Chapter 2: Methods in Psychology 2.1 Empiricism: How to know stuff: How do we know anything: spectrum: intuition (just know; you feel it on the inside, cannot be tricked, hard to share, internal force) → Observation (you have experienced it as so, senses: sight, touch, taste, smell, hear, sharable features) → Authority (somebody tells you, can be false information, external force) Dogmatism: tendency to cling to one's beliefs Empiricism: accurate knowledge of the world can be acquired by observing it Scientific Method: (1) develop a theory (2) derive a falsifiable hypothesis from it, (3) test the hypothesis: 1. Hypothesize: a prediction, derived from a theory, about what should happen in a scientific study and has two types: a. Confirmatory studies: start with falsifiable hypothesis (cant really do in psych b/c of lack of theories) and then find data that either confirms it or disconfirms it b. Exploratory studies: star by collecting data without a strong hypothesis and then look for patterns to come up with a theory (start with exploratory study that with time becomes confirmatory) 2. Operationalize: a description of a psycological property in measurable, observable terms (e.g stage fright: heart rate immediately before the performance begins) 3. Measure: operational definition + instrument = collection of measurments 4. Analyze: a. Descriptive statistics: mathematical tool to summarise data into many ways of understanding it (mean, variability, range) b. Inferential statistics: mathematical tool used to help us decide if the data confirms or disconfirm some hypothesis(statistical significance) 5. Report: peer review 2.2 Methods of observation: discovering what people do: Measurement: 1. Define the property: generate an operational definition that has construct validity - Operational definition: a description of psychological property in measurable observable terms (e.g operationally define happiness as “ the amount of dopamine in a person’s brain”) 2. Detect the property: design an instrument that has reliability and power - E.g carbon electrode to detect dopamine in the brain Validity 1. Construct validity: a feature of operational definitions whose specified operations are generally considered good indicators of the specified properties/ actually measures what it claims to measure 2. Internal validity: an attribute of an experiment that allows it to establish causal relationships, does the study have a confound that prevents us from making a causa; inference (e.g did you mess up random selection?) 3. External validity: an attribute of an experiment in which variables have been operationally defined in a representative way, are the study results representative of how things would work in the real world (e.g we might we trying to study violence by simulating it in video games but is that really going to translate to violence in the real world) Power/ Sensitivity: A detector’s ability to detect the presence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property, and reliability, which refers to a detector's ability to detect the absence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property. Can detect small differences in the measure. Reliability: a detector’s ability to detect the absence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property. Gives similar measurements each time it is used. Problems with pure observation: 1. Observation is not always possible (memories, dreams → internal observations) 2. Observation is not always true (behaviour, eyes can trick you: illusion cannot undo in mind even when you have the knowledge) 3. Your own observations can change over time ( e.g bistable illusion→ two faces in one photo 4. People disagree on what they are experiencing (dress illusion ,yanny + laurel - Textbook: rats: 2 groups told different things about the same video (regular rats, usain bolts of rats) lead to different times being recorded. How to solve this: - To deal with impossibility of observation: new tools are created through science - - To deals with the reliability of observation: Principles: (if all these happen is up to debate) - Openness: all data should be publicly available - Falsifiable hypotheses: formulate inflexible oreductions that can be shown to be false alone - Double blind experiments: whenever possible, neither the participant nor the person collecting the data should be aware if what the hypothesis is. To deal with biases and differences in opinion: - Scientific skepticism: do not initially any theory or observation (scientists are not looking for right or wrong, not attached) - Peer review: send your conclusions for review from other scientists - Replication: no single study “proves” anything - science advances theories by accumulating dozens of confirmed or disconfirmed hypothesis. Any science experiment must be replicated. It uses the same procedure but a new sample frm the same population Study Design/ Methods: a set of guidelines for how data is collected for a study. - Naturalistic observation: a technique for gathering information by unobtrusively observing people in their natural environments (people watching, e.g the biggest groups leave the smallest tips) - Case-studies/case method: procedure for gathering scientific information by studying a single individual - Correlation studies:estimate numerical relationship/prediction between two measured variables to do a correlation study: 1. Choose any two variables 2. Measure the two variable with an instrument in as many people as possible 3. Graph the relationship for all collected data 4. Estimate the direction and strength of the correlation - A correlation between two variables does not mean that one caused the other - Why not: - Directionally problem: for any correlation, A mightve caused B or B mightve causes A - Third variable problem: for any correlation, a third, unmeasured variable may be the true cause of the measured ones - Spurious correlations: strongly correlated variables that we know are not causally related - Experiments : one variable is manipulated/ changed to see its causal effect on another, 4 key components: 1. Independent variable: the variable manipulated (experimental vs control group) 2. Dependent variable: the variable measured 3. Random assignment: participants are put into the experimental control/group randomly - Self-selection: problem that occurs when anything about a participant determines the value of the independent variable to which the participant was exposed. 