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FOUNDATION OF PSYCHOLOGY: Lecture 1: History and Current Perspectives - psychology established in 1879 - psychology: scientific study of behavior and mental processes - scientific (objectively based on dada and methods) - behavior (observable acti...

FOUNDATION OF PSYCHOLOGY: Lecture 1: History and Current Perspectives - psychology established in 1879 - psychology: scientific study of behavior and mental processes - scientific (objectively based on dada and methods) - behavior (observable actions) - mental processes (thoughts, feelings, sensations, perception, motivations, dreams, subjective experiences) - functionalism and structuralism - psychology is the combination of philosophy and biology - philosophy: idea of certain kinds of knowledge or nativism & idea of mind and body are separate entities or dualism - biology: neurotransmission and neuropsychopharmacology study on the brain - epigenetics: neuroimaging techniques (EEG, fMRI, PET, TMS) - psychoanalytic theory: unconscious mental processes shape feelings, thoughts, and behaviors - emphasis on childhood experiences and early relationships as insight as to how they are the way they are - focused on the relationship formation between him and patients - resistance to therapy - identification of defense mechanisms - behaviorism: scientific study of observable behavior - develops principles of classical conditioning - extends that from animals to human behavior forms - develops reinforcement and punishment shaping behavior - humanistic psychology: focused on the positive potential of humans and clearly emphasis on factors that contribute to their well-being and happiness - cognitive psychology: scientific student of perception, memory, thought, and intelligence - influenced by the invention of the computer (human mind as an information processing device) - emphasis on mental processes and how they influence behavior - A major pioneer of the school of behaviorism was ______. He argued that psychology should focus on the study of observable behavior because ______ could not be reliably measured - B.F Skinner; mental processes Lecture 2: Psychological Sciences - skeptical, non-dogmatic, empirical (verified through evidence) - scientific theories/scientific method  - getting ideas, forming hypotheses, choosing a research design, choosing subject/measure, analyze data, report results, and replication - descriptive studies: - naturalistic observation - watching and recording the behavior of others in their natural environments - case studies - intensive study of single individual - Phineas Gage: rod went into his eye and through his frontal lobe, no language lose, memory on point, but many traits of his personality changed (changed from wholesome to raging) - Andrea Yates: killed her five children due to something faulty in her mind; heard voices in her head saying that she needs to protect her children from the devil and so she killed them to send them to heaven - self-report methodology - interviews : structured or unstructured one-on-one questioning - questionnaires and surveys are used to gather data from a larger number of people in a short time - likert scale - representative sample: if your sample is representative of the population, than you can generalize your findings to the entire population - western world, industrial, rich, democrat - dramatic and personal stories can be very persuasive, but often lead to overblown claims or dismissal/rejection or scientific findings contra to personal experiences - correlational research (r) - Determines an association between two variables - correlation coefficient: statistical measure of the relationship between two variables - when one increase, the other increases (+) and and when one decreases, the other also decreases (-) - correlation does NOT align with causation - experiments - independent variable - presumed “cause” - manipulated between control and experimental groups - dependent variable - presumed “effect” - outcome of interest measure  - the investigator manipulated on variable (IV) under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable (DV) as a result - If psychologists used a correlational design and discovered that intelligent parents have smarter children than unintelligent parents, this would demonstrate that: - c) intelligence of parents and children is positively correlated Lecture 3: Genes, Environment, and Behavior - genetics: from little to big all living organisms have their own genomes which all consist of a nucleus - sexually transmitted (23 chromosomes) - there are about 20,000 genes in our genome which makes up only 2% of out entire genome, and the rest is non-coding DNA - A sequence of 3 adjacent nucleotides (codon_ codes for a particular amino acid building up protein - these amino acids are chained together and are dependent on the different arrangements of tri-nucleotides that make up each gene - gene replication can create mistakes - mutations can arise, most of which are neutral, but accumulate over a generation and