Psych 120 Study Notes PDF

PSYCH 120 STUDY NOTES Theorists: Behaviourism and Humanistic Psychology Frued gave us so much but so much is based on concepts and theories that are not empirical, many of which can’t be tested or falsified Most based there work on concrete, observable, and empirical data Methodological Beh...

PSYCH 120 STUDY NOTES Theorists: Behaviourism and Humanistic Psychology Frued gave us so much but so much is based on concepts and theories that are not empirical, many of which can’t be tested or falsified Most based there work on concrete, observable, and empirical data Methodological Behaviourism- based on only studying what can be directly observed, and what can be directly observed are our behaviours Behaviourism was coined by American Psychologist J.B. Watson in 1913 It was recognized that behaviourism started in 1897 when Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov did his study of classical conditioning Behaviourism based on two forms of learning (Ivan Pavlov) Classical Conditioning- based on the fact that two stimuli which occur at the same time together become associated Operant Conditioning- based on the fact that an organism tends to repeat what is reward for Edward Lee Thorndike led the way to operant conditioning although Skinner coined the term -he spoke of “law effect” Puzzle Box Experiment- Created a box that had a lever on the floor, if the animal pushed the lever, the door would open and the animal would get out. Measured how much time it took the animal to get out. (cats, dogs, chicks). He didn't demonstrate observational learning. Following he came up with 16 different laws- 1. Learning is incremental 2. Learning occurs automatically 3. All animals learn the same way 4. Law of effect- If an association is followed by satisfaction, it will be strengthened, and if it is followed by annoyance, it will be weakened 5. Law of use- the more often an association is used the stronger it becomes 6. Law of disuse- the longer an association is unused, the weaker it becomes 7. Law of recency- the most recent response is most likely to reoccur 8. Multiple responses. NA animal will try multiple responses (trial and error) if the first response does not lead to a specific state of affairs 9. Set or attitude. Animals are predisposed to act in a specific way 10. Prepotency of elements. A subject filter out irrelevant aspects of a problem and focus on and respond to significant elements of a problem And so on Nature vs. Nurture -Our genetics determine our behaviour. Our personality traits and abilities are in our nature  -Our environment upbringing and life experiences determine our behaviour. We are nurtured to behave in certain ways Thorndike believed in addition to learning, people had inherent tendencies which behaviourists denounced. J.B Watson- coined the term behaviourism in 1913 Psychology as the behaviourist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behaviour. Introspection forms no essential part of its method, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness “Little albert experiment” - John watson and graduate assistant Rosalie Rayner conditioned a small child to fear a white rat. Accomplished this by repeatedly pairing the white rat with a loud, frightening clanging noise Inherent tendencies- how much of who i am already is based on genetic and other biological tendencies (a natural or innate predisposition or inclination towards a particular behavior, characteristic) the environment as having, not just a profound influence but completely determining who we are Fixed Variable Ratio completion of a completion of a changing Constant # of # of responses Responses Interval reinforces the first reinforces the first response after Response after a constant a changing amount of time Amount of time Operant Conditioning studies how an organism (human, pigeon, rat, etc.) operates on the environment Skinner- we admire those whose environment controls are less conspicuous Soft determinists (most psychologists today)- they think some things are under our control but not everything 4 big ideas- Carl rogers- person centred therapy and being who we really are. Developed person-centred therapy which relies on clients capacity for self-direction, empathy, and acceptance to promote clients development Abraham Maslow- hierarchy of needs- developed a hierarchy of motivation or hierarchy of needs culminating in self-actualization he doesn’t like the term self-actualizing. (no joy) He thought only a few of us live our best lives that only a few concur it all Rollo May- existential Therapy: meaning and the freedom to choose. Brought european existential psychotherapy and phenomenology into the field by acknowledging in human choice and the tragic aspects of human existence Fritz Perls- Gestalt therapy: Self awareness and self direction. Developed gestalt therapy in his workshops and training programs at the Esalen Institute and elsewhere 3 aspects of Rogers Work 1. Method of counselling 2. Theory of personality 3. Ideas about the good life Congruence- the therapist is authentic, not putting on a facade Unconditional positive regard- deep and genuine caring for the client (that is without strings attached). “I will accept you as you are” Empathy- put myself