Midterm Introduction to Psychology PDF

MODULE 2 (MIDTERM): INTROPSY Lesson 1: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION Sensation Three Aspects to our Perception of Light - occurs when special receptors in the sense 1. Brightness organs—the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and taste...

MODULE 2 (MIDTERM): INTROPSY Lesson 1: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION Sensation Three Aspects to our Perception of Light - occurs when special receptors in the sense 1. Brightness organs—the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and taste - is determined by the amplitude of the buds—are activated, allowing various forms of wave—how high or how low the wave actually outside stimuli to become neural signals in the is. The higher the wave, the brighter the light brain. This process of converting outside stimuli, appears to be. Low waves are dimmer. such as light, into neural activity is called 2. Color or hue transduction. - is largely determined by the length of the wave. Long wavelengths (measured in nanometers) Weber’s law of just noticeable differences/difference are found at the red end of the visible spectrum threshold (the portion of the whole spectrum of light that - is the smallest difference between two stimuli is visible to the human eye; see Figure 3.1), that is detectable 50 percent of the time. whereas shorter wavelengths are found at the Weber’s law simply means that whatever the blue end. difference between stimuli might be, it is always 3. Saturation a constant. - refers to the purity of the color people perceive: A highly saturated red, for example, would Absolute threshold contain only red wavelengths, whereas a - is the lowest level of stimulation that a person less-saturated red might contain a mixture of can consciously detect 50 percent of the time wavelengths. the stimulation is present. The Perception of Color Note: Understand sensory adaptation and cognitive 1. Trichromatic Theory habituation - First proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and - Sensory adaptation is an automatic, involuntary later modified by Hermann von Helmholtz in process that involves becoming less sensitive to 1852, this theory proposed three types of sensory stimulation. Habituation is a behavioral cones: red cones, blue cones, and green cones, phenomenon involving a decreased response to one for each of the three primary colors of light. something that occurs over time. - In the trichromatic theory, different shades of colors correspond to different amounts of light SENSE OF SIGHT received by each of these three types of cones. - Light is a complicated phenomenon. Although These cones then fire their message to the scientists have long argued over the nature of brain’s vision centers. It is the combination of light, they finally have agreed that light has the cones and the rate at which they are firing that properties of both waves and particles. determines the color that will be seen. - When people experience the physical 2. Opponent-process Theory properties of light, they are not really aware of - The phenomenon of the color afterimage is its dual, wavelike, and particle-like, nature. explained by the second theory of color With regard to its psychological properties, perception, called the opponent-process theory there are three aspects to our perception of (De Valois & De Valois, 1993; Hurvich & light: brightness, color, and saturation. Jameson, 1957), based on an idea first suggested by Edwald Hering in 1874 (Finger, 1994). In opponent-process theory, there are  four primary colors: red, green, blue, and yellow. vibrations from the eardrum. The stirrup, the The colors are arranged in pairs, with each last bone in the chain, causes a membrane member of the pair as the opponent. Red is covering the opening of the inner ear to vibrate. paired with its opponent's green, and blue is The Inner Ear paired with its opponent's yellow. - This membrane is called the oval window, and its vibrations set off another chain reaction THE SENSE OF HEARING within the inner ear. The inner ear is a Sound waves snail-shaped structure called the cochlea, which - are simply the vibrations of the molecules of air is filled with fluid. When the oval window that surround us. Sound waves do have the vibrates, it causes the fluid in the cochlea to same properties as light waves vibrate. This fluid surrounds a membrane through—wavelength, amplitude, and purity. running through the middle of the cochlea Wavelengths called the basilar membrane. - are interpreted by the brain as frequency or pitch (high, medium, or low). Perceiving Pitch Amplitude - Pitch refers to how high or low a sound is. - is interpreted as volume, how soft or loud a sound is. 1. Place Theory Frequency - is based on an idea proposed in 1863 by - is measured in cycles (waves) per second, or Hermann von Helmholtz and elaborated on and hertz (Hz). Human limits are between 20 and modified by Georg von Békésy, beginning with 20,000 Hz, with the most sensitivity from about experiments first published in 1928 (Békésy, 2000 to 4000 Hz, very important for 1960). In this theory, the pitch a person hears conversational speech. depends on where the hair cells that are stimulated are located in the organ of the Corti. The Structure of the Ear For example, if the person is hearing a The Outer Ear high-pitched sound, all of the hair cells near the - The pinna is the visible, external part of the ear oval window will be stimulated, but if the sound that serves as a kind of concentrator, funneling is low-pitched, all of the hair cells that