Unit 0

• Overview of psychology: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes, exploring how individuals think, feel, and act.

Approaches to Psychology:

Types of Psychologists

• Clinical Psychologists: Focus on diagnosing and treating mental disorders.

• Cognitive Psychologists: Study mental processes such as perception, memory, and problem-solving.

• Developmental Psychologists: Examine psychological growth and change throughout the lifespan.

• Social Psychologists: Investigate how individuals influence and are influenced by others in social contexts.

• Industrial-Organizational Psychologists: Apply psychological principles to workplace environments to enhance productivity and employee well-being.

• Personality Psychologists: investigate our persistent traits

• Human Factors Psychologists: focus on the interaction of people, machines, and physical environments

• Counseling Psychologists: help people cope with challenges and increase their personal and social functioning

• Community Psychologists: work to create social and physical environments that are healthy for all

• Experimental Psychologists: do experiments to discover information about the workings of behavior and mental processes

• Quantitative and Psychometric Psychologists: discover the numbers/math behind psychological principles

• Sports Psychologists: work with athletes

• Health Psychologists: psychologists that study and promote the relationship between psychological factors and physical health, focusing on how behaviors, stress, and lifestyle choices impact overall well-being.

• Rehabilitation Psychologists: psychologists that help people who have lost functioning, often after a traumatic event

• Educational Psychologists: psychologists who study the processes of learning and development in educational settings, focusing on how students learn and how to improve educational outcomes.

• School Psychologists: psychologists who provide assessment and intervention to individual students, usually work for just one school or district

• Neuropsychologists: psychologists that study, diagnose, and treat neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and autism spectrum disorder.

Scientific Method

The scientific method: a systematic process used in psychology to formulate hypotheses, conduct experiments, collect data, and draw conclusions, ensuring that research findings are reliable and valid.

In science, a theory explains behavior or events by offering ideas to organize observations.

A hypothesis is a testable prediction used in science.

Operational definitions are precise, defined explanations of procedures and concepts used in an experiment that allow other scientists to replicate the research (do it again).

Types of methods:

• Experimental Method: Involves manipulating one or more independent variables to observe the effect on a dependent variable, allowing researchers to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

• Correlational Method: Examines the relationship between two or more variables to determine if they are associated, but does not imply causation.

• Descriptive Method: Describes behaviors, often using case studies and surveys to gather in-depth information, but lacks the ability to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

Correlation coefficient: A number from -1 to 1 that describes how closely related two phenomena are. A correlation coefficient close to 1 implies a close positive relationship, while a correlation coefficient close to -1 implies a close negative relationship.

Correlation does not mean causation!!!

An experiment has an experimental group that receives the treatment and a control group that does not receive the treatment.

A good experiment uses random assignment - participants in the experiment will be randomly assigned to the experimental group or the control group to account for other factors influencing results!

Placebo effect - if someone thinks they are doing something that will help them, they will likely be helped anyway even if the thing actually does nothing (eg a sugar pill vs a real pill)

Single blind study - participants don’t know if they’re receiving the placebo or not, but the researchers do

Double blind study - neither the researchers nor the participants know who is receiving the placebo and who is receiving the experimental treatment

Standard deviation - represents how dispersed the data is from the mean

High SD = data is very spread out, Low SD = data is very close together

• 68% of data falls within 1 standard deviation of the mean

• 95% of data falls within 2 standard deviations of the mean

• 99.7% of data falls within 3 standard deviations of the mean

Null hypothesis - hypothesis that says that the independent variable of an experiment does not affect the dependent variable

Alternate hypothesis - hypothesis that says that the independent variable of an experiment does affect the dependent variable

p-value - likelihood of observing the experimental results under the null hypothesis

p-value < 0.05 is generally considered statistically significant

statistically significant data means that the odds are low enough that the null hypothesis is true, so you can reject the null hypothesis

Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behavior

Physiology of the Brain

Anatomy of a Neuron

• Cell body - also called soma, integrates and processes information coming from dendrites, initiates the action potential

• Dendrites - receive messages from other cells

• Axon - passes messages via the action potential from the cell body to the terminal bulbs

• Myelin sheath - covers the axon, speeds up neural impulses

• Terminal bulbs - at the end of the axon, form junctions with other cells

• Synapse - gap between two neurons, neurotransmitters pass from terminal bulbs to dendrites

Action potential works because the electrical charge causes sodium channels to open, causing sodium ions to flood in and depolarize the axon. Then, the sodium channels are closed and potassium channels are opened to repolarize the axon and return it to its resting state. This happens like a chain reaction through the axon, allowing it to spread messages far.

