AP Psychology
Review Day
Rene Descartes
• Believed in natural instincts in the physical
world
• However he believed that humans were
different and they have a mind to guide the
body.
Thomas Hobbes
• Believed there is no mind/soul and that only energy
and matter exists and that everything is shaped by
brain machinery.
John Locke
• Empiricism
• The belief that humans are born with a blank
slate and learn only through experience
(nurture over nature)
The father of Modern Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt
• Usually credited with founding psychology as a
science
– First to open psychology lab and to apply the scientific
method to psychology
– Developed and used introspection
• Means to look inward, observe, and measure
conscious experience
• self-observation and reporting of feelings
sensations to explain the mind
one’s
and
and soul
Edward Titchner
• Structuralism
• The idea that contemplation finds answers to
the brain by breaking it into parts and
focusing on what each part does.
William James
• Functionalism
• Focuses on how the mind as a whole fulfills
its purpose through adaptation
We use the DSM
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
– the big book of disorders (the holy
of psychology)
– Published by the American
Association (APA)
– Classifies disorders on the basis
their distinctive features and
book
Psychiatric
of
symptoms
– Includes things such as gender, typical age of onset, and cultural
implications
– Can Change with time - DSM-IV-TR
Classifies and describes the disorders but does NOT NOT NOT discuss
their causes or treatments…WHY??
So How does the DSM work??
• Uses a system of Axes or Dimensions (5 in total) that help
the examiner produce a clear picture of a person’s mental
health
• Axis I and Axis II
– Contains lists of disorders
• Axis III
– Contains general medical conditions and diseases
• Axis IV
– Any social or environmental problems that may impair function
• Axis V
– Global assessment of functioning (GAF)
– A numerical value that indicates overall level of mental health
Wave One - Structuralism
• explained behavior - or experiences by breaking it down into different
parts (Sensations, perceptions, and feelings)
• These parts come together to produce our experiences
Wave Two - Functionalism
• Explained behavior by focusing on the functions or
purposes of behavior
– Asked “what function or purpose does this
behavior serve?”
– “why do we do what we do??
So structuralists were concerned with the structure of
the human mind and functionalists were concerned
with the why’s or functions of behavior and the
human mind
Wave Two: Gestalt Psychology
• Led by Max Wertheimer, these guys focused not on how
we feel, but on how we experience the world.
• The whole of an experience can be more than the sum
of its parts.
This may seem like
one picture, but it can
be perceived as 3
different faces. Can
you find them?
Think for a moment of all the reasons that you love your mom.
If you add all those reasons up, do they equal your love for your mom?
Hopefully not!!!
Wave Three - Psychodynamic
Perspective
• believed that the unconscious mind was the root of
behavior
• Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis
Wave Four - Behaviorism
• Said psychology should be limited to observable
behavior only
– not un-measurable elements of the conscious (such as
feelings, dreams, or perceptions)
Wave Five – Multiple Perspectives
• behavior is best understood by using a combination
of current, modern explanations along with a mix of
other schools of thought
Wave Five: Eclectic
• We are now in wave five….which is about variety.
• Psychologists pick and choose what theories to
use depending on the situation and the client.
Psychology’s Perspectives
The Big Seven
Each perspective tries to explain someone’s
behavior or actions a different way
Note – each one also will treat behavior differently also…
“I Was Born This Way”
Biological or Neuroscience Perspective

Looks to the body (physiology) to explain behavior

Looks at the influence of hormones, genes, the brain, and the
nervous system on the way we think, feel, and act
If you were depressed and
went to a psychologist who
goes by the biological
perspective, what might they
say?
What might effective treatment be if you
followed this perspective??
Biopsychology (Neuroscience)
Perspective
• All of your feelings and behaviors have
an organic root.
• In other words, they come from your
brain, body chemistry,
neurotransmitters, etc…
Let us imagine for a second that your dog died
(sad but it will happen). You become
depressed. You stop eating and sleeping.
What would a psychologist from this school say
is going on and how might they help you?
“It’s a Dog-Eat-Dog World” Evolutionary
Perspective
• Focuses on Darwinism and
natural selection to explain
behavior.
• Behaviors only function is
survival and to pass on genes
– We behave the way we do
because we inherited those
behaviors from our ancestors
and they helped us survive
• Example – fear of snakes
How could this behavior ensure
Homer’s ancestors survival?
“It’s Only the Tip of the Iceberg”
Psychodynamic Perspective
 Our behavior comes from
our unconscious (places and
things we are not aware of).
 Behavior usually results
from an event in our
childhood that caused us
pain so we pushed it deep
down in ourselves.
What might a psychoanalyst say is  Fathered by Sigmund Freud.
the reason someone is a binge
drinker??
What might effective treatment
be if you followed this
perspective??
What is a Freudian Slip???
“We’re Just Rats Caught in a Maze” Behavioral
Perspective – sometimes called Learned Perspective
 Behavior is a response to
What would a behavioral
environmental events and experiences psychologist say is the cause of
 What do I mean by this??
Experience – leads to
my kids love of the Cowboys??
behavior
i.e. our behavior
is learned
 Moreover, a behavioral
psychologist
would say that once a behavior is
learned you can modify it through
consequences (rewards or
punishments)
 What do I mean by this??
If you bit your fingernails when you
were nervous, a behaviorist would
not focus on calming you down, but
rather focus on how to stop you
from biting your nails. How would
they do this??
“I Think, Therefore I Am”
Cognitive
Perspective
• Says behavior is a result of how
we think about, view, and
interpret the events around us
• We would ask …
– “How do I see the world?”
– “Am I illogical in the way I view or
think about the world?”
