Biopsychology Flashcards
Psychology
Nash (2002): Subject of the movie A Beautiful Mind.
1.1 What is Psychology?
Psychology: The scientific study of mind and behavior.
Psychologists use the scientific method to acquire knowledge.
Hypothesis: A tentative explanation for a phenomenon.
Should fit into a scientific theory.
Scientific Theory: A broad explanation consistently supported by evidence.
Science deals with perceivable and measurable phenomena.
Psychological science relies on empirical, measurable data.
Science generally deals with matter and energy; values and morality are outside its scope.
Empirical Method: Acquiring knowledge through observation and experimentation, not just logic or authority.
Psychology became an academic discipline in the late 1800s, previously part of philosophy.
Rooted in biology and influenced by social interactions, making it both a natural and social science.
Why Study Psychology?
To help others, understand oneself, fulfill requirements, or develop a major interest.
Psychology is a popular major.
Notable psychology majors: Mark Zuckerberg, Jon Stewart, Natalie Portman, Wes Craven.
About 6% of U.S. bachelor's degrees are in psychology (U.S Department of Education, 2016).
Psychology education is valuable for:
Honing critical thinking skills and using the scientific method.
Developing better communication skills.
Understanding complex behavior-shaping factors.
Appreciating diversity across individuals and cultures.
Critical thinking skills are essential for evaluating information in a misleading world.
Involves skepticism, recognizing biases, logical thinking, and observation.
Increases scientific literacy.
1.2 History of Psychology
Psychology is a relatively young science with roots in the 19th century.
Prior to the 19th century, the mind was explored within philosophy.
Wilhelm Wundt and William James are credited as founders of psychology as a science.
Wundt and Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920): German scientist, the first person referred to as a psychologist.
Published Principles of Physiological Psychology in 1873.
Viewed psychology as the scientific study of conscious experience.
Goal: Identify components of consciousness and how they combine.
Used introspection ("internal perception"), objectively examining one's conscious experience.
Believed in voluntarism: people have free will and should know experiment intentions (Danziger, 1980).
Used instruments to measure reaction time in experimental introspection.
Suggested psychology should include the study of culture in Volkerpsychologie (1904).
Edward Titchener: Wundt's student, developed structuralism.
Structuralism focused on mental processes contents rather than function (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010).
Wundt established a psychology laboratory at the University at Leipzig in 1879.
Experiments included measuring reaction times to stimuli like light, images, or sound.
Reaction time could be measured to one-thousandth of a second (Nicolas & Ferrand, 1999).
Introspection remained highly subjective, with little agreement between individuals.
Functionalism
William James, John Dewey, and Charles Sanders Peirce helped establish functional psychology.
Accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection to explain organism characteristics.
Focused on adaptation: traits that have a function for survival and reproduction.
James viewed psychology’s purpose as studying the function of behavior in the world; this was called functionalism.
Functionalism focused on how mental activities helped an organism fit into its environment.
Focused on the operation of the whole mind rather than individual parts (unlike structuralism).
James used introspection but also relied on more objective measures, including recording devices and examinations of mental activities’ concrete products, anatomy, and physiology (Gordon, 1995).
Freud and Psychoanalytic Theory
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Austrian neurologist, influential figure.
Fascinated by patients suffering from “hysteria” and neurosis.
Theorized that patient’s problems arose from the unconscious mind.
Unconscious mind: A repository of feelings and urges we are unaware of.
Crucial to access the unconscious for problem resolution.
Could be accessed through dream analysis, first words, and slips of the tongue.
Psychoanalytic theory: Focuses on the role of the unconscious and early childhood experiences.
Dominated clinical psychology for decades (Thorne & Henley, 2005).
Psychoanalysis: Talking about experiences and selves (popularized by Freud).
Many of Freud’s ideas are controversial.
Drew Westen (1998) argues criticisms are misplaced, attacking older ideas without considering later writings.
Critics fail to consider the success of broad ideas introduced by Freud.
Importance of childhood experiences in adult motivations.
Role of unconscious motivations.
Conflicts affecting behavior.
Mental representations guiding interactions.
Personality development over time.
Modern approaches, empirically demonstrated effective (Knekt et al., 2008; Shedler, 2010).
Involve examining unconscious aspects of the self and relationships.
Freud’s historical significance and contributions merit discussions of historical movements within psychology.
Wertheimer, Koffka, Köhler, and Gestalt Psychology
Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), Kurt Koffka (1886-1941), and Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967): German psychologists who immigrated to the U.S. in the early 20th century.
Introduced psychologists in the United States to Gestalt principles.
Gestalt: Roughly translates to “whole.”
