PS102 Intro to Psych
Ch 1 20 TH Century Approaches
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
 The belief that peoples behaviours are based on their unconscious desires and conflicts
 Developed psychoanalysis and aimed to resolve unconscious conflicts
Behaviourism – The Study of Observable Behaviour
 Edward Thorndike – Law of Effect in Learning (Chapter 7) o Proposed research findings from the study of animals could help explain human behaviour o Reward/punishment
 Ivan Pavlov o Found that dogs could learn to associate a bell with an automatic behaviour such as salivating for food. This is called classical conditioning o UCS/UCR
 John B. Watson o Conducted the “Little Albert” experiment demonstrating that children
(people) could be classically conditioning
 B.F. Skinner o Developed operant conditioning to shape behaviour
 Albert Bandura o Described learning by social observation in children and several species of primates o Observational learning
Humanistic Psychology – A New Direction
 Humanistic psychologists stressed that a person has a capacity for personal growth and the freedom to choose his or her destiny and positive qualities
 Carl Rogers o Developed “client centered therapy” which said that people are innately good
 Abraham Maslow o Theory of motivation that consists of a hierarchy of needs
 Humans have the choice to make the decision to behave the way we want
Cognitive Psychology – Revitalization of Study of the Mind
 Ulric Neissser coined the term cognitive psychology has the study of information
 The role of mental processes in how people process information, develop language, solve problems, memory and think
 Cognitive psychologists compared the human mind to a computer

Psychology Today
Shared Values of ALL Psychologists
 Theory driven uses theories to explain behaviour
 Empirical: Based on research
 Multi-level: brain, person, social influences
 Contextual: based on cultural context
Current Trends
Growing Diversity
 More women and members of minority groups
Advances in Technology
 The development of computers and brain imaging techniques o New research in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and social neuroscience o Cognitive neuroscience: thoughts and decision making, remembering, learning o Social neuroscience: what is happening in the brain during social behaviours
New Schools of Thought
 Positive psychology and positive psychotherapy focus on happiness and other positive emotions
January 15, 2019
Chapter 2
Strength of a Correlation
 Number – higher the number the stronger the correlation
 The positive or negative reflects direction not strength
 0-1= positive, -1-0= negative o Correlation coefficients
Reading Correlation Graphs
 Data points
 Scatterplots
 Line of best fit
 Angle of line reflects correlation
Why Correlation Studies>
 Because you can have access to two pieces of information but may not be able to manipulate the variables
Correlation is not Causation
 If you find a relationship between to variables, we do not know the cause

The Experimental Design/Method
 Examines how one variable causes another variable to change
 Hypothesis o A proposed explanation for a situation, usually take the for of “If A happen, then B will result” o A prediction o Cause and effect relationship o Manipulation
Independent and Dependant Variable
 Independent o The one you manipulate o “If A happens….” (Math lessons using computer vs. text book and manipulative)
 Dependent o The one you measure/record o “Then B will result (math performance)
Pro and Con of Experimental Method
 Pro: Can establish cause and effect
 Limitations to overcome o Selection bias
 To overcome – random assignment
Inferential Statistics
 Statistical Significance: The probability that relationships between variables observed in the sample are due to experimental manipulation rather than due to chance o Significant or non-significant
 Used to test the hypothesis
 Try to determine if the results are due to chance or not
 Statistical significance – p-value of <0.06 o A p value tells you the probability that the results of your experiment are not due to chance

Chapter 5 – sensation and perception
Sensation and Perception
 Sensation is the process through which the senses detect visual, auditory and other sensory stimuli and transmit them to the brain
 Perception is the process by which sensory information is actively organized and interpreted by the brain
Processing Sensory Information
 Bottom-up processing: Perception that proceeds by transducing environmental stimuli into neural impulses that come successively into more complex brain regions
 Top down processing: perception processes led by the cognitive processes such as memory or expectations
Sensation Types
 Chart
 Both sensation and perception are critical for our interpretation and interaction with out environment
Sensory Receptor Cells
 Sensory receptor cells- specialized cells that convert a specific form of environmental stimuli into neural impulses
 Sensory transduction – the process of converting a specific form of sensory data into a neural impulse that our brain can read
So what can we sense?
 Thresholds
Absolute Threshold
 The smallest amount of a stimulus that once can detect o Smell – a drop of perfume diffused throughout a six room a six-room apartment o Taste – 5 millilitres of sugar in 9 liters of water
 The minimum amount of sensory stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time
 The detection of nothing to something from nothing
Difference Threshold (JND)
 The smallest increase or decrease in a physical stimulus that is required to produce “just the noticeable Difference” (JND) in sensation that is detectable
50% of the time o When would you perceive a difference in a change of volume in your ear?
 When you notice something from more of something else

Just Noticeable Difference
 Webber Fraction
 Amount of increase needed to make a difference o If you are carrying 2kg, 1 additional gram will not make a difference o If you only carry 20g, 1g will make a difference
 There is a proportion that we will notice
 Different stimuli will have there own Webber Faction
 Proportion between the two stimuli o Original load and the additional load
Signal Detection Theory
**Not in textbook – will be tested
 Detection of sensory stimulus involves noticing a stimulus from background noise and a decision about whether the stimulus is present
 Decision is the probability of stimulus occurrence + potential gain or loss deciding whether the stimulus was present or not
 Noticing if something is there depends on if we detect it and if we can acknowledge it
 When we detect something, we detect stimulus from background
 Once you think there is a stimulus you have to decide if it is there – probability
 Probability if it is there or not
Signal Detection Theory: Real Life Example
 Radiology example – mammogram
Signal Detection Theory Matrix
Yes
No
Present
Hit
Miss
Absent
False alarm
Correct Rejection
Sensory Adaptation
 Process of becoming less sensitive to an unchanging sensory stimulus over time
 Automatic process
 Allows us to shift attention
The Visual Sense: Sight
SEE selected slides
 The brain detects neural impulses
 Light transduction occurs in the retina o Where receptor cells are located – rods and cones o Fovea – small area on the retina that has all the cones

