Psychology the study of human mind and human behavior
Assumptions of Science:
- There is order in the universe
- Determinism every event has physical, potentially measurable cause o Does not take into account free will o Things happen for reason
- Skepticism an attitude that doubts all claims not supported by solid research evidenceshow data
- Accuracy as error free as possible
- Objectivity free of bias AMAP o Questions
o Interpretation
- Openmindedness Change
Goals of Scientific Research
- Description the citing of the observable characteristics of an event, object, or individual; as it exists, no manipulation, new/rare to field
- Systematic describe what is relevant
- Precise use of #s for measurement; concrete descriptions AMAP
- Operational definitions define behavior or qualities in terms of the procedures used to measure or produce them
Ex Drunk, use Blood Alcohol Content
- Prediction What should happen next; Psychologists want to make predictions in form of hypotheses about changes in behavior, mental experiences, or physiological processes o Hypothesis testable prediction about a relationship usually derived from a theory o Theory set of statements that summarize and explain research findings from which research hypotheses can be derived
- Control manipulate factors that effect thought/behavior o Experimental control research control as many factors as possible o Everyday control application of research findings to control behavior
- Explanation discover of causes of overt behaviors, mental experiences, and physiological processes
Scientific Method
- Provide a rationale and review the relevant literature o Identify the problem of interest area of study o Review the relevant research literature several reasons
- Operational differences same concept questions
- Avoid needless replication
- Research into broader context
- Exposure to other theories
- Develop a Testable Hypothesis testable prediction about the relationship between 2 or more events or characteristics
- Design the study and collect the data o Decide on the research procedure to use o Collect the data
- Analyze the data and accept/reject the hypothesis o Apply statistics to the data
- Descriptive statistics summarize 1 group at a time
Mean, Variability
- Inferential Statistics compare groups o Discuss the implications of the research findings in regard to the research hypothesis
- Publish, Replicate, and seek scientific review o Publish the findings o Replicate the study
- Replicate the exact study with different participants within reason to make sure there was no fluke
- Replicate study with systematic variation of relevant variables Build a Theory
Types of Research
- Descriptive Research researcher simply records what he/she has systematically observed. o NO causation or prediction o Several methods used:
- Naturalistic observation participants are studies in their natural environment don’t know they are being observed
Hawthorne Effect change behavior because they know they are being observed
- Ethnographic research researcher spends a lot of time with the people they are researching, usually living with them.
Especially useful when studying other cultures
- Archival Research examines collections of letters, manuscripts, tape recordings, video recordings, etc.
Useful to compare overtime
- Case Studies intense examination over time of 1 person
get more data
Problems: Does not represent group
- Correlation Research used when a researcher wants to predict one variable from another predict what’s next o Does not introduce variable for ethical/logistical reasons
- Correlation Coefficient degree of relationship between 2+ variables
- Positive CC change in same direction
- Negative CC change in opposite direction
- Range in magnitude from zero to absolute 1
- CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION
- Experimental Research used to determine if there is a casual relationship between 2 variables o Enables causation by manipulating variable o Needs sample o Definitions:
- Sample subset of population you test
- Population everyone who could be involved in research
- Representative sample reflects characteristic of population
- Random sample each likely to be chosen for research
- Convenience samples on hand
- Independent variable manipulated by experimenter
- Dependent variable shows effects of IV
- Experimental groups exposed to IV
- Control group not exposed to IV
Compare results to this group to determine true effect
- Extraneous/Confounding variables anything other than IV that causes changes in DV
Ruins research if large enough
- Experimenter bias accidentally signal participant as to how they are expected to perform
- Use Double Blind Design don’t know which group
- Ethnocentrism same stimulus may mean very different things in different cultures
- Participant Bias/Social desirability response may lie to make themselves seem better
- Participant Expectancy Effects try to figure out aim of study and give you answers you want to see
Try to bury true aim of research to prevent
- Biological Research o Started studying how brain works by examining people with brain lesions sustained damage
- Mid 1800s study damaged areas to determine what that particular area of the brain doesrely on natural sources of damage
- Technological advances have allowed us to study intact, fully functional human functions as well
Ethical Guidelines/Considerations
- Informed consent forms why, what, risks, benefits
- Voluntary participation can stop at any time
- Use of deception in order to avoid participant expectancy; mislead participant as of purpose of research to get truth o May have outlived usefulness not common anymore o Problem consent not informed if misled; requires debriefing
- Confidentiality more interested in group you belong to than to individual answers
- Students as research participants have to have 1+ option or it is not voluntary anymore
Historical Perspectives in Psychology
- Experimental Psychology and Structuralism physical structures o Wilhelm Wundt established the 1st psychological lab in Leipzig, Germany in
- 1879.