Emphasis on how parts relate to each other as a whole in perception.
Contradicts Wundt’s ideas of structuralism (Thorne & Henley, 2005).
Scientists were forced to abandon much of their work and were unable to continue to conduct research on a large scale in the United States.
Rise of behaviorism prevented Gestalt psychology from being as influential in the United States as it had been in their native Germany (Thorne & Henley, 2005).
Gestalt principles are still very influential today.
Considering the human individual as a whole became an important foundation in humanistic theory.
The ideas of Gestalt have continued to influence research on sensation and perception.
Structuralism, Freud, and Gestalt psychologists were all concerned with describing and understanding inner experience.
Other researchers chose to exclusively study behavior because of concerns that inner experience could be a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry.
Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, and Behaviorism
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936): Russian physiologist, early work in behavior.
Studied conditioned reflex: A learning behavior where an animal or human produces a reflex response to a stimulus and, over time, was conditioned to produce the response to a different stimulus that the experimenter associated with the original stimulus.
Classical conditioning: response to a second stimulus.
Classical conditioning is only one form of learning behavior studied by behaviorists.
John B. Watson (1878-1958): Influential American psychologist.
Thought the study of consciousness was flawed.
Focused directly on observable behavior to bring that behavior it under control.
Preferred objective analysis.
Behaviorism: Observing and controlling behavior.
Shifted focus from the mind to behavior.
Learned behavior and interaction with inborn qualities.
Commonly used animals assuming that what was learned using animal models could, to some degree, be applied to human behavior.
“I believe that everything important in psychology (except … such matters as involve society and words) can be investigated in essence through the continued experimental and theoretical analysis of the determiners of rat behavior at a choice-point in a maze.” – Tolman (1938).
Behaviorism dominated experimental psychology for several decades.
Largely responsible for establishing psychology as a scientific discipline.
Used in behavioral and cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Behavior modification is commonly used in classroom settings.
Led to research on environmental influences on human behavior.
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990): American psychologist, behaviorist.
Concentrated on how behavior was affected by its consequences.
Spoke of reinforcement and punishment as major factors.
Developed operant conditioning chamber (Skinner box).
Chamber isolates the subject from the external environment.
Contains a behavior indicator such as a lever or a button.
The box is able to deliver a positive reinforcement of the behavior (such as food) or a punishment (such as a noise) when the animal pushes the button or lever.
Focus on positive and negative reinforcement had a lasting influence.
Conditioned learning is still used in human behavioral modification (Greengrass, 2004).
Maslow, Rogers, and Humanism
During the early 20th century, American psychology was dominated by behaviorism and psychoanalysis.\
Some psychologists were uncomfortable with what they viewed as limited perspectives being so influential to the field.
Objected to the pessimism and determinism of Freud.
Disliked the reductionism of behaviorism.
Some psychologists began to form their own ideas that emphasized personal control, intentionality, and a true predisposition for “good.”
Humanism: Emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans.
Two of the most well-known proponents of humanistic psychology are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers (O’Hara, n.d.).
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970): American psychologist, best known for proposing a hierarchy of human needs in motivating behavior.
Asserted that so long as basic needs necessary for survival were met (e.g., food, water, shelter), higher-level needs (e.g., social needs) would begin to motivate behavior.
Highest-level needs relate to self-actualization, a process by which we achieve our full potential.
Focus on positive aspects of human nature (Thorne & Henley, 2005).
Humanistic psychologists rejected the research approach based on reductionist experimentation in the tradition of the physical and biological sciences, because it missed the “whole” human being.
Began with Maslow and Rogers, there was an insistence on a humanistic research program.
Qualitative rather than measurement-based).
Quantitative research strains exist within humanistic psychology, including research on happiness, self-concept, meditation, and the outcomes of humanistic psychotherapy (Friedman, 2008).
Carl Rogers (1902-1987): American psychologist.
Emphasized the potential for good that exists within all people.
Used client-centered therapy: the patient taking a lead role in the therapy session.
Therapist needed to display:
Unconditional positive regard: accepting the client for who they are, no matter what they might say.
Genuineness.
Empathy.
Believed that people were more than capable of dealing with and working through their own issues (Thorne & Henley, 2005).
Humanism has been influential to psychology as a whole.
Rogers' client-centered approach is still commonly used in psychotherapeutic settings today (O’hara, n.d.).
The Cognitive Revolution
Behaviorism’s emphasis on objectivity pulled psychologists’ attention away from the mind.
Humanistic psychologists redirected attention to the individual human as a whole.
New disciplinary perspectives in linguistics, neuroscience, and computer science revived interest in the mind.
