Psychology: Definitions and Cognitive Biases

Psychology Definition

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
• Behavior refers to observable actions.
• Mental processes encompass thoughts, memory, decision-making, emotions, attention, and sensation that are inferred from behavior..
• Psychology differentiates itself from "common sense," which is often contradictory.

Science VS Life Experience

• Science relies on curiosity, humility, systematicity, skepticism, replication, and objectivity.
• Everyday thinking is prone to cognitive biases and illusions.

Cognitive Biases

• Hindsight Bias: Believing, after an event has occurred, that one would have predicted it correctly.
• Confirmation Bias: Interpreting information to align with existing beliefs.
• Gambler’s Fallacy: Incorrectly believing that a random event is less/more likely to occur following a string of occurrences.
• Anchoring Bias: Over-relying on the first piece of information received.
• Trait Negativity Bias: The tendency to weigh negative information more heavily than positive information when forming judgments or making decisions.

Free Will VS Determinism

• Free Will: The belief that we have the power to make our own decisions.
• Determinism: The perspective that our decisions are influenced by subconscious processes, environment, genetics.
• Determinism suggests that genes limit our intelligence and external factors like tumors, alcohol, and drugs can alter brain decisions.

Modern Psychology

• Sub-fields in modern psychology include biopsychology.

Branches of Psychology

• Neuroscience
• Psychodynamic
• Behavioral
• Cognitive
• Humanistic

Historical Perspectives on Psychology

• Psychology addresses how to study the mind or explain behavior through various perspectives or schools of thought.

Introspection - Wilhelm Wundt

• Wilhelm Wundt, the "Father of Psychology", established the first psychology laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany.
• Wundt used introspection, asking subjects to describe sights and sounds to study conscious experience.
• He was interested in the speed of mental processes and reaction times.

Structuralism - Edward B. Titchener

• Edward B. Titchener, a student of Wundt, used "deep" introspection to analyze subjective mental experience by breaking it down into elements.
• Titchener coined the term "empathy".

Problems With Structuralism

• Structuralism relied on an entirely subjective method of introspection.
• Many mental processes are unconscious and cannot be studied by introspection.

Functionalism - William James

-William James criticized structuralism.

• Functionalists focuseses on the function and purpose of mental processes, influenced by Charles Darwin and evolution.
• Functionalism asks "What is the function of this mental process?"

Evolutionary Influences

• Evolution, a change in heritable features over generations, includes the process of natural selection.

Psychodynamics (Psychoanalytic) - Sigmund Freud

• Sigmund Freud, a neurologist, developed "talking therapy" or "psychotherapy".
• Freud believed that unconscious forces drive our conscious thoughts and actions.
• Personality structures of id, ego, and superego develop in childhood and influence psychological normality/abnormality.
• Freud focused on repressed memories, buried trauma, and unresolved inner conflicts.

Freud's Concepts

• Id: Basic instincts.
• Ego: Self-preservation.
• Superego: Morality learned from culture.

Gestalt Psychology - Max Wertheimer

• Max Wertheimer developed theories on how our consciousness experiences the world.
• Gestalt psychology emphasizes that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
• It argues that objective and subjective realities differ.

Behaviorism - John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner

• Heavily influenced by Ivan Pavlov's classical conditioning discoveries.
• Behaviorism studies only observable changes in the environment and behavior (Stimulus = Response).
• B. F. Skinner focused operant conditioning (Behavior consequences - reward and punishment).
• Behaviorism disregards "the mind" to explain and predict behavior.
• The theory suggests there is no free will because behavior is based on reflexes.

Humanistic Psychology - Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

• Abraham Maslow focused on unique human experiences, free will, and inherent goodness.
• Maslow's analysis included various needs that must be met to reach self-actualization.
• His hierarchy of needs states self-actualization requires more basic needs to be met first.
• Carl Rogers developed client-centered therapy. The therapy includes:
  • Discovering authentic values, goals, and desires.
  • Unconditional positive regard.
  • Empathy.
  • Genuine communication.
  • Working toward congruence (aligning actual and ideal selves).

Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitive Psychology rose to replace behaviorism and focused on the study of the mind.
• It explains the influence of the development of the computer and plane.
• "Stimulus Mind Response," suggests the study of observable behavior and the development of theories about mind.
• Cognitive psychology studies the mind even though it is unobservable.

Psychological Research

Goals of Scientific Research

• Describe: collect data.
• Understand: find causes and suspect effects.
• Predict: guess the future.
• Control: manipulate the situation.
• Study a sample to represent a larger population.

Random Sampling

• Random sampling involves selecting participants with equal chances of being included.

Scientific Method

• Theory: series of statements explaining observable phenomena.
• Generate hypothesis: propose explanation, prediction.
• Collection data: what you test.
• Analyze data.
• Summarize data and report findings: confirm or modify theories.

Operationalization

• Operationalization defines a hypothesis using specific, testable procedures that can be observed and measured.

Study Designs

• Observational studies, survey studies, and case studies use descriptive research.
• Correlation studies use explanatory research to look for associations.
• Experiments manipulate variables to determine cause-and-effect relationships.

Naturalistic Observation

• Naturalistic observation involves observing subjects in their natural environments.
• Offers the most natural view of behaviors.
• It is prone to observer effects and biases.
• Each naturalistic setting is unique which makes it time-consuming and expensive.

Laboratory Observation

• Laboratory observation involves observing subjects in a lab setting.
• Permits control of the context and environment.
• Provides more recording techniques and equipment.
• It offers a less natural setting and can lead to unnatural behavior.
• Its prone to observer effects and biases.