4. Random selection/sampling: participants should be representative of the population as a whole a. Solutions to directionality: you control the direction by choosing which variable you manipulate and which you measure b. Solution to third-variable: two groups will be theoretically identical in every third variable so the only difference will be from the manipulation you made Demand chacrateristics: doing what is expected: - Naturalistic observation - Privacy and control: less likely to be influence when they cannot be identified as the authors do their actions - Unawareness: best way to avoid demand characteristics; they cant behave how they think you want them to behave Graphic representations: picturing the data Negatively skewed: distributions lean to the right Positively skewed: distributions lean to the left Unskewed/ symmetrical:left hand is symmetrical to the right half Normal distribution: frequency of measurements is highest in the middle and decreases symmetrically in both directions; a bell curve Descriptive Statistics: summarizing the data: 2 types: 1. Describe central tendency of frequency distribution: statement about the value of the measurements that tend to lie near the centre or midpoint of a frequency distribution - Mode: value of the most frequently observed measurement - Mean: the average value of all the measurements - Median: the value that is in the middle i.e greater than or equal to half the measurements and less than or equal to half the measurements 2. Describe variability in a frequency distribution: statements about the extent to which the measurements in a frequency distribution differ from each other; how wide the distribution is - The range; the value of the largest measurement in a frequency distribution minus the value of the smallest measurement. When range is small the distribution has less variability than if large - Standard deviation: how each of the measurements in a frequency distribution differs from the mean 2.3 Methods of explanation: Discovering Why People Do What They Do Correlation: a relationship between variables in which variation in the value of one variable are synchronized with variation in the value of another. Allows for predictions but they may not be perfectly accurate. Measuring the direction and strength of a correlation: Direction: positive or negative - Positive: more is more approach (ppl who have more education tend to have more income) - Negative: more is less approach ( ppl who have more education have fewer health problems) Correlation coefficient: mathematical measure of both direction and strength of a correlation symbolized by r which has a limited range. r is a measure of direction (positive or negative) and strength (absolute value of r (between 0 and 1) ) Causation: Natural correlation: correlation that is observed in the natural world and although a natural correlation can tell us whether two variable have a relationship it cannot tell us whether they have a causal relationship (e.g positive correlation between the aggressive of a child’s behaviour and the amount of violence the child is exposed to) Third- Variable problem: Correlation is not CAusation: X causes Y or Y causes X but Z might cause both X and Y. to determine if there is natural correlation Z must be eliminated. Experimentation: Establishing Causation: Technique for establishing the causal relationship between variables. Manipulation and random assignment to eliminate two of the three possible causes Manipulation: making different conditions: Manipulation: technique for determining the causal power of a variable by actively changing its value. Experiments require manipulation of one variable, actively changing one variable Experimentation allows to determin the causal relationship between variable by doining: 1. Manipulate: independent variable 2. Measure: the dependent variable 3. Compare: changes that the independent variable causes Drawing conclusions: Internal validity, using phrases such as “ as we defined that variable, and in the people we studies and is likely that” The representativeness Restriction:”as we defined that variable: Results depends on how variables are defined and how validity plays a role. Theories allow for experiments to lack external validity. WIthout theories external validity should be used. Type I and Type II errors: - Type I errors occur when researchers conclude that there is a causal relationship between when infact there was not, aka a false positive - Type II errors occur when researchers conclude that there is not a causal relationship between teo variables when in fact there is aka a false negative Fluke: detection of a causal relationship between variables when there is non Flunk: failure to detect a causal relationship between variables when there really is one Ethics of science: doing what’s right Code of ethics: show respect for people, for animals, and for the truth Respecting people: declaration of helsinki 1964 - Informed consent: participants may not take parkin a psychological study unless the have given informed consent ( a verbal agreement to participate in a study made by an adult who has been informed of all the risks that participation may entail) if people cannot give consent ( minors/ mentally incapable) decision is made by legal guardians and consent can be withdrawn at anytime without penalty. - Freedom from coercion: - Unethical to offer people large aniuts of money to do something that they might otherwise decline to do. - Protection of harm: If no safe way experiment cannot be studied, psychologists must tke every possible precaution to protect their research participants physical or psychological harm - Risk-benefit analysis: - Cannot take large risks such as severe pain, psychological trauma or any risks they would ordinarily take in their ordinary lives. Small risks must be shown to - - - outweigh the social benefits of the new knowledge that might be gained from the study Deception cannot deceive participants of a study that can cause them physical or psychological harm or pain Debriefing: - If the participant is deceived in anyway before/during the study debriefing must occur after the study describing the true nature and purpose of a study. If the participant is changed (became sad) the psychologist must attempt to undo the change (ask the person do to a task that will make them happy) to restore patient to hoe they were before the study Confidentiality - Psychologists are obligated to keep private and personal information obtained during a study confidential. Respecting animals: - Replacement: prove that there is no alternative to using animals in research and that the use of animal is justified by scientific or clinical value of the study - Reduction: researchers must use the smallest number of animals possible to achieve the research. - Refinement: procedures must be modified to minimize discomfort, infection, illness, and pain of animals, treat humanely: comfy housing, ability to satisfy basic instinct and painkillers Respecting Truth: - Honour system to ensure ethically collected data, 1. cannot fabricate results, cant mislead by omission, 2. credit (co-autors of reports and mention of studies similar to the experiment), 3. Obligation to share their data Chapter 10: intelligence 10.1 How can intelligence be measured? The intelligence test: - German psychologist suggests that mental age was the best way to determine if a child is developing normally and was a ratio of mental and physical age→ intelligence quotient (IQ): the standard unit of intellgemce; 100 is average score and 15 is one standard deviation - Ratio IQ: a metric obtained by dividing a child’s mental age by the child’s physical age and then multiplying by 100 - Deviation IQ: a metric obtained by dividing a person’s test score for people that age and then multiplying the quotient by 100 Intelligence matters: - IQ is a better predictor of the amount of education they will receive than that person’s social class - General mental ability is the most valid measure for future job performance and learning - Intelligence is a good predictor of health and longevity (15 pt increase is associated in 24 decrease in risk of death) b/c they are less likely to smoke and drink alcohol and more likely to exercise and eat well. - Intelligent people are healthier, wealthier and happier Measuring intelligence: - Standardized test: a test which: 1. Has highly controlled and guided administration protocol 2. Gives a score that shows your performance relative to the general population WAIS-IV: - Wechsler adult intelligence scale (WAIS-IV) the most popular