History, Approaches, Research Methods
Early theories: Introspection – Wilhelm Wundt – first lab – structuralism (combine subjective
emotions/objective sensations)
Function of structures – William James – America – functionalism
Gestalt psychology – whole picture – especially with perception (Max Wertheimer)
Psychoanalysis – Freud – unconscious, repression, defense mechanisms
Behaviorism – John B. Watson (founder), then B. F. Skinner
Psychological perspectives
Humanistic – Maslow, Rogers – free will, choosing what’s best for oneself
Psychoanalytic – Freud first
Biopsychology (or neuroscience) – brain and body keys to understanding behavior
Evolutionary (or Darwinian, or sociobiological) – natural selection
Behavioral – all is learned through conditioning principles
Cognitive – how the person thinks is the key
Sociocultural – looks at environment as key
Research
Hypothesis – expresses a possible relationship between variables
Dependent vs. independent variable
Operational definitions
Random sample
Random assignment to experimental & control groups
Population
Stratified sample – match sample to ethnic or other groups
Experimental method (laboratory vs. field research)
Establishes cause and effect relationship
Confounding variables
Experimenter bias
Eliminate with double-blind
Hawthorne effect
Placebos
Correlational method
Relationship between variables (-1.00 to +1.00)
Correlation does not mean causation
Can use surveys (must guard against sampling biases)
Naturalistic observation – unobtrusive, realistic
Observer bias, error
Case study – full and detailed, but only one subject or small group of subjects
Ex. Ramachandran’s research in Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Difficult to generalize
Statistics
Descriptive statistics
Measures of central tendency – mean, median mode
Extreme scores – outliers – skewed distributions
Extreme high scores – positively skewed
Measures of variability
Range – distance between highest & lowest
Variance = standard deviation squared
Standard deviation – you know you love this 
Z-scores
Normal curve – 68-95-99.7
Percentiles
Correlation coefficient (scatterplot)
Inferential statistics
Can the data be applied to a larger population?
Are there sampling errors?
Calculate the p value (probability that the results occurred by chance)
P<.05, considered statistically significant
Ethical guidelines
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Animal research
Have clear scientific purpose
Care for and house animals in humane way.
Acquire animals legally.
Minimize suffering.
Human research
Informed consent
No coercion
Confidentiality/anonymity
Minimum risk to subject (no way Milgram’s research would be approved)
Debriefing of subjects
Neuroscience
Neuroanatomy
Neurons –
flow = in dendrite, cell body (soma), out axon through terminal buttons (or synaptic
knobs)
myelin sheath – speeds transmission (problem in multiple sclerosis)
Neurotransmitters – during firing, are in synapse, bind to dendrite to create action
potential
Action potential
Resting potential – neg. charge inside neuron (-70 mV)
All-or-none principle
Refractory period
Neurotransmitters
Excitatory/inhibitory
Acetylcholine (ACh)
Dopamine
GABA
Afferent neurons (sensory)
Efferent neurons (motor)
Interneurons (CNS)
CNS – brain & spinal cord
Peripheral nervous system – autonomic & somatic
autonomic – parasympathetic & sympathetic
Brain
How to study – lesions (Phineas Gage), lobotomy
EEG - activity
CAT or CT scan - structure
MRI - structure
PET – activity
fMRI – structure & activity
Hindbrain
medulla – life
pons – dreams
cerebellum – little brain – synthesizing movement
Midbrain
integrates sensation & movement
reticular formation (or reticular activating system)
Forebrain Thalamus – sensory switchboard
Hypothalamus – regulator, director of pituitary, metabolism, endocrine system
Amygdala – emotional core
Hippocampus – encoding memory
sometimes this group of structures referred to as limbic system
Cerebral cortex
Contralateral control (right brain controls left motor)
Hemispheric specialization or lateralization
split-brain study
Association areas (not involved in sensation or motor function)
Frontal lobe
abstract thought, control of emotion
left – Broca’s area (broken speech)
motor cortex at back
Parietal lobe
sensory cortex at front
angular gyrus – metaphor comprehension
Occipital lobe
visual interpretation
Temporal lobe
auditory interpretation
Wernicke’s area
Placticity
Endocrine system – pituitary, adrenal, ovaries, testes, pancreas (insulin), thyroid
Genetics – cells – 46 chromosomes, 23 pairs – made up of DNA
monozygotic twins – one fertilized egg
Bouchard studied over 100 monozygotic twins separated at birth
Abnormalities
Turner’s syndrome – one X – webbed neck, underdeveloped sexual characteristics
Klinefelter’s syndrome – XXY – minimal sexual dev’t, introversion
