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1.  Defining and explaining abnormal behavior

·        Abnormal behavior can be defined in many ways. A statistical criterion specifies that abnormality is any substantial deviation from the average.

·         A social norms standard defines abnormal behavior as that which differs significantly from the norms of society. Another definition suggests that abnormality can be defined by adding some widely accepted standards of what is psychologically unhealthy.

·         These standards would include emotional pain and suffering, behavior that is disturbing to others, failure to perform daily activities, and irrationality.

·        All these definitions have advantages and disadvantages, and none is enough in itself.

·        The more criteria that can be applied, the less confident we become of our diagnosis.

·        Mental health can be best viewed as a continuum with extremes at the normal and abnormal ends, and with an unclear area in between.

2.  Anxiety disorders

·        The anxiety disorders are characterized by emotional distress caused by feelings of vulnerability, apprehension, or fear.

·        The anxiety disorders include panic disorder, phobic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

·        Panic disorder involves attacks of inexplicable, intense fear, and it occurs in about 1% of both men and women.

·        Often panic disorder is attended by agoraphobia, an intense fear of being in a place from which one cannot escape without embarrassment. Panic disorder is sometimes attended by depression, and tends to run in families.

·        A phobia is an extreme and irrational fear focused on a particular object.

·        Social phobias involve a fear of doing something in public that could be embarrassing.

·        Specific phobias involve the fear of nonsocial things, such as enclosed places.

·        About 13% of the population experiences phobias.

·        Phobics know their fears are unreasonable, yet they are unable to control them.

·        Freudians explain phobias as the result of a defense mechanism to protect the ego from the id.

·        Learning theories see phobias as the effect of conditioning and some evidence suggests we are naturally prepared to develop certain phobias.

·        Generalized anxiety is a state of persistent apprehension without good cause often go with tension.

·        The psychoanalytic view is that generalized anxiety disorder.

·        Consequences from the ego’s fear that the id’s impulses will be punished a condition Freud called “free-floating anxiety.”

·        The cognitive perspective advises this disorder is the result of one’s inability to control negative life events.

·        An obsession is a frequent irrational thought that intrudes continuously, even though the person tries to avoid thinking about it.

·        A compulsion is an uncontrollable repetitive behavior such as excessive handwashing.

·        Obsessions and compulsions often happen together they each happen separately as well.

·        The psychoanalytic view sees these disorders as the result of ego defenses.

·        The learning view suggests compulsions are reinforced by reducing anxiety but cannot reason for obsessions.

·        The biological perspective sees these disorders as the effect of brain abnormalities and points out that they have an inherited component.

·        Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a state of anxiety and depression that follows severe trauma, like warfare, rape, or natural disaster, and may show long after that difficult time is over and last for years. Symptoms include tension, insomnia, trouble concentrating, a feeling of remoteness, and flashbacks.

·        The major determinant of who experiences PTSD is the severity of the trauma.

3.  Mood disorders

·        Mood disorders involve intense moods which last for longer than normal periods of time.

·        There are two major categories: depressive disorders and bipolar disorders.

·        Major depressive disorder is characterized by one or more episodes of deep sadness and despair which last all day long for two or more weeks. Symptoms are loss of energy, slowing down of behavior, agitation, difficulty thinking, eating disturbances, problems in sleeping, an exaggerated sense of worthlessness, and recurring thoughts of death and suicide.

·        Depressive occurrences typically last three to six months, and relapses happen in about 50% of the cases.

·        Dysthymic disorder is like major depression except it undergoes for years at a time with only short cutbacks.

·        The psychoanalytic perspective suggests that depression is the result of self-loathing owed to the rage one feels when abandoned by a loved one.

·        Peter Lewinsohn, a learning theorist offers that depression happens because a person is no longer receiving any pleasurable reinforcement from life. Without rewards a person gives up trying and becomes depressed and withdrawn.

·        Depression is also influenced by biological factors. Studies comparing identical twins to fraternal twins and studies studying rates of depression in adopted infants demonstrate the incidence of a genetic tendency to depression.

·        Other biological theories have said that depression rises from troubles in the number of neurotransmitters such as serotonin or norepinephrine.

·        In addition to neurotransmitters, hormones may be implicated in depression.

·        Seasonal affective disorder is a form of depression that happens in response to lack of sunlight most often in winter. This type of depression is more common in higher latitudes where the winters are longer and darker.

·        Seasonal affective disorder can be effectively treated with artificial light therapy.

·        The interpersonal approach agrees that depression comes to from disturbed interactions among family members.

