Human Development Lectures - PSYA02 - PDF Notes

Lecture 1 - Human development -​ 0-2 weeks → germinal stage → fertilization and implantation -​ 3-8 weeks → embryonic stage → development of organs -​ 9 weeks → fetus -​ Fetal heart rate changes in reaction to external voices being played → Some can cause miscarriage -​ Te...

Lecture 1 - Human development -​ 0-2 weeks → germinal stage → fertilization and implantation -​ 3-8 weeks → embryonic stage → development of organs -​ 9 weeks → fetus -​ Fetal heart rate changes in reaction to external voices being played → Some can cause miscarriage -​ Teratogens → mostly affect the fetus during critical and sensitive periods → critical period (green- severe)→ where most change is happening in a particular structure also where the most damage can be done → sensitive periods (light green)→ changes and structures are developing still developing but less severe→ ingestion of teratogenic substance will be less severe than in the critical period→ Most affect at 5 weeks -​ Neonate (Newborn) sleep -​ Perceptual development begins in utero → after birth is richer → sensation → detection of physical signals → perception → organization and interpretation of sensory information -​ Measuring infants perception → Preferential looking → infants choose to spend more time looking at objects that are interesting, stimulating, or familiar → Visual acuity → principle → infants would likely look at stripes than plain grey padel → Discrimination (discriminating between two stimuli) → -​ In the first month of life, the infant's visual acuity increases from 20/400 to 20/120 (approx) → develop vision rapidly → Color and depth perception also develop in the first 6 months -​ Moving head side to side (rooting) → movement by choice → newborns → motor skills are predominantly reflexes → Lecture 2 - Human development -​ Cephalocaudal rule → “Top-to-bottom” → Motor skills in infants emerge from head to toe -​ Promimodistal rule → “inside-to-outside” → motor skills emerging from center to the periphery → have more control of their core/stomach before arms /fingers -​ Piaget → small sample size only studied his child → believed children move from one stage to the next as they gain knowledge about the world 1.​ Children acquire knowledge 2.​ Children organize this knowledge into a schema 3.​ Children acquire new knowledge 4.​ Children add this new knowledge to their existing scheme (assimilation) → subtle change 5.​ Children acquire new knowledge that does not fit within their existing scheme (contradicts what they already learn)  6.​ Children modify their schema to fit this new knowledge ( accommodation) → drastically change their framework to understand the new knowledge they've learned Lecture 3 - Human development -​ Sensorimotor stage → mainly relies on their movement and senses to learn about the world → Infants are not very good at remembering about things that are out of sight -​ Preoperational stage → most babies are egocentric → think and believe that their world is the only one in front of them → finally understand that there are other people and that doesn't mean that they can't see it it doesn't exist -​ Theory of mind → Babies are not born with it but learn → The way they think about other people's mental states -​ False belief task → “sally anne” (failed by 1-3 yo.)→ “unexpected contents task” (3-4 yo.) → -​ Measuring individual differences in attachment → parents as secure base → how infants react to reunions → Mary Ainsworth (strange situation) → infants attachment style predicts outcomes in adulthood ( academic achievement, emotional health, relationship quality, and self-esteem) -​ Identity in early childhood → positive words to describe themselves until school –. Social comparison begins, cognitive skills increase, etc -​ Rank-order stability → an individuals self-esteem is relatively consistent across the lifespan Lecture 4 - Human development -​ Young children have high self-esteem but gradually lose it as they grow, especially women -​ Identical twin studies can help compare how much something is due to genetics → much variability in self-esteem is due to heredity → Rank order stability → consistent throughout lifespan -​ Brain maturation → end of adolescence -​ Adolescence → increase and refinement of connection in the prefrontal cortex -​ Erik Erikson → developed a theory of conflicts and resolution → believed that identity formation is the biggest challenge for adolescence → “identity vs confusion” -​ Identity confusion → incoherent and incomplete sense of self -​ Identity foreclosure → premature identity choice -​ Negative