PSYCH 104: Basic Psychological Processes – Comprehensive Study Notes

Course Logistics and Syllabus

  • Course: Basic Psychological Processes, PSYCH 104
  • Instructor: Dr. Claire Scavuzzo
  • Syllabus and resources: available on eClass and Canvas
  • Research participation requirements: follow Canvas for info
  • Contact: rescred@ualberta.ca
  • Assessments:
    • 7 quizzes (Multiple choice)
    • 1 assignment (Submit on Canvas)
    • 1 final exam (Cumulative, Multiple choice)
    • In-class attendance required
  • Lectures:
    • Recorded and posted to Canvas
    • Attendees encouraged to ask questions and participate in class discussions
  • Notes:
    • The course emphasizes scientific thinking, empirical evidence, and active classroom engagement

Indigenous Land Acknowledgement and Treaty 6

  • University of Alberta located on Treaty 6 territory
  • Acknowledges significance of land taken from Indigenous peoples
  • Edmonton (amisk waci waskahikan) described as a traditional gathering place for Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway/Saulteaux/Anishinaabe, Inuit, and others
  • Treaty 6 signed on August 23, 1876 at Fort Carlton in Saskatchewan
  • Treaty 6 extends across western Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and includes 50 First Nations
  • Provisions recognize the medicine chest and the right to education

What is Psychology?

  • Psychology defined as the scientific study of mind, internal states and processes, thoughts and feelings
  • Internal states cannot be seen directly; inferred from observations and measurable responses
  • Concepts are often considered open concepts
  • Mind and brain together influence behavior
  • Behavior is directly observable; thoughts and feelings are inferred from behavior
  • The field integrates mind, brain, and behavior across multiple levels of analysis

What is a Psychologist? Types and Training

  • Psychologists require formal training and use scientific thinking and methods
  • Many types exist; breadth spans clinical, counseling, research, and applied settings
  • Examples:
    • Clinical psychologist: diagnose and treat mental disorders in hospitals, clinics, or private practice; some conduct research with patient populations
    • Counseling psychologist: work in schools, with issues like death, marriage, and isolated problems
  • Emphasis across subfields on scientific methods and evidence-based practice

Subfields and Major Areas in Psychology

  • Mind = information processing; conscious thought and mental processes
  • Cognitive psychology: study of mental processes including conscious experience, consciousness, and psycholinguistics
  • Experimental psychology: basic research typically conducted in laboratories; other subfields also use experiments
  • Biopsychology / Neuroscience: molecular and cellular processes of behavior; animal models; study genes, hormones, drugs, and neural network activity
  • Developmental psychology: physical, psychological, and social changes across the lifespan; factors include parenting, teen drug use, bullying, emotional abilities
  • Industrial-organizational psychology: workplace behavior; job satisfaction; work motivation; design of employee selection and evaluation systems
  • Other noted contributors in the transcripts include researchers and educators associated with specific subfields (e.g., Dana Hayward, Peggy St.Jaques, Ben Dyson, Fred Colborne, Clayton Dickson, Lauren Guilette, Wendy Hogland, Sandra Weibe, Yao Zhang, Kim Noels, David Rast, Kyle Nash)

Diversity and Overlap in Subfields

  • Personality psychology focuses on identifying core traits and how they relate to behavior
  • Psychologists often work across multiple subfields or disciplines; careers span behavior, cognition, emotion, and social processes

Career Perspectives and Core Message

  • Psychology is an interdisciplinary field; many psychologists work across multiple subfields
  • Despite differences, they share a commitment to the scientific method to understand behavior and welfare

Psychology as a Science: Core Principles

  • Science = a process of collecting and evaluating evidence
  • Characteristics:
    • Systematic collection and evaluation of evidence according to rules
    • Objective data and empirical evidence obtained via experience and observation
    • Use of research methods such as experimentation
    • Distinction between observation, hypothesis generation, testing, and refinement
    • Publication, peer review, and self-correction as central to progress
  • Knowledge should be objective, empirical, and carefully controlled
  • Operational definitions: manipulations and measurements defined in observable terms
  • Statistics are used to analyze data; aim to avoid illusory correlations and anecdotal claims
  • Science is self-correcting: beliefs are updated with new evidence

Lunar Lunacy: An Example of Scientific Skepticism

  • There is some evidence for lunar lunacy from a study in Molecular Psychiatry (2021) 26:5071-5078
  • Article: Synodic lunar phases and suicide: data from 2605 suicides over 23 years in northern Finland
  • Method: categorize lunar phases into new moon, full moon, and other times; use multinomial tests; p-values set at $p<0.05$
  • Key finding: full moon association significant only for premenopausal women (younger than 45); no clear pattern for men; winter effects considered (SAD, depression)
  • Statistical result: for women in winter, association observed with full moon (p = 0.001)
  • Limitations: evidence not highly replicated; current conclusion suggests the lunar lunacy effect may not exist universally
  • Takeaway: science should remain open to contrary evidence and replicate findings

