Colour Guide: Definitions, Important Person, List of Something, Example of
Something, Something important
PSYA02 GROUP HUSTLE
Slaves: Rebecca, Jessie, Maliha, Carl, Juni
University of Tears Scarborough
Year 2023
Mouse Parking space (for afk):
Module 4 and 10
Chapter 4 : Development
4.2 (Maliha)
Three Major Stages of Prenatal Development
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Ovulation occurs when egg is released from one of woman's two ovaries
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The egg travels through the fallopian tube to the uterus
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Has built up a thick lining in preparation for the implantation of the fertilized
egg
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Fertilization doesn’t occur --> egg expelled with uterine lining during next menstrual
cycle.
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There is a short window of time during the middle of a woman's menstrual cycle when
fertilization can occur; unprotected sexual intercourse must occur during the time of
ovulation (sperm can only survive in female body for 5 days)
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Fertilization occurs in the fallopian tube; the fertilized egg travels to the uterus and
implants itself into the uterine lining
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Stages of prenatal development:
1.
Period of Zygote
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Starts when the egg is fertilized (2 weeks)
Primary characteristic: rapid cell division
○ Cells in zygote divide exponentially: 2 cells--> 4-->16-->256
○ The ball of cells divide to form a hollow ball of cells called blastocyst
Ends with implantation of the blastocyst in the uterine wall, approx. 2 weeks
after conception
Ectopic pregnancy: a pregnancy that results from the implantation of the
blastocyst into one of the fallopian tubes instead of the uterine wall
○ Both the pregnant woman and the developing zygote are at risk
○ Unlike the uterus muscle which can expand as the zygote grow and
contract to expel the fetus during childbirth, the fallopian tube cannot
the pregnancy terminate to avoid ruptured fallopian tube which can
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result in death
Twins: cell division that occurs during the period of the zygote can result in one
or more developing organisms
1.
2.
Monozygotic (identical twins): During conception, one egg was
fertilized by one sperm and then splits into two separate cells with
identical DNA/genetic information
● Identical twins are always of the same sex
Dizygotic (fraternal twin): Occurs when two separate eggs released
during ovulation are fertilized by different sperm resulting in two
zygotes. The level of shared genetics is approx. 50% and is similar to any
siblings born apart to the same parents.
● Fraternal twins may be of different sexes
1.
2. Period of Embryo
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Starts after implantation of fertilized egg into the uterus (2nd week of gestation
8th week)
Primary characteristic
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Major development advances: All major organs and systems of the body
undergo significant development
The developing embryo has a decidedly human appearance
Rapid changes that take place during this period proceed according to the
cephalocaudal and proximodistal principles of development
i) Cephalocaudal: 'top-to-bottom' rule describes the idea that development occurs
from the head to the tail, during prenatal development
● The head of the embryo is much larger and more developed than the
feet or toes
ii) Proximodistal principles of development: 'inside-to-outside' rule describes that
during gestation, development proceeds from the internal organs outwards towards
the extremities.
● At the end all major bodily structures are formed but the embryo can't
survive outside of the uterine environment
3. Period of fetus:
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Final period of prenatal development (9th week of gestation - birth)
Primary characteristics: refinements and finishing touches and significant
growth
Fetus gains weight and moves into head-down position--> preferred for
childbirth
Significant advances in brain development, develops the sulci and gyri
Fetus learns from the outside environment
○ E.g. fetuses can discriminate between the voice of their mother and an
unfamiliar woman--> indicator of learning in utero
○ Woman can recognize fetus behavior:- behaviors during pregnancy can
be associated with behaviors exhibited by infants after birth
Advances during this stage prepare developing fetus for life outside the
protection of the uterine environment
Teratogens
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Teratogens are external agents that cause damage or death during prenatal development, one
of the most widespread causes of fetal abnormalities.
Teratogens most affect fetuses during series of critical and sensitive periods
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Period of embryo: Teratogens exert their most negative effects during this period
○ During this time most major bodily structures are being formed
Period of zygote: Teratogens have the least influence as the process of cellular division is mostly
constrained by biology
Period of fetus: Less impact on development of bodily structure but significant impact on brain
development and cognitive function over long term
Biggest effect early in pregnancy (2-8 weeks of gestation), many woman are unaware of their
pregnancy until after this period has passed
Identified teratogens include:
○ tobacco or alcohol during pregnancy
○ over-the-counter/prescription medications
○ viruses or illnesses that can be transmitted from pregnant woman to developing infants
Effects of teratogens is associated with:
1. Dose- how much exposure pregnant woman had to the teratogen
2. Timing- when in gestation was the teratogen experienced
3. Cumulative- the possibility the pregnant woman have been exposed to more than one
teratogen
Difficulty in firmly identifying specific environmental agent as teratogen:
○ experiments can't be conducted to determine whether a presumed teratogen causes
negative outcomes in developing humans
○ correlational research is most common
○ research focused on non-human animal models of suspected teratogens
Alcohol
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Widely recognized teratogen
Recommendations provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that
pregnant woman should abstain from alcohol during the pregnancy period, woman
attempting to become pregnant should avoid alcohol
Infants exposed to alcohol during pregnancy may be identified as having fetal alcohol spectrum
disorder (FASD)
FASD represents a large range of conditions, most significant of which is fetal alcohol syndrome
(FAS)
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○ 1/64 woman are at risk of having infant with FAS
Effects of alcohol on developing infants:
➔ Damage to internal organs- resulting in heart and kidney problems and issues with
vision and hearing
➔ Altered physical characteristics-reduced head size, below-average height, smooth patch
of skin between nose and upper lip
➔ Cognitive impairments- problems with hyperactivity and inattention, reduced
intelligence, challenges in school
➔ Other 'sleeper effects' of FASD not identified until later e.g. difficulties with visual-motor
integration and child behavior problems
Thalidomide
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Thalidomide is prescription medication used to alleviate symptoms of morning sickness
experienced by pregnant women
Commonly given to women during period of the embryo
Effective at reducing sensations of nausea in pregnant women
Infants exposed to drug prenatally were born with shortened or malformed limbs
Zika Virus
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Zika virus: transmitted to humans by mosquito or sexual contact with infected person
Associated with microcephaly, or smaller head sizes
In pregnant women show symptoms like rash, itchy skin, and joint pain
In developing infants:
Ultrasounds conducted at various time points in prenatal development revealed significant
abnormalities, including stillbirth
Abnormalities in development were found regardless of time during gestation at which
pregnant women were identified as having the virus
Microcephaly is not a specific outcome of the virus but rather part of a constellation of
abnormalities including restricted growth in utero and alternation in developing brain
COVID-19
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A study was conducted to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on developing fetus
Due concerns regarding the possibility of transmission from mother to child through vaginal
deliveries, mothers gave birth by Cesarean section
Immediately after birth bodily fluids were tested to determine if infants contracted COVID-19 in
utero; all body fluid and maternal breast milk tested negative
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A child not enrolled in the study contracted COVID-19, however since study protocol wasn’t
followed it's difficult to conclude if the illness was contracted before birth
Limitation of the study:
○ pregnant women were tested during the third trimesters of their pregnancies (period of
the fetus); collected data can't confirm if COVID-19 served as a teratogen earlier in the
pregnancy
○ Since all infants were delivered through Cesarean sections, the risk of spreading
COVID-19 through vaginal deliveries is unknown.4.3 Infancy and Childhood
(Juni)
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The rapid development that begins in the utero(Uterus) continues to rapidly grow after birth.
This indicates that the infant is experiencing significant gains in all domains of function over the
first three years of life.
Cognitive Development
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Cognitive development refers to the brain development and how a person can gain skills such
as information, processing, problem solving, and more.
Jean Piaget
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Jean Piaget developed a broad account of various stages of cognitive development that focuses
from birth to adolescence(age 10-19).
Piaget believed that children are more active contributors within their own learning, this means
children like to learn in their own style and knowledge and Piaget described this as
Constructivist.
Piaget stated that the growth of cognitive structures occurs when individuals encounter
conflicting information that alters their existing perspectives on the world.
Assimilation, Accommodation, and Equilibration
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Piaget was focused on addressing the manner in which infants and children build their own
knowledge and understanding.
Assimilation happens when individuals encounter information that is similar to what they have
in their existing cognitive structures; when new information is found, it is added to existing
cognitive structures.
When accommodation (Piaget theory of building new information with cognitive
structure) occurs, a child can create new cognitive structure to store information that does not
fit elsewhere.
Equilibration (Piaget theory: cognitive structures agree with external realities) happens
when disequilibration (Piaget theory: cognitive structures does not agree with external
realities) occurs. What exists in the outside world is not represented in the created cognitive
structures, cognitive structures must be modified through assimilation or accommodation so
that greater agreement occurs and equilibration is maintained.
Stages of Cognitive Development
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As children’s cognitive structure evolves, children undergo four major stages of cognitive
development, three of which occur during infancy and childhood. These stages are called the
sensorimotor period, the preoperational period, and the concrete operational period. The
formal operational period occurs during adolescence(10-19) at the earliest, but this period is
never achieved for some individuals.
Piaget believed that early stages provide the foundation for later ones, this pretty says that
children must progress through each stage in order, skipping a stage was not permitted.
Four Primary Stages of Cognitive Development
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The first major stage of cognitive development is the Sensorimotor period which occurs from
birth to age 2
The second substage from the age of four months, the infants learn about the world by
engaging in Primary Circular Reactions. This is where they engage in repeated actions in their
own bodies.
These actions are called “primary” because this ideal is focused on the infant's own body and it
is also known as “circular” because infants engage in these behaviors repetitively.
The third substage from four to eight months of age, infant behaviors begin to move outward,
focusing to a greater extent on items outside of their own bodies. As this transition occurs,
infants start engaging in Secondary circular reactions, which are repeated actions on the
objects outside of their own bodies.
As infants engage in these behaviors, however, the parents might notice what is out of sight for
infants at this age is also out of mind. That is, infants do not have Object permanence, which is
when people don't realize the object exists when it cannot be seen. However once the infant
turns 9 months, it will start to realize that items do exist when they couldn't be seen.
The fourth substage of the sensorimotor period, from 8 to 12 months of age, infants combine
secondary circular reactions so that they can make a sequence of events come to pass. The
coordinates of two motor tasks is very complex.
The fifth sub-stage of the sensorimotor period, from 12 to 18 months of age, children engage in
tertiary circular reactions, this is when infants are like “little scientists”, they can fully explore the
world using different combinations to their understanding.
During the sixth and final substage, from 18 to 14 months of age they begin mental
representation, they remember what they observed others doing previously and may start to
act in a similar way theirselves.
Table for Sensorimotor Period
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The second major stage of cognitive development is the preoperational period (This stage is
marked by a child’s increasing ability to use symbols and engage in logical thinking), which
happens from ages two to seven.
Children make significant strides in Symbolic thinking (The use of symbols like language to
stand for other things) during the preoperational period, they become more adept at using
language to convey their thoughts and feelings, and they readily engage in pretend play
Animism (Preschooler beliefs that toys have feelings) occurs when preschool children ascribe
life-like properties to things that are not alive
Egocentrism (The difficulty of children adopting the perspective of another individual, as
seen in children aged two to seven). A person may experience egocentrism when a person
gets a gift for a friend or sibling.
Children have difficulty with conversation task during the preoperational period of cognitive
development, children may not realize these changes except physical appearance
The Concrete operational period occurs between the ages 7 to 12. Here children are limited to
their thinking. Children can sense and evaluate what they can see in the world, but struggle to
think of a hypothetical situation.
Lev Vygotsky
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Vygotsky sociocultural theory portrayed cognitive development as a continuous process that
was intimately linked to the context in which children were raised.
Vygotsky believed that one could not understand cognitive development without considering
the environment in which the children were raised. Vgotsky viewed adults as central to
promoting cognitive development in infancy and childhood, He indicated that parents help
Scaffold (Assistant helps teach learners new skills and can be withdrawn once capable to
learn their own) young children learning new skills or struggling with tasks.
Educators who adapted a Vygotskiian perspective focus on the Zone of Proximal
development, which means the distance between what the child can accomplish alone and
what the child needs to accomplish with some assistance.
Egocentric speech (talking to themselves out loud to help them solve difficult problems).
This kind of talking method is internalized overtime and becomes a silent inner speech.
Social Development
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Infants show preferences for their mother’s voice shortly after birth relative to that of an
unfamiliar female stranger and relative to their father’s voice. Infants also quickly learn how to
engage in social interactions with others. In other research, scientists have evaluated infants'
emerging understanding of social relationships using the still face paradigm.
Developmental psychologists commonly examine how the infant responds during the still face
portion of the procedure, often noting that infants look away from the mother and exhibit
distress when the mother is unresponsive.
