PSYCH 100: Crosby Psychological Science PDF

PSYCH 100: Crosby Psychological Science PSYCHOLOGY – the scientific study of behavior and mental processes behavior - outward actions and reactions we can touch, see, and feel - reactions and things people are doing that we can observe men...

PSYCH 100: Crosby Psychological Science PSYCHOLOGY – the scientific study of behavior and mental processes behavior - outward actions and reactions we can touch, see, and feel - reactions and things people are doing that we can observe mental processes - the way we think about something; internal factors - memories, thoughts, feelings, emotions, thinking - example o seeing how children react to the sound of their mother yelling at them scientific study GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY 1. DESCRIPTION – observing a behavior and noting everything about it (what is happening, where it happens, to whom it happens, under what circumstances does it happen) - Make note of anything we can about a subject in order to gather as much information as we can - The who, what, when, and where of something o Describe what’s happening, who it’s happening to, where it is happening - Doesn’t have to necessarily be problematic, can just be curious - Example o A child is behaving aggressively during class o We could go and observe the child o Spend time watching the dynamics between all of the children o Observe teachers/peers o Ask teachers to record what time of day aggression occurs 2. EXPLANATION - The why - Example o Child experiences a burst of aggressiveness right before and after lunch o Seems to be concentrated the rest of the day o Does not seem to be related to a certain fear or anything like that o Theory that it is because the child is tired/hungry o There is an inability to regulate emotions as well as normal, and so they become aggressive  PSYCH 100: Crosby THEORY – general explanation of a set of observations or facts 3. PREDICTION - Make educated guesses on when something will happen again - Example o See if the child behaves aggressively near bedtime, if they have difficulty playing with siblings 4. CONTROL - Can we change behavior from being undesirable to desirable, maladaptive to adaptive - Example o Helping the child to get more sleep o Try to divert awareness to different activities so they’re not aggressive towards others - Depending on the study, we may be more focused on one goal in comparison to others PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFESSIONALS AND AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION Areas of specialization: - Clinical - Cognitive - Counseling - Experimental and research areas - School - Industrial/organization - Social and personality - Developmental - Educational - General - other Places of work: - university and four-year colleges - schools and other educational settings - self employed - private for profit - private not for profit - state and local government - federal government THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY  PSYCH 100: Crosby Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) – connection between soul and body (soul – now what we call the mind) - connection between the mind and the body - connects how you feel with the things you do - example o stress can decrease the function of your immune system and you’re more susceptible to the common cold Plato (427-347 B.C.) – DUALISM: body and soul separate but interrelated - body and soul influence each other Descartes (1596-1650) – mind and body have reciprocal interaction via pineal gland - believe d the pineal gland (small organ at the base of the brain) was like the seat of the soul Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) – “Father of Psychology” First psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany (1879) - Mind consists of basic elements analyzed via objective introspection - Basic elements include experience, thought, emotion (processes of the mind) Contributions: 1. Studied nonphysical structure (i.e., thought, experience, emotions, etc.) of the human mind 2. OBJECTIVE INTROSPECTION o Used objective introspection to study processes that were the result of physical sensations 3. Brought objectivity and measurement to psychology o Trained others to be able to spread his approach of scientific study using objectivity and the need for the scientific method in the study of psychological phenomena o Career spanned 65-66 years and it is estimated that he published over 54,000 pages of information related to psychology/scientific study of psychology o He wrote over 800 pages a year that he was then sharing with others STRUCTURALISM – analyzes the mind by breaking down into its smallest components (individual parts) - Computer broken apart into all its little bits and pieces  PSYCH 100: Crosby Edward Titchener (1867 -1927) - Brought Wundt’s idea to the U.S. - Focused on the structure, or basic elements, of the mind - Introspect about physical objects and thoughts - Closely aligned to Wundt - Only difference is Wundt was focused on being introspective, while Titchener would ask people to focus generally on thoughts they might have - Talk to me about something yellow (Wundt) vs. tell me about a banana (Titchener) FUNCTIONALISM – focus of study is how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work, and play William James (1842-1910) - “Stream of thoughts” (James) vs. elements of the mind (structuralism) - Focus on adaptation, living, working, playing – functioning in the real world - Influenced by Darwin’s natural selection (behavioral traits) - Father of American psychology - Compared to structuralism, functionalism was focused on consciousness and thought processes that allow us to function in our everyday lives - How do those mental processes allow us to function in the real world - Example o Intense eye contact in some countries is seen as threatening, so survival is lower there with that behavior o Natural selection would decrease the amount of people with that behavior GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY – early perspective; focus on perception and sensation, particularly patterns and whole figures - Gestalt: “an organized whole” - “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” - Gestalt psychologists: people naturally seek out patterns (“wholes”) in available sensory information - Giving meaning to something a little bit ambiguous - Need to impose meaning - Studying the computer while completely put together and functional Max Wertheimer - One of the Gestalt psychologists from this time - Be able to describe differences between the different people, explain each mindset, and explain what they would disagree and argue about 7 MODERN PERSPECTIVES (even in the 21st century, there isn’t one single perspective that is used to explain all human and mental processes)  PSYCH 100: Crosby 1. PSYCHODYNAMIC FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYSIS – theory and therapy based on Freud’s work Sigmund Freud - Neurologist in Austria - Patients with “nervous disorders” o No physical cause - Focused on unconscious and early childhood - Psychoanalysis o The theory and therapy based on Freud’s work - Freud was unscientific o developed theories and ideas based on one sample o explaining why he got some things wrong - believed unconscious was key to who we are, what we do, and who we become (personality) - aggressiveness, sexual drives found in our unconscious - brought attention to your childhood having an impact on aspects of your life later Modern psychodynamic perspective: - Continued focus on the unconscious and early development - Development of sense of self and interpersonal relationships - Much more emphasis on how you view yourself 2. BEHAVIORAL - behaviors we engage in can’t be traced back to a system reward/punishment Focus on observable behavior Ivan Pavlov Conditioning (‘Pavlov’s dogs’) - Originally interested in digestive responses of dogs - Notices that as feeding time approaches, the dogs begin to salivate when they’re about to get food (involuntary response) - He created an association between the bell and the food - Classical conditioning is associated with pavlov, watson John B. Watson All behavior is learned (compare to Freud) o Freud belief ▪ hiking and you turn the bend and you’re staring at a bear  PSYCH 100: Crosby o the fear you feel is involuntary and just happens “Little Albert” - Critical that we focus on science - Thinks Freud is taking down the wrong path - Thinks the unconscious part is unable to be observed (can’t feel, touch, or study it) - Extended what patson studies by focusing on people’s fears and phobias - Believed fears are learned via experience - Tried to condition someone to be afraid of something - Example o Conditioned a kid known as “Little Albert” o Kid loved little animals o One day tested if he could condition albert to be afraid of the animals by making a really loud sound by clanging metal bars o Eventually albert got afraid of the animals - Fear is learned when a neutral stimulus is paired with an aversive stimulus like a loud noise - could reverse the process as well B. F. Skinner Operant conditioning - focus on operant conditioning to explain how voluntary behavior is learned - punishment and reinforcement - have to do with voluntary behaviors - going to class; hoping you’ll do better in class/exams o hoping for reinforcement - if you’re reinforced for something, you’re more likely to do it again - in you’re punished for something, you’re less likely to do it again 3. HUMANISTIC - developed as a reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism - people have the freedom to choose their own destiny - Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers - as humans, we have this ability to experience subjective emotion o to think about our choices, to plan