Defined psychology as the study of structure of conscious experience
Structuralism
How we experience the world around us
Break down into every detail
- His student Edward Titchener brought Wundt’s ideas to US
- Introspection participant exposed to different types of stimulus and reported sensations/feelings associated
- EX Kitten picture
- Functionalism function in behavior in enabling people/animals to adapt to environment, inclinations to behave in specific ways o Influenced by Darwin
- People became impatient with introspectionfelt it was too limiting o William James head of movement in US
- Natural Selection environment “selects” those who possess some characteristic that contributes to survival
- Survival of the fittest adaptive “survive” in sense of successfully passing on genes fit for that particular environment
- Psychoanalytic Sigmund Freud believed that humans are motivated mainly by violent, sexual drives o Try to fit unacceptable drives into acceptable behavior o Problems with Freud:
- Never treated a child but came up with child theory
- Theories too involved with sex and violence
- Sexist
- Behaviorism big in US in 50s60s o Important to distinguish between theoretical and methodological aspects
- Theoretical environment is the primary determinant of thought and behavior
How people react to your behaviors is what matters
- Methodological subject matter of psychology show be restricted exclusively to environmental inputs and observable responses
- Gestalt Psychology interested in the study of perception o Thought you can’t study perception by breaking it down into its structural parts had to look at experience as a whole
- Lose meaning of whole if break down into tiny parts
- Wertheimer we often experience things that are not part of our simple sensations
- Human mind wants patterns and look for them when none exist
- Brain tries to make sense of stimulus
- EX Christmas lights, movies use still images to see movement o Phi Phenomenon apply patterns when none fit
Phineas Gage 1st patient from whom we learned something about the relation between personality and function of frontal lobes “decision maker”
- Foreman of RR construction company in Vermont
- Shattered large sections of rock with explosives
- 13th, 1848 tamping rod blown through skull o Before capable worker, nice person
- After rude, profane, irritable fairly typical for frontal lobe damage
- Seizures in 1860 died a couple of months later
Neuroscience field that studies now biological processes relate to behavioral and mental processes
Nervous System
- CNS includes brain and spinal cord > 90% of neurons in body
- PNS nerves that connect brain and SC to other parts of body o Somatic NS transmits info about body movements and external environment voluntary movements
- Autonomic NS transmits info to and from internal organs and glands involuntary actions
- Sympathetic NS acts like acceleratormobilizing body for action and output of E“fight or flight”
- Parasympathetic NS acts like brake slows body down, helping you calm and conserve E normal resting state
- Neurons basic units of NS communicate info in brain and throughout body Glial Cells support and nourish neurons may be involved in communication
- Autonomic NS transmits info to and from internal organs and glands involuntary actions
Parts of Neuron:
- Somacell body contains nucleus, carry out functions of E synthesis, waste removal, and metabolic functions
- Dendrites branchlike extensions of cell body that receive info from other cells
- Axons long extension from soma that conveys info towards other neurons, muscles, and glands
- Myelin sheath white fatty coating that insulates and speeds up transmission
- Nodes of Ranvier unmyelinated areas/axons
- Terminal Buttons swollen area that sends signals from neuron to adjacent cells
- Synapses connections between neurons
- Synaptic cleft space between 2 neurons do not actually touch
Communication between Neurons:
- Presynaptic Neuron sends impulse
- Postsynaptic Neuron receives impulse
- Neurotransmitters chemicals produced and released by neurons that cause changes in other neurons
- Receptors protein molecule in postsynaptic neuron
Brain Anatomy:
- Cerebral Cortex outer surface of 2 cerebral hemispheres that regulates most complex behavior o Takes up most room in skull o ~80% of weight of skull o ~70% of neurons in CNS
o Most recently evolved part of NS and more highly developed in humans than in any other animal
