PSYC1101

Monism

The philosophical perspective that mind and body are not separate entities but are unified as one substance, suggesting that mental processes are connected to physical states. The belief that ultimately the mind and the brain are the same

thing

Dualism

The view that the mind and body function separately.

The Mind-Body Problem

problem of explaining how mental states are related to physical states. In some ways this has loosely transformed into a search for the neural correlates of consciousness. It addresses the relationship between consciousness and the brain, questioning how subjective experiences arise from neural processes.

Phrenology

The detailed study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities.

• Think brain muscles…

• Developed as a theory by

Franz Gall

• Popular in the mid 19th century

• In the new world of neuropsychology this idea isn’t as crazy as it seems

Behavioural Perspective - Behaviourism

emphasises environmental control of behaviour through learning

Foundation concepts:

• Tabula rasa (Locke), Classical conditioning (Pavlov), Law of effect (Thorndike), Operant Conditioning (Skinner)

Only observable behaviour should be studied

Behaviour is determined by:

• prior learning experiences

• stimuli in current environment

Behaviour modification:

• decreasing problem behaviours and increasing positive

behaviours by manipulating environmental factors

Psychodynamic Perspective - Freud :(

Relates the psychological forces that underlie human behaviour, feelings, and emotions to early experiences in childhood/infancy

• Emphasizes dynamic relations between conscious motivation and unconscious motivation

Id, ego and super-ego

• The id is the unconscious reservoir of libido, fuels instincts

• The ego serves as the general manager of personality,

makes decisions

• The superego refers to the repository of an individual's

moral values

Cognitive Perspective

the study of how mental processes influence behaviour

• the brain as an information processor

Modern cognitive perspective:

• Concerned with reasoning, decision making, perceptions,

language, problem solving, etc.

• Uses measures of performance and ability to understand

mental processes and systems

Neurological perspective

Biological perspective: how brain processes and other bodily functions regulate behaviour

Behavioural neuroscience:

• physiological functions that underlie behaviour, sensory experiences,

emotions and thoughts

• Neurotransmitters: chemicals that allow nerve cells to communicate with one another

Behaviour genetics:

• how behavioural tendencies are influenced by genetic factors

Psych today

Psychology: the scientific study of behaviour and the mind

Behaviour:

• directly observable actions and responses

Mind:

• Measure internal states and processes

• Biological and Cognitive approaches

• Includes multi-disciplinary approaches

e.g. fMRI recording brain activity during a task

Barriers to trusting experience in interpretation - Naive realism

The belief that we see the world precisely as it is

For example, these tables appear different in size but are in fact identical

Barriers to trusting experience in interpretation - Illusionary correlations

The tendency to mistakenly perceive a relationship between two unrelated variables

For example, believing that traffic lights are red more often when

we are running late

Barriers to trusting experience in interpretation - Confirmation bias

the tendency to look for and interpret information in a manner that supports our pre-existing beliefs

For example, if you dislike a co-worker, you may highlight negative

encounters but ignore or discount positive exchanges

Barriers to trusting experience in interpretation - Belief persevereance

a related outcome involving a resistance to changing your beliefs despite contrary information

For example, believing all people of “group x” are terrible drivers,

16despite examples to the contrary

Thinking like a scientist

Barriers outline common ideas to consider when thinking about a problem or evaluating a claim

The basis of scientific thinking is critical thinking, an ability to

evaluate the claim being made before accepting or updating our

knowledge

Thinking like a scientist - Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence

• The more a claim contradicts what we know, the more persuasive

the evidence must be before we accept it

• For example, individuals have reported being abducted by aliens,

but people generally remain sceptical of this claim.

Thinking like a scientist - Can the claim be tested?

A good theory is a testable one (not all are…). By making novel

predictions about the world we can test the accuracy of a theory

across context and circumstance.

• For example, universities largely accept the claim that ATAR is a

good predictor of individual ability because its testable

Thinking like a scientist - Generalisability

We cannot study every human in order to understand psychology,

so scientists must generalise from a sample, to the larger

population. Generalisability should always be questioned

• For example, we might develop some training/treatment program

that is effective, but which may not work across different cultures,

groups, ages, genders etc.

