PSYC105 Introductory Psychology PDF

Preview

Summary

PSYC105 Introductory Psychology – Brain, Behaviour and Cognition17 th FebruaryLabs starts in the 2nd week. Important to show up to first lab as it’s the research lab. Lectures are recordedTextbooks Psychology 3rd or 2nd Edition - Multiple copies available in library - Lecture files will be posted on...

Description

PSYC105 Introductory Psychology – Brain, Behaviour and Cognition 17th February Labs starts in the 2nd week. Important to show up to first lab as it’s the research lab. Lectures are recorded Textbooks Psychology 3rd or 2nd Edition - Multiple copies available in library - Lecture files will be posted on Learn before the lecture - Textbook may not cover everything taught in the lectures vice versa. Focus on the lectures - Compare differences on 2nd and 3rd Writing for psychology (6th ed.) - Library has book too Lab Manual - Will be distributed in 1st lab. Contains lots of useful info including FAQ Assessments - Research participation 4% - Lab exercises 16% - Research report 16% - Multiple choice test 36% o Saturday 4th April 1-2.30pm. location to be announced - Multiple choice exam 28% o Time and location to be announced Research participation - 2 hours participation - Studies either in lab or online. Can be up to 30, 60, or 90 minutes - To get any credit for the course,

See Ailsa or Cam for all questions concerning labs, recording marks, participant pool, and test sitting. Email: [email protected] or in TAC office on first floor 9-4pm.

What is Psychology? - The science of behaviour and the mind and their interaction - It tells us why we behave in the way we do

Demo: Can you spot the change or changes? Visual perception – to notice a change you need to be focused on a certain place. Conscious mind needs attention. Gradual change is not noticed by our visual system as it is not important to our survival however sudden change is noticed.

How to study Psychology - Use scientific methods to discover reliable knowledge about the world. o Scientific method: A set of rules and techniques that allow researchers to avoid biases and mistakes in reaching conclusions. o An example: Facilitated communication 20th February The process of psychological research Main types of research methods - Descriptive - Correlational - Experimental Characteristics of scientific findings Make a prediction: In an emergency, are you more likely to get help in the presence of one stranger or multiple strangers? The Kitty Genovese murder - Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death. There were 38 witnesses, but nobody intervened. This prompted John Darley and his colleagues to investigate why people failed to help, and they found … The more witnesses there are, the less likely they are to get help in an emergency. They feel less of a responsibility. The bystander effect - Darley & Latane (1968) varied the number of people in a group. Results show that helping behaviour decreases with the increase in the number of other people present. Conclusion: The bystander effect is due to the diffusion of responsibility. You need to look someone in the eye and ask for help  put the responsibility on them. As soon as one person acts, other people will be more likely to join. The process of psychological research - Description: To describe the situation and the behaviour in the natural environment. - Prediction: To specify how things co-vary. - Explanation: To explain the cause of the behaviour.

Main types of research methods - Descriptive method – Describe what’s happening behaviourally. Not trying to determine cause or effect. Often an important first step in research. - Techniques: o Observation without intervention.

o Observation with intervention. Sometimes what you are observing does not happen frequently. This is where a situation is created to allow the observation to work. This is called structured observation. Observe how your participants to react

BEWARE: Demand characteristics and observer bias - Demand characteristics: Those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think they should. - Observer bias: Expectations can influence observations and influence perceptions of reality. Q: Are people prejudiced against people with disabilities? People rarely admit to being prejudiced when asked, and they generally won’t behave in prejudiced ways if someone is watching. So how to measure prejudice in a way that minimizes demand characteristics? – Use doubleblind technique, i.e., neither the observer or those being observed know the true purpose of the observation. Why some top-rated universities don’t offer merit based scholarships? Scholarships based on past performance. Best way to predict future behaviour is to look at past behaviour. A way to attract top talents for universities who are not necessarily the most top-rated. Correlational method - Describe the relationship and the degree of association between two variables. - Two variables are correlated when changes in one variable correspond with the changes in the other variable. o Positive correlation: both variables increase or decrease together o Negative correlation: as one variable increases, the other decreases o Correlation ranges from 0 to 1.

CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION Three criteria for causality - An association or correlation - Temporal precedence - Genuine relationship

Experimental method – Focuses on the identification of causes for behaviour. - Four components of a true experiment o Manipulation: the variables of interest (i.e., the independent variables). A variable is something that changes. o Independent variable(s): Variable(s) manipulated in an experiment. Can be quantitative (e.g., different dozes of a drug) or categorical (e.g., nationality) o Dependent variable(s): Variable(s) measured in a study (e.g., accuracy, response time). Examples: You want to know whether memory is affected by age and sex. You give participants 5 minutes to memorize a list of words, and you then measure how many words they recall correctly. You want to know whether visual processing is more efficient when two items are shown in the same object compared with in two different objects. You show participants displays that contain 2 letters that are in the same object or in different objects. The task is to respond, as quickly and as accurately as possible, whether the letters are the same or different. Participants: those who take part in the experiment. Key principles in recruiting participants and assigning them to different conditions: - Random selection: Procedure that ensures that each participant has equal chance to be selected in the experiment. This allows the results to be generalized. - Random assignment: Procedure that ensures that each participant has equal chance to be assigned to each condition. This allows causal inferences to be drawn Data: the results of an experiment. Interpretation: conclusion(s) drawn from the experiment. Beware of over-interpretation.

Characteristics of Scientific Findings - Falsifiable – A hypothesis or theory is falsifiable when it can be tested and proved false. - Verifiable – Results are reliable when the same results can be produced in experiments using the original methods. Results are valid when a procedure measures what it is supposed to measure. - Public and cumulative

21st February Learning and Behaviour change It is hard to think of a personal or group problem whose solution does not involve behaviour change. Therefore, behaviour change is important to solving problems – ours or others. The Behaviour Repertoire - The set of behaviours containing everything you do o Responses to different situations o Habits and activity patterns o Skills and abilities o Problem solving and language o It is NOT physical or biological attributes – eye colour, sex, height, etc - Past repertoire - all the things you once did but no longer do. - Current repertoire - all the things you can currently do. - Potential repertoire - all the things you may do in the future - Fundamental features of the behaviour repertoire – VARIABILITY & CHANGE - There is diversity in behaviour repertoire o Across species o Between individuals of the same species (from individual to individual) o Within the lifespan of even a single individual o Some differences acquired through learning - Sources of variability in the behaviour repertoire o Biological/physiological factors  Hormonal influences  Effects of brain or other injury  Drugs – transient/contemporary changes. Some can be long term or short term depending on the use and quantity of drug o Developmental processes  Emergent behaviours in infants – like smiles  Leads to ‘stage’ theories of cognitive development (e.g Piaget) o Experience  The individual’s history of interaction with the physical and social world  “Learning is shorthand for a collection of different techniques, processes, and outcomes that produce changes in an organism’s behaviour [and, I would add, their cognitions and emotions also]. …

[the] basic principle: learning involves some experience that results in a relatively permanent change in state of the learner. This definition emphasizes several key ideas: learning is based on experience; learning produces changes in the organism; and these changes can be relatively permanent.” [p238] How does experience change the behaviour repertoire? Kinds of behaviour in the behaviour repertoire Psychologists distinguish between two types of behaviour - Respondent behaviour o Involuntary/reflex behaviour – as we don’t seem to exert much direct control over it. Body automatically doing something to avoid harm o It seems to be pulled out of uou (elicited) by events (stimuli) in the environment o No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to control these behaviours o E.g Salivating when you see a piece of cake, Increasing your heart rate when there is an earthquake shake, Releasing stress hormones when stressed, Feeling sad when someone you love dies. o When respondent behaviour systems go awry, we often see emotional or psychophysiological (stress) disorders - Operant behaviour o Use them to operate on the world o Behaviours you emit – emit means to send forth and opus means to work o E.g Sending a message on your phone, Purchasing a coffee, Driving or walking to university, Looking & listening, Speaking, writing (& thinking about what you say & write) ….. o When operant behaviour systems go awry, we often see inappropriate, deviant or damaging (maladaptive) behaviour - Some differences o Operant – emitted by the individual and produces a result (consequence) in the environment. Controlled but the results produced (consequences). Research founders – E.L Thorndike and B.F Skinner o Respondent – elicited by the stimulus and is the result of a stimulus in the environment. Controlled by prior eliciting stimuli. Research founder – Ian Pavlov - Both kinds of behaviour are affected by learning experiences, but the learning principles that govern the two repertoires appear to be different. - Both kinds of behaviour also work together. February 24th How do we add new behaviour to the repertoire? We learn new behaviours in three ways - Observation o Participants is a social process sometimes called ‘social learning’ o Involves at least 2 individuals

