PSY100 Psychology Notes PDF

PSY100 notes Lecture 1 (Chapter 1) Key integrative terms: 1.​ Psychology explains general principles that govern behaviour while recognizing individual differences. 2.​ Applying psychological principles can change our lives, organizations, and communities in positive ways. 3.​...

PSY100 notes Lecture 1 (Chapter 1) Key integrative terms: 1.​ Psychology explains general principles that govern behaviour while recognizing individual differences. 2.​ Applying psychological principles can change our lives, organizations, and communities in positive ways. 3.​ Psychological, biological, social and cultural factors influence behavior and mental processes. 4.​ Our perceptions and biases filter our experiences of the world through an imperfect lens. Some assumptions/ biases of Western psychology: 1.​ Individuality: Each person has unique characteristics and exists independently from others. 2.​ Experiment-based empiricism: Basically means evidence should be based on experiments. 3.​ Quantification: representing observable behaviours and psychological characteristics (abilities, attitudes, dispositions, etc.) with numbers 4.​ “Objectivity”: the tendency to base interpretations and judgments on external data, rather than on subjective factors like personal beliefs, feelings, and experiences. 5.​ Nomothetic approach: focuses on finding general laws that apply to groups of people. 6.​ Male dominance: History has shown white men being dominant in the psychology field. Founder of Experimental Psychology - Wilhelm Wundt -​ Voluntarism: Free will ​ Structuralism (Edward Titchener): analyzes the adult mind by breaking it down into its simplest components. ​ Functionalism (William James): focuses on why human behavior changes. ​ Behaviourism (John Watson; B.F. Skinner): emphasizes that behaviors are learned through interactions with the environment and shaped by reinforcement and punishment. ​ Humanism (Carl Rogers; Abraham Maslow): believes that people are good and focuses on helping people reach their potential by exploring their uniqueness. Lecture 2 (Chapter 2) Research methods in psychology Scientific method as an ongoing process Role of theory: Scientific theories typically explain the relationship between two or more variables. Explanatory & Predictive/ Generative Scientific theories (and the hypotheses they generate) must also be: -​ Testable using current available research techniques -​ Falsifiable -> it must be possible in principle to make an observation that would show the proposition to be false, even if that observation has not been made -​ Parsimonious -> preference for simplicity Examples of psychological theories: -​ Intergroup contact theory (Pettigrew, 1998): Under certain circumstances, positive intergroup contact can reduce prejudice toward the outgroup. -​ Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954): People will evaluate their own abilities by comparing themselves to similar others, especially when more objective measures are unavailable. -​ Social learning theory (Bandura, 1977): People can learn by observing others, in the absence of explicit behavioural reproduction or reinforcement. Conceptual vs Operational definitions of variables: -​ Conceptual definition: Akin to a dictionary or textbook definition; the meaning of the term. -​ Operational definition: Definitions of theoretical constructs that are stated in terms of concrete, observable procedures. -> something that can be measured. Constructs: Internal attributes or characteristics that cannot be directly observed but can be useful for describing and explaining the behaviour Three big categories of research methods: -​ Descriptive methods(usually 1 variable): Involve the systematic observation and classification behavior. Eg. Surveys, focus groups, case studies, observational research -​ Types of observation: -​ Naturalistic observation: Passive observation. Observers do not change or alter ongoing behaviour (at least not intentionally) -​ Participant observation: Active observation. The researcher is actively involved in the situation. -​ Laboratory observation: Systematic observations are made within a laboratory setting (rather than in the ‘real world’). -​ Strengths: -​ Case studies and observational research can provide important insights and stimulate further research to test specific hypotheses. -​ Surveys allow us to gather large amounts of information quickly and easily -​ Focus groups and interviews can provide rich detailed information that may be lacking from a survey. -​ Problems: -​ Reactivity (e.g. the Harthorne effect): A Phenomenon where people change their behavior knowing that they are being observed.  -​ Observer/ experimenter bias: Own personal biases that affect the judgement of the experiment. -​ Self-report bias: Social desirability bias/ The “better than average” effect. Not wanting to admit themselves when encountering questions that put themselves in a disadvantage. -​ Correlational methods(usually 2 or more variables): Involve examining how variables are related (without manipulating any of the variables). Allow the examiner to make claims about associations between variables, but not causal claims. -​ Relationships between variables are either -​ No relationship (0) -​ Positive relationship(+) -> Variables move in the same direction -​ Negative relationship(-) -> Variables move in the inverse direction -​ Correlation != Causation: -​ Directionality problem A B -​ Third variable problem i.e. C causing A and B -​ Experimental methods(Examine cause-and-effect relationships between two or more variables): Involve manipulating an independent variable in order to determine its impact on a dependent variable -​ Variable: A characteristic or condition that changes or has different values for different individuals. -​ Independent variable: A variable that is manipulated to see the impact on the dependent variable. -​ Dependent variable: The outcome of an experiment. -​ Confound: Anything that may unintentionally vary along the independent variable. -​ Experiments: -​ Random assignment: Each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any condition in the study. -​ Random sample: Each member of the population you are interested in has an equal chance of being chosen to participate. -​ Why are “double-blind” experiments ideal? -​ In a “double-blind” experiment, both the participants and the experimenters who interact with them are unaware of which condition the participant is in. -​ Sample & populations: -​ Population: The group that you want to be able to generalize your findings to. -​ Sample: The group of individuals from this population who are part of your study. -​ Quasi-Experiments: Experimental design where random assignment is not possible. -​ E.g. Researchers take advantage of pre-existing groups  -​ Field experiments: Experiments that occur in real-world settings (the’field’) rather than the laboratory. -​ Random assignment is possible; but researchers have less control over the study -​ Participants are often unaware of the study -​ Validity vs Reliability -​ Types of reliability: -​ Interrater reliability: Consistent results among judges -​ Test-retest reliability: Getting consistent result in 2 different time frames -​ Types of validity: -​ Construct validity: Operationalizations -> How accurately (or appropriately) have the variables been operationalized? -​ External validity: Generalizability -> ‘is it only applying to this group or is applicable to everyone else?’ -​ Internal validity: Causality -> How well has the study established a cause-and-effect relationship between variables? -​ Types of statistics -​ Descriptive statistics: Organize data into meaningful patterns and summaries -​ Percentages, counts, averages, correlations​ -​ Inferential statistics: Allow us to extend conclusions from a sample to a population -​ They allow us to make inferences based on data e.g. “Based on these data, we predict that between 35% to 55% of college students use practice questions to study.” -​ These inference are always probabilistic -​ Replication & Reproducibility -​ Replicability: A study about a phenomenon produces similar results from a previous study of the same phenomenon. -​ Close/exact replications -​ Conceptual replications -​ Reproducibility: A study can be duplicated in method and/or analysis Lecture 3 (Chapter 4) Biological foundations of behaviour Nature & Nurture Intertwined Francis Galton -​ Twin studies & Adoption studies: Help researchers study the impact of genetic versus environmental influences -​ Monozygotic (one embryo) vs dizygotic twins (two embryos) -​ Monozygotic twins raised together vs raised apart -​ Nature and nurture are inextricably entwined (密不可分) -​ Impossible to separate genetic influences from environmental influences -​ They can work together to determine human behaviour -​ Epigenetics -> Changes in gene expression that are due to non-genetic (‘epi’ -> ‘outer’) influences. Gene x Environmental example: -​ Predictor variables: -​ Type of MAO-A gene -> lower vs higher levels of MAO (‘nature’) -​ Maltreatment during childhood or not (‘nurture’) -​ Outcome variable: -​ Convicted of violent crime by age of 26? -​ Key result: -​ Low-MAO gene + maltreatment -> Increased probability of being a violent criminal -​ Heredity vs Heritability -​ Heredity -> The genetic transmission of characteristics from parents to offspring -​ Heritability -> An estimate of the genetic proportion of the variation in some specific trait -​ The nervous system: The body’s electrochemical communication circuitry -​ Central nervous system (CNS) -​ Brain and spinal cord -​ Peripheral nervous system (PNS) -​ Somatic nervous system -​ Autonomic nervous system -​ Sympathetic nervous system -​ Parasympathetic nervous system -​ Neurons: -​ Are the basic unit of the nervous system -​ Operate through electrical impulses -​ Communicate with other neurons through chemical signals -​ Three types of neurons: -​ Sensory neurons (Afferent neurons) -​ Motor neurons (Efferent neurons) -​ Interneurons Neurons communicate via action potentials Action potential: The neural impulse that passes along the axon and subsequently causes the release of chemicals from the terminal buttons When do neurons fire? (when do they generate action potential) -​ Resting potential -> Polarized state (More negative inside the cell, approximately -70mV) -​ Excitatory signals -> Increase the likelihood that the neuron will fire -​ Inhibitory signals -> Decrease the likelihood that the neuron will fire They do this by affecting the polarization of the cell. -​ If the excitatory input (depolarization) reaches a certain threshold (eg -55mV) -​ All-or-none principle: A neuron fires with the same magnitude each time (it either fires or does not fire) -​ But how frequently the neuron fires can vary Neurotransmitters -​ Are chemical substances that carry signals from one neuron to another -​ Are stored in vesicles(small packages) inside the terminal buttons Presynaptic membrane: Membrane of the neuron that is sending the signal Postsynaptic membrane: Membrane of the neuron that is receiving the signal Some important neurotransmitters: -​ Glutamate -> Primary excitatory neurotransmitter (Go) -​ GABA -> Primary inhibitory neurotransmitter (Stop) -​ Serotonin -> Mood, impulsiveness, hunger, sleep -​ Dopamine -> Reward and motivation, voluntary movement -​ Acetylcholine -> Movement, memory, cognition, sleep -​ Epinephrine and norepinephrine -> eg stress response (‘flight or fight’) How drugs work Drugs may function as agonists -> Binding to the receptors and producing a response mimics the effects of an endogenous neurotransmitter. Drugs may also enhance the effects of endogenous neurotransmitters by -​ Increasing the release of neurotransmitters -​ Blocking the reuptake of neurotransmitters Drugs may function as antagonists -> Inhibiting the action of an endogenous neurotransmitter by -​ Blocking the release of neurotransmitters -​ Destroying neurotransmitter in the synapse -​ Mimicking a neurotransmitter (& blocking neurotransmitter binding Neuroplasticity -​ The brain is ‘plastic’ -> Able to be changed, reorganized, as a result of experience, drugs, or injury(e.g. stroke) -​ E.g. Rats raised in enriched vs impoverished environments The brain: An introduction Brainstem -​ Controls life sustaining functions of the autonomic nervous system, including breathing, digestion, heartbeat, etc. -​ Reticular formation -> Alertness, sleep Cerebellum -​ Essential for coordinated movement and balance -​ Helps provide smooth, coordinated body movement The Diencephalon -​ Cerebellum -​ Essential for coordinated movement and balance -​ Helps provide smooth, coordinated body movement - Hypothalamus -​ Tiny but powerful - is the brain’s master regulatory structure -> Connects the nervous system to the endocrine system -​ The “Four F’s” -​ Maintain homeostasis and hormones -​ Thalamus -​ Often referred to as a relay station -> handles all incoming sensory information except smell -​ The Basal Ganglia -​ -​ Control voluntary movement, learning, emotions and other behaviours The Limbic system -​ -​ Hippocampus: -​ Formation and storage of long-term memory -​ Amygdala: -​ Best known for its role in processing fear -​ Essential to our ability to associate things with emotional responses -​ Located in front of the hippocampus -​ Cerebral Cortex: -​ The outer layer of the brain; each cerebral hemisphere has four lobes -​ The corpus callosum (massive bridge of axons) connects the hemispheres and allows information to flow between them -​ Lobes: -​ Occipital lobes: -​ Vision -​ Primary visual cortex -​ Temporal lobes: -​ Hearing -​ Primary auditory cortex -​ Parietal lobes: -​ Touch -​ Primary sensory cortex -​ Frontal lobes: -​ Planning, movement -​ Primary motor cortex -​ Prefrontal cortex The Peripheral Nervous System -​ Transmits information to the CNS, and responds to messages from the CNS to perform certain behaviours or make bodily adjustments -​ Divided into 2 primary components: -​ Somatic nervous system (SNS) -​ Autonomic nervous system (ANS) The Somatic Nervous system -​ Concerned with the external environment -​ Consists primarily of motor neurons responsible for sending signals from the CNS to the skeletal muscles -​ VOluntary motor control ;reflex arcs -​ Efferent pathway -​ Also includes sensory neurons which send signals from the skin, skeletal muscles and other sense organs to the CNS -​ Conscious perception of our environment -​ Afferent pathway The Autonomic Nervous system -​ Concerned with the internal environment -​ Efferent and Afferent pathways between the CNS and smooth muscles/glands (e.g. circulatory system, digestive system) -​ Autonomic responses typically involve changes in involuntary bodily functions (e.g. heart rate, digestion, perspiration) -​ Two major divisions: -​ Sympathetic division -​ Parasympathetic division Sympathetic nervous system -​ Prepares the body for actions (‘fight or flight’) Parasympathetic nervous system -​ Returns the body to normal state (‘rest and digest’ or ‘feed and breed’) -​ Opposing functions of the sympathetic system, but the two systems work in a complementary fashion -​ Chronic activation of either system can lead to health problems The Endocrine system (Hormone system) -​ Works with the nervous system to regulate psychological activity -​ Whereas the nervous system, uses electrochemical signals, the endocrine uses hormones Hormones -> chemical substance released into the bloodstream by endocrine glands until they reach the targeted tissues -​ Communication is lower -​ Effects can be widespread and long-lasting - Neural activation causes the hypothalamus to secrete a releasing factor (e.g. corticotrophin-releasing factor) - This releasing factor causes a pituitary gland to release a hormone specific to that factor (e.g. adrenocorticotropic hormone) - Hormone travels through bloodstream to target sites throughout the body (e.g. adrenal cortex, which releases cortisol) Lecture 4 (Chapter 5) Sensation and Perception Sensation and perception: What’s the difference? Sensation: Involves the detection of external stimuli (eg light pressure), responses to those stimuli, and the transmission of these responses to the brain Perception: Involves the processing, organization, and interpretation of sensory signals in the brain, which results in an internal representation of the stimuli- and your conscious experience of it. Important things to keep in mind: -​ Everything is experienced in your brain -​ The world you live is constructed by you -​ Context/ expectations play a huge role -​ Change is important Sensation: Going from the world, to your brain -​ Transduction: Process by which sensory receptors pass impulses to connecting neurons when they receive stimulation (eg from pressure on the skin, in the process of touch) Sensory thresholds: How much of a stimulus does there have to be for us to notice? -​ Absolute threshold: -​ The minimum intensity of stimulation that must occur before you experience a sensation (or the stimulus intensity detected above chance) -​ Difference threshold: -​ The just noticeable difference between two stimuli (the minimum amount of change required for a person to detect a difference 50% of the time) Sensing chemicals: Taste -​ Every taste experience is composed of a mix of 5 basic qualities: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami(savoury) -​ Smell and texture are also important -> The taste experience occurs in brain Sensing chemicals: Smell -​ The olfactory epithelium (or mucosa) is a thin layer of tissue embedded with small receptors, which transmit information to the olfactory bulb, which is the brain centre for smell Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) -​ Receives info from smell, taste, and visual systems -​ Flavour perception Vestibular system & vision Touch: Temperature, pressure, & pain -​ Mechanoreceptors: Respond to mechanical distortion or pressure -​ The most sensitive mechanoreceptor are actually found in the cochlea -> responsible for sound transduction The primary somatosensory cortex -​ Connected parts of the body tend to be represented beside each other -​ Somatotopic organization -​ More sensitive region tend to have more cortical area devoted to them (eg lips, fingers) Nociceptors -> Pain reception -​ Activated by damaging (or possibly damaging) stimuli -> Being pierced, burned, etc. -​ Myelinated (‘A delta’) fibres -> sharp, immediate pain (protection) -​ Lightly or non-myelinated (‘C’) fibres -> dull, steady pain (recuperation) -​ Gate control theory of pain: For pain to be experienced, pain receptors must be activated AND the neural ‘gate’ in the spinal cord must allow the signals through to the brain -​ If the gate is ‘open’ -> Pain is experienced -​ If the gate is ‘closed’ -> Pain is reduced (or prevented) The Eye Accommodation: Muscles change the shape of the lens, flattening