History, Approaches, Research Methods

Early theories: Introspection – Wilhelm Wundt – first lab – structuralism (combine subjective emotions/objective sensations)

Function of structures – William James – America – functionalism

Gestalt psychology – whole picture – especially with perception (Max Wertheimer)

Psychoanalysis – Freud – unconscious, repression, defense mechanisms

Behaviorism – John B. Watson (founder), then B. F. Skinner

Psychological perspectives

Humanistic – Maslow, Rogers – free will, choosing what’s best for oneself

Psychoanalytic – Freud first

Biopsychology (or neuroscience) – brain and body keys to understanding behavior

Evolutionary (or Darwinian, or sociobiological) – natural selection

Behavioral – all is learned through conditioning principles

Cognitive – how the person thinks is the key

Sociocultural – looks at environment as key

Research

Hypothesis – expresses a possible relationship between variables

Dependent vs. independent variable

Operational definitions

Random sample

Random assignment to experimental & control groups

Population

Stratified sample – match sample to ethnic or other groups

Experimental method (laboratory vs. field research)

Establishes cause and effect relationship

Confounding variables

Experimenter bias

Eliminate with double-blind

Hawthorne effect

Placebos

Correlational method

Relationship between variables (-1.00 to +1.00)

Correlation does not mean causation

Can use surveys (must guard against sampling biases)

Naturalistic observation – unobtrusive, realistic

Observer bias, error

Case study – full and detailed, but only one subject or small group of subjects

Ex. Ramachandran’s research in Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Difficult to generalize

Statistics

Descriptive statistics

Measures of central tendency – mean, median mode

Extreme scores – outliers – skewed distributions

Extreme high scores – positively skewed

Measures of variability

Range – distance between highest & lowest

Variance = standard deviation squared

Standard deviation – you know you love this 

Z-scores

Normal curve – 68-95-99.7

Percentiles

Correlation coefficient (scatterplot)

Inferential statistics

Can the data be applied to a larger population?

Are there sampling errors?

Calculate the p value (probability that the results occurred by chance)

P<.05, considered statistically significant

Ethical guidelines

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Animal research

Have clear scientific purpose

Care for and house animals in humane way.

Acquire animals legally.

Minimize suffering.

Human research

Informed consent

No coercion

Confidentiality/anonymity

Minimum risk to subject (no way Milgram’s research would be approved)

Debriefing of subjects

Neuroscience

Neuroanatomy

Neurons –

flow = in dendrite, cell body (soma), out axon through terminal buttons (or synaptic knobs)

myelin sheath – speeds transmission (problem in multiple sclerosis)

Neurotransmitters – during firing, are in synapse, bind to dendrite to create action potential

Action potential

Resting potential – neg. charge inside neuron (-70 mV)

All-or-none principle

Refractory period

Neurotransmitters

Excitatory/inhibitory

Acetylcholine (ACh)

Dopamine

GABA

Afferent neurons (sensory)

Efferent neurons (motor)

Interneurons (CNS)

CNS – brain & spinal cord

Peripheral nervous system – autonomic & somatic

autonomic – parasympathetic & sympathetic

Brain

How to study – lesions (Phineas Gage), lobotomy

EEG - activity

CAT or CT scan - structure

MRI - structure

PET – activity

fMRI – structure & activity

Hindbrain

medulla – life

pons – dreams

cerebellum – little brain – synthesizing movement

Midbrain

integrates sensation & movement

reticular formation (or reticular activating system)

Forebrain -

Thalamus – sensory switchboard

Hypothalamus – regulator, director of pituitary, metabolism, endocrine system

Amygdala – emotional core

Hippocampus – encoding memory

sometimes this group of structures referred to as limbic system

Cerebral cortex

Contralateral control (right brain controls left motor)

Hemispheric specialization or lateralization

split-brain study

Association areas (not involved in sensation or motor function)

