Introduction to Psychology

Defining Psychology

• Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes.
• Aims to understand, explain, and predict human behavior to promote well-being.

Important Debates in Psychology

• Nature/Nurture: Centers on how behaviors and mental processes are acquired.
• Free Will/Determinism: Focuses on whether choices or unavoidable precursors determine behavior.
• Mind/Body: Establishes the relationship between cognitive processes (mind) and behavior (body).

Mind/Body Relationships

• Emergence: The mind controls the body; attitudes cause behaviors.
• Epiphenomenalism: The body controls the mind; behaviors cause attitudes.
• Interactionism: Mind and body causally affect each other; behaviors influence attitudes and vice versa.
• Psychophysical Parallelism: Mind and body are not causally related; behaviors and attitudes are independent.

Defining Personality

• Personality: Unique, enduring internal and external traits that influence behavior across situations.

Psychological Perspectives on Personality

Personality Perspectives

• Endomorphic: Loves comfort, good-humored, relaxed, needs affection.
• Mesomorphic: Adventurous, desires power, loves risk, indifferent to others' opinions.
• Ectomorphic: Socially anxious, mentally intense, emotionally restrained, prefers privacy.

Modern Biological/Neurological Theories

• Factors include neurological damage, hormonal changes, and biochemical reactions.
• Example: The Twinkie Defense.

Biological Perspective

• Often deterministic and focuses on the body

Humours (4th Century)

• Personalities, including criminal tendencies, stem from fluid imbalances.
• Melancholic (Black Bile): Sad, depressed.
• Choleric (Yellow Bile): Cranky, easily upset.
• Phlegmatic (Phlegm): Inactive, apathetic.
• Sanguine (Blood): Changeable, temperamental.

Psychoanalytic Perspective

• Unconscious mind and psychosexual development form the basis of personality.

Behavioural Perspective

• Learning can occur in animals through classical conditioning
• Personality is defined by behaviors formed through associations with rewards or punishments.
• Personality can be altered through effective reward and punishment schedules.
• Effective "teachers" can accomplish it.

Humanistic Perspective

• Personality is defined by the impact of self-actualization on behavior.
• Altering personality involves assisting individuals to overcome blocks to self-actualization.
• Active listening demonstrates engagement using verbal and non-verbal cues.

Carl Rogers

• Growth can occur through a relationship with a significant other who is genuine, accepting, and empathetic.

Cognitive Perspective

• Thinking is the basis for personality
• Basis of Personality: Personality is the result of behaviors and mental processes
• Humans are motivated amateur scientists who understand their world, guide their behaviour through logic and rational thought.
• Altering personality involves changing mental processes and behavioral patterns
• Can be accomplished through training/learning such as Cognitive-Behavioural Programs

The Role of Biology in Psychology

• Biological Psychology is the field focused on the physical and chemical changes that cause and occur in response to behavior and mental processes

Biological Theories & Applications

Theoretical Contributions

• Considered the first theory of psychology and continue to be employed as a basis for psychological theories:
  • Humours
  • Phrenology
  • Body types
  • Sociobiology
  • Eugenics
  • Psychobiology

Applied Contributions

• Focuses on gaining a greater understanding of the mechanics of how biology impacts behaviors and mental processes:
  • Neurological Damage
  • Hormonal changes
  • Biochemical reaction

The Brain: Structure

• Understanding the brain's structure and function is essential for understanding behavior and mental processing
• Knowledge regarding behavior and cognitive processes begins with an understanding of the structural composition of the four anatomical areas of the cerebral cortex.

