PSYC1101

PSYC1101 - Foundations of Psychology

January 9, 2025 - Milgram Experiment (1963)

Mantra of Social Psychology: Rather than judging a person for the way they’re acting; Instead, try to understand the power of the situation.

Outgroup Homogeneity Effect - people tend to see members of groups they are not part of as more similar to each other than members of their own group

Design

TOLD: “this is an experiment on ‘the effects of punishment on learning’

ACTUALLY STUDIED: obedience to authority; how much show would a normal person give to an innocent stranger, purely because they are unstructured to do so by an authority figure

Procedure

Teacher/Participant 

• in control of shock, increasing voltage per incorrect answer

Learner/Confederate -  the “lie” of the experiment; acts like a participant but is an actor

• assigned to memorize work pairings; connecting to shock device 

Results 

• 65% of participants went all the way to 450 volts/XXX

• All participants went to at least 300 volts

• No identified personality trait; gender not moderator

Alterable Factors

• Proximity to authority figure (same room - 65% obedience)

• Proximity to learner (put learner’s hand on plate - 30% obedience)

• Setting/ Uniform

• Social Support (other teachers refused to obey - 10%)

• Personal Responsibility (reminded of actions’ consequence - 0% obedience)

January 13, 2025 - Myths

What Psychological Science is Actually For:

Figuring out mental shortcuts and tendencies that are common to virtually all healthy humans. Using knowledge of these tendencies to optimize ourselves and our society. 

Meta-Analysis: Type of research that statistically analyzes data from a ton of different empirical studies of the same phenomenon; uses statistical outcomes as data points; one of the strongest forms of scientific evidence. 

(A statistical analysis of several prior studies on the same topic)

Contralateral Processing - Example

Left Brain: production and recognition of words

Right Brain: speech prosody and visual processing

Split brain research on patients with severed corpus callosum - Show split face and respond different answers when asked to “Describe vs. Point to Who They See” (Contralateral processing vs hemispheres of brain)

Myths

Birth Order

Astrology

Barnum/Forer Effect - Human characteristics apply to everyone; susceptible for confirmation bias and self-fulfilling prophecy

Mental Illness and Violence

Except for…

• persecutory delusions & command hallucinations

• grandiosity delusions; mania (increase entitlement; decrease empathy)

• Antisocial personality traits (i.e., psychopathy)

Learning visually, audially, physically

January 15, 2025 - Myths & Evolution

Detecting Bullshit… You must think: 

Who is telling me this?

How do they know it?

What do they have to gain?

Forer’s Experiment (Barnum/Forer Effect): 

Participants took personality test with “personalized results”

All received the same personality description that could apply to anyone 

Most rated their description as “highly accurate”

Evolutionary Mismatch: Our cognitive-behavioral instincts evolved to optimize survival of prehistoric living. 

Example: We have evolved to avoid being stabbed (vaccinations)          

January 16, 2025 - Psych

What is Psychological Science?

Psychology is the scientific study of behaviors (observable) and mental processes (private)

  |

William James “The Father of Modern Experimental Psychology” (1842-1910)

• Functionalism: psychological processes are best understood by their functional purposes…especially as the purpose pertains to natural selection. 

• Psychologists are scientists who try to form theories about predictable patterns of human behavior and mental processes

Types of Psychological/Empirical Research (Descriptive, Correlational, Experimental)

1. Descriptive Research: Cannot establish cause and effect relations between variables, but can give insight into new experimental ideas. 

  Includes:

Naturalistic Observation

Surveys

Case Study (research on one individual; Phineas Gage)

2. Correlational Research 

Third Variable Problem: When a secret third variable influences both of the two variables that are significantly correlated

Illusory Correlation: When a real, significant correlation between two variables gives the illusion of a causal relationship between the two variables.

Benefits of Correlational Research

• Easy to collect large amounts of data

• For some cases, it’s the only option (cancer vs. optimism can’t be assigned)

• Offers “hints” about causal relationships, which are assess further with True Experimental Design

3. Experimental Research (True Experimental Design)

• One type of study that can determine causality.