- Convolutions folds of cerebral cortex as unique as fingerprints
- Central Sulcus separates 2 cortexes
- Primary Somatosensory Cortex receives sensory messages from entire body
- Primary Motor Cortex sends messages from the brain to various muscles and glands in body
- Different lobes of cerebral hemisphere are specialized for different functions o Occipital lobe receives and processes visual information
- Shapes, colors, directional movements o Temporal lobe complex visual task
- Facial recognition
- Receives and processes information from the ears
- Contributes to balance and equilibrium
- Regulates emotions and motivations
- Ability to understand language o Parietal lobe receives sensory information from all over the body
- Oversee spatial abilities o Frontal lobe “executive control system” remains most mysterious part of the brain
- Receives and coordinates messages from other three lobes of cortex
- Keeps track of previous and future movements of body o Lateral Prefrontal Cortex problem solving
- See consequences of our actions
- Directed behavior and emotionally mature
- Twice the size in females than in males
Behavioral Genetics explores the impact of genetics and environmental factors on differences in behavioral, biological, psychological processes of groups
- Determines how much a contribution each factor is
- Diathesis Stress Model born with predisposition to certain disorder
Methods for Studying Behavioral Genetics
- Twin Studies look for amount of agreement o Monozygotic identical twins from 1 egg o Dizygotic Fraternal twins from 2 eggs
- “Twinned” environment same environmental influences
- Concordance Rates agreement between twins on certain characteristics
- Compare across MZ and DZ groups
- Genetics are an important if identical twins have higher concordance rates
- Adoption Studies focus on children who were adopted at birth and brought up by nonbiological parents o If traits/characteristics resemble biological parents genetic
- If traits/characteristics resemble adoptive parents environmental effects
- Family Studies if genes influence traits, close relatives should share trait more than distant relatives because close relatives have more genes in common o Hard to separate effects of genetics VS environmental effects because they share both o EX Schizophrenia
- General population ~12%
- Siblings are 8 times more likely to have
- Offspring are 10 times more likely to have
- Suggests inheritably of disorder
Health Psychology studies the relationship between psychological behavior and physical health and fitness
Stress refers to how the body responds to any # of physical or emotional stimuli (stressors)
- May not be aware of response/changes
- Increased HR, Respiratory rates, sweating, skin problems, BP, metabolism and changes in circulating fats
- Types:
- Eustress pleasant or curative stress
- Exercisegood for you in the long run o Distress unpleasant or diseaseproducing stress
- “Stress” when we talk about it
- Sources of Stress:
- Life changes adjustment can cause stresssmall
- We like to predict what will happen next
- Social Readjustment Scale Handout
- Life changes adjustment can cause stresssmall
- Eustress pleasant or curative stress
Does not take into account different life circumstances Degree of stress caused depends on how stressor is perceived
- Chronic Stressors ongoing, continuous pressures when urge to fight or flight has been suppressed Work, Money
- Family, relationships, illness, caregiving o Hassles Minor, irritating incidents that occur everyday
- Pileup
- WalMart, Traffic… o Burnout physical, emotional, mental exhaustion from longterm involvement in emotionally demanding situations
- Fatigue, loss of idealism/Energy, emotional numbness
- Herbert Frendenberger studied volunteers in freeclinic movements with
Vietnam veterans
Brought “burnout” to US
Seen in those who dedicated most
- Frustration unpleasant tension, anxiety and increased sympathetic activity resulting from blocked goal
- Morris’s 5 sources of frustration in US life
Delays time pressured society
Lack of resources Money, material due to media
Losses relationships, loved ones feel helpless
Failure tend to take it personally
Discrimination ageism, racism, sexism, theism…
- Conflicts having to choose between 2+ incomparable goals or impulses 3 Types:
ApproachApproach conflict person has to choose between