Neurotransmitters that are released by neurons bind to receptors on the dendrites of the receiving cell. Neurotransmitters that have already transmitted the signal then get reabsorbed by the cell that originally released it, though this process is inhibited by certain medications like SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).

Parts of the Brain

3 main parts:

1. Cerebrum - largest part of the brain, only some animals have it, more advanced functions

2. Cerebellum “little brain” - back of the brain, contains two hemispheres, influences thoughts, emotions, and social behavior, affects coordination

3. Brainstem - connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord, mostly basic, essential-for life functions, most animals have one

Parts of cerebrum:

• frontal lobe - executive functioning, emotional regulation

• motor cortex (part of frontal lobe) - responsible for voluntary motor movements

• prefrontal cortex (part of frontal lobe) - controls attention, inhibition, emotion, complex learning, theory of mind processing

• Broca’s area (part of frontal lobe) - responsible for speech/language production. Someone with an aphasia of Broca’s area would struggle to communicate.

• parietal lobe - integrating sensory information, self-perception/proprioception, awareness of body movements, awareness of location in space (kinesthetic sense)

• somatosensory cortex (part of parietal lobe) - involves touch, pain, temperature, temperature, position, pressure, and vibration

• temporal lobe - processing sensory input, particularly auditory

• amygdala (part of temporal lobe) - emotional responses, decision making, memory

• hippocampus (part of temporal lobe) - memory storage

• auditory cortex (part of temporal lobe) - processes auditory information

• Wernicke’s area (part of temporal lobe) - processes language. Someone with an aphasia of Wernicke’s area would struggle to understand language, even if they could communicate perfectly.

• occipital lobe - processing visual input

• visual cortex (part of occipital lobe) - processing visual information

Parts of brainstem:

• pons - unconscious processes such as the sleep-wake cycle and breathing

• midbrain - relays sensory information

• medulla - controls processes essential to life such as heart rate and blood pressure

thalamus - lies above brainstem, relays sensory information NOT SMELL

hypothalamus - lies right below thalamus, controls hunger/thirst, body temperature, mood, sleep

pineal gland - responds to light and dark and secretes melatonin, regulating the circadian rhythm

corpus callosum - connects two “halves” of the brain

limbic system - parts of the brain that regulate emotions and behavior, includes thalamus, hypothalamus and amygdala

endocrine system - glands that make hormones and release them into the blood, generally result in slow changes over time (such as puberty)

central nervous system - brain and spinal cord

peripheral nervous system - everything else, delivers messages from brain and spinal cord

autonomic nervous system - governs involuntary processes

sympathetic nervous system (part of autonomic nervous system) - induces “fight or flight” responses

parasympathetic nervous system (part of autonomic nervous system) - calms your body down after “fight or flight” moments

somatic nervous system - governs voluntary processes

Types of Brain Scans

CT scan (computed topography) - uses x-ray beams passed through head, measures brain’s structure but not function

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) - uses echo waves to discriminate between gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid; can show if there’s fracture or bleeding

fMRI (functional MRI) - a series of MRI images taken less than an MRI, can show the brain’s functions

PET scan (positron emission topography) - uses radioactive glucose to measure brain metabolism

Sleep

Consciousness involves levels of awareness of one’s thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and events

Two types of consciousness are sleep and wakefulness

Hypnosis can be used to put someone into a state of suggestibility

We have a circadian rhythm - 24 hour sleep cycle

Memory consolidation and restoration are leading theories on why sleep exists

Sleep disorders and sleep disruptions can disrupt healthy sleep

Stages of Sleep

1. Awake - beta waves (alert) or alpha waves (tired/relaxed)

2. NREM 1 - alpha waves, hypnogogic hallucinations

3. NREM 2 - theta waves, sleep spindles, K-complexes

4. NREM 3 - delta waves, slow breathing/heart rate

5. REM (rapid eye movement) - temporary paralysis, irregular breathing, elevated heart rate, beta waves, called paradoxical sleep: brain “seems” awake, but you really are asleep, very important to get REM sleep

Frequency of REM sleep increases the more you sleep, while deep sleep decreases

Sensation

Sensation is the process of detecting information from the environment that meets a certain threshold and transducing stimuli into neurochemical messages for processing (perception) in the brain.