 The retina converts the light waves signals to brain impulses o More rods then cones o Cones are for central vision and colour vision o Rods are good for night vision and peripheral vision
 Optic nerves o This visual information from both right and left fields will cross at optic chiasmi o Optic nerves join and come together
 Bipolar cells are either rods or cones (do not respond to both) o React to signal stimulus and pass on stimulus to gragular cells
 Light hits rode and or cones send a message  bipolar cells  ganglar cells
 optic nerves  cross over at optic chiasma  brain
Seeing in Colour
 Light= electromagnetic radiation o Brightness (amplitude)
 How much light is reflected from the object o Hue: perception of colour (wavelength)
 The mixture of wavelengths of RBG o Saturation (purity of colour (amplitude and wavelength)
Seeing in Colour: Cone Cell
 Three types: blue green red
 Short medium and long wavelengths o Blue short – red (long)
Theories of Colour Vision
 Trichromatic Theory (Young-Helmholtz) o Three types of color receptors in retina o Cones most sensitive to blue, green, red wavelengths o Visual system combines activity from these cells o Colours are perceived by additive mixture of impulses o If all are equally activated – white colour is produced
 What’s wrong with the theory o Red-green colour blind individuals should not be able to perceive yellow (red + green = yellow) o Afterimages
 Stare at red – look away you’ll see green (same for blue and yellow)
 Green flag example in class

Theories of Colour (cont).
 Opponent-Process Theory (Hering 1870) o Colour pairs work to inhibit one another o Three cone types
 Each type responds to different wavelengths
 Red or green
 Blue or yellow
 Black or white
 Exist in pairs either or
 When one is activated the other cannot be activated
 When a certain cone cell gets tired, it activates its other partner
 Explains Afterimages o Stare at a certain colour o Neural processes become fatigued o Have “rebound” effect with receptor responding with its opponent opposite reaction
 Retinal ganglion cells o Project information from the retina to the brain via the optic nerve o Are arranged in opposing cells: red-green, yellow-blue, black-white
 Support for this theory- we cannot see mixes of certain colors o Reddish green or bluish yellow
Current View of Colour Vision
Dual process theory: Combines trichromatic and opponent-process theory
Vision and the Brain

 The optic nerve carries messages from each eye (visual field) to the visual cortex (occipital lobe)
Visual Pathway
 The optic nerve contains the axons of 1 million ganglion cells o That exit the eye via the blind sport o And project to the thalamus
 From the thalamus, neurons project to the visual cortex
 **Optic chiasma is vision fields cross over
 Goes to your optic nerves  thalamus  than visual cortex  occipital lobes
(right and left)
What and Where Pathways
Where – location
What – processing
 Parietal lobs – where
 Occipital lob – what
Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
 Perceptual set: an example of top-down processing where individuals expectations affect their perceptions o Uses experiences and own biases to see the world
 Figure 5-15
 Closer
 Similarity
 Proximity o When items are very close in distance, we see them as a group
 Continuity
 Figure Ground
Perceptual Constancies
 Size Constancy o We perceive objects as the same size regardless of the distance from which it is viewed
 Shape Constancy o We see an object as the same shape no matter from what angle it is viewed
 Brightness Constancy o We see an object as the same colour no matter in full sunlight or in shade
Depth Perception
 Image on the retina is 2D but we leave in a 3D world
 Monocular depth cues o Visual depth cues perceived by one eye alone

 Binocular depth cues o Depth perceived with 2 eyes o Visual depth cues that depend on both eyes working together
Monocular Depth Cues: Example
 Texture gradient: we can see more details of textured surfaces such as the wood grain on a restaurant table that are closer to us
 Interposition: When one object partly blocks your view of another you view the object as farther away
 Linear Perspective: parallel lines seem to converge in the distance
Binocular Depth Cues
 Have 2 eyes for a reason o Gives exquisite depth perception
 Based on binocular disparity o 2 eyes receive different visual images o (hold a finger up in front of your face – look with one eye closed and then the other eye closed)
 And binocular convergence o The eyes converge toward each other as they focus on a target
Our Sense of Hearing: The Auditory System
 Stimulus = sound waves (vibrations of molecules traveling in air) o Amplitude (loudness; height of a wave; decibels (dB) o Wavelength (pitch, frequency of a wave (Hz))
 Frequency increase = pitch increase o Purity (timbre = tone quality)

Sensory Processing in the Ear
 External ear (pinna): collects sound
 Hit tympanic membrane (Ear drum)
 Middle ear: the ossicles (hammer, anvil stirrup)
 Inner ear the cochlea o A fluid-filled, coiled tunnel o Contains the hair cells, the auditory receptors o Lined up on the basilar membrane
What the parts do o Outer ear: o Pinna (part you use for earrings and sunglasses) o Sound enters auditory canal o Causes tympanic membrane (eardrum) to vibrate o Middle ear o Vibration cause malleus, incus, stapes (3 tiny bones) to vibrate
(osiclles) o Amplify more than 30x o Cause oval window to move in and out o Inner ear o Contains cochlea o Houses basilar membrane – which moves as oval window moves o As hair cells (sound receptors) move, neural impulses are created and sent to the brain o Hair cells synapse with auditory nerve
How the Ear Hears: Tonotopic Map o Sounds  Brainstem  thalamus  auditor cortex (in the temporal lobe) o In auditory cortex, sound is received in a tonotopic map o Certain frequencies are always received by specific areas of auditory cortex
Theories of hearing- Explaining Pitch o Frequency theory o Different sound frequencies are converted into different rates of action potentials o High frequency sounds produce a more rapid firing than do low frequency sounds produce a more rapid furing than do low frequency sounds o Place theory o Differences in sound frequency activate different regions of the basilar membrane o The brain equates the place activity occurred on the basilar membrane with a particular