Down syndrome – extra chromosome on 21st pair – mental retardation
Development Theory
Nature vs. nurture key debate
How to study: cross-sectional, longitudinal
Infant development
Teratogens – radiation (neurons migrate too far)
alcohol (stop short) – fetal alcohol syndrome
Reflexes – rooting, sucking, grasping, Moro (startle), Babinski (foot – spread toes)
turn toward mother’s voice
vision clearest at approx 12” when born
Motor development (maturation)
myelination of neurons key
Proximodistal development (center outward); cephalocaudal (brain down)
Attachment theory
Harlow – touch
Ainsworth – strange situation paradigm
secure attachment (66%) – explore when parent there, upset when parent leaves
avoidant attachment (21%) – resist parents, explore, don’t return
anxious/ambivalent (12%) – stress when left, not comforted on return
Parenting style
Authoritarian
Authoritative
Permissive
Stage theory
Freud (oral, anal, phallic – Oedipus/Electra complex, latency, genital)
Erikson (neo-Freudian) – psychosocial stages
trust vs. mistrust (babies)
autonomy vs. shame & doubt (toddlers)
initiative vs. guilt (3-5)
industry vs. inferiority (elem school – may develop inferiority complex)
identity vs. role confusion (adolescence)
intimacy vs. isolation (early adult)
generativity vs. stagnation (middle adult)
integrity vs. despair (older adult)
Piaget (cognitive devt – worked for Alfred Binet)
schemas – assimilation – accommodation
sensorimotor (0-2 years)
object permanence (8 mo.)
preoperational (2-7)
concrete operational (8-12)
conservation signals onset
volume, area, number
formal operations
abstract reasoning, testing hypotheses
Information-processing model – alternate view to Piaget
changes reflect different way of processing info
Moral development – Kohlberg
Preconventional
Conventional
Postconventional
universal ethical principles
Carol Gilligan’s criticism – women think relationally, situationally
Gender differences
Biopsychological theory
ex. women have larger corpus callosum
Psychodynamic theory (Freud)
Social-cognitive theory
Social influences
Gender-schema theory
Sensation & Perception
Sensation – transduction of mechanical energy into neural energy (bottom-up)
Vision
Transduction in the retina
cornea – pupil (iris controls opening) – lens – retina (rods & cones) –
bipolar cells – ganglion cells – optic nerve
fovea – point of central focus (highest concentration of cones)
Blind spot
Lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) – region in thalamus for vision
Hubel & Wiesel – feature detectors
Theories of color vision
Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory – blue, red, green detectors
Opponent-process theory – afterimages (red/green, yellow/blue,
black/white)
Hearing
Amplitude (height – loudness), frequency (pitch)
Pinna – auditory canal – eardrum (tympanic membrane) – ossicles – oval window
– cochlea (transduction)
Cochlea – hairs connect to organ of Corti – then to auditory nerve
Place theory – hairs react to certain frequencies in a certain place
Frequency theory – hairs fire at different rates to match frequency
Conduction hearing loss vs. sensorineural hearing loss
Touch
Gate-control theory of pain
Endorphins
Chemical senses: taste, smell
Taste buds on papillae (sweet, salty, sour, bitter)
Receptors in nose – directly to olfactory bulb – limbic system – bypasses thalamus
Vestibular (balance – semicircular canals) & kinesthetic (body position, orientation)
Perception – analysis and interpretation of sensation (top-down)
Absolute threshold – minimal stimulus for detection 50% of the time
subliminal – below absolute
Difference threshold (JND)
Weber’s law – difference vary in proportion to intensity of stimulus
Theories of perception
Signal detection theory (depends on state of perceiver)
Perceptual set (approach to perceptual task – influenced by schemata)
Rules of visual perception
Figure-ground
Gestalt rules
proximity
continuity
similarity
closure
Constancies
size
shape
brightness
Depth perception
visual cliff – crawlers have perception of depth
Binocular cues (both eyes)
binocular (or retinal) disparity
convergence
Monocular cues (can perceive as well with one eye as with two)
Linear perspective
Relative size
Interposition
Texture gradient
Shadowing
Illusions
Muller-Lyer (lines with arrows) – culture affects perception
phi phenomenon (blinking lights appear to travel)
stroboscopic movement (flip books, cartoons)
States of Consciousness
Dualism (thought & matter) vs. monism (all same substance)
Levels of consciousness
Subtle effects – mere-exposure effect, priming, blind sight
Sleep cycle – based on circadian rhythm (25 hr)
Sleep onset – before begins – alpha waves
Stage 1 – hypnagogic sensations, theta waves
Stage 2 – sleep spindles, K-complexes
Stage 3 – some delta waves
Stage 4 – delta sleep (night terrors)
then stage 3, 2, then REM sleep (paradoxical sleep)