test used today, based on hybrid model of intelligence - General Ability index: measures a person’s intellectual abilities in the absence of time pressure - Verbal comprehension (e.g what does a stitch in time save nine in what way are pencils and pens alike) - Perceptual reasoning (e.g which three pictures make the one at the top → puzzle solving - Cognitive proficiency index: measures a person’s intellectual speed amd capacity for processing - Working memory (Find all symbols that follow a particular rule on the page) Raven’s progressive Matrices: a non-verbal intelligence test based on matching pictures that follow a particular type of rules Issues with IQ: - Cultural Bias: different cultures have different definitions of intelligence (most IQ tests are made in US and canada - Education: content of intelligence test overlap with school content - Test-taking Ability: are we measuring intelligence or test practice? - Stereotypes: How well somebody does on a test depends on whether they think they should be doing well or not 10.2 What is intelligence Intelligence: the ability to direct one’s thinking, adapt to one’s changing environment and learn from experience. How many factors?: Psychological factor: a dedicated mechanism that predicts performance in a specialized domain but not others A Hierarchy of abilities: Two-factor theory of intelligence: - - General intelligence factor(g): The hypothesized single factor of intelligence that explains aptitude in all domains of knowledge Specific factors(s): the hypothesized separate factors of intelligence that explains aptitude in specialized domains of knowledge on top of g Independent factor theories: Intelligence is many non-overlapping abilities, each unrelated to each other (correlations between tasks are only due t third variable issues → general test taking Middle-Level abilities: The Data-Based Approach: Hybrid theories: Intelligence is a group of interrelated factors with g at the top, various middle level abilities after, and specific tasks underneath that - Fluid intelligence (Gf):Learning new information or dealing with novel situations, ability to solve and reason about novel problems (measured by tests that present people with abstract problems that must be solved under time pressure - Crystalized intelligence(Gc): drawing on experiences from the past, the ability to apply knowledge that was acquired through experience (measured by test of vocabulary and factual information Altzmers and autism affect GC more than Gf whole damage to prefrontal cortex impares GF more than Gc Theory-based approach: Triarchic intelligence: - Creative: ability to generate solutions that other people do not - Analytical: ability to identify and define problems and to find strategies for solving them - Practical: ability to implement the creative and analytical solutions in everyday settings Emotional intelligence: ability to reason about emotions and to use emotions to enhance reasoning 10.3 Where does intelligence come from? Genetic influences on intelligence: Individual differences: variability in a psychological trait across people, they come from: - Genetic variability: people differ in their genetic makeup - Environmental variability: people have different lives, grow up with different family staples, go to different schools etc - Their interaction: genetic effects change environments; environements change genetic expression(e.g if the environment cant drink milk there will be less milk processing in the environment) Common mistakes when thinking about genes: - Genetic determinism: the (false) belief that if a person carries some set of genes that their expressed phenotype is fixed and immutable (genes=destiny) - No single gene predicts single trait (no such thing as an intelligence gene) - Genetics predicts at the level of population, not individual Genetic relatedness: Heritability coefficient(h2): statistic that describes the proportion of the difference between two or more people’s IQ scores that can be explained by difference in genes (usually between 0.5 and 0.7) - Not the same as correlation coefficient r, the intelligence of an individual is a product of genes and experience - Tells is how big of an influence genes have on the differences in a particular group of people’s IQ scores, this the heritability coefficient is different with different groups Quasi-experiments: The experimental “manipulation” occurs naturally, but has no random assignment - Option 1: manipulate genes (identical (monozygotic, shares 100% of their genes) vs fraternal(dizygotic, sharing 50% of genes) twins) - Option 2: manipulate the environment (identical twins separated at birth) Logic: - If identical twins have stronger correlation than fraternal twins, then the additional overlap must be from effets of genes (the correlation for identical (0.86) is higher than fraternal (0.60)) - If identical twins separated at birth have the same correlation as identical twins raised together, then the effect of environment must be small (separated correlate almost as strongly (0.78) as reed together (0.86)) - Intelligence is most similar to height: moderately ranged by genes and moderately affected by the environment If genetic variability predicts 40-60% of IQ scores, what predicts the rest? 1. Education: the years and quality of ones education is the strongest predictor of g, Gf, and Gc; education is for IQ what nutrition is for height 2. Birth weight: small but positive correlation 3. Birth order: first-born children have marginally higher IQ than their younger siblings If we want to generally increase performance on intelligence tests, increasing educational opportunities is the most important factor. Environmental influences on intelligence: - Intelligence is relatively table with age, after 50, fluid intelligence tends to decrease; crystalized is stable except in dementia Flynn effect: average intelligence increases with each successive generation (e.g compare IQ scores 20 years ago is 1 sd higher) - Improved environments: nutrition and public health have improved - Improved education: mandatory schooling, smart people stay in school - Improved test-taking abilities: we've all learned how to take tests. Poverty lowers intelligence: - Being in high socioeconomic standing increases IQ 12-18 points compared to low Intelligence is malleable Gene-environment interaction: - A person may have a gene but the environment may determine if the gene will have an active role im producing proteins, an on and off switch - Genes can cause people to be pulled towards or pushed away from particular enivornment Who is most intelligent? Individual differences in intelligence: - Average IQis 100, a 15 point decrease at 20 is associated with a 50% increase of later hospitalization for schizophrenia, mood disorders ,and alcohol related disorders, - Gifted children tend to be single-gifted and single minded displaying a range to master the domain which they excel - The most common causes of intellectual disability are down syndrome and fetal alcohol syndrome. Group differences in intelligence: - Eugenics is the idea that the intelligence of humankind should be increased by controlled breeding - Men and women have identical average intelligence, but more men are the tails of distribution, men tend to do better on tests of spatial intelligence, but women tend to do better on test of emotional intelligence (most of these differences are accounted for by differences in socialization Stanford- Binet test: the first widely used intelligence test for school children, developed in 1904 in france and then translated into english - American psychologist argue that it measures fixed intelligence in children which binet did not believe. Army alpha/beta test: two prominent US army tests for determining each person’s capability as a soldier, leadership,etc - Based on stanford-binet test and also tested a variety of items like rhymes, verbal reasoning, puzzles, knowledge of world facts, etc Tests and test takers Stereotype threat: the anxiety associated with the possibility of confirming other people's stereotypes about one’s group Environment and genes: - Poverty affects the brain, the body and the mind, and results in differences in cognitive test performance - - “Race” is not scientifically-valid category, and research focuses on recent ancestry/ ethnicity Correlation is not causation: we have to first addresses every possible third variable problem that could explain these group differences (global north vs global south, mot of these tests were conducted in english thus english competency has an effect There are large sociocultural; difference in environments, including access to nutrition, education, and practices that encourage or discourage test taking Differences in intelligence is due to sociological reasons or third variables Differences within groups are significantly higher than between Psychologist are more interested in how we can eliminate sociocultural barriers to people maximizing the range of their expressed intelligence Phrenology: the (discredited) attempt to assess each person’s intelligence by measuring differences in “specialized” brain size through bumps on the skull, has a secondary purpose: that white people have higher intelligence compared to colonized people Early intelligence tests had significant limitations: - Intelligence measured as achievement (what you already know) not aptitude (how you learn something) - Goal is to quickly segregate people in designated roles or classes - They were not standardized and used for a specific purpose The bell curve: a 1994 book advocating for radical changes in public policy in order to protect high IQ individuals and reduce reproduction amongst low IQ individuals. Claims are: 1. Intelligence is stable, largely heritable, and reliable measured by IQ tests 2. Intelligence tests are valid and unbiased (sterotype testing, doesnt matter if you’re good at test taking) 3. Intelligence is the best predictor of life outcomes, job and school success, etc 4. Welfare allows low IQ individuals to have more children, decreasing the overall fitness of our society (cannot be tested → anecdotal at best Claim 1: intelligence is highly predicted by genetic variation: - True: but this fact is not very interesting - Imagine a society in which only brown-eyed individuals are allowed to wear socks. What percentage of sock- wearing is predicted by genes? ~ 99.9% Claim: 2 differences are due to group genetic differences - False: differences in groups could only be due to genetics if environments are equal Claim 3: intelligence is the best predictor of life outcomes and success - Maybe: only true of there are no third variables ( e.g education quality is well known to improve both performance on intelligence tests and outcomes Improving intelligence: Cognitive enhancers: drugs that improve the psychological processes that underlie intelligent performance (e.g ritalin and adderall) Chapter 12: personality 12.1 Personality: what it is and how it is measured Describing and explaining personality: State Differences: temporary differences in people’s psychology Trait differences: semi-permanent differences between people’s psychology (i.e intelligence) Personality: a person’s characteristic and enduring style of behaving, thinking and feeling (traits not states) How many distinct personality traits are there? - Problem 1: too many scientific predictions become impossible - Problem 2: too few and we can't properly explain mechanisms Personality inventories rely on self-reporting: Self- report: a method in which people provide subjective information and their own thoughts, feelings, or behaviours, typically questionnaire or interview. I ask you. Forer Effect: people assume general description to be highly specific to them and their personality How to make good, valid personality tests? - Indirect self-report: ask without signalling that you are assessing a personality trait - Catch item: question that “catch” people lying or waiting to appear more socially desirable - Converge multiple methods: compare self-report to report by others Minnesota Multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI): a well-researched clinical questionnaire used to assess personality and psychological problems, developed in 1939 and the current test uses self-descriptive to which the respondent answers “true”, “false” or “cannot say”. Measures a wide range of psychological constructs: clinical problems (e.g antisocial behaviour), somatic problems (e.g head pain), interpersonal problems (e.g family problems). Additionally includes validity scales that assess a person’s attitudes towards test taking. Observation: I watch you, would i be biased, demand characteristics Project techniques rely on analysis of ambiguous information: Projective tests: designed to circumvent the limitations of self-report, these test are designed to reveal inner aspects of individuals’ personalities by analysis of their responses to a standard series of ambiguous stimuli. Rorschach Inkblot Test: a projective technique in which respondents’ inner thoughts and feelings are believed to be revealed by analysis of their responses to a set of unstructured inkblots Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): is a projective technique in which respondents’ underlying motives, concerns, and the way they see the social world are believed to be revealed through analysis of the stories they make up about ambiguous pictures of people Where do distinct personalities come from? 1. Hereditary and evolution: personality is a genetic trait varies adaptation to changing environments 2. Psychodynamic theory: personality comes from unconscious experiences we have in our childhood and youth 3. social -cognitive approach: personality comes about from reward and punishment in social situations (forever malleable) 4. human/existential approach: personality comes about as we try to maximize our well-being and autonomy 12.2 The trait approach: identifying patterns of behaviour: Traits as Behavioural dispositions: Trait describes a person but doesn't explain their behaviour The search for core traits: The big five ( the five-factor theory): the currently accepted theory of the personality and its factors (ocean): - Openness to experience: curiosity for experiencing new and varied things, related to intellect and imagination/creativity. High openness: described as creative, dreamers, idealist, with a need to learn. Low openness: prefer concrete facts rather than ideal, traditional, down-to-earth, practical and prefer routines - Conscientiousness: degree in thoughtfulness,organization and responsibility, related to orderliness and industriousness. High consciousness: do well in school and are described as self-disciplined, exacting, focused and responsible. Low in conscientiousness: laid back, less goal and success oriented - Extraversion: for social activities, including feeling energized from interacting with others. Related to enthusiasm for and assertiveness in social situations. High in extraversion: recharge by hanging with others, very social and fun-loving. Low in extraversion: recharge by being by themselves (introverts) - Agreeableness: degree of kindness and need for social harmony as opposed to conflict. Related to one’s compassion, empathy, and politeness.high in agreeableness are described as considerate, kind, empathetic, and willing to compromise for others. low in agreeableness are typically sceptical and distrustful of other people and their motives and are not compromising in social situations. (my way or the highway) - Neuroticism: tendency to have negative, pessimistic, or unstable emotions. Related to emotional volatility and social withdrawal.high in neuroticism experience a lot of anxiety and stress, and are usually very self-conscious and shy. (social anxiety). low in neuroticism are typically emotionally stable and not as affected by stressful situations. Traits as biological building blocks: Evolutionary psycology (EP): studying psychology by treating human nature as universal adaptations shaped by principles of evolution. Natural selection:­selection of traits that support adaptive survival and procreation (e.g., walking on two legs). Sexual Selection: selection of traits that promote adaptive reproduction by advertising a mate as eligible and unique (e.g., feathers on a peacock). Just-So Stories: an unfalsifiable narrative explanation of psychology. The past environment is unknown and not statistic, universal behaviours can emerge without evolutionary pressure (e.g spiders: humans evolved in africa yet hippos kill mroe people than snakes and spiders. Heritability: high correlations in personality traits for identical vs. fraternal twins. Manipulate Genes: personality should be changed by genetic manipulations. Manipulate Environment: the environment in which you grow up (and especially the way your parents raise you) should not change your personality very much. Twin studies: - All 5 factors show small to moderate positive effects when dizygotic twins are compared to monozygotic twins, heritability strong for extraversion, openness and neuroticism Silver fox experiment : an influential experiment in which wild foxes were domesticated within eight generations by only those with a calm personality to have cubs (manipulating genes). tame foxes were embryonically implanted into wombs of aggressive mothers. And yet, when born and raised, they remained calm (and vice-versa).(manipulating environment) 12.3 The Psychodynamic approach: forces that lie beneath awareness The structure of the mind: Id, ego and superego: Id: the part of the mind containing the drives present at birth, it is the sources of our bodily needs, wants, desires and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives Ego: the component of personality, developed through contact with the external world that enables us to deal with life’s practical demands. the third system – and the only one that we have any conscious access to – that is in contact with the real world and tries to find a balance between the id’s wants and the superego’s rules. Superego: the mental system that reflects the internalization of cultural rules. Mainly learned as parents exercise their authority the unconscious system that develops through punishment and cultural experience and tells us what we cannot do, operating primarily through guilt and shame. Unconscious Cognition: automatic parts of psychology that we have no conscious awareness of. unconscious isn’t just an “autopilot” but actively thinks, learns, feels, and wants, just like conscious cognition. most of what we are aware of is just a byproduct of what happens in our unconscious. Psychosexual Stages: developmental stages that form personality and lead to the emergence of ego and superego; in each stage, the child experiences pleasure for specific body areas and caregivers either provide or interfere with those pleasures. - Every person goes through all the stages in the same order. - ­A stage is successfully completed if the child receives the kind of pleasure demanded by that stage. - ­A delayed or incomplete stage makes a fixation: a slowing down of development and obsession with receiving pleasure through that body area. 1. Oral Stage: the first psychosexual stage that focuses on pleasures of the mouth (e.g., sucking, chewing).At the start of the stage, only the id exists. The ego will emerge at some point before the stage is complete.Not gaining enough oral pleasure results in an oral fixation ( too much eating, thumb sucking, smoking, constant need for affection) 2. Anal Stage: the second psychosexual stage that focuses on pleasures of the anus (e.g toilet training). At the beginning of this stage only id and ego exist. Superego does not exist at this stage. Not getting adequate pleasure from this stage results in anal fixation (overly rigid and controlling personality, obsessed with material possessions) 3. Phallic Stage: the third psychosexual stage, focusing on the phallic-genital region (i.e., on the child’s penis, or lack thereof).By the end of this stage, the superego will finally develop. In this stage, the boy discovers that he has a penis and wishes to receive pleasure from it. In a typical nuclear family, the only available person for this source of pleasure is the mother. But – there is somebody who stands in the way: the father. - The phallic stage implies that:­The superego for boys and girls is different – each is the internalization of the same-sex parent. ­Any delays or failures to resolve them lead to mother/father fixations: a lifelong fear, distrust, or dislike of one’s same-sex parent and deep love for the opposite-sex parent. ­Freud believed that this manifests as a lifelong obsession with finding more appropriate and loving father/mother figures in other people. Oedipus Complex: a developmental experience during the phallic stage in which the (male) child experiences love towards their mother and fear of their father.­This complex is resolved by: a) The child identifying with the father’s strict rule-based role. b) This leads to the development of the superego (the internalized father) c) This leads to a guilt and shame about the desire to be with one’s mother, and the ego + superego win against the id, alleviating the complex. Electra Complex: the id deeply desires a penis (a state called “penis envy”), so girls become strongly attracted to their father and very angry at their mother, who they see as weak for lacking a penis. ­In an effort for their father to love them, girls act more and more like their mothers, developing the superego and entering the latency stage. ­Later, they generalize their desire from their father onto other men. 4. Latency Stage: the fourth psychosexual stage in which the child’s repressed conflicts lead to seeking friendship in non-erotic activities developing intellectual, creative, and interpersonal skills. 5.Genital Stage: the fifth (and final) psychosexual stage in which the adult, mature personality emerges; people become capable of love and friendship and sexual desire, and become capable of dealing with the repressed conflicts of their childhood. Even after the genital stage, the id and the superego are inflexible, uncompromising, demanding, and loud.­The id has desires that are inappropriate (especially sexual and/or aggressive).­The superego has overly strict rules that make you feel ashamed and awful about Yourself. So if the ego fails to control these two, then either you have inappropriate impulses, or you feel deep shame and guilt. This causes depression, anxiety, and general psychological suffering. Defense Mechanisms: unconscious tactics the ego uses to cope and reduce anxiety. Repression: purposefully forgetting something (e.g., that you were once in love with your mother and jealous of your father). Reaction Formation: replacing your desire with strongly opposite feeling (e.g., yelling at somebody you like). Projection: attributing your shame or desires to somebody else (e.g., thinking somebody is attracted to you because you are actually and secretly attracted to them). Displacement: shifting impulses to more neutral targets (e.g., yelling at your friend instead of your dad). Thus, according to Freud, your personality emerges from: 1. The perpetual unconscious conflict between your id, ego, and superego. 2. Any unresolved fixations. 3. From defense mechanisms that emerge when your ego is trying to prevent shame or impulses from reaching your consciousness. Today, psychologists nearly all agree that Freud got all the details wrong: - ­No id, ego, and superego: we have not found any evidence for the three systems (though unconscious cognition is richer than expected). - ­No psychosexual stages: while childhood trauma affects us later in life, there is no evidence of the Freudian conceptualization of stages. - ­Cross-culturally poor effects: Freud’s patterns of development are, at best, descriptive of a highly specific time and place (late 19th century Europe). - ­Non-Falsifiable: perhaps worst of all, Freud’s theory cannot be proven false, because one can always claim that it’s our ego preventing us from seeing the truth. So why are we teaching you all this then? - ­Historical impact: many people think that Freud is psychology, and many theories were made to counter his. Knowing his theory is to know how to articulate why this is not true. Influence on Clinical psychology: Freud’s therapy is still a very important part of Clinical Psychology, as we’ll learn later in the course. - ­Relevance in literature, art, history: Freud is still actively taught in these contexts. Freud’s most important insight may not have been the specific idea of how unconscious processes work, but instead the idea that our conscious, rational self is no “self” at all – that we are all much richer and more interesting than even we ourselves know. 12.4 Humanistic-existemtial approach Human needs and self- actualization: Self-actualization tendency: the human motive towards realizing our inner potential Flow: it feels good to do things that challenge your abilities but that don't challenge them too much Personality as existence: Existential approach: a school of thought that regards personality as governed by an individual’s ongoing choices and decisions in the context of the realities of life and death. Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? 12.5 The social- cognitive approach: personalities in situations: Consistency of personality across situations: Person-situation controversy: the question of whether behaviour is caused more by personality or by situational factors - Measured traits do ot predict behaviours very well because behaviours are determined more by situational factors than personality theorist were willing to acknowledge Personal goals and experiences lead to characteristic style of behaviour: Social-Cognitive Approach to Personality: a theory that personality is based on expected reward and punishment, and changes over time. Outcome expectancies: a person’s assumptions about the likely consequences of a future behhaviourexpectations about reward and punishment in a given social situation/ Because of this, personality may shift throughout one’s life, and especially when our environments change. Locus of Control: the tendency to perceive outcomes of a situation as Internal (controlled by yourself) or External (not controlled by you).People with a high internal locus of control tend to be more organized, friendly, healthy, and social (i.e., high in conscientiousness and agreeableness). People with high external locus of control leads to anxiety (high neuroticism). Culture: the system of shared beliefs, traditions, and values by a group or society. Culture in part defines what is good/desirable and bad/undesirable behavior and personality. Cross-Cultural Psychology: studying psychology by documenting similarities and differences between cultures. Typical psychology participants are, compared to the rest of the world, W.E.I.R.D: - ­Western: almost all participants are from Europe, Canada or USA. - ­Educated: on average, 12-16 years of schooling. - ­Industrialized: city-dwelling, non-traditional occupations. - ­Rich: access to health care, roads, etc. - ­Democratic: growing up in a society valuing individual expression. While Big Five is still best model when tested cross-culturally, one major difference not accounted for by the model: - ­Individualistic Cultures (e.g., Canada, Western Europe, USA): cultures in which the uniqueness of each individual person is strongly esteemed - ­Collectivist Cultures (e.g., China, India, Brazil): cultures in which social harmony outweighs the importance of each individual person. This difference changes how personality is conceptualized: - ­Members of individualistic cultures are more likely to attribute to people an enduring and unchanging personality that is characteristic of a person (“essentialism”). - ­Members of collectivist cultures are more likely to evaluate the social situation in which the person found themselves, and hence the personality is more characteristic of the situation. 12.6 The self: personality in the mirror: Self-concept: a person’s explicit knowledge of their own behaviours, traits and other personal characteristics Self-narrative: organize the highlights and the low blows of your life into a story which you are the leading character and binds them together into your self-concept Self-schemas: traits people use to define themselves Self-verification: the tendency to seek evidence to confirm the self-concept Self esteem: the extent to which an individual likes, values and accepts the self Self-serving bias: people tend to take credit for their successes but downplay responsibility for their failures Narcissism: a grandiose view of the self, combined with a tendency to seek admiration from and exploit others. At extreme high narcissism is considered a personality disorder. Chapter 8: Emotion and Motivation: 8.1 The Nature of Emotion: The emotional mind: Emotions are the responses to interpretations of events Dimensions of emotion: emotional experiences vary on two dimensions called valence → how positive the feeling is (x-axis) and arousal → how energetic the feeling is (y-axis) Appraisal: conscious or unconscious evaluations and interpretations of the emotion-relevant aspects of a stimulus or event (event’s self-relevance, ability to cope with the event, how to control it), produce action tendencies Action tendencies: a readiness to engage in a specific set of emotion-relevant behaviours The emotional body: James-Lange Theory (no interpretation!): a stimulus causes unique physiological reactions which produces a dedicated emotional experience in the brain. There is no confusion about what emotion you are experiencing. Feelings are simply the perception of one’s own physiological responses to a stimulus. Cannon-Bard Theory (no interpretation!): a stimulus triggers both physiological reaction and a separate brain-based emotional response. Arousal and emotion occur at same time, and there is no confusion about what emotion you are feeling. They took the james- lang theory and correctly noted that it was odd with 3 basic facts 1. Some emotional experiences happen before bodily responses, people feel embarrassed at the same moment their pants fall down but blush 15-30 seconds later. Embarrassment can't be the perception of blushing because it happens first 2. Lots of things cause bodily responses without causing emotions (e.g thermostat is turned up but you arent scared of the pillow. If fear was the perception of a rapid heartbeat then you would be scared everytime the thermostat goes up) 3. For the james-lang theory to work every emotion would have go be associated with a unique physiological fingerprint: Amphetamine experiment: participants are given amphetamines (increasing arousal) and either told that they were given a drug, or were told it was just water. What should they experience? James-Lange: both groups experience arousal and therefore same emotion. Cannon-Bard: the water group should feel no emotion, since they have no association between drinking water and emotions. - ­Contrary to both theories: all participants experienced emotions, but it differed by group: the drug group experienced arousal as a pleasant sensation, the water group felt agitated and unpleasant. Capilano Suspension Bridge Study: participants cross the Capilano suspension bridge or a normal bridge, and then interact with an opposite-sex research assistant; they are later asked how attracted they were to them. James-Lange: no increased attraction, since arousal is unambiguously from bridge. - Cannon-Bard: no increased attraction, since arousal is unambiguously from bridge - ­Contrary to both theories: Capilano bridge group reported significantly higher attraction towards the research assistant than those crossing a normal bridge, misinterpreting their arousal from the bridge as attraction towards assistant. Two-Factor Theory (emotions are interpretation): emotions are best guessed from physiological reactions: we experience arousal, and then try to find out why, leading to an emotional state. Stimuli trigger a general state of physiological arousal which is then interpreted as a specific emotion When we first observe a stimulus, a fast pathway leads directly to the amygdala and makes us act fast and feel an initial jolt of fear or surprise. - ­A separate slow pathway sends information to cortical regions of the brain, assessing if the threat is real, what the source is, and can revise that emotion into happiness, sadness, etc. Emotional brain: Motivational states: psychological and physiological states that initiate and direct the organism towards or away from specific goals (i.e., the feeling of wanting something). They lead to: - ­Approach behaviours: the state stops once you acquire a goal. - ­Avoidance behaviours: the state stops once you avoid a goal. Two categories of motivational states: - ­Biological motivational states: automatic, minimal conscious control over, help us survive and reproduce. Acquired/personal motivation states: learned, culturally-defined, controlled, and do not directly contribute to our immediate survival. Bodily Sensations: motivational states often triggered by internal (bodily) events and having: (a) physiological arousal; (b) a dedicated and unambiguous neural signal that guides the organism towards specific action. ­Emotions: motivational states often triggered by external (world) events and marked by: (a) physiological arousal; (b) cognitive interpretation; and (c) observable facial and bodily expression. Physiological arousal: Autonomic Nervous System (ANS): nerves that carry involuntary and automatic commands between the brain and blood vessels, body organs, and glands. ­Sympathetic Nervous System (Go!): the branch that prepares the body for action in challenging or threatening situations. ­Parasympathetic Nervous System (Calm Down...): the branch that returns the body to its normal resting state. Amygdala: structure that plays a key role in many emotional processes, especially reward and fear. Determine’s if stimuli are emotionally relavent Emotions serve two roles: - I­nternal Role (goals): they help guide us towards particular goals (e.g., when I am feeling sad, I am much more likely to seek out comfort). ­External Role (information): they communicate to others what our internal states are (e.g., sad faces notify others that we are sad and make them want to come comfort us). Bodily sensations: - ­Drive us towards or away from specific goals. - ­Generated internally by our bodies for purpose of biological preservation. - ­Physiological arousal leads to unambiguous sensation. Emotions: - ­Drive us towards or away from specific goals. - ­Sometimes internally generated, but mostly externally generated (e.g., by bears, bridges, etc.) - ­Physiological arousal that is cognitively interpreted! ­Coupled with very clearly observable facial and body expressions. Two major debates: ­Emotional Categories: are emotions separate from each other and precisely defined (categorical) or do emotions freely blend (non- categorical)? ­Emotional Universality: do all humans experience emotions in the same way (universality) or are there cross-cultural differences (non-universality) 8.2 emotional communication: Emotional expression: an observable sign of an emotional state Communicative expression: Universality hypothesis: all emotional expressions mean the same thing to all people in places at all times Facial feedback hypothesis: emotional expressions can cause the emotional experiences they typically signify Discrete Emotion Theory: (categorical and universalist) there is a limited number of core/primary emotions, identical for all of us, each associated with specific biological and evolutionary function. Most have argued for six primary emotions: Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Surprise, Disgust, and Fear. ­But some would also include pride, shame, joy, and anguish. - Happiness: raising of mouth corners, crinkling of eyes. Sadness: lowering of mouth corners, raising inner brows. Surprise: brows arch, mouth open, jaw drops. Fear: brows raise, eyes wide open, mouth slightly open. Disgust: upper lip raised, nose bridge wrinkles, cheeks raise. Anger: brows lower, lips pressed, eyes bulging. Fusiform Face Area (FFA): a dedicated brain area that processes and distinguishes faces and facial expressions. Prosopagnosia: a neurological problem (usually from damage to the FFA) leading to “face blindness”: the inability to recognize or properly perceive faces. DISCRETE EMOTIONS: INTERNAL ROLE OF FACES Expressions can help us deal with the emotion (internal role): Why does fear open eyes? To allow more information about the threat to come in. - ­Why does anger narrow eyes? To focus us on the stimulus that we are upset with. - Why does disgust crinkling our nose? To restrict the flow of foul air. Constructed Emotion Theory: (non-categorical and universalist) all emotions are a mixture of two specific factors: arousal and valance. Emotions are always fluidly interpreted. 