Psychology: First Schools of Thought

• Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes, studying both observable actions and internal subjective experiences.

Psychology’s First Schools of Thought

• Structuralism, led by Titchener, used self-reported introspection to understand the mind's structure through sensations and perceptions.
• Functionalism, influenced by Darwin and championed by William James, explored the evolved functions of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, emphasizing adaptation and survival.

Development of Psychological Science

• Behaviorism, with proponents like Watson and Skinner, defined psychology as the study of observable behavior, dismissing introspection.
• Watson and Rayner's "Little Albert" experiments demonstrated classical conditioning, creating a fear response in a child.
• Freudian psychology emphasized the impact of unconscious thoughts and childhood experiences on later behavior.
• Humanistic psychology, led by Rogers and Maslow, focused on personal growth, free will, self-awareness, and the fulfillment of love and acceptance needs.

Contemporary Psychology

• The cognitive revolution in the 1960s renewed interest in mental processes.
• Cognitive psychology studies how information is perceived, processed, and remembered.
• Cognitive neuroscience connects the science of the mind with the science of the brain, focusing on the brain activity underlying mental activity.

Nature vs. Nurture

• Evolutionary psychology examines shared human traits due to common biology and evolutionary history.
• Behavior genetics studies differences related to genes and environment.
• Cross-cultural psychology investigates how culture shapes behavior while recognizing universal underlying processes.
• Gender psychology focuses on similarities and differences between males and females, viewing gender as a continuum.
• Positive psychology studies positive human experiences like happiness, resilience, and gratitude to help individuals build a meaningful life.

Three Main Levels of Analysis

• Biological influences.
• Psychological influences.
• Social-cultural influences.

The Need for Psychological Sciences

• Humans cannot rely solely on intuition and common sense due to overestimation.
• Hindsight bias is the tendency to believe we could have predicted an outcome after learning it.
• Overconfidence leads people to think they know more than they actually do.
• False or fake news, repetition, availability of powerful examples, and group identity contribute to a post-truth world.
• The scientific method involves testing ideas through organized observations.

Steps of the Scientific Method

• Ask a question.
• Research.
• Make a hypothesis.
• Test with an experiment.
• Analyze results.
• Report results.
• A theory explains and predicts behaviors or events.
• A hypothesis is a testable prediction implied by a theory.
• Operational definitions provide exact procedures used in a study.
• Replication involves repeating a study to see if findings extend to other participants and circumstances.

Testing Hypotheses and Refining Theories

• Description is systematic, objective observation.
• Correlation measures how closely two factors vary together.
• Experimentation is used to determine causation.

Descriptive Research Methods

• Case studies examine one person in depth.
• Naturalistic observation records behavior in a natural environment.
• Surveys & interviews examine many cases in less depth.
• Correlation indicates relationships between traits or attributes.
• Positive correlation indicates a direct relationship.
• Negative correlation indicates an inverse relationship.
• Correlation coefficients measure how closely two things vary together.
• Correlation does not prove causation.

Experimentation

• Researchers manipulate factors of interest to determine their effects, while controlling other factors.
• The experimental group receives the treatment.
• The control group does not receive the treatment.
• The double-blind procedure eliminates bias by keeping both participants and data collectors unaware of the treatment.
• The placebo effect involves results caused by expectations alone.
• The independent variable is the factor manipulated.
• The dependent variable is the factor measured.
• A confounding variable is a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect.

Describing Data

• Measures of central tendency represent a set of scores.
• Mode is the most frequently occurring score.
• Mean is the arithmetic average.
• Median is the middle score.

Measuring Variation

• Measures of variation indicates similarity or diversity in scores.
• Range is the difference between the highest and lowest scores.
• Standard deviation measures how much scores vary around the mean.
• A normal curve is a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve showing data distribution, with most scores near the mean.

Biology, Behavior, and Mind

• Understanding of the brain-mind relationship has developed over time.
• Phrenology, the study of bumps on the skull, yielded the idea of localization of function.

Neuroplasticity

• The brain changes throughout life by reorganizing after damage or building new pathways based on experiences.

Neurons

• Neurons are nerve cells specialized for conducting nerve impulses.

Neuron Structure

• Dendrites receive messages from other cells.
• The cell body keeps the cell alive and integrates information.
• Glial cells support, nourish, and protect neurons, playing a role in thinking and learning.
• The axon passes messages away from the cell body.
• The myelin sheath covers the axon and helps speed neural impulses.

Action Potential

• An electrical impulse travels down the axon.
• The neuron receives signals to fire or not fire.
• When the threshold is reached, the action potential starts moving.
• This is an "all or nothing" response.
• The signal is transmitted to another cell via the synapse.
• The synapse is a junction between the axon tip and the receiving neuron.

Reuptake

• The original neuron reabsorbs neurotransmitters that aren’t used.

How Neurotransmitters Activate Receptors

• The neurotransmitter molecule fits precisely into a receptor site.
• An agonist molecule activates the receptor.
• An antagonist molecule blocks the receptor site.

Types of Neurons

• Sensory neurons carry messages from tissues and sensory receptors to the CNS.
• Motor neurons carry instructions from the CNS to the body's tissues.
• Interneurons process information in the brain and spinal cord.

The Nervous System

• The central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain and spinal cord.
• The peripheral nervous system (PNS) gathers and sends information to and from the body.

The Autonomic Nervous System

• The sympathetic NS arouses (fight or flight).
• The parasympathetic NS calms (rest and digest).

