Chapter 1:
1. Definition of Psychology
- The science of behavior and mental processes
2. Broad understanding of what is meant by the "Biopsychosocial approach"
3. Historical figures in psychology and their contributions (Wundt, Tichener,
Freud, Skinner, Watson, James, Cattell, Hall, Calkins, Washburn)
Wundt:
- Defined psych as “science of mental life.” Intro’d carefully measured observations
and experiments to enhance scientific nature of psych.
- Demonstrated that the mind could be measured and the nature of consciousness
could be revealed through scientific means.
Titchener:
- Student of Wundt who brought America Structuralism.
- Study of contents of the mind- what the mind is.
- Studied conscious experience and it’s structure
- Methods: Experiments and introspection
- Didn’t study children, animals, or people with mental issues
Freud:
- Main advocate for Psychoanalysis
- Explained personality and behavior through psychological processes
- Emphasized importance of childhood in development of personality
- Methods: Case Study Applications: Psychotherapy
Skinner & Watson(Behaviorism):
Goals:
- Study only observable behavior
- Explain behavior via learning principles
Methods: Observing relationship of environment and behavior
Application:Behavior modification, Improving teaching methods, and Behavioral
Therapy
Behavior: Any action that can be observed recorded
Mental Process: Internal, subjective experience inferred from behavior
James, Hall & Cattell(Functionalism):
Goals: Study how the mind allows an organism to adapt to the environment
- Emphasized functions of thought
Methods: Naturalistic observation
Application: Educational, evolutionary, child,& industrial psychology
Study of individual differences
Calkins:
- Memory research who became first female APA president
- Studied with James and Denied PhD
Washburn:
- First women to earn PhD in psych, second APA pres
- Studied with Titchener but barred from his experimental psych org
Wertheimer, Koffka, Köhler:
- Goal: Describe the organization of consciousness
- Whole is greater than the sum of its parts
- Methods: Observation of sensory/perceptual phenomena
- Apps: Understanding learning and cognition
- Understanding of visual illusions
4. Historical approaches in psychology (e.g., functionalism, behaviorism,
psychoanalysis)
5. Major Subfields of psychology (biological, cognitive, developmental, social,
personality, clinical/counseling, educational/school)
Biological: Physiological psych (Relating to the way in which a living organism or
bodily part functions). Analysis of the physical underpinnings of mental and behavior
processes.
- Q’s: How does the brain react to pain? How does the brain work doing tasks?
What part of the brain is least/most active and what r they responsible for? What
type of neurotransmitters are released when doing x?
Cognitive: Study of the mental processes underlying behavior.
- Q’s: What makes ppl smart? How do ppl solve problems? How do we store and
process info?
- Includes Human Factors which looks at human-system interactions(what makes
a machine intuitive)
Developmental Psych: Evals behavior and mental processes throughout the lifetime.
- Q’s When are children capable of recognizing faces? What are the effects of
aging on mental abilities
Clinical & Counseling: Asses, understand, and attempt to change abnormal behavior
- Q’s like What is the best treatment for depression? How can we reduce criminal
behavior
Social: How the real or imagined presence of others influences behavior and mental
processes.
Personality: Examine individual differences
Q’s: What are the differences between people who like big crowds and people who like
small groups?
Education/School:(Edu) Improve instruction and learning method
- Q’s: Best way for 2nd graders to learn
- School psych: Diagnose academic problems, examine intelligence, improve
student achievement
- Q’s: How to help student with learning disabilities
Chapter 2:
6. Biases that affect interpretation of evidence (hindsight, overconfidence)
- Hindsight: Tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that you can have
predicted it. (I knew it all along)
- Overconfidence: People tend to think they know more than they do.
- Academic and social behavior (It not that hard, I coulda done that)
7. Define/distinguish hypotheses and theories
Hyp: Specific testable predictions about phenomena (ex.Men drink more beer than
women)
Theories: Broad, testable ideas about phenomenon. Generate hypotheses from
theories.
- Account for, predict, and suggest ways to control phenomena.
- Ex. Theory of planned behavior
- Good theory: Effectively organizes, leads to clear predictions, often stims
research, may be replicated
8. Reliability and validity
Reliability: Different results from one time to another
- Same results from one time to another
Validity: Inaccurate conclusions and predictions
- Accurate conclusions and predictions
9. Distinguish between different types of research (observations, case studies,
correlational studies, experiments)
Observations:
- Features: Observation in normal environments. May be naturalistic or unobtrusive.