Frontal Lobe

• Motor function, higher level cognitive processes, aspects of personality
• Located in the front of the brain

Parietal lobe

• Sensory info, spatial awareness
• Located behind the frontal lobe

Occipital lobe

• Processing Visual info
• Located at the back of the brain

Temporal lobe

• Auditory processing, memory formation, language comprehension
• Located on the sides of the brain

The Brain: Neural Communication

Nucleus

• Control center of the cell containing the neurons genetic material
• Located inside the Cell Body

Cell body

• Main part of the neuron, containing the nucleus which houses the cell's genetic material

Axon

• Carries signals away from the cell body to other neurons
• Fibres that carry signals to where communication occurs with other neurons
• Each neuron generally has only one axon leaving the cell body, but that one axon has many branches
• Can be very short or like the axon sends signals from your spinal cord to the big toe, several feet long

Myelin Sheath

• Speeds up the transmission of signals
• An insulating layer that surrounds the axon

Dendrites

• Branch-like extensions that receive signals from other neurons or sensory receptors
• Neuron fibres that receive signals from the axons of other neurons and carry those signals to the cell body
• Neuron contains many dendrites - Dendrites have many branches
• Axons carry signals away from the cell body while dendrites detect signals from other cells

Synapses

• Spaces into which neurotransmitters are released, allowing for the transmission of signals

Neurotransmitter Process

• An excitatory input exceeds a neural "threshold" loading to an action potential
• When an action potential reaches the end of a neuron it triggers the released of chemical messengers called neurotransmitter into the synapses
• Neurotransmitter diffuse across the synapses and bind to receptors on the receiving neurons dendrites
• The binding causes a change In the receiving neurons membrane potential , which can either excite or inhibit the neuron, potentially leading to another action potential.

Neurotransmitter

• Acetylcholine
  • Normal Function: Memory, movement
  • Malfunction: Alzheimer's disease
• Norepinephrine
  • Normal Function: Mood, Sleep, Learning
  • Malfunction: Depression
• Serotonin
  • Normal Function: Mood, appetite, Impulsivity
  • Malfunction: Depression
• Dopamine
  • Normal Function: Movement, reward
  • Malfunction: Parkinson's disease, Schizophrenia
• GABA
  • Normal Function: Sleep, movement
  • Malfunction: Anxiety, Huntington's disease, Epilepsy
• Glutamate
  • Normal Function: Memory
  • Malfunction: Damage after cardiovascular accident
    • Can excite neurons to death

Norepinephrine

• A neurotransmitter involved in arousal as well as in learning and mood regulation
• Occurs in both the CNS and comprises the neurotransmitters used by the sympathetic nervous system
• Approximately half of what our brain has, is contained in cells of the locus coeruleus, which is near the reticular formation in the hindbrain

Serotonin

• A neurotransmitter used by cells in parts of the brain involved in the regulations of sleep, mood and eating
• Affects sleep and mood - serotonin differs from norepinephrine, however in that the brain can get one of the substances from which it is made, tryptophan, directly from food
• Carbohydrates increase the amount of tryptophan reaching the brain and affect how much serotonin is made – produces increased levels of serotonin, causing a reduction in the desire for carbohydrates

Dopamine

• A neurotransmitter used in the parts of the brain involved in regulating movement and experiencing pleasure
• Malfunctioning of the dopamine using system in these regions contributes to movement disorders, including Parkinsons disease
• Dopamine cells degeneration leads to shakiness and difficulty in beginning movements in Parkinson's disease

GABA

• A neurotransmitter that inhibits the firing of neurons
• Reduces the likelihood that postsynaptic neurons will fire an action potential
• The major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS

Glutamate

• An excitatory neurotransmitter that helps strengthen synaptic connection between neurons
• Major excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS and its synapses are especially plentiful in the cortex and the hippocampus
• Glutamate is vital because it plays a major role in the ability of the brain to strengthen its synaptic connections allowing messages to cross the synapse more easily

Peptides

• Hundreds of chemicals called peptides have been found to act as neurotransmitters
• Endorphins refer to all neurotransmitters that can bind to the same receptors stimulated by opiates –Neurons in several parts of the brain use endorphins, including neural pathways that modify pain signals to the brain

Synapses and communication between neurons

• For communication to occur between cells, a signal must be transmitted across the synapse, or gap, between neurons
• Usually, the axon of one cell delivers its signals across a synapse to the dendrites of a second cell – those dendrites in turn, transmit the signal to their cell body, relaying the signal down its axon to a third cell – however axons can signal to other signals or even directly to the cell body of another neuron
• Dendrites of one cell can send signals to the dendrites of other cells – these and other communication patterns allow the brain to conduct extremely complex info- processing tasks
• Gap injunction neurons can transfer either neurotransmitters or electrical signals

The Nervous System

• A complex communication network including the brain, spinal cord, and nerves
• Comprised of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system (nerves throughout the body)

Central Nervous System

• The parts of the system encased in bone; specifically, the brain and the spinal cord
• Receives information processes it and determines what actions should result.