identity → identity formed in opposition to others/social norms → “negative” → doing something positive but against what others want  -​ Achievements of adolescence → Emergence of abstract thinking and of self-socialization (choosing your friends) → challenges → personal fable → Imaginary audience (that everyone is watching you) → -​ Older adults are less reactive to negative stimuli and tend to focus of the positive Lecture 5 - Intelligence -​ The main difference between non-human and human language → symbols → arbitrary paintings ( The sounds that we make have nothing to do with what they represent) → generativity (making up brand new words and expecting another person to understand) -​ Parts of language 1.​ Phonemes → the sound that we produce → The smallest unit of sound recognizable as speech rather than random noise → building blocks of words (consonants and vowels) 2.​ Morphemes → the combination of sounds that create meaning → Smallest meaningful units of language (texting - text and ing ) 3.​ Semantics → what words mean 4.​ Syntax → grammar → the rules governing how words are combined to form meaningful phrases and sentences 5.​ Pragmatics → change the meaning of words (with context, tone, etc) 6.​ Metalinguistics → when we’re talking about language -​ Types of bilingualism 1.​ Simultaneous (early) bilingualism 2.​ Sequential bilingualism → learning a language after the first one 3.​ Heritage bilingualism → understand the family language but not comfortable speaking 4.​ Adult second-language bilingualism → critical period of language development has ended→ still able to learn a language but not as comfortable. -​ Intelligence increases our likelihood of passing our genes -​ Three-tiered model of intelligence 1.​ General intelligence (g) → encompasses all forms of human intelligence 2.​ Basic intelligence → multiple different types of intelligence → fluid intelligence (interact with our environment/skills → abilities that rely on information-processing skills such as reaction time, attention, and working memory → crystalizes intelligence (facts/hardware) → the ability to solve problems using already acquired knowledge→ general memory and learning (our ability to learn something) 3.​ A set of specific abilities → testable -​ Alfred Binet → measures people's psychology → invented the first IQ test using trial and error→ puzzles, object naming, counting (Binet-Simon test) -​ IQ tests are specific for an age group and location → The mean score on IQ tests is designed to be 100 (the population on average scores 100) → Changing stimuli to  not disadvantage (Some may not have the same experience such as the popularity of puzzles in North America) → STDV is designed to be 15 → follows a normal distribution Lecture 6 - Emotion & Motivation -​ Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences → Linguistic → Logical math → Musical → our ability to detect rhythm → Nature → how well we interact with our environment → Body-kinesthetic → awareness of own body in the environment → Spatial → → Interpersonal → Intrapersonal (How well we regulate our own emotions) -​ Evidence of Gardner's approach → areas of intelligence java different developmental patterns (emerge at diff. ages) → damage to a specific brain can impact only one type of intelligence and not others -​ Emotional intelligence → the ability to reason about emotions and use emotions to enhance reasoning → identification of one's own emotions → description of one's own emotions → management of own emotions → detection of other's emotions Lecture 7 - Emotion & Motivation -​ Emotions → a positive or negative experience in response to stimulus → two dimensional → valence (positive or negative) → Psychological arousal (severity) → look into presentation → You should be able to tell if an emotion is high arousal or low valence etc. -​ Two major neural structures related to emotion → amygdala and prefrontal cortex -​ Amygdala → relatively primitive part of the limbic system → processes the biologically relevant information from our environment -​ Prefrontal cortex → slowly rational thinking about information -​ Thalamus → processes motion from the environment → amygdala reacts → sends information from sensory cortices → makes sense of the environment (visual and hearing cortex) → transmitted forward to the prefrontal cortex (Makes sense of the information) → sends back to the amygdala down-regulates the emotion (amygdala detects stimuli) -​ Emotions exist to allow us to be more functional in our environment → Help us survive in our environment → -​ Darwin → argues that facial expression has been evolved