– “How did I learn to act sad or
happy to events or things?”
Meet girl
Get Rejected by
girl
• What would a Cognitive
Therapists do for therapy?
Did you learn to
be depressed
Or get back in the game
“Looking on the Bright Side” Humanistic
Perspective
• Says behavior is a result of our personal attempt to seek our best or
full potential of goodness and growth
– This is called self-actualization
• Bad behavior or problems come when other people get in our way to
SA or we don’t recognize our weaknesses and improve upon them
• Focuses on positive growth and the bright side of human nature –
sometimes called positive psychology
– “everyone is basically good and can become great!”
Mr. Rogers would
have made a great
Humanistic
Therapist!!!
“No Man Is an Island”
Social-Cultural Perspective
• Focus on how your culture and environment effects and influences
your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
• “How has society, family, and other factors shaped or caused my
behavior?”
RESEARCH
What is going on in this picture?
We cannot say exactly, but we can describe
what we see.
This is called…
Descriptive Research
Research Type #1
 Any type of research that describes the
“who, what, when, where” of a situation
 NOT concerned with causes or how something
works only about describing what is going on
3 Types of Descriptive Research
• The Case Study
• The Survey
• Naturalistic Observation
Descriptive Research Type #1
The Case Study
• Where one person (or situation) is observed and
studied in depth to gather information.
For example, if I wanted to
study personality and abnormal
behavior how would a case
study go about it??
What is the strength and weakness of using a case study to study
a topic like this??
Strength
 Can study a behavior in depth and get
quality info on that case
Weakness
 The results of the case study are usually
not generalizable to the rest of the
population.
 One persons case would not be a valid representation
of the whole population
Descriptive Research Type #2
The Survey
• Uses interviews or questionnaires to gather
information like attitudes and beliefs
Has both pros and cons when used
• The Good
– Allows generalization
– Cheap and anonymous
– Can get a diverse and large
population
Survey Method: The Bad
How accurate would a
survey be about the
frequency of
diarrhea?
• Social Desirability Bias
– Give socially acceptable answers not truth
• Volunteer Bias
– People who volunteer may not be representative
of whole population
• Problems with wording and answer options
Descriptive Research Type #3
Naturalistic Observation
• Observing and recording
behavior in natural environment
– No interacting with subjects at
all – just an observer
– “taking the lab into the field”
What are the benefits and detriments of Naturalistic
Observation?
+ = natural behavior
- = observers may see different things
- = can’t control the environment or outside factors
Correlational Research
• #1 Thing to remember in Correlational Research
Correlation does not equal causation!!!!!
• It is important to understand that CR does NOT
say that one variable causes another but rather
that they are somehow related
For Example… There is a correlation between ice
cream and murder rates. Does that
mean that ice cream causes
murder?
Remember…correlation does not equal
causation!!!!!
Independent Variable
• Factors that are manipulated in an experiment
– The variable that should cause something to happen
Dependent Variable
• The variable that should show the effect of changing
the IV
• the way you can figure this out is …”If…then…”
If = IV then = DV
- “If students study for a quiz before going to sleep,
rather than in the morning, then they will get
higher test scores”
Experimenters try to hold everything else
constant so that the independent variable is
the cause of the observed effects but this
doesn’t always happen because of…
Extraneous or Confounding Variables
 variables that you don’t count on that could
change or influence the DV

you want to check for these to make sure they don’t mess up what
you are looking for with the IV
1. Determine the type of experiment:
Blind vs. Double Blind
- blind
– participants are kept in the dark about purpose or
about hypothesis
- double-blind
– both the participants and researcher are kept in
the dark
- placebo
– an inactive pill that has no known effect (sugar
pill)
2. Gather Data
3. Analyze Results
Analyzing Results
• After you have conducted experiments and produced data, you
must try to make a sense of what you have.
• This is called descriptive statistics
• Mean
Measures of Central Tendency
– The average of scores
– 5+4+6+5= 20
– average score = 5
• Median
– The middle score
– 22, 25, 28, 33, 36
– 28 = median
• Mode
– The most frequently occurring score
– 22, 28, 25, 33, 36, 28
– 28 = mode
• Range
– The difference between the highest and lowest scores
– 22, 28, 25, 33, 36, 28
– 14 = range
THE BRAIN
Brain Structures
The brain can be
broken down into
three areas:
1. Hindbrain
2. Midbrain
3. Forebrain
Hindbrain
• Lowest part of the brain, on top of our spinal cord
• Controls most of our basic biological functions.
• i.e. heartbeat, breathing, ect.
The brain in purple
makes up the
hindbrain.
Medulla Oblongata
Located just above the
spinal cord
Involved in control
of
• blood pressure
• heart rate
• breathing.
If you get hurt
in the MO you
should just pack it in
Pons
Located just above the
medulla
• Relays information
to other parts of
the brain from
the hindbrain
Cerebellum
Located at the bottom rear
of the brain
• Looks like a mini version of
the brain - “little brain”
• Controls balance,
coordination, and fine
muscle movement
Midbrain
Located in the middle of our brain
and is the pathway that connect
the hb and fb
If stimulated
• Most important structure in Midbrain is
the Reticular
Formation
– controls arousal (no not that
type of arousal)
If Destroyed
coma
Wide awake
Forebrain
Largest part of the brain
– The most important part
of the brain for this class
– What makes us human.
Made up of 3 parts
– Thalamus
– Limbic System
– Cerebral Cortex.
