psychology

the brain

the brain

made up of neurons that send and receive information through electrical impulses

• 2% of a person's weight but 20% of the energy

cerebrum

memory, understanding, logic

left cerebrum

communication, language, logic, math

right cerebrum

spatial awareness, visual imagery, facial recognition

frontal lobe

speaking and planning actions

parietal lobe

spatial senses, navigation, language processing

temporal lobe

visual inputs, memory, emotions, meanings, understanding language

occiptial lobe

processing visual data (sight)

cerebellum

coordination, precision, timing of movement

• little brain

brain stem

fine motor skills

• connects brain and spinal cord

hippocampus

memory (transfers into short/long term memory)

amygdala

emotion (how emotion affects memory, fight or flight)

• 2 almond shaped neural clusters

corpus callosum

large circular structure connecting hemispheres

Reticular formation

regulates sleep, arousal, attention

Hypothalamus

Regulates biological needs

Cerebral Cortex

Area of the brain responsible for thinking, reasoning, movement, vision, hearing, and speech

Thalamus

Determines ingoing and outgoing information for the cortex

Pons

Involved in sleep and arousal

Medulla

Regulates unconscious functions like breathing and circulation

Spinal cord

responsible for communication between brain and the rest of the body -involves simple reflexes

Pituitary Gland

“Master” gland regulates other glands all over the body

Perceptual consistency

Even though our view of an object changes as we move, it remains unchanged to the brain

How optical illusions are created

Brain groups similar items together

Perceptual Set

Your ability to perceive one thing and not the other (despite both being present)

Id

Natural child-like beliefs

Ego

Balances the Id and Superego

Superego

Manages morals and tries to make the morally correct decisions

Rationalisation

Justifying your actions with an excuse rather than admitting a failure or mistake ex. Getting a bad grade on a test because you didn’t study, but blaming it on the test

Denial

Believing a falsehood, rather than accepting reality. ex. An alcoholic saying they are not an alcoholic because they can function throughout the day.

Projection

Accusing others of feeling unpleasant emotions that you feel yourself

Escape

Running away from a problem

Repression

Blocking out thoughts about unpleasant things or experiences

Identification

Acting like somebody else; associating somebody’s accomplishments with your own

Displacement

Expressing feelings towards something or someone not associated with the source of the feelings

Regression

Returning to an earlier way of dealing with frustration; returning to a mindset that required less responsibility

Compensation

Making up for a lack of one thing by achieving something else

Sublimation

Transferring unacceptable behaviours into acceptable ones

Oedipus complex

The feeling of jealousy due to competition for the attention of a primary caregiver

Oedipal

Son → Mother (attachment)

Elektra

Daughter → Father (attachment)

Classical Conditioning

Learning that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired

Operant Conditioning

Learning that occurs when a response is paired with punishment or reward to modify the behaviour happening

Positive VS. Negative reinforcement better

Positive reinforcement works better because it shows what to do instead of what not to do. There is ambiguity on what you should do if you only know what not to do

5 categories of mental illness

Anxiety disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenic disorders, substance related disorders

abnormal behavior

Is irrational, Leads to personal suffering, Creates interpersonal maladjustment

Interpersonal maladjustment

Inability to function in society and antisocial behaviour that harms others

The Anima

How men imagine the “ideal woman”

The Animus

How women imagine the “ideal man”

How stress and conflict leads to neurotic behaviour

No proper coping mechanisms

Hypnosis

A trance-like state in which a person becomes more aware and focused on particular thoughts, feelings, images, sensations, or behaviours, and are more open to suggestions

Free association

the mental process by which one word or image may spontaneously suggest another without any apparent connection to help his patients discover unconscious thoughts and feelings that had been repressed or ignored.

Analytical Psychology

Understanding the psyche by examining dreams, art, religion, philosophy

Jung

Accepted Freud’s ideas on the unconscious and its impact on mental health and illness but questioned Freud’s emphasis on sexual motivation and eventually came up with his own views.

