Psychology #2 Exam

Two original movements in psychology

Structuralism and Functionalism

Structuralism

Analyzes the mind by breaking it down into its basic components.

Functionalism

Studies how mental abilities allow people to adapt to their environment.

Wilhelm Wundt

Established the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig, Germany, in 1879.

• Tried to measure “atoms of the mind”

Edward Bradford Titchener

Used introspective reports to build a view of the mind’s structure

• This early school of thought was called structuralism

Introspection

A method used to examine one's own conscious thoughts and feelings.

William James

First to take a scientific approach to study psychology

• Wrote 'The Principles of Psychology'.

First Wave of Psychology

• Sigmund Freud

• Carl Jung & Alfred Adler

• Psychoanalytic theory became controversial

Sigmund Freud

• A brilliant man from a humble background

• Is not considered the first psychologist, nor are his ideas universally well received now, but his legacy is extraordinary and enduring

• Developed what he called Psychoanalytical theory

• Approach to understanding human behavior that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes

Carl Jung & Alfred Adler

Followed by and later broke away from Freud

Psychoanalytic theory

Approach to understanding human behavior that emphasizes the importance of unconscious mental processes

• Developed by Sigmund Freud

Second Wave of Psychology

Arose in the 1930s and 1940s as a critique of Freudian thinking

• Key Word: Behaviorism

• John Watson & Ivan Pavlov

• B.F. Skinner

Behaviorism

• Advocates that psychologists restrict themselves to the scientific of objectively observable behavior

  • Studied rats in mazes & trained pigeons to better understand human behavior in strictly controlled conditions

  • Considered “the mind” an unscientific concept to study & irrelevant to understanding human behavior

John Watson & Ivan Pavlov

Pioneered classical conditioning

Classical conditioning

A learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus.

B.F. Skinner

Pioneered operant conditioning

Third Wave of Psychology

Humanistic psychology rose up as a critique of both the 1st and 2nd wave

• Abraham Maslow

• Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers

Pioneered a new movement in Humanistic Psychology

• Offered a positive view of human nature that fit zeitgeist of the 1960s

Humanistic psychology

Approach to understanding human nature that emphasizes the positive potential of human beings

Modern Psychology Era

• Consolidating the work of the first waves of psychology into a holistic framework

• Technological advances creating “golden era of the brain”

• Positive psychology (explores human flourishing)

• Different relationship with spirituality

Positive psychology (PERMA)

Explores human flourishing and well-being through

• Positive emotion

• Engagement

• Relationships

• Meaning

• Accomplishment/Achievement.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

Complex molecules containing the genetic information that makes up chromosomes.

Genes

Segments of DNA capable of synthesizing proteins.

Chromosomes

Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain genes.

• Every human cell has 23 pairs

Genome

All the genetic material in an organism’s chromosomes

Environment

Every nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us

Heredity

The genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring

Behavior genetics

Study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior

Does environment or heredity explain our behavior?

• Key Word: Interaction

• Nature sets a window; Nurture determines which part of the window you land

  • EX: Alcoholism, Intelligence

How do Heredity & Environment work together?

• Epigenetics

• Genes are self-relating

• Some genes go unexpressed until an environmental event activates them

Epigenetics

Study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without DNA change.

• Influences gene expression

  • Life experiences beginning in the womb lay down epigenetic marks– often organic methyl molecules– that can affect the expression of any gene in the associated DNA segment

Self-relating

Rather than acting as blueprints that lead to the same result no matter the context, genes react

How do psychologists study the relative influence of nature and nurture in humans?

Ethics are a key consideration, so we look for “Natural laboratories”

Identical (monozygotic) twins

Develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms

• They share the same conception, uterus, and birth date and usually the same cultural history

Fraternal (dizygotic) twins

Develop from separate fertilized eggs

• Genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a prenatal environment

Why is comparing identical twins' similarities/differences to fraternal twins' similarities/differences valuable?

Because we can essentially control for environment

• Comparing identical twins separated at birth is even better

Similarities found in studying separated twins and identical twins compared to fraternal

• Personality, styles of thinking & relating

• Abilities/intelligence test scores

• Attitude

• Interests/tastes

• Specific fears

• Brain waves, heart rate

Biological vs Adoptive Relatives

Studies conducted with adopted children who do not have contact with their biological family

• Adopted children seem to be more similar to their genetic relatives than their adoptive relatives

• The environment shared by a family’s children has virtually no discernible impact on their personalities

Despite the strong impact of genetics on personality, environment has a larger influence on:

• Religious beliefs

• Values

• Manners

• Politics

• Habits

• Behavior/Mental process

• Personal Development

• Biological influences

• Psychological influences

• Social-cultural influences

Biological Influences

• Shared human genome

• Individual genetic variations

• Prenatal environment

• Sex-related genes, hormones, and physiology

Psychological Influences

• Gene-environment interaction

• Neurological effect of early experiences

• Responses evoked by our own temperament, gender, etc.

• Beliefs, feelings, and expectations

Social-cultural Influences

• Parental influences

• Peer influences

• Cultural individualism or collectivism

• Cultural gender norms

Evolutionary Psychology

The study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection

Natural selection

The principle that those chance inherited traits that better enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

Mutations

Random errors in gene replication

Consciousness

Subjective awareness of self and environment.

