Introduction to Psychology

Psychology Defined

• Psychology is the systematic, scientific study of behaviors and mental processes.
• Behaviors are observable actions or human/animal responses.
• Mental processes are not directly observable, including thinking, imagining, studying and dreaming

Psychology Goals

• The primary goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict, and control behavior.
• Description involves detailing the different ways organisms behave.
• Explanation seeks to understand the causes of behavior.
• Prediction aims to forecast how organisms will behave in certain situations.
• Control focuses on influencing an organism's behavior.

Approaches to Understanding Behavior

• Biological: focuses on the influence of genes, hormones, and the nervous system.
• How do these interactions affect learning, personality, memory, motivations, emotions, and coping mechanisms?
• Cognitive: examines how information is processed, stored, and used.
• How does this processing influence attention, perception, learning, memory, beliefs, and feelings?
• Behavioral: studies how organisms learn new behaviors or modify existing ones.
• How do environmental rewards or punishments shape these behaviors?
• Psychoanalytic: emphasizes the impact of unconscious fears, desires, and motivations.
• How do these factors affect thoughts, behaviors, personality development and psychological problems?
• Humanistic: focuses on an individual's freedom.
• How do these capabilities affect personal growth and self-fulfillment?
• Cross-cultural: examines the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences.
• Effects on the psychological and social functioning of a culture's members?

Areas of Specialization: Social Psychology

• Involves studying social interactions, stereotypes, prejudices, attitudes, conformity, group behaviors, and aggression.

Areas of Specialization: Personality Psychology

• Encompasses the study of personality development, personality change, assessment, and abnormal behaviors.

Areas of Specialization: Developmental Psychology

• Examines moral, social, emotional, and cognitive development throughout a person's life.

Areas of Specialization: Experimental Psychology

• This includes sensation, perception, learning, human performance, motivation, and emotion.

Areas of Specialization: Biological/Psychobiology Psychology

• Research into the physical and chemical changes that occur during stress, learning, and emotions, as well as how our genetic makeup, brain, and nervous system interact with our environments and influence our behaviors.

Areas of Specialization: Cognitive Psychology

• Involves how information is processed, stored, and retrieved, and how cognitive processes influence behaviors.

Areas of Specialization: Psychometrics

• Focuses on measuring abilities, skills, intelligence, personality, and abnormal behaviors.

Neurobiological Basis of Psychological Functions

• The mind, though abstract, is considered a product of biological processes in the brain.
• Neurons communicate via electrical signals within the neuron.
• Neurons use chemical neurotransmitters within the synapses

Gene Predisposition & Brain Function

• Genes play a key role in both normal and abnormal psychological functions.
• This is facilitated by different receptors and neurotransmitters in the brain.
• Genes encode for many, which are mostly protein in nature
• Genes facilitate efficient information processing within brain circuits.
• Genetic factors are affected by environmental exposure ("Gene-Environment interplay").

Neuroanatomical Factors and Lateralization

• Cortical areas are designated by "Brodmann areas".
• Brodmann areas play a critical role in basic psychological functions.

Brain Anatomy: Frontal Lobe

• Function:
• motor control (premotor cortex), problem-solving (prefrontal area), and speech production (Broca's area).

Brain Anatomy: Parietal Lobe

• Function:
• Touch perception (somatosensory cortex), body orientation and sensory discrimination.

Brain Anatomy: Temporal Lobe

• Function:
• Auditory processing (hearing), language comprehension (Wernicke's area), and memory/information retrieval.

Brain Anatomy: Occipital Lobe

• Function: Sight (visual cortex), visual reception and visual interpretation.

Brain Anatomy: Cerebellum

• Function: Balance and coordination.

Brain Anatomy: Brainstem

• Function: Involuntary responses.

Brain Anatomy: Limbic system

• Function: emotions or feeling

Brain Anatomy: Neocortex

• Rational or Thinking Brain

Areas of the Frontal Lobe

• Dorsolateral PFC: Cognition, intellect, personality
• Ventromedial PFC: Emotional processing Orbital Frontal Cortex: Impulse control and drives
• Anterior Cingulate Cortex: Motivation and attention

Brain Organization: Temporal Lobe

• Hippocampus is important for memorry consolidation
• Amygdala (almond-shaped, in temporal lobe) processes fear.

Lateralization of Brain Function

• Lateralization: some neural or cognitive functions dominate more in one of the brain's hemispheres.
• Broca's and Wernicke's Areas, critical for speech, are typically found in the left hemisphere.
• Brain's Dominance: Handedness often determines hemisphere dominance.
• Ambidextrous/left-handed people have efficient hemispheric interactions due to decussation.
• Bilateral Projection: quick transference between hemispheres allows for fluid function of both sides.

Presentations in Hemispheres (Dominant vs Non-Dominant)

• Visual:
• Dominant hemisphere processes letter-words
• Non-dominant interprets complex figural patterns (e.g., faces).
• Auditory:
• The dominant hemisphere handles language-related sounds.
• The non-dominant hemisphere processes environmental sounds and music.
• Somato-Sensory:
• The dominant side deals with discrimination.
• The non-dominant side deals with tactile recognition.
• Movement:
• Complex voluntary movements are managed by the dominant hemisphere.
• Holistic congruous movement (dancing) is managed by the non-dominant hemisphere.
• Memory:
• The dominant hemisphere supports verbal recall.
• The non-dominant hemisphere handles visual recognition.
• Language:
• Speech, reading, writing, and arithmetic are mainly processed by the dominant hemisphere.
• Participating in poetic language is managed by the non-dominant hemisphere.
• Spatial Orientation:
• The dominant hemisphere uses analytic, rule-based measures
• The non-dominant hemisphere grasps geometrical shapes and senses of direction.
• Connecting:
• The dominant hemisphere uses relational (linear) processing.
• The non-dominant hemisphere manages correlational processing.

Brain Connectivity and Plasticity

• Neurons are substrates of neurotransmission.
• Neurogenesis occurs during intrauterine life.
• Neurons develop and migrate to their functional sites during neural development.
• Cortical neurons form circuits/networks via synaptogenesis, creating brain networks.
• Synaptic Plasticity: these networks can morph throughout life.

Neuro-endocrinal Factors

• Hormones which are Estrogen, thyroid hormones, cortisol, ACTH, and CRF bind to nuclear hormone receptors in brain neurons.
• Hormones regulate neurotransmitters.
• In particular, female hormones, especially estrogen are key in mood regulation.

Neurotransmitters

• Synthesized through genetic transcription within neurons.
• Responsible for chemical neurotransmission in the brain.
• Through synapses
• There are various types, each chemically distinct.
• Glutamate, GABA, Serotonin, Noradrenaline, Dopamine, histamine, melatonin, and Acetyl-choline

Mental Functions

• Mental functions include intellect which involves thought processes, cognition and thought as well feelings or mood.
  • Process of thought includes:
    • orientation
    • attention
    • insight
    • intelligence
    • perception
    • memory
    • judgement
    • general knowledge

Course System

• Week 1: Perception
• Week 2: Thinking & Attention
• Week 3: Memory
• Week 4: Learning + Quiz 1
• Week 5: Emotion & Stress
• Week 6: Personality
• March 28th: Midterm
• Week 7: Defense Mechanism
• Week 8: Adolescent
• Week 9: Intelligence and Quiz 2
• Week 10: Medical Ethics + Doctor Patient
• Marks:
• 10-mark Quiz
• 15-mark Midterm
• 25-mark Final