Absolute threshold - threshold where a stimulus can be detected 50% of the time

Difference threshold - the smallest amount by which two stimuli can differ for someone to perceive them as different

Weber’s law - the difference threshold stays proportionally constant as the amount of stimulus gets smaller of larger

Synesthesia - “mixing” up of senses, ex seeing numbers as colors

Transduction - sensory receptors convert sensory input into electrical signals that can be read by neurons

Perceptual Constancies - we tend to view familiar objects as having the same size/shape/color even if the distance/angle/lighting changes

Nociceptors - detect potentially harmful sensations, causing pain sensation

Gate control theory - a painful sensation can be blocked by another nonpainful sensation because the painful messages are slower

Phantom limb - many people who have lost a limb can “feel” their lost limb

Visual

Parts of the eye:

• Cornea: clear outer part of the eye’s focusing system located at the front of the eye

• Iris: colored part of the eye that regulates the amount of light entering the eye

• Lens: clear part of the eye behind the iris that helps to focus light, or an image, on the retina

• Optic nerve: largest sensory nerve of the eye. It carries impulses for sight from the retina to the brain.

• Pupil: opening at the center of the iris. The iris adjusts the size of the pupil and controls the amount of light that can enter the eye.

• Retina: the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. The retina converts light into electrical impulses that are sent to the brain through the optic nerve.

• Macula: small, sensitive area of the retina that gives central vision. It is located in the center of the retina.

• Vitreous gel: transparent, colorless mass that fills the rear two-thirds of the eyeball, between the lens and the retina.

Color vision:

1. Trichromatic theory - our eyes have cones that detect colors

2. Opponent-process theory - differently-colored afterimages are formed when certain ganglion cells are activated while certain ones are not: red/green, blue/yellow, black/white

Color vision deficiency occurs when one or more cones/ganglion cells doesn’t work.

Damage to the occipital lobes can result in blindsight (thinking you can’t see even though you can) and prosopagnosia (face-blindness)

Hearing

Parts of the ear:

• Pinna/outer ear: exterior of the ear

• Eardrum: vibrates when sound waves hit it, separates outer ear from middle and inner ear

• Hammer/stirrup/anvil: Amplify the vibration from the eardrum

• Eustachian tube: equalizes the pressure between the air outside the ear and in the air in the middle ear

• Cochlea: has tons of tiny hairs, converts vibrations into electrical signals

Pitch (frequency of a sound wave): how high or low the sound is

Loudness/volume (amplitude of a sound wave): how loud or soft the sound is

How we hear:

• Place theory: the brain perceives pitch based on the location of vibration in the cochlea

• Frequency theory: the brain perceives pitch based on the number of signals sent to the brain per second

• Volley theory: the brain perceives pitch by firing neural impulses at slightly different times to create a greater frequency of messages to the brain (works to perceive high pitched noises)

Sound localization - helps us determine where a sound is coming from, easiest when the sound is directly to our left or right

Conductive hearing loss - sound waves are blocked from reaching the inner ear, hearing aids are a solution

Sensorineural hearing loss - damage inside the inner ear, cochlear implant is a solution

McGurk effect - if you hear someone saying something but see their mouth moving in a different position, you might hear it differently to align with their mouth movements

Other Senses

Smell:

Anatomy of the Nose:

Sinuses: secrete mucus and filter dust

Nasal passage: where the air goes through

Nostril: opening of the nose

Adenoids: stop infection, fight germs

Tonsils: filter out germs, prevent infection

Epiglottis: protects your larynx

Larynx/voice box: allows you to breathe and make sounds

Smell is not first processed in the thalamus!!!

Taste:

Aka gustation

Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami, oleogustus (taste of fat)

“Supertasters” are extra sensitive to taste

Each taste bud can detect all different tastes

No taste zones!!!

