Psychology study notes for midterm

• The document provides study notes about psychology for a midterm examination, written by Little cactus and published by Mor Services.

Psychology

• Psychology studies human behavior and mental processes using science.
• Psyche is the mind, logos means study or knowledge.
• John Stuart Mill believed psychology should leave philosophy and become the science of mental laws.
• After psychology spread, it led to diverse ways of thinking about the field.

Development of Mind

• In 1879, structuralism became the first school of thought in psychology.
• Introspection, a method of self-reflection, defines the mind's structure by studying consciousness.
• Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener established the first research laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
• They aimed to understand how quickly people respond to events.
• Gestalt psychology focuses on a "unitary form or pattern."
• It emphasizes that perceptions of objects are subjective and depend on the context.
• Different people have different experiences and perceptions.
• Psychoanalysis, founded by Sigmund Freud, utilizes "free association" or talk therapy.
• It emphasizes the unconscious region of the mind (psychodynamic) and how early childhood experiences can shape behaviors and personalities.
• The iceberg theory illustrates that most of the mind is beneath the surface.

American Psychologists

• G. Stanley Hall, the first U.S. psychologist, brought Wundt's laboratory work to America and formed the American Psychological Association (APA).

Functionalism

• Functionalism studies the stream of consciousness.
• It examines the functions of mental processes and consciousness as a continuously changing process.
• William James is known as the "Father of American Psychology".

Behaviorism

• Behaviorism rejects introspection and free association.
• It emphasizes observable behaviors and events.
• Behaviorism became a dominant school in the U.S. from 1920-1960.
• John B. Watson contributed to the school of behaviorism in the US.
• Ivan Pavlov contributed classical conditioning work to psychology: behaviors can be learned through association.
• B.F. Skinner contributed work on operant conditioning: rewards and punishments shape behavior
• Philosophy evolved into psychology through scientific research and establishment of research labs like the one in Leipzig, Germany.

Contemporary Perspectives in Psychology

• Many psychologists are eclectic, meaning there's no single right or wrong approach.
• The focus is on different aspects of behavior and psychological functions.

Behavioral Perspective

• Environmental factors determines behavioral development.
• Should restrict the study of observable behaviors only as mental processes lie outside scientific study.
• It studies environmental stimuli, triggers, and their effects on behavior.

Psychodynamic Perspective

• Freud's theory suggests behavior is influenced by the struggle between unconscious sexual or aggressive impulses and opposing forces.

Humanistic Perspective

• Critiques behavioral and psychodynamic approaches as too deterministic
• Emphasizes free will, self-awareness, and the ability to make choices and create meaningful lives.

Physiological Perspective

• Based on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, shaping behavior through hereditary traits and characteristics that increase survival.
• Territory protection and aggressiveness result in biological behavior.
• Heredity, nervous system and hormones all dictate biological behavior.

Cognitive Perspective

• It involves mental processes and experiences.
• Aims to find out how individuals acquire knowledge.

Sociocultural Perspective

• It studies how behaviors and attitudes are shaped by social and cultural influences.
• Early research focused on white, middle-class samples.

Psychologists' Areas of Work

• Experimental psychologists conduct research.
• Clinical psychologists treat people with psychological problems and disorders.
• Counseling psychologists help clients adjust their problems.
• School psychologists work in school systems to help children.
• Educational psychologists construct tests and improve course planning and instructional methods.
• Developmental psychologists study physical, cognitive, social, and personality development across the lifespan.
• Industrial/Organizational psychologists study relationships between people and their work environment.
• Consumer psychologists study psychological factors and consumer preferences and purchasing behavior.
• Forensic psychologists develop psychological profiles of criminals and legal systems.
• Sport psychologists apply psychological principles and techniques to sports.

Psychology in Daily Life

• Psychology can be applied through communication, motivation, productivity and decision making

Learning

• Learning involves acquiring new understanding, skills, and attitudes,
• Starts at birth and continues until death, leading to changes and increased potential.