Thalamus
• The operator / switchboard
of the brain (relay station)
• Any sensory information that comes
into our bodies (sight, hearing, touch
and taste) goes to the Thalamus first
from the spinal cord
– Every sense except smell
• It then sends them to other parts
of the brain to get processed
The Limbic System
Sometimes called the emotional control
center of our brain
Contains Four Parts
Hypothalamus
Maybe the most important and
powerful structure in the brain
– Only the size of a pea
Controls and regulates vital body
functions
• Body temperature
• Sexual Arousal
• Hunger
• Thirst
Often referred to as
• Endocrine System
the “pleasure
center”
Hippocampus
• Involved in the
processing and
storage of memories.
– Not stored here, but
it helps put them in
the right places
Amygdala
• Handles emotional response
to fear and aggression
• Also involved in handling basic
emotions like anger and jealousy
Pituitary Gland
• “Master Gland”
• Responsible for the production and
distribution of hormones
The Cerebral Cortex
• The most important part of
the brain – “makes us human”
• Made up of densely packed
neurons often called “gray
matter”
• It is big and full of wrinkles
called fissures.
• If I took out your cerebral
cortex and ironed it, it would be
as big as a large pizza (but would
not taste as good)
The Cerebral Cortex is divided into two hemispheres
Lateralization:
•Division of functions
between sides of the brain
•right controls left
and vice versa
•Often one side is better
at certain tasks than
The other side
In general =
Left Hemisphere: language abilities –speaking, reading, writing
logical analysis - math
Right Hemisphere: understanding spatial relationships –
puzzles, reading maps = recognizing faces and interpreting
facial expressions and perceiving and expressing emotion
= likes art and music
The Cerebral Cortex is made up
of four Lobes.
REMEMBER!! We actually have 8 lobes!!
It all begins with the Neuron
An individual nerve cell
Pg. 59
These neurons send information throughout our whole body
Sensory Neurons
(Afferent Neurons)
• Take information from the
senses to the brain.
Activity
Motor Neurons
(Efferent Neurons)
• Take information from brain
to the rest of the body.
Activity
Inter Neurons
• Takes messages from
Sensory Neurons to other
parts of the brain or to
Motor Neurons.
Neuron Structure
Synapse
Synapse
Sensation
Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic (three
color) Theory
•Guessed that we have 3 different types of
photoreceptor cells in our eyes.
•Each with differing sensitivities to different
light wavelengths
• Realized that any color can be created by
combining the light waves of three primary colors
•Most colorblind people simply lack cone receptor cells for one or
more of these primary colors. – Not really blind – just limited in what
colors they can see
Click here to simulate color blindness
Opponent-Process Theory
• The visual system has receptors that
react in opposite ways to three pairs of
colors (red-green, blue-yellow, and
white-black).
– These are antagonist/ opponent colors.
– Light that stimulates one half of the pair
inhibits the other half
– Produces afterimages
Afterimages – colors perceived after
other, complementary colors are
removed
Place Theory
• We hear different
pitches because
different sound waves
trigger activity at
different places along
the cochlea’s basilar
membrane.
Frequency Theory
• We sense pitch by the basilar membrane
vibrating at the same rate as the sound.
• But this theory has trouble explaining high
pitch sounds because our hairs cannot vibrate
at certain speeds.
What about above our
absolute threshold??
Fact or Fiction??
Hearing loss
• Conduction Hearing Loss: caused by damage
to mechanical system of ear.
•Sensorinueral hearing loss: caused by damage
to cochlea’s receptor cells or to auditory nerves.
Cochlea Implant
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting
information we get from our senses
•enables us to recognize meaningful
objects and events.
In transforming
sensations into perceptions,
we create the meaning
Selective Attention
• Any moment we
focus our
awareness on
only a limited
aspect of all that
we experience
• Example–
directions video
Cocktail Party Effect
• Ability to attend
selectively to only
one voice among
many
Perceptual Organization: Gestalt
 Grouping
 the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into
coherent groups
 Grouping Principles





proximity--group nearby figures together
similarity--group figures that are similar
continuity--perceive continuous patterns
closure--fill in gaps
connectedness--spots, lines, and areas are seen
as unit when connected
States of Consciousness
Parallel Processing
• Beneath the surface,
subconscious
information processing
occurs simultaneously
on many parallel tracks
• For example, the ability
to monitor a shape as
well as a color of an
object
Circadian Rhythm
• Another name for our 24 hour biological
clock
– Your “internal clock” that releases melatonin
• Hormone that makes us feel tired – less = alert
• Our body temperature and awareness
changes throughout the day
• It is best to take a test or study during
your circadian peaks
– WHY??
– What happens when you ignore your
biological clock?
How can the circadian rhythm or biological clock help explain jet lag?
The Sleep Fraternity
Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Theta
• Brain waves
– line tracings summarizing activity in the brain
– Picked up by EEG
– They vary in amplitude (height) and frequency
(cycles per second - cps)
• Beta – normal thought process (13-24 cps)
• Alpha – deep relaxation, meditation (8-12
cps)
• Theta – light sleep (4-7 cps)
• Delta – deep sleep (less than 4 cps)
Stage One
• A transition stage between wake and sleep
• It usually lasts between 1 and 7 minutes and
occupies approximately 2-5% of normal night of
sleep
• Breathing and heart rate slow and body
temperature decline
• Brief periods of alpha waves, give way to theta
waves
• Hypnic jerks and hallucinations can take place
– brief muscle contractions and vivid sensory experiences
Stage Two
• This follows stage 1 and respiration rate,
heart rate, muscle tension, and body
temperature continue to decline
• Lasts 10 – 25 mins.