• Conditions held identical, except for independent variable 

January 27, 2025 - Memory 

Rest - Primacy Effect (First thing is more memorable than others)

Bed 

Nap 

Sleep - Never said; this is a “confabulated memory: a memory error that involves creating false memories”

(Deese–Roediger–McDermott Paradigm: a cognitive psychology technique used to study false memories)

Doze 

Drowsy 

Velociraptor - Pop Out Effect (Dissimilar to other things, so is more memorable)

Blanket 

Dream - Recency Effect (Most recent is most memorable)

Slumber 

Awake 

Repressed Memory: Idea that memories have be repressed in the brain to protect oneself and one’s ego (not 100% proven, as negative emotion queues the survival instinct to remember traumatic memories)

Encoding: the process of committing information to memory (works best when deliberative)

Double-decker BED → Bunk

Money → Bank

Priming: Stuff in memory is brought to the forefront of your mind by a related concept (or triggering in marketing)

Related to…

Associative-Network Model of Memory

Ex. Spreading Activation Theory

• psychological theory that explains how the brain stores and retrieves memories

• describes the brain as a network of nodes and connections, where activating one node activates related nodes

Levels of Processing Theory of Memory:

The more deeply we process information, the better we remember it

Self -Reference Effect: One of most effective ways to memorize something is to tie it to long-term memories that relate to The Self

“The brain just wants to keep you alive and get you laid” - Professor John Adams (2025)

January 29, 2025 - Memory

Memory: How You Get It

Parietal Lobe - Perry the Platypus couldn’t be touched 

Touch perception, body orientation and sensory discrimination

Occipital Lobe - Occipital Eyes

Sight, visual perception and visual interpretation

Frontal Lobe- Front of the group 

Problem solving, speech production, motor control

Temporal Lobe- Temporary

Memory, language comprehension, auditory processing

Brainstem- Movement stems from this

Involuntary Movement

Cerebellum- Double l’s balanced

Balance and Coordination

January 30, 2025 - Memory

Two Types of Long Term Memory

Encoding Specificity (Types)

(Context Dependent Learning)

• Scuba study

  • Two groups memorized a list of words - one group above ground, a second group underwater in scuba gear

  • Groups recalled more words in the environment they originally memorized in

• Couple Fights 

  • When a toxic relationship occurs and arguments happen within one house/location, this location may trigger frustrated feelings and arguments more frequently

(State Dependent Learning)

• Adderall

  • If you study on adderall, you may score better when taking the test on adderall

• Couple Fights

  • When arguing and frustrated, past memories of frustration with your partner will be brought forward

Types of Inference

Proactive Interference: Past information interferes with new information

• Ex. You once played golf but now play baseball, and your golf swing now interferes with your baseball swing.

Retroactive Interference: New information interferes with old information

• Ex. You once played guitar but are now learning to play piano. Your piano skills now interfere with your ability to play guitar.

NOTE: To remember which is which, the prefixes indicate the direction the arrow is pointing (retro=backwards, pro=forward).

Clap Song Demonstration

(Professor Adams will clap a song rhythm and we have to guess the song without saying anything, and volunteers were shown the song titles beforehand, and then guess the percentage of class that will guess right)

My guesses…

1. Old Town Road

2. I don’t know

3. I don’t know

Actual answers…

1. Old Town Road 7/80 = 9%

2. All Star (Shrek) 16/80 = 20%

3. Party in the USA  ???

Result: Volunteers guessed percentages much higher than the actual percentages of the class. 

Naïve Realism (one of most important psych concepts)

• Constant error in our perception of reality; by default, our brain mistakenly assumes that its subjective perception is a perfect representation of objective reality

• *Our perception of reality is not the perception of reality

In context: The songs were obvious to the volunteers having read the titles beforehand, and they believed it would be obvious to the others listening.

Ex. 

• Psychiatric patients may feel everyone hates them, and naive realism makes this their subjective reality

• We may be worried everyone will notice a stain on our shirt, but in reality everyone is worried about themselves and their issues. 