Cognitive revolution (Miller, 2003).
1967, Ulric Neisser published the first textbook entitled Cognitive Psychology.
Noam Chomsky (1928-): American linguist, dissatisfied with the influence that behaviorism had had on psychology. He believed that psychology’s focus on behavior was short-sighted and that the field had to re-incorporate mental functioning into its purview if it were to offer any meaningful contributions to understanding behavior (Miller, 2003).
European psychology had never really been as influenced by behaviorism as had American psychology; and thus, the cognitive revolution helped reestablish lines of communication between European psychologists and their American counterparts.
Psychologists began to cooperate with scientists in other fields.
This interdisciplinary approach often was referred to as the cognitive sciences.
Feminist Psychology
Psychology has had both positive and negative impacts on human wellbeing.
The influence of Western, White, and male academics in the early history meant biases were inherent.
Women, members of ethnic minorities, and individuals with sexual orientations other than straight had difficulties entering the field and influencing its development.
“Womanless” psychology (Crawford & Marecek, 1989).
An article by Naomi Weisstein, first published in 1968 (Weisstein, 1993), stimulated a feminist revolution by presenting a critique of psychology.
Criticized male psychologists for constructing the psychology of women entirely out of their own cultural biases and without careful experiments.
Bruno Bettleheim: “We must start with the realization that, as much as women want to be good scientists or engineers, they want first and foremost to be womanly companions of men and to be mothers.”
Several feminist approaches to psychology (Crawford & Marecek, 1989).
Re-evaluating and discovering the contributions of women.
Studying psychological gender differences.
Questioning the male bias.
Multicultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology
Culture impacts individuals, groups, and society.
Certain populations have been over-studied, and the results have been applied to other populations.
Henrich, Heine, and Norenzayan (2010): WEIRD societies overstudied.
WEIRD: Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic.
There are many differences between people in the WEIRD group and people in less industrialized, less urban, and non- Western societies.
People vary depending on their culture and environment.
Multicultural psychologists: develop theories and conduct research with diverse populations, typically within one country.
Cross-cultural psychologists: compare populations across countries.
1920, Francis Cecil Sumner was the first African American to receive a PhD.
Established a psychology degree program at Howard University.
Much of the work of early psychologists from diverse backgrounds was dedicated to challenging intelligence testing and promoting innovative educational methods for children.
George I. Sanchez contested such testing with Mexican American children.
Argued that language and cultural barriers in testing were keeping children from equal opportunities.
Mamie Phipps Clark and her husband, Kenneth Clark: Studies conducted on African American children and doll preference.
Research was instrumental in the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court desegregation case.
Applied their research to social services and opened the first child guidance center in Harlem.
The American Psychological Association has several ethnically based organizations for professional psychologists.
Provide an opportunity for the growth of research on the interplay between culture and psychology.
Women in Psychology
Women have been contributing since its inception.
1894, Margaret Floy Washburn was the first woman awarded the doctoral degree.
She wrote The Animal Mind: A Textbook of Comparative Psychology, and it was the standard in the field for over 20 years.
Mary Whiton Calkins completed all requirements toward the PhD in psychology, but Harvard University refused to award her that degree.
Her memory research studied primacy and recency (Madigan & O’Hara, 1992), and she also wrote about how structuralism and functionalism both explained self-psychology (Calkins, 1906).
Mary Cover Jones conducted a study she considered to be a sequel to John B. Watson’s study of Little Albert
Ethnic minority women contributing to the field of psychology include Martha Bernal and Inez Beverly Prosser; their studies were related to education.
Bernal was the first Latina to earn her doctoral degree in psychology (1962).
Prosser was the first African American woman awarded the PhD in 1933 at the University of Cincinnati (Benjamin, Henry, & McMahon, 2005).
1.3 Contemporary Psychology
Contemporary psychology is a diverse field.
Diversity is seen within the American Psychological Association (APA).
The APA is a professional organization representing psychologists in the United States.
Mission is to advance and disseminate psychological knowledge.
54 divisions within the APA.
Members, affiliate members, and associate members span from students to doctorallevel psychologists from educational settings, criminal justice, hospitals, the armed forces, and industry (American Psychological Association, 2014).
G. Stanley Hall was the first president of the APA.
The Association for Psychological Science (APS) was founded in 1988.
Other organizations provide networking and collaboration opportunities for professionals of several ethnic or racial groups working in psychology.
This section will provide an overview of the major subdivisions within psychology today.
Biopsychology and Evolutionary Psychology
Biopsychology explores how our biology influences our behavior.
Biological psychologists want to understand how the structure and function of the nervous system is related to behavior.