• Mixed EEG activity
• Sleep spindles occur
– Brief bursts of high frequency brain waves
Stage Three and Four
• Stages three and four are Delta sleep or
“slow wave” sleep (SWS) and may last
15-30 minutes each
• It is called slow wave sleep because brain
activity slows down dramatically from the
“theta” rhythms of stage 2 to a much slower
rhythm called “deltas” and the height or
amplitude of the waves increase dramatically
Stage Three and Four cont.
• The deepest stage of sleep and
the most restorative
• In children delta sleep is what
makes children unawakeable or
“dead asleep” during most of
the night
• After stage 4 the cycle
reverses itself
• When the sleeper reaches what
should be stage one they go
into a fifth stage – REM sleep
Stage Five – REM Sleep
• REM – rapid eye movement
• “deep” stage of sleep (hard to wake people from it)
• Very active stage of sleep (that is in the brain)
• breathing, heart rate and brain wave activity
quicken
• 20-25% of nights sleep (can change with age)
• EEG shows beta waves (resemble those of alert
people)
• vivid dreams can occur
• From REM, you go back to Stage 2
Two Parts of a Dream
(according to Freud)
Manifest Content
– the remembered storyline of a dream
– who’s in the dream, what happens
Two Parts of a Dream
Latent Content
–the underlying
meaning of a
dream
Depressants – sedatives
• Calm neural activity and slow
body functions
– Downers – induces relaxation
• Alcohol, inhalants, barbiturates
(tranquilizers)
• Effects – relaxation, less
anxiety
• Negative Effects – impaired
coordination (messes with
cerebellum) judgment and
memory, depression, mood
swings, drowsiness
Stimulants
• Temporarily excite neural activity and
arouse body functions – Uppers
• Amphetamines, caffeine, nicotine,
cocaine, ecstasy, and
methamphetamine (speed)
• Effects – excitation, confidence,
increased alertness
• Neg. Effects – anxiety, restlessness,
irritability, sleeplessness, increased
aggressiveness, feelings of panic,
paranoia (schizophrenia like
symptoms), even death from
overdose, extensive brain damage and
tissue loss
Narcotics (Opiates)
• Pain reducers (analgesics)
• Depress the central nervous
system
• Mimic endorphins
• Codeine, heroin, morphine,
opium
• People take narcotics to
induce feelings of euphoria,
relieve pain, and induce
sleep
• Very addictive and produce
terrible withdrawal
Hallucinogens - psychedelics
• Distort perceptions and evoke
sensory images in the absence of
sensory input
– sights, sounds, and tastes that
aren’t actually there
• LSD, PCP, marijuana, ecstasy
• Effects – changed perceptions,
hallucinations, euphoria,
relaxation, increased awareness
• Neg. Effects – nausea, paranoia,
anxiety, mood swings, impaired
judgment, jumbled thoughts,
impaired memory, sluggishness
How Psychoactive Drugs Work
• Psychoactive drugs work by
affecting neurotransmitter
function
– Drugs can cause more or less of
a neurotransmitter to be released
into synapses
• (agonist)
– Drugs can stimulate or block
receptors
• (antagonist)
– Drugs can block the reuptake of a
neurotransmitter
• (reuptake inhibitor)
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
A brief overview of each
and
things we will look at
Observational Learning
Classical Conditioning
• Do you cringe at the sound of a dentist’s drill??
• Do you salivate when passing your favorite
restaurant??
How did you learn these behaviors?
• It all started with Ivan Pavlov, his dogs, and
classical conditioning
– A type of learning where a
stimulus (something that
we can respond to) gains
the power to cause a
behavior or action
Operant Conditioning
• This is the Reinforcement
and punishment type of
learning
– Learning in which the
frequency of a behavior
depends on the consequence
that follows that behavior
– Touching a hot oven
• learn not to touch same hot oven
because of reinforcement of
behavior
• burning hand
“The Law of Effect”
• “Any behavior that has good consequences will be
repeated and any behavior that has bad
consequences will be avoided”
– Edward Thorndike
Observational Learning
• Learning by observing others
– learning that occurs as a
function of observing, retaining
and replicating behavior
observed in others
The Memory process
• Encoding
• Storage
• Retrieval/Recall
Encoding
• The process of getting information inside of your
head
– processing information into your memory system
– Think of encoding like typing a project on your
computer
Typing info into a computer
Getting a guys name at a party
Storage
• The creation of a permanent record of the encoded
information
– storing or maintaining
– Saving your project on your computer
Pressing Ctrl S and
saving the info.
Trying to remember her
name when you leave the
party.
Retrieval
• The calling back of the stored information or
getting information out of memory so you can
use it
Finding your document
or project and opening
it up.
Seeing her the next day
and calling her the wrong
name (retrieval failure).
• Rehearsing and Over learning
– “practice makes perfect”
• Serial Position Effect
– First and last items are easier encoded so
spend extra time with things in the middle
• Spacing Effect
– Spreading out encoding will allow you to
retain more than cramming information
– Distributed practice vs. massed practice
• Self-Reference Effect (Deep Processing)
– Provide meaning to what you want to encode by
making it relevant to your life and context you
are in
• Visual Imagery
– Link what you want to encode to a mental image,
story, or picture
– Method of Loci (also called memory palace)
• People picture themselves walking through a familiar
place, noting items as they go
• Repeat walk to remember
– Peg Word Method
• Remember a rhyme that associates numbers with
words
Three Box Model of Memory (or three stage model)
• Basically says memory storage is broken down into
three memory systems based on duration or length
of memory retention
Types of Long Term Memories
Declarative Memories
Vs.
Non-Declarative Memories
and
Prospective
Vs.