Laws of Learning

• Readiness: Learning is most effective when physically, mentally, and emotionally ready. It becomes ineffective when there is no reason for learning
• Effect: Learning is strengthened when satisfied and weakened when associated with unpleasant feelings.
• Exercise: Practice makes perfect, retaining what is learned.

Trial & Error

• Learning through "trial and error" involves motivation, increased exploration in activity, responses that correctly achieve reward.
• It reduces learned errors.

Primacy & Recency Effect

• The most recently learned information is best remembered.
• Information learned at about the same time becomes more difficult to remember.
• It is easier to remember things starting or ending an assignment

Law of Intensity

• It is easier to remember more exciting things.

Project-Based Learning (PBL)

• Students develop creative capacity and work through difficult problems.
• Step 1: Identify the problem.
• Step 2: Devise solutions.
• Step 3: Design & Develop a prototype of the solution.
• Step 4: Refining the prototype, based on feedback.

Case-Based Learning

• Helps retain complete & meaningful real-life events, through learning in a real, holistic environment

The Power of Memory

• Memory abilities include retaining & retrieving data.

Memory Model

• Events or experiences are organized and structured as a function of shaping data.

Information Processing

• Analogous to a computer.
• During Encoding: Memory is converted into a form that the brain can store and use.
  • Includes selective/ divided attention, automatic/control processing, levels of processing.
• Three types of code: acoustic, visual, and semantic.
• During Storage: Information is maintained in memory in 3 states: Sensory, short term & long term.
  • Maintenance involves repetition.
  • Elaboration involves relating to that which one already knows.
  • Organizing the system leads to easier retrieval.
• During Retrieval: Location of memories leads to thoughtful conclusions. Types includes recalling or recognizing information.

Parallel Distributed Processing

• When activated, Distributed memory functions spread across networks of interconnected neutrons.
• New information combines with what is already in memory.
• Communication of data between data gets more efficient.

Three Stage Model

• Sensory Memory: Receives and briefly holds sensory information. Most of it is discarded, some are selected for attention.
• Short Term Memory (STM): Temporarily stores information when consciousness occurs
• Long Term Memory (LTM): Large capacity and duration. Involves reconstructing or remembering things from past experiences

Ways to Improve LTM

• Drill, practice and relate things.
• Establish or construct links using mnemonics.

Types of Thinking

• Chaotic/Random: Able to perceive things with no relationship, solves problems fast but prone to make mistakes, and requires constant feedback.
• Linear: Needs clarity, plans and objectives, can solve problems but less versatile.
• Intuitive: Relies more on feeling than reason, is sensitive to the environment, uses multi-tasking and works well with other people
• Relational: Everything should be able to be related with data and details.

Motivation & Emotion

• Motivation: Influence, initiation, direction, intensity, persistence of behavior: process that energizes, guides, maintains behavior toward a goal.
• Needs are deficiency states leading to goal-directed behaviors or a psychological and or physical impairment.

Maslow's Hierarchy of needs

• Self-actualization (living up to your full potential), Esteem (good self-opinion), Belonging & Love (acceptance, friendship), Safety (security, freedom from threat), Physiological (food, water, breathing, etc.).

Drive Reduction Theory

• (Clark Hull) Biological needs demands drive satisfaction.
• Bodily tension arises from unmet needs, prompting prompt action
• Drive reduction leads to state of satisfaction.

Optimum Arousal Theory

• We are motivated to behave in ways that keep optimal level.
• Peak performance occurs when arousal is moderate, i.e., not too much or too little. The right amount of stimuli allows individuals in optimal zone.
• optimal arousal is subjective and varies from person to person.