and universal → Unversality hypothesis → Humans should have the same expression when experiencing an emotion -​ Facial feedback hypothesis → Emotion facial expression can cause/change an individual's emotional experience →  -​ Deceptive expression strategies → intensification → de-intensification (down-regulate the emotion) → masking (changing facial expression from what we are feeling → neutralizing -​ How to catch a fake → Morphology → certain facial muscles are resistant to conscious change (reliable muscle → not very good at changing consciously) → Symmetry → Duration → Temporal patterning (order of how these expressions appear on the face) → prefrontal cortex changes these expressions -​ Emotional regulation → instinctive and learned strategies → first 6 months (mostly from parents and basic gaze aversion) –. After 6 months (self-soothing, self-talk, increased gaze aversion, locomotion moving away from negative stimuli) → distraction, suppression, affect labeling, re-appraisal (changing one way of thinking about emotion-inducing stimulus) -​ Amygdala → not a part of quick emotional response → occurs after the slower response Lecture 8 - Emotion & Motivation -​ Motivation → the psychological reason for producing an action → primarily driven by emotion → -​ Damaged amygdala → impacts decision making -​ Hedonic principle → Humans simply want to attract pleasure and avoid pain Lecture 9 - Personality -​ The study of personality → study of both individuals (idiographic approach) → more individualized → and common trends in the population (nomothetic approach) → more measurable and objective -​ Two main components of personality study 1.​ Measuring personality -​ Projective techniques → psychodynamic approach -​ Personality inventories → rely on self-report → have low validity (if it actually measures the thing it should measure) and reliability (consistency of results) → minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI) → measure 5 big personality 2.​ Explaining personality -​ Personality theories ​ Trait approach (Big Five) → attempts to describe personality as a series of traits → a relative disposition to behave in a particular and consistent way → Factor analysis → Big personality traits are not correlated with each other (orthogonal) → openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (OCEAN) ​ Personality traits are relatively stable and their stability increases across the lifespan → Rank order stability (keeping rank in the population) →  some changes may occur but (mean-level changes in our cohort) → changes in the same direction ​ Intraindividual change → when a person's personality significantly changes from one time to the next → could concur after life-changing experiences (e.g trauma) ​ Biological explanation → Genetics is the largest single factor → heritability factor of between 0.35 and 0.49 → → social-cognitive approach → Psychodynamic approach → Humanist approach Similarities: 1.​ All three approaches aim to explain human behavior and personality but from different perspectives. 2.​ Social-cognitive and psychodynamic psychology both recognize the importance of past experiences in shaping behavior.  3.​ Humanistic and social-cognitive psychology both emphasize conscious thought processes in behavior. 4.​ Psychodynamic and humanistic psychology both explore individual uniqueness, though psychodynamics focuses on unconscious drives, while humanism highlights personal growth. Lecture 10 - Personality -​ Psychodynamic approach → psychoanalysis → “hysteria” → highly emotional thinking → psychosomatic symptoms → you feel it but it isn't necessarily physical → -​ Freud believed that free association, fantasies, and dreams → what cause hysteria and can cause personality differences → unconscious -​ social-cognitive approach → emerged from behaviourism → Lecture 11 - Social psychology -​ The study of the causes and consequences of being social → 1.​ Cooperation and competition 2.​ Group behaviour 3.​ Altruism 4.​ Reproduction -​ Cooperation → working together toward a common goal → one way of solving scarcity of resources → social loafing → receiving all the benefits but no contribution → -​ Competition → struggling with one another to obtain limited resources -​ Aggression → behavior with the purpose of harming another → ecture 12 - Social psychology -​ Implicit biases → in-group or out-group beliefs that we aren't aware of → Implicit association test (IAT) → measures biases that we are unable to report ourselves → differs from biases that we are unwilling to report → does not categorize bad or good but measure how accurate you re able to match different dimensions → (not explicit beliefs) -​ How strongly and quickly you associate two concepts (e.g., Black/White faces with good/bad words)​ -​ Your reaction times when pairing certain categories together​  -​ Implicit in-group/out-group preferences, stereotypes, or bias​ ✅ Key Points: -​ It does not measure explicit beliefs (the attitudes you openly express)​ -​ It reflects automatic associations in your mind​ -​ Faster reaction times suggest stronger mental associations -​ Group cognition → 1.