Retrospective Memory
Declarative Memories
• Also called explicit memories
– The memories that relate to facts and take
effort to recall
• Two types
– Semantic Memory
• Memory of facts and general information
• State capitals or rules of a game
– Episodic Memory
• Memories of specific events – personal memories
• Think of this like episodes of your life, like
remembering your 16th birthday
Non-declarative Memories
• Also called implicit memories
– Unintentional memories
• that we might not even realize we have and do not take
conscious thinking to recall
– Processed all over the brain
• 2 Types
– Procedural Memories
• Memories of skills and how to perform them
• Riding a bike or driving a car
– Classically condition Memories
• Jumping when you hear the toilet flush
Prospective vs. Retrospective Memory
• Prospective Memory
– Remembering to perform actions in the future
– Remembering to take the trash out or walk the
dog, or to call someone
– Those who appear bad at prospective memory are
often characterized as “absent minded”
• Retrospective Memory
– Remembering events from the past or previously
learned information
– Trying to remember what was said in your last
class
Language development
• Babbling stage
– starting at 3-4 months, the infant makes
spontaneous sounds
• One-word stage/ Overextension
of words
– 1-2 years old, uses one word to
communicate big meanings
– “da” – “look over there”
• Two word stage
– at age 2, uses two or more words to
communicate meanings called
telegraphic speech
• Want milk, play cars
– No syntax but I still know what they
want (like a telegraph)
B.F. Skinner --- Nurture
• Skinner thought that we can explain
language development through social
learning theory – which is?
– Association, imitation, and
reinforcement/rewards
Nurture
Chomsky - - - Nature
• Inborn universal grammar
– we are wired to know language and vocabulary
• LAD – language acquisition device
– We have a “learning box” inside our heads that enable us
to learn any human language
Nature
Whorf’s Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis
Culture
Language
Schemas
• Culture dictates language
• If you dont have a word for something
than you cant develop a schema for
that concept
• Different languages lead people to
view and perceive the world
differently because of the vocab and
the syntax
• The Hopi tribe has no past tense in their
language, so Whorf says they rarely think of
the past
Cognition
• thinking, knowing,
remembering, problem
solving, and decision making
• Does the way we think really
matter?
Of Course it does!!!!
Maybe we can become super
Thinkers if we understand
the process of thinking!!!
Motivation
• “the whys of behavior” (our motives)
– A need or desire (impulse) that energizes and moves behavior
towards a goal.
• Some motivations are obvious while others are very
subtle.
• Some we can see and observe and others we have to
infer based on the behavior we can see
Motivation Theories
Instinct Theory
Says behavior is motivated by instincts
Instincts:
•A behavior that is shown throughout a
species and is UNLEARNED.
Drive-Reduction Theory
• We have needs - - leads to a drive to meet them - because we want balance - - so we act to reduce
them
•
• our basic biological needs (food, water, shelter,
etc.) create tension when not met (this tension
is called a drive)
• These drives (tensions) cause us to seek
homeostasis (balance) in our bodies
• So we do activities that will get rid off (reduce)
the tension (drives) in our bodies
• If we skip breakfast, we feel hungry. The need drives us to find food
to get rid of the hunger (thus bringing homeostasis)
Drive -tension
Biological Needs
(as for food, water) create (hunger, thirst)
We crave
homeostasis
Drive-reducing
Behaviors
(eating, drinking)
Arousal Theory
• Says that we are motivated to seek a level of
arousal (excitement)
– this arousal drives our behavior
– we do not seek homeostasis (balance), but strive
for arousal producing activities
– People with a need for high levels of arousal will
be drawn to exciting behaviors, like jumping out
of a plane, while the rest of us are satisfied with
less exciting and less risky activities
• Says all of us have an Optimal Arousal Point
Optimum Arousal
• Yerkes-Dodson Law
– Too much or too little arousal can decrease
performance
– basically states that there is a level of arousal
which helps performance but only to a point
• Think about getting ready for the SATs
– If you are too pumped up, your nervous system
kicks in and it is hard to concentrate
– If you are not aroused at all, you just won’t put
your all in and still will not perform well
Sometimes, behavior is not pushed by
instincts, a drive, or an arousal
Incentive Theory
– Rewards or other stimuli motivate us to act
• We learn to associate some stimuli with
rewards and others with punishment
– most of us are motivated to seek the rewards
– depends on their incentive value or pull
• Extrinsic Motivation
– A desire to perform a behavior
because
of promised rewards or threats of
punishment
• External rewards – “means to an end”
• Intrinsic Motivation
– A desire to perform a behavior
own sake and to be effective
for its
• Internal gratification – “an end in itself”
• More on this later…
Personality Theories
Many people throughout the years
have tried to determine what
makes a person unique and how
the personality develops. Most
theories can be grouped into one
of the following classes.
Psychodynamic Theories
• Says personality is a product of tension and
anxiety within us that drive our thoughts and
behavior
– unconscious thoughts and unresolved inner
conflicts (usually centering on sex and
aggression)
– i.e. think Freud
• Example
– There is something going on inside of us, on some
level, that produces the behavior and actions
people see in us
Trait Theories
• Our personality resides inside our genes
• Each person has certain characteristics (or
traits) that we are born with which
determine our behavior and personality
– Example
– a friendly person is likely to act friendly in a
situation because of the traits in their DNA
• Trait theorists usually believe these traits
usually remain the same throughout our lives
in spite of the environment we may be in
– We cant change our DNA
Social-Cognitive Theories
• Says personality is learned either through
conditioning or through social learning
– think bobo doll (Bandura) and Skinner’s box
• Environment and cognition are important
factors in personality development
• Reciprocal Determinism
Humanistic Theories
• States that personality is a product of
free will and that people play an active
role in determining how they behave
• Individuals have a capacity for personal
growth and have a goal of reaching ones
full potential
– Think self-actualization and Maslow
Psychodynamic Theory
It all started with Freud
• Freud proposed psychology’s first and most
famous theory of personality
• Freud believed an individual’s personality emerged
from an unresolved conflict between…
– unconscious sexual impulses (most often starting in
childhood) and societies rules and expectations
• Freud believed that to resolve these conflicts he
had to understand a persons mind ( or, psyche)
• But what is the mind according to Freud??