Frontal lobe

abstract thought, control of emotion

left – Broca’s area (broken speech)

motor cortex at back

Parietal lobe

sensory cortex at front

angulargyrus – metaphor comprehension

Occipital lobe

visual interpretation

Temporal lobe

auditory interpretation

Wernicke’s area

Placticity

Endocrine system – pituitary, adrenal, ovaries, testes, pancreas (insulin), thyroid

Genetics – cells – 46 chromosomes, 23 pairs – made up of DNA

monozygotic twins – one fertilized egg

Bouchard studied over 100 monozygotic twins separated at birth

Abnormalities

Turner’s syndrome – one X – webbed neck, underdeveloped sexual characteristics

Klinefelter’s syndrome – XXY – minimal sexual dev’t, introversion

Down syndrome – extra chromosome on 21st pair – mental retardation

Development Theory

Nature vs. nurture key debate

How to study: cross-sectional, longitudinal

Infant development

Teratogens – radiation (neurons migrate too far)

alcohol (stop short) – fetal alcohol syndrome

Reflexes – rooting, sucking, grasping, Moro (startle), Babinski (foot – spread toes)

turn toward mother’s voice

vision clearest at approx 12” when born

Motor development (maturation)

myelination of neurons key

Proximodistal development (center outward); cephalocaudal (brain down)

Attachment theory

Harlow – touch

Ainsworth – strange situation paradigm

secure attachment (66%) – explore when parent there, upset when parent leaves

avoidant attachment (21%) – resist parents, explore, don’t return

anxious/ambivalent (12%) – stress when left, not comforted on return

Parenting style

Authoritarian

Authoritative

Permissive

Stage theory

Freud (oral, anal, phallic – Oedipus/Electra complex, latency, genital)

Erikson (neo-Freudian) – psychosocial stages

trust vs. mistrust (babies)

autonomy vs. shame & doubt (toddlers)

initiative vs. guilt (3-5)

industry vs. inferiority (elem school – may develop inferiority complex)

identity vs. role confusion (adolescence)

intimacy vs. isolation (early adult)

generativity vs. stagnation (middle adult)

integrity vs. despair (older adult)

Piaget (cognitive devt – worked for Alfred Binet)

schemas – assimilation – accommodation

sensorimotor (0-2 years)

object permanence (8 mo.)

preoperational (2-7)

concrete operational (8-12)

conservation signals onset

volume, area, number

formal operations

abstract reasoning, testing hypotheses

Information-processing model – alternate view to Piaget

changes reflect different way of processing info

Moral development – Kohlberg

Preconventional

Conventional

Postconventional

universal ethical principles

Carol Gilligan’s criticism – women think relationally, situationally

Gender differences

Biopsychological theory

ex. women have larger corpus callosum

Psychodynamic theory (Freud)

Social-cognitive theory

Social influences

Gender-schema theory

Sensation & Perception

Sensation – transduction of mechanical energy into neural energy (bottom-up)

Vision

Transduction in the retina

cornea – pupil (iris controls opening) – lens – retina (rods & cones) – bipolar cells – ganglion cells – optic nerve

fovea – point of central focus (highest concentration of cones)

Blind spot

Lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) – region in thalamus for vision

Hubel & Wiesel – feature detectors

Theories of color vision

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory – blue, red, green detectors

Opponent-process theory – afterimages (red/green, yellow/blue, black/white)

Hearing

Amplitude (height – loudness), frequency (pitch)

Pinna – auditory canal – eardrum (tympanic membrane) – ossicles – oval window – cochlea (transduction)

Cochlea – hairs connect to organ of Corti – then to auditory nerve

Place theory – hairs react to certain frequencies in a certain place

Frequency theory – hairs fire at different rates to match frequency

Conduction hearing loss vs. sensorineural hearing loss

Touch

Gate-control theory of pain

Endorphins

Chemical senses: taste, smell

Taste buds on papillae (sweet, salty, sour, bitter)

Receptors in nose – directly to olfactory bulb – limbic system – bypasses thalamus

Vestibular (balance – semicircular canals) & kinesthetic (body position, orientation)

Perception – analysis and interpretation of sensation (top-down)

Absolute threshold – minimal stimulus for detection 50% of the time

subliminal – below absolute

Difference threshold (JND)