Without smell, taste is muted

Touch:

Temperature, pressure, texture, temperature, vibration, pain

Cold + pressure = wet

Vestibular sense - sense of balance

Kinesthetic sense - awareness of the position of our body in space

Unit 2: Cognition

Prototypes - our mental example for any given concept

Algorithms - solve problems in a methodical way

Priming - subtly influencing someone based on a stimulus without their knowledge

Framing - the way an issue is posed

Divergent thinking - expanding on an idea

Convergent thinking - narrowing your thinking down to one idea

Obstacles in Decision-Making:

Heuristics - mental shortcuts that often make errors in judgement

• Representativeness Heuristic - making assumptions based on stereotypes

• Availability Heuristic - recalling the first or most vivid example that comes to mind

Mental set - the tendency to only use strategies that have worked in the past, even if they’re not the best option in that scenario

Sunk cost fallacy - not abandoning something because you have put too much time and effort into it, even if abandonment would be the best option

Gambler’s fallacy - believing that the probability of an event has changed based on previous results, even when those previous results objectively have no connection to the odds of future outcomes (for example, believing that after a losing streak, you have to win soon)

Functional fixedness - believing that objects or methods can be only used for one specific task (generally the one they were designed for)

Perception

2 types of perceptual processing

• Top-down processing: using internal prior expectations to interpret a situation

• Bottom-up processing: using sensory input to interpret a situation

Schema - the cognitive framework that allows a person to interpret a new situation based on their experience in similar, prior experiences (influenced by cultural experiences/expectations, experiences, and context)

Perceptual Set - our tendency to perceive some aspects of sensory data and ignore others (part of top-down processing)

Accommodation - altering one's existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences

Assimilation - making new information fit in with your existing understanding of the world

Gestalt Principles:

• Emergence - seeing groups of clustered objects as part of one whole

• Closure - automatically filling in the gaps in images, such as a dashed line

• Common Region - things that are part of the same region are part of one group

• Continuity - our eyes tend to follow a continuous path in one direction and we group objects based on that

• Proximity - we group close-together objects

• Figure/ground - we see the foreground first and typically look for solid, stable objects

• Invariance - we still objects/shapes as identical despite transformations

• Similarity - when objects share superficial characteristics, we see them as grouped

Change Blindness - a phenomenon in which a person fails to recognize changes to their environment or visual stimuli, despite their being very obvious

Inattentional Blindness - the phenomenon where someone fails to perceive a visible object or event in their direct line of sight because their attention is completely focused on something else

Cocktail Party Effect - the ability to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli (such as one’s name at a cocktail party)

Memory

Types of memory:

• Explicit memory: memory that is easily described or explained to other people

  • Episodic memory: specific experiences and events from the past

  • Semantic memory: facts and general knowledge

• Implicit memory: memory that is hard to explain or describe to other people

  • Procedural memory: unconscious memory of how to do a task

Long term potentiation: synaptic connections between neurons become stronger with frequent activation (Kandel)

Memory Models

Working memory model:

Visuospatial sketchpad: our ability to temporarily hold visual and spatial information in our memory

Phonological loop: stores and recites information in our memory (such as reciting the directions to a location in your head)

Episodic buffer: bridges information from the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop

Central executive: decides which information is attended to and which parts of the working memory to send that information to be dealt with

Levels of Processing Model:

Structural: shallowest, physical characteristics of the word / what the word looks like (eg: does the word start with a vowel?)

Phonetic: medium, auditory characteristics of the word / what the word sounds like (eg: does the word rhyme with train?)

Semantic: deepest, meaning of the word (eg: does the word fit in this sentence?)

Multi-Store Model:

Systems of sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory interact

Sensory memory:

• Quick collection of information from your senses

• Iconic memory (visual memory) - 0.25 seconds

• Echoic memory (auditory memory) - 2-4 seconds

Short term memory:

• Temporary storage space that holds information from a few seconds to a few minutes

• You can generally store 5-9 pieces of information in short-term memory at a time

Long term memory:

• Lasts indefinitely long

• Can fade over time

• Infinite storage capacity

Encoding and Storage

Encoding - processes and strategies that store memories

Examples of strategies to improve encoding: pneumonic devices, chunking, categorizing and hierarchies

Semantic encoding - converting sensory information into memories by associating it with existing knowledge and experiences

Massed practice (learning all the information at once) is less effective than distributed practice (learning it over time)

Primacy effect - we remember information at the beginning of a list

Recency effect - we remember information at the end of a list

Primacy effect + recency effect = serial position effect

Recognition - remembering information with cues (ie MCQs)

Recall - remembering information without cues (ie FRQs)

Relearning - learning something after a period of time of not having learned it, usually you pick it up faster the second time around (ie studying for finals)

Overlearning - learning past the point where you are actively improving

Automatic processing - does not require conscious awareness or effort

Effortful processing - mental activity that requires conscious attention and effort

Retrieval and Forgetting

Maintenance rehearsal - repeating something over and over

Elaborative rehearsal - rehearsing information in a way that promotes meaning

It’s easier to remember when…

• you’re in the same place as when you encoded the memory (context-dependent memory)

• you’re feeling the same way as when you encoded the memory (mood-dependent memory)

• you’re in the same physical state as when you encoded the memory (state-dependent memory)

Testing effect - remembering is easier when you devote part of the learning process to testing yourself on your knowledge!