- Strengths: Uncontaminated (?) descriptive data about behavior
- Pitfalls: Observer bias, Participants self-consciousness
- Uses: Study work environments, Look at communication pattern
Case studies:
Features: Intensive examination of specific person or situation
Strengths: Provides detailed descriptive analysis
Pitfalls: May not be representative of the phenomena
Uses: Studies of new, complex, or rare phenomena, Studies in neuropsychology
Correlational studies:
Features: Examining relationships between variables
Strengths: Testing predictions & Eval theories
Pitfalls: Cannot confirm causal relationships
Uses: Investigating ethically problematic q’s, suggesting new hypotheses
Survey:
Features: Ask many ppl a standard set of questions
Strengths: Gathers large amounts of data quickly and cheaply
Pitfalls: Sampling error, poorly phrased q’s, response biases
Uses: Gathering descriptive data, Learning about opinions
Experiments:
Features: Manipulation of an indep variable to see effects on depend variable
Strengths: Can establish a cause effect relationship
Pitfalls: Confounds may prevent valid conclusions
Uses: Testing treatments
10. Measures of central tendency (Mean, mode, median), what they tell us about
the data.
Mean: Avg
Median: Number in the middle of ordered set
Mode: Most common number in a set
11. Positive v. negative correlations
Positive(0-+1.00): Indicates a direct relationship, meaning that two things increase
together or decrease together
Negative(0- -1.00): Indicates an inverse relationship
Illusory correlation: Perception of a relationship between two variables when only a
minor or no relationship truly exists.
12. Correlation v. causation
Correlation coefficient: Provides a stat measure of how close two things vary and how
well one predicts the other.
Correlation doesn’t = causation but causation does imply correlation
13. Experiments:
a. Independent and dependent variables
Indep: Manipulated, cause
Dep: Effect, Measured
b. Random assignment
- Every participant having an equal chance of being in the experimental group or
the control
c. Confounds:
Random variables: Randomizing participants
Participants’ expectations: Placebo effect
Experimenter bias: Minimize with double-blind designs
d. Control groups
- Experimental group: Receives treatment, Independent variable affect them
- Control group: No treatment, may receive a placebo, used for comparison
i. Placebo effect
- Any treatment that has no active properties
Chapter 3
14. The divisions of the central and peripheral nervous system
CNS: Encased in bone, associated with processing sensory info
15. The parts of a neuron and their functions
Action Potential: Neural impulse that travels down the axon.
- Neuron stim causes change in electrical charge and if strong causes
depolarization. Depolarization causes another AP along the axon. First section
is recharged as the AP moves down the axon.
16. The areas of the cerebral cortex
Frontal, Parietal, Occipital, Temporal
- Divided by Gyri(ridges) and Sulci (valleys)
Motor cortex- Controls movement
Sensory- Receives sensory info
Association- Integrates info
Wernicke’s area- Language interpretation
Broca’s area- Language organization, Speech production
Somatosensory cortex- Primary receptor of general bodily sensation(touch,
texture, temp, etc.)
17. The role of the corpus callosum
- Large band of neural fibers that connect the brains two hemispheres
- Left (logical and language abilities), Right (spatial, artistic,musical, and facial
recognition abilities)
18. The primary neurotransmitters and their functions
Neurons receive signals from other neurons (fire/don’t fire). When threshold is reached,
AP starts moving and either fires or not (all or none). AP travels down axon from cell
body to terminal branches. Signal is transmitted to another cell but must cross the
synapse between cells. Agonist: Increase neurotrans action Antagonist: Inhibits or
blocks neuro action.
Acetylcholine: Enables muscle action, learning, and memory With Alzheimer’s
disease, ACh - producing neurons deteriorate.
Dopamine:Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion. Oversupply linked
to schizophrenia. Undersupply linked to tremors and loss of motor control in Parkinson’s
disease.
Serotonin:Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal. Undersupply linked to depression.
Some drugs that raise serotonin levels are used to treat depression.
Norepinephrine:Helps control alertness and arousal. Undersupply can depress mood.
GABA: A major inhibitory neurotransmitter. Undersupply linked to seizures, tremors,
and insomnia.