·         Depressed people have also been found to have more negative conversation styles, smile less, and are less animated and pleasant. These negative responses are usually met by negative reactions which causes depression to become more severe.

·        A combination of perspectives helps us understand this disorder.

·        Mania is also involved coming in a syndrome called manic-depressive (bipolar) disorder.

·         Mania is a state of exaggerated elation characterized by irritability, hyperactivity, decreased need for sleep, constant talkativeness.

·        Mild manic episodes produce a feeling of power and competence but more severe forms produce severe impairments.

·        Manic-depressive (bipolar) disorder appears to differ from unipolar depression in that it starts earlier in life, runs more in families, and responds favorably to the drug lithium carbonate.

·        Cyclothymia is a chronic but milder form of manic-depressive disorder.

·        Manic-depression has been linked to certain genes, and a biological explanation is strongly implicated. The exact cause probably involves a complex interaction between genetic, neurochemical, cognitive, and developmental factors.

4.  Dissociative disorders

·        The dissociative disorders have the splitting of the personality into component parts so that memory or identity is disrupted.

·        Dissociative amnesia the forgetting of past experiences has the dissociation of present memories from certain memories of the past.

·        In a dissociative fugue people leave their identities and take up new lives having entirely forgotten their pasts.

·        Dissociative identity disorder or sometimes called multiple personality disorder is the dissociation of the mind into several people each with different characteristics. These personalities tend to form three clusters which are those which are demure, shy, and withdrawn; those which are aggressive and promiscuous; and those which are level or rational.

·        The personality which goes for help does not know about the other personalities but is troubled by memory lapses or unsolved events.

·        Multiple personality usually begins in childhood, often coincides with severe sexual abuse.

5.  Schizophrenia

·        Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder which is responsible for about half of all people committed to mental hospitals. It is very resistant to treatment of schizophrenics recovering.

·        Schizophrenia is usually characterized by a deterioration of behavior which results in an active phase which might improve to a residual phase only to become more active phase-residual phase cycles.

·        Symptoms of schizophrenia include are like disturbances in the content of thought, including delusions, disturbances of emotion, disturbances in volition, disturbances in interpersonal relationships; and disturbances in motor behavior, and which the person stays in one position for hours.

·        Most schizophrenics show a split between various ideas and emotions.

·        Sometimes their language indicates an inappropriate shifting from one thought to the next while they wander through meaningless and unrelated phrases.

·        Schizophrenics also have a distorted view of reality. They see, feel, and hear things that aren’t real.

·        They may also show bizarre and weird behaviors.

·        Sometimes a schizophrenic shows no behavior at all just staying still for long periods of time.

·        They get a tendency to avoid social interaction.

·        Schizophrenia is organized into subtypes which have a disorganized type, a catatonic type, a paranoid type, and an undifferentiated type.

·        A newer study divides schizophrenics into three categories: those that have positive or active symptoms, those that have negative or passive symptoms, and those that have mixed symptoms.

·        Interpersonal, or family-systems, theorists believe that schizophrenia is related to inappropriate family functioning.

6.  Personality disorders

·        Personality disorders are deep-seated patterns of maladaptive behaviors that cause distress to others.

·        Personality disorders produce little or no guilt or anxiety.

·        Sociopaths are people who follow their impulses without guilt and without thinkin the consequences of their behaviors for others. Psychoanalytic theorists explain sociopathy as the result of rejecting parents.

·        Learning theorists suggest that the sociopath get reinforcement when the person commits sociopathic acts.

·        Biological theorists say someone like this may suffer from autonomic under arousal and commit crimes to get a thrill.

·        People with narcissistic personality disorder have an overblown sense of their own importance but they have very fragile self-esteem.

·        Borderline personality disorder is characterized by instability in self-image, interpersonal relations, and mood.

·        People with borderline personality disorder are very erratic in their behavior by extreme highs and lows.

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1. Memory

2. ​Sensory Memory

1. ​The first stop for external events

2. Contains all of the information processed by senses for less than a second

3. George Sperling’s Experiment

1. ​flashed a 3x3 grid for one twentieth of a second to participants

2. had to recall one of the rows immediately after

3. indicated which to remember with a tone

4. participants could recall any perfectly

5. demonstrated that the entire grid must be held in sensory memory for a split second

4. ​Iconic memory

1. ​a split second perfect photograph of a scene

5. ​Echoic memory

1. ​a brief (3-4 second) perfect memory for sounds

6. ​Not all information in sensory memory is encoded into short term memory

7. ​​Selective attention determines which sensory messages get encoded

3. ​Short-Term/ Working Memory

1. ​Holds everything you are currently thinking

2. If we do nothing with short term memories, they usually fade in 10-30 seconds

3. Memories we are currently working with and aware of in our consciousness

4. Capacity limited to seven items

1. ​chunking

1. ​can be used to expand this limit

2. group items

3. includes most mnemonic devices

5. ​​To retain information:

