Introduction to Psychology (Ciccarelli) Chapter 1-6 PDF

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Aquino, Jezreel M.CHAPTER 1Chapter 1 What is Psychology?Psychology- scientific study of behavior and mental processesBehavior- includes all of our outward or overt actions and reactions, such as talking, facial expressions, and movementMental Processes- refers to all the internal, covert (hidden) ac...

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Aquino, Jezreel M.

CHAPTER 1 Chapter 1.1 What is Psychology? Psychology- scientific study of behavior and mental processes Behavior- includes all of our outward or overt actions and reactions, such as talking, facial expressions, and movement Mental Processes- refers to all the internal, covert (hidden) activity of our minds, such as thinking, feeling, and remembering

Psychology’s Goals 1. DESCRIPTION: WHAT IS HAPPENING? Description - involves observing a behavior and noting everything about it: what is happening, where it happens, to whom it happens, and under what circumstances it seems to happen - the goal of description provides the observations 2. EXPLANATION: WHY IS IT HAPPENING? Explanation - finding explanations for behavior is a very important step in the process of forming theories of behavior - the goal of explanation helps to build the theory Theory- a general explanation of a set of observations or facts 3. PREDICTION: WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN AGAIN? Prediction - determining what will happen in the future 4. CONTROL: HOW CAN IT BE CHANGED? Control - the focus of control, or the modification of some behavior, is to change a behavior from an undesirable one to a desirable one

Chapter 1.2 Psychology Then: The History of Psychology

1. WUNDT, INTROSPECTION AND THE LABORATORY - laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879 - Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), a physiologist, attempted to apply scientific principles to the study of the human mind - Wundt is known as the father of psychology - Wundt believed that consciousness, the state of being aware of external events, could be broken down into thoughts, experiences, emotions, and other basic elements - Objective Introspection is the process of objectively examining and measuring one’s own thoughts and mental activities 2. TITCHENER AND STRUCTURALISM IN AMERICA - One of Wundt’s students was Edward Titchener (1867–1927), an Englishman who eventually took Wundt’s ideas to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York - Structuralism’s focus of study was the structure of the mind - He believed that every experience could be broken down into its individual emotions and sensations 3. WILLIAM JAMES AND FUNCTIONALISM - Harvard University was the first school in America to offer classes in psychology in the late 1870s, these classes were taught by one of Harvard’s most illustrious instructors, William James (1842–1910) - James began teaching anatomy and physiology, but as his interest in psychology developed, he began teaching it almost exclusively - James focused on how the mind allows people to function in the real world - Functionalism is how people work, play, and adapt to their surroundings - heavily influenced by Charles Darwin’s ideas about natural selection, in which physical traits that help an animal adapt to its environment and survive are passed on to its offspring

Chapter 1.3 Gestalt Psychology: The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts - Max Wertheimer believed that psychological events such as perceiving and sensing could not be broken down into any smaller elements and still be properly understood - Wertheimer and others devoted their efforts to studying sensation and perception in this new perspective, Gestalt psychology - Gestalt (Gesh-TALT) is a German word meaning “an organized whole” or “configuration,” which fit well with the focus on studying whole patterns rather than small pieces of them

SIGMUND FREUD’S THEORY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS - Freud was a neurologist, a medical doctor who specializes in disorders of the nervous system - he proposed that there is an unconscious (unaware) mind into which we push, or repress, all of our threatening urges and desires - he believed that these repressed urges, in trying to surface, created the nervous disorders in his patients - Freud stressed the importance of early childhood experiences, believing that personality was formed in the first 6 years of life - Freudian psychoanalysis, the theory and therapy based on Freud’s ideas, has been the basis of much modern psychotherapy (a process in which a trained psychological professional helps a person gain insight into and change his or her behavior) PAVLOV, WATSON, AND THE DAWN OF BEHAVIORISM Ivan Pavlov - Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who showed that a reflex (an involuntary reaction) could be caused to occur in response to a formerly unrelated stimulus - Conditioning is a theory that the reaction ("response") to an object or event ("stimulus") by a person or animal can be modified by 'learning', or conditioning John B. Watson - “science of behavior,” or behaviorism - Watson wanted to bring psychology back to a focus on scientific inquiry, and he felt that the only way to do that was to ignore the whole consciousness issue and focus only on observable behavior—something that could be directly seen and measured - Watson believed that all behavior is learned