• Ponder this: 99% of all published psychological research is based

on undergraduate populations. WEIRD

WEIRD acronym

WEIRD is a famous acronym standing for Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic.

Coined by researchers in 2010, it highlights a massive bias in behavioral research: the vast majority of psychology studies historically use subjects from this specific demographic (often university undergrads) while falsely assuming the results apply to all of humanity.

Thinking like a scientist - Replicability

Can the findings or claim being reported be reproduced

consistently?

• For example, the lucky streak of a gambler is difficult to

reproduce, challenging claims of ‘systems’ or ‘lucky shirts’

Thinking like a scientist - ruling out alternative explanations

Is there only one good explanation for the claim?

• For example, Clever Hans (circa 1900) was a horse

that was claimed to be able to add/subtract/divide. It turned out he

had learnt to respond to the question asker.

Thinking like a scientist - correlation does not equal causation

The fact that two variables are correlated does not necessarily

mean that one causes an effect on the other.

• For example, from 1999-2009

there was a strong correlation

between # films Nicolas Cage appeared

in and pool drownings in the US…

Dr Edgar Monez

In 1935 Dr Edgar Monez heard a research presentation about monkeys who were calmer and more cooperative after having their frontal lobes removed.
• Monez performed a labotomy on a 63 year old woman that same year, claiming success
• Up to 50 000 people wer e lobotomised to treat psychosis, depression, anxiety etc.
• Lobotomist toolkit shown here
• Monez received a Nobel prize (medicine) in 1949!
• The practice was abandoned i n the 1960s.

Ethics and participant rights

Ethics protects the rights of human and non-human participants. There is a code of ethics governing research and universities have ethics committees to ensure research complies.

• The basis for human participation is informed consent. Participants are free to withdraw at any stage without penalty.

• If any deception is involved, then participants should be fully debriefed after the study.

• Research involving specific groups or cultures should consult with those communities. E.g. Aboriginal & Torres straight islanders, or those with specific lived experiences

Methods of Research: observation

Observational methods. Studying phenomena in the natural environment
Strength:
– Descriptive data about behaviour
Pitfalls:
– Observer bias in observations
– Participant self-consciousnessness

Example uses:
– Studying work environments or groups
– communication patterns

Methods of Research: case studies

Case studies. A popular technique for studying rare occurrences
Strengths:
– Provides very detailed descriptive analysis
Pitfalls:
– 1 instance may not be representative of the broader phenomena
Example uses:
– Studies of new, complex, or rare phenomena/diseases

Methods of Research: questionnaires

Surveys/Questionnaires. A great way to get a lot of common data about an area of interest
Strengths:
– Gathers large amounts of data, quick
– Inexpensive
Pitfalls:
– Self-report inaccuracies
– Misunderstood questions
– Socially desirable responses
Example uses:
– Measuring personal characteristics, rating businesses or events
– E.g. personality, attitudes, my teaching…

Methods of Research: correlational

Correlational studies (more on these in Psyc1102) allow us to examine the relationship between 2 or more things
Strengths:
– Testing predictions
– Evaluating theories
Pitfalls:
– Cannot confirm causal relationships
– factors may simply co-occur
Example uses:
– Investigating problematic questions we cant manipulate
– E.g. ATAR and uni performance, assessing comorbidities

The scatterplot: used to representing and interpret correlational data • Correlations can be positive, negative or zero
• This co-efficient is given a value from -1 through 1.
• #reminder correlation does not = causation

Methods of Research: experimental

Examining cause and effect
– A researcher manipulates one or more variables and then measures whether this manipulation influences other variables
– Independent variable (IV): the factor that is manipulated or controlled by the experimenter
– Dependent variable (DV): the factor that is measured by the experimenter
Strengths:
– Testing predictions and evaluating theories
Pitfalls:
– Normally requires a controlled environment, i.e. lab based
– Artificial lab contexts may lower generalisability
Uses:
– Assessing the impact of, e.g. drug treatment or training program
– Investigating ability (e.g. face recognition) by varying stimulus intensity

Representing data: descriptive statistics

Data typically has a bell-shaped distribution
– Means, medians and modes don’t always overlap.
negatively skewed = tail towards the left. lower mean - median then mode
positively skewed = tail towards the right. lower mode, median than mean.
normal - mean median and mode same number, even bell curve