February 3, 2025 - Memory

Memory Can’t Really Be Trusted

February 5, 2025 - Bio Psych

Neurons: The main functional unit of the nervous system  Roughly 85 billion neurons in the brain  Note: A nerve is a bundle of neurons for body sensation and movement Action Potential Electrical impulse that travels through a neuron and causes it to release tiny chemicals (neurotransmitters) at its terminal buttons.  These tiny chemicals latch onto receptor sites in the dendrites of neighboring neurons, causing additional action potentials Note: Action potentials are electrical impulses, that are caused by chemical reactions in synapses.
Afferent (sensory) neurons Body → Brain	Efferent (motor) neurons: Brain → Body	Interneurons Connect the two types (reflex arc)
Neurotransmitters Small chemical substances - released from neuron’s axon terminals - that transmit signals to neighboring neurons
Acetylcholine (ACh) Arousal, attention, memory, muscle contractions Botox destroys ACh, inhibiting muscle contraction in the face	Dopamine Pleasure (euphoria), learning & attention Learning & attention of rewarding experiences Addiction, motivation	Serotonin Regulates mood, sleep, and anxiety; inhibits appetite Theoretically involved in depression (debated)
GABA - INHIBITORY  Sleep & inhibition of movement and arousal  Issues related to anxiety Anxiety medications (Valium) are GABA agonists	Glutamate - EXCITATORY Learning & memory formation Most prevalent Plays a role in everything, including disease Alcohol shuts this down	Endorphins Pain relief, euphoria Natural opiate Involved in runner’s high, childbirth, crying, doing drugs
Epinephrine & Norepinephrine (Adrenaline, noradrenaline) Arousal & mood  Released in response to stress Increased by “uppers” like cocaine, meth, adderall

Drugs

Agonist: A type of drug that increases the effects of a certain neurotransmitter

Antagonist: A type of drug that decreases the effects of a certain neurotransmitter

February 6, 2025 - Brain Function

Brainstem: Consists of several smaller areas, Midbrain, Pons, Medulla Oblongata, and Reticular formation

Responsible for: Breathing, heartbeat and blood pressure, swallowing (Automatic survival processes)

Cerebellum: Regulates the way we move 

Responsible for: Balance, movement coordination

Cerebrum 

Cerebral Cortex: Outer layer of the cerebrum is 80% of human brain mass

Wernicke’s Area: Specifically for language comprehension

Wernicke’s Aphasia

• Inability to comprehend language

• Words are pronounced correctly but misused 

  • “Please get me some milk from the air conditioner”. 

Broca’s Area: Specifically for language production

Broca’s Aphasia

• Inability to produce language, but can understand others

  • “cot” instead of “clock” … “non” instead of “nine

  • “tan tan tan tan”

• Also affects the ability to write 

Limbic System: Middle of the brain, and is composed of several structures involved with mood, emotion, and bodily regulation

Amygdala - emotion center

Responsible for: Experiencing fear and anxiety, reward and punishment in learning, and mood

Hippocampus - major memory center of the brain, involved with creation and retention of memories

Responsible for: Memory, mood, navigation, orientation

Hypothalamus - regulates primal urges

Responsible for: Hunger, thirst, sleep, sex, body temp regulation, and mood

Dopaminergic Reward Pathway

• Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) 

 (origin of dopamine signals)

• Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc)

(reward processing center)

• Medial Forebrain Bundle (MFB)

(dopamine “superhighway”)

Olds and Milner Experiment (1954)

• Rigged a lever in rat’s cage that when pressed, will stimulate an 

electrode implanted into it’s MFB

• Rat pressed lever until it passed out, no eating or sleeping

• In hottest streak, rat pressed lever 2,000 times per hour for 24 hrs

• Prefrontal Cortex

(decision making, impulse control)

• Amygdala & Hippocampus

(integrate emotions and memory into reward learning)

• Pituitary Gland

(regulates hormones that influence dopamine, stress, & motivation)

Anhedonia: psychological symptom characterized by a reduced ability or inability to experience pleasure and interest in activities that were previously enjoyable

February 10, 2025 - Sensation and Perception

Sensation: The PHYSICAL process of detecting environmental stimuli through your sense organs 

Transduction: The conversion of physical energy (light, sound, pressure, chemicals) into neural signals 

Example: Light waves stimulate the retina, where photoreceptor cells (rods and cones) convert light into neural signals, which are sent through the optic nerves to the brain’s visual processing center

Cornea: Fixed lens on the outer surface of the eye

Pupil: Just a hole

Iris: Adjusts pupil size to let in more/less light.

Lens: Fine tunes light focus for projection to the retina.

Retina: Where light waves are transduced into neural signals by RODS and CONES

Fovea: Focal center of the retina. All cones. No rods.

Absolute Threshold: Minimum stimulation for a stimulus to be detected

Vision: A candle flame on clear, dark night can be detected at 30 miles

Just Noticeable Difference (JND): Least additional stimulus that you’d just barely notice (Smallest detectable change)

Sensation and Perception are Sensitive to…

Proportional (not absolute) differences (Weber’s Law)

Weber’s Law: Our sensory system is sensitive to detecting proportional differences, not absolute difference 

Ex. 

