History and Core Foundations of Psychology

Core Foundations of Psychology

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes, employing empirical methods.

History of Psychology

• Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle developed early theories on the mind, behavior, and learning.
• Rationalism vs. Empiricism: Plato advocated reasoning for knowledge, while Aristotle emphasized experience.
• In the scientific shift (1500-1700s), Descartes introduced mind-body dualism, and Locke proposed the mind as a "blank slate."
• Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab in 1879, pioneering structuralism.
• William James promoted functionalism, studying the purpose of thoughts and behavior.
• Sigmund Freud developed psychodynamic theory, emphasizing unconscious motives.
• John Watson and B.F. Skinner founded behaviorism, focusing on observable behavior.
• The Cognitive Revolution (1950s–1970s) shifted focus to internal mental processes like thinking, memory, and perception.
• Modern psychology integrates various perspectives, emphasizing neuroscience and sociocultural factors.

Major Psychological Perspectives

• The biological perspective studies brain structures, neurotransmitters, genetics, and evolution in shaping behavior, using brain imaging, twin studies, and animal research.
• The cognitive perspective focuses on thought processes, viewing the mind as an information processor.
• Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory and the Information Processing Model are key cognitive theories.
• The behavioral perspective rejects introspection, focusing on observable behaviors and reinforcement, using classical and operant conditioning.
• The humanistic perspective emphasizes free will, personal growth, and self-actualization, with key figures being Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, and is applied in counseling and self-improvement.
• The psychodynamic perspective focuses on unconscious drives, childhood experiences, and internal conflicts, using key concepts like Id, Ego, Superego, and defense mechanisms, and is applied in talk therapy and dream analysis.
• The sociocultural perspective examines how culture, social norms, and group dynamics shape behavior, using Social Identity Theory and Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory, and is applied in cross-cultural studies and diversity training.

The Scientific Method

• The scientific method is a systematic process to objectively study behavior and mental processes using empirical evidence.
• The steps are observation and identifying a research question, forming a hypothesis, conducting a study, analyzing data, drawing conclusions and reporting results, and replication
• A hypothesis is a specific, testable prediction about the relationship between variables, while a theory is a broad framework explaining related observations.

Types of Research Methods

• Experimental research investigates cause-and-effect relationships by manipulating variables, emphasizing independent and dependent variables.
• Control and experimental groups are compared, with random assignment used to eliminate bias.
• Correlational research examines relationships between variables without proving causation, using the correlation coefficient.
• Positive correlation indicates variables increase together, negative correlation indicates one increases as the other decreases, and zero correlation indicates no relationship.
• Observational research studies behavior in natural settings without interference, including naturalistic observation, participant observation, case studies, and self-reports.
• Operational definitions provide precise, measurable definitions of variables in a study, ensuring clarity and replication.

Ethics in Psychological Research

• Research ethics ensure studies are conducted responsibly, safely, and fairly, in accordance with guidelines from organizations like the APS, APA, and BPS.
• Respect for Persons: Treat all with dignity and autonomy
• Beneficence: Minimize harm, maximize benefits
• Justice: Distribute research risks/benefits fairly
• Integrity: Be honest and transparent

Core Ethical Guidelines

• Informed consent means participants must voluntarily agree, with a clear explanation of the study and the right to withdraw without penalty; guardian consent is needed for those lacking full understanding.
• Deception involves misleading participants when full disclosure would alter behavior, and is allowed only if justified by scientific benefits, with debriefing afterwards.
• Confidentiality & Anonymity: Protect personal data; use codes, secure data (password-protected files, locked cabinets); ensure anonymous publication.
• Right to Withdraw: Participants can leave a study anytime without consequences, and their data should be removed upon request.
• Protection from Harm: Minimize psychological, physical, and emotional harm; studies should be terminated if significant distress occurs.
• Debriefing: Fully inform participants about the study's true purpose after involvement, addressing deception, distress, and confusion, and offering counseling if needed.

Biological Bases of Behavior

• The nervous system is the communication network between the brain, spinal cord, and body with main functions including sensation, movement, cognition, emotion, homeostasis.