are the sound waves from the outside into the stimulated will be located farther away on the structure of the ear. The pinna is also the organ of Corti. entrance to the auditory canal (or ear canal), the 2. Frequency Theory short tunnel that runs down to the tympanic - is developed by Ernest Rutherford in 1886. It membrane, or eardrum. When sound waves hit states that pitch is related to how fast the the eardrum, they cause three tiny bones in the basilar membrane vibrates. The faster this middle ear to vibrate. membrane vibrates, the higher the pitch; the The Middle Ear slower it vibrates, the lower the pitch. - The three tiny bones in the middle ear are 3. Volley Principle known as the hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), - appears to account for pitches from about 400 and stirrup (stapes), each name stemming from Hz up to about 4000. In this explanation, the shape of the respective bone. Collectively groups of auditory neurons take turns firing in a they are referred to as the ossicles and they are process called volleying. the smallest bones in the human body. The vibration of these three bones amplifies the Types of Hearing Impairments  - Hearing impairment is the term used to refer to The Five Basic Tastes difficulties in hearing. A person can be partially - In 1916 a German psychologist named Hans hearing impaired or totally hearing impaired, Henning proposed that there are four primary and the treatment for hearing loss vary tastes: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. according to the reason for the impairment. Lindemann (1996) supported the idea that there is a fifth kind of taste receptor that detects 1. Conduction hearing impairment or conductive a pleasant “brothy” taste associated with foods hearing loss like chicken soup, tuna, kelp, cheese, and soy - refers to problems with the mechanics of the products, among others. Lindemann proposed outer or middle ear and means that sound that this fifth taste be called umami, a Japanese vibrations cannot be passed from the eardrum word first coined in 1908 by Dr. Kikunae to the cochlea. The cause might be damage to Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University to describe the bones or the middle ear (usually from an the taste. infection). 2. Nerve hearing impairment, or sensorineural hearing Olfaction/Olfactory sense loss - is the ability to smell odors. The outer part of - the problem lies either in the inner ear or in the the nose serves the same purpose for odors auditory pathways and cortical areas of the that the pinna and ear canal serve for sounds: brain. This is the most common type of Both are merely ways to collect the sensory permanent hearing loss. Normal aging causes information and get it to the part of the body loss of hair cells in the cochlea, and exposure to that will translate it into neural signals. The loud noises can damage hair cells. olfactory receptor cells each have about a half - Tinnitus is a fancy word for an extremely dozen to a dozen little “hairs,” called cilia, that annoying ringing in one’s ears, and it can also be project into the cavity. Like taste buds, there are caused by infections or loud noises—including receptor sites on these hair cells that send loud music in headphones. signals to the brain when stimulated by the molecules of substances that are in the air THE CHEMICAL SENSES moving past them. The olfactory bulbs are Taste buds located right on top of the sinus cavity on each - are the common name for the taste receptor side of the brain directly beneath the frontal cells, special kinds of neurons found in the lobes. mouth that are responsible for the sense of taste, or gustation. Most taste buds are located Note: The outer part of the nose serves the same on the tongue, but there are a few on the roof of purpose for odors that the pinna and ear canal serve for the mouth, the cheeks, under the tongue, and in sounds: Both are merely ways to collect the sensory the throat as well. How sensitive people are to information and get it to the part of the body that will various tastes depends on how many taste buds translate it into neural signals. they have; some people have only around 500, whereas others have 20 times that number. THE SOMESTHETIC SENSES The latter are called “supertasters” and need - It’s really more accurate to refer to these as the far less seasoning in their food than those with body senses, or somesthetic senses. The first fewer taste buds (Bartoshuk, 1993). part of that word, soma, means “body". The second part, esthetic, means “feeling,” hence,  the name. There are three somesthetic sense small on the retina, it will be interpreted as systems: being very far away. - The skin senses (having to do with touch, 2. Shape constancy pressure, temperature, and pain), the kinesthetic - is why a person still perceives a coin as a circle sense (having to do with the location of body even if it is held at an angle that makes it parts in relation to each other), and the appear to be an oval on the retina. vestibular senses (having to do with movement 3. Brightness constancy and body position). - is the tendency to perceive the apparent brightness of an object as the same even when The Skin Sense the light conditions change. - Skin is an organ. Its purposes include more than simply keeping bodily fluids in and germs Gestalt Principle out; the skin also receives and transmits 1. Figure-Ground Relationships information from the outside world to the - Refer to the tendency to perceive objects or central nervous system (specifically, to the figures as existing in a background. People somatosensory cortex). seem to have a preference for picking out The Kinesthetic Sense figures from backgrounds even as early as birth. - Special receptors located in the muscles, 2. Proximity tendons, and joints are part of the body’s sense - is the tendency to perceive objects that are of movement and position in space—the close to one another as part of the same movement and location of the arms, legs, and grouping. so forth in relation to one another. 