Introduction to Psychology

Introduction to Psychology

• Psychology is the scientific study of how people think, feel, and behave
• Psychology scientifically examines mental and behavioral processes, similar to biology
• Psychology's scope is broad, with psychological intervention relevant to all aspects of human life

Why Science Is Needed

• Intuition can be misleading and often unreliable
• Common sense, while sometimes valid, lacks the ability to produce novel insights
• Overconfidence in knowledge can exceed accuracy

Ways of Knowing

• Rationalism suggests knowledge comes from innate reason and logic, not just sensory experience
• Rationalism, however, is flawed because what people think is true about behavior often differs from how they actually behave
  • Example: People might not notice a stranger switch during a conversation (the door study)
• Empiricism suggests that knowledge of the natural world comes from sensory experiences
• Empiricism, however, can be prone to error due to reliance on senses
• Immanuel Kant believed that both pure reason and sensory experiences are essential to understanding the natural world

Scientific Method Steps

• Indentify
• Gather information
• Develop a hypothesis
• Design and conduct experiments to collect data
• Analyze the data and conclude
• Restart the process by reconsidering the question, replicating the experiment, modifying it, or moving to a new research topic

Developing a Hypothesis

• Hypothesis defined as a tentative statement about the relationship between two variables
• To test a hypothesis, strict scientific rules must be followed
  • Falsifiable: A hypothesis must be able to be proven wrong with just one contradictory example (e.g., "all lions are black")
  • Replication: Studies should be repeated with different subjects to increase confidence in results
  • Evolution: Science is constantly evolving, requiring a critical and open-minded approach

Descriptive Research

• Seeks to systematically observe what is happening
• Answers the questions of what, when, where and how
• Does not explain why or determine the cause and effect

Surveys

• Surveys are a scientific method where a large number of people are asked questions
• It is not feasible to survey entire populations, so a representative sample must be used for accurate results
• Representative samples should closely mirror the characteristics of the population
• Get representative sampling by random sampling
  • Random Sampling: Relies on chance to select participants, ensuring everyone has an equal chance to participate
  • Simple Random Sample: Uses random sampling on the population of interests
  • Stratified Random Sample: divides population then uses random sampling on each subgroup
• Surveys are often the only method for collecting needed information
• Advantages: cheap, easy to administer and the inclusion of people that are usually excluded in scientific research
• Disadvantages include potential for untruthful answers and susceptibility to question wording and interviewer characteristics

Response Bias

• Factors that lead to inaccurate survey responses
  • Acquiescence bias: Tendency to agree with whatever the researcher asks
  • Social desirability bias: Providing politically correct answers to appear favorable, even if untrue
  • Volunteer bias: Volunteers may not accurately reflect the population of interest, hinting at potential differences
  • Illusory superiority (better-than-average effect): The tendency to perceive oneself as above average, which is mathematically impossible

Correlational Research

• Purpose: To observe, describe, and to see if there is a predictable relationship between two variables
• Lacks variable manipulation; relies on naturalistic observation
• Assesses the type of correlation between two variables
  • Positive correlation: Variables move in the same direction (+1)
  • Negative correlation: Variables move in opposite directions (-1)
• The closer to +1 or -1, the stronger the relationship; 0 indicates no relationship
• Correlation coefficient used to measure the strength and direction of the relationship between variables
• Advantage: Correlations are an excellent first step to determine if there is a potential relation. If there is, an experiment can be done
• Advantage: Sometimes, correlations are the only option
• Advantage: Allows predicting a secondary outcome with some confidence
• Disadvantage: Can not be used to infer a directional relationship

Measuring Tendency

• Measures used to see the average traits of the participants
  • Mean: Average
  • Median: Middle
  • Mode: Most common number
• Objective data can be produced from these measures

Research Ethics

• Research ethics are guidelines for conducting psychological studies
  • Beneficence and Nonmaleficence: Protecting the participant welfare over new knowledge
  • Fidelity and Responsibility: Researchers address unfair treatment of participants
  • Integrity: accuracy and honesty when reporting research results
  • Justice: Exclusion based on irrelevant factors is prohibited
  • Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity: Individuals have the right to make their own research participation decisions
• EX. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study & The Milgram Experiment
• Institutions receiving funding must have safeguards in place
• An Institutional Review Board (IRB) ensures research aligns with ethical principles and is made up of people not associated with the study

Experimental Research

• Used to observe, describe, and explain
• Only research method that can determine causality
• Involves the manipulation of independent variables (IV) by research and the control of all other variables by the experimenter
  • Independent Variable: The variable the researcher manipulates, with at least two levels
  • Dependent Variable: The variable that is being measured
  • Extraneous Variable: any variables that are not the focus of study, but that may influence the outcome of research if not controlled
• Done in the lab or through field work to affect variables of interest

Manipulating the IV

• Two groups are created in the experiment
  • Experimental group: is exposed to the independent variable
  • Control group: is not exposed to the independent variable
• EXAMPLE: Milk/Bone Density where women do/don't take milk

Controlling IVs

• Researchers must control all other IVs
  • Confounding variables: Must be controlled, because they can affect the studied results
  • Known IVs: Based on research, we are aware these IV will affect the studied results
  • Unknown IVs: We are unaware of these IV and they can be resolved with random assignments
• Random assignment ensures every participant has an equal chance of being in either group
• Placebo effect must also be accounted for
• The Placebo effect describes when is an individual gets better based on belief alone.