​ common knowledge effect → Group discussions sometimes revolve around information that everyone shares 2.​ Group polarization → make decisions that are more extreme than any member would have made alone 3.​ Groupthink → making a quick decision without deliberating about it 4.​ Diffusion of responsibility → Individuals feel diminished responsibility for their actions when others are acting the same way -​ Data shows assault levels increase during the summer -​ Greatest predictors of individual level of aggression → immediate family members who are aggressive → sex (high levels of testosterone) → -​ Testosterone → decreases an individual threat assessment when in danger → Less afraid of retaliation -​ Frustration-aggression → humans are likely to be aggressive just due to negative emotions -​ Kinship selection → extending altruistic behavior to related individuals, increasing the likelihood of genetic material to be passed on → reciprocation → expecting something back -​ Romantic relationship → Physical, situational, and physiological attraction is important → We are attracted to similarity (more comfortable to be with someone with common) less conflict Lecture 13 - Social psychology -​ Testosterone → reduces threat assessment -​ Social psychology → the attempt to influence other individuals → social influence 9We are all susceptible to it)  -​ Hedonic motivation → appealing to the hedonic principle → hoping an individual will avoid certain behaviors by making them afraid of the consequences → appealing to it with rewards can backfire especially when behavior is already intrinsically motivated -​ Approval motivation → motivated to have others like us and approve of us→ adherence to norms→ often causes us to conform to the behavior of others Lecture 13 - Clinical psychology -​ Mental disorder → Persistent disturbance or dysfunction in behavior, thoughts, or emotions that causes significant distress or impairment -​ Medical model → atypical, distressing psychological experiences are classified as illnesses that have biological causes. → can be environmental causes too -​ Biopsychosocial model → atypical, distressing psychological experiences are classified as illnesses that have biological, psychological and social causes -​ Psychopathology → the study of mental disorders -​ Psychopathy → one aspect of a very specific mental illness -​ Overpathologizing → attributing diverse or atypical behaviors or thoughts to psychological illness, particularly when diagnostic criteria are not met → -​ Diagnostic criteria → features of a disorder → a set of symptoms, behaviors, or characteristics that must be present in order to diagnose an individual with a disorder → relies on a set of criteria → questionnaires and interviews → behavioural observation → patient history → ( not typical but): neuroimaging -​ DSM-5 → used predominantly in North America elsewhere uses ICD-11 (also covers physical Illnesses) → uses a biopsychosocial model → only used by clinicians → divides mental disorders into 22 categories → include information about each disorder → 1.​ diagnostic criteria 2.​ onset (when it usually starts) 3.​ prognosis (how the disorder is likely to develop) 4.​ risk factors (the increased likelihood of having the disorder) & etiology (the biological, psychological, and/or social causes of a disorder) → Diathesis-stress model: risk for a disorder combines with life circumstances to lead to the disorder 5.​ Comorbidities → other psychological or physical disorders that frequently co-occur with the disorder in question → once u have one increased chances of another one → what other disorder may appear at the same time as this one -​ Most DSM disorders have three diagnostic criteria in common 1.​ Causes significant distress/affects functioning 2.​ Cannot be attributed to substance use or medical condition 3.