Attachment Styles: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth
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Attachment refers to the manner in which humans interact with our primary caregivers as
infants and with our romantic partners as adults. The development of early attachment has a
biological underpinning and relevance to the early survival of the mammalian species.
This process called imprinting, suggests that young organisms may be biologically predisposed
to form relationships with the adults and their species.
Harry Harlow conducted experiments with non-human primates to examine whether the
attachment of the mother was based on food or comfort. This experiment also examines the
ability for the mother to serve as a secure base.
John Bowlby was one of the first psychologists to theorize about attachment relationships in
infancy. His theoretical perspective was based on his thoughts about mammals and more
generally. Bowlby believed that mammals develop attachment bonds as a means of promoting
their survival and that without them, infants would perish due to a lack of food or protection.
Table of the Eight Episodes Experienced in the Strange Situation
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Securely attached is an attachment theory, attachment style of infants and adults
characterized by emotional closeness and a healthy level of independence and exploration
Insecure-resistant is another attachment theory, attachment style of infants characterized by
being clingy after the apparent returns’ may be born out of inconsistent parental
responsiveness.
Insecure-avoidant is another attachment theory, attachment style of infants characterized by
avoidance of a primary caregiver upon reunion after separation; may be born of out parental
disengagement with the infant.
Disorganized attachment is another attachment theory, attachment style of infants
characterized by fear and dissociation in wanting to both approach and avoid an attachment
figure; may be born out of parent abuse.
Lawrence Kohlberg
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One of the most popular theorists to address the theory of where morals, development
and influencing behaviors came from Lawrence Kohlberg. During the mid-1900s,
Kohlberg presented individuals with vignettes or short stories, to better understand
how humans react to moral dilemmas. His work paved the way for other researchers in
this area, as many distinguished research labs are still trying to unravel the mysteries of
human morality.
Kohlberg developed a system of morality that included three primary stages of moral
reasoning. Children that enter first stage pre-conventional morality (Morality in which
children think of morality in terms of punishment and rewards) yet develop a moral
code independent of adults around them.
The second stage is Conventional morality (Morality in which a child places value on
social conventions, social order and being viewed as “good” or “bad” by others).
The final stage is post-conventional morality (Morality in which someone bases moral
decisions on abstract principles instead of on societal expectations or the judgment of
others).
4.4: Adolescence (Carl)
Cognitive Development
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Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development includes special period for adolescents
Formal Operational Period: Adolescents aged 12 & older engage in much more complex
reasoning
● Able to think abstractly about the future & likelihood of various events
Brain Development
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Adolescence characterized by immense brain development, particularly in frontal lobes
● Specifically the prefrontal cortex
● Critical for Executive Functions: Higher-order cognitive processes that
distinguish humans
Prefrontal cortex does not fully mature until after puberty, leads to adolescent challenges in
decision making
Prefrontal cortex undergoes significant developments
● Synapses are pruned back (removed), leads to more efficient neural transmission
● Wider neural connections
● Myelination makes transmissions faster
Dopamine concentrations highest in the prefrontal cortex during adolescence
● May be related to increased risk-taking behaviour
Risk Taking
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Prefrontal cortex not yet fully developed, adolescents may have hard time assessing risks &
controlling behaviour
Study revealed that adolescents took more time & activated smaller regions of the brain when
whether dangerous situations where ‘good ideas’ compared to adults
● No differences when considering less dangerous activities
Juvenile offenders w/ poorer impulse control more likely to reoffend
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Juveniles in positive/supportive environments (ie. family, school) less likely to reoffend
Social context did not predict reoffending in those w/ poorer impulse control, only those
w/ better impulse control
Social Development
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Kohlberg’s theory of moral development does not include specific ages/ranges @ which
individuals function at certain levels
Some aspects gf social development more firmly contained in adolescent years
Adolescent Egocentrism: Adolescent thinks everyone is watching them & thinking about
their actions
● Introduced by Piaget, elaborated on by Elkins
Adolescent is so focused on the changes they undergo during puberty that they begin to feel
that others are focusing on them just as much
Imaginary Audience: Adolescent thinks everyone is focused on them
Personal Fable: Adolescents think. of themselves as unique & invulnerable to risky situations
Less focus on themselves over time
Identity Formation
James Marcie proposed 4 different identity statuses based on exploration & commitment
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Identity Diffusion: No decisions/ commitments to identity
Foreclosed Identity: One has prematurely decided who they are, likely conforming to the
expectations/ideas set by others
Psychosocial Moratorium: Exploring possible identities
Identity Achievement: Competed the identity crisis, committed to the identity they believe
represents them
Relationships with Parents & Peers
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Development of identity in adolescence impacted by relationships w/ both parents & peers
Teens increasingly start associating w/ more peers
● Extends peer group to include opposite-sex members
Psychoanalytical approach: Peer relationships compensate for changes in
adolescent-parent relationship
Socialization model: Peers serve as competition for parents
Cognitive: Peers introduce a new relationship that complements the one w/ the parents
Parents still exert considerable influence on adolescent development
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Parent-adolescent relationships may be crucial to well-being in teenage years
4.5 Adulthood and Old Age (Jessie) ​
Cognitive Development
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As individuals age, their frontal lobes begin to mature
○ Age 14: Adult levels of performance on response inhibition (begin to suppress actions
that are inappropriate; interfere with a goal-driven behaviour)
○ Age 15: Memory processing speed
○ Age 19: Working memory tasks
■ Increase in age = poorer performance on memory (such as speed of processing
and reasoning) but stable performance (in vocabulary and other concrete
information)
Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease
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Increase in age = more susceptible to dementia
○ Dementia: Deterioration of brain function that negatively impacts cognitive processes
■ Alzheimer's disease: The gradual onset in loss of cognitive processes such as
reasoning, memory and judgment
■ Increase in confusion and depression which complicates the
completion of daily activities
■ Individuals are typically at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease due to
genetics; however certain environments can serve as protecting factors
against decline
■ E.g. Strong social networking, staying intellectually engaged,
being physically active
Social Development
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Social clock: Cultural norms and societal expectations based on timing of key life events
○ E.g. Marriage, having children, retiring
■ Due to the constant changing of society, "non-normative" behaviour regarding
these norms or expectations have become more common
Emerging adulthood: A period of development ranging from late teens to mid 20's
○ Focuses on exploring identities, instability, self focus and possibilities of one's life
○ Quarter-life crisis: Reflects the challenges that occur during this developmental period
Attachment and Marriage
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Adult Attachment Interview
○ Three attachment styles in adult that are parallel to those in infants
■ Secure or autonomous: React to relationships in an even and positive manner
■ Comfortable + confident in ability to be emotionally close to others
■ Balance of closeness and independence in relationships
■ Anxious or preoccupied: Feel uncomfortable when independent and strive for
constant intimacy and closeness in relationships
■ Have high-levels of relationship needs
■ Avoidant or dismissive: People who are perfectly comfortable without forming
close, emotional relationships
■ Often believe close relationships compromise with independence
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Marriage
○ Troubled marriages with conflict can directly impact one's health and mortality
Parenthood
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Choosing to become a parent a parent can directly impact marital satisfaction
○ Different opinions based on impacts of children in a marital relationship
■ Most research suggest negative impacts on marital and life satisfaction, but
people also believe having children contributes to a more meaningful life
■ Research to date often focuses on heterosexual couples; homosexual couples
often deal with more unique challenges
■ E.g. Gay men opt to have children via surrogacy, as finding a child
decreases relationship satisfaction and reduces intimate time spent
with partner
Retirement
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Adjusting to retirement depends on a number of factors
○ E.g. Some people enjoy the particular occupation they are in, and choosing to cease
the role they work in can cause anxiety
How well someone adjusts to retirement may also vary with # of resources they need to put
away in order to take care of needs
○ E.g. Studies show having higher income, better psychological health and being
married = successful adjustment to retirement
Emotional Well-Being in Old Age
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Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST): Predicts that based on one's place and perception of
time left in life, views and goals can vary
○ Younger adults will value information-related goals
○ Older adults value emotionally-related goals
■ Develop more capacity for emotion regulation and emotional well-being
■ Learn to avoid negatively arousing stimuli
■ Unable to escape distressing events; have greater difficulty recovering after
experiencing age-related physiological changes
Dying, Death and Bereavement
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Bereavement can increase risky behaviour and impact moral decision making skills
○ May also take a toll on physical health
○ Those who are bereaved tend to have higher rates of disability, hospitalization and use
of medication
Number of factors that can help buffer the pain of loss
○ E.g. Having strong social support, developing new interests
4.6-4.7.2 (Rebecca)
4.6 Development: A Lifespan Perspective
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While many developmental psychologists choose a specific range in age to study, Erik Erikson is
one of the few psychologists who stepped up to the challenge in understanding behaviour from
beginning to end.
The 8 Stages of Development by Erik Erikson
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If life was a game, development challenges would be like the main quests and upon
completing, you would reach the next milestone of development. The following table explains
the development milestones and the result if achieved or failed:
Some milestones are more lenient than others meaning if failed, it’s not too detrimental. An example of
this is a neglectful mother can lead to the child growing up being a people pleaser.
4.7 Research Methods in Developmental Psychology
This section will discuss how researchers conduct studies to learn new things about developmental
psychology.
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We use LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH to better see the developmental process. (Meaning a study
observed over a long period of time in one subject)
○ This is used to see if growth happens through change or stability as well as the effects
events during infancy have in adulthood.
We use CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH to observe changes in a group rather than changes in
one person overtime. This observes a group of people of varying ages.
○ Eg. Studying behaviour between diff genders in diff age groups
Reflexive and Involuntary Behaviours
Because young people struggle to effectively communicate their minds, researchers opt to study their
involuntary behaviour instead. (actions like grasping and sucking)
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An example of this in action is when researchers use sucking reflex to understand infants’
interests (more suck, more interest)
○ High amplitude sucking paradigm example: Infants were found to suck more when
hearing speech sounds than non speech sounds (specifically 80%)
Researchers also observe involuntary behaviour like the duration infants look at things of
interest (aka novelty preference)
○ Study found infants look longer at new stimuli than old. Results suggest their visual
stimuli memory affects where they look in the future.
Looking duration is also used to study the concept of morality.
○ Infants were studied while watching a video of shapes climbing a mountain. When the
circle hinders the square, the child looks longer (as the result is unexpected) compared
to when the triangle helps the circle (expected). This shows infants look longer when
encountering the unexpected.
Voluntary Behaviours
Infants develop voluntary behaviour as they grow, eg. reaching out to familiar people rather than
strangers. To assess cognitive, motor and social developments such as these, researchers study the
theory of mind.
● THEORY OF MIND: understanding thoughts, feelings and desires of others
○ This develops in children at the age of about 4 (found out with the false belief
paradigm)
● False belief paradigm: An experiment that uses the influence of knowledge to test if one
possesses a theory of mind. (the understanding that a person’s knowledge influences their
actions even if the knowledge is faulty.)
○ Eg. Child is asked to guess what is in a bandaid box. When revealed it is candy, the child
is asked what others would think is in the box. A child with a theory of mind would say
bandaids while others would say candy.
To test recall memory of a child (remember children have little to no past to recall which poses a
challenge), researchers use ELICITED IMITATION.
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Elicited imitation: Using simple objects and showing infants a sequence of events and then
asking them to perform it through imitation after a delay.
○ Experiments showed infants having impeccable memory. 9 month olds can memorize
2 step sequences for a month and 20 month olds can memorize 4 steps for up to a year.
(the time mentioned here are the delayed times between demonstration and imitation)
4.7.3-4.7.4 (Carl)
Parent-Report or Questionnaire Data
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Infants and young children can only reveal a very limited amount of information about
themselves through behavior alone
Researchers ask parent to complete surveys or questionnaires about infant or child behaviour
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Questionnaire data combined w/ data from other sources to better understand how
development proceeds
● parent-reported data can be biased
Questionnaires frequently ask about infant/child language comprehension and production
● Ex. the Mac-Arthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories used to examine
linguistic consistency at one point in time or over a period of time
Infant Temperament: behavioural construct that involves components of motor activity
and emotionality
● ex. the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire-Revised and the Early Childhood Behaviour
Questionnaire
Considerations in Developmental Research
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Research must conform to ethical standards set by Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
Ensures that research participants won’t be harmed by involvement in a study and they reap
potential benefits associated w/ the study whenever possible
Infants and children are considered a vulnerable population w/ unique risks
Ethical Considerations
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Infants cannot consent to participate in research and cannot indicate when they want to stop
participating
Research requires consent from at least one parent
Children ~7 years old or older can assent: indicate their own willingness to participate in
research
Parents can terminate their child’s involvement in a study at any time
Both parents and children are debriefed about the study whenever possible
Practical Considerations
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Can be difficult to find children and parents willing to participate in research
Makes sample size smaller or more homogenous (bad for data)
Researchers concerned w/ both conclusions drawn based on methods they use but Also
conclusions based on the characteristics of the test samples
Chapter 10 : Intelligence
10.1 - 10.2.2 (Carl)
10.1 The Difficulty of Defining Intelligence
What is Intelligence?