in the other person's shoes. To sensitively and accurately understand the clients experience Phenomenal field- the space of perceptions is constructed by our outer world experiences as filtered through our personal needs, goals, and beliefs Phenomenology and Distress- the difference between how I see myself, who I’d like to be and who I really am Authenticity- for rogers who we want to be isn’t just internalising the messages of society it is also listening to ourselves ( I want to be rich, I want to be good looking) Self-actualization- humans have one basic motive, that is the tendency to self-actualize ie.. to fulfil one's potential and achieve the highest level of human beingness we can Existential therapy- focuses on our freedom to choose the life we want, our anxiety about death and things we can’t control. Emphasises the choices to be made in the present and future and enables a new freedom and responsibility to act. Gestalt Therapy- is a form of psychotherapy that is centred on increasing a persons awareness, freedom, and self direction. It’s a form of therapy that focuses on the present moment rather than past experiences In the late 1870s two people, Wundt in Germany and James in America, initiated the modern field of psychology. Which person is often considered the father of modern psychology when he created a psychology laboratory in 1879 that did original psychological research?- WUNDT Jason consciously sees himself as a warrior dog what it takes to be successful in life. He believes he is a wolf amongst sheep. And yet, tonight he just can't get the image of his encouraging Jenny to have another drink with the hopes that being more inebriated she might agree to fool around with him. According to Frued, what part of his personality is bothered by his behaviour?- his superego Allison doesnt get why she does things sometimes. She knows she should be working on her psychology assignment, but everytime her phone chimes she stops to see if her pictures of her in Mexico have gotten more likes. Her behaviour is being caused by what psychological phenomenon?- operant conditioning In almost every way, psychodynamic psychology and behaviourism are exact opposites. But in one thing they agree- what motivates us is often outside of awareness Which school of psychology would consider our mental life an active adaptation to environment?- functionalism Cognitive and Evolutionary Psychology Cognitive Psychology- study of mental processes such as attention, memory, perception, language use, problem solving, creativity, and thinking Ulric Neisser is credited with formally coining the term cognitive psychology and defining it as all processes by which the sensory input is transformed reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used In order to be happy, I have to be successful- assumptions in depression Perceived self- efficacy- a belief that on has the abilities, skills, energy, and resources needed to successfully complete a task Cognitively, PSE increases the use of certain cognitive skills, and by facilitating the formation of goals based on the positive interpretation of ones previous behaviour Carl rogers believed that if a therapist were congruent, empathetic and showed unconditional positive regard this was - necessary and sufficient for the clients to find their own solutions to their distress Carl Rogers believed that the phenomenal field was important because we filter our understanding of the world through - ourselves For Rogers a fundamental question was- how do I become myself Abraham Maslow later stated he had trouble with the term Self-actualization because- actualization is not a goal we reach, we are self actualizing Rollo May emphasised the importance of meaning and choice Unlike traditional talk therapists, Mary Whitehouse incorporated- movement Research Methods Galileo Empiricist- “measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so” The scientific approach is an attitude towards knowledge and a method for testing and adding to knowledge Scientific attitude is the balance of having an open mind and being sceptical Peer review- the research in articles that are published in scientific journals has been evaluated, critiqued, and improved by scientists in the field through the process of peer review Empirical- based on systematic collection and analysis of data Objective- free from the personal bias or emotions of the scientist Ethical- Basic research- is research that answers fundamental questions about behaviour Applied Research- research that investigates issues that have implications for everyday life and provides solutions to everyday problems  Laws are general as to apply to all situations in a given domain of inquiry ( does not have a ton of laws some in sensation and some in learning (Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, Thorndike's law of effect)) Theory is a level of prediction not as broad as a law that can be tested. Integrated set of principles that explains and predicts many, but not all observed relationships within a given domain of inquiry. (attachment theory, maslow's hierarchy of needs) -Theories need to be at least three thing, General enough to fit several situations, parsimonious, falsifiable Research Hypothesis- a specific