1. ​rehearse (repeat) it

4. ​​Long-Term Memory

1. ​Our permanent storage

2. ​Unlimited

3. Once information is there, its usually there forever

4. Episodic memory

1. ​memories of specific events

2. stored in a sequential series

5. ​Semantic memory

1. ​general knowledge of the world

2. stored as facts, meanings, or categories

6. ​Procedural memory

1. ​memory of skills and how to perform them

2. stored sequentially but difficult to describe with words

7. ​Explicit memories

1. ​conscious memories of facts or events we tried to remember

8. ​Implicit memories

1. ​unintentional memories that we might not even realize we have

9. ​Eidetic (photographic) memory

1. ​very rare

2. seems to use very powerful and enduring visual images

​​​Levels of Processing Model of Memory

1. ​Principles

1. ​Examines how deeply the memory was processed

1. ​deeply (elaboratively) processed

1. ​more likely to remember

2. shallowly (maintenance) processed

1. ​you will forget quickly

2. ​​Memories are neither short nor long term

​​Retrieval

1. ​Definition

1. ​Getting information out of memory so we can use it

2. ​Types

1. ​Recognition

1. ​the process of matching a current event or fact with one already in memory

2. ​Recall

1. ​retrieving a memory with an external cue

3. ​​Factors that Influence Retrieval

1. ​The order in which the information is presented

1. ​primacy effect

1. ​predicts that we are more likely to recall items presented at the beginning of a list

2. ​recency effect

1. ​demonstrated by our ability to recall the items at the end of a list

3. ​serial position effect

1. ​recall of a list is affected by the order of items

2. ​​Context

1. ​tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

1. ​temporary inability to remember information

2. ​semantic network theory

1. ​our brain forms new memories by connecting their meaning and context with meanings already in memory

3. ​​​flashbulb memories

1. ​powerful because the importance of the events caused us to encode the context surrounding the event

3. ​​Emotional or situational context

1. ​mood-congruent memory

1. ​the greater likelihood of recalling an item when our mood matches the mood we were in when the event happened

2. ​state-dependent memory

1. ​recalling events encoded while in particular states of consciousness

​​Constructive Memory

1. ​“Recovered Memory” Phenomenon

1. ​Individuals claim to suddenly remember events they have “repressed” for years

2. ​​Elizabeth Loftus

1. ​often they are constructed or false memories of events

2. ​​Constructed (or Reconstructed) Memory

1. ​Can report false details of a real event

2. Can be a recollection of an event that never occurred

3. Leading questions can influence us to recall false details

4. Constructed memories feel accurate to the person recalling them

5. Need physical evidence for confirmation

​​Forgetting

1. ​Causes

1. ​Decay

1. we do not use a memory or connections to it for a long time

2. relearning effect

1. ​relearning information takes less time and effort than learning it

2. ​​Interference

1. ​​​other information in your memory competes with what you’re trying to recall

2. retroactive interference

1. ​learning new information interferes with the recall of older information

3. ​proactive interference

1. ​older information interferes with the recall of information learned more recently

​​​

1. Stages

1. ​babbling

1. ​occurs around six months of age

2. represents experimentation with phonemes

3. babies in this stage can produce any phoneme in any language

2. ​holophrastic stage

1. ​babies speak in single words (holophrases)

3. ​telegraphic speech

1. ​toddlers will combine the words they can say into simple commands

2. meaning is clear, but syntax is absent

3. children begin to learn grammar and syntax rules, often misapplying them (ex: overgeneralization)

2. ​​Controversy: how we acquire language

1. ​behaviorists

1. ​language, like all behaviors, is learned through operant conditioning and shaping

2. when kids use language correctly, they are rewarded with a smile/encouragement

1. ​​​Creativity

1. ​Criteria generally involves originality and appropriateness

2. Convergent thinking

1. ​thinking pointed toward one solution

3. ​Divergent thinking

1. ​thinking that searches for multiple possible answers to a question

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Learning

1. ​A long lasting change in behavior resulting from experience

​​Classical Conditioning

1. ​Ivan Pavlov

1. ​Russian Physiologist

2. Found that dogs learn to salivate to simply the sounds that they regularly hear before being fed

3. Developed classical conditioning:

1. ​neutral stimuli associated with stimuli such as food will produce similar responses as the old stimuli