The Current Understanding o Both theories have flaws and both have some merit o Blend of the two is accepted now o The entire membrane vibrates, s predicted by frequency theory o But, the point along the membrane where the wave peaks depends on the frequency the sound stimulus, as suggested by place theory
Sound Location o Binaural hearing (2 ears) helps localize sound o Louder sounds seem closer o Timing of sounds o Sounds arrive at closest ear first o Use differences in arrival time o Intensity/Loudness of sounds o Sound arriving at closest ear will be more intense o Use differences in intensities
Sound Adaptation o The muscles around our ears can contract so less of the sound wave enters the ear o Our ears become less sensitive to continuous noises o Our brains filter out sound that are not important o The cocktail party effect
Hearing Loss o Conduction Deafness o Involves mechanical system of hearing o Eg punctured eardrum loss of function f bones of middle ear o Nerve deafness o Invloves damaged receptors o Exposure to loud sounds can damage hair cells
The Chemical Senses: Smells o Odorants: airborne chemicals that are detected as odours o Olfactory receptors neurons: the receptor cells bind odorant molecules into a neural impulse (transduction) and send that impulse to the brain
Smell/olfaction o Receptors line upper nasal cavity o About 40million receptors o Have receptor sites that resemble neurotransmitter binding sites o Odour molecules “lock” into certain sites
The Chemical Senses: Taste

o Tastes buds – bind the food molecules that dissolve in our saliva  turn this information into a neural impulse  the brain (medulla  thalamus  parietal love  orbitofrontal cortex) o Five taste receptors
1.
Sweet
2.
Sour
3.
Bitter
4.
Salt
5.
Umami (savoury) – the taste of monosodium glutamate (msg)
Chemical Senses – Taste o Chemical receptors = taste buds/papillae (consist of several receptor cells) o SUPERSASTERS
Tactile or Cutaneous Sense o The tactile or somatosensory system is a combination of skin sense o Pressure, touch, temperature, vibration, pain o The tactile senses rely on a variety of receptors located in different parts of the skin
Figure 5-5 o Skin is the largest organ in the body o Contains variety of receptor structures
Steps to Perceiving Touch
Figure 5-6
 (Figure using left index finger)
 Pathway: sensory receptors  the spinal cord  brainstem  cross to opposite side of brain  thalamus  somatosensory (parietal lobe)
 ***On midterm
Two Pathways of Pain
 Fast pathway (myelinated pathway) – sharp, localized pain is felt quicker because it travels along myelinated neurons to the brain o Instant
 Slow pathway (unmyelinated pathway) dull and nagging pain is slower to be felt because it ravels along unmyelinated pathways o Slight delay (by a few seconds)

Theory of Pain
Event or injury
Factors that open the gate
(e.g chronic stress)
Gate in spinal cord
Factors that close the gate
(rubbing elbow, high levels of arousal
Pain experienced depending on how far the gate is open or closed
 The touch fibbers/ nerve endings are competing with the pain receptors
Other Senses
 Kinaesthetic sense – knowing the position of various parts if the body o Based on information from tendons, muscles and joints
 Vestibular sense – detects movement and provides information about the body’s orientation in space and sense of balance o Based on receptors in semicircular canals of inner ear
Ch. 8 – Memory
What is Memory?
 The ability to store and retrieve information over time
1.
Encoding
 Converting information into a form usable in memory
2.
Storage
 Retaining information in memory
3.
Retrieval
 Bringing stored information to mind
Encoding
 Transformation of information from one form/code to another (neural code)
 Code can be sound pattern, letter sequence, image and tactile cue
 Paying attention to incoming information (critical for the process)

Storage
 Retention of encoded information over time
 Has to be a memory trace
 Can last from fractions of a second (sensory memory)  30 seconds (shortterm and working memory)  indefinitely (long term memory)
Retrieval
 Recovery of stored information when it is needed o Recall o Recognition
 Two common causes for retrieval failure o Interference o Stress
How Memory works: Two Theories
 Information Processing theory o Information is storied and retrieved piece by piece o Information moves along three memory stores during encoding, storage and retrieval o Figure 8-1 o Memory is similar to a computer
Parallel Disturbed Theory
 Memories are stored as part if a large integrated web of information
 Each web of memories is similar to how neurons form networks in out brain
Sensory Memory
 Holds large amounts of incoming information for a very short period of time o Iconic stores – visual information
 Lasts fractions of a second o Echoic stores – auditory information
 Lasts about 2 seconds