Weber’s law – difference vary in proportion to intensity of stimulus

Theories of perception

Signal detection theory (depends on state of perceiver)

Perceptual set (approach to perceptual task – influenced by schemata)

Rules of visual perception

Figure-ground

Gestalt rules

proximity

similarity

continuity

closure

Constancies

size

shape

brightness

Depth perception

visual cliff – crawlers have perception of depth

Binocular cues (both eyes)

binocular (or retinal) disparity

convergence

Monocular cues (can perceive as well with one eye as with two)

Linear perspective

Relative size

Interposition

Texture gradient

Shadowing

Illusions

Muller-Lyer (lines with arrows) – culture affects perception

phi phenomenon (blinking lights appear to travel)

stroboscopic movement (flip books, cartoons)

States of Consciousness

Dualism (thought & matter) vs. monism (all same substance)

Levels of consciousness

Subtle effects – mere-exposure effect, priming, blind sight

Sleep cycle – based on circadian rhythm (25 hr)

Sleep onset – before begins – alpha waves

Stage 1 – hypnagogic sensations, theta waves

Stage 2 – sleep spindles, K-complexes

Stage 3 – some delta waves

Stage 4 – delta sleep (night terrors)

then stage 3, 2, then REM sleep (paradoxical sleep)

body paralyzed, mind active

Disorders

insomnia

sleep apnea

narcolepsy

somnambulism (sleep walking) – stage 4

Dreams

Psychoanalytic theory: manifest content – story line

latent content – underlying meaning

activation-synthesis theory (pons generates signals)

information-processing theory (work through experience)

housekeeping hypothesis (clear unneeded neural connections)

Hypnosis

Dissociation – split in consciousness (Hilgard – hidden observer)

ice water – asked if any part felt cold, raise finger

Role theory (social influence) – suggestibility

posthypnotic suggestion

posthypnotic amnesia

Drugs

Must pass blood-brain barrier (protection against chemical intrusion)

Agonists/antagonists

Tolerance/withdrawal

Stimulants

caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine

Depressants

alcohol, barbiturates, anxiolytics (Valium)

alcohol depresses inhibitions

Hallucinogens

marijuana, LSD, mercaline, mushrooms

-often remain in system for years (reverse tolerance – less for effect)

Opiates

morphine, heroin (agonists for endorphins)

Language

Elements of language

Phonemes

Morphemes

Acquisition of language

Babbling, telegraphic speech, overgeneralization

Chomsky – language acquisition device (nativistic theory of language dev’t)

Skinner – learned through reinforcement

Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis

Thinking

Concepts (schemas) – based on categorization, prototypes

Problem-solving

Algorithm

Heuristic

Availability

Representativeness

Problems in thinking (bias)

Belief bias

Overconfidence

Belief perseverance

Confirmation bias

Framing

Rigidity (mental set)

Functional fixedness

Creative thinking

Divergent thinking – multiple possible answers

Convergent thinking - synthesis

Memory

Memory (learning has persisted over time)

Information–processing model (three-box) – encoding necessary to begin

Sensory – Short-Term – Long-term

Sensory – Split-second holding

Sperling (flashed grid of 9 letters)

Iconic memory

Echoic memory

visual, acoustic, semantic

Based on selective attention

Short-term – working memory

Temporary, fade in 10-30 sec. – 7 items

Increased by chunking, mnemonic devices, rehearsal

Long-term – relatively permanent

Episodic

Semantic

Procedural

Forgetting – relearning happens quickly

Proactive interference

Retroactive interference

Brain – hippocampus important

Anterograde amnesia – hippocampal damage

Retrograde amnesia

Long-term potentiation – strengthened connections

Reconstructive memory – Loftus

Misinformation effect

Unreliability of eyewitness reports

Language

Elements of language

Phonemes

Morphemes

Acquisition of language

Babbling, telegraphic speech, overgeneralization

Chomsky – language acquisition device (nativistic theory of language dev’t)