​ It cannot be better described by another DSM diagnosis -​ Criticism of DSM-5  → can lead to over-pathologizing → Binary (black and white system) → many disorders are likely more spectral Lecture 14 - Clinical psychology -​ Anxiety disorder → the fear of something threatening that may happen in the future → adaptive reaction to threats → when it interferes with normal functioning it becomes maladaptive (reduces our fitness of survival) → pathological anxiety -​ Generalized anxiety disorder → worries are not focused on any specific threat → rarely occurs before adolescence → median age for diagnosis of 30 → In the population, the level of anxiety is constant throughout the life span (anxiety is not higher at any specific age) → content of worries changes→ for individuals, the severity of symptoms can vary (up and down) across the lifespan → not because of age but individual circumstances/ environment → full remission is rare Diagnostic criteria: 1.​ Excessive anxiety and worry, occurring more days than not for at least 6 months → about more than one/stressor 2.​ Individuals must find it difficult to control their worry 3.​ Restlessness, fatigue, concentration deficiency, irritability, muscle tension, sleep disturbance -​ Phobic disorders → more specific type of anxiety → characterized by marked, persistent, excessive fear of specific objects, activities, and situations → person recognizes the irrationality of their fear but cannot control it → -​ Social anxiety disorder → maladaptive feat of being publicly humiliated or embarrassed → subtype: “performance-only” specifier → = Lecture 15 - Clinical psychology -​ Mood disorders → long-lasting and nonspecific 1.​ Depressive disorders -​ affect a large proportion of the population -​ gender differences (More women than men diagnosed) → Hormonal and biological differences → Higher diagnoses →Different coping strategies → Differences in childhood adversity -​ Onset → may appear at any age, but is more likely in the 18-29-year-old age group -​ Major depressive disorder → unipolar depression → consists of one or more episodes of depression lasting two weeks or longer → Diagnostic criteria:  -​ Persistent depressive disorder → moderate depressive symptoms that last for more than two years → can co-occur with major depressive disorder (double depression) a.​ Five or more of the following symptoms most of every day for the same 2-week period → depressive mood → loss of interest → significant weight loss/gain → Insomnia or hypersomnia → Psychomotor agitation or retardation → Fatigue or loss of energy → Feelings of excessive worthlessness/guilt → Diminished concentration/decisiveness → recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal ideation b.​ Symptoms cause clinically significant distress/impairment c.​ Not attributable to physiological effects of another medical condition or substance use d.​ Not better explained by a schizophrenic disorder e.​ No evidence of manic or hyper manic episode - Prognosis: a.​ Some individuals rarely ever experience remission without treatment → others may experience many years of remission between episodes → Approx 80% recover within one year -​ Chronicity is associated with underlying personality dimensions and the presence of other disorders -​ Risk factors: a.​ Temperamental → (particularly neuroticism or negative affect) and other psychological affect b.​ Environmental factors → stressful life events/childhood experiences c.​ Genetic factors → 40% heritability → 2-3 times more likely -​ Comorbidity: a.​ Substance-related disorders, panic disorders, OCD, eating disorders, etc -​ The way the individual thinks about to event/stimuli not just experiencing it -​ Attribution theory → the way a person thinks about failure makes her more or less likely to be depressed → Attribution of failures to internal characteristics → Believe that failures are permanent (Stable) → Believe that failures are global (apply to many areas of life) 2.​ Bipolar related disorders -​ Serious mental Illnesses (SMI) → significant disturbances in thinking, emotional regulation, or behavior leading to significant distress or impairment in social education or occupational functioning (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and MDD) → Loss of contact with reality -​ Symptoms of schizophrenia 1. (at least 2 required with at least 1 being delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech 2. Social/Occupational Impairment 3. Continous signs of disturbance for at least 6 months (1 month active phase 4. Rule put substance use and oro medical condition → if autism/communication disorder present must have hallucinations or delusions  → Positive symptoms (an addition of problematic symptoms) → Delusions (Perseecutory/paranoia, grandiose, referential, and thought control) , hallucinations(auditory (can be command), visual, smells, feelings, taste) disorganized