3. Similarity The Vestibular Sense - refers to the tendency to perceive things that - The name of this particular sense comes look similar as being part of the same group. from a Latin word that means “entrance” or 4. Closure “chamber.” The structures for this sense are - is the tendency to complete figures that are located in the innermost chamber of the ear. incomplete. There are two kinds of vestibular organs, the 5. Continuity otolith organs, and the semicircular canals. - refers to the tendency to perceive things as simple as possible with a continuous pattern PERCEPTION rather than with a complex, broken-up pattern. Perception - is the method by which the brain takes all the Depth Perception sensations a person experiences at any given - It is the capability to see the world in three moment and allows them to be interpreted in dimensions some meaningful fashion. 1. Monocular Cues The Constancies - are often referred to as pictorial depth cues 1. Size constancy because artists can use these cues to give the - is the tendency to interpret an object as always illusion of depth to paintings and drawings. being the same size, regardless of its distance 1.1 Linear Perspective from the viewer (or the size of the image it casts - is the tendency for lines that are actually on the retina). So if an object that is normally parallel to seem to converge on each other. perceived to be about 6 feet tall appears very 1.2 Relative Size Perceptual Illusions - is the tendency when the objects that people Hermann Grid expect to be of a certain size appear to be small - One explanation for this illusion is attributed to and are, therefore, assumed to be much farther the responses of neurons in the primary visual away. cortex that respond best to bars of light of a 1.3 Overlap or interposition specific orientation (Schiller & Carvey, 2005). - happens if one object seems to be blocking Such neurons are called “simple cells” and another object, people assume that the blocked were first discovered by David Hubel and object is behind the first one and, therefore, Torsten Wiesel (Hubel & Wiesel, 1959). farther away. They also discovered other cells including 1.4 Aerial Perspective “complex cells,” which respond to orientation - occurs when the farther away an object is, the and movement, and “end-stopped cells,” which hazier the object will appear to be due to tiny respond best to corners, curvature, or sudden particles of dust, dirt, and other pollutants in edges. the air. 1.5 Texture Gradient LESSON 2: CONSCIOUSNESS - is another trick used by artists to give the Consciousness illusion of depth in a painting. - is one's awareness of everything that is going 1.6 Motion Parallax on around and inside one's own head at any 1.7 Accommodation given moment which is used to organize one's - makes use of something that happens inside behavior. the eye. The lens of the human eye is flexible - Much of people’s time awake is spent in a state and held in place by a series of muscles. The called waking consciousness in which their discussion of the eye earlier in this chapter thoughts, feelings, and sensations are clear and mentioned the process of visual accommodation organized, and they feel alert. But there are as the tendency of the lens to change its shape, many times in daily activities and in life when or thickness, in response to objects near or far people experience states of consciousness that away. differ from this organized waking state. These 2. Binocular Cues variations are called “altered states of 2.1 Convergence consciousness.” - refers to the rotation of the two eyes in their sockets to focus on a single object. Altered State of Consciousness 2.2 Binocular disparity - It occurs when there is a shift in the quality or - is a scientific way of saying that because the pattern of your mental activity. Thoughts may eyes are a few inches apart, they don’t see become fuzzy and disorganized and you may exactly the same image. feel less alert, or your thoughts may take bizarre turns, as they so often do in dreams. An illusion is a perception that does not correspond to Sometimes being in an altered state may mean reality: People think they see something when the being in a state of increased alertness, as when reality is quite different. Another way of thinking of under the influence of a stimulant. illusions is as visual stimuli that “fool” the eye. (Illusions - There are many forms of altered states of are not hallucinations: An illusion is a distorted consciousness: daydreaming, being hypnotized perception of something that is really there, but a or achieving a meditative state, or being under hallucination originates in the brain, not in reality).  the influence of certain drugs such as caffeine, sleeping and conserving energy, it is more tobacco, or alcohol. likely to remain unharmed. 