it to focus on distant objects, and thickening it to focus on closer objects. Transduction -​ Photoreceptors: Convert the energy from light particles (photons) into a chemical reaction that produces an electrical signal -​ Rods: Retinal cells that respond to low levels of light, and result in black and white perception. About 120 million in each retina, located along the edges. -​ Cones: Retinal cells that respond to higher levels of light, and result in colour perception. About 6 million in each retina, located in the fovea Visual transmission -​ Rods and cones -> Bipolar, amacrine, horizontal cells -> Ganglion cell/ optic nerve Colour perception -​ Three types of cones: -​ S cones -> short wavelengths -> Blues -​ M cones -> medium wavelengths -> Greens -​ L cones -> Long wavelengths -> Reds -​ According to trichromatic theory, the perception of colour is determined by the ration of activity among these three types of receptors. Opponent-process theory: Focus on ganglia cells in the retina Motion perception: -​ Motion sensitive neurons: Fatigue of certain motion sensitive neurons lead to motion after effects Visual transmission  -​ ‘What’ and ‘Where’ -​ Visual areas beyond the primary visual cortex form two parallel processing streams. -​ Dorsal ‘where’ stream: Specialized for spatial perception, determining where an object is and its spatial reaction to other objects. -​ Ventral ‘what’ stream: Specialized for perception and recognition of objects, such as determining colour and shape. -​ Agnosia; prosopagnosia Gestalt principles of perceptual organization: These principles help to explain how we perceive objects in our environment (how do we organize elements into groups in order to perceived a ‘unified whole’) -​ Figure-ground relationship: Whatever is not the figure (the focus of visual field) is automatically assigned as background -​ Illusory contours: We tend to perceive contours, even when they don’t exist (but something in the stimulus suggests that they ought to present) -​ Proximity: The closer the two figures are, the more likely we are to group them together and see them as being part of the same object. -​ Similarity: We tend to group figures according to how closely they resemble each other. -​ Continuation: We tend to interpret intersecting lines as continuous rather than as changing direction radically. -​ Closure: We tend to complete figures that have gaps Depth perception -​ Retinal disparity: Important cue of depth perception caused by the distance between the eyes, which provides each eye with a slightly different image. The brain uses the disparity between these two retinal images to compute distances. -​ Monocular depth cues: Include occlusion, relative size, familiar size, linear perspective, texture gradient, and position relative to horizon. -​ Motion parallax: Objects that are farther away seem to move more slowly than objects that are closer. Bottom-up and Top-down processes -​ Bottom-up processing: Information is sent from lower level processing areas to higher level processing areas. -​ Top-down processing: Information from higher-level areas can also influence lower ‘earlier’ levels in the processing hierarchy -​ Expectations inform perceptions. Lecture 5 (Chapter 11) Lifespan development Developmental psychology focuses on the physiological, cognitive, and social changes that occur in individuals across the lifespan. ‘Windows of plasticity’ Methods in development: Some common research techniques of what infants know: -​ Preferential looking technique: Have a preference in looking at certain objects. -​ Habituation/ Orienting reflex: Baby’s tendency to turn towards a new stimulus. How do we access changes across time? -​ Longitudinal designs: Data from the same group of participants is collected at intervals across a long period of time (over decades) -​ Cross-sectional designs: Data is obtained simultaneously from participants of different ages in order to make age-related comparisons. Brain development: Prefrontal cortex -​ A second period of overproduction occurs in the prefrontal cortex just before adolescence, followed by about a decade of pruning Attachment Theory: -​ Strong, emotional connection that persists over time and across circumstances -​ Adaptive -> Encourages proximity between child and mother/caregiver -​ Oxytocin -> Cuddle hormone (Releases when you hug) -> feels good -​ Attachment: Harry Harlow -​ ‘Mom as milk’ vs ‘Mom as comfort’ -​ Results contradicted the behavioural perspective and had widespread societal implications -​ Research raised a lot of ethical questions -​ Mary Ainsworths’ ‘Strange situation’ test -​ Secure attachment: -​ Approx. 65% of the children -​ E.g. Upset when caregiver leaves, but easily comforted upon their return -​ Insecure-resistant(anxious-ambivalent):  -​ E.g. Clings to caregiver, gets upset, both wants and resists comforts (e.g. may get angry) -​ Insecure-avoidant(anxious-avoidant) -​ E.g. Little distress when caregiver leaves, avoids the caregiver upon their return -​ Disorganized attachment: -​ Added later; inconsistent, odd behaviour -​ Factors affecting infant-caregivers attachment: -​ Caregiver sensitivity -​ Infant temperament -​ Environmental factors -​ Cultural factors Parenting styles: Two key dimensions Behavioural regulation: High High parental support Low parental support expectations, setting rules etc High behavioural regulation Authoritative 權威性 Authoritarian 威權主義 Low behavioural regulation Indulgent 放縱的 Uninvolved 不參與 Eric Erikson’s Psychosocial model -​ First lifespan theory of development -​ Every ‘stage’ of identity features a developmental challenge that must be confronted in order to successfully progress. -​ Some examples: -​ Trust vs Mistrust (Birth to 2 years): Is the world a safe place? -​ Identity vs Role confusion (adolescence): Who am I? -​ Intimacy vs Isolation: (Early adulthood): What type of partner/ relationships do I want? Cognitive development: Jean Piaget -​ During each stage of development, children form new schemas -> Ways of perceiving, organizing, and thinking about how the world works -​ Two key learning processes: -​ Assimilation: Like a sponge, absorbing and digesting -​ Accommodation: Expanding or adjusting the schema -​ Equilibration: An active self-regulatory process by which a child progresses