2. ​​Classical Conditioning Process

1. ​Unconditioned stimulus (US or UCS)

1. ​the original stimulus that elicits a response

2. elicits a natural, reflexive response

3. produces the unconditioned response (UR or UCR)

4. if continually paired with a neutral stimulus, they will be associated

2. ​Conditioned stimulus (CS)

1. ​a neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus

2. elicit a conditioned response (CR)

3. ​Acquisition

1. ​learning has occurred once the animals respond to the CS without the US

2. repeated pairings of CS and US yield a stronger CR

3. most effective conditioning:

1. ​present US first

2. introduce US while CS is still evidence

4. ​​​Extinction

1. ​The CS no longer elicits the CR

2. ​Achieved by presenting the CS without the US repeatedly

5. ​​​Spontaneous Recovery

1. ​After extinction, the CR briefly reappears upon presentation of the CS sometimes

6. ​Generalization

1. ​The tendency to respond to stimuli that is similar in some way to the CS

1. ​subjects can be trained to discriminate

7. ​​John Watson and Rosalie Rayner

1. ​Conditioned Albert (a little boy) to fear a white rat

1. ​paired it with a loud noise → he cries

2. Albert generalized to other fluffy white things

2. ​Illustrates aversive conditioning

8. ​Higher-Order Conditioning

1. ​Second order conditioning

2. The CS acts as a US in order to condition a response to a new stimulus

9. ​Biology

1. ​We are biologically prepared to make certain connections more easily than others

1. learned taste aversions

1. ​pairing nausea with a new food

2. helpful for the survival of the species

2. ​​Salient stimuli create a more powerful CR

3. Garcia and Koelling’s Experiment

1. ​illustrated that rats more easily make some connections than others

1. ​noise with shock

2. nausea with sweet water

3. adaptive

​​​Operant Conditioning

1. ​Definition

1. ​Learning based on the association of consequences with one’s behavior

2. ​Edward Thorndike

1. ​Experiment

1. ​locked a cat in a puzzle cage

2. cat had to get out to get food

3. time required decreased over trials

4. concluded that the cat learned new behavior without mental activity

2. ​Law of effect

1. ​if the consequences of a behavior are pleasant:

1. ​the stimulus-response (S-R) connection will be strengthened

2. the likelihood of the behavior will increase

2. ​vice-versa

3. ​Instrumental learning

1. ​the consequence was instrumental in shaping future behaviors

3. ​​B.F. Skinner

1. ​Coined the term operant conditioning

2. Skinner box

1. ​has a way to deliver food to an animal and a lever to press or disk to peck in order to get the food

2. reinforcer- the food

3. reinforcement- the process of giving the food

1. ​anything that makes a behavior more likely to occur is a reinforcer

4. ​positive reinforcement

1. ​the addition of something pleasant

5. ​negative reinforcement

1. ​the removal of something unpleasant

6. ​escape learning

1. ​allows one to terminate an aversive stimulus

7. ​avoidance learning

1. ​enables one to avoid the aversive stimulus all together

4. ​​​Punishment

1. ​Affecting behavior by using unpleasant consequences

2. ​​Positive punishment

1. ​the addition of something unpleasant

3. ​Negative punishment

1. ​“omission training”

2. the removal of something pleasant

5. ​​Punishment vs. Reinforcement

1. ​Punishment is most effective if:

1. ​delivered immediately after unwanted behavior

2. harsh

2. ​Harsh punishment may result in anger or fear

3. Shaping

1. ​rewarding approximations of the desired behavior

2. increases the likelihood and speed of the subject stumbling upon the                                           desired behavior for the first time

4. ​Chaining the special conditions under which the subject learns to perform the desired behavior

5. ​Primary reinforcers

1. ​are rewarding in and of themselves

2. ​​food, water, rest

6. ​Secondary reinforcers

1. ​things we have learned to value

2. praise, the chance to play a video game

7. ​Money

1. ​a generalized reinforcer because it can be traded for almost anything

8. ​Token economy

1. ​a practical application of generalized reinforcers

2. used in prisons, mental institutions, schools

3. every time people perform a desired behavior, they are given a token

1. ​can be traded for any one of a variety of reinforcers​number of responses made- ratio schedule

2. the passage of time- interval schedule

4. ​​​the pattern of reinforcement

1. ​constant- fixed schedule

2. changing- variable schedul

​​

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Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes.

- As a truly general science, psychology addresses all sides of human
experiences -- positive and negative, strengths and weaknesses.

Psychology emerged as a sciencee from the fields of philosophy and physiology. The two founders of psychology are William Wundt and William James.