Open Questions and Skepticism in Science

  • Some questions are beyond scientific measurement and enter metaphysical domains (example questions listed: Is there a god? Can we control destiny? Do we have immortal souls? How can we know what is real?)
  • Scientific skepticism: evaluate claims with an open mind but require persuasive evidence before accepting them
  • Critical thinking: test ideas with careful design; beware poorly designed tests that yield invalid or non-replicable results
  • Media and celebrity claims require scrutiny; intuition and folklore are not systematic observations

Biases, Beliefs, and the Practice of Science

  • Everyone has biases; scientists are not immune to them
  • Common biases:
    • Confirmation bias: seek out evidence supporting beliefs, ignore contradictory evidence
    • Belief perseverance: cling to initial beliefs despite contrary evidence
  • The scientific process helps mitigate bias via replication, alternative explanations, and objective testing
  • Social and cognitive biases in everyday interpretations can lead to misinformation
  • The importance of considering alternative explanations and conducting tests rather than relying on anecdotes

Critical Thinking and Healthy Skepticism

  • Thinking critically involves:
    • Reflecting on information and its fit with existing knowledge
    • Evaluating validity of claims
    • Asking: What is the claim? Who is making it? What is the quality of evidence? Are alternative explanations possible? What is the best conclusion?
  • Occam's razor: prefer the simplest robust explanation when there are multiple explanations
  • Scientific thinking skills help prevent misinformed decisions and harm from untested treatments or misleading information

Pseudoscience, Popular Psychology, and Real Science

  • Pseudoscience: looks like science but lacks credible evidence; avoid uninformed decisions
  • Popular psychology often features misinformation or untested claims; can be self-help or non-evidence-based psychotherapy
  • Distinguishing features of science: testable hypotheses, replication, peer review, controlled observations, statistical analysis

Goals and Scope of Psychology

  • Goals: describe, explain, predict, and influence or control behavior
  • Distinction: basic vs applied research
    • Basic research seeks to understand fundamental processes (e.g., how mind works, cognitive processing)
    • Applied research uses basic findings to solve real-world problems (e.g., interventions, policy, therapy)
  • The best understanding is often verified through predictive and/or control capabilities, but prediction/control does not guarantee complete understanding of underlying mechanisms

Applied and Basic Research, and Levels of Analysis

  • Some examples of applied vs basic research include:
    • Neuroimaging evidence for spatial imagery (basic scientific inquiry)
    • Prevention of depressive symptoms in low-income minority children (follow-up study; applied implications)
    • Increasing seat belt use on a college campus (evaluation of intervention procedures; applied)
    • Facial structure as a cue of aggression (basic research into perception and social cognition)
  • Psychology spans multiple levels of analysis: biological, psychological, and social factors are essential for full understanding
  • The environment shapes behavior; biological factors also constrain and enable behavior

Mind-Body Interactions and Levels of Analysis

  • Mind-body interactions: mental processes affect bodily processes and vice versa
  • Examples:
    • Perceived stress affecting bodily states
    • Illness or sickness influencing brain and mind
  • Conclusion: effective understanding requires integrating biological, psychological, and social levels

The Great Debates: Nature, Nurture, and Beyond

  • Nature vs nurture debate evolved into an interacting model rather than a dichotomy
  • Epigenetics shows biology and environment influence each other
  • Historically, tabula rasa (Locke) suggested environment as shaping force, but modern views recognize bidirectional influence between genes and experience
  • Behavior genetics and twin studies illuminate how genes shape traits, while environment shapes expression

Roots of Psychology: Mind-Body Problem and Early History

  • The mind-body problem asks whether mind is part of the body or a separate entity
  • Dualism: mind and body are distinct; mind may be non-physical; Descartes proposed a connection through the pineal gland
  • Monism: mind is not separate from the body; changes in biology/physical state affect mental phenomena; evolution supports continuity across species
  • Early attempts to study psychology evolved from philosophy to empirical science
  • Wundt established the first psychology laboratory in the 1870s; emphasized breaking mind into basic components; used introspection; objective study of conscious experience

Structuralism and Functionalism

  • Structuralism: identify basic elements of psychological experience; structure of conscious awareness; uses introspection
  • Problems: subjective disagreement in introspective reports; complexity of conscious experience; existence of imageless thought
  • Functionalism: study adaptive functions of mental processes; why mental processes evolved; focus on function, not structure; emphasizes natural selection and adaptation
  • Functionalism transitioned toward cognitive and evolutionary psychology

Psychodynamic Perspective and Freud

  • Psychodynamic focus: internal psychological processes, unconscious impulses, thoughts, memories; role of childhood experiences
  • Psychoanalysis seeks to decode unconscious conflicts through symbols, dreams, free association
  • Freud: controversial; contributed ideas about unconscious processes, dreams, aggression; posed many testable questions but some theories are difficult to empirical test
  • Influence remains: unconscious processes influence behavior; later research expanded empirical testing of related ideas