The Mind According
to Freud
The Conscious Mind
The thoughts and
feelings we are aware
of at any given time
The Preconscious Mind
Information that is stored and
available at any time
Memories like phone numbers
The Unconscious Mind
Mostly unacceptable
thoughts, wishes, feelings,
and memories
If Freud could get people to
open the door to this region
they could start the healing
process and understand their
personality
Id
• Unconscious energy that
drives us to satisfy basic
survival, sexual and
aggressive drives.
– Present at birth
– Is primitive and not affected
by values, ethics, or morals
• Id operates on the pleasure
principle
– the drive to achieve pleasure
and avoid pain.
– Demands immediate
gratification
Sometimes is illogical,
irrational and can get us
into trouble
Superego
• Part of personality that
represents our internalized moral
standards
– Comparable to our conscience
– learned from society
• Focuses on what we should do, not
what we’d like to do
• Causes people to feel guilty when
they go against society’s rules
Ego
• The boss of the conscious.
• It is the great compromiser
– Makes decisions after
listening to both sides
– Tries to satisfy the Id
without offending the moral
standards of the Superego
• Called the “reality principle”
Delays the demands and needs of the id until
a more appropriate time
Abraham Maslow and Personality
• Said personality comes from the pursuit of meeting
our Hierarchy of Needs
– The pyramid of physiological (food/water) and
psychological (love/esteem) needs
– Ultimately our goal is to obtain our full potential
– self-actualization – the pursuit of realizing one’s
potential that defines personality
• Said most people don’t reach full potential because
they lose focus of the pursuit because they strive
for materialistic, meaningless goals
Maslow developed his ideas by
studying what he termed
“healthy people”
Carl Rogers: The Importance of Self
Humanistic psychologist who agreed with Maslow
• Believed people are basically GOOD and are like seeds
•We are like seeds
Need Water, Sun and
Nutrients to Grow into a
big healthy plant
We need acceptance,genuineness, and
empathy for us to grow.
AGE
Social-Cognitive Perspective
Social Learning Theory
• People gain personality by watching
others (it is learned) and being either
reinforced or punished
– Albert Bandura
– In other words… Monkey See – Monkey Do
Social-Cognitive theorists believed however that it was
more than the environment that impacted personality
• Reciprocal Determinism
– the interaction between a person’s behavior, cognitions
(the way you think about the world) and the
environment to create your personality
• Bandura also focused on the importance of SelfEfficacy
– the belief that you are capable
of performing in a certain
manner to reach your goals
– i.e. = you believe you can do things
Cognition
High SE = confidence in abilities
Low SE = less confidence in abilities
Behavior
Environment
Personal Control
(also called locus of control)
Our sense of controlling our
environment rather than the
environment controlling us
Two Types:
Internal Locus of Control
And
External Locus of Control
Sir Francis Galton and Eugenics
• The father of psychometrics
– The measurement of knowledge and ability by using
defined tests
• Believed that intelligence was based on genetics
• Inspired Eugenics movement
– “well-born” - -Selective breeding
Charles Spearmen’s
• He reasoned that there must be
one type of intelligence that
allows people to do well on mental
tests
• “g” - general intelligence
• Observed that if people did well
on one intelligence test or
specific parts of a test, they
generally did well on others
– “s” – specific abilities
• Eventually developed into what
we now know as your “IQ”
“g”
Howard Gardner’s
Multiple Intelligences
• Disagreed with the concept
of “g”
• Believed intelligence was like
ice cream
– Meaning it comes in many
different flavors or types
– Called multiple intelligences
– Vary from person to person
– People can be high in one type
but low in others or have a
combination of intelligences
– Huge educational influence
Robert Sternberg’s
Triarchic (3 parts)
Theory of Intelligence
• Like Gardner, questioned
“g”
• Said intelligence had 3 parts that come together to
meet daily demands
– (sort of like Thurstone’s idea of “7”)
Analytic Intelligence
• Analyzing, comparing,
evaluating, solving
– Often the intelligence
stressed at school and
on conventional IQ tests
Practical Intelligence
• “Common Sense” type of
intelligence
– Maybe a “street smarts”
intelligence
• The ability to apply what we
know to everyday life
• Applying, using, and doing
Creative Intelligence
• Creating, inventing and
designing
– Intelligence that allows
people to adapt and
produce new ideas and
solutions to problems
Sternberg thought…
We need all three to
be successful in life
Believed we need to modify
IQ tests to measure all 3 parts
Alfred Binet
• Binet developed the 1st test to classify
children’s mental ability
• Used the concept of mental age
– what a person of a particular age should know and be able
to do - MA
• Different than a child’s chronological age – CA
• Assumed that…
– intellectual abilities grew year by year and some kids
would struggle within their age group and be behind other
kids
– was worried that his test would be used to label some
kids “backward” and limit opportunities because of their
intelligence level
Wilhelm Stern and
Computing Intelligence
• Suggested computing intelligence with a
formula instead of mental tasks
• Devised the
IQ – intelligence quotient
– an easy to interpret number used to express a
persons performance on a mental test
• Mental age / chronological age x 100 =
Intelligence quotient
MA/CA x 100 = IQ
David Wechsler’s IQ Test
• Wechsler Intelligence Scales
– the most widely used IQ tests today
• How did the Wechsler Scales differ from SBIS??