ahead for things we want to do or will do - separates us from Pavlov’s dogs o skinner’s pigeon - optimistic perspective on humans and developments of our personality - not simply driven by reinforcement/punishment, unconscious 4. COGNITIVE - process of though - includes o memory  PSYCH 100: Crosby o intelligence o perception o problem solving o learning - cognitive neuroscience (fMRI) o scanner that allows us to look into a person’s brain as their doing something 5. SOCIOCULTURAL - bridging social psychology and culture psychology - relationship between social behavior and culture - both are interested in how people interact and influence one another - how do I behave when I’m alone vs. with a group of people - positive and negative aspects of being with people - effect that people have on one another 6. BIOPSYCHOLOGICAL - adding to perspective by adding biological processes (hormones, genetics) and the role that these factors play in the development of things like psychological disorders - attributes human and animal behavior and mental events to biological factors - hormones, heredity, brain chemicals, etc. - AKA: physiological psychology, behavioral neuroscience 7. EVOLUTIONARY - explain useful mental/psychological traits (e.g., memory, perception, language) as the functional adaptations that aid in survival of self/offspring Remember our definition: PSYCHOLOGY – the scientific study of behavior and mental processes SCIENTIFIC METHOD – a system for reducing bias and error in the measurement of data. STEPS IN THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1. PERCEIVING THE QUESTION – notice something interesting happing in your environment that you would like to have an explanation for. Related to which of the four goals of psychology? – description - gather information so that we can understand more about it - foundation of scientific method - example o observing children o something interesting happens when they get tired o energy starts to drain, adults move more slowly o in young children, they become hyper around bedtime o need ten or more hours of sleep,  PSYCH 100: Crosby ▪ wonder if they slept more they would become less hyper near bedtime 2. FORM A HYPOTHESIS – tentative explanation of a phenomenon based on observations Related to which of the four goals of psychology? – description and explanation - example o hypothesis that children who get 10 or more hours of sleep are going to be less hyper than those with 10 hours or less of sleep 3. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS Related to which of the four goals of psychology? – explanation - example o assign children to groups to compare o get observations ; teacher and parent reports that measure hyperactivity o could also take the same group of kids, some time they get 10 hours of sleep, another time they get less o observe the children naturally and categorize them this way 4. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS – was the hypothesis supported, or not? Related to which of the four goals of psychology? – prediction - example o find out that children that get 10 or more hours of sleep are significantly less hyper than those with 8 hours or less 5. REPORT YOUR RESULTS Should we let others know if your experiment failed? Why or why not? - submit to a public journal so others can learn what you learned - should replicate the experiment to show that the results aren’t limited to that sample - could revise hypothesis - if the data isn’t significant, there is a tendency to skew data that is shared so others don’t know DESCRIPTIVE METHODS NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION What is it? - involves watching animals or people in their natural environments - no control group  PSYCH 100: Crosby Advantage(s)? - Limitation(s)? - lack of control Key Terms: OBSERVER EFFECT: people or animals tend to behave differently when they know they’re being observed vs. when they don’t OBSERVER BIAS: tendency for observers to see what they expect to see LABORATORY OBSERVATION What is it? - involves watching animals or people in an artificial but controlled situation o example is a laboratory - used to replicate specific results Advantage(s)? - Limitation(s)? - CASE STUDY What is it? - detailed investigation of one subject - information cannot be applied to other cases Advantage(s)? - ability to understand unique and rare scenarios Limitation(s)? - information gained cannot be applied to other cases SURVEY What is it?  PSYCH 100: Crosby - ask standardized questions to a large group of people that represent a sample of the population of interest Advantage(s)? - large amounts of information collected quickly Limitation(s)? - respondents may not always be truthful or remember information correctly - potential bias Key Terms: REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE: randomly selected sample of subjects from a larger population of subjects POPULATION: FINDING RELATIONSHIPS CORRELATIONS CORRELATION: a measure of the relationship between two variables - variable is anything that can change over time CORRELATION COEFFICIENT: a number that indicates the strength and the direction of a correlation. (r = -1 to +1) - you can’t make casual conclusions What is meant by the direction of the relationship? - as one goes up the other increases - as one decreases the other one decreases What does it mean when the correlation coefficient is positive? - variables are related in the same direction - direct correlation - ranges from 0 to 1 - examples  PSYCH 100: Crosby o the more you eat the more you weigh o the less you study the poorer your grades What does it mean with the correlation coefficient is negative? - variables are related in opposite directions - inverse correlation - ranges from -1 to 0 - examples o the more time you spend online, the less money you have o the more you brush your teeth, the fewer cavities you have What is meant by the strength of the relationship? - determined by how far from 0 the “r” value is - when looking at correlation questions based on strength - look to find whether it is positive or negative to determine the stronger relationship THE EXPERIMENT: the only method that allows researchers to determine the causes of a behavior. - example o testing if antidepressant medication works or not VARIABLE: anything that can change or vary OPERATIONAL DEFINITION: definition of a variable that allows it to be directly measured (e.g., “aggressive behavior”) INDEPENDENT VARIABLE (IV): variable that is manipulated in an experiment - what’s different between the groups - example are they getting a placebo or the actual medication DEPENDENT VARIABLE (DV): variable that is the output - how you know if the manipulation worked or not - example o symptoms of depression o see if there is a lower amount of symptoms with medication Groups EXPERIMENTAL GROUP: group that is exposed to the change that the independent variable represents CONTROL GROUP: group that is not exposed to the independent variable  PSYCH 100: Crosby RANDOM ASSIGNMENT: assigning participants to the experimental or control groups randomly, so that each participant has an equal chance of being in either group; reduces the chance that an experiment’s results will be due to some pre-existing connection between groups Example: PROBLEMS (AND REMEDIES) IN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS PLACEBO EFFECT: expectations and biases of participants that can affect their behavior - if you tell somebody that something might happen, the way they think/feel/behave may change - reason a control group exists - example o if you read that people will be treated for symptoms of depression, you will expect that your symptoms will decrease EXPERIMENTER EFFECT: - research term has invested a lot of time/energy/resources into the study - tendency for the experimenter’s expectation for a study to unintentionally influence the results - biased in the way they can interpret certain things (e.g., dependent variable) SINGLE-BLIND STUDY: participants do not know if they are in the treatment or control group DOUBLE-BLIND STUDY: neither participants nor examiners know if participants are in the control or experiment group - whoever is evaluating the dependent variable shouldn’t know - example o nurse/research team that knows the groups o examiners don’t know ETHICS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH GUIDELINES 1. PROTECTION OF RIGHTS AND WELL-BEING OF PARTICIPANTS - different guidelines for animals vs. people  PSYCH 100: Crosby - different guidelines for special groups like children - participants are the priority - will not put the value of the research ahead of the participant's well beings - irb approval of proposal 2. INFORMED CONSENT - informed consent is a document that outlines what's the study researching, what's expected of you, what the risks/benefits are - who are the people you should contact if there's any problem 3. DECEPTION MUST BE JUSTIFIED - can't fully tell participants what the study is about because it'll spoil the results of the - experiment - example o through a study of journaling, telling one group to journal about college adjustment and one about anything; didn't tell the second group that the study was about college adjustment 4. PARTICIPANTS MAY WITHDRAW AT ANY TIME (WITHOUT PENALTY) - without penalty - once you're there participating, you can make a choice to withdraw from the study 5. PARTICIPANTS MUST BE PROTECTED FROM HARM 6. CONFIDENTIALITY - information is protected - given an ID number, name is no longer connected (kept separate from data) 7. INVESTIGATORS MUST DEBRIEF PARTICIPANTS - when the study is over (done participating, study is done), someone follows up and tells you - the full scope of experiment 8. RESEARCHER MUST CORRECT ANY UNDESIRABLE CONSEQUENCES THAT RESULT FROM THE STUDY - example