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Comes from inter (between) and legere (to choose, pick out, read)
Reading between the lines, those w/ intelligence have a deeper level of understanding that
allows them to see patterns that are not obvious
Aristotle distinguishes between 2 dimensions of behavioural flexibility:
● Practical Wisdom: application of knowledge
Theoretical Wisdom: underlying explanations of thoughts and actions across
situations
Aristotle also identified ability to engage in reasoning that is both cross-contextual and
contextually sensitive (nous)
Knowledge itself is not intelligence, it is the ability to gain knowledge by learning and solving
problems
● Intelligence can help one use their skills and apply theories more effectively
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The Flynn Effect: Are Humans Getting Smarter?
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James Flynn published a series of studies that seemed to suggest that average IQ scores were
increasing over time
Phenomena known as the Flynn Effect
Not enough time for it to be caused by evolution, must be due to environment
3 main explanations:
1. An overall improvement in nutrition & medical care, improves healthy development
of brain and cognitive abilities
2. Improvements in education; shift from concrete thinking to abstract thinking and
scientific reasoning
3. It’s a byproduct of rapidly changing technology, necessitated adaptations in the
use of one’s working memory and attention
Worth noting that the Flynn Effect is declining or reversing in some countries
10.2 Measuring Intelligence
Early Measures of Intelligence
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Concept of measuring intelligence first introduced in early 1900s
Previous attempts used physiological measures that were not reliable
Sir Francis Galton tried to measure peoples’ abilities using several empirical methods
Hypothesized that one’s general cognitive ability (g) was hereditary, intelligence was related to
how well one used their senses
● tried to equate physical measures of the body w/ mental measurements
● none of his measures corresponded w/ school performance
Galton’s attempts to measure intelligence helped to make great strides in statistics
Found that each ability he measured had a normal distribution
Standard Deviation: the degree to which scores cluster around the mean
● Large SD = spread out scores
● Small SD = scores tightly clustered around the mean
Study of physiological measures of intelligence have re-emerged w/ neuroscience and
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Binet and Simon’s Intelligence Test
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Alfred Binet & Theodore Simon focused on behavioural measures of intelligence
Saw intelligence in more cognitive terms, determined it was the ability to “judge well, to,
comprehend well, to reason well”
Developed tests for attention, memory, imagination, reasoning, common sense, abstraction
Claimed these tests reflected 3 basic abilities:
● Direction: knowing what to do and how to do it
● Adaptation: ability to create strategies for implementing knowledge and
monitoring its progress
● Criticism: ability to step back and find faults in one’s thinking
Realized that intelligence developed w/ age, made tests progressively more difficult for older
age groups
Performance measures by how many of the test a child could successfully complete
● ie. if a 4 year old could answer questions average 4 year olds could answer, the child is
assigned a mental age of 4
● if they could answer questions that average 6 year olds could answer, the
mental age is 6
Efforts helped to standardize the measure of intelligence
10.2.3 - 10.2.5 (Rebecca)
The Stanford-Binet Test
This test was the first written measure of intellect (originally in French). Created by Simon and Binet’s
work, Terman of Stanford expanded on the idea to use it for Americans.
● William Stern suggested dividing mental age by chronological age to get one’s IQ. (Determines
if a child was smarter or dumber than their age group)
○ IQ = (mental age/chronological age)*100
○ From a sample size of 905 kids, Terman found the score distribution to be approx.
normal
○ Results showed the test was pretty accurate and measured what it was meant to find
hence it being better than Galton’s
Wechsler’s Intelligence Tests: Using Deviation IQ
The Stanford-Binet test was good but had flaws. Using age as a factor of intelligence means that IQ
would level off at around age 16, when mental development slows down. With the seemingly static
mental age, it would seem that an older person is less intelligent than a younger person, creating
inaccuracy.
● David Wechsler created a solution to this by gathering results from many people and finding
the average score. By comparing one’s score to the average, the age bias is no longer an issue.
● Wechsler tests created three different well known intellect testing scales
○ Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV)
○ Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V)
○ Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI)
● We know age does not affects the results of the test but there is another advantage of this test
compared to Binet’s
○ Uses a point system
○ Questions are separated by content
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Each test item is assigned a score so not answering the whole set of questions does not
prevent you from getting a score
Performance-Based Measures of Intelligence
The WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) consists of figural tests called PERFORMANCE TESTS.
These test one’s affinity towards detecting hidden patterns. This determines if someone is good at
“reading between the lines”.
Here's an example:
In the 1950’s people heavily revised methods and practices in the field of psychology. This is known as
the cognitive revolution. After this time, intelligence testing has been influenced by dominate cognitive
psychology.
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Atkinson and Schiffrin (1968) created a model to represent cognitive processing and how
memory of info flows between processors as well as processing methods
Cognitive psychologists believe mental processing is similar to computer processing (artificial
intelligence) and use it to better understand human processing
10.2.6-10.3.2 (Juni)
Assessing Processing Speed
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The idea that simple tasks that anyone can do and therefore, the only difference between
people will be how quickly they can do it. This is known as Inspection-time.
Arthur Jensen focused on different styles of speed on processing in his approach for measuring
intelligence. He proposed that intelligence was the speed of neuronal conduction; how quickly
neurons transmit information.
Jenson’s hypothesis was based on plausible conjecture that intelligence is based on how fast
neurons could transmit information, this is because an increase in neuronal conduction might
be analogous to how computers have become more powerful as the processing speed
increased
During Jenson’s time, there was no technology available, so he followed Donders work and
developed a new behavioral measure called choice reaction time (A method that measures
intelligence by indirectly measuring conductance speed by directly measuring processing
speed).
While the test did not challenge the use of Stanford-Binet and WAIS test, it did support the idea
that speed of processing may have played an important role in intelligence, and that smart
people are more quick, clever and sharp. Intelligence is also more than just processing speed.
When computer scientists are trying to solve complex patterns, it is a type of reverse
engineering (A methodological strategy in cognitive science that integrates psychology and
computer science in order to explain human behavior. The strategy involves creating a
computer program that is capable of reproducing a particular pattern of behavior found in
human beings, and then one uses the functions processes within that program as a hypothesis
for explaining human behavior).
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In reverse engineering, one first identifies a complex problem that humans solve. One then tries
to break the problem into smaller pieces and try to reconnect the problem together by solving
each piece.
This kind of method inspired Robert Sternberg to use the same technique called componential
analysis (Studying intelligence by determining how complex problems are solved by breaking
the complex problems down into smaller components). His work was used to solve complex
problems that were often found in IQ tests, namely, and completing analogies.
Encoding the information means creating representations of the element of analogy that
connect to stored information.
Sternberg’s work was indeed a surprise, his work showed that intelligent people took longer to
come up with a strategy and solve a problem. More intelligent people focus their effort on
formulating a problem, and while this initially slows them down, it speeds them up overall.
Sternberg’s work overall on componential analysis foreshadowed important ideals about the
triarchic theory of intelligence.
The Use and Misuse of Intelligence Testing
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Throughout the history of intelligence testing, IQ scores have been misused in a number of
unimaginable ways.
Sir Francis Galton was credited as the founder of the eugenics (A philosophical argument that
seeks to improve human society by encouraging reproduction by people with ‘desirable’
qualities (positive eugenics) and discouraging reproduction by people with ‘undesirable’
qualities (negative eugenics)). movement, which was advocated by Terman in the United states.
The use of eugenics became popular in the U.S in the early 1900s as a means of preventing
“less-desirable” people from having children passing on their perceivably inferior DNA.
Eugenics is the idea that different races and different socioeconomic classes naturally have
differences in intelligence, and that governments should encourage the “superior” races and
classes to reproduce while preventing the “lower” races from reproducing.
Eugenics is based on Social Darwinism, an attempt by thinkers like Herbert Spencer to apply
Darwin’s theory of evolution to find relations between socioeconomic classes and different
nationalities and races of people.
Social Darwinism is now discredited because it misunderstood Darwin’s theory as cleaning that
the strong survive while the weak perish. Social Darwinism relied on the idea that one group is
superior to another. This is a moral evaluation, which is not part of Darwin’s theory.
Terman believed the white people of European ancestry had the highest intelligence, especially
if they were in the upper classes of society. Terman thought he had good evidence for this claim
when he applied his tests to non-whites. Terman believed that the non-whites should be
steered into lower status and more mental jobs. He also argued that people of low IQ should be
sterilized without consent.
Galton’s Classification System of the Eugenics Movement
Intelligence Testing Across Groups
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Terman assumed that his test only measured intelligence and was not affected by things such
as language and cultural knowledge. However it is highly likely that performance on
intelligence tests was being affected by variables other than intellect.
Scores on various portions of intelligence tests likely reflect the test takers socioeconomic status
as opposed to their innate intelligence. Terman assumed that because IQ scores fell on a
normal distribution, the scores were valid measures of innate intelligence, however, the
researchers can now see the flaws in Terman’s ideologies.
Terman also assumed that one’s place in society was determined solely by intelligence, but in
times of widespread and overt prejudice and discrimination, those that are considered
undesirable were oppressed and were much more likely to be born into poverty, having limited
schooling opportunities and experience and many more.
Intelligence testing is tied to important legal and moral issues surrounding racism. Therefore,
even if there were racial differences in IQ, that would not legitimize racism.
Intelligence is affected by situational factors and group differences according to variables
unrelated to race. Measured differences in scores across groups may also be due to systematic
differences between the environment of test takers.
Researchers believe that several characteristics that correlate with modern measures of
intelligence were shared by other species of Homo, this means certain abilities were older than
humans.
Stereotype threat refers to the risk confirming negative expectations about one’s own social
group.
The theory of Stereotype threat is based on research demonstrating that when people are
taking such tests, they feel pressure to not provide evidence supporting negative stereotypes of
the group to which they belong. So in addition to trying to answer the test questions,
participants feel a threat if they fail to answer the question correctly, which results in their
anxiety increasing while taking the test.
Both of these are factors that plausibly would degrade performance within individuals.
Individuals in such situations are worrying about what their test results are worrying about
what their test results might say about their group identity, and this intervening identity
variable affects their performance on the test.
In similarity Carol Dweck and others examine how a person’s level of intelligence is part of that
person’s self identity, which can ultimately affect a person's behavior choices.
It is very important to consider a person’s mindset (A mental structure of representations,
attitudes, and interpretations that affect how one evaluates information and thereby responds
to situations). As one mindset can have a powerful effect on our performance.
Stereotype threat and mindset could be interacting and reinforcing each other for individuals
taking IQ tests.
Based on the information, it is likely that Stereotype threat and mindset are intervening
variables between intelligence and behavior. There is some evidence that mindfulness (Paying
attention to how one is paying attention to and thereby interpreting situations. It often requires
a suspension of inner speech and inferential processing so that attention can be directed to
what one is finding salient in one's current experience. It can be trained by meditative and
contemplative practices) like meditation can change working memory function and attention
and thereby change intelligence scores.
Mindfulness practices can resist the decline in intelligence that comes with age and improve
brain function associated with intelligence. However, even if intelligence is balanced, there is
good reason to believe that equally valuable traits such as rationality (the ability to overcome
self-deception in one's reasoning and problem-solving. It is not simply the same as being
logical. It involves being able to recognize and counteract the effect of bias on one's cognition)
and expertise are quite malleable, and so fixed intelligence is no cause for despair.
Intelligence and Gender
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Similar to controversy surrounding race and IQ, there is a controversy surrounding the
difference between sexes and IQ. Unfortunately, the issue of whether there is an average
difference between female and male intelligence cannot be easily settled just by looking at
standard IQ scores since the tests are carefully created so that no overall average difference
exists between sexes.
Jensen's purpose of tests was for general intelligence, that was not written to eliminate sex
difference, and he came to the conclusion that there was no evidence for any average
difference between male and female intelligence.
Although there is no evidence for average differences in intelligence, that does not mean that
men and women perform the same on all tests of mental ability. There's evidence that men are
better at visuospatial tasks such as mentally rotating images, or aiming at a target, whereas
women are better at verbal abilities, such as quickly generating as many words as they can that
being with the letter “m”
It is tempting to assume that superior visuospatial abilities would predict performance in tasks
requiring math skills, and past research suggests that males outperform females in tests
regarding math. However, assuming a conclusion that men are superior to women with regard
to mathematical skills would be an incorrect conclusion for numerous reasons: (1): any gender
difference in math skills is significantly declining as female students receive similar levels of
math education as male students.