speech, and behavior → Negative symptoms (LOSS/REDUCTION of function) → flat affect (reduced emotional expression), Avolition (lack of motivation), decreased speech -​ Combirdity → depression, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, autism disorder, related health problems: cardiovascular disease Disorder Key Features Diagnostic Criteria Onset / (Simplified) Notes ASD (Autism Spectrum - Social communication - Trouble with Early Disorder) deficits reciprocity, nonverbal childhood - Repetitive communication, onset behaviors/interests relationships Symptoms - Rigid routines, fixated must impair interests, sensory functioning issues ADHD - Inattention - 6+ symptoms for ≥6 Onset before (Attention-Deficit/Hyper - Hyperactivity/Impulsivity months (5+ if over 17) age 12 activity Disorder) - Symptoms in 2+ settings (e.g., home & school) - Impair functioning Conduct Disorder - Violation of others’ - Aggression, property Onset before rights destruction, age 18 - Social rule breaking deceit/theft, serious Often rule violations precursor to ASPD ASPD (Antisocial - Disregard for others - 18+ years old Diagnosed in Personality Disorder) - Repeated law-breaking - Conduct disorder adulthood symptoms before 15 - Lying, impulsivity, lack of remorse, aggression BPD (Borderline - Emotional instability - Fear of abandonment Common in Personality Disorder) - Impulsive, unstable - Self-harm/suicidality early relationships - Identity disturbance adulthood - Mood swings Associated - Chronic emptiness with trauma NPD (Narcissistic - Grandiosity - Exploitation of others Must impair Personality Disorder) - Need for admiration - Entitlement functioning - Lack of empathy - Arrogance Can overlap - Envy with BPD or - Belief in uniqueness ASPD or superiority Lecture 16 - Treatment of psychological disorders -​ Types of clinicians 1.​ Psychiatrist → treats more severe patients → Medical doctor → can diagnose, prescribe, and practice psychotherapy 2.​ Psychologist → Can diagnose and practice psychotherapy but not prescribe → can treat common illnesses but most of the time more complex cases 3.​ Clinical counsellors → can practice psychotherapy → Don’t diagnose 4.​ Social workers → can practice psychotherapy -​ Treatment 1.​ Diagnosis: a.​ Psychological treatment → b.​ Biological treatment → psychopharmaceuticals drugs → drug treatments → changes physiological orientation -​ Why we should treat psychological illnesses? a.​ Personal and social costs b.​ Financial cost → these impairments are just as severe as those associated with physical illness -​ Access to treatment → 20% of Canadians suffer from moderate to serious mental health disorder at some point in their lives → only 40% seek treatment but ⅓ are unsatisfied with the treatment -​ Why people fail to get treatment → people dont relaize they have the disorder → Either belive that they can treat themselves, that mental health problems are not severe or that they will be stigmatized by others for seaking mental health treatment. → structural barriers to seeking care Lecture 17 - Treatment of psychological disorders -​ Techniques in Psychotheraphy → orientations  -​ Psychoanalytic therapy → Freud's method of psychoanalysis → centered on ineffectively repressing urges (often starting in childhood fixations) → problematic use of defense mechanism → conflict between parts of the dynamic subconscious → attempts to give insight → topics discussed in the psychoanalytic session: a.​ Childhood events b.​ Dream analysis c.​ Subconscious thoughts and urges d.​ Projective techniques -​ Interpersonal psychotherapy (PT) → updated version of freuds method and focuses on attachment (beginning in infancy) → grief (loss of a relationship) → Role disputes (changes in life status, jobs, etc) → Interpersonal def-icits (lack of skills to start/maintain relationships) -​ Humanistic/existential therapies → emphasize the importance of personal improvement → free will → the positive aspect of the human experience a.