Types of Memory in Storage
Working memory
 Adaption of short-term memory o Active manipulates information o Allows for multiple simultaneous processes (e.g., problem planning and solving)
Working Memory
 How is information represented?
 Mental representations/ memory codes

o Various forms
 Images (visual), sounds (phonological), meaning (semantic), physical action (motor) o Form of memory code does not correspond to form of orginal stimulus o Lasts 30 seconds o Errors are often phonetic
 Confuse words or letters that sound alike
 E.g., V or B; man or mad
Working Memory
 Capacity and Duration
 Magical number 7+- 2 (miller 1959)
 Five to 9 meaningful items
 Everyone has different memory working capacity
Digit Span Task
 Say numbers (6-1-5-8) slowly in one second intervals and have the person repeat back followed by repeating the sequence backwards (8-5-1-6)
Human Memory Chapter 8
Pages 317-319 - Manufactured memories and effect of imagination
322-327 – not responsible - Memories of old and young, disorders, eyewitness
Working Memory
 Increasing working memory o Chunking
 Cognitive mental processing o Combining individual items into larger units of meaning
 Chunking us the most effective when ‘chunk is meaningful’
Working Memory
 Extending duration o Maintenance rehearsal
 Simple repetition o Elaborative rehearsal
 Focus on meaning
 More effective
Long term memory
 Location of permanent memories

Long term memory: Explicit
 Explicit/Declarative o Can be verbalized o Factual knowledge o Two subcategories
 Episodic
 Personal experiences (‘episodes’ of your life)
 Rich in sensory experience
 Semantic
 General factual knowledge
Long-term Memory: Implicit/Non-declarative
 Reflected in skills and actions
 Some classical conditioned responses
 Procedural memory is the memory for how to carry out some skill
Organization of Long-Term Memory
 Connectionist theories o Parallel Distributed Theory o Linking concepts to other concepts in a very complex networks o Organization of semantic memory
Organization of Long-Term Memory
 Schemas – intercalation expectations o Reflect the most typical features of objects and situations o Organization of episodic memory, and possibly procedural memory o Not 100% but it depends o Help us anticipate what to do

 Not always
 Explain some of the mistakes we make in memories
Long Term Memory and the Brain
 Different structures work together for memory
(Semantic and autobiographical memory)
(Episodic memory)
 Hippocampus – where long term memories are consolidated
 Cerebellum cortex is the covering of your paring o Contains temporal, frontal, occipital and parietal lobes
Semantic Memory and Cerebral Cortex
 When we are looking at concrete pictures we are recruiting occipital lobes o Like animals, appliances, nouns
 If someone showed you pictures of objects that have an action the motor areas of frontal lobes are activated/involved
Episodic Memory and Hippocampus
 Amygdala and hippocampus (consolidation)
 Strengthen consolidation of memories for intensely emotional experiences
Procedural Memory and Basal Ganglia
 Basal ganglia – control of fine movements

Basal ganglia
Getting Information From Short-term memory to long term memory
 Working   short term memory
 Encoding
 Encoding meaningfully
Encoding Meaningfully
Deeper is better
 Potato is word in capitals o (Structural/surface level)
 Horse does it rhyme with course (phonological)
 Table – does it fit in sentence “ the man peeled the ___” o Sematic/meaning

Short-Term to long term memory: Other Strategies
 Use chinking – group bits of information together
 Use the PQRST Method- Preview, Question, Read, Self-recitation, test
 Use schemas- organize new information according to the categories created previous experience and learning
How do we Retrieve Memories
 Cues
 External information associated with stored information and helps bring it to mind
 Cues
Retrieval cues
 Encoding specificity principle o A retrieval cue can serve as an effective reminder it helps re-create the specific way in which information was initially coded
 Conditions (environmental, mood context) at encoding the information must be or equals condition at retrievals o Conditions are the cues listed below
 Cues o External contexts o Inner states
 Recall or recognition
 Retrieval cues help prompt you
External Contexts as Cues
 Context-Dependent Memory o Easier to remember something in the same environment where encoded o Ex if you learn something in one room and are tested in the same room it may help you remember better
Inner States as Cues
 State-Dependant Memory o Ability to retrieve better when internal state at retrieval matches that at encoding
 Mood-congruent recall o Tend to recall information or events congruent with current mood
 Happy mood- more pleasant things than sad mood
 Pg. 312 high arousal and mood congruent recall o Stress or anxiety
 Sleepy/alert

Retrieval: Distinctiveness
 Flashbulb memories o Retrieving emotional memory o Long term memory sometimes links strong emotion to vivid and detailed episodic memories o Belong to episodic memories o Vivid clear recollections o Like a ‘snapshot’ in time’ o Not as accurate as they were presumed to be o Based on perception
 Tip of the tongue o Spreading activation explains that feeling when you can almost remember something, but not quite o Something you know you know but can’t retrieve it
Retrieval
 If you want to be remembered among a lost of presenters where in the line up do you want to be o Beginning, middle, end?
 Near beginning or end
 Serial Position effect o Distinction between short-term and long term memory o U-shaped pattern
Figure 8.6
Refency effect
Primary effect Information transfer to long-term memory
Information still in working memory
Retrieval: Tasks
 Recognition tasks are easier than recall tasks because of priming
 Ex good multiple choice questions have key words
Why do we forget: Decay
 Forgetting is a decrease in the ability to retrieve a previously formed memory
Ebbinguaus
 Decay happens after hour

Forgetting: Why do we forget?
 Encoding failure o Lack of attention? o Lack of deep processing?
 E.g., failure to encode o Details that are important to us
Forgetting: Recent Memories
 Decay o Memory trace becomes eroded o Birth of new neurons in the hippocampus leads to decay of memories in that brain region
 Displacement o Items are pushed out of memory
 Interference
 Figure 8.10 o Retroactive interference o New information interferes with old information
What’s the Biology of Memory?
 Acetylcholine o Consolidation of new memories o Breakdown of acetylcholine in the same synapse leads to memory loss
Alzheimer’s
 Beta amyloid plaques and tangles are possible causes in cell death and tissue loss in the alhiermer brain
Notes About Memory
 Memory is constructive (or reconstructive process o Piece together bits of information in ways that intuitively make sense o Often highly inaccurate o Schemas can distort memories