Nervous System Divisions

• The Central Nervous System (CNS) is the control center, processing sensory information and includes the brain (thoughts, emotions, movement, homeostasis) and the spinal cord (transmits messages, reflex control).
• The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) connects the CNS to the body.
• Divided into the Somatic Nervous System (SNS) for voluntary movements and the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) for involuntary functions (heart rate, digestion).

Cerebral Cortex Lobes

• Frontal Lobe: Decision-making, problem-solving, movement, personality with the prefrontal cortex (planning), primary motor cortex (movement), and Broca's area (speech production). Damage results in poor judgment and speech problems.
• Parietal Lobe: Sensory processing, spatial awareness, somatosensory cortex (processes touch, pain, temperature). Damage results in spatial task issues.
• Temporal Lobe: Hearing, language, memory, facial recognition, containing auditory cortex (processes sound) and Wernicke's area (language comprehension). Damage results in difficulty understanding speech and memory loss.
• Occipital Lobe: Visual processing, containing the primary visual cortex (interprets images), and damage results in blindness.

Limbic System

• The limbic system is involved in emotion, motivation, memory, and survival instincts.
• The amygdala processes emotions (especially fear), and damage results in reduced fear response.
• The hippocampus forms new memories, and damage results in anterograde amnesia.
• The hypothalamus regulates hormones, hunger, and sleep, and damage results in disrupted sleep.
• The thalamus relays sensory signals, and damage results in loss of consciousness.

Brainstem

• The brainstem is the oldest part of the brain, controlling vital functions.
• Connects the brain to the spinal cord
• Regulates reflexes and breathing
• Cerebellum damage leads to ataxia – loss of coordination and balance.

Neurotransmitters & Hormones

• Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in the brain, while hormones are released by glands into the bloodstream.
• Both play a crucial role in mood, cognition, stress response, motivation, and social bonding
• Dopamine: Regulates pleasure, motivation, learning, movement. Imbalances lead to schizophrenia or Parkinson's disease.
• Serotonin: Regulates mood, sleep, and emotional stability. Imbalances lead to depression, anxiety, or impulsivity.
• Cortisol: Increases alertness and energy during stress & chronic stress leads to anxiety, memory problems.
• Adrenaline (Epinephrine): Increases heart rate and energy during stress. Imbalances lead to panic disorder or PTSD.
• Oxytocin: Promotes social bonding and trust. It is linked to autism.

Fight-or-Flight

• A survival mechanism preparing the body to confront (fight) or escape (flight) from a threat.
• Triggered by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and Autonomic Nervous System (ANS).
• Increases heart rate, breathing
• HPA Axis releases cortisol to increase energy and suppresses unneeded functions
• Long-term cortisol impairs memory, weakens immunity

Impact of Chronic Stress

• Occurs when the HPA axis is continuously activated: can lead to impaired memory, high blood pressure, weakened immunity, and digestive issues

Key Terms

• The Sympathetic nervous system activates fight-or-flight and the parasympathetic calms the body
• HPA Axis releases cortisol
• Chronic stress leads to disease

Neuroplasticity

• Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change & adapt in response to learning or damage
• Synaptic Plasticity (Hebbian Learning): Strengthens or weakens connections based on experience with the rule "Neurons that fire together, wire together."
• Structural Plasticity: The brain forms new neurons, occurs in the hippocampus & increases connectivity.
• Functional Plasticity: Brain areas reorganize after damage.
• Critical Periods: Certain skills must be learned in certain time frames.
• Sensitive Periods: Learning is optimal, but still able to learn if missed.

Memory Consolidation

• The process of stabilizing new memories after learning. Transfers information from short-term to long-term memory.
• Influenced by sleep, exercise, stress control, nutrition, cognitive stimulation & lifelong learning

Cognitive Psychology: Sensation and Perception

• Sensation detects external stimuli through sensory organs, while perception organizes and interprets sensory information.

Sensory Processing

• Sensory receptors detect stimuli, which are converted into neural signals and sent to the brain for interpretation.
• Bottom-up = Data-driven processing (sensation first).