​ Person-centered therapy → assumes that individuals tend to grow; centers on acceptance and genuine reactions from a therapist -​ Congruence (words, body language, etc) -​ Empathy -​ Unconditional positive regard - Behavioural and cognitive therapies are the most common in Canada → most evidence of effectiveness → relies on behaviorism (observable, measurable variable)→ focuses on changing behavior (action) or cognition (thoughts) to combat mental illness - Behavioural therapy → centers around conditioning → Operant conditioning (rewards for positive behaviors, punishments for negative behavior) → token economy → rewarding positive behavior with voucher → Classical conditioning ( combining stimuli) → exposure therapy → harmless, repeated exposure to a stimulus believed to be threatening → reduction in threat response - Cognitive therapy → changes people's thoughts (unhealthy thought patterns) → focuses on restructuring irrational thought processes → therapeutic approach that teaches clients to question the automatic beliefs, assumptions, and predictions that lead to negative emotions. → replacing it with rational positive thoughts - cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) → Most common psychological treatment for depression and anxiety → problem-focused (specific) → Actionl-oriented (has a goal to change smth.) → Transparent (therapist explains each step, why you are doing these things) - ABC model → A - activating event (actual event, individuals immediate interpretations of event) → B - Beliefs (evaluations, rational and irrational) → C - Consequences (emotions, behaviors and other thoughts) → two paths → changing B changes the emotions in step C from unhealthy to healthy negative emotion - Lecture 18 - Treatment of psychological disorders -​ Biological treatment consists of → a.​ medications Other physiological interventions → when patientient have not been successful with other treatment b.​ Electronconvulsive therapy (Ect) → induces cnontrolled seizures→ neuroplasticity increases new neuro pathways → high effective and safe (In modern times) → not permanent (May need to be repeated) c.​ Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)--> produce slonger-lasting changes to brain chemistry d.​ Deepbrain stimulation (DBS) → embedded electrodes produce repetitive brain stimualtion e.​ Psychosurgery -​ Pharmacological treatment → drug classes (ssris) → specific pdychological disorders → -​ Antipsychotic medication →Chlorpromazine a Phenotiazine (allergy medication/ anti-histamine) → later used as a sedative for surgical patients → blocks dopamine receptors, causing euphoria (calms patients instead of agitating) → lead to use as an antipsychotic → came with physiological side effects -​ Anti-anxiety medications → benzodiazepines → increases GABA neurotransmitter activity and reduces anxiety → can cause drug tolerance → withdrawal symptoms → addiction profile → side effects: drowsiness, poor coordination, -​ Anti-depressant medication → monoamine oxidase inhibitors → prevents breakdown of serotonin and dopamine (more of it in the brain) reduces symptoms of depression → has intolerable side effects (dizziness, loss of sexual interest) → today: reuptake inhibitors → instead of preventing the breakdown of the inhibitors instead prevents it from being taken back up → increases concentration of neurotransmitter in the synaptic space -​ Reuptake inhibitors can work on many neurotransmitters or just one → serotonin only (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) → Serotonin and norepinerohrine (tricylic antidepressants) → Effective for treating depression → may have anti-anxiety effects as well → NOT for bipolar disorders → can cause mania symptoms to be worse → side effects: difficulty concentrating → sexual side effects → weight gain → emotional “numbness” → withdrawl symptoms -​ Natural and alternative solutions → foods or herbs and lifestyle changes → beneficial for depression and anxiety Lecture 19 - Stress and Health -​ Stress → physical and psychological response to internal or external stressors → evolved response to threat → activates adrenal glands → increase in cortisol → more glucose in the blood stream → increase heart and respiration rate )increase in oxygen in blood stream) → allow us to flee from threats (fight or flight) -​ Stressors → specific events or chronic pressures that place demands on a person or threaten their subjective well-being -​ Health psychology → examines the relationship between physical health and psychological health -​ General adaptation syndrome - Hans Selye → 1.​ Alarm phase → Initial, healthy reaction to stressor (fight or flight) 2.​ Resistance phase → body adapts to high stress; non-stress related processes are shut down → diverting resources 3.