Ch. 4 (midterm 2) Developmental Psychology
The Big Questions
 Critical and sensitive periods o Critical period = age where experience must occur o Sensitive period= optimal age range
 Nature and nurture o Is it the environment or heredity?
 Ling and skin cancer vs. brain and bone cancer
 Continuity versus discontinuity o Gradual or stages
 Stability vs. change o Do things remain constant
Mapping Change
 Stages o Discontinuous (qualitive changes)
 Continuous o Gradual (quantitive) changes
 No change o Remains constant
Research Designs
 Longitudinal o Test same cohort at different times
Longitudinal Pros and Cons
 Same people (Reduces variability across samples)
 Time-consuming
 People drop out
 Are changes generalizable to all people or just this group?
Research designs
 Cross-sectional o Compare different ages at the same time
 Pros and Cons o Data from many age groups but o Different cohorts grew up in different time periods o Different experiences, cultural change, environment changes
 Eg wireless technology now prevalent
Research Design
 Sequential o Test Several cohorts as they age o Cohort = group born at the same time

 Pros and Cons of both longitudinal and cross sectional
 Very costly
Genotype and Phenotype
 Genotype o The sum total of all the genes that a person inherits
 Phenotype o The way in which the genes are actually expressed, or observed characteristics of the genes
Negative Impacts Prenatal
 Environmental influences o teratogens
 Environmental agents that may cause abnormal fetal development
 Alcohol, aspirin, caffeine, cocaine and heroine, marijuana and nicotine
 Maternal malnutrition
 Maternal stress (Stress hormones)
Thalidomide
 Prescribed medication to treat morning sickness
The Newborn
 Comes equipped to survive and learn
 Hear smells, taste, touch, see (somewhat)
 Communicates
What can the newborn do?
 Can discriminate different speech sounds
 Can acquire classically conditioned responses
 Can do simple observational learning

o Imitate adult facial expressions
The Newborn
 Comes equipped to survive and learn
 Hear, smell, taste, touch, see (somewhat)
 Communication (crying)
What can the Newborn do?
 Discriminate different speech sounds
 Can acquire classically conditioned responses
 Can do simple observational learning o Imitate adult facial expressions
Limitations of Paget’s Theory
 Individual differences in timining
 Effects of social interaction and culture
 Number of abilities are developed in the middle stages; not from one stage to the next
 Understanding abilities of young adults
Brain Development
- Figure 4.6 from the textbook
- Synapses - point where information is transmitted between two neurons. During 
 development, more connections are made between neurons than are needed
- Synaptic Pruning - the loss of unnecessary connections between two neurons, a 
 
 Physical
Development
- Maturation
- Cephalocaudal principle
- Head is large - growth proceeds towards the lower body
- Proximodistal principle 
 - Development proceeds from innermost to outer
- Arms before fingers

Motor Development
- Reflexes 
 - Innate behaviours
- Newborn behaviours will grasp anything placed in their hand
- Most skills follow stage like sequences
- Age of acquiring skill varies
- Sequence does not 
 Cognitive Development 
 - Piaget
- Children are not adults in miniature
- Thinking changes qualitatively
- Natural-born “scientists”
- Actively explore and seek to understand their world 
 Piaget’s
Stage Model
- Brain builds schemas/mental structures to achieve understanding
- Schemas are modified to create equilibrium between environment and understanding
- Equilibration
- Assimilation
- New experiences incorporated into existing schemas - Accomodation
- New experiences cause existing schemas to change
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
- Refer to table 4.5 in the TB
Sensorimotor Stage
- Birth to 2 years
- Understand world through sensory experiences/physical interactions with objects

- Begin to acquire language 
 Object Permanence
- Understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can no longer be seen
- about 8 months
Preoperational Stage
- Ages 2-7
- World represented symbolically through words and mental images
- Symbolic thinking enables pretend play
- Child does not understand conservation
- Thinking displays irreversibility, centration, animism, egocentrism
Concrete Operational Stage
- Ages 7-12
- Easily perform basic mental operations involving tangible problems and situations
- Often have difficulty with problems that acquire abstract reasoning
- Children can reason logically about concrete but not abstract problems 
 Formal Operational Stage
- Develops around 11 or 12
- Can think logically about concrete and abstract problems
- Able to form and test hypotheses
- Teenagers can mentally manipulate representations of abstract as well as concrete 
 Limitations of Piaget’s Theory
- Individual differences in timing
- Effects of social interaction and culture

- Number of abilities are developed in the middle of stage; not from one stage to the next
- Underestimated abilities of young infants
Cultural Variation in Attachment Styles
 Depending on culture depends on how the child attachment is formed
 Cultural values play a part in attachment bonding
Consequences of Attachment
 Secure infants are better socially adjusted
 Insecure infants more behavioural problems
 Infancy = sensitive but not a critical period
 Prolonged attachment deprivation = long ten risks
 Not all in deprived environments at risks o Resilience
What does it mean to be adolescent?
 12-18
 Cognitive and physical changes
 Track grey matter – mark your intelligence
 Cognitive development o Increase in abstract reasoning abilities o More flexible and creative thinking
Adolescent egocentrism
 Oversensitivity to social evaluation (imaginary audience)

o Everyone is going to be staring at me
 Overestimation of uniqueness of feeling experiences o They cant understand how I feel
Adolescence and Social Development
 Identity formation
 Adolescence and early adult years o Identity crisis o Erik Erikson
 Stage 5 onwards
Ch 10 -
Intelligence
Definition
 Ones ability to: o Understand complex idea o Learn and adapt effectively to the environment o Engage in various forms of reasoning o Overcome obstacle’s
Intelligence as a capacity
 Capacity o To learn o For abstract thinking o For judgement o For comprehension
What does intelligence look like?
 Spearman: IQ = g + s (specific abilities)
 Thurstone: IQ = g = 7 mental abilities