2 equally pleasant alternatives
- Less stressful than others
AvoidanceAvoidance conflict results when neither choice is pleasurable but have to choose 1
ApproachAvoidance choice has positive and negative aspects
General Adaptation Syndrome
- Stress is a psychobiological process, with both physiological and psychological components and consequences
- Walter Cannon 1932 1st to describe fight/flight o Women seem to “tend and befriend” take care of others
- Hans Selye body responds to stressful conditions with GAS if stress continues
Stage 1: Alarm reaction immediate reaction to stressor fight/flight
Stage 2: Stage of resistance/adaptation body adapts to continual stressors o Modify functions to cope with stress
Stage 3: Stage of exhaustion resistance gradually decreases or collapses quickly o Increased risk for heart attacks or strokes
Individual Differences:
- Personality types one of the most researched areas
- Type A impatient, harddriving, ambitious, competitive, hostile
- Related to Heart disease
- First identified by 2 cardiologists o Type B more relaxed, easygoing, less easily angered
- Optimism glass ½ full o Recover quicker from coronary bypass
- Pessimism glass ½ empty
- Do not take good physical care of themselves, do not cope well, depressed immune functions increases illnesses
- 35 year Harvard Study more likely to be ill/dead by age 50
- Hardiness Suzanne Kobase “people who tolerate stress exceptionally well seem to thrive on it” o Characteristics:
- Open to change
- Internally motivated especially work situations
- Deeply committed to careers personal satisfaction
- Meaningful activities give back to others
- Challenge stressful events overcome by efforts
- Control have a lot of control over their lives
- Resilience ability to “bounce back” from stressors o Study 240 high risk kids in Hawaii, followed for 40 years
- 1/3 were resilient overcame obstacles in past o Characteristics:
- Increase in percent of stable marriages
- Decreased proportions of unemployment and mental health difficulties
- Affectionate and outgoing
- Special interests and talents
- Warm, caring relationships with at least one adult other than their parent Mentor
- Type A impatient, harddriving, ambitious, competitive, hostile
PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects hundreds of thousands of people who have survived earthquakes, airplane crashes, terrorist bombings, innercity violence, domestic abuse, rape, war, genocide, and other disasters both natural and man made.
- Once called shell shock or battle fatigue syndrome
- Misdiagnosed, Underdiagnosed
- More common in women than in men
- Symptoms usually appear within 3 months of trauma but may appear later o Intrusion memories of trauma reoccur unexpectedly
Flashbacks
o Avoidance person often avoids close, emotional ties with family, colleagues, friends, reminders of event
- Survivor’s guilt o Hyper arousal act as if constantly being threatened by trauma that caused illness
- Trouble concentrating and sleeping
- Tend to self medicate
Coping with Stress Lazarus has 2 major divisions
- Problem focused coping taking steps to change source of stress directly o Better psychologically
- Emotionfocused coping efforts to change one’s emotional response to stressor o Generally only offers shortterm “relief”
Smoking
- Effects:
- Coronary heart disease o Cancers lung, mouth, throat… o Chronic bronchitis
- Emphysema lungs do not inflate as well o Ulcers
- Social embarrassment bad breath, stinky clothes…
- Nonsmoking laws may encourage people to keep smoking o Psychological Reactance do not like to be told what to do
- Personal Fable different comparing perspectives o Unique and special because general rules and problems “do not happen to us” o Start smoking when we are young and want to impress others
- Quickly become addicted o Addictiveness of nicotine is comparable to heroine & cocaine
- Nicotine withdrawal symptoms o Cravings to smoke
- Irritable, cranky o Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Inability to concentrate
- Headaches
- Cough, sore throat o Constipation, gas, stomach pains o Dry mouth
- Coping with Symptoms o 5 D’s
- Delay until urge passes usually within 35 minutes
- Distract yourself
- Drink water to fight off cravings flush out nicotine
- Deep breaths to relax and feel air in lungs
- Discuss your feelings with someone close to you o Exercise get a little everyday reminds you why you quit