Skinner – learned through reinforcement

Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis

Thinking

Concepts (schemas) – based on categorization, prototypes

Problem-solving

Algorithm

Heuristic

Availability

Representativeness

Problems in thinking (bias)

Belief bias

Overconfidence

Belief perseverance

Confirmation bias

Framing

Rigidity (mental set)

Functional fixedness

Creative thinking

Divergent thinking – multiple possible answers

Convergent thinking - synthesis

Memory

Memory (learning has persisted over time)

Information–processing model (three-box) – encoding necessary to begin

Sensory – Short-Term – Long-term

Sensory – Split-second holding

Sperling (flashed grid of 9 letters)

Iconic memory

Echoic memory

visual, acoustic, semantic

Based on selective attention

Short-term – working memory

Temporary, fade in 10-30 sec. – 7 items

Increased by chunking, mnemonic devices, rehearsal

Long-term – relatively permanent

Episodic

Semantic

Procedural

Forgetting – relearning happens quickly

Proactive interference

Retroactive interference

Brain – hippocampus important

Anterograde amnesia – hippocampal damage

Retrograde amnesia

Long-term potentiation – strengthened connections

Reconstructive memory – Loftus

Misinformation effect

Unreliability of eyewitness reports

Learning Theory

Learning – long term change in behavior resulting from experience

Classical conditioning –

Pavlov – associative learning (contiguity model)

US/UCS

UR

CS

CR

acquisition

generalization

discrimination

extinction

spontaneous recovery

delayed conditioning – bell rings, continues to ring, food presented

less effective

trace conditioning – bell rings, break, food

simultaneous conditioning – bell, food together

backward conditioning – food then bell (ineffective)

John B. Watson – human conditioning (Little Albert)

aversive conditioning (pairing of unpleasant stimulus with pleasant stimulus)

Higher-order conditioning – first train bell with food, then add light, eventually light alone

Learned taste aversions – biological predisposition

Garcia & Koelling – conditioned rats an aversion to saccharin water

rats did not learn aversions as easily to light, etc.

Operant conditioning

Law of effect – Thorndike

if consequences of behavior are pleasant, connection is strengthened

Skinner – expanded research

Skinner box

Reinforcement

positivereinforcer

negativereinforcer

positive punishment

negative punishment (omission training)

escape learning

avoidance learning

shaping

chaining

primary vs. secondary reinforcers

token economy

Premack principle – preferred activity can reinforce non-preferred

Schedules of reinforcement

Continuous

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement

Fixed ratio

Variable ratio

Fixed interval

Variable interval

Instinctive drift – animals tend to drift toward natural behavior

Rescorla – contingency model (must see cause-effect relationship)

adds cognition – must see predictability of result

Observational learning

Bandura – modeling (observation & imitation)

Latent learning

Not effortful – becomes obvious when reward is introduced (Tolman)

Abstract learning

Generalizing learning

Insight learning

Kohler – chimps (naturalistic observation)

Personality

Personality – unique attitudes, behaviors, emotions that characterize a person

Key question: stability vs. change

Type A vs. Type B (A = competitive, aggressive, volatile)

Freudian theory – psychosexual stages

Oral – 0-1 year, pleasure from mouth

Anal – 1-3 years, pleasure from elimination

Phallic – 3-5 years, pleasure from genitals

Oedipal complex – boy wants mom, resents dad

Castration anxiety

Electra complex – girl wants dad, resents mom (not Freud)

Penis envy

Resolved through identification with same sex parent

Latency – 6-puberty, repression of sexual feelings

Genital – puberty on, sexual pleasure through relationships

Fixations – problem in resolving a stage

Oral – overeat, smoke, chew gum

Anal – anal retentive (compulsive, overly organized)

Anal expulsive (messy, disorganized)

Id (pleasure principle)

Ego (reality principle) – mediates between id and superego

Superego – conscience, mores of society

Defense mechanisms

Repression

Denial

Displacement

Projection

Reaction formation

Regression

Rationalization

Sublimation

Criticisms of Freud

Feminists (Karen Horney – womb envy)

