General Psychology

Psychology

❑ Study of behavior and mental processes

❑ Study of how people think act, react and interact

❑ “Psyche” (mind) + “logos” (study)

Psychiatry

❑ Study of mental disorders and their diagnosis, management and

prevention

❑ Psychiatrist: an MD who has completed residency training in

psychiatry

Wilhelm Wundt

Father of Psychology

Structuralism

Study of mental processes by specifying the elements of

consciousness through introspection

Functionalism

the purpose and function of mental processes and behavior

Sigmund Freud

“Life force” / libido / sex drive influences the unconscious

mind of a child’s personality (Name of Person)

Carl Jung

Libido: not only sex drive but the desire to Excel

Cognitivism

Study of mental processes including how people think, perceive,

remember and learn

Abraham Maslow

Fundamental and uniquely human needs and issues (name of person)

Existentialism

❑ Humanistic themes of death, free will and meaning

❑ Meaning can be shaped by myths or narrative patterns and can

be encouraged by an acceptance of the free will

Hyperplasia

Increase in the number of cells

Hypertrophy

Increase in the size of cells

Maturation

the unfolding of traits potentially present in the Individual or internal ripening

Learning

– is development that comes from exercise and effort

Endoderm, Mesoderm, Ectoderm

3 Layers of cells

Placenta, Umbilical cord, Amnion

3 life support System

Germinal Period

Conception to 2 weeks

Creation of zygote, continued cell division and attachment of the zygote to the uterine wall

Embryonic Period

2 weeks to 8 weeks

Zygote will become embryo

Fetal Period

2 months to 9 months

Infant is born

Babyhood Stage (2 weeks to 2nd year of life)

• decreasing dependency

- Babyhood skills: hand skills and leg skills

- pre-speech forms of communication

Ex: gesturing, crying, cooing, babbling

Early Childhood (3-5 years)

- “pre- schooler years”

- years before formal schooling begins

- “separation anxiety

Middle and Late Childhood (Elementary school years)

• fundamental skills

- self-help skills, social skills, school skills, play skills

- self-control increases

- Achievement becomes more central theme of the child’s world

Adolescence (13-18 years/ High school years)

- transition age

- rapid physical changes

- pursuit of independence and identity are prominent

- thought are more logical, abstract, and idealistic

- more time spent outside of the family

Early Adulthood (19- 29 years)

- age of adjustment to new patterns of life and new roles

- personal and economic independence

- career development

- selecting a mate

Middle Adulthood/ Middle Age (30-60 years)

- initial physical and mental decline

- expanding personal and social involvement

- maintaining satisfaction in career

Late Adulthood/ Old Age (61 years and above)

- adjustment to decreasing strength and health

- life review

- retirement

- increasingly physical and mental decline

Erik Erikson

a neo-psychoanalytic theorist (note the corresponding

stages with Freud’s theory)

Stage 1. Trust vs. Mistrust (0-18 months)

❑ Virtue: Hope

❑ Significant person: mother or primary caretaker

❑ Needs should be met and care consistent

Stage 2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (18 months - 3 years)

❑ Virtue: Will

❑ Independence and negativism (learning to say “no” before “yes“)

Stage 3. Initiative vs. Guilt (3-5 years)

❑ Virtue: Purpose

❑ Learning to plan and carry out actions and to get along with peers

as an autonomous and independent person

Stage 4. Industry vs. Inferiority (5-13 years)

❑ Virtue: Competence

❑ Learning new skills and takes pride in the things made

❑ Pleasure and satisfaction from the completion of tasks

Stage 5 Identity vs Role Confusion (13-21 years)

Virtue: Fidelity

integrating different images of the self into a whole

Stage 6 Intimacy vs Isolation

(20-40 years)

“To love and to work”

Relating well with others

Stage 7 Generativity vs Stagnation (40-60 years)

Generativity: raising children. Guiding the next generation, creativity, altruism

Stagnation: self-concern, isolation, absence of intimacy

Midlife crisis

Stage 8 Integrity vs Despair (60 years onward)

Ego Integrity: wisdom from ife experiences

Despair: loss of hope

Cognitive Development

involves changes in how children understand and think

about their world as they grow olde

Egocentrism

Inability to distinguish between one’s own perspective and someone else

Animism

Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of action

Analogical thinking

use relationship to narrow down possible

answers in similar problems

Hypothetical reasoning

weighs data to make judgement

Deductive reasoning

applying general rule to a particular

situation

Scaffolding

appropriate assistance given by the teacher to assist the

learner to accomplish a task

Id

Unconscious or subconscious desires

❑ Seeks expression without fear of consequences nor regard

for control

Pleasure principle: “I want it now

Ego

❑ Operates on all three levels of the mind

❑ Manages the conflict between the id and the constraints of the real world

❑ Reality principle: “You can only have it under certain conditions

Superego

❑ Conscience, sense of right/wrong

❑ Operates on all levels of the mind, mostly subconscious

❑ Forces the ego to conform not only to reality but also to its ideals

of morality

Unconscious

Most of what influence us

Conscious

All that we are aware of

Subconcious/Pre-conscious

Part of us that we can reach if prompted

Edward Thorndlike

Founder of Behavior Psychology

Acquisition

learning to associate 2 events

Extinction

Gradual weakening and disappearance of CR due to repeated appearance of CS without US

