, warmth
Secondary reinforcement: learned rewards. (What will stickers/grades/ give me?) Ex: money, stickers, grades

Shaping – (Skinner) positively reinforce behaviors as they get closer to the ‘goal’ behavior. Ex:
 make a dog do a trick / make a mouse press lever

Reinforcement Schedules
 Continuous – after every correct response
 Partial – after some correct responses only
 Fixed ratio – reinforcement occurs after an exact number of correct responses (buy 10 get 1 free)
 Fixed interval – reinforcement occurs after an exact time has passed (quiz every Friday)
 Variable interval– reinforcement occurs after different amounts of time INTERVAL – time RATIO - #’s
have passed (pop quizzes) 5 min 1 (times
 Variable ratio – reinforcement occurs after different numbers of correct 1 hour 2 performed)
responses have passed (slot machines) 1 week 3
Most effective: variable intervals and ratios because you never know when you
will get the reward so you keep performing the behavior.

Latent learning – learning without real effort (learning may not be seen)
Observational Learning – learning from watching others
Model – person being watched
Modeling – the behavior being observed
Albert Bandura – Bobo doll
4 conditions for learning while watching others
 attention / retention / ability to reproduce the behavior / motivation
Antisocial behaviors – negative (crime)
Prosocial behaviors – positive (charity)

Over Justification Effect – reward may decrease a person’s motivation to perform a behavior the previously liked to do.
 Ex: When 2nd grade teacher comes and doesn’t give stickers for those who read, it’ll make them not like reading.

Prenatal to Newborn

Developmental Psychology: branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social changes throughout lifespan

Prenatal Development
• Conception begins with the drop of an egg and the release of about 200 million sperm
• The sperm seeks out the egg and attempts to penetrate the eggs surface

Zygote: (1st stage) once the sperm penetrates the egg & a fertilized egg results
• Lasts about 2 weeks and consists of rapid cell division
• Less than half of all zygotes survive first 2 weeks
• About 10 days after conception, the zygote will attach itself to the uterine wall
• The outer part of the zygote becomes the placenta (which filters nutrients)
Embryo: (2nd) after 2 weeks, the zygote develops into an embryo
• Lasts about 6 weeks
• Heart begins to beat and the organs begin to develop
Fetus: (3rd) by 9 weeks we have something that looks unmistakably human… (looks like a human alien)
• By about the 6th month, the stomach and other organs have formed enough to survive outside of mom
• At this time the baby can hear (and recognize) sounds and respond to light
• pregnancy lasts 40 weeks
Teratogens: harmful agents to the prenatal environment (ex: alcohol, caffeine, antibiotics, smoking)
Anything that passes through the blood passes to the baby

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

• Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant women’s heavy drinking.
• Severe cases symptoms include facial disproportions (like wide eye separation)

Average baby will be… Babies prefer…

• 20 in. tall • complex patterns
• 5-9 lbs. heavy • sweet tastes (babanas, chocolate)
• double weight in first 5 months, triple it in 1 year • sounds – mom’s voice, high pitch
• grow 10 in. in 1st year • touch – they need lots of it!

Healthy newborn reflexes

• Rooting Reflex- a babies’ tendency, when touched on the cheek, to open mouth and search for a nipple (food)
• Turn towards human voices
• Gaze longer at human face like images
• Babinski- run finger on the bottom of foot and baby will spread its toes
• Grasping- baby grabs for finger and suspend him in the air to grab themselves from falling
• Moro- pretend you drop baby and they’ll open their arms and hands
• Poop & Pee- they know when they want to poop and pee between 15-18 months

Temperament – personality characteristic (cheerful, excitable, shy)

Critical period – optimal time for a bay to achieve some aspect of development (walk in 9-15 months; talk in 2 years)

Infancy and Childhood

Brain & motor skills develop while in the womb, ¼ million brain cells per min. (basically all you’re ever going to develop)
Infancy – although no new cells develop, existing cells begin form more complex neural networks

Maturation - biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior; relatively uninfluenced by experience
• To a certain extent, we all maturate similarly, but times vary depending on the person.
Motor development – biological changes in behavior (time varies)
• Ex: first roll over, sit up unsupported, crawl, walk, etc.
Walking- in US 25% learn by 11 months, 50% within a week of 1st birthday, 90% by 15 months
• Nurture- it varies by culture if it emphasizes walking, then babies can walk at younger ages
• Nature- identical twins tend to learn to walk on the same day
Toilet Training – NEEDS physical maturation to hold bladder/bowel movements before toilet training