Variability is represented by the standard deviation (SD) • SD = an estimate of how much scores spread from the mean Greater variability = greater standard deviation (SD)

Assessing significance - inferential statistics

Tell us how confident we can be in making inferences about a population, based on the sample tested

Assessing significance - satistical significance

• Psychologists set chance as a result that occurs 5 times out of 100, or 5%.
• A significant result means that it is very unlikely to have occurred by chance
• This probability, or “p” of a result is written out as:
• p<.05 (the results is less likely than chance and therefore meaningful)
• p>.05 (the differences are likely due to chance)
Inferential statistics are the basis of psychological testing- though they come in many forms

t, represents the size of difference between conditions, relative to variability/SD. higher t = lower variability and less statistically significant
• Degrees of freedom (in brackets) = describes sample size/number of participants
e.g. t(198) = 7.04, p<.05

Learning

A process that results in a change in behaviour or thought that is based on experience.
Cannot “see” learning
• Can see behaviour change that results from learning
• E.g., improved performance
Experience = taking in information from the environment
• Not the same as behaviour change due to brain development, illness, or brain damage

Habituation

The most basic form of learning
Decline in responding to repeated presentations of a stimulus
• Fits the definition of learning
• NOT merely fatigue
• We know this because we can create dishabituation
Habituation is a form of non-associative learning

Classical conditioning

A form of associative learning
• If something happens, then something else will also happen
Process by which an organism learns to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that has been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response

Unconditioned Stimulus

The stimulus that naturally causes the automatic response
- paired with a neutral stimulus during the process of conditioning
- the meat powder

Unconditioned Response

The natural automatic response
- salivation to meat powder

Conditioned Stimulus

The previously neutral stimulus that has been conditioned to cause the automatic response through acquisition
- the metronome

Conditioned Response

The conditioned automatic response
- salivation to the metronome

Acquisition - phase of Classical Conditioning

The process of learning (acquiring) the CR.
• Requires a noticeable neutral stimulus that reliably and repeatedly occurs shortly before the UCS
• Contingency: Neutral stimulus must predict the UCS

Latent Inhibition

Can effect acquisition
Even in a well-designed experiment acquisition may be difficult or fail due to this
• Previous exposure to the neutral stimulus prevents it from becoming a conditioned stimulus

Extinction - phase of Classical Conditioning

CR fades then disappears if CS is presented without UCS
• CR is not really “gone”, just suppressed

Spontaneous Recovery - phase of Classical Conditioning

An extinct CR may reappear if the CS is presented again after a break

Higher order conditioning

Two conditioned stimuli can be ‘chained’ together
• A second neutral stimulus can be paired with an existing CS to become a second CS

• Stage 1: pair CS1 with UCS
• Stage 2: pair CS2 with CS1

Behaviourism

general principles of learning that explain all behaviours; focus is largely on observable behaviour. all behaviour can be reduced to stimulus response (S-R) relationships
everything comes down to learning and CC’s association to stimulus

Little Albert

Watson and Rayner (1920)
• 9-month old male raised in a hospital environment
• “No one had ever seen him in a state of fear… His stability was one of the principal reasons for using him as a subject in this test. We felt that we could do him relatively little harm* by carrying out such experiments.” suggesting some degree of harm was expected

- victim of stimulus generalisation (rabbit, dog, furry coat, santa mask) - demonstrates learning is flexible.

Little Peter

Toddler who was afraid of rabbits
• Mary Cover Jones paired rabbits with pleasant stimuli (favourite sweet)
- CR was pleasure rather than fear
• Little Peter was no longer afraid
• Exposure therapy was born

Exposure therapy

A well-established treatment for phobias
• Incorporates extinction, habituation and acquisition of new associations by pairing feared stimuli with relaxation or other pleasurable stimuli

-              extinction: expose phobia many times without bad things to extinct association to fear

-              habituation: expose to phobia to get used to it

Pigeon Superstition

Pigeon happened to associate flapping its wings with getting food - even tho it has no association.
Food comes every 20 seconds regardless of what the pigeon did
• Fixed interval schedule
• Accidental reinforcement of whatever behaviour was happening at the time

