PSYC 122 Notes PDF

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PSYC 122 NotesWEEK ONELecture 1R = (correlation)Member of a minority group your more likely to have a less common name.A brief history of psychology:Slave market with the disappearing bust of Voltaire Salvador Dali - (painting) - 2 ways ofseeing the painting. Introduces the question 'how does the w...

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PSYC 122 Notes WEEK ONE Lecture 1 R = (correlation) Member of a minority group your more likely to have a less common name. A brief history of psychology:  Slave market with the disappearing bust of Voltaire Salvador Dali - (painting) - 2 ways of seeing the painting. Introduces the question 'how does the world that we see out there translate into a subjective experience in our own consciousness'. Mental illness used to be considered as from an evil spirit  People start to act weirdly something wrong has gone into their head  Exorcism used in this situation  People underwent surgery - drilled into their heads - suggested that the way we behave was from the spiritual realm and to get rid of this was to take out the spirit  Trepanation (incision in the skull)  Brain = bag of fluid - too much fluid puts pressure on the brain and can cause things like depression - drill a hole = relieve the pressure. Psychology  Psyche + Logos  = Study of the mind and the soul  Psychology primarily grows out of philosophy and physiology Galen  Early identifier of the nervous system  The brain was connected to the nerves Descartes (17th century)  The body as a machine  Consciousness is separate from the brain - a person has to have a soul  Petitioned the pope to allow him to dissect dead bodies  Argued that some ideas (God, perfection, the self ect.) are innate Gall (18th-19th Century)  Phrenology - divination of the character from the shape of the skull  Psychological characteristics by looking at their physical characterises (shape of skull)  Broke down the parts of the skull and linked them to different characteristics Lecture 2 Cont. Brief history of Psychology Broca (19th century)  part of the brain named after him  Lesions (trauma) to the left frontal convolution seemed to be associated with problems with speech production  Left side of the brain likely implicated to language  Right handed - 90% language located on left  Left handed - 50/50

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Difficult to draw circle/square

Phineas Gage  Horrible accident - railroad worker  Iron into his head - shattered his jaw  Well disciplined reliable before the accident - after he started fights, had no filter, died a few years later due to drinking too much alcohol (this is what a lot of text books say)  Left eye permanently closed after accident  Miracle that he survived  Chronic headaches, memory loss after the accident, died something like 5 years later  Summary: brain injury survivor - brain trauma linked to personality change Brain development - related to Phineas gage  Executive part of the brain - doesn’t fully develop till age 25  By the time your 15 you can have the depth of emotion of an adult however doesn’t have the decision making 1879 

First experimental psychological lab

Charles Sanders Peirce  Renaissance scholar  North American psychology - philosopher by background  Tested philosophy questions Ivan Pavlov  Pavlov's dog (when food arrived his dog began to salivate, he played a tone before the dogs were fed, eventually the dogs salivated when they heard the tone even if food was not present) - this was his first experiment - influence of environment on behaviour  Did his studies - Early 1900's  Interested in the role of environment Monkey video - cucumber and grapes  Psychological research - animals are simpler versions of ourselves  Animals are simpler  Ethical questions around animal research John Watson  How environment controls human behaviour  Babies interested in little animals  Pair an aversive stimulus with a loud noise (rat with loud noise)  Generalise white fluffy animals as bad because of the loud noise  If not reinforced they will extinguish B.F Skinner  Taking Watsons work a step further  Does not rely on automatic behaviours or reflex's Skinner box/operating conditioning chamber  Behaviour which is reinforced tends to be repeated (ie. Strengthened)  When the rat bumps over the lever:  Food is delivered OR the electric current stops

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In both cases the rat will be more likely to press the lever in the future

One of the most famous psychologists of all time.

