Unit 1 - General Psychology

Psychology

the scientific study of the mind and behavior

empirical method

a systematic approach used in psychology to collect and analyze data through observation and experimentation.

Wilhelm Wundt and William James

• founders of psychology

• Wilhem Wundt used introspection; one of his students went on to develop structuralism

  • Established his psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879, where him and his students conducted experiments on reaction times

    • William James helped establish functional psychology -> functionalism

    • Relied on more objective measures likes the use of various recording devices and examinations of concrete products of mental activities and of anatomy and physiology

Titchener

• develops structuralism

introspection

a process by which someone examines their own conscious experience as objectively as possible to gain insight into their thoughts and feelings.

structuralism

a theoretical perspective in psychology that focuses on breaking down mental processes into their basic components and understanding how they interact. o   ex: analyzing how someone describes the taste and texture of an apple

• Edward Titchener

William James

• developed functionalism

• one of the few to establish functional psychology

• saw that psychology’s purpose was to study the function of behavior in the world

Functionalism

The purpose (function) of behavior and mental processes – how they help us adapt to the environment. Ex: studying why we feel fear and how it helps us survive; more interest in the operation of the whole mind rather than the individual parts

• William James

Sigmund Freud

• Austrian neurologist fascinated by the patients suffering from “hysteria” and neurosis

• theorized that many of his patients problems arose form the unconscious mind

• pioneer of psychoanalysis, emphasized the impact of the unconscious on behavior.

• his ideas were influential, many therapists believe in psychoanalysis but there are a few ideas of Freud that are controversial

Psychoanalytic Theory

focuses on the role of a person’s unconscious, as well as early childhood experiences

• this perspective dominated clinical psychology for several decades

• Sigmund Freud

Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Köhler,

founders of Gestalt psychology who emphasized understanding the mind as a whole.

• Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Köhler,

Gestalt

perspective that emphasizes the organization of perception and thinking in a whole form, rather than as individual elements.

ex) a song may be made up of individual notes played by different instruments, but the real anture of the song is perceived in the combinations of these notes as they form the melody

Pavlov, Watson, Skinner

are key figures in behaviorism, focusing on observable behaviors and their conditioning.

Behaviorism

is a psychological approach that studies behavior through observable actions and interactions within the environment, often using conditioning as a method for behavioral change.

• Pavlov, Watson, Skinner

Maslow, Rogers

are prominent figures in humanistic psychology, emphasizing personal growth, self-actualization, and the importance of subjective experiences.

Humanism

perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans.

• Maslow, Rogers

Ulric Neisser

develops cognitive psychology

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The Scientific Method

a systematic, empirical approach used to study behavior and mental processes. It ensures that psychological research is objective, replicable, and based on observable evidence.

1) Ask a question/identify a problem

2) form a hypothesis

3) conduct research/gather data

4) analyze the data

5) draw conclusions

6) report the results

7) replication

• scientific method is circular

inductive reasoning

real-world observations lead to new ideas

• Conclusions drawn from inductive reasoning may or may not be correct, regardless of the observations on which they are based

• Ex: seeing apples, bananas, and oranges all grow on trees, therefore, you assume that all fruit must grow on trees

• Scientists use inductive reasoning to formulate theories, which in turn generate hypotheses that are tested with deductive reasoning

deductive reasoning

ideas are tested in the real world

Descriptive (surveys, observations, and case studies)

used to describe behavior, not explain them

• Strengths: helps gather rich, detailed information, great for generating hypotheses, and useful when experiments aren’t ethical or possible

• Weaknesses: cant determine cause and effect, people may not be honest in surveys, observer bias or interpretation errors, case studies may not be generalizable to the larger population

Correlational research

looks for relationships between two variables — how they move together

§  Strengths: useful for predicting behavior, can study variables that can’t be ethically manipulated, easy to conduct with large groups

§  Weaknesses: correlation does not equal causation, may be affected by the third variables (confounding factors)

Experimental research

tests cause and effect by manipulating one variable (independent) to see its effects on another (dependent)

§  Strengths: only method that can show causality, controlled settings reduce confounding variables, random assignment increases reliability

§  Weaknesses: may not reflect real-world behavior, can be expensive or time consuming, ethical concerns in manipulating certain variables

informed consent

§  Participants must receive clear, understandable information about the study’s purpose, procedures, risks, benefits and confidentiality