Vision (Sight)

• Structures: Retina (light detection), Optic nerve, Occipital lobe (interprets). Key Concepts: Trichromatic Theory / Opponent-Process Theory and also Depth and Motion Perception

Touch (Somatosensation)

• Receptors: Detect pressure, temperature, and pain. Key Concepts: Gate Control Theory of Pain / Phantom Limb Pain

Smell (Olfaction)

• Structure: Olfactory Bulb. Bypasses the thalamus; is strongly linked to emotion & memory (limbic system).

Gestalt Principles of Perception

• Is how the brain organizes sensory information into meaningful patterns, such as Figure-Ground, Similarity, Proximity, Closure, Continuity

Perception

• Perception includes visual illusions that occur when the brain misinterprets sensory information

Memory

• Memory is the process of encoding, Storing & retrieving information. It is also the act of retaining information and operations through different stages and systems.

Types of Memory

• Sensory: Immediate, briefly stores info, like a flash of light
• Short-Term: Temporary, Holds 7+-2 for 15-30 sec
• Working: A more active form of STM, for those with higher skills
• Long-Term: Potentially lifelong storage capacity

Processes of Memory

• Encoding (Getting Information In). Types of Encoding: Shallow / Deep
• Storage (Keeping Information In:) Factors influencing storage: Consolidation / Hippocampus
• Retrieval (Getting Information Out) Includes the Context & State-Dependent Memory

Learning Theories

• Learning is a relatively change in behaviour due to experience. In psychology, learning theories explain how behaviours are acquired and modified through interactions with the environment.

Keypoints

• Classical Conditioning (Pavlov) – Learning via Association. Learning occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus, leading to a learned response.
• Operant Conditioning (Skinner) – Learning via Consequences. Behaviour is shaped by reinforcement (increases behaviour) or punishment (decreases behaviour).
• Observational Learning (Bandura) – Learning via Imitation. People learn new behaviours by observing and imitating models.

Problem-Solving

• Includes identifying a problem, gathering information, and evaluating the options
• Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts that help in making quick decisions BUT biases can be present
• Cognitive biases include the confirmation bias and planning fallacy
• There is also the Dunning-Kruger Effect - People with low competence overestimate their ability

Developmental Psychology Definitions

• Studies the growth and change across the lifespan. This theory looks at biological, cognitive, social, and emotional development and also nature vs. nurture, continuous vs. stage-based impact of early experiences.
• Erikson's Psychosocial Stages emphasizes lifespan development, with eight stages of psychosocial conflict and each stage presents a crisis that must be resolved.

Piaget & Vygotsky

• Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory focuses on how children think and learn in stages + actively construct knowledge through assimilation & accommodation.
• Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory focuses on social and cultural influences in learning + interaction with more knowledgeable mentors Erikson → Social & emotional growth occurs across the lifespan. Piaget → Children progress through four cognitive stages. Vygotsky → Social interaction & culture are key to learning.

Attachment Theory Key Concepts

• Attachment develops in infancy but influences relationships throughout life. Behavior in Strange Situation:
• Secure Attachment (60-65% of infants)- Uses caregiver as a secure base for exploration. / Shows distress when caregiver leaves but is easily comforted upon return / Seeks proximity to caregiver when stressed. Long-Term Effects: Healthy self-esteem, trust in relationships, better emotional regulation.
• Insecure-Avoidant Attachment (20% of infants)- Does not seek comfort from caregiver when stressed. Avoids caregiver upon return, appears indifferent and explores environment without checking in with caregiver. Long-Term Effects: Avoids intimacy in relationships, difficulty trusting others and can be Emotionally distant or struggles with expressing emotions.

Language Development

• Language Development is the process by which humans acquire, comprehend, and produce language from infancy through adulthood.
• Influenced by biological, cognitive, and social factors + develops in stages, progressing from babbling to sentences.