- Get more rest
- Relaxation
- Reward yourself at end of every single smokefree day
Binge Drinking consuming 5+ drinks in a row for boys, 4+ for girls
- Alcohol is a poisonpace yourself to deal with toxins
Sensation receiving, converting, transmitting information from outside world
- Knowledge come from various sources
Perception selecting, organizing, interpreting raw sensory data
- Information about useful mental representations of the world
Sensation:
- The Basic Process o E stimulates receptor cell in sense organ
- Receptor cell specialized nerve cell that responds to particular type of E
- Light waves for vision
- Vibrations for hearing o Receptor cell sends signal along sensory nerves to appropriate area of cerebral cortex o Sensory messages enter brain at different channels o Thalamus decides where information goes in the brain
- Sensory Thresholds o Absolute threshold minimun intensity of physical E required to produce sensation
- Determined by different stimuli with different intensities
- Set at detectable 50% of time
- Varies from personperson and movementmovement in same person Remarkably low for each of our senses:
- Receptor cell specialized nerve cell that responds to particular type of E
Taste 1 g table salt in 500 L of water
Smell 1 drop perfume diffused through 6 room apartment
Touch can feel the wing of a bee fall on cheek from 1 cm away
Hearing tick to watch 20 ft away in quite room
Vision candle flame 30 miles away in clear, dark night
- Sensory Adaptation senses adjust according to stimulus level received Notice changes most
- Difference threshold/Just noticeable Difference smallest change in stimulus that can be detected 50% of time
- Varies according to strength and intensity of original stimulus
- Tells us something about flexibility of sensory systems
Sight:
- Retina lining of the eye that contains receptor cells that are sensitive to light o Rods night vision and perception of brightness o Cones color vision
- Need fairly high levels of light to work o Fovea area of retina that is center of visual field
- Contains more cones than rods
- Visual Adaptation sensitivity of rods/cones changes according to how much light is available o Dark Adaptation rods/cones are more sensitive to light in response to low levels of illumination
- Cones reach full sensitivity in about 10 minutes
- Rods gain sensitivity up to about 30 minutes o Light Adaptation rods/cones become less sensitive to light in response to increased levels of illumination
- Occurs quicker in about 1 minute for rods/cones
Hearing:
- Sound psychological experience created by brain in response to changes in air pressure that are received by auditory system o Sound waves changes in pressure caused when molecules of air/fluid collide with one another and more apart again
- Frequency number of cycles per second in a wave
- Primary determinant of pitch o Pitch auditory experience corresponding primarily to frequency of sound vibrations high/low tones
- Amplitude magnitude of wave
- Primary determinant of loudness o Decibels measurement of loudness
- Timbre mixture of sound waves
- Helps identify the sounds we hear
- Aging lose high and low pitches but can still hear loud noises
- Hearing undergoes adaptation so it can function optimally under wide variety of conditions
- Ear Anatomy:
- Outer Ear gathers, delivers sounds to middle ear o Middle Ear amplifies and concentrates sounds o Inner Ear receptor cells send information to brain
- Disorders injury, infections, cigarette smoking, explosions o Permanent damage may be caused by:
- Brief exposure to more than 150 dB
- Daily exposure to 85 dB o Relatively common ~28 million US are partially deaf
- Auditory system is subtle and complicated
- Problems accumulate as we age o 2 types of deafness
- Conduction Deafness middle ear deafness
- Nerve Deafness inner ear deafness associated with receptor cells
- Frequency number of cycles per second in a wave
SmellOlfaction
- Most primitive and evocative o Associated with memory o Allows us to find food, mates…
- Olfactory epithelium mucus membrane containing small receptors
- Rarely perceive odors as neutral
- Evolutionary bias helps us distinguish between safe/rotten foods
- We can detect more than 10,000 different smells
Taste Gustation
- Humans are omnivores
- Flavor comes from combination of taste and smell 4 usual tastes:
- Sweet o Sour o Salty o Bitter