through the stages of development -​ Match between cognitive structures and reality(equilibrium) -​ When our existing schemas are no longer sufficient, we experience disequilibrium and become motivated to develop new(more complex)schemas(accommodation)  -​ Piaget’s stages of cognitive development -​ Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years) -​ Acquiring information only through the senses -​ Forming representations of the kinds of actions that can be performed on certain objects -​ Object permanence -> things continue to exist even when you can no longer sense them -​ Moves from reaction to action -​ Primary circular reactions: Eg sucking thumbs, kicking legs -​ Secondary circular reactions: Eg dropping toys to hear the noise, shaking a rattle to hear the sound -​ Tertiary circular reactions -​ ‘Little scientists’ -​ Preoperational stage (2-6 years) -​ Begin to think symbolically, but not logically -​ Eg Piaget believed children at this age lacked an understanding of the law of conservation Theory of Mind (ToM): The false-belief (or Sally-Ann) task -​ Concrete operational stage (6-11 years)  -​ Development of more logical thinking; but reasoning is limited to concrete objects. -​ Formal operational stage (12+ years) -​ Able to think and reason abstractly -​ Deductive reasoning and problem solving -​ Cognitive development: Lev Vgotsky -​ Compared to Piaget, Vgotsky’s theory of cognitive development placed more emphasis on sociocultural factors -​ Zone of proximal development -​ Scaffolding Lecture 6 (Chapter 8) Learning: A (relatively lasting) change in behaviour resulting from experience Three types of learning: -​ Nonassociative learning (frequency) -​ Habituation and sensitization -​ Associative learning (formation of connections) -​ Classical and operant conditioning -​ Observational learning (watching others) -​ Social learning theory Associative learning -​ Classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning -> Occurs when two different stimuli come to be associated with one another. Does not require any action on the part of the learner. -​ Operant (or Instrumental) conditioning -> Occurs when a learner operates on their environment to produce a particular result (eg learning a trick to receive a treat) Classical conditioning: -​ A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a reflexive response because it has become associated with a stimulus that already produces that response. -​ Key terms: -​ Unconditioned stimulus (US) -​ Unconditioned response (UR) -​ Conditioned stimulus (CS) -​ Conditioned response (CR) -​ Acquisition: The gradual formation of an association between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli -​ Extinction: A process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly represented without the unconditioned stimulus -​ Spontaneous recovery: A process in which a previously extinguished response re-emerges following presentation of the conditioned stimulus -​ Stimulus generationalization: Occurs when stimuli that are similar but not identical to the conditioned stimulus produce the conditioned response -​ Stimulus discrimination: A differentiation between two similar stimuli when only one of them is consistently associated with the unconditioned stimulus High order conditioning -​ Second-order conditioning: When something is consistently paired with the conditioned stimulus, without the unconditioned stimulus, and leads to a conditioned response. Not all CS-CR pairings are the same -​ Some associations are easier to learn than others -​ Taste aversion -​ Biological preparedness Adding cognition to the picture -​ Why is a slight delay between the CS and US optimal for learning? -> Prediction -​ The CS must accurately predict the US -​ Rescorla-Wagner model: A cognitive model of classical conditioning which states that the strength of the CS-US association is determined by the extent to which the US is unexpected or surprising -​ Because this leads to greater effort by the learner to understand why the US appeared. Biological basis of learning: Hebb’s rule -​ ‘Neurons that fire together, wire together’ -​ Recall: Plasticity (London cab drivers, rats raised in different environments) -​ Without such neuroplasticity, learning wouldn’t be possible Operant conditioning -​ A learning process in which the consequences of an action determine the likelihood that it will be performed in the future -​ Thorndike’s law of effect: Any behaviour that leads to a satisfying state of affairs’ is more likely to occur again, and any behaviour that leads to an ‘annoying state of affairs’ is less likely to occur again. -​ Reinforcer: A stimulus that occurs after a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated -​ Primary vs secondary reinforcers -​ Shaping: Involves reinforcing behaviours that are increasingly similar to the desired behaviour -​ Reinforcing successive approximations eventually produces the desired behaviour by teaching the animal to discriminate which behaviour is being reinforced. -​ Positive reinforcement: Increases the probability of a behaviour being repeated by the administration of a (positive, rewarding) stimulus -​ Negative reinforcement: Increases the probability of a behaviour being repeated by the removal or avoidance of a (negative, aversive) stimulus -​ Positive punishment: Decreases the probability of a behaviour being repeated by the administration of a (negative, punishing) stimulus -​ Negative punishment: Decreases the probability of a behaviour being repeated by the removal of a (positive, pleasurable) stimulus The Premack principle -​ Also known as the relative theory of reinforcement -​ Higher probability behaviours can be used to reinforce lower probability behaviours -​ Eg Eating ice cream as a reward after eating veggies. Schedules of reinforcement -​ Continuous vs Partial (intermittent) reinforcement -​ Types of partial reinforcement: -​ Fixed: Reinforcement is consistent and predictable or -​ Variable: Reinforcement is variable and unpredictable (occurs after a varying number of behaviours, or a varying amount of time) -​ Ratio: Based on number of times the behaviour occurs or -​ Interval: Based on the passage of time ​ Operant conditioning: Later developments -​ Biological constraints: Animals have a difficult time learning