8.3 The nature of motivation: A Little history: What increases or decreases the things we feel motivated towards? ­Instinct Theory: motivational states are evolutionary adaptations. ­Drive Theory: motivational states are balancing acts for internal states. ­Incentive Theories: motivational states are things we feel rewarded for. Instinct: a non-learned (“innate”), automatic, complex behavior programmed throughout a species to increase the chance of survival and sexual reproduction. Problem 1: motivational states are not automatic, problem 2 extreme proliferation of instinct, problem 3 behavioural flexibility Homeostasis: the tendency for a system to take actions to keep itself in a particular balanced state. Drive: motivational states are caused by your body’s physiology in order to maintain homeostasis in various systems. Drives activate when something is out of balance. Problem 1: we do things without the need homeostasis or when we are already off-balance. Problem 2: while a somewhat good account of biological motivational states, like hunger, it struggles to explain acquired motivational states Drive reduction theory: the primary motivation of all organisms is to reduce their drives Yerkes-Dodson Law: the U-shaped relationship between amount of arousal and performance on a task. The hedonic principle: the idea that people are primarily motivated to experience pleasure and avoid pain Emotion regulation: the strategies people use to influence their own emotional experience Suppression: emotion regulation involving inhibiting the outward signs of an emotion is an effective way to make themselves feel good Affect labelling: involves putting one’s feelings into words, excellent way to reduce the intensity of negative emotional states Reappraisal: changing one’s emotional experience by changing the way one thinks about the emotion- eliciting stimulus (best strategy), skill that can be learned 8.4 The motivated body: Hunger: the need to eat: Hypothalamus: structure that is especially responsible for regulating bodily sensations, especially those related to arousal and hunger. The lateral hypothalamus receives orexigenic signals (if destroyed will starve to death),the ventromedial hypothalamus receives anorexigenic signals ( if destroyed will eat to obesity and illness) Two signals travel to the hypothalamus, generating hunger: - ­Ghrelin (hungry signal): a peptide secreted in the stomach when it is empty; stretching the stomach stops the secretion of ghrelin. Binds to neurons in hippocampus and temporarily improves learning and memory - Leptin (not hungry signal): a hormone secreted by fat/adipose cells once the amount of fat reaches a genetically specified level; the amount of fat falling below this level stops the secretion of leptin. Leptin-mice: mice whose DNA was altered so that their bodies do not produce leptin and never feel full. Eating Disorders: clinically diagnosed psychological disorder defined by abnormal eating habits. Binge eating disorder (BED): eating disorder characterized by recurrent and uncontrolled episodes of consuming a large number of calories in a short time ­Obesity: eating disorder characterized by excessive eating and weight-gain that interferes with daily life. Is in some cases related to reduced sensitivity to leptin. BMI 30 or greater ­Bulimia Nervosa: eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging, but relatively normal weight. ­Anorexia Nervosa: eating disorder characterized by severe anxiety about being perceived as fat and intense restriction of food intake, leading to dramatically low weight. Patients with anorexia are not ghrelin-deficient: they feel hunger normally, but willingly refuse to eat. Sexual desire: the need to mate: Puberty: a complex process of physical and cognitive changes during which children mature into adult bodies and become sexually active. DHEA: steroid that is later built into testosterone and estrogen; the accumulation of DHEA is the (slow) onset of puberty. ­Testosterone (T) will subsequently and especially affect physical and sexual maturity of male organs, promote hair growth, etc. Estrogen will subsequently and especially affect physical and sexual maturity of female organs, promote growth of breasts, onset of menstruation, etc. In non-human animals, testosterone and estrogen are like ghrelin: they flow to the hypothalamus and increase sexual arousal.­Males will increase in sexual desire from testosterone, females from estrogen. But in humans, both males and females increase in sexual arousal from testosterone, and frequently have sex even when not ovulating. Human sexual response cycle: the stages of physiological arousal during sexual activity, 4 phases: 1. Excitement phase: muscle tension and blood flow increase in and around the sexual organs, heart and respiration rates increase, bp rises. Erect nipples, penis erect and testicles draw upward, vagina lubricated and swollen clitoris 2. Plateau phase: heart rate and muscle tension increase further, male urinary blatter closes to prevent urine from mixing with semen and muscle at bases of penis begin a steady rhythmic contraction. Female’s clitoris may withdraw slightly, vagina more lubricated, outer vagina swell and muscles tighten and reduce diameter of vaginal opening 3. Orgasm phase: fast breathing, contractions of pelvic muscles. Frequency of female orgasms heritable from mother. 4. Resolution phase: muscle relaxation, bp drops, body returns to resting state 8.5 The motivated mind: Intrinsic vs extrinsic: Intrinsic Motivation: motivation that is marked by expected reward and value that is internal (e.g., personal enjoyment, sense of mastery). Extrinsic Motivation: motivation that is marked by expected reward and value that is external (e.g., praise, money). Extrinsic can shift to Intrinsic: activities that are initially difficult and that we only do for reward (e.g., studying) can eventually become something we value intrinsically (e.g., desire to learn and grow). Intrinsic can shift to Extrinsic: receiving reward for intrinsically motivating activities can shift them to extrinsic, depriving us of motivation we had before (“overjustification effect”). Overjustification effect: phenomenon whereby people who are rewarded for a behaviour become less intrinsically motivated to repeat it Conscious vs unconscious: Procrastination: the voluntary delay of an action despite being worse off for having made the delay. Conscious motivations: motivations of which people are aware Unconscious motivation: motivations of which people are not aware Achievement motivation: desire to experience a sense of accomplishment by meeting one’s goals We are aware of our general motivations but only aware of specific motivations when challenges are encountered Approach motivation: motivation to experience positive outcomes Avoidance motivation: motivation to avoid experiencing negative outcomes Loss aversion: the tendency to care more about avoiding losses than achieving equal-sized gains Terror management theory: how people respond to knowledge of their own mortality Need for belonging: a motivational state to be in social groups, feeling accepted by others, and connected physically and psychologically. - ­When unable to satisfy this motivational state, people experience loneliness and rejection, which stimulate some of the same pain centers as when we are in physical pain. - ­Perpetual loneliness increases the chance of negative health outcomes, including higher rates of depression, cardiovascular problems, and early mortality. Need for achievement: a motivational state that drives us towards creating, succeeding, and being recognized for some behaviour we perform. - ­Performance orientation: a persistent focus on outward markers of performance, on avoiding failure at all cost, and not being an outlier. - ­Mastery orientation: a persistent focus on learning and improving, even at a cost of persistent failure and public knowledge about it. Need for cognition: a motivational state that drives us effortful, difficult, and challenging cognitive tasks, even for pleasure and to alleviate boredom.