 Guilford: IQ = 150 mental abilities
 Cattel: IQ =g = fluid + crystallized
 Gardner: IQ = g + 8 other IQs
 Sternberg: IQ = g + 3 other IQs
Spearman
 General intelligence o The g factor
 Specific abilities o S factor
Thurstone
 7 primary mental abilities o Verbal comprehension o Numerical ability o Spatial relations o Perceptual speed o Word fluency o Memory o Reasoning
Guilford
 Structure of intellect o Multiple 150 abilities o No need for g o Operation content products
Cattell
 G = fluid + crystallized intelligence
 Fluid- Reasoning, memory, spped of information processing
 Crystilized – ability to apply acquired knowledge/skills when problem solving
Gardners Multiple Intelligences
 Frames of mind/different types of intelligence
 9 Different o Logical o Linguistic o Kinesthetic o Spatial o Musical o Interpersonal o Intrapersonal o Naturulist

Sternburgs Trairchic Theory of Intelligence
 Intelligence = three interacting components o Internal – analytical
 Most related to traditional IQ tests o External – creative o Experiential – practical
 Helps us to adapt to our environment
Emotional Intelligence
 Two components of emotional intelligence o Ability to manage ones own emotions o Empathy, or the ability to perceive, understand, and relate to the emotions of others
 Necessary for success in life – in the workplace, in intimate personal relationships and in social interactions
Psychometric Approach
 Measure and asses intelligence
 Mental age o Intellectual age at which a person is functioning
 Intelligence quotient (IQ) o Ratio of mental age to chronological age multiplied by 100
Requirements for Good Tests
 Reliable o Consistency
 Valid o Accuracy of the measurement
 Standardized o Normative distribution o Individual scores are compared with the sample scores
Characteristics of a Good Test
 Reliability – ability of a test to yield nearly the same score each time a person takes the test or an alternative of the test
 Validity – ability of a test to measure what it is intended to measure
 Standardization – establishing norms for comparing the scores of people
Nature vs Nurture
 Intelligence tests sit at the seat of many political debates
 High socio-economic statues
 Some argue hereditaty o The bell curve controversy
 Behavioural genetics – a field of research that investigates the relative environment…………….

Variation Within and Between Groups
 Environment contributes to variation between the groups (same seeds – different environment)
 Average variation between groups cannot be applies to individuals within each group
Genetics and IQ
 Heritability Ratio: An index of the degree to which a trait is due to heredity/genetics o Asks how much genetics are playing a role is observable differences in intelligence between ppl within a population o This is not the same as asking how much genetics influences intelligence
What Happens in the Brain?
 General intelligence is associated with the number of neurons in the frontal lobes
 Cortical thickness
Environment and IQ
 Enviroment alos plays a role in IQ
 Evidence: Impovershid envrioments o The longer a child is impovershied enivriomnet, the lower the IQ
 Enriching Environments o Illnois rural, isolated community once became mainstream IQ enriched by 10 points o Adoption studies some gains if children adopted early
 Flynn Effect: environment effects such as industrialization and enrichment have resulted in an increase in IQ scores o More fluid than crystalized intelligence
Gardeners Multiple Intelligence
 Table in textbook
Midterm
 Bring one card
Linguistic Relativity
 The vocabulary a person uses affects how he or she thinks about a topic
Learning more than 1 Language: Bilingualism
 Smaller vocabularies in one language, combined vocabularies average
 Higher for proficient bilinguals on cognitive flexibility, analytical reasoning, selective attention and working memory

 Develop executive control earlier and juggle tasks more efficiently
Thinking Reasoning and Cognition
 Remembering
 Learning
 Perceiving
 Problem solving
 Deciding
Heuristics
 The availability heuristic o Judging the likelihood of an e vent based on how easy it is to generate an example of it
 The representativeness heuristic o Estimating the probability of an event based on how similar it is to the typical prototype
 Confirmation bias o Seeking out evidence that fits with, rather than, contradicts what we believe
Top-Down Processing
 Filling in the gaps using our experience and background knowledge
 Examples o Perceptions do not equal sensation o Chunking o Concepts and Schemas o The Stroop effect and authenticity of reading
 Colour interfering with printed word example
Understanding Pitfalls in Decision Making
 Confirmation bias and belief preference
 The overconfidence effect
 Framing
Decision Making and the Brain
 Orbitofrontal cortex o Involved in thinking about the relative values of choices
 Amygdala o Involved in thinking about possible problems or loses
 Nucleus accumbens o Involved in thinking about the possible positive outcomes
Decision making style: Maximizers vs Satisficers
Maximizers
 Exhaustlvy seeks the best