o study looking at how children process visual information, connected eeg to child's scalp, images that flashed on a screen that you watched o physician on call if seizures were to occur - science is critical in psychology; important to have scientific basis - very few "truths" -- looking at a collection of studies, things replicated things over and over, truths are still limited - quality of evidence -- 600 people to generalize the entire U.S. would not be effective  PSYCH 100: Crosby - authorities -- be cautious who are placing themselves as authority - open minds -- keep an open mind to changing and reevaluating new perspectives, open to other perspectives  PSYCH 100: Crosby Development (Modules 6, 10-12) HOW IS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DEFINED? - study of changes in people from conception until death - things that have changed in your life physically, mentally, socially - changes in adulthood are more gradual - approaches can be on one section of life (infancy, adolescence, adulthood) or more topical (intelligence through lifespan) RESEARCH DESIGNS LONGITUDINAL DESIGN: DESCRIPTION: - one group of subjects studied repeatedly over a period of months of years PROS: - can study effects of early events on later behavior - can identify common patterns of development and individual differences - can view group change but also individual change CONS: - attrition o have people drop out of your study, loss of participants over time - practice effects - example o studying intelligence starting with 6-7 year olds o give them intelligence tests over years o practice effect states that there may be something to the fact that you’re taking an IQ test that allows you to do better on future IQ tests - cohort effects o things that may be unique to this group that don’t apply to other groups o example ▪ study on effects of 9/11 with participates from new york may be more effected than those for elsewhere) CROSS-SECTIONAL DESIGN: DESCRIPTION: - subjects from different age groups are studied at the same point in time - all data is taken at the same window of time - development can be studied all at once o group of 3-5 year olds, group of 6-8 year olds, etc. PROS:  PSYCH 100: Crosby - efficient o gather data once per group, then you are finished - no attrition - no practice effects CONS: - can only study group effects, no individual differences o lose ability to evaluate individuals’ development as you’re only studying them at one point in time - cohort effects CROSS-SEQUENTIAL DESIGN: DESCRIPTION: - subjects from different age groups are studied repeatedly over a period of months of years (sequential is the whole thing, while sectional is just a part) - add a longitudinal component to cross-sectional PROS: - combines benefits and reduces problems of other designs - measures individual change - with longitudinal study, could be waiting a long time - this design gives you initial data, since you’re starting with cross-sectional approach CONS: - time and effort - complexity o managing participants, keeping track of who is where o more advanced statistical techniques in order to evaluate the outcomes - difficult to analyze - attrition BE ABLE TO SUMMARIZE THE NATURE VS. NURTURE DEBATE. - asking the question of are psychological traits/characteristics primarily the result of biological factors that we’re born with, or a result of the environment - never just one or the other - most developmental psychologists agree that development is a product of an interaction between nature and nurture - influenced by genetics and environment (early experiences you had, care you were given as an infant) - generally in the middle, and depending on what we’re talking about, it may be more nature or more nurture PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT  PSYCH 100: Crosby OVUM: egg FERTILIZATION: uniting of egg and sperm ZYGOTE: cell resulting from egg-sperm union - zygote divides into many cells, eventually forming baby DISTINGUISH BETWEEN MONOZYGOTIC AND DIZYGOTIC TWINS, INCLUDING DIFFERENCES IN THE PROCESS OF CONCEPTION: - monozygotic twins o identical twins o single egg that is fertilized, before the cells starts dividing and dividing, it splits into two o rarer ▪ 1 out of 250 births results in identical twins o share 100% of their DNA ▪ copy and paste genetically - dizygotic twins o fraternal twins o during the mother’s ovulation, two eggs are released and both eggs are fertilized o 1 out of 125 births results in fraternal twins o share 50% of their DNA with one another ▪ exactly the same as with regular siblings o shared a womb together, in a uterus together o environment is much more similar ▪ don’t have the same friends, teachers, etc. but have alike environments ▪ nurture side of things was different due to being years apart with your sibling PREGNANCY WHAT HAPPENS DURING EACH PERIOD OF PREGNANCY? GERMINAL: - first two weeks after fertilization, during which the zygote moves down to the uterus and begins to implant the lining (finds to attach itself) - development of umbilical cord and the placenta (energy source) o working to sustain the life of this developing child, getting nutrients and blood supply  PSYCH 100: Crosby EMBRYONIC: - once zygote has attached to the uterus, it becomes an embryo - period from 2 to 8 weeks after fertilization - during which the major organs and structures of the organism develop FETAL: - the time from about 8 weeks after conception to until the birth of the baby (about 40 weeks) - further growth, development, specialization of cells - organs become functional - at around 10 weeks, you can begin to identify a heartbeat - determine the sex of the child between 16 and 20 weeks - full term baby is born between 38-40 weeks - 37 weeks or earlier is considered premature o looking at the age of viability o age of viability is how early can a child be born and have a survival chance above 50% ▪ currently 24-25 weeks o 1 in 5 pregnancies end in miscarriage ▪ 15%-20% chance ▪ often at the beginning of pregnancy ▪ people wait until after the first trimester that they’re pregnant TERATOGEN: any factor that can cause a birth defect - can be viruses, substances, things you might be exposed to from your environment - contribute to birth defects - mother and baby begin sharing things during the germinal stage (first two weeks of fertilization), which says a lot about teratogens and how they affect babies IDENTIFY COMMON TERATOGENS AND THE EFFECT THEY CAN HAVE ON DEVELOPMENT: - alcohol o fetal alcohol syndrome (intellectual disability, delayed growth, facial malformation), learning difficulties, smaller than normal head - nicotine o miscarriage, low birth weight, stillbirth, short stature, intellectual disability, learning disabilities - caffeine o miscarriage, low birth weight INFANCY AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT REFLEX: innate, involuntary behavior patterns.  PSYCH 100: Crosby DESCRIBE SOME REFLEXES PRESENT EARLY IN LIFE: - stepping - grasping - Moro (startle) - sucking - rooting - survival value - preparation for feeding, nutrition - grasping allows for the baby to grasp on caregivers clothing, and allow for less risk of falling/being dropped - building towards things we eventually control on our own HOW WELL ARE EACH OF THE SENSORY SYSTEMS DEVELOPED AT BIRTH? - touch, taste, smell o well developed o touch is most well developed at birth (utilized in the womb), then taste, then smell (depicted through experiment with mother’s breastmilk and stranger’s breastmilk) - hearing o functional but not fully developed o waxy coating in babies’ ears to prevent liquids from going into their ears in the uterus o babies can hear, just not fully - vision o least developed o rods are functional, cones take about 6 months to fully develop o born near-sighted, focal range is 6 inches to a foot o rods are related to black/white/gray color o cones are related to white lights/colors IDENTIFY THE MAJOR MOTOR MILESTONES THAT CHILDREN REACH DURING THE FIRST 18 MONTHS OF LIFE: - 2 to 4 months o raising head and chest - 6 to 7 months o sitting up without support - 7 to 8 months o crawling - 8 to 18 months o walking COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: includes the development of thinking, problem solving and memory  PSYCH 100: Crosby PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT SCHEMA: a mental concept formed through experience with objects and events - children are not “little adults”, but instead think quite differently about the world - schemes o schema for a chair, something comes to mind as to what that object is o schema for friendship, faith, democracy o framework for understanding something - based his theories/ideas on observation and not so much around systematic research and analysis - underestimated cognitive milestones for children ASSIMILATION: The incorporations of new information into existing schema - incorporation of new information into an existing schema - have new information and it fits into the existing schema, makes it even more complex or specific ACOMMODATION: the alteration or adjustment of old schemas to include new information. Examples of assimilation and accommodation? - example of assimilation o young child has a schema for a dog that it is furry, has four legs, and has a tail o one day, he sees a dog at the park that barks at him o asks his mother what barking is, learns, adds to schema - example of accommodation o current schema of a dog o he’s at a friend’s house and an animal walks around that has four legs, furry, and a tail and hears it meow o animal didn’t bark, it meowed, so it’s a cat o didn’t fit his old schema, had to accommodate FOUR STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (PIAGET): SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (birth-2 y/o): The first stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development in which children use their senses and motor abilities to learn about the world around them. OBJECT PERMANENCE: the knowledge that something exists even when it’s out of sight - looking under highchair after knocking toys off  PSYCH 100: Crosby PREOPERATIONAL STAGE (2 y/o-7 y/o): The second stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development in which children are capable of moving around their environment exclusively having to rely on their senses and motor abilities. - more mobile - biggest advance is language coming online o able to really communicate, not just know how to say words and sentences - pretend play is emerging three limitations: LOGIC: lack of logical thought, pretend play is emerging, believes in things like tooth fairy and santa claus (kid never got any presents from santa, never questioned why) EGOCENTRISM: inability to see the world through anyone’s yes but their own (not selfishness) - sitting on opposite ends of a table; child put his hand behind his glass and can’t see it, asks person sitting across from them where their hand is as they think they can’t see it CONSERVATION: ability to understand that changing the appearance of an object does not change its nature - example o pouring liquid from a shorter glass to a taller, skinner glass; children in this stage will think that the skinnier glass will have more liquid because it looks” more full” - conservation issues o centration ▪ to focus on one aspect of an object rather than taking all features into consideration size of the glass and the height of the liquid in the glass o irreversibility ▪ inability to mentally reverse actions CONCRETE OPERATIONAL STAGE (7 y/o-12 y/o): The third stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, which is characterized by the capability of conservation and reversible thinking. - conservation o decentration and reversibility  PSYCH 100: Crosby - classification - concrete logic o lacking the ability to understand the nuance of things, that things aren’t always black and white ▪ rule that you shouldn’t speed when you’re driving your cars most people agree if there’s an emergency that you can speed a little o if it’s a rule, there’s no exceptions to it - people can have multiple characteristics that determine who people are and what things are made of - realize that santa isn’t real FORMAL OPERATIONAL STAGE (12y/o – adulthood): The fourth, and final, stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, in which children become capable of abstract reasoning and hypothetical thinking. - abstractions and analogies o abstract thoughts ▪ defining friendship ▪ thinking further about things (negative aspects to working as a garbage truck man) - hypothesis testing o “what if…” - Piaget stressed importance of child’s interaction with objects as a primary factor in cognitive development VYGOTSKY’S THEORY: Vygotsky stressed the importance of social interactions with other people, who are typically more highly skilled peers or adults. SCAFFOLDING: A process in which a more skilled learner gives help to a less skilled child. Over time the help decreases as the less skilled child becomes more capable. - teachers are critical part of scaffolding - approaching math, here’s a strategy - teach a child how to solve a jigsaw puzzle, might say it’s good to look for corner pieces then border pieces, use box to help make picture, separate by color ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT (ZPD)  PSYCH 100: Crosby STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: COOING( 2 months): baby making vocalizations that are just vowel sounds (oohs and aahs) BABBLING (6 months): vowel sounds combined with consonants; may sound like approximations of real words, but in reality, is just advancing language development and not actually learning to call parents mama or dada ONE-WORD SPEECH or HOLOPHRASES (~1 y/o): actual words, many times is a noun like milk and is used to convey a larger thought, but at this stage, children are not able to string words together necessarily milk may mean I would like some milk please TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH (~1.5 y/o): stringing some words together, fewer words that still conveys meaning but may not be grammatically correct “mommy go” WHOLE SENTENCES (preschool years): 2-4 years of age, becomes better and refined, may still not be grammatically correct “i go to park” PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT TEMPERAMENT: behavioral and emotional characteristics that are fairly well established at birth (born with this) - tipped towards nature side, born with predispositions to react to different situations with different things - building block toward personality EASY: children that are regular in their schedules; easy to establish regular eating schedules, regular sleeping schedules; adaptable to change, so if they’re thrown off their schedules, they’re able to adapt, easily soothed if they get upset, generally happy disposition Difficult: harder to establish a regular schedule around eating and sleeping; don’t do as well adapting to change; tend to be more loud, active, crabby; irritable disposition - parenting can influence temperament (good fit would be patient, calm parent with a child with difficult temperament; bad fit would be impatient, easily frustrated parent with difficult temperament) Slow to warm up: needs time to acclimate to new situations, get a sense of what’s going on - example is a child hiding after seeing a stranger saying hi to them; eventually starts peeking their head out and warms up to saying hello to the stranger  PSYCH 100: Crosby ATTACHMENT: emotional bond between an infant and the primary caregiver. - primary caregiver oftentimes is the mother - developing during the first six months - begin to see manifestations starting after six months - are the child’s needs met, do they feel tended to by the primary caregiver WHAT ARE THE FOUR ATTACHMENT STYLES IDENTIFIED BY AINSWORTH? - secure o strange situation experiment ▪ explore environment ▪ wary of stranger, but remain calm ▪ upset when mom leaves ▪ easily soothed when mom returns ▪ overall profile talks about secure attachment style - insecure attachment o avoidant ▪ explore environment ▪ don’t “touch base” with mom ▪ little reaction to mom’s exit or return o ambivalent ▪ “mixed feelings” ▪ clingy – unwilling to explore ▪ upset by stranger ▪ upset when mom leaves ▪ demand to be picked up when mom returns, but resist her attempt to provide comfort (e.g., push away) o disorganized-disoriented ▪ appear fearful ▪ sad or dazed look on face ▪ no clear pattern of responses ▪ may be associated with abuse/neglect ADOLESCENCE ADOLESCENCE: period of life between the onset of puberty and the time adult status is approached, when young people are preparing to take on the roles and responsibilities of adulthood. MAJOR AREAS OF TRANSITION: BIOLOGICAL: bodily changes and sexual development COGNITIVE: changes in thinking about self and world  PSYCH 100: Crosby MAIN ADVANTAGES OVER CHILDREN’S THOUGHT (EXAMPLES): 1. THINKING ABOUT POSSIBILITIES 2. THINKING ABOUT ABSTRACT CONCEPTS (FRIENDSHIP, FAITH, DEMOCRACY, ETC.) 3. THINKING ABOUT THINKING (METACOGNITION) 4. THINKING IN MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS o understanding sarcasm, double entendre o become more skeptical, realize nobody can know everything o establishing independence, think on your own 5. SEEING KNOWLEDGE AS RELATIVE (RELATIVISM) - two limitations o the imaginary audience ▪ idea that you’re looking at others and making judgements on others and realize that other people might be doing the same to you ▪ idea that you’re the center of attention o personal fable ▪ your own experience is unique risk-taking behavior; thinks that dangerous things can’t/won’t happen to them KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT: PRECONVENTIONAL MORALITY: behavior is governed by consequences. - based on the decision maker’s consequences, not for other people in scenario - very self-focused - reward = good - punishment = bad CONVENTIONAL MORALITY: behavior is governed by conforming to society’s norms of behavior. - rules/laws o explanation is “that’s the law”/”that’s the rule” - roles o as a member of society, we take on certain roles o acting as a good sister, mother, partner, teacher, etc. o implied rules POSTCONVENTIONAL MORALITY: behavior is governed by moral principles decided by the individual. - may conflict with rules and/or accepted norms  PSYCH 100: Crosby - may be putting themselves at risk through moral decision - may go against rules/roles - developmental psychologist - developed a theory of the development of moral thinking - looked at how people of various ages responded to stories about people caught up in moral dilemmas o gave issues and ask them would you do it (yes/no), and why - Heinz dilemma o should Heinz steal the drug? why or why not? o where does your response fit within Kohlberg’s stages of moral development? o postconventional ▪ taking money away from the medicine supplier, eventually hurting the business and stopping people from being saved in the future PSYCHOSOCIAL: WHAT DOES RESEARCH SUGGEST ABOUT PARENT-TEEN CONFLICT DURING ADOLESCENCE? - in shows and movies, we see seeming increase in conflict between parents and teens o portrayed to be at higher levels than what really exists - research conclusions o yes, there is an increase in conflict between teens and parents ▪ it’s seen as a beneficial pathway towards independence ▪ related to advances in cognitions where adolescents can recognize that they view things differently o most of the conflict is in relatively trivial kinds of issues o teens seek their parents’ guidance in bigger things like what college they should go to ▪ teens rely on parents for bigger, more