-

-

o One (the model) already has some particular behaviour in their repertoire o Another (the observer/learner) does not currently have the behaviour but comes to do so through the process of observational learning o There may be many observers to one model o Involves 2 steps  Model performs the behaviour, observer observes the performance  Time gap – may be brief or long  Observer performs the behaviour  Has to show some initial change that embodies or represents the initial form from the model o Observer may also  observe the model experiencing some consequences  may experience consequences when they perform the response themselves o Observation & experience of consequences as well as observation of behaviour is important to what is learned o Bandura was interested in how individuals became aggressive – was it  innate or  the result of learning/experience and environmental influences? A typical Bandura Experiment (Observational) late 1950s-1960s o Experimental Group: Children watch a film in which an adult (model) beats up an inflatable clown (Bobo) o Some children see an extended version of the film in which the model is approached by another adult who either  Scolds the model, or  Praises and rewards the model o Control group do not see any action modelled. o Later, all children “meet” Bobo, and are left to play o Results - These experiments showed that the children’s behaviour tended to match the model’s behaviour. But the match is influenced by the consequences for the model of the aggressive behaviour. Refer to graph on PP. Observational continued o The factors affecting observational learning can be organised around three questions:  Who do we

imitate?  Are all models equal? Model variables 



Who imitates?  Are all imitators equal? Observer variables  People differ in their tendency to imitate others  Characteristics of the observer that predict imitation o Species – humans, other primates, mammals, birds, other animals? o Emotional state /arousal level – too little or too much arousal is not optimal o Motivational state – more imitation when motivational state matched between model and learner



When do we imitate?  are all situations and tasks equal? Situational and task variables  We learn by imitation in many situations, particularly – Novel, Ambiguous, Uncertain of appropriate repertoire  Observational learning may be non-conscious  Best for tasks that are not too complex/difficult

o Applications of observational learning  What things do we seem to learn by observation/imitations? The variety is substantial  Addictions  Phobias  Moral judgements and moral behaviour  Problem solving  Stereotypes/prejudice  Violent and aggressive behaviour – from media – current concern: terrorism recruitment  Learning by observation has been major way humans have learned all through the history of our species, especially before the development of literacy  In behaviour therapy, we try to get clients to adopt new, adaptive behaviour  Modelling and role playing appropriate behaviour often an important step. E.g  Assertiveness/social skills training  Rehabilitation programmes in the criminal justice system  Kia Marama programme  Overcoming fears/phobias  Teaching/coaching motor skills (e.g sports, drama etc)  Advertisers make very clever use of observational learning -

Trial and error

o Learning through direct experience of behaviour and consequence. Originally studied by E. L. Thorndike. Thorndike & other early 20thC researchers used devices such as mazes and puzzle boxes to study trial and error learning. o Late 19th century – early h 20t century o Thorndike invented the Puzzle Box – an enclosure from which a cat could escape by manipulating certain features of the apparatus. Tasks were often quite complex e.g., Pull string + stand on platform + turn a latch o Thorndike measured time to escape (“escape latency”) found that escape latency decreased over successive trials o