• Two important innovations
– Different tests for different age groups
• preschool (WPPSI), school children (WISC), and adults (WAIS)
– Separate scores for verbal and nonverbal abilities
(Subtests)
• Verbal - vocab., math, and similar skills
• Nonverbal - tasks such as assembly of objects and pictorial
recognition
• allowed for examination of weaknesses and strengths of test
taker
Some psychologists devote their lives to studying the
changes people go through throughout their
lifetime
This branch of psychology is called…
Developmental Psychology
– The study of how our behavior and thoughts change
over time
– Think of it this way …
• the study of humans WOMB
to TOMB
Temperament
 The aspects of a persons personality that we are
born with



whether someone is shy, aggressive, easily scared
They remain relatively stable over time.
Tends to lend evidence that nature is very powerful
What is your temperament??
Heritability
• The degree to which genetic factors (heredity) can
explain the differences of a given trait among a
population
• For example
– A heritability estimate of 50% for intelligence
would mean what?
– That genetics explains 50% of the differences
among people in IQ scores
– The remaining 50% of the differences would be
explained by non-genetic factors, such as
environment influences
How do Psychologists Study Development??
• Cross sectional
• uses people of different ages to compare how certain
characteristics may change over the course of life
• Can be hard when the groups have grown up in different times
(math tests – computers vs. calculators)
• Longitudinal
• examines one group of participants over a long period of time
• Costly, takes a long time, and typically lose participants over time
• Biographical or retrospective studies
• Looks at one person at a time through individuals memory
• Good for detail, but memory may not be accurate and the
information may not be generalizable
Cognitive Development
• This field is dominated by Jean Piaget
– He discovered that individuals learn and think
differently throughout our lifetimes.
– Piaget was working on IQ test development when he
noticed that children tended to answer questions wrong
on tests in similar ways.
– He thought to himself, “maybe these kids aren’t stupid,
but instead think differently than adults.”
– Piaget said – “Hey, since they think
differently than adults – we have
to teach them differently “
• So he came out with a theory
of cognitive development
Isn’t he a smart
looking man??
Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory
• Piaget hypothesized that when it came to
thinking children had different SCHEMAS
than adults
• What is a Schema?
– A mental outlook or framework developed as a
child and used to solve problems or to organize
knowledge (our worldview)
– What??
• Think of it this way, our schema is our mental
map of the world based on our life experiences
• We use this mental map to make judgments
about situations we face daily
Piaget’s important concepts
• Assimilation
– interpreting new experiences into one’s existing
schemas.
•Accommodation
• adapting one’s current understandings (schemas) to
incorporate new information.
Lets look at how schemas, assimilation, and
accommodation work through a few examples…
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive
Development
• Sensorimotor
• Preoperational
• Concrete Operational
• Formal Operational
Piaget’s stages are broken down by age and
they go in a specific order
Sensorimotor Stage (0 to 2)
• Babies learn and start to develop
schemas (their worldview)
– They do this by sensing the world through
their senses (most important is taste)
• Babies develop object permanence
– The realization that objects continue to
exist even when you cannot see them
– At first babies do not have this
– This is why babies love peek-a-boo
• When babies finally develop
object permanence, they enter
the next stage
Preoperational Stage (3-7)
• During this stage kids lack
basic logical operations skills
• During this stage children are
egocentric
– They think the world was created
solely for them
– Inability to see the world through
another’s perspective
– Should be gone by age 5
Preoperational Stage Cont.
• Children do NOT yet understand the concepts
of conservation
– That objects remain the same even when their
shapes change
• Usually occurs toward the end of this stage
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11)
• Children begin to look at the world more logically
and can piece together logical statements
– God is love, love is blind, Stevie Wonder is blind thus…
– Stevie Wonder must be god (not really, but you get the
point)
• Children can, use analogies, and perform
mathematical transformations (8+4=12 is the same
as 12-4=8) = known as reversibility
– the mental process of understanding that numbers and
objects can change and then can return to their original
state
• Children can not yet think about abstract concepts
such as parallel lines, god or calculus
– “If A is greater than B and B is greater than C, is A
greater than C?”
Formal Operational Stage
(12 and up)
• We start to use abstract thinking
– Can weigh or think about several objects
at once
– Can understand consequences about
decisions
– Can think hypothetically
– Can think in “shades of grey”
• Also, in this stage we can learn to
think about the way we think
– Called Metacognition
– Piaget said that not all of us reach this
stage
Morality
– Concepts of what is right and what is wrong
Moral dilemmas
– Hypothetical situations in which people must
make a difficult decision
• Kohlberg defined a persons level of moral reasoning based
on how they defended his or her position when faced with
moral dilemmas
– He thought this more important than the actual choice
made
• Kohlberg thought people acquired their morals in stages
– From a self-centered focus to a higher level that
focused on the good of society
Note: Kohlberg “not everyone makes this transition”
Social Psychology
The study of how we think
about, influence and relate to
one another.
Advertisers are well aware of a psychological
concept meant to change our attitudes
called the…
Mere-exposure effect
– States that the more you are exposed to
something the more you will come to like it
– That is why every other commercial is for
some type of great tasting fast food!!!
• And to some small extent why psych is your favorite
class….right???
But it is not just amount of commercials
you see, but who is in them….
I believe spanking kids is wrong, so I will always stop myself
from spanking them. (my behavior matches my attitude)
However, I found myself spanking my child one night for using
my play-station and when I was done I felt sick…why??