1. Wundes structuralism emphasized the concious mind and its structures.

2.  James's functionalism focused on the functions of the mind in human adaptation to the environment.

Different approaches to psychology include:

1. Biological, focuses on the body, especially brain and nervous system.

2. Behavioral, emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavioral responses an their enviornmental determinants.

3. Psychodynamic, emphasizes unconscious thought, the conflict between biological instincts and societies demands and early family experiences.

4. Humanistic, emphasizes a persons capacity for positive growth, freedom to choose a destiny, and positive qualities.

5. Cognitive, study attention, thinking, problem solving, remembering, and learning.

6. Evolutionary, stresses the importance of adaptation, reproductivity, and "survival of the fittest".

7. Sociocultural, focuses of the social and cultural determinants of behavior and encourages us to attend the way that our behavior and mental processes are embedded in a social context.

A clinical psychologist typically has a doctoral degree in a a psychology, where as a psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in treating people with abnormal behavior.

Clinical psychologist CANT prescribe medication.

Psychiatrist CAN.

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1. Theories of Motivation

Yerkes-Dodson law: The psychological principle stating that performance is best under conditions of moderate arousal rather than either low or high arousal.

2. Hunger, Obesity, and Eating Disorders

Glucose and insulin play role on hunger

glucose is needed for brain to function

low levels of glucose increase hunger

insulin can cause rise in hunger

Leptin decreases food intake

lateral hypothalamus involved in stimulating hunger

ventromedial hypothalamus restricts eating

3. Approaches to Motivation in Everyday Life

Maslow's theory that human needs must be satisfied in the following sequence: physiological needs, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization.

self-actualization: The motivation to develop one's full potential as a human being—the highest and most elusive of Maslow's proposed needs.

self-determination theory: Deci and Ryan's theory asserting that all humans have three basic, innate organismic needs: competence, relatedness, and autonomy.

4. Emotion

James-Lange Theory: emotions follow physiological reactions

Cannon-Bard: emotions and physiological occur simultaneously

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 Chapter 11: Gender, Sex, and Sexuality 

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 Chapter 11: Gender, Sex, and Sexuality 

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Defining sex and gender

Sex refers to biological aspects of the person that are used to classify him or her as male or female.

Biological features that serve in this capacity includes genes gonads hormones genitals and secondary sex characteristics.

Disorders of sexual development are conditions in which a person genetics or gonadal sex is atypical.

Theories of gender development

Perspectives on gender development include biological evolutionary psychology social cognitive and social theories.

Darwinian natural selection and states that human beings have evolved through a process of sexual selection in which males compete for mates and females choose.

The psychology of gender differences

Sexuality refers to the ways people experience and express themselves as sexual beings.

Sexual Orientation

Refers to the direction of a persons erotic interest includes heterosexuality homosexuality and bisexuality.

Sexual orientation is generally measured using questionnaires'.

Possible explanations for sexual orientation include genetic factors brain difference and prenatal hormone exposure.

Gay men and lesbian women are similar to their heterosexual counterparts in many ways.

Sexual Behavior

Sexual desire is also a key element in sexual behavior sensations, perception and cognition are all important components of sexual activity.

Sexual Variations and disorders

A fetish is an object that a person finds sexually arousing.

Paraphilia are disorders in which a person experiences strong sexual interest in certain object or activities.

Sexuality and Health and Wellness

Sexually transmitted infections are infections that can be spread through sexual contact.

The relationship between sexual behavior and psychological wellness depends on the reasons people have sex.

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Chapter 8: Thinking, Intelligence, and Language

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Chapter 8: Thinking, Intelligence, and Language

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1. The Cognitive Revolution in Psychology

Cognition is the way in which information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking and knowing.

2. Thinking

Concepts are mental categories used to group objects, events, and characteristics.

Reasoning is the mental activity of transforming information to reach conclusions.

Inductive reasoning is reasoning from the specific to the general.

Deductive reasoning is reasoning from the general to the specific.

3. Intelligence

Intelligence consists of the ability to solve problems and to adapt to and learn from everyday experiences.

A good test of intelligence meets the 3 criteria: validity, reliability, and standardization.

Validity is the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure.

Reliability is how consistently an individual performs on a test

Standardization focuses on uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test and establishing norms.

Sternberg's Triarchic theory  states there are 3 main types of intelligence: analytical, creative and practical

4. Language

Language is a form of communication that is based on a system of symbols.

All languages have 5 characteristics: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmantics

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1. The Nature of Consciousness

Consciousness is the awareness of external events and internal sensations, including awareness of the self and thoughts about experiences.