and falsifiable prediction about the relationship between or among two or more variables, where a variable is any attribute that can assume different values among different people or across different times or places Descriptive Research-provides a snapshot of the current state of affairs -case studies, historical studies, ethnographic studies, some surveys, and naturalistic observations in general -answers the five W- who, what, why, when,where,so what Correlational Research- research designed to discover relationships among variables and to allow the prediction of future events from present knowledge -the measurement of two or more relevant variable and an assessment of the relationship between or among those variables. For instance the variables of heights and weight ore related Experimental Research- where we can get a sense of one variable causing changes in another - provide more definitive conclusions about the casual relationships among the variables on the research hypothesis than is available from correlational designs Independent Variables- an experiment is the causing variable that is created (manipulated) by the experimenter Dependent Variable- an experiment is measured variable that is expected to be influenced by the experimental manipulation Advantages of the experimental research design- the creation of intial equivalence between the conditions of the experiment (in this case by using random assignment to conditions) Strengths and weaknesses of experiments -external validity -many very important variables cannot be experimentally manipulated 4 Threats to Validity -external threats -internal threats -construct threats -statistical threats Threats to Internal Validity- we do so much in experiments to ensure groups only differ on the independent variable, how can something else actually be causing changes in the dependent variable Construct Validity- our measures don’t really measure the construct we think they do Statistical conclusion validity- the extent to which we can be certain that the researchers has drawn accurate conclusions about the statistical significance of the research Genetics and Evolution Behavioural genetics- the field concerned with how genes and the environment interact to influence individual behaviour and traits including brain functions Epigenetics-regulation of gene expression. Sometimes things in our environment can cause a gene to turn on or off -is the study of heritable changes in gene expression that does not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence Behavioural genomics- very often it isn't a single gene that causes a trait or disorder -(juh-no-muhks) is the study of multiple genes and numerous environmental factors that influence human behaviour Evolutionary Psychology- how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours have been shaped by evolutionary forces Quantitative genetics- the scientific discipline in which similarities among individuals are analysed based on how biologically related they are and we can assign a quantitative value to those similarities Heritability Coefficient- everything is partially inherited Three problems with the heritability quotient 1. If the environmental requirements are all met, we overestimate the effect of genes 2. Heritability coefficients are measures of variability of dependent factors and they do terrible with traits with little variability 3. The heritability coefficient does not take into account interactions Centre of cell nucleus has chromosomes thread like structures made of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) grouped into segments called genes 23 pairs of chromosomes- one comes from father and one comes from mother Genes- basic biological unit that transmits characteristics from one generation to the next Human cells have about 25000 genes Steps of DNA are different combinations of nucleotides (GACT) Personality are those traits that are stable in the individual but vary in the population 5 Factor Model - Openness - Conscientiousness - extraversion/introversion - Agreeableness - Neuroticism Charles Darwin- Natural Selection- what promotes my survival Sexual Selection- what makes me attractive to a mate so my genes are passed on Sexual Strategies theory is a comprehensive evolutionary theory of human mating that defines the menu of mating strategies humans pursue, the adaptive problems women and men face when pursuing these strategies, and the evolved solutions to these mating problems  Differences in parental investment have an enormous impact on sexual strategies Intrasexual Selection- many species the males will compete with each other to see who will mate with the females Epigenetics- the study of differences in gene expression without changes to the DNA Gene is turned off means it is no longer providing information Nucleotides of DNA - Adenine and Guanine- purines - Thymine and cytosine- pyrimidines GACT- binding that helps wind the string of DNA this is called histone Methyl group is often added to cytosine so even though the sequence is the same it isnt quite true that the DNA is not altered (methylation) Antidepressants- histone markers of increased gene expression and reversed the gene repression induced by defeat stress Brains Bodies and Behaviours