Foundations of Psychology

Science of Psychology

• Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes
• Behaviour is observable activity
• Mental processes are not directly observable (e.g. thoughts, feelings)
• The scientific method is used—objective procedures to understand how people think, act and feel.
• The steps in the scientific method are observation, hypothesis, experimentation, data analysis, and conclusion.
• The goal of psychology is to describe, understand, explain, predict, control and change behaviour.
• Psychology is a science involving two types of research: Basic and Applied
• Basic research is done for knowledge sake - e.g. What factors influence exercise behaviour?
• Applied research is done to solve practical problems—e.g. use basic scientific knowledge to design intervention programmes
• Psychology uses a level of analysis framework: Nature, nurture, and psychological factors must be considered for a holistic understanding of behaviour

Foundations of Psychology

• Psychology emerged as a science in 1879, with Wilhelm Wundt establishing the first psychology lab in Leipzig.
• Wundt developed the method of introspection
• Structuralism proposed that conscious experience can be studied when broken down into its basic underlying elements (Edward Titchener)- what are the components of consciousness.
• Functionalism was concerned with the function of consciousness (William James)- what is the function of consciousness.
• Gestalt Perspective views the whole as greater than the sum of its parts (Max Wertheimer)

Psychology Perspectives

• Sociocultural perspective (individualism vs collectivism)
• Psychodynamic perspective (Freud)
• Humanistic perspective (Carl Rogers)
• Behavioural perspective (Watson & Skinner)
• Biological perspective (twin studies)
• Cognitive perspective (Jean Piaget)

Brain and Behaviour

• The Nervous System is the body's control center

• Neurons send electrical and chemical signals throughout the body.

• Glial cells support neurons—maintain homeostasis

• Neural communication involves electrical signal through the neuron, becoming a chemical signal at the synapse, then becoming an electrical signal again, and repeats.

• There are 3 main types of neurons: sensory, motor, interneurons

• Two nervous systems:

• Central Nervous System (CNS): made up of the brain and the spinal cord

• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): includes somatic and autonomic (sympathetic and parasympathetic) nervous systems

• The Brain: Subdivisions:

• Hindbrain - connects the brain to the spinal cord, controls basic functions (breathing, alertness, motor skills)

• Forebrain, consists of subcortical structures (thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, hippocampus, amygdala, basal ganglia) that relate to several functions like the regulation of the body temperature, hunger and thirst, the production of hormones and their release.

• Cerebral cortex (outer layer) reticular formation is described as the brains gatekeeper

• The three major subdivisions of the brain are the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain

• The lobes of the brain: Frontal, Parietal, Temporal, Occipital

• Know the functions and effects of damage to each lobe.

• Different parts have distinct functions, including but not limited to; movement, thinking, learning, language and vision.

Learning

• Learning is relatively enduring change in behaviour resulting from experience.
• Learning processes—processes through which environmental stimuli and behavioural responses become connected.
• Types of learning:
• Nonassociative learning: Responding after repeated exposure to a single stimulus or event
• Associative learning: Linking two stimuli or events that occur together.
• Observational learning: Acquiring or changing a behaviour after exposure to another individual performing that behaviour.
• Behavioural learning theory focuses on measurable behaviours rather than unobservable cognitive processes
• Behavioural learning theory is interested in how the environment controls behaviour
• Learning processes include habituation and sensitization
• Classical conditioning—a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a unconditioned stimulus. (Know Pavlovian experiment). —Know acquisition behaviours and extinction (Acquisition; refers to the period during which a response is being learned; Extinction: when conditioned response no longer occurs when conditioned stimulus is presented.)
• Applications of classical conditioning—phobias, counterconditioning, VR exposure therapy, aversion therapy, advertising, sickness and health.
• Operant conditioning—behavior influenced by the consequences that follow (Skinner). — Positive and negative reinforcement (adding something pleasant vs removing something unpleasant.) — Operant extinction—weakening of a specific response because no longer reinforced
• Reinforcement schedules, learning and extinction (Continuous reinforcement Vs Partial reinforcement) Punishments (positive and negative)
• Social learning theory proposed that observational learning and imitating others affects learning. (Bandura's Bobo doll experiment).

Memory

• Processes allow us to record, store, and later retrieve experiences and information.
• Case study: Patient H.M.
• Ebbinghaus observed 3 processes: encoding (information translated), storage (retaining information), and retrieval (access stored information)
• Multi-store model (Atkinson & Shiffrin), 1968
• Working memory model is an alternative to STM.
• Long-term memory: memories that endure for a lifetime.
• Serial position effect: ability to recall item influenced by its position in a series (primacy and recency effects)
• Encoding: effortful (conscious attention) vs automatic (without conscious attention).
• Levels of processing theory: Deeper processing leads to better memory
• Structural encoding: the way something looks
• Phonological encoding: the way something sounds
• Semantic encoding: what something means
• Mnemonics (tools to aid memory): e.g. acronyms, acrostics, etc.
• Forgetting: factors influencing forgetting and dementia.
• Different types of long-term memory (explicit vs implicit; declarative vs procedural).

Thinking and Intelligence

• Cognition and logical reasoning
• Limits of logical reasoning; cognitive biases
• Intuitive decision making
• Emotion-based decision making
• Dual processing theory
• Debates around intelligence, history of intelligence
• Conceptualising intelligence (Spearman's 'g', Sternberg's triarchic theory, Gardner's multiple intelligences)
• Measuring intelligence (e.g., Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - WAIS)
• Genetic and environmental factors influencing intelligence
• Predicting irrationality; Heuristics, Cognitive biases (confirmation bias, representativeness bias, availability bias, and unrealistic optimism)

Health and Illness

• What is health? (Multi-sided, subjective, adaptable—WHO definition)
• Biomedical model: health as absence of illness; reductionist
• Strengths: Advances in healthcare
• Weaknesses: Doesn't account for broader psycho-social factors
• Biopsychosocial model: Interactions of biological, psychological, and social factors in health, illness, illness causation, and treatment outcomes.

Personality and Emotions

• Personality is relatively enduring patterns of behaviour, ways of thinking and responding emotionally.
• Personality reflects human variation including genetic and environmental factors.
• Psychodynamic Perspective (Freud): Personality struggles between instinctual drives and constraints
• Biological Perspective: Genetic factors impact personality.
• Humanistic Perspective (Rogers): Self-Concept, self-consistency.
• Trait theory: Identify and measure basic dimensions of personalities (e.g., Big Five traits).
• Limitations of Trait theory - Trait vs situation debate
• Emotions: Important aspect of overall health - affect.
• Applications to health: Happiness (reduced cholesterol), Anger (impaired immune function).

Mental Health Disorders

• Defining abnormal behaviour
• Classification of psychological disorders (DSM 5, ICD-11, etc)
• Limitations of these classifications
• Types of Mental Health Disorders:
• Mood disorders (unipolar, bipolar)
• Anxiety disorders (phobia, panic disorder, social anxiety, GAD)
• Obsessive-Compulsive disorder
• Schizophrenia
• eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, binge eating)

Explore the fundamental concepts of psychology, including the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Understand the steps of the scientific method and the types of research conducted in psychology, such as basic and applied research. This quiz will challenge your knowledge and help you grasp the core principles of psychological science.