​ Exhaustion phase → Resources are depleted, and the body cannot cope → Death, illness, and injury can occur -​ High correlation between psychological stress and physical illness -​ Holmes-Rahe stress scale → Operate by summing points to various stressful life events → developed by psychiatrists → Asked patients to self-report stressful events → compared scores tp actual medical records → Found that there is a high correlation between stress score and physical illness → has been assessed for validity in multiple populations → one time stressful events (acute stressors) -​ Chronic stress → stress that occurs continuously or repeatedly → can cause physical illness more than acute stressors → repeated chronic stress can result in exhaustion -​ Perceived control of stress → an individual's control over a stressor → more stressed by events we cannot control -​ Glass & Singer → placed individuals into a room to complete difficult puzzles a.​ Group 1: with intermittent unpredictable loud noise that they could not control b.​ Group 2: They could turn off the loud noise (But did not) → majority did not click the button → if they did data was removed/not analysed → the noisy group suffered in performance → our perceived control of stressor affects our stress → group 2 did better -​ Primary appraisal → determining whether an event is dangerous/threatning -​ Secondary appraisal → determining whether you can handle the stressor → do we have control over it → so we have the coping mechanism to deal with it -​ Coping with stressors 1.​ Repressive coping → avoiding situations or thoughts that remind us of a stressor → artificially positive viewpoints → can be a healthy coping mechanism for some people but may make things worse for some 2.​ Rational coping → better than repressive ciping (opposite of it) → facing the stressor and working to overcome it a.​ Acceptance → coming to raise that the stressor cannot be wished away b.​ Exposure → attending to the stressor, seeking it out  c.​ Understanding → working to find the meaning of the stressor in your life 3.​ Reframing → changing the way one thinks about a stressor → stress inoculation training (developing repetitive, positive ways to think about a stressor 4.​ Meditation → involves the absence of thought or focusing on one unstressful thought → practice of intentional contemplation → silence → mindfulness mediation focuses on immediate experience rather than faraway thoughts (including stressors) → changes the way our brains are structured → increases myelination and connectivity 5.​ Relaxation → thoughts cause muscle tension → biofeedback (technology that alerts us when certain muscles are tense) or when certain brainwave patterns are active (Brain activity in emotional processing parts) 6.​ Exercise → aerobic exercise → reduces perceived stress and depressive symptoms → can increase serotonin and endorphins → may be related to meditation Lecture 20 - Stress and Health -​ Bioecological models → psychological and physical health are affected by myriad internal and external factors -​ Brofenbrenners model → classic example of interaction between nature vs nurture → Person-environment transactions → our personalities affect our environment height saffect our personalities 1.​ Microsystem → daily interactions 2.​ Mesosytem → interconnections between parts of the microsytsem 3.​ Exosystem → environments that affect the individual but with which they dont directly interact (policies, parents' jobs etc) 4.​ Macrosystem→ the border cultural context 5.​ Chronosystem → the influence of history → cohort effects variations in characteristics or outcomes observed among groups of people born within the same period or who share a similar life experience. → psychological phenomena that occurred in a specific part of time Nature and Nurture → diathesis model → individuals have propensity (Potential) for illness (nature) → this potential is increased or decreased experience (nurture)  Theory Key Idea Sequence of Events Example James-Lange Emotion = your Stimulus → You see a bear → Theory body's reaction Physiological heart races → “I feel arousal → Emotion afraid because my heart is pounding.” Cannon-Bard Emotion and arousal Stimulus → Arousal + You see a bear → Theory happen at the same Emotion feel fear and heart time (simultaneous) races at the same time Schachter-Singer Emotion = Arousal + Stimulus → Arousal → Heart races → (Two-Factor Theory) Cognitive label Label the situation "Why?" → “Oh! → Emotion There’s a bear!” → Feel fear SAME How we interpret Some arousal is easy Feeling of (Somatovisceral arousal depends on to interpret excitement vs. Afference Model of how specific the (automatic), some anxiety depends on Emotion) arousal is needs thought how specific the body response is Appraisal Theory Cognitive Stimulus → Appraisal You see a bear → (Lazarus) interpretation (is this threatening?) evaluate it as comes first → Arousal + Emotion dangerous → feel fear and physical reaction NOTE Sensimotor stage Piaget → object premance Begins around 4–7 months​ Fully developed by ~8–12 months