The Nervous System

• The nervous system consists of the Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System

The Nervous System Divisions

• Central: The brain and spinal cord
• Peripheral: the nerves of the body that are outside of the central nervous system

The Role of the Nervous System

• Receives: Information from the environment
• Analyzes: this information, organizes and integrates it.
• Uses this information to: send out messages to our glands and our muscles
• It is a source of conscious experiences

Nervous System Cells

- Neurons
- Glia

Neurons

- The basic communication unit of the nervous system
- Communication between neurons is an electrochemical process
- Neurons fire when they send a message producing neural/electrical impulses
- Neurons trigger release of neurotransmitters
- Neurons come in different shapes and sizes but generally have the same structure

Neuron Anatomy:

- Cell body/soma: The neurons nucleus and source to manufacture everything needed to function well
- Dendrites: Little branches that receive messages from other neurons and expand the surface area
- Axon: A thin tube that carries electrical pulses to terminal buttons
- Terminal buttons: Release Neurotransmitters
- Myelin sheath: a white layer that provides insulation and helps processing
- Synapse: Where neurons meet
- Synaptic cleft/gap:  tiny space where neurons meet
- Presynaptic neuron: sends messages
- Postsynaptic neuron: receives messages

Glial Cells

• Billions of them
• Help neurons
• Produce myelin
• Immune function that clears debris - Oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells produce and repair myelin sheath for the central and peripheral nervous systems. - Microglia perform an immune function, playing a memory/learning role - Astrocytes and microglia fight infections and clear debris that could cause inflammation

Communication In A Neuron

• The brain is 80% water with dissolved chemicals
  • Intracellular fluid: Is good for cell processing
  • Extracellular fluid: The fluid outside of a neuron
• Contains a Sodium, Chloride, and Potassium
• Concentrations change based on what's happening with the neuron.
• A neuron at rest is at -70mV setting it to be polarized as it receives messages from other neurons.

Types of Messages

• Inhibitory: messages -The neuron is instructed to stop firing.

   -The concentration of ions is affected by these messages.
  
   -The change causes the inside of the neuron to become more negative.
  
   -As a result, the neuron is less likely to fire which causes Hyperpolarization
  

• Excitatory: messages -The neuron will fire if these pulses occur.

   -The ion concentration changes with these pulses.
   -The inside of the neuron is more positive
  
   -The impulses are more likely to fire causing Depolarization
  

• When there is a threshold of excitation at about - 50 mv the electrical charge stimulates the neurons to fire

The Nodes of Ranvier

• They are gaps in the insulating myelin sheath that covers the axons."
• They allow ions to move in and out of the neuron
  • Technical Term: Channels

Transmission Processes

- When a neuron receives inhibitory messages, negative Chloride (Cl-) channels open to move negative ions inside.
    - This causes Hyperpolarization as the neuron becomes more negative and is less likely to fire.
- When a neuron receives excitatory messages, positive Sodium (Na+) channels open to move positive ions inside.
    - This causes Depolarization as the neuron becomes less negative ions and more likely to fire
- If the inside electrical charge reaches -50mV, potassium (K+) channels are opened 
    - The potassium ions leaving the neuron make the charge less positive with Efflux
- Once the electrical charge reaches -70mv then polarization reoccurs, and the neurons resting point is reached
    - During this the neuron goes into a refractory period where it won't fire when stimulated
    - During the migration of potassium, hyperpolarization might occur

Communication Between Neurons

• The presynaptic neuron fires producing an action potential that travels to terminal buttons
• Synaptic vesicles containing neurotransmitters attach to membranes and release neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft
• The neurotransmitters then bind to the receptor sites of neurons
• After message is delivered the neurotransmitters detach in a couple of methods - Reuptake: The neurotransmitter is reabsorbed back into the original neuron and repackaged for reuse - Degradation: after the messages are sent the neurotransmitter is broken down by an enzyme
• Without uptake or degradation the signal can become overexcited or overexhibited, causing signal issues in the NS.

