Psychology Notes PDF

Chapter 1: The Evolution of Psychology (DONE) - Founder of psychology: Wundt - Watson - Founded behaviourism = scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour. He believed this bc of verifiability. - Behaviour = observable response/activity - Freud - Physician,...

Chapter 1: The Evolution of Psychology (DONE) - Founder of psychology: Wundt - Watson - Founded behaviourism = scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour. He believed this bc of verifiability. - Behaviour = observable response/activity - Freud - Physician, used psychoanalysis. “Psychodynamic” - Unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are below the conscious awareness but influence behaviour. - His psychoanalytic theory attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behaviour - Talked abt how behaviour is correlated to how people deal with their sexual urges - Humanism - emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth. - Rogers - Human behaviour is governed by ppl’s “self-concept” - Ppl NEED to fulfil their potential and evolve - First applied psychology was clinical. Clinical psychology concerns the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders - Cognition = mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge/conscious - People’s manipulations of mental images surely influence how they behave - Evolutionary psychology examines behaviour in terms of their value for members of a species over the course of many generations. - Natural selection favours behaviours that enhance reproductive success - Seligman - Positive psychology uses theory and research to better understand the positive, creative, and fulfilling aspects of existence. - Psychology studies behaviour and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it. - The nine research areas in psychology are: - Developmental psychology - Human development across the lifespan - Social psychology - Interpersonal behaviour and social forces that govern behaviour. Attitude, prejudice, aggression - Experimental psychology - Sensation, perception, motivation and emotion  - Behavioural neuroscience/biological psychology - Genetic factors on behaviour and the nervous system - Cognitive psychology - Memory, reasoning, language, info processing, problem solving, creativity, decision making - Personality - People’s consistency in behaviour. - Psychometrics - Design of tests to assess personality, etc. Techniques for statistical analysis - Educational psychology - How people learn and teach. - Health psychology - How psychological factors relate to physical health, treatment of illness, etc. - Applied psychology/specialization: - Clinical psychology - Counselling psychology - Educational (improve teaching and training) and school psychology (counsel children) - Industrial and organizational psychology (HR, improve morale) - Clinical psychologists go to grad school for a doctorate degree. Psychiatrists go to med school for an MD and do residency - Psychiatry = medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems Chapter 2: The Research Enterprise in Psychology Scientific approach - Psychologists/Scientific Enterprise goal’s: measurement and description of behaviour, understanding and prediction, and application and control. - Hypothesis = a statement about the relationship between two or + variables. - Variables = measurable conditions, characteristics, or behaviours that are controlled or observed. - Theory = interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations. - Peer review are essential for error control - Scientific investigation steps: formulate hypothesis (make theory into testable hypothesis), design the study (empirical test), collect data, analyze, report findings - Operational definition describes the actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable. - Scientific approach advantages = clarity/precision and its relative intolerance of error. Experimental Research/Method - Experiment = research method where a variable is manipulated controllably so changes occur in a second variable. “Increases” = Experiment  - X = independent variable (varies in order to see its impact on another variable) - Y = dependent variable (thought to be affected bc of the change in the independent variable) - Basic elements of an experiment: Hypothesis → random assignment → manipulation of independent variable → measurement of dependent variable → conclusion - Experimental group = ppl receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable. - Control group = ppl don’t receive the special treatment given to the experimental group. - ​Extraneous variables = variables other than the independent variable that might influence the dependent variable - Confounding variables = two variables are linked in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their specific effects - Advantage: - Most powerful research method to detect cause and effect relationship - Disadvantage: - Experiments are often artificial (fix: field experiments use settings that are very much like real life but have less control) - Can’t be used to explore some questions (bc of ethics/practicality) Correlational Research - Describes the strength of the relationship between two variables - Types: positive (variables covary in the same direction/up slope) or negative (variables covary in