- 3 additional tastes o Astringent tannins tea/red wine
Dry, dusty, gritty taste
- Umami monosodium glutamate MSg
- “delicious” o ? not named yet but attraction to fat
- Displays adaptation o Crossadaptation exposure to one taste can modify another taste
- Artichokes may cause everything to taste sweeter
- Drinking OJ after brushing your teeth
Kinesthetic and Vestibular Senses
- Kinesthetic Senses muscle movement, posture, strain on muscles and joints o Unconsciously processed
- Information about speed/direction of movement
- Vestibular Senses equilibrium and body position/orientation in space
Skin Senses:
- Touch may be most comforting more emotional content o Holding babies is very important
- Skin senses are remarkably sensitive o Skin displacement of as little as 0.00004 inch can result in sensation of pressure o Various parts of body differ greatly in sensitivity to pressure
- Receptors on skin undergo sensory adaptation
Perception our senses bring us raw data about the environment that we have to interpret
- Perceptual Organization o Gestalt psychologists set out to discover basic principles of perception
Perception is more than the sum of its parts
Stimulus
Predictable
- Figure entity that stands apart from background o Ground background against which a figure appears
- Distinction pertains to all sensesnot just sight
- Aren’t enough clues to distinguish sometimes
Animal camouflage Zebra EX
M. C. Escher drawings
- Perceptual Constancies o Perceptual Constancy tendency to perceive objects as relatively stable/not changing despite changing sensory info
- Turnball and Mbuit of Zaire
Always saw everything from within ~ 10 feet
Did not understand when saw things father away
- Size constancy perception of object as having same size regardless of distance from which ti is viewed
Depends partly on experience
- Shape constancy see an object as same shape no matter what angle it is viewed from
- Color constancy perceive familiar objects as retaining color despite changes in sensory info illumination
Does not work as well for unfamiliar objects
- Perceiving Distance and Depth o Critically important if an organism is to more freely in env o More remarkable process than most people realize
- Image of world is essentially flat2D
- Brain transforms information to 3D o Monocular Cuesvisual cues that require use of 1 eye
- Aerial perspective distant objects have hazy appearance and somewhat blurred outline
- Texture gradient close object seems to have rough/detailed texture
Loses texture with distance
Shirt weave EX
- Linear perspective 2 parallel lines that extend into distance appear to come together at some point on horizon
Highway EX
- Binocular Cues visual cues that require use of both eyes Brain Cues:
Stereoscopic vision combination of 2 retinal images to give 3D experience by brain
- Important in evolutionary history
Retinal disparity difference between images cast on 2 retinas when both eyes are focused on the same object
- Better depth perception
Muscular Control
Convergence muscles controlling eye movement as eyes turn inward to view nearby stimulus
- Works with radius of ~ 3 yards
- Locating Sounds o Monaural Cues requires use of 1 ear
- Loud sounds are perceived closer than faint sounds o Binaural Cues involves use of both ears
- Sounds reach one ear significantly ahead of other
- Time difference between sound recognition in brain helps us judge location of source
- Subliminal Perception and ESP o Idea of absolute threshold implies that certain events in outside world occur outside our conscious awareness
- Several lab studies indicated that in a controlled lab setting, people can process and respond to info of which they are not consciously aware
- Subliminal Movie ads no change
- Priming certain words/thought activate faster reactions
- Doctor EX
- Scientific Studies hidden messages outside lab have no significant effect on behavior
- Mind can play tricks
- Motivational tapes for SelfEsteem and memory improvement
Tapes were switched
No impact on effect
- Extrasensory Perception response to unknown event are not presented to any known sense o Clairvoyance awareness of unknown object/event
Remote viewing EX o Telepathy knowledge of someone else’s thoughts/feelings
- Precognition foreknowledge of future
Research is criticized for poor experimental design, failure to control for dishonesty, selective reporting of results, and inability to replace findings