General Psychology: Lecture Slides + Personal Notes

This information encompasses content from the Lecture slides AND notes taken during class for each lecture

Pedagogy

Love for teaching

Psychology

The study of the mind and behavior

Psyche in latin

breath, mind, soul, spirit

Logia

study of, science, discourse

What are the two sectors of careers for psychology?

Clinical and Academic/research

Perspective taking

trying to understand a situation from another person’s point of view

Where was psychology and medical sciences heavily researched?

Germany

Etymology

Study of the origin of words

What can influence an individual in the past, present, and future?

External impact of the environment

What is not inclusive of mind and behavior?

NOTHING; we use our mind and behavior in everything

Relationship between CNB and psychology?

Psychology → what people think, feel, and do
CNB → how the brain and nervous system contribute to those thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

What career helps with resource allocation in psychology?

social worker

What career acts as a therapist

Licensed mental health counselors

What is an I/O psychologist?

Psychologists who try to understand people in the workplace/ behaviors

What career creates tests/exams that measure a certain psychological behavior such as IQ exams or SAT for college entrance? What sector does this fall under in careers?

Psychometrician; Academic/Research sectoe

What does HIPPA stand for?

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

What must Psychologists follow for their patients in terms of dealing with confidential information?

HIPAA protocols

To understand the consciousness, what two main schools of thought were created?

Structuralism and Functionalism

Under structuralism, how do we examine the consciousness?

We examine it through introspection

How can you further explain introspection?

It is the method where we must carefully and systematically observe our own conscious experiences in a structured/ ordered way

What thought does functionalism follow?

To understand consciousness, we must understand its function or purpose

— looks at introspection, and —- looks at function

structuralism; functionalism

What is the awareness if yourself, your environment, your autonomy, thoughts, and feelings?

Consciouness

What was the explanation for the consciousness when it was attributed to religion until the mid 1700s?

It was believed that the consciousness was the soul given by God

psychology started in the early—

1700s

Behaviorism was based on—

blank slate concept or Tabla rasa, which means that people are not born with personality/ behaviors. They are learnt over time based on environment and external factors.

Who is the founding father of psychology?

William Wundt

who formed the first laboratory of Psychology at the University of Leipzig,

Germany? What year?

William Wundt; 1879

Who published the first journal devoted to publishing research on psychology? Why was this so important?

Willima Wundt in 1879; helped with the dissemination of research.

Who Applied the psychological principles proposed by Wundt to practice in

supporting the psyche of others

Sigmund Freud

What word defines this: Thoughts, memories, and desires exist below the surface of consciousness, yet

exert great influence on behavior

Unconsciousness

What two theories did Freud create?

1. theory on the unconsciousness

2. Psychoanalytic theory

What word defines this: An attempt to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing

on the unconscious determinants of behavior

Psychoanalytic theory

What was the first explame of psychological intervention in the warly 1900s?

Psychoanalysis

What were the common techniques of psychoanalysis

1. Free association

2. Dream analysis

3. Transference

4. Focusing on unconsciouness

What is transference?

It is when a patient unconsciously transfers feelings, expectations, or attitudes from an important person in their past onto the therapist

• Ex: If a therapist acts critical, the patient with a rough past with their own critical parent might start to act defensive

• This gives the therapist an idea that criticism is a sensitive issue for the person.

Psychoanalysis is not reliable because…

there is little evidence of effectiveness/ it is resource intensive

What has psychoanalysis evolved into?

Psychodynamic therapy

With the case study of Ernst Lanzer, what was Freud able to study?

He discovered Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, where Lanzer was fearful that something bad would happen to his family if he did not complete a certain ritual.

Who discovered behaviorism?

John Watson

Any overt/ observable response or activity by an organism

Behavior

What is the idea that scientific psychology can only truly

examine that which is observable and

measurable

Behaviorism

The idea was classical conditioning was founded by—- with animals

Ivan pavlov

Pavlov’s dog experiment- explain

1. Stimulus + response was food/ bell and saliva of dog respectively

2. Bell was run when food was served

3. When Dog eventually heard bell, it started salivating, and its response was CONDITIONED

Watson believed that environment could shape an individual greatly, under the debate of —-

nature versus nurture

Which two people did Freud use the research of to be the first to take clinical application from it?

Wundt and Franz Mesmer (eventually created the word mesmerize)

Who was the first hypnotherapist?

Franz Mesmer

What are two exmaples of tools thata lloawed psychoanalysis to occur in the in-class example demonstrated by Professor Goldstein?

1. Deep breathing

2. Visualization

Using metaphors during psychoanalysis is thought to….

touch our stream of consciousness, slows heart rate through breathing exercise, and slows parasympathetic nervous system

B.F. Skinner used what type of conditioning?

Operant conditioning

What is operant conditioning/ provide examples

1. It is learning through the consequences of behavior

2. It is based on reinforcement/ punishment and stimulus

In the nature vs nurture debate, behaviorists believe more in ——

nurture/ environmental pressure. Genetic predisposition is NOT given important

Define reinforcement:

• increase the likelihood of something happening again

What is positive reinforcement with example

ADDING something to increase the likelihood of something happening again

• Complimenting a person after they give an answer in class

Negative reinforcement

REMOVING something to increase the likelihood of something happening again

• Dropping the lowest grades in the semester to increase student motivation/ participating in class

Define punishment

decreasing the likelihood of something happening again

Positive punishment

ADD something to DECREASE behavior

• Giving headphones to child who is screaming in store to DECREASE screaming

• Corporal punishment

Negative punishment

REMOVE something to DECREASE behavior

•  taking phone away when failing a test

Who was a MAJOR behavioral purist/ deeply believed that internal mental events cannot be studied Scientifically and is therefore unnecessary?

