PSYC 110 Exam 1

Descartes

• Philosopher that believed in dualism

• Mind and body are separate but interact

Plato

• Philosopher that believed in nativism

• knowledge is innate

Aristotle

Philosopher that believed in philosophical empiricism (knowledge through experience)

Method of Loci (500 BC)

• Simonides developed this

• Also known as Memory Palace

• Place information in different locations within the place

Middle Ages: Christian Monks

Rhymes, bizarre imagery, and Method of Loci (for scriptures and religious texts)

Tibetan Monastic Traditions

Chanting, debate (talking about the topics activates the brain areas that makes the information stick)

What was the pipeline to psychology?

Philosophy to biology to physiology to psychology

Physiology

• Root of psychology

• Branch of biology that studies functions and parts of living organisms

• How our body works

Wilhelm Wundt

• Root of psychology

• Believed in using scientific methods to study psychological processes

• 1st psych textbook in 1876

• 1st psych lab at University of Leipzig, Germany in 1879

First Memory Study

• Nonsense syllables

• Herman Ebbinghaus performed study on Dan Juan poem vs nonsense syllables

• Only rote memorization, no elaborative encoding;

• Ebbinghaus forgetting curve (0% retention after 7 days)

Science of Psychology

• Wundt

• Experimental methods used to study mental processes

Structuralism

• Titchener

• Complex experiences broken down into smaller elements

Functionalism

• James and Darwin

• How behaviors function to allow people to adapt to their environment

Psychoanalytic Theory

• Freud

• Unconscious mental processes influence thoughts, behaviors, etc

Behaviorism

• Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner

• Scientific study of observable behavior

Humanistic Psychology

• Rogers and Maslow

• Positive potential of humans

• Emphasis on self determination and free will

Cognitive Psychology

How perception, thought, memory, and reasoning are processed

How many neurons are in the human brain?

Around 1 billion

Within-subjects Experimental Design

Same subject given multiple manipulations across time, usually more than single subject but not always

Between-groups Experimental Design

Manipulations differ across groups, ALWAYS more than single subject

Type 1 Error in Inferential Statistics

False positive

Type 2 Error in Inferential Statistics

False negative

Example of physiological adaptation

Claws, webbed feet, fur, scales

Naturalistic Fallacy

Believing something is good because it’s natural

Vestigial traits

Traits that are no longer functioning; ex coccyx tailbone leftover from tail

Epigenetics

Heritable traits not necessarily caused by changes in DNA sequence

Lamarckian Inheritance

Organisms can pass on acquired characteristics (blacksmith’s son acquires large muscles)

Nuclear vs. Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA passed down via mother’s egg and increases chance of mutation

Species Typical Behaviors

Homology, analogy, biological preparedness

Biological preparedness

Organisms are predisposed to learn certain associations more than others

• ex: phobias, taste aversions

Homology

Similarity due to common ancestry

• ex: human arm and whale flipper

Analogy

Similarity due to convergent evolution (adapting to similar environments)

• ex: wings of bird and butterfly

The Selfish Gene Theory

Genes that are better at self-replicating will increase in frequency each generation (natural selection)

Reproduction

• Passing genetic info to offspring

• long term self-replication of selfish genes depends on reproduction

What are the goals of genes?

Maximize chances of reproduction and of offspring reproducing

What behaviors are relevant to reproduction?

Competition, sexual behavior, mate choice, parental behavior

R/K Selection Theory

• Quantity vs. quality

• R-selection (high reproduction rate with little to no investment)

• K-selection (low reproductive rate, larger investment)

R-selection

• High reproduction rate w/ little to no investment

• Ideal for unstable environments

• Ex: rodents, fish, spiders, amphibians, roaches

K-selection

• Low reproductive rate, larger investment

• Ideal for stable environments

• Ex: primates, elephants, etc

Mating Systems

From combined reproductive of all animals in a society

Monogamy

• One female, one male

• Equivalent parental investment

• Female/male advantage is it’s necessary when conditions do not allow for a single female/male to raise their offspring

Promiscuity

• Multiple sex partners

• Female advantage = paternity confusion (multiple males care for infant because they might be the father)

• Male advantage = low ranking males may mate and have a chance that their genes will be passed on, ability to mate with many females

Pologyny

• One male, multiple females

• Males compete to be with families

• Female advantage = all females, not just dominant ones, get to mate with a dominant male

• Male advantage = able to sire many offspring, greater genetic diversity in offspring

Polyandry

• One female, multiple males

• Less common in mammals

• Female advantage = much greater access to resources and parental care especially when times are rough, greater genetic diversity in offspring

• Male advantage = usually practiced with other male kin so ensures some of your genes get passed on, can protect limited resources or raise offspring as a group

What are the human mating patterns?

17% monogamous, 83% polygynous/polyandrous/promiscuous/mixed

Kin Selection Theory

Helping kin helps you (pass on your genes)

• ex ants, bees

Reciprocity Theory

Helping someone now so they’re more likely to help me later - form of long term cooperation

• ex vampire bats

Definition of Learning

A change in behavior due to experience

Associative Learning

Linking two events/stimuli that occur close together in time

Behaviorism

• Psychology should be an objective science

• Studies behavior without considering mental processes

• Pavlov, Watson, Skinner

Ivan Pavlov

• Studied GI for 20 years

• Nobel prize for physiology in 1904

• Accidentally discovered classical conditioning

• Believed experimental investigation should lay a solid foundation for a true science of psychology

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that naturally triggers a response

Unconditioned Response (UR)

A naturally occurring response to the US

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that has not been paired with the US and elicits no response

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus (NS) that is paired with the US and as a result, triggers a conditioned response (CR)

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus (NS), but now a conditioned stimulus (CS)