Chapter 1.4 Psychology Now: Modern Perspectives 1. PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE - the focus may still include the unconscious mind and its influence over conscious behavior and on early childhood experiences, but with less of an emphasis on sex and sexual motivations and more emphasis on the development of a sense of self, social and interpersonal relationships, and the discovery of other motivations behind a person’s behavior 2. BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE - Skinner not only continued research in classical conditioning, but he also developed a theory called operant conditioning, to explain how voluntary behavior is learned - In this theory, behavioral responses that are followed by pleasurable consequences are strengthened, or reinforced 3. HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE - Often called the “third force” in psychology, humanism was really a reaction to both psychoanalytic theory and behaviorism - Humanists held the view that people have free will, the freedom to choose their own destiny, and strive for self-actualization, the achievement of one’s full potential - Today, humanism exists as a form of psychotherapy aimed at self-understanding and selfimprovement 4. COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE - Cognitive psychology, which focuses on how people think, remember, store, and use information, became a major force in the field in the 1960s - The cognitive perspective with its focus on memory, intelligence, perception, thought processes, problem solving, language, and learning has become a major force in psychology - cognitive neuroscience includes the study of the physical workings of the brain and nervous system when engaged in memory, thinking, and other cognitive processes 5. SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE - the sociocultural perspective, which actually combines two areas of study: social psychology, which is the study of groups, social roles, and rules of social actions and relationships; and cultural psychology, which is the study of cultural norms, values, and expectations - The sociocultural perspective is important because it reminds people that the way they and others behave (or even think) is influenced not only by whether they are alone, with friends, in a crowd, or part of a group but also by the social norms, fads, class differences, and ethnic identity concerns of the particular culture in which they live 6. BIOPSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE - In the biopsychological perspective, human and animal behavior is seen as a direct result of events in the body - Hormones, heredity, brain chemicals, tumors, and diseases are some of the biological causes of behavior and mental events

7. EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE - focuses on the biological bases for universal mental characteristics that all humans share - it seeks to explain general mental strategies and traits, such as why we lie, how attractiveness influences mate selection, why fear of snakes is so common, or why people universally like music and dancing - in this perspective, the mind is seen as a set of information-processing machines, designed by the same process of natural selection that Darwin (1859) first theorized, allowing human beings to solve the problems faced in the early days of human evolution— the problems of the early hunters and gatherers Chapter 1.5 Psychological Professionals and Areas of Specialization Psychologists - has no medical training but has a doctorate degree Psychiatrist - has a medical degree and is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment (including the prescription of medications) of psychological disorders Psychiatric Social Worker - is trained in the area of social work and usually possesses a master’s degree in that discipline - focus more on the environmental conditions that can have an impact on mental disorders, such as poverty, overcrowding, stress, and drug abuse. Basic Research - is research for the sake of gaining scientific knowledge Applied Research - which is research aimed at answering real-world, practical problems

Chapter 1.6 Psychology: The Scientific Methodology The Five Steps of the Scientific Method 1. Perceiving the Question 2. Forming a Hypothesis 3. Testing the Hypothesis 4. Drawing Conclusions 5. Report Your Results Chapter 1.7-8 Descriptive Method

Chapter 1.9 Correlations: finding Relationships Correlation - a statistical technique, a particular way of organizing numerical information so that it is easier to look for patterns in the information - is a measure of the relationship between two or more variables Chapter 1.10 The Experiment Experiment - the only method that will allow researchers to determine the cause of a behavior - In an experiment, researchers deliberately manipulate the variable they think is causing some behavior while holding all the other variables that might interfere with the experiment’s results constant and unchanging Independent Variable - the variable that is manipulated in any experiment Dependent Variable - the response of the participants to the manipulation of the independent variable is a dependent relationship, so the response of the participants that is measured Experimental Group - group that is exposed to the independent variable