body paralyzed, mind active
Disorders
insomnia
sleep apnea
narcolepsy
somnambulism (sleep walking) – stage 4
Dreams
Psychoanalytic theory: manifest content – story line
latent content – underlying meaning
activation-synthesis theory (pons generates signals)
information-processing theory (work through experience)
housekeeping hypothesis (clear unneeded neural connections)
Hypnosis
Dissociation – split in consciousness (Hilgard – hidden observer)
ice water – asked if any part felt cold, raise finger
Role theory (social influence) – suggestibility
posthypnotic suggestion
posthypnotic amnesia
Drugs
Must pass blood-brain barrier (protection against chemical intrusion)
Agonists/antagonists
Tolerance/withdrawal
Stimulants
caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine
Depressants
alcohol, barbiturates, anxiolytics (Valium)
alcohol depresses inhibitions
Hallucinogens
marijuana, LSD, mercaline, mushrooms
- often remain in system for years (reverse tolerance – less for effect)
Opiates
morphine, heroin (agonists for endorphins)
Language
Elements of language
Phonemes
Morphemes
Acquisition of language
Babbling, telegraphic speech, overgeneralization
Chomsky – language acquisition device (nativistic theory of language dev’t)
Skinner – learned through reinforcement
Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis
Thinking
Concepts (schemas) – based on categorization, prototypes
Problem-solving
Algorithm
Heuristic
Availability
Representativeness
Problems in thinking (bias)
Belief bias
Overconfidence
Belief perseverance
Confirmation bias
Framing
Rigidity (mental set)
Functional fixedness
Creative thinking
Divergent thinking – multiple possible answers
Convergent thinking - synthesis
Memory
Memory (learning has persisted over time)
Information–processing model (three-box) – encoding necessary to begin
Sensory – Short-Term – Long-term
Sensory – Split-second holding
Sperling (flashed grid of 9 letters)
Iconic memory
Echoic memory
visual, acoustic, semantic
Based on selective attention
Short-term – working memory
Temporary, fade in 10-30 sec. – 7 items
Increased by chunking, mnemonic devices, rehearsal
Long-term – relatively permanent
Episodic
Semantic
Procedural
Forgetting – relearning happens quickly
Proactive interference
Retroactive interference
Brain – hippocampus important
Anterograde amnesia – hippocampal damage
Retrograde amnesia
Long-term potentiation – strengthened connections
Reconstructive memory – Loftus
Misinformation effect
Unreliability of eyewitness reports
Language
Elements of language
Phonemes
Morphemes
Acquisition of language
Babbling, telegraphic speech, overgeneralization
Chomsky – language acquisition device (nativistic theory of language dev’t)
Skinner – learned through reinforcement
Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis
Thinking
Concepts (schemas) – based on categorization, prototypes
Problem-solving
Algorithm
Heuristic
Availability
Representativeness
Problems in thinking (bias)
Belief bias
Overconfidence
Belief perseverance
Confirmation bias
Framing
Rigidity (mental set)
Functional fixedness
Creative thinking
Divergent thinking – multiple possible answers
Convergent thinking - synthesis
Memory
Memory (learning has persisted over time)
Information–processing model (three-box) – encoding necessary to begin
Sensory – Short-Term – Long-term
Sensory – Split-second holding
Sperling (flashed grid of 9 letters)
Iconic memory
Echoic memory
visual, acoustic, semantic
Based on selective attention
Short-term – working memory
Temporary, fade in 10-30 sec. – 7 items
Increased by chunking, mnemonic devices, rehearsal
Long-term – relatively permanent
Episodic
Semantic
Procedural
Forgetting – relearning happens quickly
Proactive interference
Retroactive interference
Brain – hippocampus important
Anterograde amnesia – hippocampal damage
Retrograde amnesia
Long-term potentiation – strengthened connections
Reconstructive memory – Loftus
Misinformation effect
Unreliability of eyewitness reports
Learning Theory
Learning – long term change in behavior resulting from experience
Classical conditioning –
Pavlov – associative learning (contiguity model)
US/UCS
UR
CS
CR
acquisition
generalization
discrimination
extinction
spontaneous recovery
delayed conditioning – bell rings, continues to ring, food presented
less effective
trace conditioning – bell rings, break, food
simultaneous conditioning – bell, food together
backward conditioning – food then bell (ineffective)
John B. Watson – human conditioning (Little Albert)
aversive conditioning (pairing of unpleasant stimulus with pleasant stimulus)
Higher-order conditioning – first train bell with food, then add light, eventually light
alone
Learned taste aversions – biological predisposition
Garcia & Koelling – conditioned rats an aversion to saccharin water
rats did not learn aversions as easily to light, etc.