meaningful kinds of issues  PSYCH 100: Crosby Biology of Behavior (Modules 3-5) NERVOUS SYSTEM – a network of cells that carries information to and from all parts of the body. - central o brain o spinal cord - peripheral o autonomic ▪ parasympathetic ▪ sympathetic o somatic OVERVIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM NEUROSCIENCE – a branch of the life sciences that deals with the structure and function of neurons, nerves, and nervous tissue BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY (BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE) – branch of neuroscience that focuses on biological bases of psychological processes, behavior and learning. STRUCTURE OF THE NEURON -- basic cell that makes up the nervous system and that receives and sends messages within that system AXON: responsible for carrying messages to other cells; coated in myelin SOMA (CELL BODY): contains the nucleus of the cell, responsible for maintaining the life of the cell DENDRITES: receivers; branch-like structures that receive messages from other neurons AXON TERMINAL (SYNAPTIC KNOB): transmitters; where message gets transmitted to next cell MYELIN: a fatty substance that coats the axons; insulates the axon, protects the axon, and speeds up the neural impulse - multiple sclerosis: myelin begins to deteriorate  PSYCH 100: Crosby FUNCTIONS OF GLIAL CELLS 1. Support neurons (physical) 2. Deliver nutrients to neurons 3. Produce myelin to coat axons 4. Clean up waste and dead neurons 5. Influence generation of new neurons - glial cells separate, support, and insulate the neurons from each other - without glial cells, neurons can’t do what they need to do THE NEURAL IMPULSE RESTING POTENTIAL: the state of a neuron when not firing a neural impulse. (electrical charge is negative in a neuron when resting) ACTION POTENTIAL: the release of the neural impulse consisting of a reversal of the electrical charge within the axon. (stimulates chemical change) **Be able to describe how “messages” are transmitted within neurons. - neurons are stimulated and communicate via electrical charge - at resting potential, inside of neuron is negative and outside is positive - walls are semi-permeable - electrical impulse that sends message, gates along neuron are being opened up and fluid with positive ions rush into the cell o action potential - impulse travels left to right - need to know charges at resting and action potential COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CELLS SYNAPTIC VESICLES: saclike structures found inside the synaptic knob containing chemicals. NEUROTRANSMITTER: chemical found in the synaptic vesicles that, when released, has an effect on the next cell.  PSYCH 100: Crosby SYNAPSE (SYNAPTIC GAP): space between the synaptic knob of one cell and the dendrites or surface of the next cell. **What is the difference between excitatory and inhibitory synapses? - excitatory o synapse at which a neurotransmitter causes the receiving cell to fire o activates the action potential - inhibitory o synapse at which a neurotransmitter causes the receiving cell to stop firing - depends on cell (synapse) and not the neurotransmitter **Be able to describe how “messages” are transmitted between neurons and other cells. - receptor sites are made to taken in a specific neurotransmitter o lock is receptor site, key is neurotransmitters NEUROTRANSMITTERS - chemical messenger; sending information ANTAGONIST: chemical substance that blocks or reduces the effects of a neurotransmitter. - when treating schizophrenia, use dopamine antagonists, reduce the amount of dopamine in the brain, reduce/eliminate symptoms of schizophrenia like hallucination AGONIST: chemical substance that mimics or enhances the effects of a neurotransmitter. - when treating parkinson’s, use dopamine agonists, increase levels of dopamine, start showing symptoms that look like schizophrenia (don’t need to know) SEROTONIN: involved in mood, sleep, and appetite DOPAMINE: involved in control of movement and sensations of pleasure ACETYLCHOLINE: involved in arousal, attention, memory, and controls muscle contractions ENDORPHINS: involved in pain relief  PSYCH 100: Crosby NOREPINEPHRINE: involved in arousal and mood GABA: involved in sleep and inhibits movement GLUTAMATE: involved in learning, memory, formation, nervous system development, and synaptic plasticity CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM Brain: stores and interprets information, command center, useless without spinal cord SPINAL CORD: bundle of neurons that carries messages between the body and brain and is responsible for very fast, life-saving reflexes. AFFERENT (SENSORY) NEURONS: accessing, going into the spinal cord EFFERENT (MOTOR) NEURONS: exiting spinal cord INTERNEURONS: connecter neurons Example: touching something hot - brain isn’t involved in response PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (PNS) PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: nerves and neurons that are not contained in the brain and spinal cord. SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM: consists of nerves that carry information from the senses to the CNS and from the CNS to the voluntary muscles of the body.  PSYCH 100: Crosby AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM: think “automatic”, controls organs and glands SYMPATHETIC: fight or flight, allows people to deal with stressful situations; when system is active, it’s pulling any energy resources to the aspects of your functioning that will allow you to get through stressful situation; emergency system; automatic, don’t choose PARASYMPATHETIC: rest and digest; all systems normal; heart rate, digestion, respiration are at their typical levels; where you want to be DESCRIBE THE METHODS AVAILABLE TO SCIENTISTS THAT ALLOW THEM TO STUDY THE BRAIN AND HOW IT WORKS: Lesioning: using electrical current to destroy targeted brain cells - deep lesioning - example o taking a mouse with a cat, mouse will not want to be around the cat because it has a natural fear of cats; lesion amygdala of brain, the cat will not be fearful Brain Stimulation - invasive techniques o example ▪ can use artificially electrical stimulation to help chronic pain, OCD, depression research-based only; last resort - noninvasive techniques o brain surgery isn’t needed, more accessible Mapping Structure - CT - MRI - allows us to look in the brain and determine what’s wrong; how different structures have been impacted by issues Mapping Function - EEG PET - fMRI - can look at the brain and see in close to real time what parts of the brain are active when you’re looking at something, feeling something, listening to someone, etc.  PSYCH 100: Crosby STRUCTURES IN THE BOTTOM PART OF THE BRAIN: PONS: bridge between upper and lower part of brain; involved in coordinating movement on the left and right side of the body; influences sleep, dreaming, and arousal MEDULLA: life-sustaining functions like breathing, swallowing, heart rate RETICULAR FORMATION: general attention, alertness, and arousal CEREBELLUM: CONTROLS AND COORDINATES INVOLUNTARY, RAPID, FIND MOTOR MOVEMENT LIKE WRITING, TYPING, HELPS US MAINTAIN POSTURE STRUCTURES UNDER THE CORTEX: LIMBIC SYSTEM: group of several brain structures located under the cortex; involved in learning, emotion, memory, and motivation THALAMUS: relay station; receives information in sensory systems, like the things we see, hear, feel, etc.; information is sent to the thalamus, and it decides where it needs to go in the cortex HYPOTHALAMUS: controls hunger, thirst, sleep, sexual behavior, sleeping and waking, emotions, and pituitary gland HIPPOCAMPUS: responsible for memory; storing memories (i.e., remembering where you put your keys) AMYGDALA: involved in emotion, especially fear (i.e., if mice have damage to their amygdala, they don’t show the same fear response to animals like cats that they naturally do) CINGULATE CORTEX: involved in emotional and cognitive processing, plays a role in disorders like ADHD; tasks like attention and working memory PARTS OF THE CORTEX: CORTEX: outer covering of the brain – responsible for higher thought processes and interpretation of sensory input.  PSYCH 100: Crosby CORPUS CALLOSUM: think band of neurons that connects the right and left cerebral hemispheres. LOBES OF THE BRAIN: FRONTAL: Location: front of brain Contains: motor cortex (controls voluntary muscles) Functions: higher mental functions (planning, spoken language, complex decision making, ability to regulate emotion), things that make us uniquely human Notes: - left frontal lobe and right frontal lobe - Phineas gage o supervisor that planned things, had people skills, organize o after accident, lost these abilities OCCIPITAL: Location: base of the cortex, back of the brain Contains: visual association cortex Functions: processing and interpreting visual information from the eyes Notes:  PSYCH 100: Crosby PARIETAL: Location: top back of the brain Contains: somatosensory cortex Functions: information from the skin (pain, temperature, pressure) and body receptors that give us a sense of body position (in relation to one another, in relation to environment) Notes: TEMPORAL: Location: behind temples, between eyes and ears Contains: primary auditory cortex Functions: processing auditory information and language Notes: MOTOR CORTEX: responsible for sending motor commands to the muscles of the somatic nervous system. SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX: responsible for processing information from the skin and internal body receptors for touch, temperature and body position. ASSOCIATION AREAS: areas within each lobe of the cortex responsible for the coordination and interpretation of information, as well as higher mental processing BROCA’S AREA: - located in left frontal lobe (close to the temporal lobe) - devoted