IB psychology HL ALL STUDIES

Techniques for studying the brain

• MRI

• MAGUIRE (taxi drivers)

Localization

• Localization proposes that the brain is divided into specialized regions, each with unique functions. 

• Maguire (Taxi driver)

• OR Milner (HM)

Neuroplasticity

• The brain’s ability to alter its own structure

• Maguire (taxi drivers)

• OR Draganski (jugglers)

Neurotransmitters

• chemical messengers that facilitate communication between neurons

• Acetylcholine: most common neurotransmitter. Receptor sites found in hippocampus. Memory consolidation from STM to LTM

• Scopolamine: antagonist. Inhibits Acetylcholine.

• Troster & Beatty (Scopolamine. Free recall, new map, famous face test)

Ethics in studying the brain

• Milner (HM)

Antagonist

• Prevents neurotransmitters from having an effect on behaviour

• Scopolamine: antagonist that inhibits the binding of acetylcholine to receptors. May have side effects of: forgetfulness, halluscinations, etc.

• Troster & Beatty (Free recall, new map, remote memory battery)

Agonist

• Binds to receptors and causes a reaction. Endogenous - originates in body. Exogenous- originates outside body

• Acetylcholine: endegenous agonist and neurotransmitter. Plays a role in memory consolidation from STM to LTM. Most common neurotransmitter. Receptor sites are located in hippocampus.

• Troster & Beatty (free recall, new map test, remote battery test)

Formation of neural networks

• Neuroplasticity: the brains ability to alter its own structure following changes in the environment or in the body

• Long term potentiation: enables learning and making LTM. New connections between existing neurons. Strengthening of synapses.

• Neural network: interconnected groups of neurons that transmit signals, forming pathways that enable various mental processes and behaviors

• Maguire (taxi drivers)

• OR Draganski (jugglers)

Neural Pruning

• Neuroplasticity: the brains ability to alter its own structure following changes in the environment or in the body

• Neural pruning: Lack of long term potentiation of neurons may caise pruning → synaptic connections are eliminated as they are not needed anymore

• Draganski (jugglers)

Excitatory and inhibitory synapses

• Excitatory synapse: release of neurotransmitter increases the likelihood of an action potential firing. E.g. acetylcholine

• Troster & Beatty (free recall, new map, celebrity faces)

• Inhibitory synapse: when the release of a neurotransmitter decreases the likelihood of a neuron firing an action potential. Many neurotransmitters are inhibitory to some receptir sites while excitatory to others. E.g. GABA

• GABA: inhibits neural activity in the hippocampus and frontal lobe, increasing cognitive load and improving memory.

• Prevot (memory impaired mice, y shaped maze)

Hormones on behaviour

• Testosterone: male sex hormone, secreted in testes.

• Ronay von Hippel (testosterone on risk-taking)

Pheromones

• MHC: immune system gene, co-dominant (inherited from both parents), ideally would be highly different between parents

• Wedekind (t-shirts)

Genes on behaviour

• Adoption studies: research studies that compare an adopted person's behavior to both their biological and adoptive parents' behavior.

• Sorensen et al (obesity and genetics → adoption study)

Evolutionary arguments for behaviour

• Natural selection: those individuals best suited to the characteristics of the immediate environment are more likely to survive, mate, have offspring, and rear their offspring to reach reproductive age.

• Sexual selection: a type of natural selection where individuals with certain traits have greater success in obtaining mates, leading to the evolution of traits that enhance mating success

• Wedekind (MHC, t-shirts)

• OR Buss (ideal partner traits around the world)

• OR Ronay von Hippel (Testosterone and risk-taking)

Ethics in genetic research

• Any study

• Bailey & Pillard (gay twin study)

Multi-store model

Input →sensory memory→(attention)→ STM (rehearsal) ←→(transfer/retrieval)LTM

Made by Atkinson and Shiffrin

• Milner (HM)

• Glanzer & Cunitz (recency & primacy effect)

Working memory model

• Central executive, visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, phonological loop, LTM

• Made by Baddeley and Hitch

• Baddeley & Hitch (dual task, articulatiry supression)

• OR Baddeley, Thompson and Buchanan (Word length effect)

• OR Shallice & Warrington (KF)

Schema theory

• Mental representation used to organise knowledge

• Assimilation: integrating new information into existing schemas

• Accomodation: altering existing schemas or creating new ones in response to new information

• Bartlett (War on the Ghosts)

• OR Loftus & Palmer (car speed)

Thinking and Decision making

• Dual Processing model; System 1: Fast, automatic, draws on prior experience System 2: slow, deliberate, analytical

• Tversky & Kahneman (anchoring bias in math)

• Englich & Mussweiler (anchoring bias in prison sentence)

Reconstructive memory

• Theory of memory that proposes memories are not stored as replicas of past events but instead reconstructed by the mind each time they are recalled

• Bartlett (War on the ghosts)

• Loftus & Palmer (car crash)

Biases in thinking and decision making

Heuristic: a mental shortcut that allows people to solve problems and make judgements quickly

Anchoring bias: relying too heavily on the first piece of information

• Englich & Mussweiler (prison sentence)

• Tversky & Kahneman (math problem)

Emotion on cognition

Flashbulb memory: a vivid and detailed memory of a surprising and emotionally arousing event

Reconstructive memory: Theory of memory that proposes memories are not stored as replicas of past events but instead reconstructed by the mind each time they are recalled