Forgetting

• Forgetting curve - memory sharply declines at first but levels off over time

• Proactive interference - previously learned information is making it hard to learn new information

• Retroactive interference - later learning is making it hard to remember old information

• Repression - forgetting distressful memories

• Source amnesia - not remembering or misremembering the source of information

• Misinformation effect - a person’s memory of the past is changed after being exposed to misleading information (Elizabeth Loftus)

• Infantile amnesia - inability to remember information from first 3 years of life

• Retrograde amnesia - can’t remember anything from before a brain injury

• Anterograde amnesia - can’t make new memories after a brain injury

Intelligence and Achievement

Intelligence and how to measure it has been debated for years by researchers. Researchers debate whether intelligence is a main factor (g) or composed of several different factors.

IQ tests used to be mental age / chronological age * 100. Now, they have a SD (generally 15) and are mostly used to identify students for educational services.

Types of Intelligence:

• Crystalized - acquired knowledge and skills

• Fluid - ability to reason in an unfamiliar situation

• Emotional - ability to understand your own and others’ emotions and respond appropriately

Stereotype Threat - fear of representing a stereotype makes you do worse

Flynn Effect - IQ scores have increased over the past century

Discrimination, poverty, and inequity can affect IQ score

Intelligence is highly heritable, meaning that a large part of the distribution of intelligence scores is caused by genetics

Hereditability % does NOT equal % of your intelligence that is due to your genetics!!!

Types of Tests:

• Achievement test - measures your knowledge

• Aptitude test - measures your ability to learn

People who believe that intelligence is malleable (growth mindset) tend to do better on achievement tests than people who believe that intelligence is inborn (fixed mindset).

Stanford-Binet was initially a popular IQ test

Now, the WAIS-4 (Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale) and WISC-5 (Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children) are more popular

Test Construction:

• Standardization: everyone gets tested with consistent procedures and environment

• Reliability: test gets similar results every time it is administered

  • Split-half reliability: if the test is split into two or more parts, does each part yield similar results?

  • Test-retest reliability: if someone is tested again, will they get a similar score?

• Validity: test measures what it’s supposed to measure

  • Predictive validity: ability of a test to measure future outcome

  • Construct validity: ability of a test to measure factors that aren’t directly observable

Researchers of Intelligence:

Unit 3: Development

Development is the chronological order of development and thematic issues in development across the lifespan.

Three main areas of interest:

• Nature vs nurture

• Stability vs change

• Continuity vs stages

Observational learning - observing and modeling another person’s behaviors, attitudes, or emotional expressions

Bobo doll experiment - an experiment that proved that children can learn by observing another person’s behaviors

Development

Physical Development

Infants have reflexes such as the rooting reflex (when the corner of a baby’s mouth is stroked or touched, it will begin to “root” towards the source of the touch in search of a nipple)

Visual cliff - infants have a basic sense of depth perception that allow them to tell when a large drop is incoming.

Critical periods - there is a period for which children are best able to learn things. If they miss that period, they may never be able to do it.

Adolescence is when puberty and sexual development occur, happens around 8-12 years old.

Adults generally have a stagnation in development and then a gradual decline in older adulthood.

Teratogens are substances that negatively impact development in utero, such as alcohol.

Cognitive Development

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Note: Piaget theorized that not all people make it to the formal operational stage.

Children are social learners who learn by interacting with other people (Vygotsky)

Zone of proximal development - space between what a learner can do with assistance and what they can do without assistance

Language Development

Language is a shared (mutually agreed upon) system of arbitrary symbols (often expressed as and combined into phonemes, morphemes, and semantics) that are rule-governed (via grammar and syntax) and generative to produce an infinity of ideas.

Phoneme - smallest basic unit of sound

Morpheme - smallest meaningful unit of sound

Semantics - the meaning of language

People of all cultures also use nonverbal gestures to communicate.