behaviours that are incompatible with innate, adaptive behaviours Biological basis of learning: “Pleasure centres” -​ Intracranial self-stimulation(ICSS) in rodents: developed after an accidental discovery by Olds and Milner -​ Electrical stimulation > food, water, sex -​ Willing to walk across painful electrified grid -​ Will press lever until collapse of exhaustion Reward circuits -​ What makes a reinforcer rewarding? Why does it lead to increased behaviour? -​ The experience of pleasure usually results from activation of dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbens (mesolimbic dopamine pathway) Latent learning: Edward Tolman argued that reinforcement had more impact on performance than acquisition/ learning -​ Showed that rats could learn a path through a maze without reinforcement, but not reveal their learning until it is reinforced. -​ The rats were still forming cognitive maps of their environment. Observational learning: Learning that occurs by watching others (eg imitation or modelling behaviour of others) Lecture 7 (Chapter 9): Memory Attention is -​ Limited -​ Selective It is also the first step toward remembering something -​ We often fail to realize how we distracted we are and the effect the distraction is having on learning and performance outcomes From attention to memory: Recall Bandura’s social learning theory: -​ Attention -> Retention Models of memory: The information processing model: -​ Encoding phase: Information is acquired and processed in to a neutral code that the brain can use -​ Storage phase: The retention of encoded information ( whether it is for a moment or a lifetime) -​ Retrieval phase: Recalling or remembering the stored information when we need it What memory is and is not -​ Understanding the function of memory can help us understand how it works  -​ Memory is not a recording, it is a reconstruction The multi-store model of memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968) Sensory memory: Memory for sensory information that only lasts for an extremely brief (< 1sec time). We are typically not even consciously aware of it. Short term memory: -​ Immediate memory -​ E.g. Remembering something important your prof says while you write it down -​ Memory that will remain only for seconds, unless you actively think about it -> This is known as maintenance rehearsal -​ E.g. Remembering a phone number or license plate -​ Very limited capacity -​ Individual differences -​ Chunking: Organizing information into meaningful units to make it easier to remember -​ E.g. KFC CEO UBC PHD (4 units) much easier to remember than KFCCEOUBCPHD (12 units) Working memory model (Baddeley & Hitch) -​ Active manipulation of information -​ Multiple types of information at once The working memory model refers to structures and processes used to temporarily store and manipulate information in short term memory -​ 4 components: -​ Phonological loop: Auditory and verbal information -​ Visuospatial sketchpad: Visual information -​ Central executive: Control centre, directs attention to relevant information -​ Episodic butter: Integrates information, links to long-term memory Transfer to long-term memory: Elaborative rehearsal -​ Levels of processing theory (eg Craik & Lockhart, 1972) -​ Task is to remember a list of 60 words -​ For each word, asked 1 of 3 types of questions Long-term memory systems -​ Explicit memory: The processes involved when people remember specific information -> information that we are consciously aware of -​ Implicit memory: The system underlying unconscious memories -> memories we acquire and use without awareness of intention. Types of explicit memory: -​ Semantic memory: Memory for knowledge about the world- things that you know, even though you may not remember where or when you learnt it. Eg. The capital of France -​ Episodic memory: Memory of your personal past experiences that includes information about the time and place the experiences occurred. Eg. The last wedding you attended. Autobiographical memory: -​ Includes both semantic and episodic knowledge of the self -​ Eg Your birthday, cities you’ve lived in, your seventh birthday party, etc. Types of implicit memory: -​ Classical conditioning: Automatic conditioned response to stimulus -​ E.g. Knowing that certain music is associated with bad things -​ Priming: Improvement in identifying or processing a stimulus that has been experienced previously -​ E.g. Complete the word: ___ory -​ Procedural memory: Motor skills, habits, and other behaviours that we remember how to do without thinking about it. -​ E.g. Clive wearing, patient H.M. Distinct memory systems: -​ Memories are stored in multiple regions of the brain and linked through memory circuits -​ Different memory systems use different brain regions. -​ Medial temporal lobe (includes hippocampus): Critical for episodic and spatial memory; encoding, consolidation, retrieval The hippocampus & spatial memory -​ Formation of cognitive maps -​ E.g. Rats and Morris Water Maze Memory retrieval -​ Retrieval cue: Anything that helps someone recall information from memory; Encoding specificity principle -​ Context dependent memory: Memory enhancement that occurs when the recall situation is similar to the encoding situation -​ E.g. May be similar in terms of physical location, background music, odours, etc. -​ State dependent memory: Memory enhancement that occurs when one’s internal state during the recall situation is similar to the encoding situation -​ E.g. Mood Memory organization -​ Memories are mental representations, stored in networks of neurons in the brain -​ Organized by meaning and function -​ Schema: A set of expectations about object and situations -​ Hypothetical cognitive structures that help us perceive, organize, process and use information Serial position curve (Ebbinghaus, 1913) Memory failures -​ Absentmindedness (Shallow encoding) Eg randomly placing the car keys somewhere and cant find them because at first place you werent paying attention to them. -​ Decay (Transience) -​ Interference (Impairs consolidation) -​ Proactive interference: When old (prior) information inhibits the ability to remember new information  -​Retroactive interference: When new information inhibits the ability to remember old information Improving memory: Spaced practice -​ Also