Operant conditioning
Law of effect – Thorndike
if consequences of behavior are pleasant, connection is strengthened
Skinner – expanded research
Skinner box
Reinforcement
positive reinforcer
negative reinforcer
positive punishment
negative punishment (omission training)
escape learning
avoidance learning
shaping
chaining
primary vs. secondary reinforcers
token economy
Premack principle – preferred activity can reinforce non-preferred
Schedules of reinforcement
Continuous
Partial (intermittent) reinforcement
Fixed ratio
Variable ratio
Fixed interval
Variable interval
Instinctive drift – animals tend to drift toward natural behavior
Rescorla – contingency model (must see cause-effect relationship)
adds cognition – must see predictability of result
Observational learning
Bandura – modeling (observation & imitation)
Latent learning
Not effortful – becomes obvious when reward is introduced (Tolman)
Abstract learning
Generalizing learning
Insight learning
Kohler – chimps (naturalistic observation)
Personality
Personality – unique attitudes, behaviors, emotions that characterize a person
Key question: stability vs. change
Type A vs. Type B (A = competitive, aggressive, volatile)
Freudian theory – psychosexual stages
Oral – 0-1 year, pleasure from mouth
Anal – 1-3 years, pleasure from elimination
Phallic – 3-5 years, pleasure from genitals
Oedipal complex – boy wants mom, resents dad
Castration anxiety
Electra complex – girl wants dad, resents mom (not Freud)
Penis envy
Resolved through identification with same sex parent
Latency – 6-puberty, repression of sexual feelings
Genital – puberty on, sexual pleasure through relationships
Fixations – problem in resolving a stage
Oral – overeat, smoke, chew gum
Anal – anal retentive (compulsive, overly organized)
Anal expulsive (messy, disorganized)
Id (pleasure principle)
Ego (reality principle) – mediates between id and superego
Superego – conscience, mores of society
Defense mechanisms
Repression
Denial
Displacement
Projection
Reaction formation
Regression
Rationalization
Sublimation
Criticisms of Freud
Feminists (Karen Horney – womb envy)
Neo-Freudians
Adler – birth order, inferiority complex – drive for superiority
Carl Jung – collective unconscious
Archetypes – shadow
Trait theories
Eysenck – stable-instable, introversion-extraversion scale
Cattell – 16PF
Big 5 – OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism)
Factor analysis – finding clusters of items that differentiate between traits
Other theorists
Allport – cardinal dispositions (traits that clearly identify a person)
Central dispositions/secondary dispositions
Biological theories
Temperaments – characteristic way of dealing with the world
Hippocrates – four humors (body fluids – blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm)
Somatotype theory – Sheldon (endomorphs, ectomorphs, mesomorphs)
Social-cognitive theories
Bandura – reciprocal determinism (traits, environment, behavior)
Self-efficacy – making a difference, getting things done
Rotter – locus of control (internal vs. external)
Humanistic theories
People are innately good
Self-concept
Self-esteem
Unconditional positive regard, empathy, genuineness
Assessment of personality
Projective test – Rorschach, Draw-a-Person, TAT
Self-report inventories – MMPI
Barnum effect – see self in vague, stock descriptions of personality
Astrological sign can fit anyone
Disorders & Treatments
4 facets required to be labeled disordered behavior (DSM-IV-TR):
*
*
*
*
Anxiety disorders:
Phobias
Generalized anxiety disorder
Panic disorder & agoraphobia
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
PTSD
Drug treatments: barbiturates
Benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium)
Somatoform disorders:
Hypochondriasis
Conversion disorder
Somatization disorder
Dissociative disorders
Dissociative identity disorder (DID)
Dissociative fugue
Mood (Affective) Disorders
Major depressive disorder (unipolar depression) – 2 weeks, severe
Dysthymic disorder – 2 years, less severe
SAD
Bipolar disorder – manic phase, depressive phase (cycle between)