WEEK TWO Lecture 3     

Variables - things that we measure Operationalisation - 'the definition of a variable in terms of the operations the experimenter performs to measure or manipulate it' Basically, we define concepts in terms of how we measure them Eg. We measure the concept of 'height' using a tape measure/ruler. We can therefore operationalise a hypothesis about height in terms of a unit of measurement - inches, cm etc. Concepts are operationalised in various ways

T-test

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Independent variable = those that the experimenter manipulates Dependent variables = that are theorised to be caused by the IV

Quasi experiment  Comparing two groups on something, however not something that we have manipulated

Lecture 4 Ethics  Institutionalisation of morality Four common 'bioethical' principles 1. Respect for autonomy - research participants need to exercise their autonomy - have to give their consent for research or someone to give it for them if they cannot make decisions in their best interest. 2. Beneficence and non-maleficence  Beneficence - doing things to benefit others  Non-Maleficence - not doing bad/evil 3. Justice - done in context relating to broader issues around justice Obligations  Code of ethics for psychologists working in NZ  You have to be a registered to call yourself or be called a psychologist  Can register under different practise scopes - clinical psychologist  Scope has to legally exist  They do this to prevent misrepresentation  Having a label like psychologists give credibility to the claims you make

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There is groups/society in NZ that go by the psychologists ethics code

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Every study we do has to be considered by the ethics committee

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As the ethics committee they want to know that it will not cause any long term psychological harm They want informed consent (for a child they need parent consent) Health + safety of the participant After the research finishes there is a debrief Sometimes deception may be important but this is where debriefing is very important, also have to ask for their permission to use their data Whanaugatanga - building and maintance of relationships Manaakitanga - sharing/hosting Titiro, whakarongo, korero - Look, listen, speak Deception - investigating if the effect of telling people that MMR vaccine causes autism could compare those with the vaccine have a diagnosis compared to those that haven't

Lecture 5 

You only use 10%-15% of your brain at any given time

Why is the brain so unique?  About 14cm wide - 15cm length - 9cm in width  The weight of the brain is around the middle weight of all organs (about the size of liver 1.5kg) How many brain cells do we have?  2 different types of cells:  Neurons (86 billion)  Glial cells (84 billion)  If one part of the brain has more cells Why is the brain different from the liver?  If you took one liver cell and study it you can generally figure out what the other cells do as they act very similar  The brain communicates in a complex way with cells that move from one part of the brain to another  Each of the about 80,000,000,000 brain cells talks to about 10,000 other brain cells Biological basis of behaviour inside the brain  Glial cells and Neurons The Cell  Number of important sub-units inside a cell  Nucleus - has our DNA/chromosomes - central  Mitochondrion - energy station of the brain  Microtubules - used to move substances - responsible for transport of compounds and cellular constituents

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Plasma membrane - separates the inside of the cell and the outside of the cell - holds it together Neurons  Nerve cells = Neurons  Principal communication cells  Can be subdivided in different types of cells based on size, biochemical composition, structural characteristics  They can be very large  They cannot divide  Dead cells cannot be replaced by new cells - however new cells can be made just not to replace others  They are excitable and can conduct electricity  They can communicate via two different kind of mechanisms  They consume large amounts of energy and, without oxygen, they die within a few mins Basic structure of Neurons  Input part  Regulating part  Propagating part  Transferring part Basic function of Neurons  Lipophilic - fat loving  Hydrophobic - water fearing  Lipophilic - fat fearing  Hydrophilic - water loving

WEEK THREE Lecture 6 Channels:

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Sodium ion channels are sometimes open and sometimes closed (depending on membrane potential) Specific threshold that the sodium channels will open up - They are voltage gated sodium ion channels When the sodium channels open the concentration gradient and electrical gradient will push the sodium ions into the cell We will see a rapid concentration of sodium going into the cell Resting membrane potential of around -60 is when the sodium channels will open We don’t reach this steady state because the sodium channels close at a specific threshold (10)

