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What is psychology?
The scientific study of mind and behavior
Mind
The private inner experience. This includes perception, thoughts, memories, and feelings.
Behavior
The observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals
What is science in terms of psychology?
A systematic process of answering questions about mind and behavior
The problem with the mind
How can someone dictate someone elses private, subjective experiences?
The problem with behavior
How can we say or attribute what motivates what we can see? How does behavior relate to subjective inner experiences?
What is a question philosophers has when they studied mind and behaviors?
Are cognitive abilities and knowledge inborn, or are they acquired only through experience?
Nativism (Plato)
The philosophical view that certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn
Philosophical Empiricism
The philosophical view that all knowledge is acquired through experience
Dualism
Mental activity can be reconciled and coordinated with physical behavior (they exist separately)
Materialism
The mind and body are one and the same (The mind is what the brain does)
Structuralism
Analyzes the mind by breaking it down to its basic components
Functionalism
The study of the purpose mental processes serve in enabling people to adapt to their environment (Evolutionary approach)
Consciousness
A person’s subjective experience of the world and the mind
Introspection
The subjective awareness of one’s own experiences
The problem with introspection*
Different people see different things
The same person could see different things at different times
People are often mistaken about their experiences
A lot of events happen outside of our conscious awareness
Hysteria
A temporary loss of cognitive or motor function, usually as a result of an emotionally upsetting experience
Theory of neuroses
The mind defends against painful experiences by actively excluding them from conscious awareness
The topographic model*
The idea that the mind has an organization or architecture that overflows consciousness and can be described in terms of different levels or compartments
The unconscious: Only part of mind that exists at birth
The preconscious: Stuff we aren't aware off but that we can recall
The conscious awareness: The part of our mind that forms our waking lives
Behaviorism
The idea that psychology should only focus on the behavioral actions that we can observe
Humanistic Psychology
Emphasized the positive potential of human beings
Cognitive Neuroscience
An approach to psychology that link psychological processes to activities in the nervous system and other bodily experiences
Behavioral Neuroscience
The field of study that attempts to understand the links between cognitive processes and brain activity
The bad reasons for believing
Observation: Our eyes and ears see/hear what they want to
Tradition: No matter how long ago it was made up; it is still the same amount of truth or untruth as the original story
Authority: Because someone said so
Intuition: Common sense differs from theoretical sense
Dogmatism
The tendency for people to cling to their assumptions
Dogma
A principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true
Empiricism
The belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observations
Empirical
Based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic
The Scientific Method
A procedure for finding truth using empirical evidence
Theory
A hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon
Hypothesis
A falsifiable prediction based off of a theory
Parsimony
The simplest theory that still explains all of the evidence
Observation
To use one’s senses to learn about the characteristics of an event or object
Two characteristics of measurement
Define the property you wish to measure
Find a way to detect that property
Operational definition of measurement
A description of an object in concrete, measureable terms
Instrument*
Anything that can detect the condition to which an operational definition refers
Detect the property
An operational definition that has validity
Define the Property
Design an instrument that has reliability and power
Validity
The goodness with which a concrete event defines a property
Reliability
The tendency for an instrument to produce the same measurement whenever it is used to measure the same thing
Relationship between Validity and Reliability
An unreliable measure can’t be valid, but an invalid measure could be reliable
Demand characteristics
Participants want to please scientists, so they behave in the way they think scientists want them to
How to combat demand characteristics
Observe people without their knowledge
Measure something that is not easily controlled like pupil dilation or facial expression
Don’t inform the participant of what is being studied (Blind studies and also considered to be ethically wrong)
Make the study double-blind (Hides the groups and treatment conditions from participants and researchers)
Observer bias
When expectation influences observation. Researchers see what they want to if it helps their experiments.
Correlation
When variations in the value of one variable are in sync with variations in the value of the other
Correlation and Caustion
They do not equal each other
The Computation Theory of Mind
The nonphysical things in your mind exist physically but as configurations of symbols. The symbols are the physical status of bits of matter. It allows us to keep the mind stuff firmly in the physical realm.
Do neurons touch?
No, they don’t physically touch one another
How do neurons communicate?