2. The Restorative Theory of Sleep SLEEP - It states that sleep is necessary for the physical - It is one of the human body’s biological health of the body. During sleep, chemicals that rhythms, natural cycles of activity that the body were used up during the day’s activities are must go through. replenished and cellular damage is repaired - Circadian rhythm is a cycle that takes “about a (Adam, 1980; Moldofsky, 1995). day” to complete. Stages of Sleep The Role of the Hypothalamus 1. N1 (R&K Stage 1): while awake, primarily beta - The release of melatonin is influenced by a activity, more alpha as one relaxes, the onset of sleep in structure deep within the tiny hypothalamus in N1 is associated with alpha being replaced by theta. an area called the 2. N2 (R&K Stage 2): EEG sleep spindles appear; suprachiasmatic(SOO-prah-ki-AS-ma-tik) theta activity is predominant; body the temperature nucleus, the internal clock that tells people continues to drop, heart rate and breathing slow. when to wake up and when to fall asleep. 3. N3 (R&K Stages 3 and 4): deepest stage of sleep; - Melatonin supplements are often used to treat a delta activity makes up 20% to more condition called jet lag, in which the body’s than 50% of EEG activity; the body is at its lowest level circadian rhythm has been disrupted by of functioning and people are hard to awaken; sleep traveling to another time zone. It was also once disorders such as sleepwalking and night terrors occur theorized that serotonin promoted sleepiness. in this stage. However, it is not that simple. 4. R (R&K REM): dreaming occurs, including Serotonin-producing neurons are most active nightmares; eyes move rapidly under the eyelids and during wakefulness, less active during SWS, EEG indicates the presence of beta, but the body is and relatively inactive during REM. typically still, due to sleep paralysis; REM behavior - Body temperature plays a part in inducing disorder occurs when the body is not still or acts out sleep, too. The suprachiasmatic nucleus, as part dreams, usually seen in men over age 60. of the hypothalamus, controls body temperature. The higher the body temperature, Sleep Disorders the more alert people are; the lower the 1. Insomnia is the inability to get to sleep, stay asleep, temperature, the sleepier they are. or get good quality sleep. 2. Sleep apnea consists of loud snoring and stopped Theories of Sleep breathing. 1. The Adaptive Theory of Sleep 3. Narcolepsy consists of sudden onset of REM sleep - It proposes that animals and humans evolved during otherwise waking hours. different sleep patterns to avoid being present during their predators’ normal hunting times, DREAMS which typically would be at night. For example, - Freud believed dreams to be a kind of wish if a human or a prey animal (one a predator will fulfillment for his patients. eat) is out and about at night, they are more at - The manifest content of a dream is the actual risk of being eaten. However, if during active dream itself. hunting hours the prey is in a safe place - Latent Content. Freud believed that the true  meaning of a dream was hidden, or latent, and - Physical dependence: user’s body needs a drug only expressed in symbols. to function; drug tolerance and withdrawal are warning signs/symptoms. Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis - Psychological dependence: user believes the - Is merely another kind of thinking that occurs drug is needed to function. when people sleep. It is less realistic because it comes not from the outside of reality but from Stimulants within people’s memories and experiences of - They are a class of drugs that cause either the the past. The frontal lobes, which people sympathetic division or the central nervous normally use in daytime thinking, are more or system (or both) to increase levels of less shut down during daydreaming, which may functioning, at least temporarily. In simple also account for the unrealistic and often bizarre terms, stimulants “speed up” the nervous nature of dreams (Macquet & Franck, 1996). system—the heart may beat faster or the brain Activation-information-mode Model may work faster, for example. Many of these - In this newer version, information that is drugs are called “uppers” for this reason. accessed during waking hours can have an Amphetamines influence on the synthesis of dreams. In other Cocaine words, when the brain is “making up” a dream Nicotine to explain its own activation, it uses meaningful Caffeine bits and pieces of the person’s experiences from the previous days or the last few days rather Depressants than random items from memory. - They are drugs that slow the central nervous system. HYPNOSIS Barbiturates - It is a state of consciousness in which a person Benzodiazepines is especially susceptible to suggestion. Alcohol Although a lot of misunderstandings exist about Narcotics hypnosis, it can be a useful tool when properly Morphine managed. Heroin Methadone Theories 1. Dissociation Hallucinogens - One part of the mind is aware of - These cause the brain to alter its interpretation actions/activities taking place, while the of sensations “hypnotized” part is not. LSD 2. Social-cognitive Theory PCP - Suggests that people assume roles based on MDMA expectations for a given situation. marijuana INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS LESSON 3: LEARNING - Psychoactive drugs are chemical substances Learning that alter thinking, perception, memory, or some - is any relatively permanent change in behavior combination of those abilities. brought about by experience or practice. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING 4. Spontaneous recovery: the reappearance of a - It is learning to elicit an involuntary, reflex-like, previously extinguished CR response to a stimulus other than the original, 5. Higher-order conditioning: occurs when strong CS is natural stimulus that normally produces the paired with a new neutral stimulus; a new previously response. neutral stimulus becomes a second CS Elements of Classical Conditioning OPERANT CONDITIONING 1. Unconditioned Stimulus - Classical conditioning is the kind of learning - It is the stimulus that ordinarily leads to the that occurs with automatic, involuntary involuntary response. In the case of Pavlov’s behavior. The kind of learning that applies to dogs, food is the unconditioned stimulus. voluntary behavior is called operant conditioning, which is both a different form and 2. Unconditioned Response similar to classical conditioning. - It is the automatic and involuntary response to Thorndike’s Puzzles Box and The law of Effect the unconditioned stimulus. - Thorndike placed a hungry cat inside a “puzzle box” from which the only escape was to press a 3. Conditioned Stimulus lever located on the floor of the box. Thorndike - Pavlov determined that almost any kind of placed a dish of food outside the box, so the stimulus could become associated with the hungry cat is highly motivated to get out. unconditioned stimulus (UCS) if it is paired with Thorndike observed that the cat would move the UCS often enough. around the box, pushing and rubbing u against the walls in an effort to escape. Eventually, the 4. Conditioned Response cat would accidentally push the lever, opening - The response that is given to the CS the door. Upon escaping, the cat was fed from a (conditioned stimulus) is not usually quite as dish placed just outside the box. The lever is the strong as the original unconditioned response stimulus, the pushing of the lever is the (UCR), but it is essentially the same response. response, and the sequence is both escape (good) and food (even better). - Law of Effect: If an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated. If an action is followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will tend not to be repeated. B.F. Skinner - Voluntary behavior is what people and animals do to operate in the world. When people Key Features perform a voluntary action, it is to get 1. Stimulus generalization: response to a stimulus that something they want or to avoid something is similar to the original CS they don’t want. 2. Stimulus discrimination: response to different stimuli in different ways Reinforcement 3. Extinction: presentation of the CS in the absence of - is anything that, when following a response, the UCS leads to a reduction in the CR  causes that response to be more likely to acts as a reinforcer of the CS-CR bond. It should come happen again. as no surprise, then, that extinction in operant conditioning involves the removal of the reinforcement. Note: Analyze the difference between: - Primary reinforcer vs secondary reinforcer. Note: Comprehend generalization and spontaneous The primary reinforcer is a biological stimulus recovery causing involuntary reflexes while a secondary - Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance, reinforcer is a conditioned stimulus causing after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned learned behavior. response. Generalization is the tendency to - Positive reinforcement vs negative respond to stimuli that are similar to the reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is a conditioned stimulus. process that strengthens the likelihood of a particular response by adding a stimulus after Cognitive Learning Theory the behavior is performed. Negative Tolman’s Latent Learning reinforcement also strengthens the likelihood of - He worked with rats in a maze. a particular response, but by removing an - The idea that learning could happen without undesirable consequence. reinforcement, and then later affect behavior, was not something traditional operant Schedules of Reinforcement conditioning could explain 1. Partial reinforcement - interval schedule - the number of responses Kohler - Insight Learning that is important - He worked with chimpanzees and set up a - ratio schedule - a certain number of responses problem situation. is required for each reinforcer - Chimp first exhibited a trial-and-error approach 2. Continuous reinforcement and later appeared to experience a sudden insight into solving the problem (retrieving a Punishment is actually the opposite of reinforcement. It banana) is an event or stimulus that, when following a response, causes that response to be less likely to happen again. It Seligman weakens responses, whereas reinforcement (no matter - He originally studied escape and avoidance whether it is positive or negative) strengthens learning in dogs. responses. - He discovered that the animals did nothing in a specific situation Two Kinds of Punishment - and learned helplessness: the tendency to fail 1. Punishment by application to act to escape from a situation because of a 2. Punishment by removal past history of repeated failures; or according to recent work by Maier, possibly due to not Shaping learning how to relax and take control - Is done when small steps toward some ultimate accompanied by activation of key brain goal are reinforced until the goal itself is structures reached. Observational Learning Extinction in classical conditioning involves the removal - It is the learning of new behavior through the of the UCS, the conditioned stimulus that eventually observation of a model; typically associated  with the classic work of Bandura and the “Bobo doll” study. Key Elements of Learners 1. pay attention to the model 2. have the desire or motivation to perform the action 3. able to remember what was done 4. capable of reproducing, or imitating, the actions of the model