Psychology in Everyday Life - Lecture Notes

Goals of Psychology

• Describe behavior and mental processes: Understand and characterize observable actions and internal processes.
• Explain behavior and mental processes: Provide reasons for why behaviors and thoughts occur.
• Predict behavior and mental processes: Make informed forecasts about future behaviors and mental actions based on existing information.
• Influence behavior and mental processes: Apply psychological principles to change or affect individual behaviors and thoughts.

Promoting Critical Thinking in Psychology

• Objective vs. Subjective
  • Objective: Not influenced by personal feelings or opinions; pure representation of facts.
  • Subjective: Influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions.
  • Critical Thinking: The objective analysis and evaluation of issues to form a judgment.

Two Types of Cognition

• Automatic Thinking
  • Quick and intuitive thought processes.
  • No conscious deliberation; operates on past experiences and perceptions.
• Controlled Thinking
  • Effortful and deliberate.
  • Engages in careful consideration of self and environment, selecting the appropriate course of action.

Scientific Method

• Purpose: Tests theories through systematic exploration.
• Definitions:
  • Theory: An integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations about phenomena.
  • Hypothesis: A specific, testable prediction derived from a theory.

Scientific Method in Action

1. Develop Theory
2. Develop Hypotheses
3. Gather and Analyze Data
4. Draw Conclusions
5. Revise Theory

Comparing Research Methods

Observational Studies

• Purpose: Description of behaviors in natural settings.
• Importance: Vital for understanding psychological processes.
• Limitations:
  • Case exceptions: Individual cases may lead to misleading generalizations.
  • Decreased Generalizability: Findings might not apply universally.
  • Observer Bias: Researcher's expectations can influence observations.
  • Lack of Predictive Power: Cannot predict future behavior or explain why behavior occurs.

Importance of Correlations

• Correlations indicate the strength and nature of relationships between variables.
• Can be used to infer predictions: changes in one variable can relate to changes in another.
• Moves psychology toward higher goals beyond mere description.

Prediction Using a Correlational Design

• Direction of Relationships:
  • Positive Correlation: As variable A increases, variable B also increases.
  • Negative Correlation: As variable A increases, variable B decreases.

Correlation vs. Causation

• Example: Correlation between TV violence and aggression.
• Possible causal relations:
  • TV violence might cause aggression.
  • Aggressive children may prefer violent media.
  • An external factor, like parental neglect, influences both.

Explaining with Experiments

• Experimental Designs: Manipulate variables to assess causal relationships.
• Process: One variable is manipulated while others remain constant to observe effects.
• Allows for determining direction of causality.

Experimental Method/Terms

• Independent Variable (IV): The variable that is manipulated in an experiment to see if it causes a change.
• Dependent Variable (DV): The variable measured in response to the IV.
• Experimental Group: The group subjected to the IV.
• Control Group: Similar to the experimental group but not exposed to the IV. Aids in comparison.

Limits of Experimental Method

• Artificial Situations: Experiments may be distant from real-life situations.
• Trade-Off: As control increases, similarity to real-world scenarios may decrease.

Random Assignment

• Ensures all participants have an equal chance of being assigned to any experimental condition.
• Distributes individual differences (e.g., personalities, backgrounds) evenly across conditions.

The Biology of Behavior and Consciousness

Key Topics

• Neural communication
• The nervous system
• The endocrine system
• The brain
• Brain states and consciousness

Neurons and Communication

• Action Potentials: Electrical impulses within neurons that facilitate signal transmission.
  • Characteristics of action potentials include depolarization, reaching a threshold, and repolarization.
• Neurotransmitter Communication
  • Inside neurons, communication is electrical; between neurons, it is chemical through neurotransmitters (NTs).
  • NTs cross the synaptic gap, binding to receptor sites on receiving neurons, triggering responses.