known as ‘distributed practice’ -​ The opposite of cramming (known massed practice) Lecture 8 (Chapter 10):​ Cognition Social interaction is a vital part of language acquisition Language as an emergent behaviour: -​ A complex phenomena that arises from the interactions of underlying processes but cannot be deduced or explained from the nature and logic of these properties Multilingualism & Cognition -​ VIew from a century ago was extremely negative -> Belief that bilingualism would impair intelligence -​ Past 50 years has accumulated much evidence to the contrary: -​ ‘Mental flexibility’ (Pearl & Lambert) -​ Advantages in executive control -​ Mixed evidence -> bilingual advantage now being questioned -​ May contribute to ‘cognitive reserve’ -​ E.g. Studies examining the onset of dementia in Toronto hospital patients Lecture 9 (Chapter 12) Personality Personality: The characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviours that are relatively stable in an individual over time and across circumstances. Ways to assess personality -​ Idiographic approaches -​ Person-centred, focus on individual lives -​ E.g. Narrative approach; humanistic perspective -​ Nomothetic approaches -​ Common traits, unique combinations -​ Projective measures: Rorschach inkblot, TAT -​ Objective measures: self-reports, informant ratings Neo-Freudian approaches Carl Jung (analytical psychology): Personal vs collective unconscious; personality types reflecting opposing ways we can orient ourselves to the external environment Karen Horney (feminist psychology): Emphasis on cultural and social conditions as a determinant of personality (rather than instinctual or biological drives) Humanistic approaches Emphasize personal experience and belief systems; propose that people seek personal growth to fulfill their human potential -​ E.g. self-actualization (Abraham Maslow) Carl Rogers’ person-centred approach -​ Phenomenology -> Subjective human experience -​ Unconditional positive regard Self-concept (or self) as ‘the organized, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself.” (Carl Rogers) Self: The totality of the individual, consisting of all characteristics attributes, conscious and unconscious, mental and physical. Self-concept: People’s description of their own characteristics (including psychological and physical characteristics, qualities, skills, etc.) Self-construal: The extent to which the self is defined independently of others or interdependently with others. Social-cognitive approaches Albert Bandura (Recall social learning theory) -​ Reciprocal determinism  -​ Self-efficacy Locus of control: The degree to which people believe that they (as supposed to have external forces) have control over the outcome of their lives. -​ Active: ‘I make things happen’ -​ Passive: ‘Things happen to me’ Self regulation: The process by which people alter or change their behaviour to attain personal goals. Self control: The process of self-regulation in contexts involving a clear trade-off between long-term goals and short-term temptations. -​ Delay of gratification: ‘The Marshmallow Test’ (Walter Mischel, 1970s) -​ Some strategies: Turning ‘hot’ cognitions into ‘cold’ cognitions (reframing); ignoring; distraction Personality vs ‘if-then behavior profiles’ (Mischel& Shoda, 1995) -​ Emphasis on the interaction between the situation and the individual -​ People may not behave consistently across all situations (‘If A, then she X, but if B, then she ‘Y’), but these patterns of behaviour tend to be consistent. Trait approaches to personality Personality trait: A characteristic; A dispositional tendency to act in a certain way over time and across circumstances. Personality type: A classification based on particular configurations of personality traits or other characteristics. Big Five Theory Openness to experience Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism Lecture 10 (Chapter 13) Social Psychology Social psychologists study how the thoughts, feelings, and the behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. -​ Affiliation motivation: The need to belong -​ The motivation to be part of relationships, to belong to groups, and to be accepted by others. Conformity & Social norms Conformity: The altering of one’s opinions or behaviours to match those of others or to match social norms. Social norms: Generally accepted ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that most people in a group agree on and endorse as right and proper. -​ Descriptive social norms: What people actually think, feel, or do -​ Injunctive (or prescriptive) social norms: What people should think, feel, or do People tend to conform to norms for 2 reasons:  -​ Informational influence: A group has informational influence if we adopt the group consensus because it seems correct. -​ Normative influence: A group has normative influence if w adopt the group consensus to show identification with the group. Compliance vs obedience: Compliance: A change in a person’s behaviour in response to a direct request; requester has no authority over us Obedience: When we comply to the request of someone in a position of authority. Are first impressions as important as we think? -​ We can form impressions of others based on very limited information -> Appearances (halo effects), stereotypes, ‘thin slices of behaviour’, etc. -​ First impressions can be remarkably persistent, but we are also capable of updating (and correcting) our impressions of others -​ Negative information and uncommon behaviours are typically given more weight Interpreting behavior: Attributions Attributions: Judgments about the cause of a person’s behaviour -​ Dispositional attributions: Explanations that refer to internal characteristics (e.g. traits) -​ Situational attributions: Explanations that refer to external events (e.g. the situation) Biases in attributions -​ Correspondence bias/ Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency for people to overemphasize personal factors and underestimate situational factors in explaining the behaviour of others -​ Cultural differences -​ Actor observer bias -​ Self versus others -​ Self-serving bias -​ Positive versus negative behaviours Categorization & Stereotypes -​ Cognitive schemas that allow for easy, fast processing of information about people