Studying Cases of Brain Damage

• Stroke or injury can reveal the impact on the mind.
• Phineas Gage's case showed that damage to frontal lobes can alter personality.

Brain Imaging Techniques

• EEG records electrical waves on the brain’s surface.
• PET scans show brain activity by tracing radioactive glucose.
• MRI creates images from signals produced by brain tissue.
• fMRI reveals brain activity and function.

Areas of the Brain and Their Functions

• The brainstem and cerebellum coordinate the body.
• The limbic system manages emotions.
• The cortex integrates information.

Brainstem

• Medulla controls basic functions like heartbeat and breathing.
• The pons helps coordinate automatic movements.

Thalamus

• A sensory switchboard (excluding smell).
• Routes messages to the cortex, medulla, and cerebellum.

Cerebellum

• Coordinates voluntary movement and enables nonverbal learning and memory.

The Limbic System

• Coordinates emotions, basic drives, and episodic memories.

Limbic System Components

• The hippocampus processes conscious episodic memories.
• The amygdala processes emotions, especially fear and aggression.

Hypothalamus

• Regulates body temperature, food and water intake, and sex drive, maintaining homeostasis.

Frontal Lobes

• Active in executive functions like judgement, planning, and impulse control.

Parietal Lobe

• Manages input from multiple senses, spatial and mathematical reasoning, and monitoring movement.

Temporal and Occipital Lobes

• The temporal lobe manages sensory input related to sound.
• Important for recognizing faces
• The occipital lobe is primarily responsible for functions related to vision.

Cerebral Plasticity

• The damaged brain can restore some functions by forming new connections and reassigning networks.

Brain Hemispheres

• Lateralization: Hemispheres serve different functions.
• Brain scans and split-brain studies reveal hemisphere functions.
• The corpus callosum connects the hemispheres.
• Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body and visual field.

Defining Consciousness

• Consciousness is our awareness of ourselves and our environment.
• Cognitive neuroscience studies the connection between brain activity and cognitive processes.

Dual Processing

• We evaluate our environment consciously and unconsciously.
• Dual processing allows us to perform tasks without thinking about every detail.

Selective Attention

• What we focus on, what we notice.

Selective Inattention

• What we are not focused on, what we don’t notice.
• Inattentional blindness: Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.
• Change blindness: Failing to notice changes in the environment.

Psychoactive Drugs

• Psychoactive drugs change perception and moods.

Tolerance, Dependence, and Addiction

• Tolerance: Diminishing effect of a drug with regular use.
• Addiction: Compulsive drug craving and use, despite adverse consequences.
• Physical dependence: The body has been altered in ways that create cravings for the drug.
• Psychological dependence: A person's resources for coping with daily life wither as a drug becomes "needed".
• Withdrawal: Discomfort and distress that follow discontinuing the use of an addictive drug.

Changing Concept of Addiction

• Addiction is now seen as a disease needing treatment.
• The APA (2013) manual proposes further study of Internet gaming disorder.

Types of Psychoactive Drugs

• Depressants reduce neural activity and slow body functions.
• Alcohol acts as a disinhibitor, slows neural processing, disrupts memory, reduces self-awareness and self-control.
• Barbiturates reduce anxiety but impair memory and judgement.
• Opiates constrict pupils, slow breathing, cause lethargy, and cause withdrawal symptoms.
• Stimulants excite neural activity and speed up body functions.
• Caffeine & nicotine - increase heart and breathing rates and other autonomic functions to provide energy.
• Cocaine depletes brain’s supply of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
• Ecstasy (MDMA) produces a euphoric high and can damage serotonin-producing neurons.
• Amphetamines stimulate neural activity and cause associated energy and mood changes.
• Hallucinogens distort perceptions and evoke sensory images.

Prenatal Development

• Zygote: The stage from 10 to 14 days, when the cell divides and differentiates.
• Embryo: From 2 to 8 weeks, when cells develop into organs and bones.
• Fetus: From 9 weeks, features develop, and the fetus may survive outside the womb by 6 months.
• Teratogens: Substances that can damage the developing embryo or fetus.
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS): Cognitive, behavioral, and body/brain structure abnormalities caused by alcohol exposure.

Newborn Reflexes

• Reflexes are inborn responses that occur without learning.
• The rooting reflex: Turning toward a touch on the cheek.
• The sucking reflex: Triggered by a fingertip.

Maturation

• Biologically driven growth and development enabling orderly changes in behavior.
• Experience can adjust the timing, but maturation sets the sequence.

Motor Development

• Physical training generally cannot change the sequence.
• Sitting (6 months).
• Crawling (8-9 months).
• Starting Walking (12 months).
• Walking independently (15 months).

Baby Memory

• Infantile amnesia: Most people cannot recall memories from the first three years of life.
• Infants can learn skills (procedural memories).

Cognitive Development

• Cognition: Mental activities include problem solving, figuring out how the world works, developing models and concepts, storing and retrieving knowledge, and using language.

Origins of Attachment

• Attachment: Emotional connection to another person.
• Body contact: Not necessarily nourishment.
• Familiarity.
• Critical period: Optimal period when exposure to stimuli leads to normal development.
• Imprinting: Animals form attachments.

Attachment Styles

• Secure attachment: Distress when mother leaves, seeks contact when she returns (60%).
• Insecure attachment: Clinging to mother, upset with departure and return.
• Insecure attachment (avoidant style): Indifferent to mother’s departure and return.