become heritable - FOXP2 Gene - found in all mammals and primates (anything that has a vertebrae) - humans have - genes are a factor in childhood maltreatment or low MAO activity and are used in cases to show that they committed crimes do to this - Which of the following is the correct order from largest to smallest unit - d) genomes → chromosomes → dna → gene → nucleotide Lecture 4: Developmental Psychology - zygote: fertilized egg with ~100 cells that continuously grows - two weeks after (to nine weeks), the zygote turns into an embryo where the major organ systems to develop - at 9 weeks the embryo turns in fetus (where the major organ systems continue to grow and specialize) - teratogens: are chemicals or viruses that can enter the placenta and harm the developing fetus/embryo - fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) - drinking alcohol during pregnancy which is associated with small brains, major body and facial deformities, intellectual disability, hyperactivity, & seizures - 13.5% of pregnant women report current drinking  - 5.2% reported binge drinking within the last 30 days - newborns - born with reflexes that aid in survival (sucking, rooting, grasping, crying) - confronted by touch, rocking, familiar noises - comforted when exposed to odors other than their mother’s milk - recognize and prefer parents voices - recognize faces of caregivers within a few months after birth - temperament - baby’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity - behaviorally inhibited: shy, fearful, high-reactive - behaviorally uninhibited: bold, positive mood, low-reactive - research has shown that most children stay in the same degree as they get older - Jerome Kagan Study: - emotional bond that forms between newborns and their caregivers - with this monkey experiment, he switched the newborn monkeys to have either outgoing or shy mothers so that they can study their personality and whether they were going to change and become different - origins of attachment - Harlow (1917) shows that infants bond with surrogate mothers because of bodily contact and not because of nourishment - John Bowlby developed the basic principles or attachment theory - heavily influenced by the world of Darwin and Harlow - attachment is an evolved mechanism that facilitates the survival of helpless offspring - Mary Ainsworth developed a classic producer for classifying different patterns of attachment - secure attachment style (60%) - easily engaged in exploration in caregivers presence - not wary of stranger - under stress, the signal need - actively seek proximity and contact, but tolerates absence - comforted by mom when she returns back - avoidant attachment style (20% insecure) - Engage in minimal exploration - avoid or ignore caregiver - does not exhibit distress upon desperation (no distress) - caregiver and stranger are treated the same - anxious-ambivalent attachment (20% insecure) - impoverished exploration - mere presence not reassuring - mixed reactions toward caregiver  - wary of stranger - role of parenting styles: - parents exhibit levels of warmth, support, and concern - secure attachment, high self-reliance, high social competence, high self-esteem, low aggression - When the mother leaves the room, the researcher notes that the child shows no signs of distress and ignores the mother upon her return. This infant would most likely be categorized as having a(n): - b) avoidant attachment style Lecture 5: Developmental Psychology II - autism spectrum disorder - persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts - avoidance of eye contact - don’t hear their name being called - not understanding gestures - difficulty expressing feelings - inability to understand how another person feels - disinterest in physical contact with others - being withdrawn and likes to do things alone - not making friends - trouble understanding jokes or sarcasm - restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities - preference of routines and anxiety/anger when its broken - unusual rituals or ways of playing - repetitive motions - saying a word or phrase repeatedly - particular area of interest that consumes a lot of the child’s attention - sensory behaviors - being preoccupied with lights or moving objects - craving a certain sensory input such as smell or tactile pressure - dislike of certain kinds of sensory stimulation like loud noises - diagnosis specifies that: - “with or without language impairment” (~40% are nonverbal) - “with or without intellectual impairment” (~35% have impairment) - symptoms typically recognized between 1-4 years old - many individuals display “regressive phenotypes” meaning that normal development until they are 2 years old and then theres a rapid deterioration of their child - 1 in 36 births are in the U.S are on the spectrum of Autism - 3-4x common among boys and girls (somehow are better at masking it) - comorbidity w/ epilepsy, anxiety, and mood disorders, ADHD, and gastrointestinal issues (avoiding/restrictive food intake disorder) - Asperger’s is no longer an official diagnosis