 Depolarization phase (sodium ions flowing into the cell)  hyperpolarization phase (until -80 is reached) Sodium Potassium Pump  At some point there is no sodium left to go in and no potassium to go out - meaning the sodium will need to go out and potassium to go in  This is when a sodium potassium pump is needed (protein in cell membrane)  Sodium potassium pump needs ATP (energy transfer) - (takes a lot to push out sodium and potassium in) Action potential (neurons)  The cell is activated and we get to -60mv so sodium ion channels flow in  The action potential is moved all the way along the membrane until it reaches termination region  Action potential only goes one way since sodium ion channels have a refractory stage (means normal activation does not open up the channels) (for a few milliseconds the channels before are blocked leaving only one direction for the action potential to go)  Refractory state is important to ensure action potential goes in one direction  Refractory state is also important as It prevents cells from firing continuously Neurons: two types of axons  Axon is where most of the action potential occur  Electricity moves along the axon  Two types of axons (unmyelinated and myelinated)  Myelinated acts as insulator  Both have same length of axon but myelinated is faster (action potential will reach end quicker) Brain Cells Glial cells  support cells 3 types astrocytes  cells that control the brain homeostasis  play an important role as they control the concentration of neurotransmitters (ensure it works properly)  wrap themselves round the blood vessel and is important as the body has created the protective layer around the brain called blood brain area. Astrocytes provide additional protective layer to prevent dangerous substances entering the brain Microglial  Immune cells that control the health of the brain - deal with dying cells  They become activated to eat up dead cells that could contain bad substances that could effect other cells  Can get activated during a viral or bacteria attack - play important role during development: if microglial are increased during an infection processes are disturbed Oligodendrocytes  Cells that are involved in the formation of the myelin sheet around neuronal axons Biological basis of behaviour communication  Can communicate from one cell to the next  Process' in the brain go a lot faster  Chemical messengers can be used to communicate: in the terminal region the neuro transmitters can be released and can be transferred to another cell (uses a lot of atp)

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Calcium ion channels: when calcium flows in a number of biochemical processes occur leads to vesicles to move towards membrane and fuse with membrane then open up Membrane potential changes and calcium channels open up Calcium will flow in ultimately leaves the vesicles to fuse with membrane and the neurotransmitters can be released which then go to specific receptors especially on second cell then sodium cages open up and information from one cell is transferred to another cell Can lead to sodium ion channels to reach -60 for action potential to occur Speed in the brain is everything Neurotransmitters that are releasing needs to be removed rapidly

Lecture 7 Neurotransmitter What is the neurotransmitter? (characteristics)  The chemical must be produced inside the neuron  The necessary precursor enzymes must be present in the neuron  There must be enough of the chemical present to actually have an effect on the postsynaptic neuron  The chemical must be released by the presynaptic neuron, and the postsynaptic neuron must contain receptors that the chemical will bind to.  There must be a reuptake mechanism or enzyme present that stops the action of the chemical Types:  Biogene amines  Amino acids  Neuropeptides (larger)  They all do different things Neurons - neurotransmission  Neurotransmitters interact with specific receptors  There are always more than 1 receptor per neurotransmitter  The neurotransmitter receptors can belong to different functional classes:  Ionotropic: forms a channel where ion channels can flow through, transmitter gated, whether open or not the neurotransmitter binds (bind = open, not bind = closed)  Metabotropic  Ultimately they change the electrical properties of the postsynaptic cells (excitation or inhibition) WEEK FOUR Lecture 8 What is learning? '… an experiential process resulting in a relatively permanent behaviour change that can not be explained by temporary states, maturation or innate tendencies' (Klein, 1996) According to this definition 1. There must be a change In behaviour.  Could be:  Development of new behaviours  Modification of old ones or  A reduction in behaviour