the opp direction/down slope) - Correlation coefficient = Numerical index of degree of relationship - The closer to -1 or 1 = strong relationship - Correlation does not = causation - Third hidden variable can account for the relationship between variables tho Descriptive Research - Can’t detect cause-and-effect relationships between variables - Describes patterns of behaviour and discovers links between variables - Naturalistic observation = observation of behaviour without intervening directly with the participants - Studies behaviour w/ conditions that are less artificial than experiments - Difficult to translate into numerical data - Hard to not affect their participants’ behaviour - Reactivity = a participant’s behaviour is altered by the presence of the observer - Case study = investigation of an individual participant or group  - Good for disorders - Case studies such as Milner’s work with the patient H.M. have given us insight into the brain and its connection to behaviour - Investigators analyze a collection of case studies to look for patterns that permit general conclusions - Highly subjective tho - Survey = questionnaires or interviews to gather information about specific aspects of participants’ behaviour that are difficult to observe directly - Good for important social issues, easy to collect data - Advantage: - Broadens the scope that psychologists are able to study - Good for after the fact analysis (good for ethics) - Disadvantage: - Can’t control events to isolate cause and effect so it can’t demonstrate conclusively that variables are related Flaws in Research (Sample = collection of participants selected for observation in an empirical study.) Sampling bias exists when a sample is not representative of the population Placebo effects = participants’ expectations lead them to experience some change even though they get ineffectual treatment. Social desirability bias (distortions in self-report data) = tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself (Response set = response that is unrelated to the content of the questions.) Replication = repetition of a study to see whether the earlier results are duplicated. Experimenter bias Chapter 3: The Biological Bases of Behaviour Nervous System - Brain is made of neurons and glia - Neurons = cells in the nervous system that receive and transmit info - A synapse is the connection point where information is passed from neurons - Neurons’ cell body (soma) contain the nucleus which makes neurotransmitters - Dendrites collect incoming signals - Axon = long fibre that sends signals away from the soma to other neurons, muscles, or glands  - Axon terminals release chemicals to affect the activity of other neurons. - Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that enable communication between neurons. Made in the neuron, stored in synaptic terminals, and detached from the synapse after their job is done. - Acetylcholine (ACh): attention, arousal and memory. Alzheimers - Dopamine: Voluntary movement. Drugs elevate dopamine. Parkinsons, schizophrenia, and addictive disorders - Norepinephrine: mood and arousal. Depresion - Serotonin: sleep, eating and aggression. Depressive, obsessive-compulsive and eating disorders - GABA: anxiety and sleep/arousal. Anxiety disorder - Endorphins: pain relief and response to stress Peripheral nervous system (PNS) - Made up of all the nerves that lie outside the brain and spinal cord - Nerves = bundles of neuron fibres in the peripheral nervous system - Afferent nerves = info from the peripheral limbs to the CNS - Efferent nerves = info from the CNS to peripheral limbs - The peripheral nervous system = the somatic nervous system (skeletal muscles, sensory receptor, may be voluntary) and the autonomic nervous system (heart, blood, stress response, involuntary) - Parasympathetic (autonomic NS) = conserves bodily resources - Sympathetic (autonomic NS) = fight or flight Central nervous system (CNS) - Brain (including retina) and spinal cord The brain - Hindbrain = includes the cerebellum, medulla and the pons - Medulla = in charge of unconscious but vital functions - Pons = sleep and arousal - Cerebellum = coordinating movement - Midbrain = between the hindbrain and the forebrain. Responsible for vision, hearing, and dopamine - Forebrain = largest and most complex region of the brain, includes: - Cerebrum = complex though. Consists of two hemispheres - Right is creativity, controlling the right side of the body, and better with nonverbal processing - Left is logic, controls the left side of the body, and better at verbal processing  - Broca’s area = speech production, and Wernicke’s area = language comprehension. - Thalamus = sensory info must pass through before getting to the cerebral cortex (outside the cerebrum) - Cerebral cortex (what makes us human) = occipital lobe (vision), parietal lobe (touch), temporal lobe (auditory), frontal (movement, which has the primary motor cortex) - Corpus callosum = what keeps hemispheres together - Hypothalamus = regulates basic biological needs (4Fs) + temp - Limbic system = centre of emotion, memory and motivation - Amygdala (the learning of fear responses and basic emotional responses) - Hippocampus (consolidation of memories) - Pleasure centres - Split brain surgery cuts the cerebral hemispheres to reduce epileptic seizures (seizures start in one hemisphere and spread to the other) Endocrine system - The first major communicating system within the body - Made of glands that secrete hormones - Neurotransmitters communicate across short distances, fast and direct. Hormones can communicate across mid distances, slow, and to many targets - Controlled by the NS through the hypothalamus by controlling the pit gland - Pituitary gland releases hormones, stimulating activity in other endocrine glands (like adrenal glands for emergency) - Oxytocin is a hormone released by the pituitary gland, which regulates reproductive behaviours. Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception Sensation - Based on activity of the sense receptors - How physical E is transformed into neural impulses - Light = wavelengths that hit the retina and transformed into sight in the brain Eyes and Light - Light enters through the cornea that forms an upside-down image of objects on the retina, but the brain knows thats its not acc upside-down - Amplitude = brightness, wavelength = colour, purity = saturation - Lens is the transparent eye structure that focuses the light rays falling on the retina.  - Pupil = the opening in the centre of the iris that regulates the amount of light passing into the end of your eye. Dilating will get more light, but the image is less sharp - Saccades = eye movement - Retina = tissue lining the back of your eye that absorbs light, processes images, and sends info to the brain. Rods and cones detect light. - Cone: daylight vision and colour vision. Fovea in the retina contains only cones. Sharpness is greatest at this spot - Rod: night and peripheral vision. More than cones. - Optic disc = place on retina where the optic nerve fibres (including rods and cones) exit the eye. No photoreceptors = blind spot Optic chiasm: Left visual field strikes the right side of each retina and is processed by the right hemisphere. Visual cortex = back of occipital lobe where visual input arrives Cells in the visual cortex feature detectors, which r neurons that respond to specific and complex stimuli Feature analysis = the process of detecting specific elements in visual input and assembling them into a more complex form. (lines = figures) - Assumes that form perception involved bottom-up processing (detect features of stimulus, combine features into more complex forms, then recognize stimulus). Individual elements to the whole. World to sense to the brain. - Top-down processing: form a hypothesis about the stimulus as a whole, examine features to check hypothesis, recognize stimulus. Whole to its elements Auditory Perception + Sensation - Orchestra = sound waves that hit eardrum that have little hairs where the air molecules that vibrate run through = musical experience - Amplitude = loudness, frequency = pitch Perception - Elaboration, transformation, and interpretation of what is registered by senses. Assigns meaning to sensory experiences Form Perception: - Gestalt Principles: - Figure-ground relationship: The figure is the thing being looked at, and the ground is the background against which it stands. - Grouping principles:  - Essentially, distal stimuli are what we perceive from a distance, and proximal stimuli are how we actually experience them through our senses. - A perceptual hypothesis is an inference about which distal stimuli could be responsible for the proximal stimuli sensed. - To see objects in the distance your lens flattens. Closeup = rounded - Reversible figure = a drawing that is compatible with two interpretations that can shift back and forth. Depths and distance - Depth perception involves interpretation of visual cues that indicate how near or far away objects are. - How we transform 2D images in the retina into 3D perceptions? Binocular and monocular cues - Binocular depth cues are clues about distance based on the differing views of the two eyes. - Retinal disparity = ur left and right eye view slightly different images - Angle of convergence = eyes turn inwards to see something close and then open up to see something far Monocular depth cues are clues about distance based on the image in either eye alone. - Important for more distant objects  - Pictorial depth cues —clues about distance that can be given in a flat picture - Linear perspective: parallel lines that run away from the viewer to get closer together - Texture gradient: as distances increases, a texture gradually becomes less distinct - Interposition/overlap: the shapes of near objects overlap or mask distance ones - Relative size: if objects are expected to be of the same size, the larger objects are seen as closer - Height in plane/relative height: near objects are low and more distant ones are higher up - Light and shadow: shadows create an impression of 3D forms - Motion parallax = images of objects at different distances moving across the retina at different rates. A perceptual constancy is a tendency to experience a stable perception in the face of continually changing sensory input. A visual illusion involves an apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality. Sensory restriction: for some aspects of visual perception, experience is critical for development (nature/nurture) Perceptual sets: need, expectations and beliefs influence perception. Context and contrast effects. Perceive stimulus in a particular way.