to speech production - specifically, speech that is smooth and fluent - could’ve been damaged through brain injuries, stroke o people know what they want to say, they just aren’t able to say it o leave words out and mispronounce things WERNICKE’S AREA: - left temporal lobe - damage causes people to be able to speak fluently, just using the wrong words  PSYCH 100: Crosby SPLIT BRAIN RESEARCH: Left hemisphere specialization: - controls right side of your body (right hand) - spoken language - written language - mathematical calculations - logical thought processes - analysis of detail - reading Right hemisphere specialization: - controls left side of your body (left hand) - nonverbal - visual-spatial perception - music and artistic processing - emotional thought and recognition - processes the whole - pattern recognition - facial recognition Unless one is a split-brain patient (corpus callosum severed or lesioned; frequently because of epilepsy), the two sides of the brain are always working together as an integrated whole  PSYCH 100: Crosby Sleep and Dreaming (Module 8) CONSCIOUSNESS CONSCIOUSNESS: a person’s awareness of everything that is going on (externally and internally) around him or her at any given moment – used to organize behavior. (ex: basketball bounces in the middle of the street, consciousness helps us realize that a kid is probably playing with it, know to watch out for them) WAKING CONSCIOUSNESS: thoughts, feelings, sensations are clear ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS: shift in quality or pattern of mental activity - caffeine has an impact of increasing our energy and concentration; produce altered state of concentration - sleep is an altered state of consciousness SLEEP CIRCADIAN RHYTHM: a cycle of bodily rhythm that occurs over a 24-hour period. (examples are sleep-wake cycle, core body temperature, hormones expressed, blood pressure) Hypothalamus: tiny section of brain; influences glandular system Suprachiasmatic nucleus: within the hypothalamus; internal clock tells people wake up/fall asleep, highly sensitive to light and senses the lack of light at night and releases melatonin to prepare out bodies for sleep and the opposite in the morning Examples: - decrease in sleep need as you grow older; consolidation increases - newborns (0-2 months): 12-18 hours, distributed throughout the day - infants (3 to 11 months): 14 to 15 hours  PSYCH 100: Crosby - toddlers (1-3 years): 12 to 14 hours - preschoolers (3-5 years): 11 to 13 hours - school-age children (5-10 years): 10 to 11 hours - teens (10-17 years): 8.5-9.25 hours - adults: 7-9 hours - gathered these numbers through lab studies; blocking out any indications of time of day, letting people just sleep whenever they want o for school-age children and younger, numbers come from observations of when kids sleep SLEEP DEPRIVATION: any significant loss of sleep WHAT HAPPENS IF WE DON’T GET ENOUGH SLEEP? - impacts our functioning - impacts behavior o example  PSYCH 100: Crosby ▪ food choice ▪ with less sleep, people tend to choose food less healthy ▪ tendency to exercise less; less energy ▪ consume more energy and caffeine - impacts cognition o memory, learning, decision-making - impacts emotion o more difficulty regulating emotions o more extremes; negative emotions (sadness, anger) as well as giddy, elated emotions - impacts you physically o increased risk of heart disease o can become overweight o higher rate of mortality if we get too much sleep, negative effects can also occur WHY WE SLEEP: - adaptive theory o animals and humans have evolved sleep patterns to avoid predators; sleeping when predators are most active; protected spaces to sleep - restorative theory o sleep is necessary to the physical health of the body; we feel better when we get more sleep o sleep plays a critical role in preventing illness, helps our immune system be strong - memory consolidation o while we’re awake, memories that are accumulated during the day are stored in hippocampus o once you’ve been awake for a long period of time, you have a harder time remembering things ▪ hippocampus is reaching its capacity (like a flash drive) o during sleep, information gets taken from hippocampus gets filtered and moved into appropriate area of the cortex (long-term, permanent storage site) - creative thinking/problem solving o during sleep, you continue to work on things from the day o think through things, process emotions o example ▪ had been struggling with periodic table arrangement, woke up from sleep and had an a-ha moment - growth/development o adequate sleep allows proper hormones to be expressed  PSYCH 100: Crosby o example ▪ short sleep leads to increased risk of becoming overweight; impacts food choices, hormonal imbalance STAGES OF SLEEP: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REM SLEEP AND NON-REM SLEEP? proportionally, REM sleep decreases from about 50% to about 20%; functioning of their body (respiration, heart rate, brain activity) slows; people in non-REM sleep are harder to wake up; non-REM sleep is “quiet” sleep NON-REM SLEEP: STAGE 1: lightest stage of sleep; transition state from wake state to sleep state; light sleep, hypnic jerk, hypnagogic images/hallucinations (almost like a dream, often more intense) STAGE 2: temperature, breathing and heart rate decrease; sleep spindles (bursts of activity) STAGE 3: deepest stage of sleep; lowest function level; growth hormones released, hard to wake up REM SLEEP: rapid eye movement sleep - eyes moving under eyelids - increase in body function (e.g. heartbeat) - 90% of dreaming - REM paralysis - “active sleep”; surprising amount of activity during this time (similar to being awake) - voluntary muscles of our body are paralyzed o because you’re having dreams, you don’t want to act them out o eyes are exempt REM (SLEEP) PARALYSIS: the inability of the voluntary muscles to move during REM sleep.  PSYCH 100: Crosby - average sleep cycle for an adult is about 90 mins o a cycle is from wake to non-REM sleep to REM sleep o assumes you don’t have a sleeping disorder and that you’re getting adequate sleep - average sleep cycle for a child is shorter than 90 mins - most of our more deep non-REM sleep occurs during the first half of the night - a good majority of our REM sleep occurs during the second half of the night  PSYCH 100: Crosby DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES IN REM SLEEP: - babies spend half of their night in non-REM and half in REM sleep o young children meet new people all the time, learn new things all the time o REM sorts through the memories and is critical in neurodevelopment ▪ babies spend more time doing these tasks - amount of REM sleep declines as you get older, since you don’t need the functions of REM as much as you grow SLEEP DISORDERS REM BEHAVIOR DISORDER: mechanism that typically blocks the movement of voluntary muscles fails, allowing the person to thrash around and get up and act out nightmares. - paralysis that normally occurs during REM sleep is incomplete or absent - mostly effects older males - also linked to Parkinson’s disease (both movement behavior disorders); may use similar treatments/medications - need a sleep study to confirm that this is occurring during REM sleep SLEEPWALKING: occurs during deep (non-REM stage 3) sleep; moving around or walking around in one’s sleep. - we have full access to the movements of our voluntary movement - no faulty mechanism  PSYCH 100: Crosby - most common in children - one of the primary causes is inadequate sleep/sleep deprivation - should focus on adequate sleep and safety of the sleepwalker - no need to wake a sleepwalker, doesn’t change the situation; no harm, just not necessary HOW DO NIGHTMARES AND NIGHT TERRORS DIFFER? - nightmares o bad dreams arousing feelings of horror, helplessness, extreme sorrow, etc. o occur during REM sleep, during second half of the night o able to remember and recall the nightmare o precipitating factors ▪ linked to things that have occurred during waking hours - night terrors o attacks of extreme fear that the victim has while sound sleep o don’t wake up; don’t respond to people o occur during non-REM sleep, during the first half of the night o no memory of the event o precipitating factors ▪ insufficient sleep - on the surface they look very similar - affect children more often than adults INSOMNIA: inability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get good quality sleep - pattern happening multiple times a week over the course of several months - causes include changes in lifestyle, changes in where you sleep, stress most prominent treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy NARCOLEPSY: person falls immediately into REM sleep during the day without warning - cataplexy o loss of muscle tone o often triggered by strong emotional events (positive or negative) - excessive daytime sleepiness - most prominent treatment is medication; regimented sleep schedule (going to sleep at the same time every day) SLEEP APNEA: person stops breathing for short periods during sleep - airway becomes blocked o excessive fat around throat and neck; enlargement of tongue - brain doesn’t let you stop breathing, so you wake up repeatedly throughout the night - often loud snorers - can occur in overweight or healthy people - excessively tired during the days - increased risk of heart disease - most prominent treatment is CPAP o blows air through tube that keeps the airway open o psychologists help with desensitization to the mask  PSYCH 100: Crosby DREAMS Freud’s perspective on dreams: - book called “interpretation of dreams” - unconscious affects us - dreams provide access to the unconscious (wish-fulfillment) - if you could interpret you dreams, you would be able to access more to the unconscious - dreams have meaning - centered around sexual themes; dreams about