• Brown and Kulik (public figure deaths, MLK, Kennedy)

• Neisser & Harsch (September 11th distortion longitudinal questionnaire)

Social Identity Theory

• Social categorization, social identification, in-group/out-group

• Tajfel (Klee and Kadinsky)

• Hillard & Liben (Children’s gender salience in classroom)

Social Cognitive Theory

• Attention, retention, motivation and potential, self-efficacy

• Bandura et al (bobo doll)

• Charlton et al (St. Helens TV agression)

Formation of stereotypes

• Preconceived notion about a group of people

• Illusory correlation: a belief that there is a relationship between 2 unrelated events

• Confirmation bias: when people tend to seek or remember information that supports their current beliefs

• Cognitive misers

• Hamilton & Gifford (A & B group statements)

• Hillard & Liben (Children gender salience in classroom)

Stereotypes on behaviour

Stereotype threat: when worrying about conforming to a stereotype leads to underperformance

• Steele & Aronson (Black knowledge vs problem solving “test”)

• Martin & Halverson (gender stereotype photos children)

Culture on behaviour

• Individualism vs. Collectivism

• Norasakkunikit & Uchida (hikikomori)

• Ogihara & Uchida (work women relationships)

Cultural dimensions on behaviour

Cultural dimension: trends of a behaviour in a given culture

• Norasakkunikit & Uchida (hikikomori values)

• Ogihara & Uchida (women in work relationships)

Enculturation

• Process of learning and adopting the schemas of your culture

• Martin & Halverson (children gender-congruent photos on memory)

• Odden & Rochat (Observational learning in Samoan village)

Acculturation

• Process by which someone comes into contact with another culture and starts to adopt the norms and behaviours of that culture

• Acculturative stress, marginalization, separation, integration, assimilation

• Ishizawa & Jones (asian migrant obesity)

• Da Costa, Dias & Martins (natives vs. Migrant obesity)

Biological explanation for obesity

• Sorensen (adoption study obesity)

• Dutch Hunger Winter

Cognitive explanations for obesity

• Stahre et al (CBT)

• Jokela (Big 5 personality)

Sociocultural explanations for obesity

• Ishizawa & Jones (Asian 2nd and 3rd gen. Obesity)

• Curtis (Pacific Islanders)

Prevalence rates of obesity

• The percentage of the population that has a disease

• Incidence: development of cases over a span of time

• Joseph (fast food in provate school boys)

• Martinez-Gonzales (sedantary lifestyle in EU)

Health beliefs

• Weinstein (students risk perception)

• Lewis et al (moderate vs. Severe obese beliefs)

Biological approach to personal relationships

MHC: gene that codes for immune system, co-dominant (inherited from both parents), ideally would be highly different between parents

Sexual selection: a type of natural selection where individuals with certain traits are more likely to mate, leading to evolution of these traits

• Wedekind (t-shirts, MHC)

• Buss (33 countries, preferred traits)

Cognitive approach to relationships

• Halo-effect: generalise about a person based on one trait

• Attachment styles: secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant

• Dion et al (halo effect, attractive, personality)

• Hazan & Shaver (infant attachment on romantic relationships)

Sociocultural approach to relationships

Mere-exposure effect: tendency to prefer things that one has been repeatedly exposed to

Cultural dimensions: trends of behaviour in a given culture

• Moreland & Beach (student mere-exposure)

• Ye et al (dating ads in China vs USA)

Communication & why relationships end

• Process through which you send and receive messages with others

• Attributional theory: people understand the behaviours of others and themselves by attributing behaviours to causes:

• dispositional: Inner cause e.g. personality

• Situational: outer cause e.g. an event

• Positive attribution style: assume best intent: + behaviour → dispositional, - behaviour → situational

• Relationship enhancing/distress maintaining patterns

• Four horsemen: Criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling

• Bradbury & Fincham (videotaped conflict in marriage)

• Gottman (couples over 20 years, interviews & observations)

Cooperation and competition

Cooperation: working together towards a common goal

Competition: social situation where individuals believe their goals are negatively related to others’ goals

• Kerr (pumping air, free rider & sucker effects)

• Sherif (Robbers Cave)

Prejudice and discrimination

Prejudice: an attitude thay is favourable or unfavourable towards any member in the category of question

Discrimination: treating someone based on group membership rather than individual merit

Availability heuristic: making a decision based on the answer that most easily comes to mind

• Fein & Spencer (gay actor)

• Hart (biological, fMRI, racial in-group and out-group)

Origins of conflict and conflict resolution

Realistic conflict theory: cinflict arises due to conflicting goals and scarce resources. Conflict can be diminished through superordinate goals

Contact hypothesis: conflict can be resolved by getting to know more about the other group

• Sherif (Robbers Cave, group formation, inter-group conflict, conflict reduction)

• Novotny & Polansky (Czech and Slovak attitudes on Muslims)

Biological approach to group dynamics

• Hart (fMRI racial ingroup, outgroup)

• Harris & Fiske (fMRI photos, homeless → garbage)

Cognitive approach to group dynamics

• Theory of threatened egotism: The threatened egotism theory posits that aggression and violence are often a reaction to a challenge to a highly favorable self-view

• Symbolic threat: culture and morals

• Realistic threat: economics and jobs

• Fein & spencer (gay actor)

• Croucher (France, Germany, UK, immigrant perceptions and realistic vs. Symbolic threats)

Sociocultural approach to group dynamics

• Sherif

• Novotny & Polansky