Stimulus Generalization

Tendency to respond to a new stimulus to the original CS

Stimulus Discrimination

Do not respond to all similar stimulus that is similar to CS

Higher order conditioning

Neutral stimulus acts as a CS by being paired to another stimulus that already evokes a CR

Reinforcement

Increase the likelihood that a response will occur

Positive Reinforcement

Presentation of (good) stimulus

Negative Reinforcement

Removal of a (bad) stimulus

Punishment

decrease the likelihood that a response will occur

Positive Punishment

Giving something bad

Negative Punishment

Taking away something good

Flashbulb memories

Vividly remembering a certain event and even insignificant

incidents surrounding it for a long time

Slips of the tongue/ Parapraxes

Linguistic mistakes that are often embarrassing

- Wrong term due to similarity of sound and meaning to the original word

Hypermnesia

Excessive memory situation in which a later attempt to remember yields information that could not be retrieved in an earlier attempt

Infantile / childhood amnesia

Most adults cannot remember events before age 3 or 4

- Memories before the age of 3 are usually imaginary, not real

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

performance relative to same-aged peers

Interpersonal intelligence

ability to understand other people

Intrapersonal intelligence

ability to understand one’s self, recognize and manage emotions

Habituation

The simplest way of learning; becoming familiar with a subject as

a result of repeated exposure

- A common form of learning

Left-brained dominant individual

- analytic

- step- by-step sequential

- mathematical thinker

Right-brained dominant individual

• Global

• Prefers to learn beginning with a general concept and then going on to specifics

Authoritarian

❑ High demands, not responsive to children; obedience- and

status-oriented

❑ Strict rules obeyed without explanation; failure to obey

leads to punishment

Authoritative

❑ Highly responsive to children

❑ willing to listen to questions

❑ assertive but not intrusive and restrictive

❑ Communication is frequent and appropriate to the child’s

level of understanding.

Permissive

❑ Few demands, low expectations

❑ more responsive than demanding

❑ Parents in this category tend to be warm and nurturing.C. P

Uninvolved

❑ Few demands, low responsiveness, little communication

❑ This group of parents offers little nurturing.

❑ There are few or no expectations of children.

Regression

Resorting to earlier ways of acting or feeling, although it is no longer appropriate

Somatization

Converting anxiety to bodily symptoms and reacting with somatic manifestations rather than psychological ones

Blocking

Transiently inhibiting thinking

Hypochondriasis

Exaggerating or overemphasizing an illness for the purpose of

evasion and regression (unconscious, will perceive that they are ill);

can be related to fears and apprehensions

Dissociation

Temporarily but drastically modifying one’s character or identity to

avoid emotional distress

Repression

Shoving unacceptable and distressing memories, thoughts,

emotions and urges to the unconscious (recalling it will be too

painful)

Sublimation

- Transforming unacceptable needs into acceptable ambitions and actions

- allows instincts to be channeled, not blocked or diverted

Suppression

Consciously postponing attention to an impulse or conflict that are not usually utterly despicable

Deep Limbic Center

Controls bonding and mood

Basal Ganglia

Integrates feelings and movement

- Impairment in anxiety

Cingulate

Allows shifting of attention from thought to thought and

between behaviors

Temporal Lobes

- Reading social cues (facial expression, voice intonation),

understanding and processing language, memory, mood stability

Frontal Lobe

Executive function; planning, decision-making, impulse control

Broca’s Area

Production of Speech

Wernicke’s Area

Comprehension of Speech

Amygdala

Associates memory with emotion

Hippocampus

Learning and memory

Hypothalamus

Emotion, basic drives (thirst and hunger)

- Regulates endocrine activity, controls autonomic nervous

system

- Organizes homeostatic and social behavioral patterns

Acetylcholine (Ach)

Muscle movement, attention, arousal, memory, emotion

- Alzheimer’s disease associated with deficiency

Dopamine

Voluntary movement, learning, memory, emotion, motivation

- Schizophrenia: increased dopamine

- Parkinsonism and depression: decreased dopamine

Serotonin

- Sleep, wakefulness, appetite, mood, aggression, impulsivity,

sensory perception, temperature regulation, pain suppression

- Plays a central role in depression: decreased serotonin

Endorphins

Pain relief, pleasure

Epinephrine

Stress hormone, functions as a neurotransmitter in the brain

Norepinephrine / noradrenaline (NorE)

Learning, memory, dreaming, awakening, emotion, stress-related

increase in heart rate and slowing of digestive processes

- Depression: decreased NorE

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

- Main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain

- vision, motor control, regulation of anxiety

Glutamate

Main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain

- Multiple sclerosis: increased glutamate