things like bullet, fire, snakes, sticks symbolically represented men - dreams about things like bullet, fire, snakes, sticks symbolically represented men - ovens, boxes – women - crossing a bridge, etc. -- arousal WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MANIFEST CONTENT AND LATENT CONTENT OF DREAMS? - manifest content o actual content of the dream o way you would describe to someone else - latent content o hidden meaning o linked unconscious  PSYCH 100: Crosby WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE BRAIN WHEN WE DREAM? - spikes in brain activity - visuospatial regions (occipital lobe) - motor cortex (frontal lobe) - hippocampus (memory) o allows us to retrieve memories - amygdala/cingulate cortex (limbic system – emotion) - associated deactivation in regions of controlling rational thought (parts of frontal lobe) o rational, logical thought o “brakes” o causes dreams to be wild/wacky/wonky - lucid dreaming o individual becomes aware that they are dreaming o gaining active control of what individual is dreaming and being able to manipulate that experience WHAT DO PEOPLE DREAM ABOUT? -  PSYCH 100: Crosby Basics of Sensation and Perception; Vision and Touch (Modules 16-18) BASICS OF SENSATION AND PERCEPTION (MODULE 16): SENSATION: process that occurs when special receptors in the sense organs (eyes, ears, skin, nose, mouth) are activated, allowing outside stimuli to become neural signals in the brain. SENSORY RECEPTORS: specialized neurons stimulated by different forms of energy (light, sound vibration) instead of neurotransmitters PERCEPTION: method by which the sensation experienced at any given moment are interpreted and organized in some meaningful fashion. TOP-DOWN PROCESSING: - knowledge and expectancy driving a process - occurs when previous experience and expectations are first used to recognize stimuli - background knowledge to influence perception - goal directed, slow, deliberate, effortful, and under your control BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING: - stimulus influences our perception - occurs when we sense basic features of stimuli and then integrate them  PSYCH 100: Crosby - no preconceived idea of what it is your looking at, and allowing stimulus to influence your perception drawback: prone to error; example: see something shiny on the ground, think its money; ends up being a button ABCS OF SENSATION: WEBER’S LAW OF JUST NOTABLE DIFFERENCES: smallest difference detectable 50% of time - smallest difference between two stimuli - bigger change would be able to notice more than 50% of the time - smaller change a person may be able to detect, just not always 50% of time - proportion of change is really important, not actual units/absolute value o listening at level 10, jump to 20 ▪ detect way more o listening at level 80, jump to 90 ▪ detect less o higher volumes, more units needed to detect o intensity of stimulus is lower, less change is needed to detect o intensity of stimulus is higher, more change is needed to detect EXAMPLES: - friend is listening to music, volume range goes from 0 to 100 o you incrementally change their volume o find out point when they realize that you’ve messed with it o at volume 50, go from 50 to 51, 51 to 52, etc. ▪ get up to 60, and friend notices ▪ took a 10 unit change in volume for them to detect the difference FECHNER’S ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD: least energy for correct stimulus detection 50% or more of the time; lowest level of stimulation or energy that a person can reliably detect - can only detect certain energies - things we can detect, we can detect really really well - survival value o ability to detect things that may be a potential threat to us  PSYCH 100: Crosby EXAMPLES: - people can see a candle flame 30 miles away on a clear, dark night - people can hear a ticking watch 20 feet away in a quiet room - people can smell a single drop of perfume can smell in the space of an apartment - teaspoon of sugar dissolved in two gallons of water; people can sense water - a bee’s wing on their cheek from 1 cm away, people can detect when it hits their skin HABITUATION: tendency of the brain to stop responding to constant, unchanging information. - not going to waste any neural energy if something is unchanging o we’ve evaluated it, and confirmed everything’s okay - example o turn a fan on o hear the fan as you turn it on, very noticeable o if you leave it on, you don’t notice it’s on anymore o something new, fan is on, let’s monitor o if fan starts making noise, brain comes back to it and says we need to reevaluate - even though you’re not attending to it, there’s still areas of brain that are monitoring it - visual system is immune to habituation o if it was subject to habituation, if you’re staring at something for a long time, your vision eventually goes blank o eyes make tiny movements to prevent habituation from happening VISION (MODULE 17): WHAT IS LIGHT? -- energy that activates the visual system - eye can process light, other parts of the brain cannot - light has to change form in order to be processed in other parts of brain  PSYCH 100: Crosby THE STRUCTURE OF THE EYE: CORNEA: focuses light coming into the eye IRIS: colored portion of your eye; muscle that controls the size of the pupil; light enters interior portion of the eye PUPIL: dark, center part of your eye; where light enters the interior of the eye; larger – more light can enter the eye; smaller – restricts amount of light going in LENS: changes shape to bring objects into focus o VISUAL ACCOMMODATION: process in which the change of the thickness of the lens as the eye focuses on objects RETINA: contains photoreceptor cells; where “action” happens o Layer 1: light passes through ganglion cells ▪ axons form optic nerve, which is a pathway of information out of the eye  PSYCH 100: Crosby o Layer 2: bipolar cells ▪ interneurons, connecters o Layer 3: photoreceptor cells -- rods and cones ▪ at this point, light gets converted into an electrical impulse ▪ rods are part of the retina that process non-color, dim light vision ▪ cones are activated by color and bright light DESCRIBE THE PROCESS BY WHICH LIGHT BECOMES NERVE IMPULSES THAT TRAVEL TO THE BRAIN: 1. light passes through ganglion and bipolar cells 2. it reaches and stimulates the rods and cones 3. nerve impulses from the rods and cones travel along a nerve pathway to the brain PERCEPTION OF COLOR: - TRICHROMATIC THEORY: three types of cones – blue, green, and red o firing rate of cones and color o red cones are activated when you see something red o see something purple, blue and red cones firing, not as intensely as when you look at something pure red or pure blue o problem with the theory ▪ afterimages visual sensations that persist after the initial stimulus has been removed if you look at an image with a bright background and you look somewhere else, you still see the image o trichromatic theory is good at explaining what we initially process with color OPPONENT-PROCESS THEORY: four primary colors arranged in pairs o red and green are a pair o blue and yellow are a pair o if one part of the pair is stimulated, the other is inhibited ▪ if red is stimulated, green is inhibited WHICH THEORY IS CORRECT? opponent-process theory  PSYCH 100: Crosby COLOR BLINDNESS (COLOR-DEFICIENT VISION): caused by cones that either defective or are absent MONOCHROME COLOR BLINDNESS: o lack of color o lack of functioning red and blue cones PROTANOPIA o red-green weak o lack of functioning red cones TRITANOPIA o blue-yellow weak o lack of functioning blue cones WHY DO MORE MALES SUFFER FROM COLOR-DEFICIENT VISION? - linked to sex chromosomes (females have XX and males have XY) - color deficient vision is a recessive trait on the x chromosome o if you’re a female, you’d have to inherit the trait from both parents on both x chromosomes  PSYCH 100: Crosby o if you’re a male, you’d have to inherit just one trait from your mother on your x chromosome TOUCH (MODULE 18): SKIN SENSES: touch, pressure, temperature, pain o gate control theory of pain ▪ pain signals must pass through a “gate” located in the spinal cord ▪ no actual, physical gate; imaginary one that can swing open and closed ▪ pain signal passes through the spinal cord ▪ when gate is open, you experience a lot of pain; when gate is closed, you experience less o pain provides important information on how to navigate the world around is ▪ signal about what we need to do o example ▪ you get a paper cut, can be intensely painful initially ▪ gate comes open, sends to your brain that something hurts ▪ brain realizes it’s just a paper cut, gate closes, doesn’t hurt for as long o example ▪ femur is broken, gate is open for longer and it hurts for longer since it is more urgent  PSYCH 100: Crosby KINESTHETIC SENSE: location of body parts in relation to one another o sense of the location of the body parts in relation to the ground and each other VESTIBULAR SENSES: movement, body position o the sensations of movement, balance, and body position o motion sickness ▪ often caused when looking at something not moving while the person is moving BASICS OF SENSATION AND PERCEPTION (MODULE 16): REMINDER: PERCEPTION IS THE METHOD BY WHICH SENSATIONS EXPERIENCED AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT ARE INTERPRETED AND ORGANIZED IN SOME MEANINGFUL FASHION. PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCY idea that we have an object and if we know about it, we don’t have to reevaluate the situation just because it slightly changed Size: measure someone when far away with fingers, as they get closer, we understand that the person was always the same size Shape: we are able to maintain knowing what the shape of an object is, even when the object might change - example: notebook is rectangular shape, look at it from spine view, you are able to understand that it’s still a notebook Brightness: GESTALT PRINCIPLES FIGURE-GROUND: the tendency to perceive objects or figures as existing on a background. EXAMPLE:  PSYCH 100: Crosby PROXIMITY: the tendency to perceive objects close to each other as part of the same group. SIMILARITY: the tendency to perceive things that look similar as being part of the same group. CLOSURE: the tendency to complete figures that are incomplete. CONTINUITY: the tendency to perceive things as simply as possible with a continuous pattern rather than with a complex, broken-up pattern. CONTIGUITY: the tendency to perceive two things that happen close together in times as being related to one another.  