2. The change is relatively permanent  E.G - sneezing only when in presence of pollen is NOT learning 3. Learning is the result of experience  Therefore, many instances of behaviour change ARE NOT examples of learning:  Genetically predetermined behaviours (reflexes)  Changes bought by maturation (e.g. Growing or hormonal influence on sexual development)  Temporary states (e.g. Fatigue, drug effects) The major goal of the learning researcher is to establish general principles of behaviour  Ie. Rules and laws that govern learning across different settings, situations, and even species This approach is similar to that of other areas of psychology Some special features of the area:  An emphasis on effect of environment events on behaviour (opposed to genetic influence)  Typical subjects are individuals (as opposed to groups) and many studies employ non-human animals as subjects  An emphasis on external/observable phenomena (ie. The only way we can infer that learning has occurred is by actually seeing an observable behavioural change)  Learning researchers identify a number of different learning processes (learning is not one single process) EG. Habituation Classical conditioning - associated learning, Reinforcement - adding/taking away stimuli for an increase in behaviour Punishment - Add/take away stimuli = decrease in behaviour Stimulus control - Act in a certain way for different stimulus Observational learning - Learn something by watching someone else's behaviour Rule-governed learning - set of rules to help you learn Classical conditioning Occurs when an organism learns to respond in a particular way to a neutral stimulus Who is Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) ?  Pavlov's dog (When food arrived his dog began to salivate, he played a tone before the dogs were fed, eventually the dogs salivated when they heard the tone even if food was not present)  Unconditioned stimulus - automatically triggers a response without prior learning  Unconditioned response - an unlearned response that occurs naturally in reaction to the unconditioned stimulus  Conditioned stimulus - stimulus which triggers a response after repeated pairings with the unconditioned stimulus  Conditioned response - a learned response which occurs after the stimulus has been conditioned But can more complex human behaviours (like emotions and thoughts) be conditioned in this way? YES John Watson (1878-1958) Lecture 9 Operant Conditioning

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Many behaviours are influences by the consequences that follow behaviour (eg. Studying behaviour maintained by grades achieved)  Learning about the relationships between environmental stimuli and our own behaviour  'we tend to repeat beaviours that lead to desirable outcomes and we tend to stop performing that lead to undesirable outcomes' Thorndike  Puzzle box  Law of effect = 'if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects (reinforcement), the association between that stimulus and response is strengthened' B.F Skinner Box/operating conditioning chamber  Behaviour which is reinforced tends to be repeated (ie. Strengthened)  When the rat bumps over the lever:  Food is delivered OR the electric current stops  In both cases the rat will be more likely to press the lever in the future

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Skinner was interested in how changing environmental events such as the payoff for lever pressing resulted in changes of behaviour Operant chamber a very controlled environment in order to rule out confounding influences Behaviour measured in terms of response rate (ie. How many responses in given period of time)

Radical behaviourism  In essence this philosophy states that behaviour is a lawful function of environmental variables  'radical' part refers to skinners view that all learned behaviours are determined by past interactions with environment  The research tradition in psychology that follows on from skinners radical behaviourism is called the experimental analysis of behaviour Stimulus control  Relationship between a & c  Antecedent/discriminative stimuli set the occasion for responding, ie. Signal what behaviour is now appropriate Schedule control  The relationship between b & c  Skinner said the reason you continue to perform particular behaviours in the presence of particular antecedent stimuli was because you had gained desirable consequences when performing those behaviours in the past Reinforcement  Positive reinforcement: A consequence that causes an increase in the rate of responding (eg. Rat pressing lever for food)

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Negative reinforcement: responding maintained or increases as the result of the termination of an aversive stimulus (eg. Taking aspirin to remove aversive feeling of headache) Lecture 10 A guide to distinguishing reinforce & punisher types ... BEHAVIOUR Increases

Decreases

Presented

+ve reinforced

+ve/aversive punishment

Removed

-ve reinforced

-ve punishment/response cost

Punishment A. Positive punishment  When responding decreases as a result of the delivery of an aversive stimulus  E.G - trying to drink beer though your nose = nasty sensation = don’t do it again  Punishment is defined in terms of its effects on behaviour - this is different from way we tend to use such terms in everyday language Problems  skinner pointed out several problem with use of punishment to decrease behaviour  most effective forms cause pain or discomfort  induces fear/hostility  learn to escape/avoid punishing situation  only learning what response NOT to take Alternatives  use extinction (non delivery of reinforcers maintaining undesirable behaviour) many variables affect how quickly responding extinguishes  remove antecedent stimuli that precede the undesirable behaviour  use 'response cost' B. Response cost (Negative reinforcement)  A decrease in the frequency of a response that is followed by the termination of, or lack of access to, positive stimuli or events.  E.G - 'super nanny' = naughty step ...