• Two jars with weights varying by a few quarters made distinguishing the heavier nearly impossible

• A 2in height difference looks greater on shorter people than taller people

• Saving $300 seems greater when it’s 50% off vs. 1% off. 

Changes in stimuli and environment

Sensory Adaptation: Sensory receptors stop physically responding to constant stimulus

• Sensory level: receptors in eyes, skin, ears, etc. 

• Not easily reversible; receptors physically stop responding

  • Ex. Your eyes adjust on a sunny day. You no longer hear a loud fan after time. 

Habituation: The brain stops noticing a repeated stimulus

• Cognitive level: attention and learning in the brain

• Reversible; you can refocus on stimulus

  • Ex. You stop noticing a billboard on your commute. You tune out background noise in a coffee shop. 

Contrast

Cones: photoreceptors in center of retina (the fovea) that process fine detail and color

• We have blue, green, and red cones (Trichromatic Theory - we see full color spectrum)

Opponent Process Theory: When our system is overstimulated in one direction, it becomes hypersensitive to opposting stimuli as it attempts to regain its balance

Ex. 

• After a scary movie, hypersensitive to relief

• Dopamine rush, hypersensitive to joylessness

• After strenuous exercise, endorphin rush and relaxation hits

Shortcuts, Top-Down Processing

Perception: The psychological process of organizing, interpreting, and making sense of sensory information

Ex. 

• You see your roommate’s face in a crowd

• You perceive mint-chocolate ice cream instead of separate sensations

• Prone to illusions!!

Top-Down Processing: Sensory input is organized according to our prior knowledge and expectations about the universe.

Bottom-Up Processing: Perception is built from raw sensory input, with meaning emerging gradually as the brain processes details without relying on prior knowledge

Ex. 

• We don’t have a “normal script” for upside down faces, so we analyze them in parts, so the mouth and eyes being right-side up makes it less upsetting

• Newborns are overwhelmed and exhausted as they are building top-down shortcuts from scratch

February 12, 2025 - Sensation and Perception

To judge an object's distance… we use

Sensation (bottom up): binocular disparity

• When an object is closer, our eyes point more sharply inward

• The brain processes this angle and uses it to process depth perception

Perceptual (top-down) cues for depth perception - “Monocular cues”

• Ex. parallel lines converge in distance

  • Relative size: smaller objects = further

  • Interposition: objects block others = closer

The Hermann Grid

Lateral Inhibition: Nearby neurons suppress each other’s activity to enhance contrast

When you focus on a white dot, nearby white/brightness neurons are suppressed to enhance contrast

(Helps us see details/edges in dimly lit conditions)

The McGurk Effect

Multisensory Integration: When your brain integrates conflicting signals - e.g. hearing “ba” while seeing “fa” - you perceive a cross between the two: “da”

In Music

Synchresis: The brain’s automatic fusion of sound and sight (the video will seem like it fits the music

Rubber Hand Illusion

Brain prioritizes visual input, and you start to “feel” the fake pain 

Real-Life Integration: Mirror-box therapy for phantom limb pain

The Double-Flash Illusion

Crossmodal perception: you brain perceives a second beep to match the (more ambiguous) sight to the clearer sound

February 13, 2025 - Impairments

Vision Impairments

Hearing Impairments

The Effects of Refined Sugar

• Our bodies evolved to crave sugar like it’s a life-saving miracle because sugar was found in fruit and honey in limited quantities. 

• Today, we are not evolved to process the virtually limitless supply of pure sugar 

• Since 1975, both obesity and sugar consumption has tripled 

Recommendation: Women should consume fewer than 25g sugar/day and men 36g sugar/day. 

REFINED SUGAR: mimics the reaction of regular recreational drug use 

• Increased impulsivity

• Poor self-regulation

• Lower resting dopamine levels

• Irritability from sustained sugar abstinence

Strongly activates the reward pathway in the brain

Drug addicts’ brains show increased sensitization to their drug of choice 

• Drug presence causes abnormally high dopamine spikes

Cross-sensitization occurs when high dopamine spikes are also caused by or formed in response to alternative sources 

Sugar addicts suffer from dopamine sensitization and are prone to cross-sensitization  - once you’re addicted to sugar, you’re more prone to other addictions