The stereotype threat also likely affects gender differences in math skills, and similar
performance levels are found in situations that are found in situations that do elicit this
negative assumption. Another notable effect on gender differences is due to selection effects
(The skewing of data so that it does not represent the world accurately. Selection effects are
often due to biased selection of data).
Using the selection effects, it is essential to consider data that males with poor math skills are
significantly more likely to drop out of high school than females, thus, male students with low
levels of math abilities are excluded from the samples used to determine gender averages,
which leads to higher averages for males than females.
Stanovich found out that, although there is a positive manifold for intelligence and one also for
reasoning tasks, the correlation between the two measures is, on average, roughly 0.3. So while
intelligence is necessary for rationality, it is far from sufficient.
Rationality is more dependent on whether one has learned a particular style called active
open-mindedness (The thinking disposition in which one sensitizes oneself to look for and be
more aware of bias in one’s thinking and reasoning and one cultivates habits of counteracting
those biases) that had to do with how much one looks for biases in one’s reasoning and actively
counteracts them.
10.4-10.5.2 (Jessie)
10.4 The Nature of Intelligence: Introducing g and s
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Charles Spearman: Began to study intelligence and made a discovery based on children's
school grades
○ Those that tested a certain score tended to test a similar score across other subjects,
despite the differences in subject matter
g = Concept of general cognitive ability
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■ Factor analysis: The use of statistical measures to determine how much
variables are related to each other in order to find "factors"
Inter-item Correlations
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Used to find degree of relatedness
○ Items with high correlation coefficients (Closest to correlation coefficient of 1.0) = items
are measuring a similar concept
■ E.g. If the scores of a student is similar across high jumps, long jumps, hurdles
and sprinting, then all the items can be recognized to be part of one factor
(track and field)
■ Performance in track and field tasks are also unrelated to tasks in
swimming; therefore, lack of relatedness means track and field and
swimming are different factors
Charles Spearman
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Hypothesized that there are two levels of intelligence
○ Higher order level of general intelligence (g): Can be applied to any content area
■ General intelligence involves the following:
■ Apprehension of one's own experiences
■ How one sizes up to certain situations
■ Making implicit decisions as to what is important and what
should be given more attention
■ "g" reflects mental energy that is available throughout whole cortex
■ Idea that more intelligent people had more energy to devote to mental
tasks; therefore could perform more challenging mental tasks
○ Lower order specialized abilities (s): Specific to certain subjects or tasks
■ More specialized version of general ability
■ E.g. Verbal intelligence measures performance on verbal-based
problems, which is a specific ability
Louis Thurstone
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Used factor analysis to contradict Spearman's theory
○ Concluded that intelligence is made up of seven factors: Primary mental abilities
The Debate about General Intelligence
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Raymond Cattell: Proposed that top of hierarchical structure was general intelligence
○ Fluid general intelligence (Gf): Ability to think flexibly and handle complex or novel
situations
■ Solving new problems that are not based on primary knowledge
○ Crystallized general intelligence (Gc): The ability to solve problems by applying
knowledge previously learnt
■ Cognitive Flexibility: Knowing how to apply one's knowledge
Fluid and crystallized intelligence have complex developmental relationship known as "wisdom
paradox"
○ Initially, people rely on problem-solving abilities that deal with complexity; this builds up
a template in which the brain recognizes
■ Increasingly, we can shift from solving effortful problems to effortless problem
pattern recognition
■ Therefore, wisdom paradox helps explain how life experiences facilitate with
problem solving
Beyond General Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence
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Made up of four components
○ Ability to perceive emotions accurately
○ Ability to use emotions in order to facilitate thoughts
○ Ability to understand emotions
○ Ability to maintain emotions
Also includes concepts such as sympathy and empathy
○ Widely accepted as a form of differentiating "people smarts" compared to "book
smarts"
■ E.g. A person may have high levels of general intelligence but may not be able
to perceive emotions within themselves or others
Other Forms of Intelligence
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Sternberg's Theory of Triarchic Intelligence: Identified three components of intelligence that
are all correlated to different content areas
○ Analytical intelligence: Components are applied to problems found in standard IQ tests
○ Creative intelligence: Components are applied to unfamiliar situations in which novelty
is significant
○ Practical intelligence: Components are applied to real-world settings
Successful intelligence: Being able to use all three components so that people are able to
perform in the greatest possible variety of contexts
10.5.3-10.6 (Maliha)
Multiple Intelligences
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Concept of multiple intelligences: which purports that there are multiple kind of intelligence
that are distinct from each other
○ Proposed by Howard Gardner
○ Theory quite questionable
○ Argued that there are distinct and independent systems functioning within specified
domains
○ According to him evidence for such intelligences comes from a variety of
interdisciplinary sources
○ He proposed 8 sources, 4 are considered to be central
○ One form of intelligence can survive intact when there is brain damage
E.g. losing several abilities due to a car accident but retaining the ability to play
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flute well
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Musical intelligence: One's ability to understand and potentially make music
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: How well one moves one's body in such things as martial arts,
sport and athletics
Interpersonal intelligence: How well you can interpret people, especially in social situations
Verbal-linguistic intelligence: How well one uses language
Logical-mathematical intelligence: How well one can use abstract formal systems, e.g. logical
arguments or algebra
Naturalistic intelligence: How well one can make sense of ecological situations and interactions
Intrapersonal intelligence: how well you can cultivate self-awareness, understanding, and
knowledge
Visual-spatial intelligence: how well you can make sense of pictures and images e.g. Raven's
Progressive Matrices
● Implication educators draw from this theory is that different individuals will have
different learning styles based on which type of intelligence is dominant within them;
and they should be taught according to their styles
Studies have failed to find evidence for this
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● Learning is a function of a person's ability to use their intelligence to focus on relevant
information and make relevant connections
Cultural Intelligence
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Theory of cultural intelligence: researchers believe that general intelligence evolved in the
context of social learning
○ Social learning requires the coordination of skills of attention, working memory, and
problem solving, thus leading to behavioral flexibility and innovation that are central to
general intelligence
○ According to Sloman and Fernback: most of us suffer from knowledge illusion of
thinking we know and understand more than we do.
○ Human brain focuses on relevant information, gets gist of the situation, and ultimately
identifies the knowledge and skills necessary to address the problem
○ Most knowledge is not held by individuals but by system of people
● Concept of cultural intelligence can be explain a pivotal period in the evolution of
human intelligence
● Between 60,000 and 30,000 years ago there was a significant change in human
behavior. Clear evidence of a wider variety of tools made using different materials, the
invention of projectile weapons, the invention of calendars and season-specific hunting,
ceremonial burial, cave paintings, sculptures, musical instruments, and personal jewelry
Upper Paleolithic Transition: period when many of the traits of intelligence we regard
distinctly as human came into being
● Contextual focus: is the ability to shift between defocused attention and focused
attention
○ Defocused states trigger more associational and intuitive thought
○ Focused attention triggers more logical and directed thought
Metacognitive control allows one to expand or shrink the field of attention and thereby alter
what is salient
Defocused mode allows one to break out of stuck or fixated modes of thought and re-filter what
one considers relevant. Then more focused processing can kick-in and order the newly relevant
information into a solution
Ritual behavior trains one's context focus, often in situations that are challenging for the
individual and put a significant demand on working memory
Use of rituals emerged during the Upper Paleolithic Transition
Rituals especially shamanic rituals , that invoke altered states of consciousness in order to
improve hunting and healing (both physical and psychological) are widespread in
hunter-gatherer societies
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Use of ritual is how we initially learned to direct the fine-tuning of our cultural intelligence
The Biology and Culture of Intelligence
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The biological and cultural evolution of intelligence are deeply intertwined
Intelligence is based on many genes, and various combinations of these genes can be turned
off and on by environmental changes
Traits are due to a dynamic coupling of gene activity and environmental conditions
How Much of the Variance in Intelligence Between Individuals is Heritable?
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Conducting family studies to see if biologically related individuals are similar in intelligence
than non-related individuals and whether the similarity increases with biological relatedness.
● There are consistent findings that intelligence level is heritable
● Caution: possibility that since identical twins look the same and have same
temperaments, they will receive the same treatment
One method to determine the relative influence of heredity versus environmental factors is to
compare identical twins adopted by different families and raised apart to fraternal twins who
are raised together.
If identical twins who are raised apart still show more similarity in their intelligence scores in
comparison to the fraternal twins, there is good evidence for genetic factors in intelligence
● Caution: families that adopt such twins are often similar in socioeconomic status and
other environmental factor; similar environment can account for similarities in
measurement
Significant proportion of the variance in intelligence is due to heritable genetic factors
Both environment (especially cultural environment) and biology play a significant and
intertwined role in generation of intelligence
Level of intelligence is a function of both nature (genetics) and nurture (environment)
Although a portion is genetically determined, the environment is also critical for cognitive
development
Areas of the brain grow and change dramatically during gestation
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If a child is raised in an enriched environment, then the neural connections are made
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and areas of the brain continue to progress until early adulthood
Being raised in a sensory-deprived environment adversely affects brain development,
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which ultimately affects intelligence
Module 11
Chapter 11 : Motivation and Emotion
11.2-11.2.1 (Rebecca)
What Are Emotions? How Do We Define Them?
This chapter discusses emotions and how it affects behaviour. Emotions like anxiety have existed even
for our ancestors and evolved to sense danger as a defense mechanism. Nowadays, anxiety has
developed to deal with stress.
● Emotions is classified as describing a feeling one has towards objects and events. They last a
short duration as a reaction to an event.
● Moods are longer lasting compared to emotions but are less intense. They are not triggered by
events/objects.
The Role of Rewards and Punishers
Recall that rewards and reinforcers are stimuli that motivates us to work toward a goal while punishers
and aversive stimuli do the opposite. These stimuli evoke emotions as a reaction to consequence.
Pavlvovian and operant conditioning (consequence with voluntary act) along with evolution has
allowed emotions to have more local causes.
● Sad about punishers and happy about rewards
● Planning rewards and punishers can also induce these emotional states
● Emotions are conditioned to discriminative stimuli, behaviours and consequences
○ Discriminative/Antecedent Stimuli: signals if you receive a reinforcer or a punisher as a
result of responding
The following table shows the functions of emotions to certain reinforcers and punishers:
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Emotions last longer than the reinforcer so it continues until we receive the next reinforcer
○ This allows a person to be in an active state of response after the reward, making you
maintain the good behaviour and anticipating the good consequence.
■ This helps us learn, store and remember info
11.2.2-11.2.3 (Carl)
11.2.2: Expressing Experience & Emotion
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Charles Darwin suggests emotions are adaptive & function as communication, based on 3
principles
1. Serviceable Habits: emotions served a purpose in non-human animal, no longer
useful for humans
● ie. a dog shows its teeth as a warning to predators, people show their teeth
when they’re disgusted
2. Antithesis: opposite emotions have opposite body expressions
● anger=tense muscles, happy=relaxed muscles
3. Direct Action of the Nervous system: Emotions create noticeable changes in the
nervous system
● ie. blood rushing up to your face when angry to make your face red, clear sign
that body is responding to stimulus
How Do We Identify Emotions in Others?
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Basic Emotion Theory: Distinct emotions and associated cognitive, physiological, and
motor expressions unfold over time in a predictable pattern w/o attention or intention
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○ based on Darwin’s theory above
William James holds that people have the wrong idea of how emotional events occur
○ What we think happens
1. Perceive Stimulus
2. Experience Emotion
3. Physically express emotion
William James & Carl Lange propose the James-Lange Theory of Emotions, order is as
follows
1. Perceive Stimulus
2. Publicly express emotion through physiological changes
3. Privately acknowledge the emotion we experience
James holds that internal organs are important for processing emotions
○ Cutting off CNS from internal organs doesn’t prevent acknowledgement of emotions
○ Rather than emotional states different physiological states occurring in different
emotional/neutral states, physiological responses are similar
○ Internal organs (ie. intestines) are just as sensitive as external organs (ie. skin)
Cannon-Bard Thalamic Theory of Emotions: thalamus plays important role in processing
emotion; does the following:
1. Perceive physical stimulus in environments
2. Simultaneously produce bodily/facial expression changes & acknowledge emotion
The thalamus mediates emotional reactions and reports back to cortex
Can explain why bodily changes are not necessary to produce emotional responses
Evidence includes
1. rage surgically invoked by removing cerebellum, disappears when thalamus is removed
2. Tumors on different sides of thalamus produce different emotions
3. Anesthesia/impairment of thalamus produces unregulated crying/laughing
It is possible to create facial expressions w/o the corresponding emotion
Simulated Expression: the emotion being presented over the masked emotion, not
actually felt
Masked Expression: the feeling actually being felt, concealed by simulated expression
Leakage occurs because some emotional facial expressions aren’t controllable
Four Universal Expressions that Correspond to Specific Emotions
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Seems to be evidence that emotions are consistent in isolated cultures
Paul Ekman held that there were seven basic emotions with distinct facial expressions
1. Happiness
2. Surprise
3. Fear
4. Anger
5. Sadness
6. Disgust
7. Contempt
Each facial movement has an action unit: describes how the eyebrows, mouth, cheeks, or eyes
change w/ each expression
Four culturally common minimal facial expressions that form the basis of other emotions:
1. Happy
2. Anxious
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3. Surprise
4. Disgust
Language seems to play important role in processing emotions, left hemisphere primarily used
to process emotions
11.2.3: What Specific Emotions Influence Behaviour?