 Compare decisions with others
 Expend more time and energy
 Unhappier with out comes
Problem Solving: Accomplishing our Goals
 Organized
 Goal directed o Goal determine where you start
 Soloution o Brainstorm topics o W
Problem Solving
 Hierachical o Subrountines
Problem-Solving Schemas
 Step by step scripts for selecting information o Developed with experience o Experts = great many schemas for problem solving; use long term memory (vs working memory)
Obstacles to Problem Solving
 Mental set o Being ‘boxed in’ by our experiences o Stay with one approach
 Functional fixedness
Mental Set o Being fixated on one conventional use for an object o Blind to new ways to use object
 Insight or aha response when you look at a problem from a wholly different view
Functional Fixedness
 Maier’s two string problem o To tie two hanging strings together
Creative Problem Solving
 Ability to produce something new and valuable
 Involves a conceptual reorganization
 Unexpected insights
Creative Problem Solving Continued
 Incubation

o Creative solutions suddenly pop into the mind after problem solver has given up o Different perspectives emerged o Sets and biases dissolve
 Often times creative problem solving does not just pop up
Ch 11
Motivation versus Emotion
Motivation
Determines stimuli that evoke
Increase salience promote action
Emotion
Motivation
 Influenced by Maslow hierarchy of needs
 Internal state that initiates, directs and sustains behaviour
 Varies in strength and duration
 Motives are needs or desires o Maslows hierarchy of needs
Motivation
 Wheb mituves are unternal they push us to act = Drives
 When the motives are external (or outside of us)= INCENTIVES (ie, they pull or entice us to act
Theoeries of motivation
 Text book table 11-1
Primary and Secondary Drives
 Primary drives (instaict + drive reduction theory) o Hungry o Thirst o Unlearned motives to satisfy biological needs
 Secondary dribes (DR theory) o Need for achievement o Need to affiliation o Develop through learning and experience

Drive-reduction Theory
 Psysiolgical/psychological/emoitiona need
  drive  lower need = homeostasis
Homeostasis
 Autonomous nervous system o Sympathetic o Parasympathetic
 Hypothalamus o Governs controls nervous system
Arousal Theory
 People are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal
 Optimal level is different for all of us
Yerkes-Dodson Law
 Performance on task is best when the arousal level is optimal for that specific task
Incentive Theory
 Intrinsic motivation o Motivated by internal factors (eg satisfaction)
 Entrinsic motivation o Motivated by external factors that are not related to the task
(incentives such as money, grades)
 Incites
 Primary
 Secondary
What Happens in the Brain
**question on final exam
 Dopamine released
 Dopamine pathway: midbrain
  Nucleus acumens
  Prefrontal + frontal cortex o Cingulate cortex ‘
Hunger Drives
 Internal cues motivate hunger by stimulating the hypothalamus in the brain, receptors from stomach intestines and liver
 External cues motivate hunger when we are smell or taste foods that we like also learning

Ch 11
 An intrapersonal state in response to an internal or external event
 Event must be related to important personal goals
Biology of Emotion – Amygdala
 Conditioning and recognizing fear
Biology of Emotion – Cerbrbal Cortex
 Bo
Functions of Emotions
 Cognitive o Emotions help organize and retrieve memories o Guide decision making
 Behavioural o Emotions alter behaviours o Action tendencies – emotions are associated with predictable patterns of behaviour
 Social o Emotions both help and inhibit relationships
Motivation and Emotion

Dopamine reward system

Koroshi
 Death from Overwork
Stress, Coping and Health o 80hrs every time a month o Threshold above which one has an increased chance of dying
What is stress?
 Stressor: a stimulus in environment  stress is an emotional state resulting from perceived threat or danger
Stress a definition:
 The physiological and psychological response to a condition that threatens or challenges the individual and requires some form of adaption or adjustment
Stress
 Major changes in life = stress
 Included good and bad changes o Changes routines, exceptions have to adapt
Three Approaches
1.
Stressors as a stimuli
 Identify types of stressful events
 The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale
2.
Stress as a transaction
 Peoples varied reactions to a same event
 How people interpret and cope with stressful events
 A critical factor: Our evaluation of the event
3.
Stress as a response
 Assess peoples psychological and physiological rezction to stressful curcumstances
 Psychological: depression, hopelessness, hostility
 Physiological: Increase in HR release of sress hormones corticostriods
Major types of Stressors
 Major life events o Good or bad
 Traumatic events o Negative o Uncontrolled
 Chronic stress
 Daily hassles
 Self-generated
Chronic
 No clear start finish

 Becomes pervasive
 Can be environmental
 Size of prefrontal cortex
Daily Hassel
 Recurring everyday stressors (micro stressors)
Self Generated Stressor
 Causes o Inability to accept uncertainty o Pessimistic o Negative self-talk o Unrealistic expectation o Perfectionism o Lack of assertiveness
Psychological Stress
 Appraisal: a key ability to handle stressful situations
 Primary appraisal o Assessing the big a stressor is o Some are universal some are unique
 Secondary o Appraisal of resources ones ability to deal with stressor
Coping With Stress
 Coping: Cognitive and behavioural efforts to manage the demands of the environment
 Anticipatory coping – proceeds a stressful event
Problem-focused coping:
 A response aimed at reducing, modifying or eliminating a source of stress
 Taking the bull by the horns
Emotion focused coping: A response aimed at reducing the emotional impact of the stressor
 Modifying cognitions – rethinking the problem
How do we rethink the problem?
 Reappraisal: Rethinking the consequences of a situation (downward, comparison “at least im better off then they are”)
 Avoidance: Trying to forget about the problem
 Humour: Some positive effects on the immune system
 Accepting the problem and reducing the impact of stress. How? Exercise and relaxation