Drug treatments:
Tricyclic antidepressants (Elavil)
MAO inhibitors (Nardil)
SSRI’s (Prozac, Zoloft)
Bipolar disorder – lithium
Other treatment – electroconvulsive shock treatment (ECT)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Cognitive view of depression
Learned helplessness (Seligman) – no escape route seen even when available
Attributional styles (optimistic explanatory style)
External/internal (optimistic – external)
Specific/global (optimistic – specific)
Unstable/stable (optimistic – unstable)
Aaron Beck called this a “cognitive triad” – beliefs about self, world, future
Schizophrenia (break with reality - psychotic)
Positive symptoms – patient does weird stuff
Negative symptoms – absence of behavior (flat affect, catatonia)
Paranoid
Delusions
Delusions of grandeur (Lincoln), persecution (aliens after me)
Hallucinations – sensory (auditory most common)
Disorganized
Speech or emotion, often flat affect, word salad
Catatonic
Undifferentiated
Residual
Schizophrenia drug therapy – Thorazine, Haldol (antipsychotics)
Side effect – tardive dyskinesia (tremors)
Causes of schizophrenia? Unknown
Theories: dopamine hypothesis
Genetic abnormality 5th chromosome
Virus
Personality disorders
Antisocial p.d.
Dependent p.d.
Paranoid p.d.
Narcissistic p.d.
Histrionic p.d.
Borderline p.d.
Obsessive-compulsive p.d.
Schizoid – weird
Schizotypal – similar to schizophrenia
Treatment: Rosenhan study – problem with diagnostic labeling
Old treatments: trephining (hole in brain)
1800’s Dorothea Dix, Philippe Pinel (humane treatment)
Deinstitutionalization – 1950’s – because of drug therapies
Types of therapy:
Psychoanalysis – free association, dream analysis, resistance, transference
Humanistic – goal is self-actualization (Maslow)
Rogers – client-centered therapy
Unconditional positive regard, genuineness, empathy
 active listening
Gestalt therapy – Fritz Perls
Behavioral – all behavior is learned
Conditioning/counterconditioning
Systematic desensitization (Wolpe)
Implosion therapy – start with most feared and face it first
Flooding – confront the feared thing with massive onslaught
Aversive conditioning – ex. buzzer for bed wetting
Cognitive therapy
Rational-emotive therapy (Albert Ellis) – faulty thinking corrected
Confrontational
Social Psychology
Attitude formation and change – focus
Mere exposure effect
Attitudes & behavior
Cognitive dissonance – tension when behavior doesn’t match attitude
Festinger & Carlsmith study – One group paid $1 to lie, other $20 for boring task
$20 group had less cognitive dissonance, told truth
$1 group lied – reported & remembered experience as pleasant
Compliance
Foot-in-the-door
Door-in-the-face
Norms of reciprocity
Attribution theory
Fundamental attribution error – overestimate personality (disposition)
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Rosenthal & Jacobsen – Pygmalion in the classroom study
Attributional biases
Collectivist cultures less likely to make fundamental attribution error
False-consensus effect
Self-serving bias
Just-world belief (blame-the-victim results)
Stereotypes, Prejudice & Discrimination
Stereotypes – based on prototypes (origins possibly in categorization)
Prejudice – negative attitude, discrimination – actions based on prejudice
in-group/out-group
in-group bias
Combating – superordinate goals
Aggression
Instrumental aggression (used to achieve goal)
Hostile aggression (no reason)
Frustration-aggression hypothesis
Modeling (Bandura Bobo doll)
Prosocial behavior and altruism
Bystander effect
diffusion of responsibility
pluralistic ignorance – look to others for lead in behavior
Attraction
Similarity
Proximity
Reciprocal liking
Influence on others
Social facilitation
Social impairment (or social inhibition)
Conformity
Asch study
Obedience
Milgram study
Group influence
Norms – perceived rules about how members of group should act
Roles
Zimbardo study
Social loafing
Group polarization – move toward extreme group members
Deindividuation – anonymity
Groupthink (Janis) – harmony, unanimity encouraged
Ex. Challenger disaster, Bay of Pigs invasion