of DSM-5 - Based on population from 5 countries, the heritability of ASD is approximately 80% - ~400 genes have been shown to be associated with ASD - risk factors: - prenatal exposure to fever - maternal metabolic conditions during pregnancy (diabetes, obesity) - insufficient material folic acid intake during pregnancy - extreme prematurity or low birth weight - increased parental age - having an older sibling with autism - autism is NOT a degenerative disorder - many teens and adults with ASD repost using compensation strategies and coping mechanisms to mask their difficulties in public but suffer from stress and effort maintaining a socially acceptable status (code-switching) - many individuals with ASD can find a niche that matches their special interests and skills thus are productively employed - Jean Piaget: - piagetian terminology - Schema: concept of framework that organizes and interprets information (categories of knowledge) - assimilation: interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas - accommodation: adapting current schemas to incorporate the new information - we didn't start out being able to think like adults - studies errors in cognition made by children in order to understand in what ways kids think differently than adults - Stage 1 (sensorimotor: birth - 2 years) - infants acquire information about the world by sensing and moving around within it - the idea that objects continue to exist even if they are not present (out of sight, out of mind) - Stage 2 (preoperational: 2 - 7 years old) - have a basic understanding of the physical world  - use visual models to represent other places and perform pretend play - display thinking at the beginning of this stage - Stage 3 (concrete operational: 7 - 12 years old) - children can think logically about concrete events, grasp concrete analogies, and perform arithmetic operations - grasp the concept of conservation - Stage 4 (formal operational: 12 years old - adulthood) - individuals can now think logically about abstract concepts - emergence of hypothetical thinking - capability of solving hypothetical problems and deducing consequences - moral reasoning becomes more sophisticated - During which of Piaget’s stages does a child normally develop a “theory of mind” ? - b) preoperational Lecture 6: Neurons and Neurotransmitters - brain cells are always firing in patterns through the study of the mind beginning with a neuron - basic neuron structure - sensory neurons → body - nervous system - motor neurons → nervous system - body - interneurons → local connectors within the spinal cord and brain - mirror neurons → monkey see monkey do - found accidently when a study was going on with monkeys that a neuron in their brain fires when someone else picked up the peanut - resting membrane potential - always -70 mV - different in voltage between the inside and outside of neuron at rest  - high concentration of Na+ (sodium) on the outside of neuron - high concentration of K+ (potassium) on the inside of neuron - action potential - a brief reversal of electron polarization of the neuron - depolarization: sodium goes into the axon making it more positive inside - repolarization: potassium moves out of the axon, reestablishing resting potential - speed of electrical conductance depends on whether the axon has a myelin sheath - no myelin → continuous conduction - myelinated → saltatory conduction - gray matter: somas and dendrites - white matter: myelinated axons and glial cells - synapse & neurotransmitters - the end of the axon contains synaptic vesicles - synaptic vesicles control chemical messengers called neurotransmitters - when the action potential reaches the end of the axon, it triggers the release of the neurotransmitters into the synapse (attach to receptor proteins on the receiving neuron’s dendrites) - specific neurotransmitters bind to specific receptor sites like keys fitting into locks - excitatory neurotransmitters → depolarize the postsynaptic membrane which increases the chance of action potential - inhibitory neurotransmitters → hyperpolarize the postsynaptic membrane which decreases the change of action potential Acetylcholine - stimulated by nicotine - contributes to the regulation of memory and attention - released by motor neurons and controlling the skeletal muscles Dopamine - controls voluntary movements - circuits the “reward pathway” Norepinephrine - contributes to mood and arousal - cocaine and amphetamines elevate the activity of these synapses Serotonin - involved in mood regulation and sleep, eating, aggression, and etc. - antidepressant drugs affect serotonin circuits GABA - serves as widely distributed  inhibitory transmitter - easy to make you unconscious - antianxiety drugs Glutamate - serves as a exhibitory transmitters - involved in learning and memory Endorphins - resembles opiate drugs - plays role in pain relief and response to stress - contributes to eating behaviors - The earliest symptoms of Huntington’s disease are most likely to be the result of damage to dendritic receptors that bind with: - b) dopamine