§  Must voluntarily agree—and be free to withdraw at any time without penalty

risk-benefit analysis

§  The IRB ensures that potential benefits justify any risks. Physical, psychological, and financial harms must be minimized through study design and protective measures

privacy and confidentiality

§  The plan for collecting, storing and reporting data must protect participants’ identities and data privacy

§  Ensuring confidentiality is a major ethical consideration

use of description and debriefing

§  Description is necessary, it must be ethically justified and not harmful

§  They must be fully debriefed afterward—explaining why deception was used and what the study truly investigated

central nervous system

compromised of the brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system

• Connects the CNS to the rest of the body

•   Made up of thick bundles of axons (called nerves): these carry messages back and forth between the CNS and everything outside the CNS

•   Two major subdivisions: the somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system

Somatic nervous system

associated with activities traditionally thought of as conscious or voluntary

·       Involved with in the relay of sensory and motor information to and from the CNS

·       Consists of motor neurons and sensory neurons

·       Motor neurons: efferent fibers; carries instructions from the CNS to the muscles

·       Sensory neurons: afferent fibers: carries sensory info to the CNS

autonomic nervous system

controls our internal organs and glands

·       Outside the realm of voluntary control

·       Maintains the body’s homeostasis

·       Sympathetic nervous system: prepares the body for stress-related activities

• Fight or flight response

·       Parasympathetic nervous system: returning the body to routine, day-to-day operations

semipermeable membrane

part of the nerve

• neuron’s outer surface that allows smaller molecules and molecules without an electrical charge to pass through it, while stopping larger or highly charged molecules

cell body/soma

part of the nerve

• where the nucleus of the neuron is located

dendrites

part of the nerve

• serve as input sites where signals are received from other neurons. these signals are transmitted electrically across the soma and down the axon

axon

part of the nerve

• major extension of the soma

terminal buttons

part of the nerve

• contain synaptic vesicles that house neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers of the nervous system

action potential

•   Electrical signal that typically moves from the cell body down the axon to the axon terminals

•   Additional pores open -> causes massive influx of Na+ ions and huge spike in membrane potential

•    At the peak of the spike, the sodium gates close and the potassium gates open, causing positively charged potassium ions to leave

•   Cell quickly begins repolarization

• First, hyperpolarizes, becoming slightly more negative than the resting potential, and then it levels off, returning to the resting potential

sodium potassium pump

• Actively transports three sodium ions out of the cell for every two potassium ions in

• Creates a net negative charge inside the cell compared to the outside

• Provides additional force on sodium, causing it to move into the cell

neurotransmitters

chemical messengers of the nervous system

acetylcholine

increases arousal, enhances cognition; involved with muscle action and memory

beta-endorphin

o   decreases anxiety, decreases tension; involved with pain and pleasure

dopamine

increases pleasure, suppresses appetite; involved in mood, sleep, learning

gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

decreases anxiety, decreases tension; involved with brain function, sleep

glutamate

increases learning, enhances memory; involved with memory and learning

norepinephrine

increases arousal, suppresses appetite; involved with the heart, intestines, alertness

serotonin

modulates mood, suppresses appetite; involved with mood and sleep

Frontal Lobe

located in the forward part of the brain; involved with reasoning, motor control, emotion, and language

parietal lobe

behind the frontal lobe; involved in processing information from the body’s senses

temporal lobe

located on the left side of the head; associated with hearing, memory, emotion, and some aspects of language

occipital lobe

Located at the very back of the brain, contains the primary visual cortex, which is responsible for interpreting incoming visual information

cerebral cortex

o   surface of the brain that is very uneven; associated with higher level processes such as consciousness, thought, emotion, reasoning, language, and memory

gyri

o   pattern of folds or bumps on the brain

sulci

grooves on the brain

longitudinal fissure

the deep groove that separates the brain into two halves or hemispheres

right hemisphere

controls the left half of the body; pitch perception, arousal and negative emotions

left hemisphere

controls the right half of the body; forms associations in memory, selective attention, and postive emotions

corpus callosum

connects the two hemispheres with a thick band of neural fibers, consisting of about 200 million axons. It allows the two hemispheres to communicate with each other and allows for information being processed on one side of the brain to be shared with the other side

forebrain

largest part of the brain, containing the two hemispheres, cerebral cortex and a number of other structures that lie beneath the cortex