Neurotransmitters

• This is how neurons use chemical messages
• Important for healthy levels of well-being

Dopamine Levels

• Healthy levels: Make us feel motivated, goal-oriented, and happy
• Low-Levels: Lower motivation, lower energy
• Abnormal levels: Linked to Schizophrenia
  • Some neurotransmitters relay excitatory only and can lead to contractions (muscle learning, botox)
  • Acetylcholine
  • Some relaying inhibitory only is the neurotransmitter GABA

The Brain

• Starts as the spinal cord ends as a relay station, with incoming and out going information to/from the body
  • It is a crossover point where the hemispheres regulate opposite sides of the body

Brainstem

• Life center containing structures that affect essential survival, including the medulla, pons and reticular activating system (RAS)
• Medulla: influences heartrate, breathing, and blood pressure; damage to which can cause death
• Pons: regulates heartbeat, awareness, and head turning
• RAS: spans the medulla and the pons and has connections to the spinal cord and thalamus

Cerrebellum

• It's known as the little brain
  • Influences voluntary movements, balance and muscle tone
  • Contains motor skills and over 1/2 of brain neurons
  • Affected by learnings, memory, reasoning, creativity, and language +autism

Thalamus

• The "relay station" where senses get information to the brain
• Filters unnecessary information
• Involved in directing attention

Limbic System

• Influences emotion, memory, learning, motivation, etc
• Contains Hippocampus and Amygdala

Hippocampus

• Critical role in learning new conscious memories
• Key function in cognitive map encoding
• Vulnerable to stress, cortisol kills its neurons
• It is very vulnerable to Alhzeimers

Amygdala

• Linked aggression + Emotional recognition,
• Detects threats by setting off the alarm

Hypothalamus

• powerful structure under the thalamus and controls functions essential for survival
• Functions
• Dives: Hunger, Thirst, Sex
• Homeostasis: Internal balance
• Social bonds: Produces oxytocin ( a love hormone)

Cerebral Cortex

• The left hemisphere receives information and controls the right side of the body, with the opposite for the right hemisphere
• Each hemisphere has 4 lobes

Lobes

• Forental
• Parieral
• Temporal
• Occipital
• Consist of Primary and Association areas

Primary Areas

• Linked with processing any motor/sensory functions

Primary Visual Cortex

• located in the occipital lobes processes visual information

Primary Audio Cortex

• located in the temporal lobes processes auditory information

Primary somatosensory cortex

• located in the parietal lobes processes touch, pain, and temperature
  • Each body region has its own spot
  • Area size does not compare to the importance of the zone

Primary motor cortex

• located in the frontal lobes and controls muscle movements

Association Area

• Linked with high mental complexity

Frontal Lobe Association Areas

• Attention
• Planning
• Decision-Making
• Abstract Thinking
• Memory
• Personality
• Language (Broca)
• Impulse Control
• Emotions
• Last area to be to mature

The Temporal Lobe Association Areas

• Language (Wernicke)
• Face detection
• Music
• Memory
• God-Spot

The Parietal Lobe Association Areas

• Nonverbal Communication (math, space)
• Sense of space

The Occipital Lobe Association Areas

• visual processing

Working Lobes

• Brain lobes work in tandem to create human behavior

Brain Plasticity

• The ability for the brain to change whether positively or negatively

The Brain with Hemispheric Dominance

• Each hemisphere of the brain processes different function
• Brain activity is constant from both sides of the brain
• Brains can be injured from split brain patients

Visual Field

• Right visual field and left visual field do not mean the same thing
• In a split-brain patient, communication between the hemispheres is severed
• In this scenario, the Left hemisphere controls language and controls the right side of the body and vice versa for right hemisphere.

Sensation "Musts"

• 3 things must happen
  • Detection:
  • Transduction
  • Transmission

Sensory Process

• Receptors detect physical stimulus, transduce the information, then transmit
• Bottom up-processing: is when processing begins as sensation and combines

Psychosics

• The study of physical stimulus translating into psychological experience

Absolute Threshold

• The minimum stimulation for detection 50% of the time

Deviation Threshold

• Ability to detect small changes: such as loud/soft sounds
• Weber's Law describes our ability to tell the difference between stimuli and the increase it needs in physical stimuli

Signal Process

• Detecting certain stimuli

What affects ability to detect stimulant/change

• Variety Factors

Basics of Perception

• Analization of information from senses

Top Down Processing

• Using existing information to translate sensation

Memory Without Sensation

• Prosopagnasia shows the ability to have sensation without recognition

Vision

• The stimulus to create light is electromagnetic
• Wavelength 400nm-700nm is only detectable part - Translation comes as color in the brain

Longwave

• Red

Medium Wave

• Green

Short Wave

• Blue

Heightwave

• Translates as brightness

• Light must reach retina where rods/cones connect to bipolar cells and ganglion

From Visual Senses

-Optic nerve transmits info to brain
-Light contact causes blind spot because there are no photoreceptors
-Fovea centers resolution