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Emotional Contagion: people ‘catch’ an emotion from another person
How Conditioned Emotional Responses Like Fear Arise
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Conditioned Emotional Response Procedure: using classical conditioning to link a neutral
stimulus to an emotional response
Ex. rats conditioned to fear a tone press a lever less frequently when the tone plays, even if the
lever produces food
Activity in amygdala and prefrontal cortex accompany emotional responses to stress
People developed a greater fear response to a snake-shock stimulus pairing compared to a
white noise-shock pairing
Snakes elicit a greater response possibly due to a genetic predisposition to fear them, a function
of species phylogeny
How Animals Respond to Stress/Distress
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When animals show signs of stress, another animal might respond to help the animal in
distress
Medial front cortex modulates conditioned fear and avoidance
rats continue to press a lever to avoid a shock, even when they don’t need to
● perseverance is a measure of stress
putting rats in pairs stopped the unnecessary avoidance response
Amsel’s Frustration Theory as an Explanation for Behaviour
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Clark Hull influenced early instrumental conditioning, proposed that there were 2 parts to a
conditioning response:
○ Physical stimulus related to producing rewards
○ The Perception of a goal-related stimulus
Individual responses, stimuli, and perception keep an animal responding until it receives an
award
Abram Ansel recognizes Frustrative events as a 3rd type of goal event
○ Frustrative Events: situations in which rewards are not as quickly available as they
once were or omitted entirely
frustration only occurs in extinction for rats that have experienced continuous reinforcement
schedules and responding while frustrated has never been reinforced
another example: going to your a restaurant only to find out your favourite dish has been
removed, you’ll probably keep asking about it even after everyone tells you that it is no longer
available
11.3 (Jessie)
Hunger
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Pavlov's experiments were designed to study the digestive system; most of his experiments
had something to do with eating
Digestive System
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Mouth: Mechanical digestion includes chewing and swallowing
Esophagus: Chemical digestion of carbohydrates and fats
Stomach: Mechanical digestion includes peristaltic mixing and propulsion, while chemical
digestion includes proteins, fats and the adsorption of liquid substances
Small Intestine: Consists of carbohydrates, fats, polypeptides and nucleic acids; absorbs
peptides, amino acids, glucose, fats, water and other minerals
Large Intestine: Absorption of ions, water, minerals, vitamins and organic molecules
Orosensory Stimuli: Flavour and texture sensations allowing us to taste food
● Can signal upcoming calories
○ Signal is very delayed from digestion; takes around four to six hours for food to
fully digest
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Short delayed conditioning occurs in smaller time scales compared to trace conditioning
○ Trace conditioning: Used in orosensory conditioning
Hunger and Interoceptive Stimuli as Setters for Behaviour
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Hunger regulates other systems within in the body
○ E.g. Engaging in goal-relates behaviours, perception, attention, problem solving,
memory etc.
Al-Shawaf: Connects hunger to emotions
○ Stress-related emotions can modulate hunger; those who experience stress do
not think about the taste of food when selecting items to eat
Occasion setters: An event that tells the organism something is about to occur
Taste = conditional stimulus that signals availability of calories needed (unconditional
stimulus) and feeling of satisfaction of being full
● Satiation: The feeling of being full
● Interoceptive stimuli: Occurs inside of our bodies; Indicates change from
one state to another
● Used as both occasion setters and conditional stimuli
Some animals must make sure they have enough food saved for when food is scarce
○ Forage: Looking for and locating food
○ Hoard or Cache: Storing food in the same location for when food is scarce
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Stimulus Substitution
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Suggests that conditional stimulus is responded to as if it were an unconditional stimulus
○ E.g. Person salivates when thinking about taste of lemon just as they would
when actually drinking lemonade
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Energy budget: Consuming a certain amount of calories a day in
order to survive
Exteroceptive stimuli: Comes from outside our bodies; indicates
change from one state to another
Signal Substitution
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A type of conditioning where one responds to an artificial conditional stimulus as if it
interchanged with an unconditional stimulus
○ Artificial conditional stimulus substitutes for naturally occurring signals
○ Occurs with supernormal stimuli or superstimuli which evoke responses
● Supernormal stimuli (superstimuli): Exaggerated version of a
stimulus which elicits a response more strongly than stimulus that
it evolved from
Digesting and Diluting Acids
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Saliva helps break down food as it is chewed
○ Salivation is correlated to hunger
○ Also helps to dilute acids
● Makes tastes of acids less intense neutralizes acid by increasing pH
level
Mate Choice and Reproductive Success
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Sex isn't a biological need like hunger is; organisms are able to survive without sex but not
without food
○ Ultimate cause of all behaviour comes from selecting a mate and producing
offspring
Belongingness and Conditional Responses Facilitating Reproductive Success
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Belongingness: Also known as constrained learning; cue-consequence learning where it is
easier to condition certain responses to certain outcomes
○ E.g. It is easier for a rat to learn that flavour can signal a taste-inducing toxin
rather than learning it through a visual stimulus
● Conditional response can help with reproductive success
● E.g. Woman who wears the same perfume every time
she has sex with her partner will most likely arouse
partner every time she wears that scent-- therefore it is
more likely she would get impregnated when wearing
that perfume scent compared to when she is not
Attractiveness of Potential Mates
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In species where females bear most of the work for reproduction, they typically select their
partners
○ Ejaculation and fertilization occur on a much shorter timescale compared to
gestation
Good genes hypothesis: Females tend to choose males who are seen to have genetic
advantages, therefore increasing offspring quality
○ Good genes = fitness advantages due to certain adaptations
○ We are generally attracted to good genes
● For short term partners, women prefer more attractive men; for
long term partners, women prefer men with resources to provide
for a child
● Preferences are modulated by menstrual cycle; Women
choose more masculine and aggressive men when they
are ovulating and more developmentally stable men
during low-fertility days
● Men typically judge attractiveness based on fertility and
reproductive value
● Best predictors for female fertility is hip-to-waist ratio
● Further away from ratio = less likely that
woman will become pregnant in a single
mating
Organisms that Change Sex for Better Productive Success
●
Hermaphrodites: Have the ability to contribute to sperm or receive sperm in order to
fertilize eggs
○ Can be either male or female
○ Gender ratio hypothesis: How they decide when to contribute sperm and when
to receive it
Pheromones Affecting Sexual Behaviour: Olfactory Processing
●
Pheromones: Chemical signal that indicates the reproductive status of a potential partner
○ Olfactory: Animals detect and learn about what scent stimuli predict
● During phases of menstrual cycle, mammals show differential
olfactory sensitivity to pheromones
● When female is in estrus (most fertile right before and
after ovulation); she is more receptive to male odors
● Estradiol: Female sex hormone produced
by ovaries that enhances sensitivity to odors
●
●
Effect of chemical signals can be seen by observing how women react to scent of other
women who are breastfeeding
○ Women who were not dating experienced more sexual fantasies when smelling
chemical signals from breast milk
○ When men smell copulins or vaginal secretions during woman's fertilization
cycle, they rate themselves more sexually desirable
Pheromones work by increasing attraction or sexual desire for reproduction
The Coolidge Effect
●
Occurs when a habituated sexual response increases with a new animal
○ Habituation: Type of learning in which one is repeatedly exposed to same
stimulus and eventually stops responding to it
Mate Poaching
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Occurs when individual attempts to copulate with an individual that is already in a
relationship
○ Paternal uncertainty: When men are unable to know directly whether child
that partner is carrying is theirs or someone else's
○
Rivalry sensitivity hypothesis: Women tend to focus on rivals in their partner's
immediate vicinity while men focus on their partner if a rival is nearby
11.4-11.4.1 (Juni)
Overarching Theories of Motivation
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There are clearly many systems and types of behavior involved in emotions, hunger, and sex.
Motivation (The cause of behavior that is closely tied to antecedents and consequences of
behavior as well as internal drives. It is why we do what we do) is why people do what they
do.
Motivation determines how long humans can persist along our current course of action and
how much effort it will exert according to motivational intensity theory.
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Effort is usually measured as blood pressure changes from muscle exertion during physical
tasks. However,motivational intensity is influenced by performance feedback and isn’t fully
entirely caused by internal mechanisms like personality or psychological disorder.
Early theories of Motivation
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The first theory on motivation was Clark Hull and Kenneth Spence’s drive-reduction
theory(Need is determined by combination of learning and a person's physiology, and need
intensity will be reflected in the intensity of responding)
“It is sufficient to state that response frequency (Rp) is some positive monotonic function of
excitatory potential” (E.Spence, 1958 P. 132).
Situation-including how many trials are needed with and without reinforcement or intensity of
aversive stimulus as the learning/need factor-and the magnitude of a drive factor from
physiological, cortical/emotional responses determine the level of overt responding.
A large aversive stimulus will support a more intense drive and response, just as a less intense
one will support a smaller drive and response. However, the emotional and overt responses
occur less frequently when the aversive stimulus is presented repeatedly
Spence and Hull also hypothesized that more emotional participants would show greater
reactions to the same moderate level of intensity of an aversive stimulus than less-emotional
participants.
Robert Yerkes and John Dodson, like Spence and Hull, studied the effects of stimulus intensity
(weak, moderate, and strong) on three levels of detecting black-and-white visual difference in
mice a.
As Winton (1987) points out, the concept of arousal hadn’t yet become a popular heuristic at the
time when Yerkes and Dodson were conducting their research. Only later did people notice that
their data conformed to the Yerkes-Dodson law and retrospectively asserted that arousal was
interchangeable with whatever happens due to stimulus intensity. Specifically, Yerkes and
Dodson (1908) found that mice made more eros-chose the wrong visual stimulus-across trials
when they were shocked for errors with a weak or strong shock than with an intermediate one.
Spence and Hull, Brehm, and Yerkes and Dodson all had early models that described how
motivation as a drive interacts with the task to be completed to produce a certain level of
behavior.
11.4.2-11.4.3 (Maliha)
Operant Approaches to Motivation
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For operant approaches, motivation is closely tied to the preceding stimuli and associated
consequences of behavior
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We are sensitive to states of deprivation
These states determine the effectiveness of reinforcers and when we'll work to obtain them
Premack’s Principle of Reinforced Efficacy
The Premack principle: a behavior or activity that has a higher probability of occurring may be
used as a reinforcer for a behavior or activity that has a lower probability of occurring
● It states that reinforcers are preferred activities and that you'll do some less preferred activity to
access the preferred activity
● This arrangement creates a reinforcer because the only way we can perform a preferred activity
is to first perform a less enjoyable activity
● Preferred activity: activity you'll do more frequently
● Less preferred activity: one you'll do less often
- e.g. deciding not to go out until after you finish your homework --> employing Premack principle
● Premack created a preferred activity by restricting water but giving rats free access to a running
wheel
- rats had to run in the wheel in order to drink water
- drinking water, the restricted behavior serve as a reinforcer for running in the wheel
- reinforcer was the activity that rats couldn't do as often, and the reinforcing behavior could be
used to increase a non-deprived response
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Premack's graduate student Bill Timberlake was able to falsify Premack's hypothesis and
proposed the response-deprivation hypothesis.
Response-deprivation hypothesis: responses and reinforcers are activities, and any activity
cannot be performed as frequently as a person would like can serve as a reinforcer for a
response performed with the usual frequency
Michael’s Motivating Operations That Make Reinforcers More or Less Valuable
Jack Michael proposed that there are motivating operations that act on the antecedent
stimulus, behavior, and consequence contingency.
● Motivating operations: variables that are extended in time and momentarily change the current
frequency of behavior related to a specific reinforcer
- they also alter the value of a reward
- similar to Pavlovian occasion setters and operant antecedent stimuli, but aren't as closely tied to
discrete events
- motivating operation affect both behavior and consequences
●
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There are two types of motivating operations:
1. Establishing operations: increase the effectiveness of reinforcers and evoke the behavior
related to obtaining them
- e.g. being hot and sweaty with access to a fan is an establishing operation
2.