Behaviorism and Learning Theories

  • Behaviorism emphasizes environment shaping actions; observable behavior as the primary data; mind is a black box
  • Pavlov: classical conditioning; learning via association
  • Thorndike: law of effect; consequences shape future behavior
  • Watson: advocated studying only observable behavior; minimized speculation about mind
  • Skinner: operant conditioning; reinforcement and punishment shape behavior; radical behaviorism; used environment manipulation to change behavior
  • Behaviorism contributed to behavior modification and various therapeutic approaches

Cognitive and Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches

  • Cognitive psychology studies mental processes: attention, memory, perception, language, problem solving
  • Cognitive neuroscience links brain function to thinking processes
  • Bandura: social learning theory; environment shapes behavior through expectations and cognition; cognitive expectancies influence behavior
  • Cognitive-behavioral approaches integrate thoughts, beliefs, and learning history to explain and modify behavior

Humanistic and Positive Psychology

  • Humanistic perspective emphasizes free will, self-actualization, personal growth, and meaning
  • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: needs must be met in supportive environments to achieve self-actualization
  • Positive psychology focuses on strengths, fulfillment, and optimal living rather than solely on pathology
  • View of humanity: individuals have agency and capacity for growth

Cognitivism, Information Processing, and Cognitive Revolution

  • Cognitivism treats the mind as an information-processing system: input, processing, storage, retrieval
  • Cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience study how thinking and brain function relate
  • The cognitive revolution (post-WWII): driven by practical needs (e.g., cockpit displays), computer metaphor, and recognition that mental processes can be scientifically studied
  • Language development and memory development illustrate complex cognitive processes beyond simple stimulus-response models

Gestalt Psychology and the Cognitive Era

  • Gestalt: perception is organized as a whole, not just sum of parts; mind organizes experience into coherent wholes
  • This perspective emphasized holistic processing and challenged purely element-based approaches
  • The cognitive revolution combined with Gestalt insights to form modern cognitive science

Sociocultural and Cultural Perspectives

  • Sociocultural perspective: behavior and thought are shaped by social environment and culture
  • Social psychology studies how others influence thoughts, feelings, and behavior; direct and indirect social influences
  • Culture defines shared values, norms, and practices transmitted through socialization
  • Cultural psychology investigates how culture shapes thinking and behavior across generations
  • Cultural differences: individualism (Western cultures) vs collectivism (Eastern, African, and some South American cultures)
  • Masuda et al. (2008) highlighted cross-cultural differences in perception and cognition

Biological and Evolutionary Perspectives

  • Biological perspective examines brain-behavior relationships, neural processes, hormones, and neurochemistry
  • Evolutionary psychology applies Darwinian theory to human and animal behavior; traits may be adaptive in changing environments
  • Language, aggression, maternal care, competition, cooperation are examples of evolved traits
  • Behavioral genetics and sociobiology study how genes and environment interact to shape behavior

Levels of Analysis and Integrated Explanations

  • A full understanding of behavior requires integrating three levels:
    • Biological level: brain, genes, neurochemistry
    • Psychological level: thoughts, emotions, mental processes
    • Environmental/psychosocial level: social context, culture, learning history
  • Table 1.3 (six major perspectives) summarizes conceptions of human nature, causal factors, and methods (psychodynamic, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive, sociocultural, biological)

Depression and Multilevel Analysis

  • Depression is analyzed across multiple levels of analysis:
    • Psychological: mood, thoughts, coping strategies
    • Biological: sleep-wake states, reward systems, neurotransmitters
    • Social/environmental: support networks, life stressors
  • Canadians: about 8–10% experience depressive episodes; women are about twice as likely as men
  • Interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for understanding and treating depression
  • Example considerations: altered sleep-wake states; reduced rewards in environment; an interplay of neural and environmental factors

Quick Reference: Key Numerical and Conceptual Details

  • Suicides and lunar phases study: 2111 male and 494 female victims; 2605 suicides total over 23 years; significant winter effect for premenopausal women at full moon; p-value reported as $p=0.001$
  • General prevalence: depression 8–10% of Canadians; gender difference: women two times more likely than men
  • Emphasis on statistical practices: replication, p-values, multinomial tests, and controlling for seasonal effects
  • Occam's razor: principle to favor simpler explanations when evaluating competing hypotheses
  • Core scientific practices highlighted: hypothesis testing, peer review, statistics, empirical evidence, and self-correction

Summary: Core Takeaways for Exam Preparation

  • Psychology is a science that studies mind, brain, and behavior across multiple levels of analysis, integrating biology, cognition, and social context
  • The field comprises diverse subfields with overlaps, united by a commitment to scientific inquiry and evidence-based conclusions
  • Historical debates (structure vs function, mind vs body, nature vs nurture) evolved into integrated frameworks acknowledging complexity and interaction
  • Major perspectives include structuralism, functionalism, psychodynamic, behaviorist, cognitive, humanistic, sociocultural, and biological/evolutionary approaches
  • Critical thinking, skepticism, and awareness of biases are essential for evaluating claims in psychology and in popular media
  • Applied vs basic research distinctions guide how findings are used to solve real-world problems
  • Depression and other complex phenomena require multilevel analyses; research is ongoing and sometimes yields contested conclusions that still advance understanding