When people’s attitudes and their behaviors do not match,
they experience an uncomfortable mental tension called
Cognitive Dissonance
•Theory based on the idea that people are motivated to
have consistent attitudes and behaviors
The dissonance will often motivate people to change
either their attitude or behavior to match the
other and to create balance
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
• The tendency for
people who have
first agreed to a
small request to
comply later with
a larger request.
If you want to borrow $120 from a friend to pay
for prom don’t ask for it all at once…If I you ask
your friend for a dollar, what can happen next?
Door-in-face Phenomenon
• The tendency for
people who say
no to a huge
request, to
comply with a
smaller one.
If I ask my parent for a But they may let me
buy a 72 inch TV .
new car? NO
Attribution Theory
• We credit someone’s behavior either to the
situation (a product of the environment)
– We call that situational attribution
• or….
• We credit someone’s behavior to the person’s
internal factors such as needs or traits
– We call that personal or dispositional
attribution
The most common type of attribution error is
called …
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to underestimate the impact of a
situation and overestimate the impact of
personal disposition
in others behavior.
How do you view your
teacher’s behavior?
You probably attribute it to
their personality rather than
their profession.
Another attribution error we
make is called…
the Actor-Observer Effect
• The tendency to attribute the causes
of one’s own behavior to situational
factors while attributing the causes
of other people’s behavior to internal
factors of dispositions
• The opposite of FAE
Conformity
• Adjusting one’s
behavior or thinking
to coincide with a
group standard.
How did you feel the
first time someone
asked you to smoke,
drink, or skip class?
Asch’s Study
Obedience
• compliance with commands given by an
authority figure
Milgram’s Experiments
Social Loafing
Sometimes people take advantage of being in a group
• The tendency to put
forth less effort
when working as a
member of a group
than when working
alone
• think
of the last time you did a group project – you may have
worked less because if the group did badly it was not a direct
reflection of your skills, but the group as a whole
Deindividuation
• The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint
occurring in group situations
• People lose inhibitions and sense of responsibility
and feel anonymous – mobs, riots, and looting.
• Behave in a way you usually would not
Zimbardo
Prison
Study
Group Polarization
the tendency of people to make
decisions that are more
extreme when they are in a
group as opposed to a decision
alone or independently
Groupthink
• Occurs when the desire
for harmony in a decisionmaking group overrides
common sense.
– Members pressure others
to conform
– Members squash dissent
and focus just on
information that agrees
with the group’s point of
view
How could hazing incidents be an
example of groupthink?
What are the Boundaries between Normal and Abnormal Behavior??
• Unconventional and Unusual
– behavior that is so different that it violates a
norm or cultural standard AND experienced by
only a few
• Disturbing
– behavior that is troublesome to other people
• Maladaptive
– behavior that is destructive or harmful to
oneself or others
• Unpredictable and Irrational
– Does not make sense to the average person
May only need to meet one to
be diagnosed with a disorder
What are the Causes of Psychological Disorders??
It depends on your views of psychology
 Medical Perspective
 disorders are sicknesses and can be diagnosed, treated
and often cured.
 Learning or Behavioral Perspective
 disorders result from the reinforcement of abnormal
behavior
 Psychodynamic Perspective
 disorders result from defenses against internal,
unconscious conflicts
 Humanistic Perspective
 disorders result from a failure to strive towards one’s
potential or being out of touch with one’s feelings
 Sociocultural Perspective
 disorders result from a dysfunctional environment
Anxiety Disorders
• A group of disorders in which
either fear or anxiety is a major
symptom
• fear, phobia and nervous condition,
that come on suddenly and prevent
pursuing normal daily routines
»Includes panic disorder, obsessivecompulsive disorder (ocd), posttraumatic stress disorder, general
anxiety disorder, and phobias
Mood Disorders
A condition where the
emotional mood is distorted
or inappropriate to the
circumstances
»Includes major depression,
dysthymic disorder (mild
depression) and bipolar
disorders
Dissociative Disorders
• A psychological state or condition
in which certain thoughts,
emotions, sensations, or
memories are separated from the
rest of the conscious identity
»Includes Dissociative Identity
Disorder (DID), formerly known
as Multiple Personality Disorder
(MPD), and different types of
amnesia
Schizophrenia
Mental disorder characterized by
impairments in the perception or
expression of reality and by
significant social or occupational
dysfunction
Personality Disorders
• A class of mental disorders that are
characterized by long-lasting rigid patterns of
thought and behavior that disrupt social
functioning
»Includes paranoid personality disorder,
avoidant personality disorder, narcissistic
personality disorder and borderline
personality disorder
Eating Disorders
A person eats in a way which disturbs
their physical health
»Includes anorexia, bulimia, and bingeeating
Main Categories of Drugs
 Anti-anxiety Drugs
 Antidepressants
 Antipsychotics
Antianxiety Drugs
•taken for panic disorder and anxiety
or stress
•Effects - Like alcohol, they depress
nervous system activity
• Includes drugs like Valium, Xanax, and
Librium and other tranquilizers
• Most widely abused drugs.
Antidepressant Drugs
• Lift you up out of depression.
• Often given for depression,
anxiety, phobias, and OCD
Most increase neurotransmitters
in the brain like serotonin
Therapeutic Lag
•Medication must be taken for about a month
before becoming fully effective
•No known reason why
Antipsychotic Drugs
• used to treat psychosis and other
mental and emotional conditions.
•These drugs are beginning to help
schizophrenics
They often block dopamine activity
Psychosurgery
• Surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue
in an effort to change behavior.
•Egas Moniz developed the
lobotomy in the 1930s.
Ice pick like instrument through the
eye sockets cutting the links
between the frontal lobes and
the emotional control centers.