Consciousness is likely distributed across the brain.

William James described the mind as a stream of consciousness.

Consciousness occurs at different levels of awareness that include higher-level awareness (controlled processes and selective attention), lower level awareness (automatic processes and day dreaming), altered states of consciousness  (produced by drugs, trauma, fatigue, and other factors), subconscious awareness (waking subconscious awareness, sleep, and dreams), and no awareness (unconscious thought)

2. Sleep and Dreams

The biological rhythm that regulates the daily sleep/wake cycle is the circadian rhythm.

We need sleep for physical restoration, adaptation, growth and memory.

Humans go through 4 stages of non-REM sleep and one stage of REM sleep (rapid eye movement)

Most dreaming occurs during REM sleep.

Sleep cycle of 5 stages last about 90-100 minutes and recurs several times during the night.

Freud thought that dreams express unconscious wishes in disguise

3. Psychoactive drugs

Psychoactive drugs act on the nervous system to alter states of consciousness, modify perceptions, and change moods.

Addictive drugs activate the brains reward system by increasing dopamine concentration.

Depressants slow down mental and physical activity. (alcohol, barbiturates, tranquilizers, and opiates)

Stimulants increase the central nervous system activity.(caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine and MDMA)

Hallucinogens modify a person perceptual experiences and produce visual images that are not real. (marijuana, LSD)

4. Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a psychological state or possibly altered attention and awareness in which the individual is unusually receptive to suggestions.

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Chapter 2: Psychology's Scientific Method

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Chapter 2: Psychology's Scientific Method

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Psychologist use the scientific method to address research questions. This method involves starting with theory and then making observations, formulating hypothesis, testing these through empirical research, drawing conclusions, and evaluating theory.

Three types of research commonly used in psychology:

1. Descriptive Research: includes observation, surveys, interviews, and case studies.

2. Correlational Research: often includes surveys and interviews as well as observations.

3. Experimental Research: often occurs in a lab but can also be done in a natural setting. Experimental research relies on random assignment to ensure that the groups are roughly equivalent before the manipulation of the independent variable.

Descriptive statistics are used to describe and summarize samples of data in a meanigful way.

2 types of descriptive statistics are measures of tendency and measures of variability.

Measures of central tendency are the mean and the mode.

Measures of variability include the range and standard deviation.

For all kinds of research ethical treatment of participants is crucial. Participants should leave a psychological study no worse off the they were when they entered.

Some guiding principals for ethical research in psychology:

1. Consent

2. Confidentiality

3. Debriefing

4. Explaining fully the use of deception in a study.

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1.  Exploring human development

·        Development is the pattern of change in human capabilities that begins at birth and continues throughout the life span.

·        Research on human development can be cross-sectional, which demonstrates age differences, or longitudinal, which demonstrates age-related change. To make strong conclusions about development, longitudinal data are necessary.

·        Both nature (biological inheritance) and nurture (environmental experience) extensively influence development. People are not at the mercy of either their genes or their environment when they actively construct optimal experiences.

·        Resilience refers to the capacity of individuals to thrive during difficulties at every stage of development.

2.  Child development

·        Prenatal development progresses through the germinal, embryonic, and fetal periods.

·        Drugs, such as alcohol and nicotine, as well as certain illness, can adversely affect the fetus. These environmental threats are called teratogens.

·        Preterm birth is another potential problem, especially if the infant is very small or grows up in an adverse environment.

·        Th infants’ physical development is dramatic in the first year, and several motor milestones are reached in infancy. Extensive changes in the brain, including denser connections between synapses, take place in infancy and childhood.

·        Children use schemas to actively construct their world, either assimilating new information into existing schemas is adjusting schemas to accommodate that information.

·        Piaget identified four stages of cognitive development: the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage.

·        Socioemotional development in childhood includes consideration of Erickson’s psychological stages also with moral development.

·        Erickson presented a major eight stage psychological view of life span development; the first four stages happen in childhood. In each stage, the individual seeks to resolve a socioemotional conflict.

3.  Adolescence

·        Puberty is a period of rapid of skeletal maturation that occurs mainly in early adolescence. Its onset happens about two years early earlier in girls than boys. Hormonal changes trigger pubertal development.

·        Piaget thought that cognitive development in adolescence is characterized by the appearance of formal operational thought which is the final stage in his theory. This stage involves abstract, logical, idealistic thought.

·        One of the most important aspects of socioemotional development in adolescence is identity.

·        Erickson’s fifth stage of psychological development is identity versus identity confusion.