Sense Receptors

• Rods/Cons
• photoreceptors and sensory receptors
• Detecting Transmitting
• Differing shape

Visual Sense

• Number of receptors
• rods/cones
• Location
  • Rods: only periphery
  • Cones: focused on fovea
• Connections to bipolar cells
• Rods: multi relationship
• Cons: one relationship

The Sense of Function

 - Rods are sensitive: Used for dim and night light
 - Can’t detect in  color
  -Cones are used for color detection in the present with fine detail in vision processing

Processes of Sensation and Perception

• In order of increasing complexity
• Begins with bipolar cells and transfer to thalamus or the visual cortex (occipital lobe) with highly complex cells
• Transfer to parietal, temporal and limbic system that determines where, how fast, what speed its moving and emotion attachment

Color Deviation

• Tricho chromatic colors exist as Red,Green,Blue
  • RGB can be made of a combination of different ways our eyes show

Young-Helmintz, the brain

• Each type that is maximally responsive helps perceive which that we will receive

Opponent-Process Theory

• That theory isnt sufficient to view our color
  • Comes with Afterimage is continuing to find even though
  • 4 different - Red - Blue - Green - Yellow

Anti Color Systems

• Red: respond excitment green
• Blue : and yellow system

Hearing Process (Audition) Eardrum and Canal

• Aural Process/ Soundwave
  • Sound and air pressure (no words)
  • 1. Frequency
       • Measures Hz of pressure and pitch High & Low sound

Amplitude

• The height of wavelength and volume
  • Db, Loudness of that volume: how frequencies exist in waves is called the timbre

The Ear

• Pinna:
  • Cartilage on the outside of the ear that sends a signal to the auditory canal
  • Auditory Canal - At the end of this is the eardrum

Eardrum

 - Membrane vibrates ossicles: tiniest bones will vibrates and create a circle to vibrate the oval window and membrane

Cochlear Fluid

• Creates ripples for hair cells to sensory reception for us to transduce when that message will allow the auditory nerve to send the messages to those auditory cortex cells along the signal path

Pitch Theory: The Brain has ability for Sound and Huar process:

• Place theory where the frequency of sound determines hair location but if they are near beginning or end it affects the membrane as well
• One hertz produces an affect. that influences the wave to produce

Frequency Theory

• The rate of hair firing cells

Brain sounds types:

• Binaural time difference or the 2 brain parts

First Part Receives

• The arrival of the information by the waves
  • Monitoring the difference to tell us how it comes • Damaged Can’t be replaced • Chemical Senses

Process of Small Taste

• Taste with beginning of activate properties and are detected of stimuli requires of ingestion while taste is combined

Hair: Epithelium

 - Mucous production

With combined to tell and send where

Sensory interaction:

-A connect

• Smell and flavor can have a connection on either for those that are on receptors that regenerations and memory -Taste begins on small bumps-
  • Papillae of 4 types of filiform, fungiform, foliate and and circumvallate

Sensory Cell

• Bud 50-100 of G-cells • Translate

Basic Cells

• Sweet, sour, salty, better

-Regenerate though not always as strong

Types of Sensory System

• Taste, smell, is skin to receptors-
• Touch has receptors and top layer of skin
• Pressure receptors •Merkel cells • Meissnercells Inner later there is • Ruffinin •Paciniah

Pain

Nocireceptors, detecting transduction and transmitting to all bodies

Body Complexity

• Self-condfidence & Beliefs

Nerve Fibers

• F that determine of pain or feel in no pain
• Large fiber
• Scratch and touch with less pain T - Cell helps the gates Kisenis with hears to help find location and what us doing

What’s is happening?

• Receptors help with what is happening Sense of body
• Receptors will get what that message to send us signal And send information to where is needed

NS Senses Balance

Senses balance, is closely related to what senses

What is PNS main point

• To send infomation in and out, CNS: that had and the
• Afferent and Efferent is to know

Sympathy or energy process

Autonomic to do things with

• Glands or vitalness

Types and functions Autonomy:

• Is enagizing our flight/fight
• Parasyntnethic helping store energy or for rest to do to function right.

Sensation

• Consciousness
• It's where of our emotions Two: component that feeling what we do or states what we do

Process of Action

• Dual process, brain work at same time • Attention:

Limiet Resource that focus on what is what

• Selective a what

• Cocktail is a where you focus but we still need of action

7 Types Attention

• visual in act

• Visual neglent

• Mental people from

Research tells that you still have a sense and process.

• Sleep Is process which you can action of your and what • High - Beta activity during active • The Alpha: Activity

Steps to Sleep

- Slow sleep delta the you a way or get it

• RE that and when

Re:

Rapid Eye that has

Issue

• D

• C • I

Hypo-process for every the make day work

• Drugs has and process the that make