Summary - chapters 1-3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12 PDF

Preview

Summary

Chapters 1-3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12...

Description

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology - Psychology: the scientific study of behavior and mental processes - behavior: outward or overt actions and reactions - mental processes: the internal, covert activity of our minds - Psychology is a science - prevent possible biases from leading to faulty observations - precise and careful measurement - Psychology’s four goals - Description • what is happening? - Explanation • why is it happening? • theory: general explanation of a set of observations or facts - Prediction • Will it happen again? - Control • How can it be changed? • Structuralism - focused on the structure or basic elements of the mind - Wilhem Wundt’s psychology laboratory • germany in 1879 1

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

• developed the technique of objective introspection: the process of objectively examining and measuring one’s thought and mental activities.

- Edward Titchner • Wundt’s student; brought structuralism to America • structuralism died out in the the early 1900’s - Functionalism • how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work, and play - proposed by William James - influenced the modern fields of • educational psychology • evolutionary psychology • industrial/organizational psychology - Gestalt psychology - Gestalt • “good figure” psychology - started with Wertheimer, who studied sensation and perception - gestalt ideas now part of the study of cognitive psychology • cognitive psychology: field focusing not one on perception but also on learning, memory, thought processes, and problem solving

- Psychoanalysis - psychoanalysis: theory and therapy based on the work of Sigmund Freud

2

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

- Freud’s patients suffered from nervous disorders with no apparent physical cause

• freud proposed the existence of an unconscious (unaware) mind into which we push- or repress- our threatening urges and desires

- believed that the repressed urges, in trying to surface, created nervous disorders - stressed the importance of early childhood experiences - Behaviorism - Science of behavior that focuses on observable behavior only - must be directly seen and measured - Proposed by John B. Watson • based on the work of Ivan Pavlov, who demonstrated that a reflex could be conditions (learned)

• watson believed that phobias were learned - case of “little albert”: baby taught to fear a white rat - modern perspectives - psychodynamic perspective: modern version of psychoanalysis - more focused on the development of a sense of self and the discovery of motivations behind a person’s behavior other than sexual motivations

• behavior perspective - B.F. Skinner studied operant conditioning of volunteering behavior - behaviorism became a major force in the twentieth century - skinner introduced the concept of reinforcement to behaviorism • humanistic perspective

3

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

- owes far more to the early roots of psychology in the field of philosophy - people have free will: the freedom to choose their own destiny - early founders: • abraham Maslow • carl ragers - emphasizes the human potential, the ability of each person to become the best person he or she could be

• self-actualization: achieving one’s full potential or actual self • cognitive perspective - focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, and learning • sociocultural perspective - focuses on the relationship between social behavior and culture • biopsychological perspective - attributes human and animal behavior to biological events occuring in the body, such as genetic influences, hormones, and the activity of the nervous system

• evolutionary perspective - focuses on the biological bases of universal mental characteristics that all humans share

- looks at the way the mind works and why it works as it does - behavior seen as having an adaptive or survival value - Type of psychological Professionals • Psychologist

4

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

- professional with an academic degree and specialized training in one or more areas of psychology

- can do counseling, teaching, and research; many specialize in any one of a large number of areas within psychology

• areas of specializations in psychology include clinical, counseling, developmental, social, and personality, along others

- basic research - applied research • psychiatrist - medical doctor who has specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders

• psychiatric social worker - social worker with some training in the therapy methods who focuses on the environmental conditions that can have an impact on mental disorders, such as poverty, overcrowding, stress and drug abuse

- psychology and the scientific method • scientific method - system of gathering data so that bias and error measurement are reduced - Steps • 1. perceive the question • 2. form a hypothesis: tentative explanation of a phenomenon based on observations

• 3. test the hypothesis • 4. draw conclusions

5

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

• 5. report your results so that others can replicate, or repeat, the study of experiment to see whether the same results will be obtained in an effort to demonstrate reliability of results.

- descriptive methods • naturalistic observation - watching animals or humans behave in their normal environment - major advantage: realistic picture of behavior - disadvantages: • observer effect: tendency of people or animals to behave differently when they know they are being observed

- participant observation: a naturalistic observation in which the observer becomes a participant in the group being observed )to reduce observer effect)

• observer bias: tendency to observe to see what they expect to see - blind observers: people who do not know what the research question is (to reduce observer bias)

• each naturalistic setting is unique, and observations may not hold • laboratory observation - watching animals or humans behave in a laboratory setting - advantages: • control over environment • allow use of specialized equipment - disadvantages: • artificial situation may result in artificial behavior 6

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

• descriptive methods lead to the formation of testable hypotheses • Case study • study of individual in great detail - advantage • Tremendous amount of detail - disadvantage • cannot apply to others - famous case study: phones gage - surveys • researchers ask a series of questions about the topic under study - given to representative sample • representative sample: randomly selected sample of subjects from a larger population of subjects