Cognitive Development – (Jean Piaget) kids think differently than adults

• children are active thinkers, always trying to make sense of the world by developing schemas
• schema – concept or framework that organizes & interprets information (categories you create to understand
the world)
Assimilation – interpreting one’s new experiences into one’s existing schemas
• When you call a peacock, an owl, a humming bird… birds
• When you call macaroni, tortellini, spaghetti… pasta
Accommodation - adapting one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

Cognition – all mental activities associated with thinking, knowing and remembering
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development – sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational
Sensorimotor Stage – (birth to 2 years) explore the world purely by their senses
• (4-8 months) baby will learn to make things move by banging or shaking them
• (12-18 months) child will have object permanence (see hidden objects in her mind; before, they thought it
doesn’t exist anymore)
• (18-24 months) mediation- child will use images to stand for objects in their own environment (she can think
about the whole world)

Preoperational Stage – (2-7 years) children are egocentric- inability to take on another’s point of view
• (beginning) child will develop ability to use symbols
• (3-4 years) apply ability to symbolize with objects, to people (names represent people)
• (ending) will understand concept of conservation

Concrete Operational Stage – (7-11 years) understand concept of conservation

• can think logically, use analogies, perform mathematical transformations/reversibility(5+9 = 9-5)

Formal Operational Stage – we can reason abstractly

• God is love. > Love is blind. >>>> Stevie Wonder is blind. > Stevie Wonder is god.

Adolescence

Adolescence – transition period from childhood to adulthood (getting longer by time)

Physical Development begins with puberty
Puberty – period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
• starts on first ejaculation for boys & menarche for girls
• sequence is always the same; timing varies
Primary sexual characteristics – body structures that make sexual reproduction possible (ovaries/testicles)
Secondary sexual characteristics – non-reproductive sexual characteristics (hips & breasts / deep voice & body hair)
Social effects of timing differences for an adolescent…
• Boys = popularity, leadership, competitive, higher self esteem; more likely to engage in problem behaviors.
• Girls = awkward, teased, pressure from older teens; expected to do things they aren’t ready for.
Cognitive Development – have the ability to reason self-focused (assume their experiences are unique) & experience
formal operational thought
Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stage of Morality
• Pre-conventional Morality – morality of self-interest. Actions are either to avoid punishment or to gain rewards.
• Conventional Morality – morality is based upon obeying laws to: maintain social order & gain social approval
• Post-conventional Morality – morality based on your own ethical principles
Social Development – about forming an identity
Identity – one’s sense of self
• The idea that an adolescent’s job is to find oneself by testing various roles.
• Comes from Erik Erikson’s stages of Psychosocial development
• Some teenagers take their identity early by sharing their parents values and expectations.
• Some teenagers will adopt a negative identity- opposition to society, but conforms to a peer group
Intimacy – (end of adolescence) becomes the prime goal: to have someone to share life with

Stages of Age Important Description

Psychosocial Event
Development
Trust vs. Mistrust birth – 18 feeding Infants form a loving, trusting relationship with parents; they
months also learn to mistrust others.
Autonomy vs. 18 months – 3 toilet training Child's energies are directed toward physical skills: walking,
Shame and Doubt years grasping, and toilet training. The child learns control along
with a healthy dose of shame and doubt.
Initiative vs. Guilt 3 – 6 years independence Child becomes more assertive, takes more initiative, and
becomes more forceful.
Competence vs. 6 – 12 years school The child must deal with demands to learn new skills while
Inferiority risking a sense of inferiority and failure
Identity vs. Role adolescence peers Teens must achieve self-identity while deciphering their
Confusion roles in occupation, politics, and religion.
Intimacy vs. young adult relationships The young adult must develop marriage-seeking
Isolation relationships while combating feelings of isolation.
Generativity vs. middle adult parenting Assuming the role of parents signifies the need to continue
Stagnation the generations while avoiding the inevitable feeling of
failure.
Integrity vs. late adult life reflection Acceptance of one's lifetime accomplishments and sense of
Despair fulfillment.