Glutamate: A major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory.Oversupply can
overstimulate the brain, producing migraines or seizures (which is why some people
avoid MSG, monosodium glutamate, in food).
19. How we observe the brain (PET, FMRI, EEG)
EEG
Technique:
•Multiple electrodes pasted to outside of head
•Senses electrical fields resulting from neural activity
What it shows:
•General electrical activity of the brain
•Represented as a line on a graph or screen
Advantages: Detects rapid changes in electrical activity, allows analysis of stages of
cog activity, May be combined with (MEG) to localize activity.
Dis: Poor spatial resolution of the source of activity
PET & SPECT
•Technique
•Positrons and photons emitted by radioactive substances
•What they show
•Indicate specific changes in neuronal activity
•Advantages
•Allow functional and biochemical studies
•Provide visual image corresponding to anatomy
•Better spatial resolution better than EEG
•
•Disadvantages
•Require exposure to low levels of radioactivity
•Inferior spatial resolution to MRI
•Cannot follow changes faster than 30 seconds
FMRI
•Combines the advantages of PET and MRI
•Detects changes in blood flow and oxygen that reflect ongoing changes in neural
activity
•Resulting computer analysis shows areas of the brain that appear activated during a
task
•Indicates location of brain activity, but not cause
•Does not tell us how brain works
•Does not measure brain cell activity directly, but measures change in blood flow and
oxygen
•Subject to experimenter bias in interpretation
Chapter 4
20. Levels of consciousness (nonconscious, preconscious, unconscious,
conscious)
Function of Consciousness
- Helps us adapt to changing environments
- Provides a unified representation of the world
- Interpretation of sensory info
- Based on memories and other info
Consciousness
- Psych Def: Awareness of self, bodily sensations, thoughts, and environment
- Normal Def: Awareness demonstrated by any ability to recall an experience
Nonconscious level
- Regulation of most autonomic functions
- Biofeedback training can help provide some control
Preconscious level
- Information you can bring to consciousness (memory)
- Example: What color underwear are you wearing?
Unconscious level
- Freud: Primitive urges kept out of consciousness
- Current concepts: Unperceived mental activity that influences conscious thought
21. Dual processing and blindsight
Dual Processing
- Principle that info is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious (explicit) and
unconscious (implicit) tracks
- Perceptions, memory, attitudes, and other cognitions are affected
- Evidence:
Blindsight awareness:
- Condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously
experiencing it
22. Selective attention and the cocktail party effect (You do not need to know the
models of selective attention discussed in the book).
Selective attention
- Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
The cocktail party effect
- For example, have you ever been at a party, overwhelmed by all the people and
conversation, when out of nowhere you hear your name called? Even though you
have no idea what else the person is saying, you are somehow conscious of your
name (for more on this, “The cocktail party effect,” see Noba’s Module on
Attention). So, even though you may not be aware of various stimuli in your
environment, your brain is paying closer attention than you think.
23. Divided attention and inattentional blindness
Parallel processing
- Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of info
processing for many functions
Inattentional blindness
- Failing to see visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere
- Change blindness
24. Priming
- Brief, unrecalled exposure to stimuli
- Affects later behavior
- The activation of certain thoughts or feelings that make them easier to think of and act
upon
25. Circadian rhythms & disruptions
Circadian rhythms are cycles of behavior and physiology that repeat about every 24 hours
- Cued by cycles of light and darkness
- Disruptions: Jet lag (traveling across time zones)
- Worse when traveling eastward
- Sleeping in on weekends, disrupting regular rhythms
- Rotating work shift, long shifts, and long work weeks
26. Stages of sleep
- Non-REM sleep
- Stage 1: Hearing and processing, somewhat aware of surroundings
- Stage 2: Unaware of surroundings, half asleep (ex. When someone wakes you
up)
- Stage 3: Beginning of deep sleep, muscles are immobile, no physical motion, no
eye motion
- Stage 4: Movement is the slowest, deep
- Body temp drops and HR drops
- Rem (Rapid eye movement)Sleep
- Body is acting awake,
- Restores us
- Deepest during the first part of the night
- Later, REM sleep becomes more prominent
27. How drugs affect the brain and consciousness (hallucinogens, depressants,
stimulants)
Hallucinogens
- Distorts perceptions and calls up sensory images without any input from the senses
Depressants
- Drugs such as alc, barbiturates (tranquilizers), and opiates that calm neural activity and
slow body functions.