Neo-Freudians

Adler – birth order, inferiority complex – drive for superiority

Carl Jung – collective unconscious

Archetypes – shadow

Trait theories

Eysenck – stable-instable, introversion-extraversion scale

Cattell – 16PF

Big 5 – OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism)

Factor analysis – finding clusters of items that differentiate between traits

Other theorists

Allport – cardinal dispositions (traits that clearly identify a person)

Central dispositions/secondary dispositions

Biological theories

Temperaments – characteristic way of dealing with the world

Hippocrates – four humors (body fluids – blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm)

Somatotype theory – Sheldon (endomorphs, ectomorphs, mesomorphs)

Social-cognitive theories

Bandura – reciprocal determinism (traits, environment, behavior)

Self-efficacy – making a difference, getting things done

Rotter – locus of control (internal vs. external)

Humanistic theories

People are innately good

Self-concept

Self-esteem

Unconditional positive regard, empathy, genuineness

Assessment of personality

Projective test – Rorschach, Draw-a-Person, TAT

Self-report inventories – MMPI

Barnum effect – see self in vague, stock descriptions of personality

Astrological sign can fit anyone

Disorders & Treatments

4 facets required to be labeled disordered behavior (DSM-IV-TR):

*

*

*

*

Anxiety disorders:

Phobias

Generalized anxiety disorder

Panic disorder & agoraphobia

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

PTSD

Drug treatments: barbiturates

Benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium)

Somatoform disorders:

Hypochondriasis

Conversion disorder

Somatization disorder

Dissociative disorders

Dissociative identity disorder (DID)

Dissociative fugue

Mood (Affective) Disorders

Major depressive disorder (unipolar depression) – 2 weeks, severe

Dysthymic disorder – 2 years, less severe

SAD

Bipolar disorder – manic phase, depressive phase (cycle between)

Drug treatments:

Tricyclic antidepressants (Elavil)

MAO inhibitors (Nardil)

SSRI’s (Prozac, Zoloft)

Bipolar disorder – lithium

Other treatment – electroconvulsive shock treatment (ECT)

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

Cognitive view of depression

Learned helplessness (Seligman) – no escape route seen even when available

Attributional styles (optimistic explanatory style)

External/internal (optimistic – external)

Specific/global (optimistic – specific)

Unstable/stable (optimistic – unstable)

Aaron Beck called this a “cognitive triad” – beliefs about self, world, future

Schizophrenia (break with reality - psychotic)

Positive symptoms – patient does weird stuff

Negative symptoms – absence of behavior (flat affect, catatonia)

Paranoid

Delusions

Delusions of grandeur (Lincoln), persecution (aliens after me)

Hallucinations – sensory (auditory most common)

Disorganized

Speech or emotion, often flat affect, word salad

Catatonic

Undifferentiated

Residual

Schizophrenia drug therapy – Thorazine, Haldol (antipsychotics)

Side effect – tardivedyskinesia (tremors)

Causes of schizophrenia? Unknown

Theories: dopamine hypothesis

Genetic abnormality 5th chromosome

Virus

Personality disorders

Antisocial p.d.

Dependent p.d.

Paranoid p.d.

Narcissistic p.d.

Histrionic p.d.

Borderline p.d.

Obsessive-compulsive p.d.

Schizoid – weird

Schizotypal – similar to schizophrenia

Treatment: Rosenhan study – problem with diagnostic labeling

Old treatments: trephining (hole in brain)

1800’s Dorothea Dix, Philippe Pinel (humane treatment)

Deinstitutionalization – 1950’s – because of drug therapies

Types of therapy:

Psychoanalysis – free association, dream analysis, resistance, transference

Humanistic – goal is self-actualization (Maslow)

Rogers – client-centered therapy

Unconditional positive regard, genuineness, empathy

  • active listening

Gestalt therapy – Fritz Perls

Behavioral – all behavior is learned

Conditioning/counterconditioning

Systematic desensitization (Wolpe)

Implosion therapy – start with most feared and face it first

Flooding – confront the feared thing with massive onslaught