Abolishing operation: decrease the effectiveness of reinforcers and decrease the
behavior related to obtaining them
- being a little warm and having a heater is an abolishing operation since you don't need to be
warmer
Other examples of motivating operations include: food deprivation,
- Food deprivation
- Water deprivation
- Oxygen deprivation
- Activity deprivation
- Sleep deprivation
- Sexual deprivation
- Becoming too hot
- Becoming too cold
- Increase in painful stimuli
● Both natural motivating operations and conditioned motivating operations can be used to
arrange establishing operations for appropriate behavior and abolishing operations for
inappropriate behavior for people with and without intellectual disabilities in applied behavior
analysis.
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Social Approaches to Motivation
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We need close, interpersonal relationships in need-based approaches and career/academic
excellence with achievement motivation
Needs Based Approaches
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Maslow's basic, physiological needs:
- e.g. a person who is malnourished will work to obtain food and water before attempting to earn
respect from others
● These human needs are also interdependent, but have various ways of obtaining each goal
When researchers try to measure how participants meet their need, the results were mixed due
to faulty operational definitions for each need and cultural influences
● Social theories of motivation emphasize social connections like friendships
● Need to belong: people need to form close, strong, and lasting interpersonal relationships for
their own well-being
● People try to maintain these relationships even when interactions become aversive because it's
a basic need
● The need to belong is particularly apparent in Kip Williams' work on ostracism
● Ostracism: what happens when one member or the whole group ignores and excludes another
member or group who is ill, freeloading, or lacks the skills needed to contribute
- different reasons for exclusion also produce different emotions and strategies to regain group
membership
- in extreme example the ostracized person died and the group became more cohesive
- the ostracized person initially feel less like they belong to the group but are in better control of
their own lives
- while the initiator of ostracism benefits, they can help the ostracized person by clearly severing
the relationship
- after being ostracized, people feel sad/angry, stimulated physical pain, and the loss of basic need
- to recover from the initial reflexive stage of ostracism, people can engage in distraction, prayer,
or self-affirmation
● Loneliness can be hereditary and influence personality states like self-esteem, emotions, moods
and social skills
● Social neuroscience researchers assert that the neuropeptide oxytocin influences social
attachment, empathy, and social threat
● People without psychological disorders also experience anxiety, depressive symptoms, and
insomnia as a result of social isolation
● The longer people remain in social isolation, they are more likely to experience post-traumatic
stress disorder and can use social like fictional characters in movies, books, and other media to
fulfill their social needs
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Achievement Motivation
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Achievement motivation: all people have an internal desire to achieve excellence at something,
which is reflected in their performance on tasks in that content area
This broad definition lends itself to education researchers studying achievement motivation as
student performance and industrial/organizational researchers studying achievement
motivation as employee performance--> research in social psychology covers both areas
Even when people are capable of performing and are otherwise motivated to complete a task,
better and worse performance feedback makes them less likely to finish the current task or a
future one well-being
Attractiveness and mate potential influence how others assign a person's achievement to their
ability or luck--> attractive potential mates achieve success via ability, and attractive potential
rivals achieve success via luck
Ambitions can come from our own standards (intrinsic) or those imposed upon us (extrinsic), as
per Edward Deci and Richard Ryan's self-determination theory
Some behaviors are automatic and some are consciously motives
Extrinsic rewards reduce existing, high levels of intrinsic motivation
It was found that paying literature and mathematics majors based their test performance
improved motivation and performance more than existing interest in the subject matter alone
However it should be taken into consideration how much initial interest someone has in an area
and what rewards they'll earn for their performance as important factors for motivation
Module 12
Chapter 12 : Personality
12.1 (Maliha)
12.1 What is Personality?
Personality: an enduring set of internally-based characteristics that create uniqueness and
consistency in a person's thoughts and behaviors
● Personality traits: internally based characteristics that make-up one's personality
- individual differences in personality reflect the types of and degree to which they possess certain
traits
● Three distinct elements of personality:
1. Uniqueness of the individual: personality explains how the expression of each
individual's thoughts and behavior is different
personality traits are specific to each person. Even among monozygotic twins, each twin
has unique personality traits
2. Consistency of behavior: personality describes how the behavior of the individual is
consistent over time and across situations
3. Explanation: personality provides an explanation to account for the expression of the
behavior- an inherited tendency
explanation helps to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how and why
individuals do what they do
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Personality traits and characteristics are used to help explain uniqueness, describe consistency,
and clarify the underlying processes that account for such uniqueness and consistency in
thoughts and behavior
12.2-12.3 (Juni)
12.2: Psychodynamic Perspectives
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Psychodynamic perspectives: The Freudian notion that personality is a function of internal
processes and conflicts over which individuals have little or no conscious awareness or personal
control.
First described in studies on Hysteria, the underlying assumption of the psychodynamic
perspective is that the expression of personality is motivated by internal processes and conflicts
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that individuals have little or no conscious awareness of and, consequently, have limited
personal control.
The person that is associated with the psychodynamic perspective is Sigmund Freud. Others
who proposed their own psychodynamic perspective in reaction to Freud’s perspective include
Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Karen Horney, all of whom placed greater emphasis on social
relationships and conscious awareness as the basis for understanding the expression of
personality.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective
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Although Freud was well known for his early influence on psychology, he was not a
psychologist. He was training as a medical doctor. After finishing medical school, Freud began
his professional career in the late 1800s as a clinical neurologist. Freud primarily focused on
hysteria and etiology of hysteria along with other neuroses. In 1896, Freud published 2 articles
stating that early childhood sexual trauma was the cause of hysteria and other neuroses.
Freud made increasing connections between problems people experienced in their everyday
lives that seem emotionally based
Graphic representation of Freud’s iceberg model
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Conscious mind: All mental activities that a person is aware of and able to freely access
Preconscious mind: A level of consciousness that is not in the forefront of one’s thoughts;
however, information can be retrieved and brought to conscious awareness.
Freud’s most significant contribution of study of personality was unconscious mind
Unconscious mind: The largest and most influential part of the mind, according to Freud;
houses any thoughts or impulses that are considered too threatening to be in one’s conscious
mind.
According to Freud, to understand personality it is necessary to expose and gain access to the
content of the unconscious mind. Failing to allow the expression of this content results in the
building up of pressure in the unconscious that, if not released, would appear in the form of
hysterical reactions, such as paralysis of legs. However, because the unconscious mind disguises
the meaning of its content, observing this information directly is not possible.
Free association: A technique of psychoanalysis in which a client is encouraged to freely share
thoughts, words , and anything else that comes to mind in order to gain insight into their u
conscious thoughts, behaviors, and motivations.
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The use of free association required the individual to say whatever came to their mind without
considering how meaningless or threatening it might seem. He assumed that because the
associations are linked together emotionally in the unconscious, an analysis of the pattern of
these connections would reveal their true meaning as expressions of past and present
psychological trauma. His most important technique for examining clues to the unconscious
was the use of dream analysis.
In Freud’s book The interpretation of Dreams, Freud describes studying dreams as important to
understanding the expression of personality because “The interpretation of dreams is the royal
road to knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.”
Manifest content: In dream analysis, the actual content of the dream that the dreamer
remembers-without any interpretation-is the manifest content.
Latent content: The content of dreams that are expressions of the unconscious mind and a
reflection of one’s true feelings, needs, and desires.
The Id, Ego, and Superego
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Id: A core component of personality in the unconscious that is driven by sexual and aggressive
impulses.
Freud believed that it was present at birth and served as the primary driver of personality.
Freud proposed that the id, without any direct contact with the external world or conscious
awareness, operates on the pleasure principle(The driving force of the id, where the focus is on
the fulfilment of all sexual urges and aggressive impulses.) The id takes care of basic human
needs for survival and self-preservation in addition to satisfying primal urges such as sexual
impulses Eros(Unconscious sexual impulses) and unrestrained aggression Thanatos (Death
impulses manifested as unrestrained aggression).
Ego: it is the component of the mind that can subdue the id’s sexual and aggressive impulses to
wait for the “right time and right place.”
Superego: One moral compass of what is right and what is wrong; this is learned from parents,
teachers, religious leaders, and etc.
Superego represents one’s sense of right and wrong. Like ego, the superego exists at all three
levels of conscious awareness and is based on a sense of morality reflecting family values, official
laws, social conventions, and more.
The Role of Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms
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Reality Anxiety: A form of anxiety that serves as a warning sign for real danger.
Moral Anxiety: A form of anxiety that serves to notify the superego that the ego is considering
violating one’s moral code.
Neurotic Anxiety: A form of anxiety that warns the ego of threatening expressions of id impulses
at a level of conscious awareness.
Defense mechanisms:Ways to avert the expression of id impulses without conscious awareness.
Repression: A common defense mechanism where the ego removes the threatening stimulus
from conscious awareness.
Table summary of Defense Mechanisms:
Development of Personality: Psychosexual stages
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Freud proposed the development of personality through a sequence of five psychosexual
stages. The labeling of these stages reflects the conflict between the expression of the id’s
desire to seek immediate pleasure and societies demand to restrict it.
Erogenous zone: Area of the body associated with pleasure.
According to Freud, the unsuccessful resolution of these conflicts may result from conditions
where the child receives too little or too much pleasure. Such setbacks can result in the person
being fixated(According to Freud, if one did not successfully navigate a psychosexual stage, he
or she would become stuck at that stage, which would subsequently affect one's personality
development and behavior in adulthood) at that stage. Later in life, when the person is under
stress, they may regress(A defense mechanism where an individual reverts to an earlier stage of
psychosexual development in times of stress). To this period of development to resolve earlier
sources of frustration or relive a time of excessive gratification of their needs.
Table of Freud's Psychosexual stages of personality development:
Evaluating Freud’s Psychoanalytical perspective
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The evaluation of Freud’s psychoanalytical perspective is complicated. A major criticism of
Freud’s perspective is that he based his theory on evidence involving a limited number of
individuals he treated in his clinical practice seeking help for mental disorders- in other words,
he developed a theory based on “unhealthy personalities.”
However, it should be noted that many of his important ideas about the influences of the
unconscious on personality were developed without the benefits of modern brain-imaging
technology. To his credit, and consistent with contemporary neuroscience research, he did
correctly note that we seem to have limited access to his operation of what goes on in our
minds. In addition, although contemporary research has provided some evidence to support
Freud’s ideas of defense mechanisms, they seem to operate more at the conscious level of
awareness as a deliberate strategy to protect our self-image than as an unconscious response to
weaken threatening impulses.
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The mere fact that his perspective on personality continues to be discussed over 150 years after
his birth is a testament to the enduring quality of his ideas. It should be noted, however, that
this influence seems to be stronger in academic departments outside of psychology than
within psychology, and there has been a general decline in his appeal within the scientific
community.
Neo-Freudian perspectives
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The neo-Freudian perspective represents explanations of personality based on reactions to an
extension of Freud's psychoanalytic perspective.
Jung’s Analytical perspective
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Carl Jung was a Swiss Physician and one of Freud’s earliest and strongest supporters because
of their mutual interest in the dynamics of the unconscious mind. However, over the years, the
two began to disagree. One major point of dispute was with Freud’s ideas regarding the nature
of the unconscious mind.
Jung created the collective unconscious(According to Jung the unconscious mind is
interconnected with the experiences of past generations of different people throughout the
world. As evidence of this, Jung pointed to universal knowledge and tendencies that people
share and the shared concepts that he identified as archetypes). which he believed was
interconnected through past experiences to other individuals across generations and locations
around the world. Contained in this region of the mind was a universal set of common
thoughts, feelings, behaviors, beliefs, rituals, emotions, experiences, images, and symbols
inherited from all of those who came before us over time, including animals.
Jung believed that all of his inherited universal knowledge was stored in the collective
unconscious in the form of archetypes.
Archetypes (universal thought patterns and behavior rituals triggered by specific situations,
symbols, and images represent certain people, ideas, or beliefs.)
The persona was the tendency for people to develop a certain pattern of behavior when in
public to get along with others, similar to Freud’s superego. The shadow represents the dark
and more primitive side of personality, similar to Freud’s id. The most important archetype,
serves to unite all other aspects of the individual’s personality, much like Freud’s ego. A famous
philosopher has noted that Jung's archetypes also appear repeatedly in stories and myths from
around the world. In the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, he discusses the hero's
journey that appears throughout both Western and Eastern literature.
Table of archetypes, Their meaning, and symbolic representation:
Adler’s individual perspective
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Alfred Adler was an early supporter of Freud but eventually began to disagree with him on
some of his important ideas, including the importance of unconscious sexual needs, the
meaning of dreams, and the role of ego.
Striving for superiority: Alder proposed that at a conscious level, individuals are motivated by
efforts to achieve excellence and improvements over for our past selves and to act in ways to
benefit social interest.
This term does not mean to be superior than others, but to become a better person.
It was Adler’s belief that striving for superiority should be guided by the principle of social
interest. With social interest, the goal of becoming a better person should be to make society
better as you make yourself a better person.
For Adler, the uniqueness of the individual is based on the selection of specific strategies used
when striving for superiority. The consistency of behavior is based on the extent to which the
specific strategies used are selected in a similar manner over time and across situations
Horney’s interpersonal perspective
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Karen Horney was a German psychoanalyst trained in the traditional Freudian perspective.
Although an initial supporter of Freud’s ideas, Horney focused more on interpersonal
relationships than on intrapsychic conflicts as the primary determinants of personality.
Social security: A concept by Karen Horney that describes a sense of feeling safe and loved in
our relationship with others.
Basic anxiety: According to Horney, those who don't feel love, feel unsafe and feel powerless in
their relationship to develop feelings of anxiety.
Basic hostility: According to Horney, people feel anger and hostility when in insecure
relationships, particularly when one’s significant other makes no effort to forge a secure
environment.
Moving toward people: Horney identified three means of reducing anxiety and establishing
feelings of security. One such strategy, moving toward people, involves speaking and behaving
in ways with the goal of attracting others to care about you and try to find someone who will
take care of you.
Moving away from people: Horney that another strategy is to emotionally withdraw and use
behavior avoidance to protect oneself from getting hurt.
Moving against people: Horney’s third strategy of reducing anxiety involves emotionally
harming others (with words and behaviors) to avoid others hurting you.
People with a healthy personality will use all 3 depending on the situation and people with
unhealthy personality will focus on using one of them.
12.3: Humanistic Perspectives
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In direct contrast to the rather pessimistic views of the psychodynamic perspective, the
humanistic perspectives of personality are based on the underlying assumption that the
expression of personality is motivated by the internal desire for self-improvement and
self-enhancement, which operates at the conscious level of awareness. Humanism focuses on
the individual’s perspective and addresses the uniqueness of each person. This personality
perspective became an active area of investigation in response to the focus on the unconscious
impulses in psychoanalytic theory and the limited focus on behavior in behaviorism. Abraham
Maslow and Carl Rogers are the two most influential people in the development of humanistic
perspectives.
Maslow’s Motivational Perspective:The Hierarchy of needs
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Hierarchy of needs: A theory to explain motivation as a series of five human needs and the
fulfilment of those needs. The lowest levels of needs are considered basic needs, which are
physiological needs followed by safety needs. Once both these needs are met, Maslow proposed
the individual can then seek higher order needs, beginning with belongingness and love needs,
esteem needs, and finally self-actualization.
Table of Maslow Hierarchy of needs:
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The need to develop and improve oneself is an ongoing process. Efforts to meet these needs
involve individuals being aware of and accepting their own abilities and potentials and, based
on this sense of self-awareness, pushing themselves to their maximum limits to meet personal
and situational challenges throughout life. Since a person can always make improvements on
different aspects of themselves or their lives, Maslow estimated that less than 1% of all people
operate at the self-actualization level. Some of those he deemed to be self-actualizers were
Albert Einstein, William James, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Even though not many people achieve it, he believed that striving for self-actualization was a
fundamental tendency of everyone and a life-long process.
Rogers’ Self-Theory
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Self-concept: Refers to how someone perceives his or her unique set of characteristics, skills,
qualities, and abilities. Self-esteem is how positively or negatively a person evaluates him or
herself based on life experience.
Rogers believed that the motivational source of personality was based on the fundamental
tendency of the individual to develop a personal sense of self-awareness and self-acceptance
within the self-concept.
Rogers was a psychotherapist who assessed the current state of being actual self (the actual self
is the form of self that a person is currently at) as well as the ideal level that one would like to
achieve ideal self (the ideal self is the form of a self that a person strives to become). As a
discrepancy between these two measures increases, self-esteem and self worth decrease. The
process of self-fulfilment can be hindered or helped by our relationships with others, depending
on whether significant others offer approval, acceptance, and love.
Conditional positive regard: When love and acceptance of a person are contingent upon their
actions and behaviors.
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Unconditional positive regard: Unconditional positive regard is based on the inherent goodness
of people and the need for unwavering love and acceptance from others. Rogers proposed that
the role of a humanistic psychologist is to listen without scrutiny and to provide acceptance and
kindness irrespective of a person's behavior or feelings.
Rogers believed individuals are more willing to take risks and test the limits of their abilities in
an attempt to establish a more accurate sense of self without fearing the judgement of
significant others.
A common misconception of the attitude of unconditional positive regard is it requires the total
acceptance of whatever individuals wish to do under any circumstances. This is not true.
According to Rogers, what it really means is that while others may unconditionally accept the
desires and wishes a person might have, they do not need to accept the expression of harmful
or destructive behaviors.
Rogers used his views regarding conditions hindering personal growth to help account for the
sense of emotional distress motivating individuals to seek the assistance of a psychotherapist.
Rogers believed that the expression of unconditional positive regard by the therapist toward the
client would help to create the therapeutic relationship necessary for the person to begin to
make the decisions required for a more healthy sense of self
Evaluating Humanistic perspectives
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In contrast to the psychodynamic perspectives, the humanistic perspectives present a more
positive view of human nature operating on a more conscious level of awareness to make
decisions and take action to seek self-improvement. Such an approach is consistent with the
contemporary focus on optimal development seen in the field of positive psychology, which
focuses on “changing the focus of psychology from the ‘negative’ to the ‘positive,’ that is, from
focusing almost exclusively on psychopathology to focusing on building positive qualities in
humans”
However, there are inconsistencies in the support for some of the core humanistic ideas. In
support of Rogers’ core concept of unconditional positive regard, individuals who feel they are
intrinsically liked and accepted for who they are exhibit less defensive attitudes, creating the
possibility of providing a “more secure base from which to live one’s life”. In contrast, because
Maslow did not specify a timetable for meeting each level in the hierarchy of needs, it is difficult
for researchers to know when to assess meaningful changes in the individual’s progression
within the hierarchy.
12.4 (Maliha)
12.4 The Social Cognitive Perspective
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According to this perspective, principal processes by which people develop certain cognition
(thoughts, feelings, beliefs, assumptions, perceptions, expectations) about themselves are
based on noting the consequences of the behavior and observing the behavior of others across
a variety of situations
●
The unique expression of these cognitions that creates individual differences in personality
Bandura’s Self System
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According to Bandura, a core element of personality is the self-system
Self-system: a set of cognitions that people use to observe, evaluate, and regulate their behavior
in different situations
- important process in development of an individual's self-system is observing and evaluating the
consequences of others' behaviors
- using these cognitions, individuals develop the ability to self-regulate
- self-system helps guide individual behavior choices by cognitively processing the complexity of
different situations, including various potential consequences of different behaviors
●
Self-efficacy: the belief about one's ability to successfully perform in a given situation
- high-levels of self-efficacy occurs when a person feels confident in their ability to excel in a
variety of situations
- individuals with low-levels of self-efficacy lack the confidence necessary to perform in different
contexts; expectations of failure result in a individual's lack of effort, which decrease the likelihood
of success and reinforces the belief that they are incapable
- people consider their ability to satisfactorily perform various behaviors and potential
consequences of a particular behavior in a given context to determine their sense of self-efficacy
Rotter’s Social Learning Perspective
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For Julian Rotter, the core element of personality is based one's locus of control
●
Most effective expression of locus of control would seem to be more situation-specific approach
Locus of control: a personality construct that represents the degree to which individuals believe
that they are in control of their outcomes and experiences
1. Internal locus of control: believe they control what happens in their current life and their future
- they are more likely to take responsibility for their health, study more to get higher grades, and
be able to cope with stresses of life
2. External locus of control: individuals have the general expectation that they lack control over
the events in their lives
- having an external locus of control is related to an assortment of maladaptive behaviors, e.g.
excessive alcohol consumption and higher rates of internet addiction
- also a contributing factor to feelings of learned helplessness
→ learned helplessness: a sense of hopelessness in which individuals believe their ability to prevent
unpleasant events in life is outside of their control
- heightened sense of learned helplessness is believed to be a contributing factor to the incidence
of depressive disorders
The Delay of Gratification: The Power of “Willpower”
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For Walter Mischel, important personality process associated with expression of personality is
the ability to delay gratification and consequences it creates
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Delay of gratification: ability to resist the temptation of something desirable that is immediately
available in favor of waiting for something more desirable but requiring waiting some span of
time. Also referred to as willpower.
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Mischel employed the "marshmallow test" to test a child's ability to delay gratification. The
length of time the children were willing to wait before eating was the measure of their ability to
delay gratification
●
Mischel documented the importance of delay gratification as a core component of successful
personality adjustment in a variety of area
●
Adolescents who displayed the ability to delay gratification when they were in preschool had
higher Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, were more likely to think and plan ahead, and were
rated by their parents as being more mature and better able to cope with stress than those
displayed a weaker tendency to delay gratification
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Children who displayed better abilities to control their impulses tended to have better physical
health and reduced rates of substance abuse, and were less likely to engage in criminal offenses
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A replication study used a sample of 900 children, showing a range of diversity in ethnicity, race,
socioeconomic status, and education of children's parents
- they took into consideration the children's socioeconomic status
- results of this new study suggests that there is limited support for the hypothesis that delayed
gratification is responsible for future success
- result indicated that the child's social and economic background predict both the ability of a
child to hold out for a larger reward in the marshmallow test and success later in life
Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Perspective
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It has been evaluated favorably for its emphasis on the role of cognitive processes operating at a
conscious level of awareness to influence how individuals make decisions to express their
personality
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Concerns: lack of attention to the emotional elements of personality and little information on
the developmental aspects of personality
12.5 (Rebecca)
Intro
The biological perspective of personality assumes some biological factors/processes influence one’s
personality. There are three biological processes that affect personality:
Behavioural Genetics Perspective
This perspective analyzes how inherited biological factors–like genes–interact with the environment
(family/society) to affect personality.
The best known way to study biological influence on personality is through studying
monozygotic or dizygotic twins. (usually comparing upbringing to biological influence)
Remember: Mono means one egg cell split into two (identical twins). Di means two
separate fertilized eggs (fraternal twins).
Monozygotic siblings have 100% shared genetic material and dizygotic siblings only
share 50%
Similarities between twins’ personalities are determined through personality tests given to the
twins. They are then compared using the correlation coefficient referred to as the concordance
rate.
Concordance Rate: The degree that twins have a similar trait
When identical twins have a higher concordance rate than fraternal twins, this means biology is
a factor of personality (meaning personality is hereditary).
Canada and Germany conducted an experiment like this and the identical twins had a
concordance rate of r=47 while fraternal twins had r=27, proving the point.
Here is chart of correlations between twins:
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It is important to remember that the results of the studies can be applied to groups of
individuals but never a specific person due to individual differences. The chart above shows the
results of the average.