B.F. Skinner

Who believed that free will is an illusion?

B.F. Skinner

Who conducted little Alrbert expeirment and what was it an example of?

• BF Skinner

• operant conditioning

  • Made Albert scared of anything white and fuzzy as something loud was played when the baby touched it

Who were the two most important people in the humanist revolt?

1. Carl Rogers

2. Abraham Maslow

Who redefined therapy as emphasizing unconditional positive

regard, empathy, and innate tendency towards

growth?

Carl Rogers

Who explained the hierarchy of needs as part of the humanist revolt?

Abraham Maslow

Explain the 5 levels of the hierarchy of needs

(Best to worst)

1. Self actualization: desire to become the most one can be

2. Esteem: strength, freedom, self-esteem

3. Love and belonging: friendship, intimacy, family

4. Safety need: personal security, employment, resources, health

5. Physiological needs: air, water, food, clothing, survival

What is applied psychology?

It is using knowlegde from basic psycholgoy studies ad apppling it to real world scenariors

What is the first example of applied psychology?

Clinical psychology

What is the practice of providing diagnosis and treatment of psychological problmes and disorders?

Clinical psychology

The mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge is known as

cognition

the study of internal mental events to fully

understand human behavior

cognitive psychology

the branch of science that studies the physiological processes of the

nervous system and relates them to behavior and cognition, in terms both of

their normal function and of the dysfunctional processes associated with

brain damage

neuropsychology

In the past near the 1900s, —— and —- psychology were used but recently —- and —- psychology is prioritized

behavioral and psychoanalytic; cognitive and neuroscience

examines behavioral processes in terms

of their adaptive value over the course of many generations

evolutionary psychology

• The idea that our ancestor prioritized certain habits that have now been passed on to us to make us successful in events of natural selection

utilizes theory and research to better

understand the positive, adaptive, creative, and fulfilling aspects of

human existence

Positive psychology

Contemporary psychology is very—-

multifaceted

What are the seven lenses you can observe a case study through?

🕵 Psychodynamic: What happened in the PAST or unconscious?

🎯 Behavioral: What was LEARNED through consequences?

💭 Cognitive: What is the person THINKING?

❤ Humanistic: How does the person view their SELF and potential?

🧠 Biological: What's happening in the BRAIN/BODY?

👥 Sociocultural: How are PEOPLE/CULTURE affecting them?

🧬 Evolutionary: Why might this have developed for SURVIVAL/REPRODUCTION?

What allows psychologists to test theories and hypotheses in a

structured way

Research methods

What distinguishes facts from speculation?

Research methods

If someone has OCD, what tyoe of applied psychology is looked at?

Cognition psychology

In the example of Phineas Gage, under what lens was he studied ?

Lens of neuropsychology

Cognitive behavioral therapy: define

therapy that helps the person identify and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors.

What is adaptation in evolutionary psychology?

A change that makes an organism or species better suited to its environment.

What is the key idea behind adaptation?

Traits that improve survival or reproduction can become more common over generations.

Who is Charles Darwin and what is he associated with?

Darwin developed the theory of evolution by natural selection.

When did lactose tolerance emerge according to the lecture?

About 16,000 years ago.

When was agriculture invented according to the lecture?

About 10,000 years ago.

Why is the timing of lactose tolerance important to evolutionary psychology?

It shows humans can evolve adaptations relatively recently in human history.

What does the lecture mean by humans not being adapted for a post-agrarian environment?

Human psychology evolved under older conditions, while modern environments changed much faster.

What is evolutionary mismatch?

When an evolved trait that was once advantageous becomes maladaptive after the environment changes.

How are adaptation and evolutionary mismatch related?

An adaptation can become mismatched when the environment changes.

What is the EEA?

Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness: the ancestral environment in which human adaptations evolved.

Why is the EEA important in evolutionary psychology?

It helps explain why certain psychological traits may have evolved.

Give an example of an evolutionary mismatch involving food.

Craving fatty foods was useful when calories were scarce but can contribute to overeating today.

Why might humans like fatty foods even though excess fat can be unhealthy today?

Our ancestors benefited from seeking calorie-dense foods when food was less predictable.

Why can screen time before bed be an evolutionary mismatch?

Modern screens create stimulation and light that our sleep systems did not evolve around.

Why was lack of social interaction during COVID-19 especially difficult?

Humans evolved as highly social organisms that depended on group interaction and cooperation.

Why might anxiety exist from an evolutionary perspective?

Anxiety can help detect and respond to potential threats, even though modern triggers may not always be dangerous.

What is the central idea of the selfish gene?

Genes that successfully replicate themselves are more likely to persist across generations.

What does "selfish" mean in the selfish gene concept?

It is a metaphor; genes do not think but are favored when they increase their own replication.