Intro To Psychology PDF

Intro To Psychology Clinical Psychologists Diagnose and treat mental illness Perform psychological assessments Social Workers Diagnose and treat mental illness Psychiatrists Diagnose and treat mental health conditi...

Intro To Psychology Clinical Psychologists Diagnose and treat mental illness Perform psychological assessments Social Workers Diagnose and treat mental illness Psychiatrists Diagnose and treat mental health conditions with medication Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety Industrial Psychologists Hiring the right person for a job Providing feedback to employees to improve performance Structuring the work to aid productivity and satisfaction Forensic Psychologists Works with attorneys, police, and judges within the legal system Serve as expert witnesses Interview defendants and perform assessments to determine mental state (for insanity plea) Willhelm Wundt In 1879 created the first laboratory exclusively for psychological research Sensations and feelings were the elements of experience Experience is partly under voluntary control; you can shift your attention from one element to another and get a different experience To test his ideas about experiences, he asked his subjects to engage in introspection (to look within oneself) - he asked them to report on current mental states, emotions and thoughts (their conscious experience) Edward Titchener According to Titchener (Wundt’s student), the main question of psychology was the nature of natural experiences Structuralism: An attempt to describe the structures that compose the mind. Breaking down sensory elements or experience into the most basic building blocks He theorized that people experience the same basic things, but label them differently based on past subjective experience Charles Darwin and Evolutionary Psychology Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection greatly impacted psychology as well as biology Natural selection means that animals (including humans) with the most adaptive traits will survive and pass on their traits to the next generations at faster rates Evolutionary psychologists theorize how different mental processes and behavior promote survival Attachment, emotions, altruism, social anxiety, phobias - how do each of these potentially help humans survive on an individual or societal level? When thinking about psychological concepts, one lens we always consider - how can this concept increase survival? (Even it makes us miserable it may help us survive Sigmund Freud and The Unconscious Mind He was a neurologist in the 1800s-1900s Developed many ideas about the human psyche based on persona theories and patient case studies His ideas involve unconscious processes that influence behavior without people realizing - he believed it was necessary to bring these processes to light in order for people to heal Many of the specifics of his theories are completely unfounded. So why do we study him? Because the core of his research - the way unconscious processes influence behavior - was revolutionary and a huge part of modern therapy He was the first to write about defense mechanisms https://www.simplypsychology.org/defense-mechanisms.html Hypothesis An idea or proposed explanation for a question or problem It is based on previous facts or observation but has not yet been established or proven EX: I see my dog is happy when I am with him. I see that my dog barks more when he is unhappy. I hypothesize that my dog will bark less when I spend more time with him A hypothesis must be possible to disprove A hypothesis must be operationalized Operationalize How do we operationalize thoughts, feelings, memories, love, motivation, taste, mental images, hunger, anger? Behaviors associated with internal experiences Functional MRI studies show that certain parts of the brain are more active during certain behaviors, emotions, etc... Vignette Studies Experimental Study A study in which the investigator manipulates at least one variable and measures the effect of another variable over time Experimental group and control group Experiment is the only kind of research that can establish causation Independent variable is the item that an experimenter changes or controls Dependent variable is the item that an experimenter measures to determine the outcome Correlational Study Correlation is a measure of the relationship between two variables A variable is anything measurable that differs among individuals like age, years of education, or reading speed Correlation coefficient is a mathematical estimate of the relationship between two variables Illusory correlation is an apparent relationship based on casual observations of unrelated or weakly related events - it is a cognitive bias EX: Someone has a bad experience with a lawyer and assumes all lawyers all bad A correlation indicates how strongly two variables are related to each other - correlation ≠ causation Case Study A detailed examination of a real-world subject, such as a person, event, or group, to gain a deeper understanding of it Observational Study A type of research where researchers observe or collect data from groups of people over a period of time without affecting the outcome Survey A survey is a study of the prevalence of certain beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors based on people’s responses to a specific question Getting a random or representative sample is especially important with surveys The seriousness of those being interviewed and and the wording of questions affect survey results Surveyor biases involve wording the questions of a survey to encourage the answers they hope to receive Confounding Variable An external or irrelevant factor that is affecting the results of the study EX: You create an experiment to test the effect of caffeine on happiness. You take two groups of students- one group gets an iced coffee with whipped cream and caramel syrup, and one group gets nothing. You measure their happiness after they drink the coffee- and find that the students who drank the iced coffee are happier than the control