Brain

• A control center responsible thoughts, memory and coordinating bodily functions
• Hindbrain, Midbrain, Forebrain

Hindbrain

• An extension of the spinal cord contained inside the skull; blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and other vital functions are controlled her

Medulla Oblongata

• Controls blood pressure, heart rate, breathing and other vital functions

Reticular Formation

• Involved in arousal and attention
• A collection of fibers and cells in the hindbrain and midbrain

Locus Coeruleus

• Involved in directing attention
• A small nucleus in the reticular formation

Cerebellum

• Controls coordinated movements and stores memories about movement.
• May also be involved in impulse control, emotion, and language

Midbrain

• Relays info from the eyes, ears and skin.
• Controls certain types of autonomic behaviours Substantia Nigra - Smooth beginning of movement - Connections to the striatum in the forebrain

Striatum

• Smooth beginning of movement
• A structure within the forebrain

Forebrain

• Complex aspects of behavior and mental life. Thalamus -Relays signals from most sense organs to higher levels in the brain. -Important role in processing and making sense out of this info Hypothalamus - Regulates hunger, thirst and sex drives - Contains the suprachiasmatic nuclei: Nuclei that generate biological rhythms Amygdala - Involved in fear and reward learning
• Hippocampus - Associated with the formation of new memories.

Spinal Cord

• Relays signals from the peripheral senses to the brain.
• Conveys messages from the brain to the rest of the body
• Receives signals from the senses
• Direct some simple behaviours without instructions from the brain

Reflexes

• Simple, involuntary, unlearnt behaviours directed by the spinal cord without instructions from the brain

Feedback system

• A series of processes in which info about the consequences of an action goes back to the source of the action so that adjustments can be made
• Afferent neurons (towards) from sensory neurons
• Efferent neurons (away) from motor neurons

Peripheral Nervous System

• Relays information to and from the brain that isn't housed in bone
• Two subsystems: Somatic Nervous System and Autonomic Nervous System Somatic Nervous System - Voluntary movements and transmits sensory info to the central nervous system - Motor neurons carry info from the brain to direct motion Autonomic Nervous System - Involuntary functions such as breathing and heart rate - ANS is influenced by the brain, exercising this control through sympathetic and parasympathetic branches

The Endocrine System

• Communicates with one another by secreting chemicals called hormones
• Functions include metabolic rate, arousal levels, sugar levels
• Glands secrete hormones into the bloodstream; hormones are chemicals secreted by a gland into the bloodstream, which carries them throughout the body

Pituitary Glands

• Master gland
• Releases hormones which stimulate and regulate other endocrine glands Hormones - Thyroid stimulating hormone - Growth hormone

Thyroid gland

• Controls and coordinates metabolic rate

Adrenal glands

• Releases stress hormones (adrenalin, cortisol)

Pancreas

• Secretes several hormones including insulin and glucagon

Gonads

Secondary sex characteristics and sex drive

Defining Emotion and Regulation

• Emotion: Conscious mental reactions subjectively experienced as strong feelings directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body
• Alter thought processes and our Behaviors

Defining Characteristics

• Emotions are organized psychological and physiological reactions to significant life events
• Private experiences and measurable patterns of behavior and physiological arousal
• Temporary, positive or negative, and can be a mixture of both
• Alters thought processes, often by directing towards some things and away from others
• Triggers an action tendency, the motivation to behave in certain ways

Theories of Emotion

• Examine the interaction between the mind and body
• Identifying the mind-body connection is an important and essential step toward assisting people to control emotions
• Revolve around the "order" of the mind and body regarding an emotion (mind) and the physiological arousal (body)