PSYCH 100: Crosby example: - ventriloquist; the movement and sound of the mouth fool kids into thinking the puppet is making the sounds - hear person walking down the street in high heels; assume next person that passes is wearing high heels common region: tendency to perceive objects in a common area as being in a group DEPTH PERCEPTION: the ability to perceive the world in three dimensions MONOCULAR CUES (PICTORIAL DEPTH CUES): cues for perceiving depth based on one eye. BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE MONOCULAR CUE EXAMPLES DISCUSSED IN CLASS: - mostly related to the thing you’re looking at - interposition o object being blocked by another object is assumed to be farther away - linear perspective o tendency for parallel lines to appear to converge o closer lines are perceived to be farther away - relative size o when objects that people expect to be a certain size appear small, they’re judged to be farther away - texture gradient o texture becomes smaller and finer with distance - aerial perspective o objects that are farther away appear hazier - motion parallax o the speed of motion difference between objects that are close, and appear to move faster, and those that are farther away and appear to move slower BINOCULAR CUES: cues for perceiving depth based on both eyes. CONVERGENCE: rotation of the eyes to focus on a single object  PSYCH 100: Crosby convergence for close objects > convergence for distant objects BINOCULAR DISPARITY: eyes don’t see the same image because of their distance from each other disparity for close objects > disparity for distant objects PERCEPTUAL ILLUSIONS: WHAT ARE ILLUSIONS? perceptions that don’t correspond with reality (visual stimuli that fool the eye) HOW DO ILLUSIONS ALTER PERCEPTION? EXAMPLES: PERCEPTUAL EXPECTANCY: tendency to perceive things a certain way because previous experiences or previous expectations influence those perceptions.  PSYCH 100: Crosby Learning (Modules 19-21) LEARNING: a relatively permanent change in behavior (or thought) brought about by experience or practice. THINK OF SOMETHING NEW YOU HAVE LEARNED TO DO RECENTLY. HOW DID YOU LEARN TO DO IT? THINK OF SOMETHING YOU HAVEN’T DONE FOR A WHILE. CAN YOU STILL DO IT? ARE YOU AS GOOD AT IT? PAVLOV’S CLASSICAL CONDITIONING CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: learning to make an involuntary (reflex) response to a stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces the reflex. REFLEX: involuntary response; not under our personal control UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UCS): naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary response. - things that occur naturally; untrained, unlearned - ex: palov -- food UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UCR): involuntary response to an unconditioned stimulus. - ex: pavlov -- salivating to the food NEUTRAL STIMULUS (NS): stimulus that has no effect on the desired response. - ex: pavlov – bell before conditioning takes place CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS): stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned reflex response by being paired with the original unconditioned stimulus - learned, trained, not occurring naturally - ex: pavlov – bell after conditioning takes place - neutral and conditioned stimulus are always the same thing; the only difference is before and after conditioning takes place  PSYCH 100: Crosby CONDITIONED RESPONSE (CR): learned reflex response to a conditioned stimulus. - ex: pavlov – salivation to the bell - unconditioned and conditioned responses are the same; the only difference is what’s producing the response BASIC PRINCIPLES IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: - condition stimulus must come before the unconditioned stimulus o ex: pavlov -- bell must come before the food - condition stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus must be paired closely together in time - pairing between neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus has to occur multiple times - conditioned stimulus must be distinct and unique o ex: pavlov -- bell classical conditioning video example: unconditioned stimulus – gun unconditioned response – flinching from the shot of the gun neutral stimulus – sound from button conditioned stimulus – sound from button after conditioning conditioned response – flinching when sound is produced STIMULUS GENERALIZATION: tendency to respond with the conditioned response to a stimulus that’s only similar to the original conditioned stimulus - ex: pavlov -- original tone used was an A note; as notes changed, the animal still salivated to similar tones; tone on opposite end of the scale, much less likely for animal to respond STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION: tendency to stop making a generalized response because the similar stimulus is never paired with the unconditioned stimulus - ex: pavlov -- stop responding to tone D because they never heard it along with being given food  PSYCH 100: Crosby EXTINCTION: disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the absence of the unconditioned stimulus - ex: pavlov -- stop salivating to the bell after the food has been removed for a long time SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY: reappearance of a learned response after extinction has occurred - doesn’t take as much time or as many trials as when experiment first started - condensed process; doesn’t take as much time or effort HIGHER-ORDER CONDITIONING: occurs when a strong _______________ _______________ is paired with a _______________ stimulus, causing the neutral stimulus to become _______________ conditioned stimulus. EXAMPLE? WHAT ARE SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING EXPERIENCED BY HUMANS ? - conditioned emotional response o emotional response that has become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli o fears and phobias ▪ little albert – J.P. Watson made him scared of animals o advertising o vicarious conditioning ▪ conditioning formed just by watching somebody else respond ▪ little kids see someone cry before getting a shot, all begin crying even though they didn’t experience it - conditioned taste aversion o development of a nausea or aversive response to a particular taste because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction, occurring after only one association BIOLOGICAL PREPAREDNESS: tendency of animals to learn certain associations with only one or a few pairings due to the survival value of the learning. WHY DOES CLASSICAL CONDITIONING WORK? PAVLOV: COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE: OPERANT CONDITIONING OPERANT (ANY BEHAVIOR THAT IS VOLUNTARY) CONDITIONING: the learning of  PSYCH 100: Crosby _______________ behavior through the effects of _______________ and _______________ consequences to responses. **Depends on what happens after the response! THORNDIKE’S LAW OF EFFECT: REINFORCEMENT: any event or stimulus, that when following a response, _______________ the probability that the response will occur again PRIMARY REINFORCER: SECONDARY REINFORCER: POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT: NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT: COMPARING CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING: REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PARTIAL AND CONTINUOUS REINFORCEMENT: DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTERVAL AND RATIO SCHEDULES: HOW IS REINFORCEMENT PROVIDED IN EACH OF THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT? FIXED RATIO VARIABLE RATIO FIXED INTERVAL  PSYCH 100: Crosby VARIABLE INTERVAL PUNISHMENT: any event or object that, when following a _______________, makes that response _______________ likely to happen again. POSITIVE PUNISHMENT (PUNISHMENT BY APPLICATION): NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT (PUNISHMENT BY REMOVAL): EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE/NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT AND POSITIVE/NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT: DESCRIBE SOME PROBLEMS WITH PUNISHMENT: SHAPING: reinforcement of _______________ steps in behavior that lead to a _______________, more _______________ behavior. DO EXTINCTION, GENERALIZATION/DISCRIMINATION, AND SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY APPLY TO OPERANT CONDITIONING? COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY TOLMAN - LATENT LEARNING: learning that remains _______________ until its application becomes _______________. KOHLER - INSIGHT LEARNING: sudden perception of _______________ among various parts of a problem, allowing the _______________ to the problem to come _______________. SELIGMAN - LEARNED HELPLESSNESS: tendency to _______________ to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated _______________ in the past. OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING: learning _______________ behavior by watching a _______________ perform that behavior.  PSYCH 100: Crosby ELEMENTS OF OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING: ATTENTION: MEMORY: IMITATION: MOTIVATION: