Psychology Unit Notes
Scientific Foundations of Philosophy
Introducing Psychology
Psychology  study of the soul or mind
Functionalism  attempt to study what mind does and what function does it serve (i.e. why do we get
distracted; what function does it serve
Structuralism  studying mind by looking at what it’s made of; problem is research methods
Wilhelm Wundt  father of psych, founded laboratory that was when psychology really became a
science
Edward Titchener  student of Wundt; took Wundt’s ideas back to US which founded structuralism
Introspection  asking a person to observe themselves; very difficult as person can’t actively pay
attention to two things at once
William James  wrote first psych textbook
Perspectives/approaches  ways to study something, different ones apply to different approaches
Psychodynamic approach  Hypnosis, dream analysis; developed by Sigmund Freud; originally
psychoanalytic theory; study of the unconscious; can’t really be proven wrong; isn’t a very scientific
theory
Behavioralist approach  rejection of psychodynamic approach; Ivan Pavlov; learned trigger through
dog salivating at sound knowing food is coming
Classical conditioning  focuses on reflex to something; behaviorism; scientific; creativity/thoughts cant
be trained as easily
Operant conditioning  BF Skinner, behavior-based learning; scientific; people more complex than
rewards and punishments
Cognitive approach  thoughts; flexible theory –allows for differences in people; good for treatment;
thoughts are very hard to study in a person
Biological approach  the mind is what the brain does (what the body does); can’t have thought or
emotion without brain doing something; scientific theory and can be measured (i.e. blood tests/brain
scans); way too simple (i.e. brain doesn’t necessarily know what love etc. is); use medicine to treat (or
surgery)
Humanistic approach  doesn’t focus on what’s wrong; focuses on how people are unique/special;
looks for strengths of people; “bad” behavior taken into context based on person; positive, encouraging
theory and promotes growth; not very scientifical; help by removing stress/barriers
Sociocultural approach  how people are influenced by society; difficult to apply large issues to some
people
Research Methods in Psychology
Surveys  questionaries that gather data from a person’s input; can gather large amounts of data
quickly and easily, and process it easily, allows for anonymity; not always accurate with word affect,
misreading questions, and dishonesty
Case Studies  Deep data about a specific person; provide full picture; different views of a subject; time
consuming process, expensive, often occurs after event (i.e., illness), can’t assume causality, can’t be
easily repeated
Generalizable  something applying to everyone
Naturalistic Observation  observing a person in “nature”, authentic data, don’t change behavior based
on being studied; ethics issue with people not knowing they’re being watched, lack of control since
observer doesn’t know if they’re watching (i.e., observing school on Halloween), can’t describe causality,
only can deserve
Longitudinal  follows group and gathers data for a long time
Cross Section  Compare different groups, gathers data at one point in time
Confounding Variables  other variables that can affect a study that was intended by researcher
Participants  research volunteers
Wording effect  question written in different ways to alter participants answer
Defining Psychological Science – The Experimental Method
Independent variable  causes change in something else
Dependent variable  what you get because of the experiment
Hypothesis  prediction, if/then statement
Experimental control  holding everything in the experiment constant
Placebo effect  think they are affected by independent variable even though it didn’t affect the
participant
Placebo  independent variable that won’t change dependent result
Random sample/selection  each person in large population has equal chance of being chosen
Representative sample  group being studied to “look like” population
Random assignment  each participant has an equal chance of being put in either control or
experimental group
Selecting a Research Method
Participant/Subject Bias  consciously/unconsciously behaving in a way to ensure outcome fits
expectations of experimenters (i.e., Stanford prison experiment)
Single-blind procedure  subjects aren’t aware if they’re in control or experimental group
Experimenter/research bias  since researchers want their studies to work, they want the outcome to
fit their theory, so they mess up the study as they’re only looking for certain things (i.e., Stanford prison
when Zimbardo wasn’t even involved in study)
Double-blind procedure  Researchers and experimenters don’t know if they’re in control or
experimental groups
Hawthorne Effect  when people are observed, they tend to do the best they can at that moment
Hawthorne Study  1927 in Idaho at Western Electric Company and Elton Mayo went in to study how
workers could boost productivity; shorten workday and work weeks; productivity was the same in
shortened days and original working schedule; flaws: no control group, sample size was only five, used
different subjects chosen through study, participant, and researcher bias
Statistical Analysis in Psychology
Quantitative data  numbers of data
Qualitative Data  often open-ended and descriptive
Descriptive Statistics  manage data into charts/data …
Inferential Statistics  generalize how their data applies to larger population
Frequency Distribution Table  how frequency each data comes up
Discrete data  counting by number (i.e., counting people in room)
Nominal scale  data without structure (i.e., tall and short)
Ordinal scale  count and order but not measure (i.e., strongly agree, agree etc.)
Continuous data  data can be measured (i.e., shoe size)
Interval scale  degrees of difference (i.e., people born between 1981 and 1982)
Ratio scale  0 value to highest value of measure (i.e., 0 pounds to 200 pounds)
Dichotomy scale  two categories with organizing data
Trichotomy scale  three categories that organize data
Central tendency  mean, median, and mode
Mean  average of the data set
Mode  most common value in data set
Median  middle value of data set
Variation  range and standard deviation
Range  highest value minus lowest value
Standard deviation  average distance from the mean a point lies *don’t need to calculate on test*
Normal Distribution/Bell Curve  symmetrical with deviations at 68%, 95%, 99.7%
Positive skew  mean is pulled to higher ends of score (tail in positive area)
Negative skew  mean is pulled to lower ends of score (tail in negative area)
Correlation coefficient  how strong the relationship is between the variables (close to +1 or -1)
Positive relationship  positive graph with correlation
Negative relationship  negative graph with correlation
No correlation  no linear line can be drawn due to no relationship between variables
Statistical significance  likelihood data collection is result of experiment actually working and not left
to chance
P-value  closest to zero, more statistical significance
APA (American psychological association)  formed first ethical standards to conduct research in ethical
ways
IR (Institutional Review Board)  protect humans and animals in studies
Principle A of ethics  Beneficence and non-maleficence; do no harm to subjects
Principle B of ethics  Fidelity and responsibility; need to build positive environment for participants
Principle C of ethics  integrity; subjects must believe that study is trustworthy and need to know
thoroughly what experiment is
Principle D of ethics  justice; researchers must be aware of bias so they don’t mess with study/harm
experiment
Principle D of ethics  respect dignity and rights; subjects need to consent and agree to privacy
Ethics of animals  must acquire and care for animals in accordance to federal, state, and local laws
Exception to principle C  researchers can deceive subjects when conducting social psych studies (i.e.,
Milgram study)
Biological Basis of Behavior
Interaction of Heredity and Environment
Charles Darwin  ideas helped form current psych ideas (i.e., theory of evolution), we evolve certain
characteristics to help us survive
Cognitive neuroscience  how brain is linked to mental processes (i.e., thinking/perception)
Heredity  nature
Environment  nurture
Reciprocal determinism  genetics are not Destiney; environment affects person, so person affects
environment
Epigenetics  environmental pressure can change activity of genes; that change can change future
generations; gene turns “on” or “off” after sustained pressure from environment; important for species
Polygenic  many genes; traits caused by mix of genes
Diathesis  disorders have genetic predisposition with environmental trigger
Maturationism  all children follow same pattern (i.e., rolling then crawling then walking) but doing it
at different times due to environment)
Plasticity  brain changes in response to environment, occur quickly, helps with learning/therapy
The Endocrine System
Endocrine system  allows for communication via blood stream, hormones talk to gland, can receive
neurotransmitters too
Adrenal glands  on kidneys; send adrenaline into body
Adrenaline trigger  hypothalamus tells adrenal gland to fire
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis  hypothalamus controls pituitary gland, which helps other glands,
which communicates to body; top-down system
Pituitary gland  regulates all other glands
Pineal gland  produces melatonin (for sleep)
Thyroid gland  regulates body’s metabolism
Adrenal gland  produce adrenaline to help with crisis
Pancreas produces insulin, help get energy from food
Ovary  produce estrogen and progesterone
Testes  produces testosterone
Nervous System  neurotransmitters talk to neuron, can receive hormones too
Homeostasis  wanting to maintain a balance
Adrenaline  fight or flight; short bursts
Oxytocin  empathy, trust, sexual activity etc.
Cortisol  stress hormone
Testosterone  sexual arousal in competition
Estrogen  category of hormones in reproduction; sexual desire
Leptin  turning of hunger
Ghrelin  turning on hunger
Melatonin  sleep process
Overview of the Nervous System
Central nervous system  brain and spinal cord
Brain  weigh 3 pounds, nutrients and oxygen carried by blood vessels, protected by skull, fluid around
brain protects it as shock absorber
Spine  transmits message from brain to body, protected by bones, thick as thumb
Spinal reflex  simple, automatic response to something (i.e., hammer on knee)
Peripheral Nervous System parts  Somatic and Autonomic Nervous System
Peripheral Nervous System  bundle of nerves outside of CNS, carry info to CNS and away from CNS
Somatic Nervous System  sensory nervous; skeletal, voluntary movement; touch, pain, temperature
etc.
Autonomic Nervous System  involuntary and automatic activities
Parasympathetic  calm body down after sympathetic works
Sympathetic  emergency response system (not being hungry after car accident), fight or flight
Neural Firing
Glial cells  most abundant type of cell in body
Schwann cell  glial cell that makes up the myelin sheath
Dendrites  receive chemical information
Soma  cell body
Nucleus  holds data of neuron
Axon  bundles of fiber carrying info away from cell body
Myelin sheath  helps neuron fire travel quicker
Nodes of Ranvier  promotes action potential
Action potential  “energy” when message is sent
Axon terminal  where dendrites are released
Neurotransmitters  chemicals released at end of dendrites to send signals, stored in sacs located in
axon terminal
Synapse  space between axon terminals and other dendrite
Sensory Neurons (afferent)  receive information from sensory receptors and sends message to brain
Motor Neurons (efferent)  send information from brain to body
Mirror Neurons  neurons firing in response to seeing someone else do the same thing
Neural transmission  neurons sending messages to adjacent neurons
Neurons  travel 330 miles per hour, three types
Resting potential  more positive ions on outside of neuron than inside
Permeability  positive and negative ions attempt to come together to meet
Action potential  fires an impulse due to positive ions inside and fires through axons
All or None  once an electrical impulse reaches intensity level, will fire no matter what
Refractory period  cell can’t fire until achieve “intensity”
Reuptake  excess neurotransmitters left in synapse are recollected
Excitatory neurotransmitters  stimulate firing of message
Inhibitory neurotransmitters  slow or stop messages from sensing
Acetylcholine  enables muscle action, learning, and memory, lead to Alzheimer
Dopamine  movement, learning, attention, and emotion (schizophrenia with too much), can lead to
Parkinson’s (undersupply)
Serotonin  hunger, mood arousal, and sleep; undersupply = depression
Endorphins  pain control, pleasure during great bodily stress
Epinephrine  energy, form memory
Norepinephrine  alertness, blood pressure, heart rate, release glucose for fight or flight response
Glutamate  excitatory involved in memory; oversupply = migraines/seizures
GABA  major inhibitor that stops you; undersupply = seizures, tremors, insomnia
Influence of Drugs on Neural Firing
Agonist  drug that affects neuron by doing what a neurotransmitter would do
Antagonist  drug that blocks what a neurotransmitter would do
Reuptake  neurotransmitters travel back into neurotransmitters
Reuptake inhibitor  stop reuptake process from happening, more neurotransmitter stays in synapse
and is then released
Opiates  mimic endorphins (pain killers), euphoria; highly addictive
Dopamine Agonists (L-Dopa)  mimic for dopamine; helps for people with Parkinson’s to stop tremors
Botulinum Toxin (Botox)  blocks acetylcholine (released by muscle contraction), muscles don’t
contract
Alcohol  antagonist for glutamate (excitatory neurotransmitter); acts as depressant for nervous
system
SSRI’s  selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; helps with anxiety and depression
The Brain
3 Major Brain Regions  Hindbrain, Midbrain, Forebrain
Hindbrain  most primitive part of brain; base of brain; basic survival
Midbrain  more sophisticated; located in the middle of the brain
Hindbrain structures  Pons, medulla oblongata, cerebellum, reticular formation
Medulla oblongata  very base of brain; autonomic functions happen here (i.e. respiration, blood
pressure)
Pons  autonomic functions (i.e., sleep cycles, communicate between cerebellum and forebrain,
bladder control)
Cerebellum  back and base of brain; “little brain”; balance; posture; coordination; memories needed
for easy actions (i.e., getting water)
Reticular Formation  attention, arousal, consciousness
Limbic System  emotional brain; work together to process emotions
Thalamus  routes incoming sensory system to higher parts of brain to interpret signals
Hypothalamus/pituitary gland  maintain homeostasis (i.e., temperature and hunger), works with
hypothalamus; controls other glands in body, i.e., fight or flight, social bonding, reward pathway
Amygdala  emotional reactions (i.e., fear or aggression)
Hippocampus  memory formation, learning, emotional regulation
Cerebral cortex/Fore brain  divided into two hemispheres and four lobes
Four lobes of brain  frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital
Frontal lobes  motor control, judgment, planning, thinking
Broca’s area  speech, which words should be used, produce speech
Motor cortex  each side controls opposite muscles on the side of body
Parietal lobe  sensory
Somatosensory cortex  responsible for senses on skin
Association areas  all lobes connect to form memories and process thoughts
Occipital  primary visual cortex, process what you see
Temporal  auditory cortex and association areas
Wernicke’s area  allows for auditory comprehension
Tools for Examining Brain Structure and Function
Henry Moliason (HM) consistent seizures; surgeon removed part of brain; couldn’t form new
memories but did have memories prior to surgery; Wilder Penfield and Brenda Milner studied him at
MIT; determined function of hippocampus was for forming and storing long term memories
TAN (Louis Victor Leborgne)  suffered stroke; few months later could only say tan; right side of body
became prepared; damage to left hemisphere; Paul Broca studied brain
Broca’s aphasia  inability to produce speech; often from stroke
Phineas Gage  pole through head; prefrontal cortex (planning, judgement, emotional regulation);
became more aggressive, couldn’t plan/judge
Solution for epilepsy  split brain procedure
Split brain right visual field  left visual cortex; say what they saw
Split brain left visual field  can’t see anything; could draw image with left hand
Left Hemisphere  language, logic
Right Hemisphere  spatial, facial, recognition
EEG  electroencephalogram; electrodes placed on head; detect electrical activity of neurons; brain
waves determine where brain is active; used for stages of sleep
PET  Positron Emission Tomography; injected with trace amount of radioactive glucose (energizes
neurons); scanner picks up on activity of brain; enable us to map activity
MRI  Magnetic Resonance Imaging; place in MRI machine; low level magnetic field; pulse distorts
magnetic field and atoms in body; produce image slices of brain; very detailed
fMRI  functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging  similar to MRI; measures oxygen and blood flow
(similar to glucose in PET scan)
The Adaptable Brain
Psychoactive drug  chemical substance; used to purposefully alter one’s perception, mood,
consciousness; often addicting
Four psychoactive drug categories  depressants, opioids, stimulants, and hallucinogens
Depressants  reduce neural activities; slow body functions; relief is symptom (i.e., alcohol, sleeping
pills); opioids technically a type; impairs brain judgement
Opioids  depressant effect; pain relief (offer like endorphin); examples are morphine, heroin etc.
Stimulants  drugs that excite neural activity; speed up body functions; caffeine, nicotine, cocaine are
examples
Hallucinogens  psychedelics; evoke hallucinations; examples are LSD and Marijuana
Hallucination  sensation in absence of sensory input
Mesmer  put people in tranced state; made people feel better but only because patients thought it
was helping, not because of science
Hypnosis  calm trance like state with heightened focus; can’t make you act against will; not reliable to
find deeply bound memories
dissociation  split consciousness; don’t know self
tolerance  more you use substance, less you feel effect
Sleep and Dreaming
Sleep cycle  NREM 1, NREM 2, NREM 3, REM
Sleep stages  different psychological/physical changes; every 90-120 minutes
NREM 1 (Non-Rapid eye movement)  very light sleep; nap stage; alpha waves, which are calm but
active
NREM 2  transitional stage, theta waves (deeper into sleep/harder to wake up)
NREM 3  everything very slowed, very hard to wake up, delta wave, emit growth hormone, muscles
building, shorter throughout night; sleep walking; essential for body
REM  external muscles become paralyzed; beta waves emitted (which is when you're alert too); longer
through night; dream stage; memories synthesis; essential for mind
Night terror  sleep panic attack
Nightmare  occur in REM
Restoration theory  bodies wear out through day, so sleep to restore; help brain make networks
Adaptive Theory  sleep protects us; product of what out brain does; brain primed to slow down
energy during day and increase during night; safer from predators in day than night/dark