·        Marcia proposed four statuses of identity based on crisis and commitment.

·        A special concern is the development of ethnic identity. Despite great differences among adolescents, most them develop competently.

4.  Adult development and aging

·        Psychologist refer to the period between adolescence and adulthood as emerging adulthood. This period is characterized by the exploration of identity through work and relationships, instability, and self-focus.

·        Most adults reach their peak psychical performance during their 20s and are healthiest then. Psychical skills begin to decline during the 30s.

·        The cellular-clock, free-radical, and hormonal stress theories are three important biological explanations for aging. In late adulthood the brain has remarkable repair capacity and plasticity.

·        Psychologist have proposed that idealistic thinking of adolescents is replaced by more realistic, pragmatic thinking of young adults.

·        Longitudinal research on intelligence shows that many cognitive skills peak in middle age. Older adults do not do as well on memory and other cognitive tasks and are slower to process information than younger adults. Still older adults may have greater wisdom than younger adults.

·        Erickson’s three stages of socioemotional development in adulthood are intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and integrity versus despair.

·        A special concern, beginning when individuals are in their 50s, is the challenge of understandings life’s meaning.

·        Researchers have found that remaining active increases the likelihood that older adults will be happy and healthy. They also found that older adults reduce their general social affiliations and instead are motivated to spend more time with close friends and family members. Older adults also experience more positive emotion, are happier, and more satisfied with their lives than younger adults.

·        The positive dimensions of aging were largely ignored. Developmentalists now recognize that manly adults can sustain or even improve their functioning as they age.

·        Researchers today widely view adult development as a self-motivated process limited only by the individual’s imagination.

5.  Human development and health and wellness

·        Psychological development can continue throughout life.

·        Psychologist have suggested that coping with life’s difficulties is one way in which adults may be an important motivator in development.

·        Piaget’s concepts of assimilation and and accommodation have been applied to the process of developing through difficult times.

·        An individual may experience meaning in life by applying his or her current understanding of the world. In contrast, the individual may find that some experiences require a revision of understanding.

·        In adulthood people can pursue new goals that represent important life themes.

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1. Social Cognition

Self-fulfilling prophecy means that our expectations of others can have a powerful impact on their behavior

Attribution are our thoughts on why people behave as they do and about who or what is responsible for the outcome of events.

attribution theory is he view that people are motivated to discover the underlying causes of behavior as part of their effort to make sense of the behavior.

Dimensions used to make sense of the causes of human behavior include internal/external, stable/unstable, and controllable/uncontrollable

fundamental attribution error: Observers' overestimation of the importance of internal traits and underestimation of the importance of external situations when they seek explanations of an actor's behavior.

self-serving bias: The tendency to take credit for our successes and to deny responsibility for our failures.

cognitive dissonance: An individual's psychological discomfort (dissonance) caused by two inconsistent thoughts.

self-perception theory: Bem's theory on how behaviors influence attitudes, stating that individuals make inferences about their attitudes by perceiving their behavior.

2. Social Behavior

altruism: Unselfish interest in helping another person.

Neurological factors involved in aggression include serotonin and testosterone.

3. Social Influence

deindividuation : The reduction in personal identity and erosion of the sense of personal responsibility when one is part of a group.

social contagion: Imitative behavior involving the spread of actions, emotions, and ideas.

group polarization effect: The solidification and further strengthening of an individual's position as a consequence of a group discussion or interaction.

groupthink: The impaired group decision making that occurs when making the right decision is less important than maintaining group harmony.

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1.  How we sense and perceive the world.

·        Sensation is the process of receiving stimulus energies from the environment.

·        Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to give it meaning.

·        All sensation begins with sensory receptors, specialized cells that detect and and transmit information about a stimulus to sensory neurons and the brain. Sensory receptors are selective and have different neural pathways.

·        Absolute thresholds refers to the minimum amount energy that people can detect. The difference threshold is the smallest difference in stimulation required to discriminate one stimulus from another 50% of the time.

·        Signal detection theory focuses on decision making about stimuli in the presence of uncertainty. In this theory detection of sensory stimuli depends on many factors other than the physical properties of the stimuli.

·        Differences in these other factors lead different people to make different decisions about identical stimuli.

·        Perception is influenced by attention, beliefs, and expectations.

·        Sensory adaption is change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation.

·        The ways that our senses start to ignore a particular stimulus once it is around long enough.

2.  The visual system

·        Light is the stimulus that is sensed by the visual system.

·        Light can be described in the terms of wavelengths

·        3 characteristics of light waves determine our experience: wavelength, amplitude, and purity.