motor cortex

involved in planning and coordinating movement

prefrontal cortex

responsible for higher-level cognitive functioning

Broca’s Area

essential for language production

somatosensory cortex

processes sensory information from across the body, such as touch, temperature, and pain; processes touch and sensation

auditory cortex

main area responsible for processing auditory information

Wernicke’s Area

important for speech comprehension

thalamus

sensory relay for the brain; all of our sense, with the exception of smell, are routed through the thalamus before being directed of other areas of the brain for processing

limbic system

involved in processing both memory and emotion; the sense of smell projects directly to the limbic system where smell can evoke emotional responses in ways that other sensory modalities cannot.

hippocampus

essential structure for learning and memory

amygdala

involved in our experience of emotion and in tying emotional meaning to our memories

hypothalamus

o   regulates a number of homeostatic processes, including the regulation of body temperature, appetite, and blood pressure; serves as an interface between the nervous system and the endocrine system, and in regulation of sexual motivation and behavior

midbrain

o   : comprised of structures located deep within the brain, between the forebrain and the hindbrain

reticular formation

o   centered in the midbrain, important in regulating the sleep/wake cycle, arousal, alertness, and motor activity

Substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area (VTA)

produce neurotransmitter dopamine, critical for movement, involved in mood, reward, and addiction

Hindbrain

located at the back of the head; looks like an extension of the spinal cord

Medulla

controls the automatic processes of the autonomic nervous system, such as breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate

pons

connects the hindbrain to the rest of the brain; also regulates brain activity during sleep

cerebellum

receives messages from muscles, tendons, joints, and structures in our ear to control balance, coordination, movement, and motor skills

Phineas Gages personality

o   An iron rod exploded out of a blasting hole into Gage’s face and through his skull when working as a railroad foreman in Vermont

o   He was conscious and able to get up, walk and speak

o   Months following his accident, his personality changed, he began to behave in odd and inappropriate ways

o   Loss of impulse control—a frontal lobe function

o   Also identified damages to the limbic system as he had difficulty controlling his emotional impulses

Endocrine system

• Consists of a series of glands that produce chemical substances known as hormones

• Is the body’s communication system that uses hormones to regulate and control various functions like growth, metabolism, mood and reproduction

• consists of the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal and pancreas

Pituitary gland

part of the endocrine system

• messenger hormone controls all the other glands in the system, mostly carries out instructions from the hypothalamus; also secretes growth hormone, endorphins for pain relief, and a number of key hormones that regulate fluid levels in the body

Thyroid gland

releases hormones that regulate growth, metabolism, and appetite

• part of the endocrine system

adrenal glands

secrete hormones involved in the stress response, such as epinephrine and norepinephrine

• part of the endocrine system

pancreas

internal organ that secretes hormones essential for maintaining stable levels of blood sugar throughout the day by lowering blood glucose levels or raising them

• part of the endocrine system

gonads

secrete sexual hormones

• part of the endocrine system

genetics on behavior and traits

o   Inherited traits

o   Some parts of your personality – like how outgoing, anxious, or aggressive you are can be partly inherited

o   Conditions like ADHD, bipolar disorder, autism, and depression often run in families, showing a strong genetic link

o   Can affect how easily someone learns, processes information, or remembers things

o   Inherit a genetic predisposition to addictive behaviors or risk-taking

sensation

detection of physical stimuli by sensory receptors

perception

organization and interpretation of those sensations into meaningful experiences

reception

sensory receptors detect stimuli

• part of 4-step sensory process

transduction

convert signals into neural impulses.

transmission

send impulses to the brain

• four-step sensory process

perception

interpret signals consciously

absolute threshold

minimum stimulus detected 50% of the time

difference threshold (just noticeable difference, JND)

smallest detectable difference

Weber’s Law

just noticeable difference (JND) — the smallest detectable change in a stimulus — is a constant proportion of the original stimulus.

iris

colored muscle; adjusts pupil size to regulate light

pupil

opening for light entry in the eye

cornea

transparent outer layer; initiates focus in the eyes

rods and cones

rods handle low-light vision; cones detect bright light and color

color vision

cones operate via trichromatic (RGB-sensitive) and opponent-process systems

blind spot

where the optic nerve exits the retina—no receptors exist there, creating a small gap in vision