based on their membership in social groups -​ Not always negative, but always overgeneralizations Stereotypes, prejudice, & discrimination Negative stereotypes can lead to: -​ Prejudice: Negative judgments and attitudes toward a person based on their group membership -​ Discrimination: Inappropriate and unjustified treatment of people based on their group membership Stereotypes -> Cognitive bias Prejudice -> Emotional bias Discrimination -> Behavioural bias Lecture 11 (Chapter 14) Psychological disorders A psychological disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behaviour that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. The biopsychosocial model How can we predict who might develop a psychological disorder? -​ Not everyone with a family history, genetic predisposition, childhood trauma, etc., will develop a psychological disorder -​ Not everyone who experiences a stressful life event will develop a psychological disorder -​ Diathesis-stress model -> It’s the combination of both of these things that determines how likely someone is to develop a mental disorder. Psychotherapy -​ Any psychological service provided by a trained professional that primarily uses forms of communication and interaction to assess, diagnose, and treat dysfunctional emotional reactions, ways of thinking, and behaviour patterns. Psychotherapy techniques -​ Psychoanalytic therapy -​ Focuses on bringing unconscious struggles into consciousness (free association, dream analysis) -​ Insight: Increase patient’s understanding of their own psychological processes -​ Person-centered (Humanistic) Therapy -​ Encouragement of personal growth through self-understanding -> congruence -​ Safe and comfortable setting, empathy, reflective listening -​ Cognitive therapy: -​ Attempts to modify maladaptive thought (適應不良的想法) patterns -​ E.g Cognitive restructuring -​ Recognizing automatic thoughts -​ Identify cognitive distortions (eg personalizing) -​ Challenge or dispute the thoughts -​ Replace with healthier/ more functional thoughts -​ Behaviour therapy: -​ Attempts to modify maladaptive behaviours and the environments that trigger them (reconditioning) -​ E.g. Systeming desensitization (fear hierarchy, relaxation training, exposure therapy) -​ Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) -​ Cognitive-behavioural therapy(CBT) -​ Incorporates techniques from both cognitive therapy and behavioural therapy to correct faulty thinking and change maladaptive behaviours -​ Very successful at treating anxiety and mood disorders, particularly over the long-run. -​ Biological treatments: Pharmacotherapy -​ Psychotropic medication: Drugs that affect mental processes -​ Anxiolytics: Treatment of anxiety -> E.g. benzodiazepines, increase GABA activity -​ Antidepressants -> E.g SSRIs -> Increase serotonin levels -​ Antipsychotics: Block dopamine, reduce positive symptoms of schizophrenia (e.g. hallucinations, delusions) -​ Psychological disorders -​ Schizophrenia -​ A mental disorder characterized by alterations in perceptions, emotions, thoughts, or consciousness -​ Used to be classed into different subtypes (removed from DSM-5): Paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, residual type -​ Symptoms can be categorized as ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ -​ Positive symptoms: Excesses in behaviour -​ Delusions: False personal beliefs based on incorrect inferences about reality -​ Hallucinations: False sensory experiences  -​ Disorganized speech: Loosening of associations; Speech pattern in which thoughts are disorganized form meaningless -​ Disorganized behaviour: Disorganized or abnormal motor behaviour, E.g. Catatonia (緊張症) -​ Negative symptoms: Deficits in functioning; Includes behavioiurs such as -​ Isolation, withdrawal -​ Apathy (冷漠) -​ Blunted emotion (情感遲鈍) -​ Slowed, monotonous speech -​ Mood disorders -​ Bipolar disorders (BD) -​ Manic episodes(躁症發作)-> Elevated mood, increased activity, diminished need for sleepy, grandiose ideas, racing thoughts, and extreme distractibility -​ Different subtypes based on nature of manic(or hypomanic) and depressive(or neutral) episodes -​ Major depressive disorder (MDD) -​ One of the most frequently diagnosed disorders (~7% of the adult population each year) -​ More common among young adults (18-29 years old) and women -​ Diagnosis requires presence of depressed mood and/or anhedonia(快感缺失), along with other physical or cognitive symptoms (e.g. appetite and sleep disturbance, loss of energy; difficulty concentrating, feelings of worthlessness, thoughts of death) -​ Potential causes of depression: -​ Learned helplessness -​ Depressive attributional style, attribute failures to internal, global, stable causes -​ ‘Its my fault my partner broke up with me, I am unlovable, and it's always going to be this way.’ -​ Anxiety disorders and OCD -​ Anxiety disorders are characterized by the excessive anxiety in the absence of true danger -​ Common symptoms (across disorders) include autonomic system arousal, worry/anxiety/tenseness, restlessness, excessive startle response -​ Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) -​ Hypervigilance -> Fatigue, irritability, headaches, etc. -​ Specific phobias (e.g. blood-injury-injection) -​ Social anxiety disorder  -​ Agoraphobia (廣場恐懼症) -​ Panic disorder -​ Closely related to agoraphobia -​ Potential causes of anxiety disorders -​ Cognitive factors -​ Attention to and perception of threat -​ Ambiguous stimuli (e.g. ‘At the meeting, your contribution elicits reactions’) -​ Interpretation of bodily sensations (panic disorder) -​ Biological factors: -​ Genetics; Inhibited temperamental style -​ Fear circuitry dysfunction (amygdala, prefrontal cortex) -​ Obsessive compulsive disorder (強迫症) -​ Involves frequent intrusive thoughts and/or compulsive actions; anticipate catastrophe and loss of control -​ Obsessions -> Recurrent, intrusive and unwanted thoughts or ideas or mental images; often include fear of contamination, of accidents, or of ones’ own aggressions -​ Compulsions -> Particular acts that one feels driven to perform over and over again; often include cleaning, checking, and counting -​ Causes: -​ Strong genetic component -​ Classical and operant conditioning processes -​ Anxiety paired with event (CC), behaviour linked with relief (OC)