Examples of states of consciousness

• Daydreaming

• Drug-induced hallucinating

• Meditating

• Hypnosis

• Sleep

4 Basic Properties of Consciousness:

• Intentionality

• Selectivity

• Unity

• Transience

Intentionality

Being directed toward an object

• Thought suppression

  • Rebound effect of thought suppression

Thought Suppression

Conscious avoidance of a thought

Rebound effect of Thought Suppression

Tendency of a thought to return to consciousness with greater frequency following suppression

Selectivity

Capacity to include some objects but not others

• Inattentional blindness

• Change blindness

• Popout effect

• Cocktail party phenomenon

Inattentional blindness

Failure to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Change blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Popout effect

When our attention is unintentionally drawn to distinct stimuli in the environment, they draw out eyes and demand our attention

Cocktail party phenomenon

People tune in one message even when they filter out other nearby

Out of the million of thoughts in our mind…

We process 40 of it

Unity

• The two-track mind

• Irreducibly complex

• Parallel consciousness/Dual processing

Parallel Consciousness/Dual Processing

• Principle that information is often stimultaneously processed on separate left and right brained track

• Perceptions, memory, attitude, and other cognitions all operate on two levels, a conscious, delicate “high road” and an unconscious, automatic “low road”

Two Biological rhythms

24hr biological clock

Circadian rhythm

An internal biological clock altered by age and experience

• Night owls vs Early birds

Stages of Sleep

• Awake

• N1

• N2

• N3/4

• REM

NREM 1

Trying to fall asleep

• Dramatic sensory experiences

• Explanation for alien abduction “memories”

• Body can suddenly jerk

NREM 2

Just fallen asleep

• Sleep spindles: spikes in brain activity

• Talking in your sleep happens 

• Clearly asleep

NREM 3

Short transitional stage before deep sleep

NREM 4

Deep sleep; it is hard to wake up in this stage, but your brain is still attuned to some basic external cues

• Children may wet bed in this stage

• Sleep walking occurs in this stage

REM Sleep

• Paradoxical sleep

• Rapid eye movement sleep

• Associated with dreaming, characterized by increased brain activity

Paradoxical sleep

The body is internally aroused, with waking-like brain activity, yet asleep and externally calm

About an hour after you first fall asleep…

You ascend from your initial sleep dive, returning through NREM-2 sleep to REM sleep

• Heart rate rises, breathing becomes rapid and irregular, and every half minute or so your eyes dart around

• Dreaming occurs during these periods

Sleep Debt effects

• Mood affected; testiness, anger, conflicts

• Depressive disorders predicted; higher risk of suicidal thinking

• Potential weight gain

• Increased risk of accidents/death

5 major characteristics that distinguish dreaming from waking consciousness (DUMII)

• Difficulty remembering

• Uncritical acceptance

• Meaningful sensation

• Intense emotion 

• Illogical thought

For both men and women, 8 in 10 dreams…

Are marked by at least one negative event or emotion

Dreams with sexual imagery

Occur less commonly than believed

• 1 in 10 among young men

• 1 in 30 young women

Most common dreams

Dreams incorporating previous days experience

5 Dream theories

1. Freud

2. Activation-Synthesis theory

3. Information Processing theory

4. Physiological Function theory

5. Cognitive Development theory

6. More than a dream?

Freud theory

Dreams have Latent Content: an expression of our true desires

Activation-Synthesis theory

Dreams make sense of random neural static

Information Processing theory

Dreams may help sift, sort, and fix a day’s experiences in our memories

Physiological Function theory

Dreams provide the sleeping brain with periodic stimulation

Cognitive Development theory

Dreams reflect themes of our particular stage of cognitive development

More than a dream?

Symbolism/Message from God

Hypnosis

Altered state of consciousness characterized by suggestibility and the feeling that one’s actions are occurring involuntarily

• Leads people to expect that certain things will happen that are outside their conscious will

• Susceptibility varies greatly, subject to agreeableness

Can anyone experience hypnosis?

Yes, to some extent

Can hypnosis enhance recall of forgotten events?

No

Can hypnosis force people to act against their will?

No

Can hypnosis be therapeutic?

Yes, self-suggestion

Learning

Process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information on behavior

3 main approaches to learning

• Classical conditioning

• Operant conditioning

• Observational learning

Pavlov’s experiments

Demonstrated that behavior could be learned through associative learning, forming the basis of classical conditioning in behavioral psychology

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

A stimulus that naturally triggers a response without any learning.

Unconditioned response (UR)

An unlearned response that occurs naturally in reaction to the unconditioned stimulus.

Neutral stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that initially produces no specific response other than attracting attention

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response.

Conditioned response (CR)

Learned response to the previously neutral conditioned stimulus.

Classical conditioning works, BUT…

It isn’t efficient

Basic principles of classical conditioning

• Acquisition

• Extinction

• Spontaneous recover

• Second-order conditioning

Acquisition

Phase of classical conditioning when the NS and the US are presented together

Extinction

Gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the US is no longer presented

Spontaneous Recover

Tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period