Neuroscience, of which biological psychology is a component (Carlson, 2013).
Research interests of biological psychologists:
Sensory and motor systems, sleep, drug use and abuse, ingestive behavior, reproductive behavior, neurodevelopment, the plasticity of the nervous system, and biological correlates of psychological disorders.
Evolutionary psychology: study of the ultimate biological causes of behavior.
A behavior, like any anatomical characteristic, will demonstrate adaption to its surroundings.
The study of behavior in the context of evolution has its origins with Charles Darwin, the co- discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection.
Behaviors should be adaptive.
*To be subject to evolution by natural selection, a behavior must have a significant genetic cause.
Evolutionary psychologists predict behaviors based on evolutionary theory and then make observations or conduct experiments, to determine whether the results match the theory.
Demonstrating that a trait is naturally selected is extraordinarily difficult.
Some evolutionary psychologists are content to assume the behaviors they study have genetic determinants (Confer et al., 2010).
Evolutionary psychology drawback: traits evolved under environmental and social conditions far back in human history.
Examples of human behavior for which evolution can make predictions:
Memory, mate choice, relationships between kin, friendship and cooperation, parenting, social organization, and status (Confer et al., 2010).
Women valued earning potential more than men, and men valued potential reproductive factors (youth and attractiveness) more than women in their prospective mates.
Sensation and Perception
Work in both physiological aspects of sensory systems and in the psychological experience of sensory information.
Interdisciplinary.
Our experience of our world is not as simple as the sum total of all of the sensory information.
Rather, our experience (or perception) is complex and is influenced by where we focus our attention, our previous experiences, and even our cultural backgrounds.
Cognitive Psychology
The area of psychology that focuses on studying cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to our experiences and our actions.
Cognitive science: the interdisciplinary nature of this area of research (Miller, 2003).
Research interests: attention to problem solving to language to memory.
Developmental Psychology
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of development across a lifespan.
Interested in processes related to physical maturation.
Focus on changes in cognitive skills, moral reasoning, social behavior, and other psychological attributes.
Early developmental psychologists focused primarily on changes that occurred through reaching adulthood.
Demonstrated that very young children do not demonstrate object permanence.
Object permanence refers to the understanding that physical things continue to exist, even if they are hidden from us.
Increasing interest in extending research into the changes that occur much later in life.
As more and more people live longer lives, the number of people of advanced age will continue to increase.
Personality Psychology
Personality psychology focuses on patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique.
Freud and Maslow contributed to early theories of personality.
Recent focus: identifying personality traits, measuring these traits, and determining how these traits interact in a particular context to determine how a person will behave in any given situation.
Personality traits are relatively consistent patterns of thought and behavior.
Five Factor model, and include dimensions of:
Conscientiousness.
Agreeableness.
Neuroticism.
Openness.
Extraversion.
These traits has been demonstrated to be relatively stable over the lifespan and is influenced by genetics.
Social Psychology
Social psychology focuses on how we interact with and relate to others.
Research on a wide variety of topics:
Differences in how we explain our own behavior versus how we explain the behaviors of others, prejudice, and attraction, and how we resolve interpersonal conflicts.
How being among other people changes our own behavior and patterns of thinking.
Stanley Milgram: obedience research.
Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, who was accused of committing mass atrocities, was put on trial.
Determined just how far people will go in obeying orders from an authority figures.
Two-thirds of his participants were willing to deliver what they believed to be lethal shocks to another person, simply because they were instructed to do so by an authority figure.
Catalyzed the development of ethical guidelines.
Industrial-Organizational Psychology
I-O psychology applies psychological theories, principles, and research findings in industrial and organizational settings.
Involved in issues related to personnel management, organizational structure, and workplace environment.
Health Psychology
Health psychology focuses on how health is affected by the interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.
Biopsychosocial model.
Health psychologists help individuals achieve better health through public policy, education, intervention, and research.
Sport and Exercise Psychology
Study the psychological aspects of sport performance, including motivation and performance anxiety, and the effects of sport on mental and emotional wellbeing.
Research is also conducted on similar topics.
Includes topics that are broader than sport and exercise but that are related to interactions between mental and physical performance under demanding conditions.
Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior.
Considered to be a more applied area within psychology; however, some clinicians are also actively engaged in scientific research.
Counseling psychology is a similar discipline.
Rogers’ ideas about client-centered therapy has been influential in shaping how many clinicians operate.
Behaviorism and the cognitive revolution: behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, and cognitive- behavioral therapy.
Aspects of the psychoanalytic theory still found.
The area that receives the most attention in popular media.