Edward Thorndike

1874-1949
• Studied how animals learn to solve problems
• Cats escaping puzzle boxes
Trial and error

• Cats gradually got faster at escaping due to trial and error
• Not insight
• The association between the stimulus (puzzle box) and response (pressing the lever) was rewarded by access to the food

The law of effect

If a stimulus followed by a response results in a reward, the stimulus is more likely to elicit the response in the future.
Stimulus = a particular situation
Response = a voluntary behaviour

Operant Conditioning

• A type of learning in which voluntary behaviour is influenced by the consequences that follow it.
• May also be called “instrumental” conditioning

B.F. Skinner

1904-1990
• Extended Thorndike’s work on behaviour and consequences (researcher had to be around to place cat back after each trial. hard to study build up of associations across weeks)
• Popularised the “Skinner box” - operant chamber - electronically records animal’s repsonse and prints cumulative record/graph of animal activity.
- contained bar that delivered food when pressed, food dispenser and a light that signals when a reward is coming.

Reinforcement

Consequence that increases the probability that behaviour will reoccur
Reinforcement tends to be more effective for long-term behaviour change

Punishment

Consequence that decreases the probability that behaviour will reoccur

Skinner argued against routine use of punishment
• Teaches what not to do without teaching a more desirable alternative
• May increase shame, fear, and anxiety
• May reduce behaviour in other situations where the behaviour is more desirable
• May encourage being sneaky about undesirable behaviour

Positive

A consequence that adds something

Negative

A consequence that subtracts something

Schedules of Reinforcement - Continuous

Every occurrence of behaviour is rewarded
• Fast learning + fast extinction

Partial (intermittent) schedule

Only some occurrences are rewarded
- fixed or variable schedule
- ratio (response based) or interval rate (time based)

Ratio schedules

Response based
Ratio schedules tend to produce faster rates of responding than interval
• Reinforcement is contingent on the animal responding
• Especially true for variable ratio

Interval Schedules

Time based
Fixed interval typically shows a “scalloped” pattern (dip in the middle)
• Waiting period between reinforcements

Variable schedules

• Regardless of whether ratio (response based) or interval (time based):
• Variable schedules tend to produce more consistent responding than fixed
• Reinforcement is less predictable so best strategy is to keep responding!

Human superstition

Superstitious behaviour is more likely when the reinforcement is more random or unpredictable

Shaping

Build a complex behaviour or skill
• Start from basic elements and work your way up
• Reward “successive approximations” of the target behaviour

Token economies

Students earn points or tokens for showing desired behaviour
• May be able to trade points/tokens for privileges or desired objects

Gamification

Using ‘game’ elements to modify behaviour
• Usually positive reinforcement
• Token economies
• Feedback
• “Streaks”

Doomscrolling

Partial schedule Reinforcement

positive reinforcement: occasional good content that makes you feel happy and have a dopamine burst

negative reinforcement: knowing bad news = keeps informed = even tho the news is good, it feels good to be informed as people don’t like uncertainty.

Stimulus - organism - response

Later theories incorporated mental processes
• the link between stimulus and response depends on what the stimulus means to the organism (S-O-R)
- your interpretation of the situation affects the conditioning


Classical conditioning does occur
• But there is a role for thinking and expectations

Operant conditioning does occur, but:
1. Reinforcement is not necessary for learning
2. Performance is not necessary for learning

Tolman and Honzik (1930)

studied rats in mazes
- 3 groups that went through a maze over a three week period. one group had reinforcement (cheese) at the end. second group no reinforcement. third didn’t recieve reinforcement for 10 days, recieved it on 11.
- third group showed a sharp drop in errors made post reinforcement. showed learning this whole time. after a while number of errors didn’t differ slignificant from rats always reinforceed.
- found reinforcement isn’t necessary for learning
Rats that received no reinforcement for navigating the maze were still learning the solution
• Developed “cognitive maps” - spatial representations of the maze

Latent learning

learning that is not directly observable
- learning can occur despite no observed change in performance
- crucial difference between competence (what organism knows) and performance (what organism demonstrates)
- reinforcement is not necessary for learning.