Key components of language

• Phonology: Sounds + Organization
• Morphology: Word Structure + Formation
• Syntax: Rules governing sentence structure + grammar
• Pragmantics: social language and context

Theories of Language Development

• Noam Chomsky – Nativist Perspective
• B.F. Skinner – Behaviourist Perspective

Physical & Motor Development

• Refers to biological growth and the acquisition of movement skills (Affected by genetics and environment)

Gross vs Fine Motor Skills

• Gross motor skills requires large movements like walking and fine, precise movements like grasping. New born reflexes will help facilitate early growth.
• Fine motor, development follows a proximodistal trend where control develops from the torso outward while gross motor development follows a cephalo trend where control follows from the head down

Neurodiversity & Development

• Neuro diversity refers to the idea that neurological differences, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), are natural variations in human cognition rather than deficits.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

• DSM-5 (differecnes in social communities.
• Autism is characterized by pattern recognition, deep interests, and sensory processing differences.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

• ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition marked by differences in executive functioning, attention and impulse control.
• ADHD involves differences in executive functioning, attention, and impulse control.

Gender & Sexuality Development

• This is often seen as the process by which individuals develop a gender identity and sexual orientation over time.
• Strongly Influenced by biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors with development across the whole lifespan!
• Biology: Hormones, Brain

Morality

• Children learn by cognitive groth, social interactions, etc... Moral Reasoning and pro social behavior is strongly influeneced by Kohlberg.
• Autonomous Morality (Moral Relativism): Rules are flexible!
• Preconventional Morality (Self-Interest Focused): Obey because you will be punished/ For reward...
• Conventional Morality (Social Norms Focused): Seek approval!

Social Psychology: Social Cognition & Perception

• Involves: Understanding, interpreting, and responding to social information. Helps individuals perceive, remember, and judge others and themselves in social contexts through attribution, stereotyping, and forming impressions of others.

3 Selfs

• Self-Concept: Develops through social interactions, personal experiences, and cultural influences (Carl Rogers)
• Self-Efficacy (Bandura, 1986): belief in ability to finish tasks!
• Self-Esteem: overall sense of self-worth and personal value: Involve in-group identification, favour, loyalty of family and friends

Group Dynamics & Influence

• The study of how individuals behave, think, and influence each other in group settings. Key concepts involve conformity and obedience while decisions are influenced by groupthink. Conformity is also adjusting to align with the group and Asch's Line Experiment (1951) helps to demonstrate how conformity works.

Types of Conformity

• Normative: For acceptance!
• Informational: Due to the belief in the group Factors in Group Size! There is also Obedience which takes direct figures form authority even when going against what you believe Groupthink is when prioritizing good harmony over critical thinking leading to poor decisions, and ultimately silencing opponents who disagree.

Prejudice & Stereotypes Definitions

• Prejudice: A negative attitude towards a group. Can be explicit conscious or implicit unconscious
• Stereotypes: Cognitive shortcuts schemas . Can be self-perpetuating

Effects of Prejudice

• Creates a self-fulfilling prophecy (behaving in ways that confirm) with intergroup competitions.
• Involves intergroup contact, sharing, support, and empathy.

Interpersonal Relationships and Prosocial Behaviour

• Influences: Personal (personality, emotions), social norms, cultural expectations. Prosocial Behavior: Actions intended to help others (Altruism, Reciprocity)! Also Includes the bystander effect - less help when people share. To Fix: Directly assign responsibility

Aggression & Prosocial Behaviour

• Behavior designed to harm anyone for emotional, physical or relational reasons Includes instrumental, hostile or emotional aggression. - Catharis: venting negative anger

Psychological Factors

• Frustration vs Aggression, hostile attribution bias and social learning

Situations to Affect Aggression

• Heat, Alcohol and drugs, weapons

Cultural & Indigenous Perspectives in Psychology

• Indigenous and First Nations perspectives involves western knowledge systems + spirituality + land connect + challenges and advocates + community!

Psychological Disorders & Treatment

• What is a Psychological Disorder? It is often described as a clinically significant disturbance.. but causes distress. Is based on concrete measurements

Anxiety/Mode/Trauma/Personality spectrum

• Major categories involve anxiety and disturbance of thinking processes with trauma and neurodisorders affecting brain functions and body perception is distorted

Treatment

• Involves antipsychotics vs mood modifiers, vs talking therapy and cognitive behavioral modification

Integration & Application

• Psychology helps you understand how people react/ and how that affects a community.. Provides an overview of key psychological concpets and what those concepts entail.
• Applies the biopsychosocial model