Opposite tendencies

Developed the idea that human behaviour was often motivated by opposite tendencies

The collective unconscious

Collection of experiences, memories etc. common to all of humanity

Archetype

Ideas, images, beliefs – parts of the collective unconscious

Karen Horney

Felt subconscious conflicts start when children are raised feeling unwanted, undervalued

Horney Key to mental health

love and understanding in early life

Horney Criticism

If women have “penis envy” why can’t men have “uterus envy”

Hierarchy of needs

Physiological needs (Food, water, warmth, rest), Safety needs (Security), Belongingness and Love (Intimate relationships, friends, family), Esteem needs (Prestige and feeling of accomplishment), Self-Actualization (achieving one’s full potentially

Theory of how needs are met

We can only achieve higher needs after achieving lower needs. We strive to move higher on the “ladder”.

4 main components of learning

attention, retention, action, motivation

Attention

Paying attention to what others do, how they do it

Retention

storing a mental image– remembering what you observed

Action

converting memory into action

Motivation

believing that the skill you’ve observed and remembered is important enough to reproduce and get right

Memory

The capacity to acquire, ratsretain, and recall knowledge and skills

Sensory memory

Information from the environment through senses that is only held for a couple of seconds

Short term memory

If the information is caught on and determined as important, which stays for 15-20 seconds

Can be stored as

Mental picture, associating with personal meaning, chunking etc.

Long term memory

Memories that are important to us that stay in our brains for long periods of times

Mental illness

a disorderly functioning of the mind causing abnormal behaviour

Anxiety disorders

When anxiety becomes severe or prolonged, GAD, phobias, OCD

Generalised anxiety disorder

Anxiety that can occur without a given reason

Phobias

Intense or irrational fear of certain things

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

A persistent, unwanted thought, followed by a tendency to perform an act repeatedly in order to relieve the anxiety

Mood disorders

MDD and BPD

Major depressive disorder

Deeply unhappy and finds little pleasure in life

Bipolar Affective disorder

Extreme mood swings beyond the normal range, manic and depressive

Personality disorders

Affect a person;s ability to function in society, making it difficult to relate to others

Schizophrenic disorders

Distortion of reality, social withdrawal, and disturbances of thought, perception, motor activity and emotions

Substance related disorders

Harmful use of substances that lead to a significant impairment or distress

The Anima

How men imagine the “ideal woman”

The Animus

How women imagine the “ideal man”

How stress and conflict leads to neurotic behaviour

No proper coping mechanisms

Hypnosis

A trance-like state in which a person becomes more aware and focused on particular thoughts, feelings, images, sensations, or behaviours, and are more open to suggestions

Free association

the mental process by which one word or image may spontaneously suggest another without any apparent connection to help his patients discover unconscious thoughts and feelings that had been repressed or ignored.

Analytical Psychology

Understanding the psyche by examining dreams, art, religion, philosophy

Jung

Accepted Freud’s ideas on the unconscious and its impact on mental health and illness but questioned Freud’s emphasis on sexual motivation and eventually came up with his own views.

Opposite tendencies

Developed the idea that human behaviour was often motivated by opposite tendencies

The collective unconscious

Collection of experiences, memories etc. common to all of humanity

Archetype

Ideas, images, beliefs – parts of the collective unconscious

Karen Horney

Felt subconscious conflicts start when children are raised feeling unwanted, undervalued

Horney Key to mental health

love and understanding in early life

Horney Criticism

If women have “penis envy” why can’t men have “uterus envy”

Hierarchy of needs

Physiological needs (Food, water, warmth, rest), Safety needs (Security), Belongingness and Love (Intimate relationships, friends, family), Esteem needs (Prestige and feeling of accomplishment), Self-Actualization (achieving one’s full potentially

Theory of how needs are met

We can only achieve higher needs after achieving lower needs. We strive to move higher on the “ladder”.

4 main components of learning

attention, retention, action, motivation

Attention

Paying attention to what others do, how they do it