Mind Body Relationships

• Emergence: Mind controls body (attitudes cause behavior)
• Epiphenomenalism: Body controls mind (behavior causes attitudes)
• Interactionism: Mind and body causally affect each other
• Psychophysical Parallelism: Mind and body aren't causally related

Biology of Emotion

• Mechanisms of the CNS and ANS

Brain Mechanism

• Three main aspects of how emotions are processed in the brain: - Limbic system - Facial expression - Cerebral cortex

Response in the limbic system

• Activity appears in the limbic system, especially in the amygdala, is central to emotion

Facial Expressions

• Governed by the extrapyramidal motor system-depends on areas beneath the cortex

Cerebral Cortex

• Hemispheres contribute to perception, experience and expression of emotion
• Involved in displaying and experiencing positive and negative emotions

Mechanisms of the autonomic nervous system

• Involved in physiological changes that accompany emotion
• The ANS receives info about organ activity non-consciously - The brain mechanisms that alter the activity of ANS can't be experienced

Organisation of the autonomic nervous system

• Sympathetic Nervous System and Parasympathetic Nervous systems
• Sympathetic fibres release a different neurotransmitter, noradrenaline, onto target organs, helping prepare the body for vigorous activity
• Fight-flight syndrome: Sympathetic nervous system that prepares the body to fight or to run from a threatening situation and increases heart rate, dilated pupils and other changes

James Lange theory

• Emotion is labeling behaviour, with physiological experiences causing specific emotions
• Fear of snakes occurs because you are running away, and the physiological responses associated with perceiving a snake cause fear Criticisms - Doesn't allow for bi-directional effect - Doesn't explain differential emotional responses to the same physiological arousal

Cannon-Brad theory

• A stimulus is perceived and simultaneously sends messages to the ANS, causing a physiological response, and the brain, causing an emotional response
• The amygdala generate the emotion of fear
• Doesn't require conscious thought to activate them

Cognitive theories of emotion

• Emotions are shaped partly by how one interprets the arousal
• Schachter- Singer theory view
  Criticisms - Doesn't explain differential emotional responses to the same physiological arousal
• Emotions emerge from a combination of feedback from peripheral responses, cognitive interpretation of the nature and cause

Attribution theory

• Explaining the cause of an event or of people's behaviour, including our own
• Physiological arousal might be attributed to one of several emotions
• Emotional experiences will be less intense if we attribute arousal to a non-emotional cause
• Actor/Observer bias: Tendency to negative behaviors as situational and positive behaviors is dispositional while doing the opposite for others

Non-verbal communication of emotion

• Paralanguage - Non-verbal cues of the voice

Oculesics

eye contact -Length and intensity of contact -Control conversation, express emotion, or indicate honesty/frankness

Kinesics

• Body language

Facial expressions

• Anger, Fear, Disgust, Surprise, Happiness, Sadness

Gestures

Emblems - Any motion or gesture that substitute for a word or phrase Illustrator - When the gesture accompanies and reinforces verbal messages

• Regulations -Assist in controlling conversation/interaction

Proximics

• Interpersonal space impacting attributions of emotional attachment -Intimate Distance: (15-45 cm) - indicates a very high level of comfort -Personal distance: (40-100cm)- indicates a moderate level of trust -Social distance (1-4 metres)- indicates a professional level -Public distance (4-8 m)- Indicates a formal level

Regulation of emotion

• Ability to manage emotions effectively, which includes acceptance
• Techniques

Physiological techniques

Physiological regulation Exercise/Activity.

Psychological/Cognitive techniques

• Cognitive re-structuring
• Downward Comparison
• Reviewing personal hierarchies of importance

Communicating emotion

Innate expressions of emotion

• Universal facial expressions are genetically determined and biologically passed down Social and Cultural Influences on emotional expression
• Flexible, innate expression Emotion culture
• Rules that govern what emotions are appropriate
• Varies between genders and culture
• Social referencing -Visual- cliff studies, infant relies on mothers facial expressions on what to do