group! Can you say you established that caffeine increases happiness? But what if it was the whipped cream? Or the caramel syrup? The sugar? These are confounding variables that make it hard to figure out exactly what variable affected the outcome! Placebo Effect: A patient reports that their symptoms improve after taking a fake treatment Ethics in Research Obtaining informed consent from participants, minimizing potential harm, protecting participant confidentiality, ensuring fair subject selection, and having a clear benefit-to-risk ratio, all while upholding the principle of respect for human subjects and conducting research with scientific validity Synapse A meeting space between a presynaptic (message sending) neuron and a postsynaptic (message receiving) neuron. Action Potential When the neuron is depolarized, the charge travels down the axon of the neuron Action potentials are like a signal sent between neurons - the signals are always the same strength and speed The action potential travels down the axon and reaches the synapse Once it reaches the synapse, it triggers the release of chemicals known as neurotransmitters This is why neuron communication is an electrochemical reaction - because of the action potential is an electric reaction and the neurotransmitter is a chemical reaction EX: Your hand touches a hot stove. The heat (stimulus) triggers the sensory neurons to fire action potentials, which send a signal to the spinal cord that is interpreted as a dangerous level of heat. The spinal cord sends that signal to the neurons in the muscle, which contract and move the hand away Membrane Potential A neuron at rest has more negative ions inside the membrane than outside Neurons have a membrane potential of -70 There are channels in the membrane that allow ions to flow in and out. When the neuron rests, a certain amount of channels are open to maintain the -70 change Parts of a Neuron Cell body (soma) (core section of the neuron) Dendrite (receive messages from other nerve cells) Axon (carry electrical impulses away from the cell body) Axon Terminal (end of axon) Synapse (gap between two neurons) Neurotransmitters A chemical messenger that allows nerve cells to to communicate with other cells in the body, including other nerve cells and muscle cells (sent from one neuron to another neuron) Serotonin/Antidepressants  Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that increases happiness, wellbeing, health, sleep, etc… Increased by light and exercise One type of antidepressants is called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs block the neuron from absorbing the serotonin - sos there is extra serotonin floating around outside the cell GABA/Alcohol GABA is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter - blocks certain signals in the brain and spinal cord and produces a calming effect Alcohol mimics GABA (makes people feel calm and relaxed) When the body gets used to having lots of alcohol, it stops making its own GABA, so that person will feel stressed, depressed, and paranoid when they are not drinking (since they don’t have their body’s natural GABA) Physical symptoms of withdrawal include hot flashes, sweating, nausea, vomiting, shaking, delirium, hallucinations, seizures (alcohol withdrawal can be life threatening) Dopamine Creates intense feelings of pleasure and reinforces the body’s cravings for a certain reward Endorphins/Opioids Endorphins are hormones in the body that act as neurotransmitters to relieve pain and stress (released during exercise, eating, laughter, sexual activity) Endorphins bind to opioid receptors, causing some dopamine to be released Opioids mimic endorphins and binds to opioid receptors, creating calm and pain relief When the opioids bind to the opioid receptors, they produce excessive amounts of dopamine, resulting in a euphoric high When the body gets used to having opioids, it stops making its own natural endorphins , so that person will feel intense emotional stress and physical pain when not on opioids Physical withdrawal symptoms include hot or cold flashes, nausea, vomiting, shaking, bone and muscle pain, headaches, anxiety, irritability Addiction Physical Dependence: The body adapts to having the drug in the system, and keeps needing more and more to have the same effect Tolerance: The initial amount does not produce the same physical effect Withdrawal: The absence of the drug causes painful physical side effects Psychological Dependence: Drugs provide relief from unpleasant emotions, and a person can no longer tolerate those emotions without using drugs Brainstem Located at the base and leads into the spinal cord Oldest and most primitive part of the brain Responsible for involuntary actions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing, alertness, awakeness, consciousness Cerebellum Means “little brain” since it looks like a mini version of the full brain Responsible for voluntary movement, maintaining balance and muscle tone Cerebral Cortex Responsible for most advanced human functions (taste, smell, sight, hearing, thinking, memory, planning) Divided into the left and right hemispheres Comprised of four cortexes (frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital) Mirror image on both sides of the cortex - each cortex has a right and left lobe Occipital Lobe Located in the back of the head Responsible for processing visual information, including color, form, and motion Parietal Lobe Located at the top and the center of the head  Responsible for processing sensory information including touch, pain, and temperature, spatial awareness (knowing where things are in relation to each other), proprioception (your ability to sense your body’s position in space Temporal Lobe Located on either side of the head, by the ears Responsible for processing auditory information (sound), processing smell, language and memory Frontal Lobe Located at the top front of the head Responsible for highest level cognitive skills including planning, organizing, making decisions, attention, creativity, problem solving, impulse control, emotion regulation