o The Law of effect (Thorndike 1898)  “Of several responses made to the same situation, those which are accompanied or closely followed by satisfaction to the animal will, other things being equal, be more firmly connected with the situation, so that, when it recurs, they will be more likely to recur, those which are accompanied or closely followed by discomfort to the animal will, other things being equal, have their connections to the situation weakened, so that, when it recurs, they will be less likely to recur.” o Disadvantages of Trial and Error as a learning method  Slow, tedious  Haphazard and unreliable – sometimes the required behaviour wont happen just by accident, and there can be no degree of satisfaction achieved  Risk of frustration and risk of the task becoming aversive  These reduce success. Lack of success has some possible consequences:  Loss of motivation in task  Frustrating & aversive conditions may produce escape or avoidance attempts  When the “satisfaction” sought is relief from pain, repeated failure may produce depression-like state in which the individual is unable to master anything  BUT – we do all learn a lot through trial and error

-

-

Shaping (giving behaviour new form) o STEP-WISE PROGRESSION FROM CURRENT BEHAVIOUR TO REQUIRED BEHAVIOUR Task analysis:  Step 1: analyse current repertoire  Step 2: work out how to step from current repertoire to desired target behaviour – steps are called successive approximations  Step 3: use rewarding consequences for performing initial steps to move from one approximation of the new behaviour to the next. o Shapes the required behaviour by  selecting instances that more resemble the required behaviour  rewarding these repeatedly until they become common  revising the selection criterion to select an even closer “approximation” to the required behaviour These are called Acquisition processes

27th February Maintaining and strengthening behaviour in the behaviour repertoire - Practice – motor skills - Reinforcement – reinforcement Learning Motor skills What are they? - They are bodily movements – all or part of our bodies What is motor skills learning? - Changes in motor skills resulting from experience and practice (Versus Verbal/Cognitive skills – but notes that principles of learning are essentially the same for all forms of operant behaviour) The study of motor skill learning reveals some additional facts about learning, particularly the continued learning that occurs with repeated practice. Leads to fluency – capacity to perform at high/appropriate rate with no or few errors Motor Skills learning Understanding motor skills learning is important in many areas: - Sports science and coaching - Rehabilitation (after injury, stroke, etc) - Rehabilitation after sentences for crime - Occupational/technical skills (in industry) - Entertainment – music, dance, etc - Ergonomics – human friendly design of equipment and environments - Health and safety

Motor skills performance has relevance for almost all aspects of people’s lives. Motor performance is the heart of all physical recreation, sports and exercise programs; all performing arts; and all factory work, service industry jobs … and most other jobs. [Stanne, Johnston & Johnston, 1999] Measures of change due to learning

We know that a motor skill is being learned when: - Error rate (Mistakes) – Reduces - Number correct – Increases - Time “on target” – Increases - Speed or Reaction Time - Speed increases, RT decreases We look for systematic changes in these measures over training trials Practice Practice involves repeated episodes (“trials”) in which the motor skill is performed more or less well. Topics: - Massed vs Spaced practice - Role of feedback

Feedback Knowledge of results - Quantitative - Qualitative Note – feedback is an important form of consequence Detail of Feedback in motor-skills learning Results from Trowbridge & Cason, comparing qualitative and quantitative feedback about the outcomes of actions Two conditions were CONTROL conditions Remembering Motor Skills learning Motor skills involve - IMPLICIT MEMORY procedural, knowing “how” memory

-

EXPLICIT, Declarative knowing “what” memory [Verbal skills] Motor skills may be a mixture of the two forms of memory

Reinforcement To reinforce means to strengthen Note: - We replace everyday language with technical language - Everyday term = Reward Something given for service or recompense - * Technical term = Reinforcement To strengthen, make more effective, augment, increase * - * Dictionary definition What does ‘strength’ of behaviour mean? - behaviour persists in the repertoire – a thief keeps offending - reaction time improves – novice driver gets better at anticipatory braking in traffic - frequency (rate) of performance increases – you eat healthy meals more and more often - accuracy improves, errors reduce – piano student gets better at playing a score - duration of correct performance increases - you keep on solving math problems even when they get more difficult - behaviour resists disruption/distractio...