Recap: Autonomic Nervous System
 Physiological; - automatic
 Psychological – learnt
Psychological Stress Reaction
 Psychological reactions to stress = automatic
 Psychosocial – learned depends on perceptions and interpretations
Responding to Stress
Walter Cannon
 Danger
 Fight or flight n
Gender Difference if Fight or Tend
 Tend and befriend o Ensure safety of the offspring o Social support
Hans Selye and the Stress Response
 Selye was terrible at handling rats and realized that animals he had handled were more likely to develop cancer than those handled by more adept lab assistant
General Adaption Syndrome
 3 Phases o Alarm: arousal, prepare for vigorous activity o Resistance: moderate arousal, endure and resist o Exhaustion: stressor is prolonged, resources depletes
General Adaption Syndrome
 Problem: Causes harm o High continuous stress = Disease
 Contemporary criticism o Stress has psychological components (i.e perceptions and evaluation of the event)
Personality Style and Stress
 Hardy, or stress resistant personality – welcome challenges, take control, view stressors as growth opportunities o Most wanted personality trait
 Type A – Style resulting in continual stress o Personality traits: competitive, impatient, angry, hostile
 Type B – Experience lower levels of stress o Personality traits: more relaxed, less aggressive, less hostile
 Type C- Particularly vulnerable to stress

o Personality traits: positive attitudes but unable to express or acknowledge negative feeling tend to turn the anger inward
Health Stress and Coping
 There are two main approaches to health and illness o The biomedical model, the predominant view in medicine focuses on illness rather than health o The biopsychological model holds that both health and wellness are
Social Support determined by a combination of biological, psychological and social factors
 More social support seems to correlate with less stress o Support may increase self-confidence in dealing with stressors o Presence of others reduces bodily arousal and negative emotions
 BUT, when friends are very close they may to be affected by your problems o Contagion effect or network stress
Health
 Why would psychologists be interested in poor health habits
 If you are sleep deprived you will put on weight
So what cab protect you
 Optimism – expect positive outcomes
 Positive traits
So What Can Protect You?
 Relaxation o Yoga o Meditation o Deep breathing
 Autoactivate body’s relaxation
Stress Management Techniques
Physical
Exercise
Psychological
Imagine a calm environment
Social
Develop friendships
Progressive relaxation
Meditation
Try to be optimistic
Be spiritual
Laugh
Manage time wisely
Talk with friends
Find community

Social Cognition
Social cognitive theory is a learning theory
Festinger - Social comparison theory:
Evaluate our abilities and beliefs by comparing them with those of others. Upward or downward
Social influence I: Conformity
Conformity effect is not strong when group size is less than 4 members
Asians are more likely to conform than north americans
No gender differences found in conformity
Social influence II: Obedience
Psychology of following orders
Moral level ^, compliance v
Authoritarianism ^, compliance ^
No cultural or gender differences
Conformity coming from peers, Obedience coming from authoritative figure
Attribution:
“Why did they do that?”
Two types:
Situational - External - People’s behaviour are caused by aspects of the situation
Dispositional - Internal - People’s behaviour are caused by their personal characteristics
Fundamental Attribution Error:


Underestimate impact of situational (external) factors
Overestimate role of personal (internal) factors
Actor-Observer Bias:
Use situational attribution for ourselves
Use dispositional attribution for others
Ex. Others -> Clumsy, Us -> Floor was wet
Self-Serving Bias:
Use situational attribution for our successes
Use dispositional attribution for our failures
Exception: Depressed people use situational attribution for their failures
Attributional Biases: Culture

Individual Culture o Achievement Oriented o Focus on autonomy o Dispositional perspective o Independent o Analytic thinking style

Collectivistic Culture o Relationship oriented

o Focus on group autonomy o Situational perspective o Interdependent o Holistic thinking style
Attributional Biases: Gender
 Gender differences
 Women think they are less capable
Social Cognition: Attitudes
 Attitudes: Relatively stable and enduring evaluations of things and people
 3 Components of Attitudes o Affective: how we feel toward an object o Behavioural: How we behave toward an object o Cognitive: what we believe about an object
 Links to motivation and emotion
Attitudes
 Overall attitudes are stable
 Can be changed
 ** Figure 13-1
The ABCs of Attitudes
Cognition
(sterotypes) beliefs about traits
Affect
(Prejeduce) negative feelings
Behaviour
(discrimination) harmful behaviour
Stereotypes and Prejudice
 Stereotypes o Generalized impressions/beliefs based on social categories o May be positive or negative
 Prejudice o Negative feelings toward all members of a group

Reverse Discrimination
 Discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group
Cognitive Consistency
 What happens when we hold two contradictory beliefs, or when we hold a belief that contradicts our behaviour o Cognitive dissonance (aka Emotional Discomfort) o Goal is to maintain cognitive consistency o Minimize or eliminate inconsistencies
Cognitive Dissonance
 An uncomfortable state that occurs when our outward behaviour and beliefs do not match
 Can be resolved by: o Changing behaviour/cognition entirely o Justify behaviour/cognition by adding new cognitions o Ignore or deny information that conflicts with existing beliefs
Cognitive Dissonance
 Powerful tool for producing attitude change o Caused by a person’s feeling responsible for helping to bring about a negative event (aka self-generated thought)
 Reinterpret the situation – to achieve consistency
 Leon Festinger’s theory
 Try to reduce dissonance between how we act and how we should act
How do Attitudes Change?
 Self-perception theory o When uncertain, we infer what our attitudes are by observing our own behaviour
Changing Attitudes: Outside Influences
 Persuasive communication o Obvious, open communication o Goal is to change attitudes
 When are persuasive communications effective?
Effective Persuasive Communications
 Source of message
 Content of the message
Effective Persuasive Communications
 Message o Central route to persuasion – reasoned thought

o Peripheral route to persuasion – superficial information (emotions)
Social Relations: Relating to Others
 One on one
 Social exchange o Give and take
 Reciprocity Principle o Repay a favour
Reciprocity and Persuasion
 Foot in the door o Small request, then big one
 Door in the Face o Big request followed by a small one
Reciprocity
 The dark side o Babylonian Hammurabi’s code
 Can we ever be altruistic? o Altruism: self-sacrificing behaviour carrier out for the benefit of others
Failing to Help Others
 Kitty Genovese Case o Stabbed to death others could hear her scream for help o No one called the police o 1964