• population: the entire group of people or animals in which the researcher is interested

- advantages: • data from large numbers of people • study covert behaviors • cheap way to collect data - disadvantages: • researchers have to ensure representative sample of the results are not meaningful

7

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

• people are not always accurate (courtesy bias) - finding relationships • correlation: • measure of the relationship between two variables • variable: anything that can change or vary - measures of two variables go into a mathematical formula and produce a correlation coefficient (r), which represents two things:

• direction of the relationship • strength of the relationship - knowing the value of one variable allows researchers to predict the value of the other variable

- correlation coefficient ranges from -1.00 to +1.00 • the closer to +1.00 of -1.00 the stronger the relationship between the variables - no correlation= 0 - perfect: +1.00 or -1.00 - positive correlation: variables are related in the same direction • as one increases, the other increases • as one decreases, the other decreases - negative correlation: variables are related in opposite direction • as one increases one decreases - correlation does not prove causation - the experiment 8

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

- experiment • a deliberate manipulation of a variable to see whether corresponding changes in behavior result, allowing the determination of cause-and-effect relationships

- operational definition • definition of a variable of interest that allows it to be directly measured • definition: aggressive play - independent variable (IV) • the variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter • IV: violent TV - Dependent variable (DV) • the variable in an experiment that represents the measurable response or behavior of the subjects in the experiment

• DV: aggressive play - experimental group • subjects in an experiment who are subjected to the independent variable • experimental group: watch tv - Control group • subjects in an experiment who are not subjected to the independent variable and who may receive a placebo treatment (controls for confounding variables)

• control group: no tv - random assignment • the process of assigning subjects to experimental or control groups randomly, so each subject has an equal chance of being in either group 9

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

• controls for confounding variables (extraneous interferring) variables - placebo effect • the phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior

- single-blind study • subjects do not know whether that are in the experimental or the control group (reduces placebo effect)

- experimenter effect: • tendency of the experimenters expectations for a study to unintentionally influence the results of the study

- double-blind study • neither the experimenters nor the subjects know who is in each group - ethics in psychological research - institution review boards • groups of psychologists or other professionals who look oever each proposed research study and judge it according to its safety and consideration for the participants in the study

- common ethical guidelines • the rights and well-being of participants must be weighted against the study’s value to science

• participants must be allowed to make an informed decision about participation • deception must be justified • participants may withdraw from the study at any time • participants must be protected from risks or told explicitly of risks 10

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

• investigators must debrief participants, telling them the true nature of the study and their expectations regarding the results

• data must remain confidential • if for any reason a study results in undesirable consequences for the participant, the researcher is responsible for detecting and removing, or correction, these consequences

• animal research answers questions we could never investigate with human research

• the focus is on avoiding exposing animal subjects to unnecessary pain or suffering

• animals are used in approximately 7 percent of psychological studies - critical thinking - making reasoned judgments about claims - four basic criteria • there are very few “truths” that do not need to be subjected to testing • all evidence is not equal in quality • just because someone is considered to be an authority or to have a lot of expertise does not make everything that person claims automatically true

• critical thinking requires an open mind

11

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Chapter 2: Biological Perspective - Overview of the nervous system - nervous system • an extensive network of specialized cells that carry information to ad from all parts of the body

- neuroscience • deals with the structure and function of neurons, nerves, and nervous tissue • relationship to behave and learning - Structure of the Neuron - neuron • the basic cell that makes up the nervous system and receives and sends messages within that system

- parts of neuron • dendrites: branch-like structures that receive messages from other neurons • soma: the cell body of the neuron, responsible for maintaining the life of the cell

• axon: long, tube-like structure that carries the neural messages to other cells - Other types of brain cells - Glial cells are grey fatty cells that: • provide support for the neurons to grow on and around • deliver nutrients to neurons • produce myelin to coat axons - myelin

1

Thursday, January 29, 2015

• fatty substances produced by certain glial cells that coat the axons of neurons to insulate, protect, and speed up the neural impulse.

- clean up waste products and dead neurons - Generating the message: Neural Impulse - ions: - charged particles • inside neuron: negatively charged • outside neuron: positively charged • resting potential: the state of the neuron when not firing a neural impulse • action potential: the release of the neural impulse consisting of a reversal of the electrical charge within the axon

• allows positive sodium ions to enter the cell • all-or-none: a neuron either fires completely or not not fire at all • return to resting potential - Communication between neurons - sending the message to other cells - axon terminals • rounded areas at the end of the branches at the end of the axon - responsible for communication with other nerve cells - Neuron communication - synaptic vesicles • sack-like structures found inside the axon terminal containing chemicals • neurotransmitter - chemical found in the synaptic vesicles which, when released, has an effect on the next cell 2

Thursday, January 29, 2015

- synapse/synaptic gap • microscopic fluid filled space between the rounded areas in the end of the axon terminals of one cell and the dendrites or surface of the next cell

- receptor sites • holes in the surface of the dendrites or certain cells of the muscles and glands, which are shaped to fit only certain neurotransmitters.