Survey Research

• Survey research collects self-report data from a group of people.
• Quick, efficient, inexpensive, and studies things not accessible by other methods.
• Relies only on self-reports, lacks control, and is subject to volunteer bias.

Case Study

• Case studies involve in-depth investigation of an individual or small group.
• Provides a lot of detail about rare situations.
• Conclusions often cannot be generalized

Correlation Studies

• Determine if traits, behaviors, or events are related to each other.

Correlations

• When variables are correlated, one changes as the other changes in a pattern.
• Correlations measure the strength and direction of relationships (not cause and effect).
• The brain uses correlations to make predictions.

Visualizing Correlation

• Visualizing correlation shows associations.
• Positive Correlation: Variables increase or decrease in the same direction.
• Negative Correlation: One variable increases as the other decreases.
• No Correlation: Absence of association.

Correlation Coefficient (r)

• Correlation coefficient indicates strength and direction of association (ranges from -1.00 to +1.00).
• Coefficients closer to +1.00 or -1.00 have stronger relationships; those closer to 0.00 have weaker relationships.

Limitations of Correlations

• Correlations allow predictions, but don’t demonstrate causation.
• Cause and effect can work both ways, or a hidden factor can cause both.

Experimental Design

• Seeks to discover cause-and-effect relationships.
• Experimental Group: Receives treatment (independent variable).
• Control Group: Does not receive treatment (used for comparison).

Variables

• Independent Variable: Manipulated by the researcher.
• Dependent Variable: Measured and assumed to be affected by the independent variable.
• Extraneous/Confound Variables: Other factors that may affect the dependent variable that researchers try to prevent.

Removing Extraneous Variables

• Random assignment to groups effectively removes extraneous variables.

Random Assignment

• After a sample has been selected helps factor out any extraneous/confounding variables (such as personal/ individual differences) that may otherwise influence the dependent variable

Threats to Experimental Validity

Experimental Bias

• Distort the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

Experimenter Expectations/Bias:

• Unintentionally cuing participants about expected behavior.

Participant Expectations/Bias:

• When the research participants begin to "figure out" or "guess" what is happening, it may be the participant's expectations, rather than the experimental manipulation, that produce an effect

Placebo

• A fake treatment without active ingredients.
• Helps guard against the expectations.

Placebo Effect

• Changes in behavior or performance due to the belief of receiving treatment.

Double-Blind Experiments:

• Guards against experimenter and participant expectations.

Nocebo

• Performance worsens due to expectations of the symptoms

Biopsychology

• All mammalian brains are pretty much the same.
• Mammalian brains are different at a superficial level (Example: differences in the cortex).
• Evolution can affect size and placement of the brain.
• The brain decides how much to grow for each part.

Brain Function

• The brain manages allostasis (body budgeting), predicting needs to ensure survival.
• The brains most important job is to take care of sleep, nutrition, and exercise = affect on cognitive activity, emotional processing, movement.
• A predicting brain is better than a reactive brain for survival.
• In familiar environments, the brain predicts based on past experiences (controlled hallucination).

Degeneracy

• The brain is not separated based on sections of functionality and can use different parts to process information.
• Neurons can produce the same actions.
• Plasticity is used for compensation.

Little Brains

• The Cat and the Chair.
• Brains wire to the world.
• You are born with a brain under construction.
• Your five senses create waves to understand the world

Neurons

• 100 billion neurons = 100 trillion connections.
• Begin with sensation.

Action Potential

• Resting faze .
• Action potential: positive comes.

Synaptic Transmission

• Chemicals are released to create space to create chemical communication from the terminal
• Chemical step.
• Neurotransmitters are created by the body.
• Action potential within the cell that releases a Neurotransmitters to transfer to other neurons.

Excitation

• Turns it on

Inhibit

• Calms it down: go to sleep.

Excitatory VS Inhibitory Neurotransmission

• Neurotransmitters excite the postsynaptic neuron (make it more likely to fire an action potential).
• Other neurotransmitters inhibit the postsynaptic neuron (make it less likely to fire an action potential).
• Drugs can act as agonists (increase transmission) or antagonists (block neurotransmission):
  • Agonist: substance that binds to a receptor mimicking or increasing neurotransmitter.
  • Antagonist: a substance that binds to a receptor blocking or reducing neurotransmission.
• Inhibiting reuptake increases neurotransmitter activity (e.g., SSRIs, cocaine).

Neurotransmitter Reuptake

• the Process is where the presynaptic neurons re absorbs the neurotransmitters for future usage.
• Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
• SSRI (prozac): because less release of serotonin is occurring → Block serotonin reuptake (keeping them in synaptic gap) = neurons are able to connect

Drugs Effect

• Gamma: inhibitory neurotransmitters.
• Glutamate: main excitatory neurotransmitters.

Effects of Alcohol

• Alcohol is poison, creation of acetaldehyde(more powerful) = cause of hangovers (build up).
• Extended drinking create a need for gaba = tolerance.

Withdrawal to Drugs

• Drop of GABA will cause over production of Glutamate = Death.

Afferent Neurons

• Information is arriving to the to central nervous system (sensory).

efferent Neurons

• Information is exiting the central nervous system (Motor).

Nervous System Responses

• The parasympathetic (routine) and sympathetic (Stress Situations) function in opposing ways.

Explore psychology's scientific approach to behavior and mental processes, contrasting it with everyday thinking. Understand the importance of systematicity, skepticism, and objectivity in psychological research. Learn about cognitive biases such as hindsight bias, confirmation bias and gambler's fallacy.