They communicate via neurotransmitters at the synapse
Synapse
The region between the axon terminals of one neuron and the dendrites or cell body of another neuron
The 3 major types of neuron
Sensory neurons (gets information from the environment), motor neurons (control our muscular behavior), interneurons (connect neurons to other neurons)
The 2 stages of communication between neurons
Conduction (movement of an electric signal with a neuron), and transmission (movement of electrical signal between neurons)
Neurons
Cells in the nervous system that communicate with one another to perform information-processing tasks
Components of a neuron
Dendrites (receive information), cell body (coordinates/processes information), Axon (carries information to other neurons, muscles, glands, etc.)
Myelin Sheath
Insulating layer of fatty material that is located on the axon of some neurons. It increases the speed of neural transmission.
Resting potential
The natural electric charge of a neuron. In this state a neuron has a net negative charge.
Action potential
An electric signal that is conducted along a neuron’s axon to a synapse
Refractory period
When the neuron has to return to original position before going through another electrical signal. (i.e. the time following an action potential during which a new action potential cannot start)
Terminal buttons
Knob-like structures branching out from the axon, they are filled with vesicles (bags) containing neurotransmitters
Presynaptic neuron
The sending neuron
Postsynaptic neuron
The receiving neuron
Receptor
Parts of the cell membrane that receive the neurotransmitter
6 main types of neurotrasmitter
Acetylcholine, Dopamine, Glutamate, GABA, Norepinephrine, Serotonin
Acetylcholine
Involved in a number of functions including voluntary motor function
Dopamine
Regulates motor behaviors, motivation, pleasure, and emotional arousal
Glutamate
Major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brian
GABA
The primary inhibitory neurotransmitter
Norepinephrine
Involved in states of vigilance, or heightened awareness of dangers in the environment
Serotonin
Involved in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness, eating, and aggressive behavior
Central nervous system
Consists of brain and spinal cord. Receives information from environment.
Peripheral nervous system
Connects the central nervous system to the body’s organs and muscles
Somatic nervous system (Part of peripheral nervous system)
A set of nerves that convey information between voluntary muscles and the central nervous system. We have conscious control over this system.
Autonomic nervous system (Part of peripheral nervous system)
A set of nerves that carries involuntary and automatic commands that control blood vessels, body organs, and glands
Sympathetic nervous system (Part of the autonomic nervous system)
A set of nerves that prepares the body for action in challenging or threatening situations
Parasympathetic nervous system (Part of the autonomic nervous system)
A set of nerves that helps the body return to a normal resting state
The 3 parts of the brain
The hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain
The hindbrain
Coordinates information coming in and out of the spinal cord
The midbrain
Important for orientation and movement
The forebrain
Critical for complex cognitive, emotional, sensory, and motor functions
Parts of the hindbrain
Medulla, reticular formation, cerebellum, and pons
Parts of midbrain
Tectum and tegementum
Parts of the forebrain
Cerebral cortex and subcortical structure
Subcortical structure
The limbic system: hippocampus, amygdala, basal ganglia, thalamus, hypothalamus, pituitary gland
Cerebral cortex
Divided into 2 hemispheres. Hemispheres are connected to one another by commissures.
Commissures
A bundle of axons that communicate between the two hemispheres
Corpus Callosum
Connects the two hemispheres and supports communication of information across them
The 4 lobes of the brain
Occipital lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, frontal lobe
Occipital lobe
Processes visual information
Parietal lobe
Processes information about touch
Temporal lobe
Processes auditory information. Hearing, language, music, etc.
Frontal lobe
Processes movement, planning, thinking, memory, judgment, etc.
Ways to study the brain
Structural brain imaging (CT scans, MRIs), functional brain imaging (PET scan, fMRI)
Sensation
Stimulation of a sense organ. Getting the energy from the environment and turning it into electrical sensation.
Perception
The organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation
Transduction
Sensors in the body convert physical signals from the environment into encoded neural signals sent to the central nervous system
Absolute threshold
Minimum intensity needed to just barely detect a stimulus in 50% of trials
Just noticeable difference
Minimum change in a stimulus that we can perceive
Psychophysics
Simple studies that measure the strength of stimulus and the subjects sensitivity to that stimulus.
Weber’s Law
The just noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variations in intensity
Sensory adaptation
Sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time as an organism adapts to current conditions.
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