Incentives for Productivity

• Use an external objective/goals instead of drives - Extrinsic use external rewards - Intrinsic internal gratification

Theory of Determination

• Individuals are competent and that leads to internal factors which are factors to be considered: Competence, personal control and the ability to maintain relationships

Key Motivation

• Achieve goals through self-efficacy

Factors that improve development and motivate people

• People react and contribute to productivity with the achievement of all goals
• Expect that your efforts are being well looked after
• Challengeable but not too challenging to not attain the correct amount needed
• Internally easy, but high goals.

Delay of gratification

• Being able to take what you can take in the future rather than in the moment with high self control in order to be able to obtain more valuable rewards in the future
• Evolutionary theory of uncertain future rewards

Affects of emotions

• Immediate reaction to all environmental and internal events.
• Behavioral response.
• Feeling

Emotional expressions of feelings

• Physiological responses of sweating
• Wide Open eye expression, etc

Feelings expressed via feeling

• Emotions expressed are more motivational than objective processes

3 Main Theories of Motivation/Feeling

• (James-Lange Theory) The result of physiological responses
• (Cannon-Bard Theory) The result of physiological and emotional expressions happening at at the same time
• (Schacter-Singer 2 factor Theory) the physiological and emotional responses produce an emotional experience
• (Facial-feedback) Theory of emotion from facial connection by expressions induces emotion

The theory of Individual Development

• (Freud based theory) Personality has formed through development

Freud's Psychodynamic Perspective

• Personality forms during the first few years of life
• Relationships with children and how parents help them
• Sex repression during the 20th century were considered less influential to personality and a more difficult approach to individual personality as a sexist approach.

(Id) Identity, Identity and Ego

• A person understands good and bad, leading to an ego
• Superego of good balanced traits

Developing Personality

• Occurs without proper nurturing. Proper parenting is needed at each stage of psychological development

Types of Behavior and Stages of Phallic Development

• Oral/Anal/Phallic
• Oral leads to caregiver meets all oral needs and moves away
• Anal leads to self control for the child for going where they need to go such as going to the bathroom which leads to properly care with the urges
• (Oedpus) desires of having someone as the child can continue to go and hate the same sex as them

Super-Ego Occurs

• During dissolution of the Oedpus Theory with dissilence

Types of Defensiveness

• Occurs due to feeling a certain away with an occurance such as being depressed being disorientated

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

• Studied theories of Freud's student who had theories of culture
• Main concepts involves relationships, success and healthy development from start to finish and not being sexists
• Hope, Will, Purpose, Competence

Development over Culture, and Community

• Hope has to have trust to start and understand
• Integrity has wisdom and self esteem
• Deistic development to become more useful with society
• Stage of life cycle must require certain expectations of people in certain cultures

behavioral perspective

• behavioralist pavlov was a main contributor with pavlonais classical experiements with stimulus

Social Cognitive Theory

• albert bandora stated the interactions, enviroments and people determine the social context of how and individual would learn in social learning attention retention initiation motivation

Cognitive Perspective (Jean Piaget)

• new stimulus allow you to change perceptions and cognition
• stimulus allow you to fit the new situation with new factors
• new dynamics can affect and fit old things
• senor motor for learning thorugh senses and motor
• operant is the can and cans for certain situations

contextual

• self concepts over time
• good life with self confidence
• self help leads to people who build themselves and good reliability

Emotional Intelligence

• (Daniel Goleman)
• self awarenesss, knowlege and important components
• emotional intelligence
• able to recognize understanding emotions-with an important emphasis

Knowlege of Self

• important aspect to know self and to know others
• understand strengths weakness and limits/
• building motivation and empathy

Emotional Intelligence. Key areas

• Empathy, and cognitive ability

Skills in this field include

• self awareness
• recognize feelings
• self compassion
• improve interactions with those that were trusted

Enhancing and Resilience

• self esteem and success
• improve decision making

How to deal with conflict

• factor no resilence
• maintain a good relationship with others
• have confidence to self confidence

Emotional dysregulation and family organization

• can depend on what type of family and organization they are such as good family, economic circumstances, family or good social organization
• resilience can be built in different environments.