Forensic Psychology
Forensic psychology is a branch of psychology that deals with questions of psychology as they arise in the context of the justice system.
Forensic psychologists will assess a person’s competency to stand trial, assess the state of mind of a defendant, act as consultants on child custody cases, consult on sentencing and treatment recommendations, and advise on issues such as eyewitness testimony and children’s testimony (American Board of Forensic Psychology, 2014).
In these capacities, they will typically act as expert witnesses.
Forensic psychologists are also used in the jury selection process and witness preparation.
Criminal profilers are a relatively small proportion.
1.4 Careers in Psychology
Psychologists can work in many different places doing many different things.
Continue a career in psychology at a 4-year institution of higher education, will have to earn a doctoral degree or at least a master’s degree.
PhD: A doctor of philosophy degree.
Must complete a dissertation.
A dissertation is essentially a long research paper or bundled published articles describing research that was conducted as a part of the candidate’s doctoral training.
May seek a faculty appointment at a college or university.
Being on the faculty of a college or university often involves dividing time between teaching, research, and service to the institution and profession.
Other Careers in Academic Settings
Adjunct faculty member or instructor.
2-year colleges and schools need faculty to teach courses.
Some may enjoy research in an academic setting but may not be interested in teaching.
Postdoctoral training programs are available.
Career Options Outside of Academic Settings
Practicing clinical psychologists: doctoral degree, which is known as a PsyD.
A PsyD is a doctor of psychology degree that is increasingly popular among individuals interested in pursuing careers in clinical psychology.
PsyD programs generally place less emphasis on research-oriented skills.
In most states, an individual wishing to practice as a licensed clinical or counseling psychologist may complete postdoctoral work under the supervision of a licensed psychologist.
Some states have begun to remove this requirement.
Clinical psychologists and psychiatrists do different things and receive different types of education.
Clinical psychologists: a PhD or a PsyD.
Psychiatrists: a doctor of medicine degree (MD).
Licensed clinical psychologists can administer and interpret psychological tests, while psychiatrists can prescribe medications.
Individuals earning a PhD can work in a variety of settings.
With a master’s degree in psychology, can provide psychotherapy, become licensed to serve as various types of professional counselors, school psychologists, in some capacities related to sport psychology or as consultants in various industrial settings
Undergraduate coursework in psychology may be applicable to other careers.
Knowledge base and skill set that many employers find quite attractive.
Careers can involve serving as case managers, working in sales, working in human resource departments, and teaching in high schools.
The rapidly growing realm of healthcare professions.
The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) exam that people must take to be admitted to medical school now includes a section on the psychological foundations of behavior.
Key Terms
American Psychological Association (APA): Professional organization representing psychologists in the United States
Behaviorism: Focus on observing and controlling behavior
Biopsychology: Study of how biology influences behavior
Biopsychosocial model: Perspective that asserts that biology, psychology, and social factors interact to determine an individual’s health
Clinical psychology: Area of psychology that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and other problematic patterns of behavior
Cognitive psychology: Study of cognitions, or thoughts, and their relationship to experiences and actions
Counseling psychology: Area of psychology that focuses on improving emotional, social, vocational, and other aspects of the lives of psychologically healthy individuals
Developmental psychology: Scientific study of development across a lifespan
Dissertation: Long research paper about research that was conducted as a part of the candidate’s doctoral training
Empirical method: Method for acquiring knowledge based on observation, including experimentation, rather than a method based only on forms of logical argument or previous authorities
Forensic psychology: Area of psychology that applies the science and practice of psychology to issues within and related to the justice system
Functionalism: Focused on how mental activities helped an organism adapt to its environment
Humanism: Perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans
Introspection: Process by which someone examines their own conscious experience in an attempt to break it into its component parts
Ology: Suffix that denotes “scientific study of”
Personality psychology: Study of patterns of thoughts and behaviors that make each individual unique
Personality trait: Consistent pattern of thought and behavior
PhD (doctor of philosophy): Doctoral degree conferred in many disciplinary perspectives housed in a traditional college of liberal arts and sciences
Postdoctoral training program: Allows young scientists to further develop their research programs and broaden their research skills under the supervision of other professionals in the field
Psychoanalytic theory: Focus on the role of the unconscious in affecting conscious behavior
Psychology: Scientific study of the mind and behavior
PsyD (doctor of psychology): Doctoral degree that places less emphasis on research-oriented skills and focuses more on application of psychological principles in the clinical context
Sport and exercise psychology: Area of psychology that focuses on the interactions between mental and emotional factors and physical performance in sports, exercise, and other activities
Structuralism: Understanding the conscious experience through introspection