Synaptic Transmission

1. Action potentials travel along the neuron's axon to the synapse.
2. Arrival of action potential prompts neurotransmitter release into the synaptic gap.
3. Neurotransmitters bind to receptors on the receiving neuron, allowing ion influx that can generate a new action potential.
4. Leftover neurotransmitters in the synapse undergo reuptake, drift away, or are broken down by enzymes.

Some Neurotransmitters and Their Functions

Nervous System Overview

• Components:
  • Central Nervous System (CNS): Brain and spinal cord.
  • Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): Connects CNS to the rest of the body.
  • Somatic: Controls voluntary movements.
  • Autonomic: Regulates involuntary actions; broken into sympathetic (arousal) and parasympathetic (calming).

Endocrine System

• Consists of glands that release hormones influencing various bodily functions and emotions.
• Hormonal communication is slower but longer-lasting compared to neurotransmission.

Brain Structures and Functions

• Limbic System Components:
  • Amygdala: Emotion regulation.
  • Hippocampus: Memory storage.
  • Cerebral Cortex: Involved in higher-order brain functions.
  • Thalamus: Relays sensory information.
  • Hypothalamus: Regulates homeostasis and emotional responses.
  • Reticular Formation: Controls alertness.
  • Medulla: Involuntarily controls basic life functions (heartbeat, breathing).
  • Cerebellum: Coordinates movement and balance.

Cerebral Cortex and Its Lobes

• Lobes:
  • Frontal: Decision making, problem-solving, emotional control.
  • Parietal: Spatial reasoning, sensory processing.
  • Temporal: Auditory processing, memory.
  • Occipital: Visual processing.

Consciousness

• Definition: Subjective awareness of oneself and the environment; helps focus attention and communicate mental states.
• Awareness Generation: Result of coordinated activity in the cortex.

Cognitive Processing Types

• Sequential Processing: One aspect at a time; applied in new or complex tasks.
• Parallel Processing: Multiple aspects simultaneously; natural for many brain functions.

Selective Inattention

• Inattentional Blindness: Failure to observe visible objects due to concentrated attention elsewhere.

Change Blindness

• Change Blindness: Failure to notice environmental changes.

Sleep Stages

• Sleep: Periodic natural loss of consciousness.
• Brain Waves Patterns:
  • Awake and alert - beta waves.
  • Relaxed - alpha waves.
  • Sleep onset - theta waves.
  • Deep sleep - delta waves.
• NREM Stages:
  • NREM-1: Alpha to theta transition.
  • NREM-2: Theta waves.
  • NREM-3: Delta waves.

REM Sleep

• Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep: Stage where vivid dreams occur; brain waves similar to NREM-1.
• Characteristics: Heart rate and breathing become irregular; body's muscle activity is suppressed.

Development Through the Lifespan

Methodologies

• Cross-Sectional: Compares groups of different ages simultaneously.
• Longitudinal: Compares the same group over multiple time points.
• Sequential Studies: Examines various age groups across multiple times.

Developmental Issues

• Nature vs. Nurture: Influence of biology vs. environment on development.
• Maturation: Biological growth stages occurring in an orderly sequence.
• Critical Periods: Specific timeframes when particular functions must develop, or they may not occur.
• Sensitive Periods: More critical times for development than others; experiences impact neuron survival and function.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Social Development: Attachment

• Harry Harlow’s Experiments:
  • Studied attachment in infant monkeys using artificial mothers (one providing food, one for comfort).
  • Results showed attachment is based more on comfort than nourishment.

Attachment Patterns

• Responses from children in the “Strange Situation” paradigm:
  • Secure: Seeks closeness and welcomes caretaker back.
  • Avoidant: Ignores the caretaker.
  • Ambivalent: Alternates between seeking closeness and showing anger.
  • Disorganized: Mixed responses; may show confusion and odd behaviors.

Social Development: Parenting Styles

• Authoritarian: High value placed on obedience; low responsiveness.
• Permissive: Minimal controls; highly responsive.
• Authoritative: Balances standards with encouragement of open communication.
• Effects on Children:
  • Authoritarian styles often lead to lack of independence and self-esteem issues in children, fostering an external locus of control.