McNamara et al (1956)

Change in performance is not necessary for learning
- rats ran through a maze to recieve reinforcement. another group of Rats pulled passively through a maze in ‘trolley cars’. Has no experience of running, but observed the maze.
- learned just as well as rats that ran through themselves
• Rats learned without having their behaviour reinforced and without performing

Observational learning

• Learning by watching others (role models)
• Adaptive: don’t need to endanger oneself through trial and error
• Bandura’s social learning theory = people learn by observing and imitating others

Huesmann et al

Study by Huesmann et al (2003)
• Positive correlation between viewing violence on TV during childhood and aggression in adulthood
- note: correlation doesn’t equal causation
Correlations between viewing aggression in media and real-world aggression have been shown many times
• However, causality remains unsupported
• Observational learning is just one piece of the puzzle

Biology

Influences the nature and speed of learning
• Organisms may be biologically predisposed to learning some stimulus-response relationships easier than others
• Conditioned taste aversions
• Preparedness and phobias

Conditioned taste aversion

1. Consume food/drink
2. Experience nausea/vomiting hours later
3. Feel nausea when exposed to that food/drink again

Does not follow usual rules of classical conditioning
• Follows just one negative experience
• May be hours before someone experiences nausea/vomiting
• Makes biological (evolutionary) sense

Preparedness

Predisposition to learn to fear certain stimuli more than others
• Humans and animals learn fear by observing others but are more ‘prepared’ to fear certain stimuli

In humans, evolutionary threats are common subjects of phobias, even with very few (or no!) frightening experiences (e.g. heights)

Research shows mixed support for preparedness
• Other factors include:
• Latent inhibition
• Stimuli more likely to hurt us are frequently encountered without any unpleasant consequences → phobias rare
• Genetic differences between people
• Some may develop phobias more easily after frightening experiences

Behavioural genetics

The study of how genes and environment interact with each other to influence psychological traits
the goal is to understand how genes (genotype) and environment interact to produce psychological traits (phenotype)

Research Methods: family studies

The degree to which a trait “runs in the family”
• Limitation: can’t separate the effect of shared genes from the effect of shared environment

Research Methods: Adoption studies

Biological parents • 50% shared genes (each) • 0% shared environment
Adopted parents • 0% shared genes• 100% shared environment
examine the extent to which children adopted into new homes resemble their adoptive parents as opposed to their biological parents.

• Limitations:
• Selective placement (children often put into homes similar to that of biological parents)
• Children are not always adopted at birth

Research methods: Twin studies

Monozygotic (identical) Twins
• 100% shared genetic material
• Trait differences due to environmental factors

Dizygotic (non-identical) Twins
• 50% shared genetic material
• Trait differences due to combination of genetic and environmental factors

Heritability

Percentage of the variability in a trait between individuals that is correlated with genes
• Assume the remaining variability in a trait is due to environmental differences
• E.g., 60% of differences in a trait between individuals are due to differences in their genes •
0% heritability assumes no role for genes (100% environment)
• 100% heritability assumes trait is entirely due to genes (0% environment)

Misconception about heritability - trait can be altered by diff environments

A trait could have 100% heritability in one environment and still be altered by a different environment.
e.g. Plants raised in identical environments have different heights
We can still change their height by changing the environment
Heritability of plant height =100%

Alzheimer’s disease (AD)

• AD = Accumulation of harmful proteins in the brain that causes dementia
• A small percentage of AD cases are dominantly inherited via pathogenic mutations of PSEN1, PSEN2, or APP genes
• ~100% of people with one of these mutations will develop dementia
• But environment can affect when dementia occurs and how quickly it progresses.

Misconception about heritability - tells us whether genes cause a trait

Correlation does not equal causation!

The “warrior gene”

• Variant of MAOA gene that has been correlated with impulsivity, aggression, and criminal behaviour
• Controversy: used to support racial stereotypes involving aggressive behaviour
• Multiple genes would contribute to differences in aggressive behaviour between people
• Ignores the role of environment
• Correlation =/= causation!

The “infidelity gene”

• Variant of dopamine receptor (DRD4) gene
• Neurotransmitter associated with reward and motivation
• Correlation =/= causation
Garcia et al. (2010) Data from 181 university students, average age 20 years. had a very high proportion of reported infidelity correlated with the gene. (wasn’t statistically significant!!)