Stimulants:
- Includes caffeine, nic, and the more powerful amphetamines, coke, MDMA, and meth
that excite neural activity and speed up body functions
- Involves dilation of pupils, increase in heart and breathing rates, rise in blood sugar, and
drop in appetite
- Often involves increase in energy and self-confidence
Main Goals in Research, Describe a phenomenon, Explain the phenomenon, Control the phenomenon
Make predictions about the phenomenon
Variables
•
What is a variable? Factors that can be manipulated and measured in research
Operational definitions Definitions of abstract concepts within experiments
Cofound: Factor interfering with study
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Health Psych
- Part of the broader field of behavioral medicine
Studies psych influences on:
- How ppl stay healthy
- Why people become ill
- How people respond when they are ill
Understanding Stress and Stressors
We have stressors: Anything that causes stress<>Stress Mediators: Cog Appraisal,
Predictability, Control, Social Support, etc.<> Stress Responses: Anger
Psych Stressors
- Any event that forces a person to adapt
- Ex. Catastrophic events
- Life changes & strains
- Chronic problems: Annoying roommate, money issues
- Daily hassles
Organ Systems involved in the General Adaptation Syndrome
- Alarm: The sympatho-adreno-medullary system (blue arrows), mobilizes the body for
action
- Coping: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system (purple arrows) triggers the
release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers
- Eventually create resistance
- The HPA also stimulates the release of corticosteroids, which help resist stress and
suppress the immune system
- Eventually leads to exhaustion
Psychoneuroimmunology
- Stress can affect the body’s reaction to disease
- Can impair or suppress the immune system
-
Autoimmune disorders
- Immune system cells attack and destroy normal body cells
- Stress exacerbates issues
Psychological Responses to Stress:
Emotional Responses
- Changes in emotional experience
- Usually stops soon after stressors disappear
- If stressors are persistent or close together
- Emotional reactions may persist
- May cause tension, irritability, sadness, or anxiety
Cognitive Responses:
- Reductions in the ability to concentrate, think clearly, or remember accurately
Include:
- Ruminative thinking
- Catastrophizing
- Mental sets
- Functional fixedness: Seeing things in black and white way not being able to think
creatively
- Impaired decision making
Behavioral Responses
- CHanges in how people look, act, talk
- Attempts to escape or avoid stressors may include
- Alc Abuse
- Overeating (especially high-fat comfort foods)
- Changes in sleep patterns
- Aggression
- Quitting jobs
- Dropping out of school
- Attempting suicide
Often precludes learning more adaptive ways to cope
Stress, Illness, and Cardiovascular System
- Stress and the development of coronary heart disease
- Repeated activation of the sympatho-adreno-medullary system is linked to development
of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke
Active Cognitive Coping
Active Behavioral Coping: Therapy
Avoidant Coping: Drug
Cognitive Coping Strategies:
- Thinking calmly, rationally, and constructively
- Replace catastrophic thinking by viewing stressors as challenges rather than threats
- Cognitive restructuring
- Identify upsetting thoughts
- Develop and practice more constructive thoughts to use under stress
- Does not eliminate stressors
- They seem less threatening and are less disruptive
Stress Mediators:
Predictability and Perception of Control
- uNpredictable stressors have more impact
- If people can exert some control over stressors, they usually have less impact
- Many hospitals now teach relaxation skills, and allow patients to control their own
pain medication
- Simply believing that a stressor is controllable, even if it isn’t can also reduce its impact
Emotional Coping Strategies
- Finding social support
- Feeling that you are cared about and valued by others is essential
- Associated with improved immune functions and more rapid recovery from illness
Behavioral Coping Strategies
- Change behavior in ways that minimize the impact of stressors
- E.g., improved time management strategies
- Helps control catastrophizing thoughts by providing reassurance that there is a
way to handle things
Psychical Coping Strategies: Drugs
- May become psychologically dependent on the drug
- Effects may interfere with the ability to use other coping strategies
- May make stressors seem even more threatening and disruptive
Non-Chemical Methods
- Progressive muscle relaxation training
- Physcial exercise
- Biofeedback
- Mindfulness/relaxation
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Tai Chi