- Neurons must be turned ON and OFF • excitatory neurotransmitter - neurotransmitter that causes the receiving cell to fire • inhibitory neurotransmitter - neurotransmitter that causes the receiving cell to stop firing. - Chemical substances can affect neural communication • agonists - mimic or enhance the effects of a neurotranmistter on the receptor sites of the next cell, increasing or decreasing the activity of that cell

• antagonists - block or reduce a cell’s response to the action of other chemicals or neurotransmitters

- cleaning up the synapse - reuptake • process by which neurotransmitters are taken back into the synaptic vesicles - enzyme • complex protein that is manufactured by cells - one enzyme specifically break sup acetylcholine because muscle activity needs to happen rapidly; repute would be too slow

- Central nervous system (CNS) 3

Thursday, January 29, 2015

• part of the nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord - spinal cord • a long bundle of neurons that carries messages to and from the body to the brain that is responsible for very fast life saving reflexes

- The reflex arc: three types of neurons - sensory neuron that carries information from the senses to the central nervous system

• also called an afferent neuron - motor neuron: a neuron that carries messages from the central nervous system to the muscles of the body

• also called an efferent neuron - interneuron • a neuron found in the center of the spinal cord that receives information from the sensory neurons and sends commands to the muscles through the motor neurons

- interneurons also make up the bulk of the neurons in the brain - neuropasticity • the ability to constantly change both the structure and function of cells in response to experience or trauma

- peripheral nervous system (PNS) - all nerves and neurons that are not contained in the brain and spinal cord but that run through the body itself

• divided into the - somatic nervous system - autonomic nervous system - Somatic nervous system • soma = “body” 4

Thursday, January 29, 2015

• division of the PNS consisting of nerves that carry information from the senses to the CNS ans from the CNS to the voluntary muscles of the body

- sensory pathway • nerves coming from the sensory organs to the CNS consisting or sensory neurons

- motor pathway • nerves coming from the CNS to the voluntary muscles, consisting of motor neurons

- autonomic nervous system (ANS) - division of all the PNS consisting of nerves that control all of the involuntary muscles, organs, and glands; sensory pathway nerves coming from the sensory organs to the CNS consisting of sensory neurons

- sypathetic division (fight or flight system): part of an ANS that is responsible for reacting to stressful events and bodily arousal

- parasympathetic division: part of the ANS that restore the body t normal functioning after arousal and is responsible for the day to day functioning of the organs and glands

- Endocrine glands • glands that secrete chemicals called hormones directly into the bloodstream - hormones: chemicals released into the bloodstream by endocrine glands - pituitary gland: gland located in te brain that secreted human growth hormone and influences all other hormone-secreting glands (also known as th master gland)

- pineal gland: endocrine gland located near the base of the cerebrum that secrete melatonin

- thyroid gland: endocrine gland found in the neck that regulated metabolism - pancreas: endocrine gland that controls the levels of sugar in the blood - gonads: the sex glands; secrete hormones that regulate sexual development and behavior as well as reproduction

5

Thursday, January 29, 2015

• ovaries: the female gonads • testes: the male gonads - adrenal glands: endocrine glands located on top of each kidney • secret over thirty different hormones to deal with stress, regulate salt intake • provide a secondary source of sex hormones affecting the sexual changes that occur during adolescence

- looking inside the living brain - clinical studies • deep lesioning: insertion of a thin, insulated wire into the brain through which an electrical current is sent that destroys the brain cells at the tip of the wire

• electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB): milder electrical current that causes neurons to react as if they had received a message

• human brain damage • transcranial megnetic stimulation (TMS), magnetic pulses are applied to the cortex using special copper wire coils that are positioned over the head

• repetitive TMS (rTMS) • transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) • human brain damage - mapping structure - computed tomography (CT): brain-imaging method using computer-controlled Xrays of the brain

- magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): brain-imaging method using radio waves and magnetic fields of the body to produce detailed images of the brain

- electroencephalogram (EEG): records electric activity of the brain below specific areas of the skull

- magnetoencephalography (MEG)

6

Thursday, January 29, 2015

- positron emission tomography (PET): radioactive sugar is injected into the subject and a computer compiles a color-coded image of brain activity of the brain; lighter colors indicate more activity

- single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT): similar to PET, but uses different radioactive tracers

- functional MRI (fMRI): a computer makes a sort of “movie” of changes in the activity of the b...