Little Albert Experiment

• Watson and Raynor

• Baby Albert conditioned to associate white rats with a loud noise and fear them

• Then conditioned him to fear all white objects

• Not ethical these days

Acquisition

The initial learning of the stimulus=response (S-R) relationship

Extinction

The diminished CR when an US no longer follows the CS

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of a weakened CR after a pause

Generalization

The tendency to response in a similar way to stimuli similar to the CS

Discrimination

The learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that do not signal a US

• Ex: babies can tell the difference between their mother’s voice and the voice of another woman

Biological Predispositions

• Not all associations can be learned equally well

• Biologically predisposed to learn certain associations but not others

Operant Conditioning

• Focuses on behavioral consequences

• Operates on positive, negative, reinforcer, punishers

• Actions increase following reinforcers

• Actions decrease following punishers

• Stimulus follows response and strengthens it

Thorndike and the Law of Effect

• Edward Thorndike (1898) put cats in a puzzle box with a food reward outside

• Recorded the amount of time it took them to escape

• Found that rewarded behavior is likely to occur: called “Law of Effect”

• Edward Effect

ABC’s of Operant Conditioning

Antecedent

• the stimulus/environmental factors that come before a behavioral response has been made

Behavior

• The behavioral response made by subject

Consequence

• Consequences of that action

Reinforcement

Anything that increases the frequency of behavior

Punishment

Anything that decreases the frequency of behavior

Positive

Stimulus is added to the situation

Negative

Stimulus is removed from the situation

Positive Punishment

• add stimulus, decrease behavior

• Dog trainer sprays water at dog when it barks too much which reduces barking over time

Negative Punishment

• remove stimulus, decrease behavior

• Boy loses phone privileges because he was mean to his sister, he stops being mean over time

Positive Reinforcement

• add stimulus, increase behavior

• Teacher gives student candy because they completed their homework on time, student continues to complete homework on time

Negative Reinforcement

• remove stimulus, increase behavior

• You have a headache and take Advil to relieve the pain, the likelihood of using Advil for headaches in the future increases

Continuous Reinforcement

Behavior is reinforced every single time

Partial Reinforcement

Only reinforced sometimes

Fixed Ratio Schedule

• Reinforced after a specified number of responses

• Not very resistant to extinction

• Ex: stickers for chores

Variable Ratio Schedule

• Reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses

• Very (most) resistant to extinction

• Ex: slot machine

Fixed Interval Schedule

• Reinforced after a specified amount of time

• Slower learning, not resistant to extinction

• Ex: paycheck

Variable interval schedule

• Reinforced after an unpredictable amount of time

• Slow, steady

• Very resistant to extinction

• Ex: checking your email randomly throughout the day

Homunculus

Representation of the number of sensory receptors in each area of the body

The Cerebellum

• The “Little Brain”

• Enables the optimization of complex motor movements via the motor cortex

• Long-lasting improvements require practice

• Function: “optimization”

• Combines sensory input with action

• Unconscious information processing (language, sensation, emotion)

• Bottom-up and top-down processing

Bottom-up processing

Low level, basic information

Top-down processing

Executive control over the behavior

Motor Learning Basics

Fast Learning

• Short term muscle memory

• Motor cortex

Slow learning

• Slow, simple movements

• Cerebellum engaged

• Recruitment of other cortical areas

Mastery

• Rapid, well-coordinated movements

• Neutral reorganization of motor maps

• Cerebellum

Theory of Mind

Not binary, includes multiple abilities

• Understanding others emotions

  • Consolation: attention and physical touching or embracing, directed toward an apparently distressed individual

  • Dogs, monkeys, apes

• Understanding others intentions

  • Altruism or competition

• Understanding others knowledge

  • Food catching jays - cache worm with or without another jay observing - when watched, re-cache the worm as soon as the observer is gone “it takes a thief to know a thief”

Cognitive Rippling (de Waal)

• Almost every cognitive ability we believe is unique to humans, we end up finding in other animals

• Can understand many human abilities as the products of tens of millions of years of evolution by natural selection

“Uniquely” Human Abilities

• Social learning and culture

• Mental time travel

• Insight

• Theory of mind

Social Learning and Culture: Play Behavior

Costs of Play

• Young are relatively vulnerable

• Risk of injury

• Takes lots of energy

Karl Groos (1898) - play is practice of species-typical skills

• Evolutionarily beneficial

Imitation (social learning)

Seeing another individual perform a behavior leads to the observer doing the behavior

Explanations for Imitation

• Stimulus enhancement: seeing another individual interact with an object makes the object attractive to the observer

• Goal enhancement: seeing another individual enjoying a reward makes that reward more attractive to the observer

• Vicarious reinforcement: seeing another individual get rewarded or punished for a behavior results in a change in frequency of the observer’s behavior

Tradition

When a species has a strong tendency for imitation, it may lead to different societies exhibiting different socially learning behaviors

• Ex: chimpanzee nut cracking, nest-building, hand clasping gestures, vocal “dialects”, termite fishing, hunting

Mental Time Travel

Episodic memory (backward travel) and planning (forward travel)

Scrub Jays Food Caching

• Nuts (less preferred, more durable) vs worms (more preferred, perishable)

• Jays know what they cached and when

Orangutan Travel Plans

• Males give “long calls” audible to other orangs over 1 km away

• Flanges act as a megaphone, so calls are directional

• The direction of the call matches the direction they travel the next day - planning

• Attract females to where you’ll be (selfish genes), not to where you are now

Insight

The “aha!” moment in problem-solving

Chimpanzee Insight

Wolfgang Kohler: Insight is when a new behavior is learned through cognitive processes, rather than through interactions with the outside world

The nervous system is composed of what two subsets?

Peripheral and central

Central Nervous System

Brain and spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System

Includes Autonomic and Somatic NS