Cognitive and Information Processing Theories  helps restore/build memories; consolidation occurs
during REM; people deprived of REM sleep struggle cognitively
Sigmond Freud theory on dreams  wrote “The Interpretation of Dreams”; dreams are road to
unconscious; manifest and latent content; not very scientific
Manifest content  what you remember
Latent content  symbolic underlying of dreams
Activation Synthesis Model  REM helps preserve and develop neural connections; REM triggers neural
activity and cortex as memories are synthesized
Insomnia  inability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or both; most common sleep disorder; adults need 7-9
hours of sleep; teens need 8-10 hours of sleep
Causes of Insomnia  Stress; irregular sleep schedule; pain/illness; diet/medications
Treatment of Insomnia  stress management; medications/melatonin; treatment of pain/illness;
changing habits
Sleep Apnea  lack of breathing during sleep; breathing stops repeatedly; can’t go to NREM 3 or REM
Three types of Apnea  obstructive, central, complex
Obstructive Apnea  obstructive in throat
Central Apnea  brain stops breathing
Complex Apnea  both central and obstructive apnea
Treatment for Apnea  CPAP; hooked to machine with proper oxygen airflow
Narcolepsy  sleep attacks throughout day; drowsiness; straight into REM
Cataplexy  muscle paralysis
Treatment of Narcolepsy  medication
Birbiglia  jumped through window while sleeping because dreamed missel flying at him and he had to
escape
Aserinsky  8-year-old who had electrodes on head by father; discovered REM
Awake hormone  cortisol, hypocretin
Oneirology  study of dreams
Sensation and Perception
Principles and Sensation
Gestalt psychology  origin of cognitive psychology; Wertheimer, Köhler, Koffka, Perls; the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts
Oliver Sacks  brilliant professor, but can’t recognize faces
Prosopagnosia  can’t recognize faces
Sensation  bottom up; receive information
Perception  top down; interpret information
Absolute threshold of sensation  minimum stimulation needed to sense 50% of the time
Signal detection theory  predict how or when people detect certain stimuli
Difference threshold  how to tell the difference between sensations
Weber’s law  perceive differences on logarithmic scales
Greater amplitude  brighter color
Rods  detect for peripheral vision/gray scale
Cones  detect bright color/in well-lit conditions
Trichromatic theory  three cones see red green and blue and mix together to see color
Opponent-process theory  cells inhibit each other
Feature detectors  respond to specific shapes/movements/etc.
Homunculus  what we sense (proportionally; mostly hands and mouth)
Short waves  high frequency and pitch
Amplitude (sound)  loudness, in decibels
Directional stereophonic hearing  3D hearing
Cochlea  make auditory movement translated into brain to determine what sound is
Umami  meat taste
Sensory interaction  one sense influences the other
Synesthesia  one sense takes over other senses
Chemical senses  airborne molecules to sense
4 parts of touch  pressure, warmth, cold, pain
Kinesthesis  body sensing own body/movement
Vestibular sense  position and balance (vestibular sacs of fluid in ear)
Perceptual set  psychological set determining how you see your environment (impacted by emotion,
culture, …)
Figure ground perception  how we simplify what were looking at (i.e. face and vase)
Proximity  organize groups (i.e., people)
Depth perception  ability to see 3D even though it hits you in 2D
Binocular cues  require both eyes to see
Retinal disparity  closer object, greater difference between two images (binocular cues)
Monocular cues  for far distances; only need one eye; (needed for relative size/height, linear
perspective, texture gradient, interposition)
Relative size/height  things are behind, not on top
Linear perspective  parallel lines appear to meet as they move into distance
Texture gradient  farther away objects become less detailed
Interposition  when something blocks vision, know its closer
Motion perception  speed of moving object (i.e. shrinking objects leaving)
Constancy  continue to recognize object even though different shapes/colors/etc.
Dual processing  simultaneously processing on conscious and unconscious
Selective attention  focus on what matters at the time
Selective inattention  don’t pay attention to things (even obvious)
Inattentional blindness  can’t see obvious things when paying attention to something else
Change blindness  can’t see change in environment (i.e. don’t know someone has changed shirts
Learning
Cognitive Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Motivation, Emotion, and Personality
Consciousness  awareness of ourselves/environment
Clinical Psychology
Social Psychology