Babies learn how to talk in a certain order:

1. Cooing - doesn’t sound like anything

2. Babbling - meaningless word sounds, may not be used in parents’ native language

3. One-word stage - one word sentences or phrases

4. Telegraphic speech - short sentences where only words that carry information are used (ie “go bed”)

Linguistic determinism - human thought and knowledge is limited by language

Chomsky - psychologist who believed that children are biologically predisposed to want to learn language

Social/Emotional Development

Ecological Systems Theory:

• Microsystem - groups that have direct contact with the individual

• Mesosystem - the relationships between groups in the microsystem

• Exosystem - indirect factors in an individual’s life

• Macrosystem - cultural events that affect the individuals and others around them

• Chronosystem the individual’s current stage of life

4 Parenting Styles

• Authoritarian - parents are demanding and often don’t listen to their child

• Authoritative (best) - parents are demanding but listen to their child and respect their child’s wants and needs

• Permissive - parents are lax on rules, have a “friend” relationship with their child

• Uninvolved - parents aren’t around much and don’t have much of a relationship with the child

Attachment Styles:

• Secure attachment - not too clingy, but not aloof. People with secure attachment generally had attentive parents as babies.

• Insecure attachment - often overly clingy, overly aloof, or both. People with insecure attachment generally had inattentive parents as babies.

  • Anxious attachment - characterized by a persistent fear of abandonment and rejection, insecurity, low self-esteem, and clinginess

  • Avoidant attachment - characterized by difficulties trusting others, forming relationships, and being emotionally close to others

  • Disorganized attachment - combination of anxious and avoidant attachment styles

Separation anxiety - babies and young children often feel anxious or upset when separated from their parents

Social Relationships Over Time:

• Children - engage in play with peers

  • Parallel play - playing next to another child, but not with them

  • Pretend play - playing imaginative games with another child

• Adolescents - often egocentric and self-conscious, but with strong desire for social relationships

  • Imaginary audience - believing people are constantly watching/paying attention to you

  • Personal fable - the belief that one is special, unique, and protected from life’s consequences

• Adults - social pressures influence life choices

  • Social clock - culture plays a role in determining when adulthood starts and when life milestones (ie marriage, having kids, buying a home) should occur

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development:

• Trust vs mistrust - caregivers meeting basic needs

• Autonomy vs shame and doubt - the desire to be independent vs doubting one’s abilities

• Initiative vs guilt - initiative leads to a sense of purpose, while failure results in feelings of guilt

• Industry vs inferiority - children begin to learn what they are and aren’t good at

• Identity vs role confusion - adolescents begin to develop their own concept of self-identity

• Intimacy vs isolation - wanting to form close relationships

• Generativity vs stagnation - wanting to make a positive impact on the world vs feeling stuck and unproductive

• Integrity vs despair - looking back at life as well lived or with regrets

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development:

• Preconventional morality - early childhood, focused on doing the right thing to not get punished

• Conventional morality - adolescence to adulthood, focused on maintaining social order

• Postconventional morality - some adults, rare, focused on doing the right thing even if it violates societal conventions

Adverse childhood experiences - traumatic events in childhood that can have impacts on someone as an adult

Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning - the association of one stimulus with another to elicit a response

Unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus paired together to get unconditioned response. Eventually, the former neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus, which on its own is enough to get the conditioned response (formerly the unconditioned response).

Unconditioned - inborn, innate

Conditioned - learned

After a while, a conditioned response will become extinct! However, if you wait a period of time without the conditioned stimulus and then reintroduce it, the conditioned response will reoccur, albeit with less strength.

Higher order conditioning - using an old conditioned stimulus as the new unconditioned stimulus in a new session of classical conditioning

Stimulus generalization - ability to group several similar stimuli and respond to all of them

Stimulus generalization - ability to distinguish between several similar stimuli

Habituation - occurs when one gets accustomed to a stimulus, decreasing

response to it

Operant Conditioning

Law of effect - rewarded behaviors are likely to be repeated while punished behaviors are likely not to be repeated (Thorndike)

Operant conditioning - using rewards and punishments to modify behavior (Skinner)

Shaping - gradually getting behavior closer to a goal by having the subject do closer and closer approximations of a goal behavior

Instinctive drift - some behaviors can’t be trained because they go against an animal’s instincts

Latent learning - knowledge acquired without immediate reinforcement (Tolman)

Cognitive maps - people create mental maps of their surroundings that they can use to get around even if they’re forced to take an unfamiliar path (Tolman)

Types of Reinforcement and Punishment:

Reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior happening again while punishment decreases it.

Types of Reinforcement Schedules:

Continuous reinforcement schedules reward behaviors after every instance.