The “IQ gene”?

• Heritability of intelligence is around 50%
• Multiple genes
• Many ways genes might interact with each other + environment
• Also… “IQ” is a test score!!!
• Performance in vocabulary, reasoning, etc

Prefrontal cortex

Executive functions:

·      Planning: tend to plan for the future, unique – behaviour we engage in about all aspects of lives.

·      Inhibition: automatic reaction to see toothbrush = brushing teeth, but didn’t brush teeth with someone else’s toothbrush. Inhibition modulates our behaviour

·      Working memory: ability to use information to do something useful. Note: amount of info is 7+- 2

Motor cortex

Primary (closest to frontal lobe)
- planning movements
- diff to reflexive actions, involves terain we see, uses brain as a network.

pre-motor
- selection of physical movements to accomplish plan
- planning via primary motor, the pre motor executes the planned movements.

supplementary (closest to parietal lobe)
- coordination of movements including hands
- Knows what the body is experiencing.

Somatosensory cortex

Processes:

pressure/pain

temperature

proprioception

Visual cortex

Processes

form

motion

line orientation

colour

object identity

Neuronal activity in early visual cortex encodes a (distorted) spatial “map” of visual world
Spatial detail declines as visual processing becomes more complex

-        the monkey was shown a pattern,euthenised, they scanned tissue in visual cortex. The pattern of their neurons was organised to represent spatially what was in the world in the brain, right before it died.

-              The map of the world is flipped upside down. The lower part of the brain is representing the upper part of what we see, left is representing the right part that we see.

-              Neurons are more dense in central of visual field, less in the periphery – exactly like how our peripheral vision is less clear. Centre of visual field – process colour, form, detail. That part is overrepresented more so than the periphery.

-              Periphery is good at motion.

Auditory cortex

Processes

sound frequency

sound location

music

language

prosody - lilt and tone, sarcasm

Able to differentiate between diff sounds and sound origin, despite similar frequency

Limbic system

-              Hippocampus – memory

-              Basal ganglia – movement and reward. Did it hurt me? Good/bad outcome for learning

-              Amygdala – understanding and acting upon emotion to change and understanding other’s behaviours.

Hindbrain - Cerebellum

coordinate complex movements, works with motor cortex, but does the execution.
Stores Procedural memories also known as motor memory (memories for muscle movement)

Hindbrain - medulla, pons, reticular formation

Regulates

breathing

basic autonomic functions

sleep/wakefulness

Emotions

•States characterised by physiological arousal and changes in facial expressions, gestures, posture, and subjective feelings

•Physiological Changes: Include heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, and other bodily responses

•Emotional Expression: Outward signs of what a person is feeling

•Emotional Feelings: Private emotional experience

Characteristics of motivated behaviour

•They are goal directed behaviours – motivated individuals keep working until they reach their goal.

•They vary from time to time and one individual to the next.

•If an individual varies the behaviour and persists until reaching, it is a motivated behaviour.

The key features are that motivated behaviours are goal directed and persistent.

Discrete emotions theory

•People experience a small range of emotions that combine in complex ways.

1.Each basic emotion should have a unique biological basis, and

2.Serve an evolutionary function - disgust signals to other ppl to avoid something, but also serves as an inner trigger to avoid something

As a consequence…

•A basic emotion should emerge early in life without requiring a great deal of experience.

•The basic emotions should be found across cultures.

basic emotions

happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, surprise

- later studies add contempt

the function of producing facial expressions

function in all primates is communication, especially communication of emotions.

•Facial expression of emotion is much more likely to occur in the presence of other people.

•Facial expressions of emotion are more likely to indicate a person’s true internal state than simple statements and other indicators

Biological fear reactions

Idea of basic emotions can be linked to some parts of the brain

-              E.g. fear and amygdala
Certain structures in the pons and medulla control unlearned fear reactions, such as a startle response to a sudden unexpected loud sound. Another structure, the amygdala, sends information to the pons and medulla. Damage to the amygdala eliminates learned fears but does not affect the automatic startle response to a loud sound. This drawing is of a human brain, although the relevant experiments were conducted with rats.

-              Cerebral cortex plays a role to inhibit emotional response