·        In sensation light passes through the cornea and lens to the retina.

·        The light sensitive surface in the back of the eye that houses light receptors called rods and cones.

·        The forvea of the retina contains only cones and sharpens detail in an image.

·        The optic nerve transmits neural impulses to the brain. There it diverges at the optic chiasm, so that what we see in the left visual field is registered in the right side of the brain and vice versa.

·        In the optical lobes of the cerebral cortex the information is integrated.

·        The triochromatic theory of color theory of color perception holds that three types of color receptors in the retina allow us to perceive three colors (green, red, and blue)

·        The opponent-process states that cells in the visual system respond red-green and blue-yellow colors.

·        The eye and the brain use both methods to code colors.

·        Shape perception is the ability to distinguish objects from their background.

·        Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects 3 dimensionally and depends on binocular cues and monocular.

·        Motion perception by humans depends on specialized neurons, feedback from the body, and the environmental cues.

·        Perceptual constancy is the recognition that objects are stable despite changes in the way we see them.

3.  The auditory system

·        Sounds or sound waves are vibrations in the air that are processed by the auditory system. These waves vary in important ways that influence what we hear.

·        Pitch is the perceptual interpretation of wavelength frequency.

·        Amplitude of wavelengths, measured in decibels is perceived as loudness.

·        Complex sounds involve a blending of frequencies.

·        Timbre is the tone saturation or perceptual quality of a sound.

·        The outer ear consist of the pinna and external auditory canal and acts to funnel sound to the middle ear.

·        The movement of hair cells between the basilar membrane the tectorial membrane generates nerve impulses.

·        Place theory states that each frequency produces vibrations at a particular spot on the basilar membrane. Place theory sufficiently explains high frequency sounds but not low frequency sounds.

·        Frequency theory holds that perception of a sounds frequency depends on how often the auditory nerve fires.

·        The volley principle states that a cluster of neurons can fire impulses in rapid succession, producing a volley of impulses.

·        Information about sound moves from the hair cells to the auditory nerve, which carries information to the brains auditory nerve.

·        The cortical destination of most fibers is the temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex.

·        Localizing sound involves both the timing of the sound and intensity of sound arriving at each ear.

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Chapter 3: Biological Foundations of Behavior

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Chapter 3: Biological Foundations of Behavior

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The Nervous System

The nervous system is the body electrochemical communication circuitry. The brains special ability to adapt an change is called plasticity. 4 important characteristics of the brain and nervous system are:

1. Intergration

2. Adaptability

3. Electrochemical Transmission

4. Complexity

Decision making in the nervous system occurs in specialized pathways of nerve cells.
Nervous system is divided into 2 main parts: Central and Peripheral.

Central: consists of the brain and spinal cord.

Peripheral: Somatic and autonomic.The autonomic nervous system consists of 2 main divisions: synthetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system drives out body response to threatening circumstances, while parasympathetic nervous system is involved in manning the body; digesting food, and healing wounds.

Neurons are cells that specialize in processing information. They make up the communication network of the nervous system.

The 3 main parts of a neuron are:

1. Cell body.

2. Dendrite.

3. Axon.

Myelin sheath encases and insulates most axons and speeds up the transmission of neural impulses.

The main techniques used to study the brain are:

1. Brain Lesioning

2. Electrical Recording

3. Brain Imaging.

These methods have revealed a great deal about the 3 major divisions of the brain: the hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain.

The cerebral cortex makes up most of the outer layer of the brain, and it is here that higher functions such as thinking and planing take place.

The brain has 2 hemispheres: left, that involves specific language functions are Brocas area (speech) and Wernickes area (language comprehension). The corpus callous is a large bundle of fibers that connects the 2 hemispheres.

Research shows that the left brain is more dominant in processing verbal information, and the right brain is processing non-verbal information (spatial perception, visual recognition, and emotion).

3 ways in which a damaged brain might repair itself are:

1. Collateral sprouting.

2. Substitution of function.

3. Neurogensis.

2 Important concepts in the study of genetics are: the genotype and phenotype.
Genotype is an individuals actual genetic material. Phenotype is the observable characteristics of the person.

Both genes and environment play a role in determining phenotype of an individual.

Stress is the body's response to changes in the environment. The body's stress response is largely a function of sympathetic nervous system activation that prepares us for action in the face of a threat. The stress response involves slowing down maintenance process such as, immune function and digestion, in favor of rapid action.

Acute stress is an adaptive response, but chronic stress can have negative consequences for our health. Although stress may be inevitable, our reaction to a stressful event is largely a function of how we think about it.