Control Group - group that gets either no treatment or some kind of treatment that should have no effect - used to control for the possibility that other factors might be causing the effect that is being examined Chapter 1.11 Experimental Hazards: The Placebo Effect and the Experimenter Effect Placebo Effect - the improvement may have had more to do with participants’ belief in the drug than the drug itself - the expectations and biases of the participants in a study can influence their behavior Experimenter Effect - another way that expectations about the outcome of the experiment can influence the results, even when the participants are animals rather than people - it has to do with the expectations of the experimenter, not the participants Chapter 1.13 Ethics of Psychological Research THE GUIDELINES FOR DOING RESEARCH WITH PEOPLE 1. Rights and well-being of participants must be weighed against the study’s value to science 2. Participants must be allowed to make an informed decision about participation 3. Deception must be justified 4. Participants may withdraw from the study at any time 5. Participants must be protected from risks or told explicitly of risks 6. Investigators must debrief participants, telling the true nature of the study and expectations of results 7. Data must remain confidential 8. If for any reason a study results in undesirable consequences for the participant, the researcher is responsible for detecting and removing, or correcting, these consequences

Chapter 1.14 Applying Psychology to Everyday Life: Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking

CHAPTER 2 Chapter 2.1 Neurons and Nerves: Building the Network Nervous System - a network of cells that carries information to and from all parts of the body Neuroscience - a branch of the life sciences that deals with the structure and functioning of the brain and the neurons, nerves, and nervous tissue that form the nervous system Biological psychology, or behavioral neuroscience - is the branch of neuroscience that focuses on the biological bases of psychological processes, behavior, and learning, and it is the primary area associated with the biological perspective in psychology STRUCTURE OF THE NEURON: THE NERVOUS SYSTEM’S BUILDING BLOCK Neuron - specialized cell in the nervous system that receives and sends messages within that system - one of the messengers of the body, and that means that they have a very special structure Dendrites - parts of the neuron that receive messages from other cells - dendrite means “tree-like,” or “branch” Soma - dendrites are attached to the cell body, or soma - part of the cell that contains the nucleus and keeps the entire cell alive and functioning - soma means “body” Axon - a fiber attached to the soma, and its job is to carry messages out to other cells. Axon Terminals - end of the axon branches out into several shorter fibers that have swellings or little knobs on the ends called axon terminals - responsible for communicating with other nerve cells Glial Cells - some glia serve as a sort of structure on which the neurons develop and work and that hold the neurons in place - other glia are involved in getting nutrients to the neurons, cleaning up the remains of neurons that have died, communicating with neurons and other glial cells, and providing insulation for neurons - Glial cells affect both the functioning and structure of neurons and specific types also have

properties similar to stem cells, which allow them to develop into new neurons, both during prenatal development and in adult mammals TWO SPECIAL TYPES OF GLIAL CELLS 1. Oligodendrocytes - produce myelin for the neurons in the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system) 2. Schwann Cells - produce myelin for the neurons of the body (the peripheral nervous system) - Myelin from Schwann cells have a unique feature that can serve as a tunnel through which damaged nerve fibers can reconnect and repair themselves Myelin - wraps around the shaft of the axons, forming an insulating and protective sheath Tracts - bundles of myelin-coated axons travel together as “cables” in the central nervous system Nerves - peripheral nervous system bundles of axons Myelin Sheath - speeds up the neural message traveling down the axon - insulates and protects the neuron Nodes - the places where the myelin seems to bump are small spaces on the axon - not covered in myelin GENERATING THE MESSAGE WITHIN THE NEURON: THE NEURAL IMPULSE Diffusion - the process of ions moving from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration, and electrostatic pressure, the relative electrical charges when the ions are at rest Resting Potential - When the cell is resting (the electrical potential is in a state called the resting potential, because the cell is at rest) Action Potential - the electrical potential is now in action rather than at rest When the cell is stimulated, the first ion channel opens and the electrical charge at that ion channel is reversed. Then the next channel opens and that charge is reversed, but in the meantime the first ion channel has been closed and the charge is returning to what it was when

it was at rest. The action potential is the sequence of ion channels opening all down the length of the cell’s axon. All-or-None - neurons are either firing at full strength or not firing at all Chapter 2.2 Sending the Message to Other Cells: The Synapse Synaptic Vesicles - little sac-like structures - vesicle is Latin and means a “little blister” or “fluid-filled sac” Neurotransmitters - inside the synaptic vesicles are chemicals suspended in fluid, which are molecules of substances Synapse or Synaptic Gap - fluid-filled space - a junction between two nerve cells, consisting of a minute gap across which impulses pass by diffusion of a neurotransmitter Receptor Sites - proteins that allow only particular molecules of a certain shape to fit into it, just as only a particular key will fit into a keyhole The neurotransmitters found at various synapses around the nervous system can either turn cells on (called an excitatory effect) or turn cells off (called an inhibitory effect), depending on exactly what synapse is being affected. NEUROTRANSMITTERS: MESSENGERS OF THE NETWORK Antagonist - a chemical substance that blocks or reduces the effects of a neurotransmitter Agonist - a chemical substance that mimics or enhances the effects of a neurotransmitter

CLEANING UP THE SYNAPSE: REUPTAKE AND ENZYMES Reuptake - The neurotransmitters have to get out of the receptor sites before the next stimulation can occur. Some just drift away through the process of diffusion, but most will end up back in the synaptic vesicles in a process called reuptake. (Think of a little suction tube, sucking the chemicals back into the vesicles.) That way, the synapse is cleared for the next release of neurotransmitters Enzymatic Degradation - an enzyme specifically designed to break apart ACh clears the synaptic gap very quickly - enzymes that break down other neurotransmitters as well

OVERVIEW OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

Chapter 2.3-5

Chapter 2.6-8

Chapter 2.9-11

CHAPTER 3 Chapter 3.1 The ABCs of Sensation Sensation - occurs when special receptors in the sense organs—the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and taste buds —are activated, allowing various forms of outside stimuli to become neural signals in the brain Transduction - process of converting outside stimuli, such as light, into neural activity Sensory Receptors - specialized forms of neurons, the cells that make up the nervous system - instead of receiving neurotransmitters from other cells, these receptor cells are stimulated by different kinds of energy—for example, the receptors in the eyes are stimulated by light, whereas the receptors in the ears are activated by vibrations SENSORY THRESHOLDS Ernst Weber (1795–1878) - did studies trying to determine the smallest difference between two weights that could be detected - his research led to the formulation known as Weber’s law of just noticeable differences (jnd, or the difference threshold) - JND is the smallest difference between two stimuli that is detectable 50 percent of the time, and Weber’s law simply means that whatever the difference between stimuli might be, it is always a constant

Gustav Fechner (1801–1887) - expanded on Weber’s work by studying something he called the absolute threshold - an absolute threshold is the lowest level of stimulation that a person can consciously detect 50 percent of the time the stimulation is present - stimuli that are below the level of conscious awareness are called subliminal stimuli - these stimuli are just strong enough to activate the sensory receptors but not strong enough for people to be consciously aware of them. Many people believe that these stimuli act upon the unconscious mind, influencing behavior in a process called subliminal perception. HABITUATION AND SENSORY ADAPTATION Habituation - although they actually are hearing it, they aren’t paying attention to it - it is the way the brain deals with unchanging information from the environment - in habituation, the sensory receptors are still responding to stimulation, but the lower centers of the brain are not sending the signals from those receptors to the cortex Sensory Adaptation - is another process by which constant, unchanging information from the sensory receptors is effectively ignored - the receptor cells themselves become less responsive to an unchanging stimulus—garbage odors included—and the receptors no longer send signals to the brain Chapter 3.2 The Science of Seeing Brightness - is determined by the amplitude of the wave—how high or how low the wave actually is Color - or hue, is largely determined by the length of the wave Saturation - refers to the purity of the color people perceive

THE STRUCTURE OF THE EYE

Visual Accommodation - the lens changes its shape from thick to thin, enabling it to focus on objects that are close or far away Myopia - nearsightedness - shape of the eye causes the focal point to fall short of the retina Hyperopia - farsightedness - the focus point is behind the...