There are also environmental and upbringing factors that contribute to personality so
estimates of heredity only make up a fraction of one’s personality. (Eg. Roughly half of
one’s ability to show happiness is genetically determined)
Neurological Perspective: Physiological and Cortical Influences
Neurological perspective examines the extent to which physiological factors, such as hormones and
neurotransmitters, and brain activity determine personality characteristics
Testosterone: A male sex hormone; higher levels associated with personality characteristics like
dominance, aggression and persistence
Serotonin: Neurotransmitter associated with mood, anxiety, appetite, digestion and sleeping
Lower levels associated with greater willingness among individuals to engage in
thrill-seeking activities
High-sensation seekers take greater risks in order to avoid boredom and maintain levels
of interest
Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS): Network of structures that act
as a filter and is responsible for regulating arousal in the brain
Linked to introversion and extraversion
Evolutionary Perspective
Evolutionary perspective uses evolutionary theory to account for differences in personalities; These
differences are adaptive responses to survival and reproductive success
Personality characteristics associated with survival:
Conscientiousness: Makes individuals more likely to engage in health promoting
behaviours and avoid risks
Optimism: Makes individuals more likely to have fewer symptoms and quicker recovery
when dealing with medical concerns
Personality characteristics negatively associated with longevity:
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Type A personality (Hostility): Tend to suppress feelings of emotional distress,
frustration and anger
Can lead to abuse of tobacco, alcohol and drugs to seek comfort
Neuroticism: Overly moody, unstable + overly anxious, contributing to general state of
hyperarousal and tension
Reproductive success:
Functionally infertile individuals (FII): Those for whom reproduction is possible, but
rates of reproductive success is low
Females with high FII: Less frequent sexual intercourse, low cooperativeness,
higher scores of depression and anxiety
Males with low FII: Self confidence, extraversion and social assertiveness
Have greater likelihood for reproduction
Evaluating Biological Perspective
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Biological perspectives enhance our understandings of how behavioural, genetic, biological +
evolutionary concepts make each personality unique
There are many areas within the biological perspective that specifically explain how
certain biological aspects are associated directly with personality
Specific regions of the midbrain are associated with many personality
characteristics (ranging from aggression to happiness
12.6-12.7.2 (Jessie)
12.6 The Trait Perspective: Traits as the Building Blocks of Personality
●
Traits: Terms (list of personal adjectives) used to describe personalities of ourselves and
others that are assumed to be stable overtime
○ Identify characteristics that make up personalities; traits vary and make a
person unique
Theories Based on Personality
●
There are different theories based on exact number of basic traits and specific traits
identified
○ Factor analysis: Statistical tool that uses patterns to group items together
based on similarities
■ Identifies 35 dimensions of personality and reduces to 16 major
personalities
Eysenck's Trait Theory: The Three Factor Theory
●
Three Factor Theory: Consists of three trait dimensions
○ Extraversion/Introversion
■ Extravert: Individuals who enjoy being around others; often are
optimistic and adventurous
■ Introvert: Individuals who are often socially distant, introspective,
emotionally controlled and calculating
○ Neuroticism/Emotional Stability
■ Neuroticism: The tendency to be touchy, restless, moody and
anxious
Lower degrees of includes being carefree,
even-tempered and calm
○ Increased levels of activity in sympathetic
nervous system
Psychoticism/Impulse Control
■ Psychoticism: The tendency to be impulsive, cold, aggressive and
antisocial
● Lower degrees of includes tendency to be warm,
sensitive and concerned for other people
○ Linked to high level of testosterone and
low levels of monoamine oxidase
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○
The Five-Factor Model: The Big Five Personality Factors
●
Five-Factor Model (FFM): Analyzes and classifies terms used by individuals to describe
themselves and other people's personalities
○ Acronym OCEAN: Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness
and neuroticism
12.7 Personality Assessment: Methods for Measuring Personality
●
Personality assessment: Using standardized measurement instruments to observe
personality, which helps people understand themselves and others better
○ Help in making better decisions
Understanding Reliability and Validity
●
Important qualities that help in providing the most accurate results
○ Reliability: The consistency of a measure
■ E.g. Every attempt taken for a personality questionnaire should
share similar scores
● Test-retest reliability: Administration of a personality
measure to a group at least two times
● Scores for the first attempt should correlate to
scores during second attempt (remain stable
overtime)
○
Validity: Represents accuracy of a measurement and assesses whether you are
actually measuring what you think you are measuring
■ E.g. A personality test that measures the consumption of
mushrooms is not valid since it does not measure what is
supposed to be measured
● Predictive validity: Assesses the extent to which
scores from the test can predict behaviour that is
proposed to being measured
○ "Predictive" = future
● Concurrent validity: Personality measure is
administered and criterion is simultaneously assessed
○ "Concurrent" = simultaneous
Personal Interviews
●
Personal interviews: Asking a series of questions to a particular individual and comparing
these answers questions across several individuals in order to assess differences in
personalities
○ Reveals information about nature of personalities
■ Advantage: Individual can respond with responses that they deem
fit
■ Disadvantage: Individuals may not tell the truth or respond in a
way that they think interviewers want to hear
12.7.3-12.8(Carl)
12.7.3: Observational Assessment Techniques
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Observational techniques measure personality by recording what people do, think, and feel in
controlled and natural settings
● specific guidelines used
Behavioural Observation: recording behaviours as they occur
Self-monitoring Techniques: individuals recording the frequency they engage in certain
behaviours
Thought Sampling Techniques: Individuals record the nature and frequency of the
thoughts they have in certain situations
Advantage: allows for assessment of various thoughts, feelings, etc. in a wide range of
scenarios
Disadvantage: the same response may mean different things to different people; must trust
individuals to be honest
12.7.4: Objective Self-Report Techniques
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Measures personality by linking responses individuals provide to a series of standardized items
w/in personality tests
Individuals respond to fixed format questions (ie. true-false, 5-point responses)
Easier to compare scores of individuals since everyone responds using the same format
Single-dimension test: focus on one specific dimension of interest, short
Multiple-dimension Test: more than one dimension
Ex. The Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory (MMPI)
●
Assesses 10 trait-like clinical dimensions of personality, 567 questions
●
●
3 answer options: true, false, cannot say
Test also has 4 validity subscales to assess quality of responses
1. Cannot Say Scale: assesses degree to which individual conceals unfavourable info,
lots of “cannot say” responses
2. Lie Scale (L): assesses extent to which person tries to respond in socially desirable
ways
3. Infrequency Scale (F): checks to see if respondent is taking the test seriously
4. Correction Scale (K): checks for possibility of individual responding in a defensive
manner
The MMPI-2 can create a personality profile by examining patterns of responses across a
combination of the clinical scales
Originally created to help diagnose psychiatric disorders
Important to measure reliability (consistency of measure over time) and validity (accuracy
and usefulness of test)
Objective self-reporting techniques emphasize standardization, makes it easier to administer
to groups quickly and w/o bias
●
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12.7.5: Projective Techniques: An Indirect Look at Personality
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Projective Techniques: individuals are asked to respond to ambiguous test items that don’t
appear to have a clear meaning, they are free to express whatever they see
● the person projects their unconscious feelings, needs, and desires onto the
ambiguous stimuli
Hard to produce a socially desirable answer since there is no clear answer
Highly criticized for its lack of reliability and lack of evidence to support its validity
Still used in a variety of settings
Association Techniques
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Association Techniques: show person a test stimulus, ask them to respond with the first
word, thought, or feeling that comes to mind
Ex. the Rorschach Inkblot Test
● Person shown 10 different inkblots, asked to say what they the inkblot is
● Examiner makes judgement about individual’s personality based on common
emotional and psychological themes in responses
● Criticized for its lack of reliability and validity
● Can also lead to increased pathological assessments of personality (ie. getting
diagnosed with a psychological disorder)
Construction Techniques
●
●
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Construction Techniques: asks an individual to creating something (ex. a story) from test
stimuli
Ex. the Thematic Apperception Test
● Individual shown 17 cards w/ an ambiguous photograph, participant asked to
complete a story for each paragraph
● Examiner makes judgements on personality based on common emotional and
psychological themes in the stories
● Criticized for a lack of standardization, practitioners usually rely on their own intuition
to interpret stories
Projective techniques created based on the psychoanalytical perspective of the unconscious
mind and that providing ambiguous stimuli allows unconscious thoughts to be expressed
12.7.6: Psychophysiological Assessment Techniques
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Links various bodily responses to an assortment of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours to
examine individual differences in expression of different dimensions of personality
Electrophysiological Measures: links bodily processes (ie. sweating, heart rate) to different
dimensions of personality
Biochemical Measures: links biochemical processes (ie. hormones, genetics,
neurotransmitters) to different dimensions of personality
Cortical Measures: links certain levels of electrical activity in different regions of the brain
w/ different dimensions of personality
● For instance, by using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
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Has the advantage of linking individual differences in personality to something objectively
measurable: bodily processes
Note that the same bodily reaction can have different meanings (ie. elevated heart rate and
signal both fear and excitement)
12.7.8: Concluding Remarks
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There is no ‘best’ perspective or technique, each has strengths and limitations
The perspective/technique that should be used is the one that best fits the question being
asked
A better understanding of personality is usually achieved by combining multiple techniques
and multiple perspectives (see below for an example)
Module 13
Chapter 13 : Social Psychology
13.2: Behaviour in the Presence of Others (Carl)
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people conform to norms w/o being aware of it
Attribution Theory
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two basic attributions
● Dispositional/Internal Causes: personality traits and characteristics of a person
● Situational/External Causes: environment
more likely to attribute behaviour of others to dispositional/internal causes
attribute our own behaviour to external causes
Kelley’s Covariation Model: a single exposure to a person isn’t enough to make accurate
attributions
●
● need multiple observations before making an assessment
3 factors to consider
● Consistency: how a person acts in the same situation across time
● Distinctiveness: how similar behaviour is in different situations
● Consensus: extent to which individual’s behaviour resembles behaviour of others
Internal = high consistency, low distinctiveness and consensus
External = high consistency, distinctiveness and consensus
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frontal lobe affects decision making, impulse control, and social appropriateness
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Fundamental Attribution Error
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Fundamental Attribution Error: attributing behaviours of others to internal causes instead
of external causes
Actor-Observer Bias: more likely to assign internal attributions to others, external
attributions to our own behaviour
limited information leads us to assume that people act a certain way because that’s who
they are
we can easily recall external circumstances that make us act the way we act
Self-serving Bias: individuals credit successes to internal causes and failures to external
causes
● preserves self-esteem
● also works at a group level
False Consensus Effect: we overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs.
assume that our opinions and ideas are seen as correct
Impression Formation
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Impression Formation: how we formulate opinions about others is heavily influenced by
information that is initially available
first impressions are the most important part of how others perceive us
based on primacy effect: once an initial impression is formed, less attention given to
subsequent info
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negative info typically outweighs positive info
Confirmation Bias: focusing on evidence that reaffirms existing beliefs
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
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Self-fulfilling Prophecy: outcomes are more likely to occur if we strongly believe that an
outcome will occur
individuals act in ways that create their expected outcomes
13.3-13.3.3 (Juni)
13.3: Behaving in the Presence of Others
Social influence: A process by which our thoughts and actions are strongly influenced by the presence
of others.
Social Norms
Social norms: Prescribed behaviors that vary across context, culture, and time.
Social norms vary across cultures, Western cultures differ dramatically from eastern cultures.
Collectivistic societies: Cultures that place emphasis on the group instead of the individual.
Social norms also change overtime from generation to generation. Variations in norms can be
greatly influenced by changing technology.
Social scripts: Learned behaviors that are expected across a variety of situations.
Conformity
Conformity: the extent to which individuals modify their behavior to be consistent with the behavior of
others in the group.
Beyond gender, personality traits such as locus of control affect conformity; those with an
external locus of control are more likely to conform than those with internal locus of control.
Groupthink
Groupthink: Faulty decision making that occurs when a high degree of conformity and group cohesion
are highly valued, to the exclusion of opposing information and ideas.
Out-group: The group that a person does not belong to. Members of the out-group are assumed to be
highly homogeneous.
Group think is the most prevalent when group cohesiveness and consistency are strongly
enforced and diverged ideas are quashed and excluded from decision-making process.
Table of Characteristics of Groupthink:
Obedience to Authority
Nuremberg Code: Ethical guidelines that were designed to protect the rights of participants in
research, which was a byproduct of the release of gruesome details of experimentation done on
innocent men, women, and children during the reign of Nazi Germany.
Obedience to authority: When people perceived as authority figures are capable of getting high levels
of cooperation in tasks designed to directly harm others or cause severe pain in another without the use
of coercion.
The Milgram Experiments
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In the early 1960s, Stanley Milgram, a researcher at Yale wanted to study about obedience to
authority. Milgram solicited male participants from New Haven and Connecticut to be in a
study; participants were paid $4 an hour for their time to conduct the experiment. In modern
day Milgram research would meet the ethical guidelines for human research.
Overall layout of the Stanley Milgram research laboratory:
Stanley Milgram level of shock and Verbal prompts:
Social Roles and the Power of the Situation
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In the early 1970s, a professor at Stanford University, Philip Zimbardo wanted to examine the
power of situations in determining behavior. He used men to participate in a 14 day prison
simulation. He selected 24 participants who were mentally and physically healthy. The
participants were randomly assigned in roles of either prisoner or guard. There were 9 prisoners
and 9 guards.
Zimbarda used various objects such as numbers for prisoners instead of names and reflective
glasses so that guards and prisoners would lose their identities and more easily assume the
roles assigned
Zimbardo reported the consistent breakdown of a prisoner each day when they lost their role
they assumed. Prisoners were replaced with those who left.
Zimbardo was proud of his research, in just days the participants were consistent with their
assigned roles.
The Bystander Effect
Bystander effect: A person in need is less likely to receive help as the number of people who are
present increases.
Diffusion of responsibility: In context of the bystander effect, as the number of people present
increases, the relative level of accountability of each person decreases. When only one person is present,
they assume 100% of the responsibility.
The purpose of understanding Diffusion of responsibility is to recognize that when multiple
people are present, the responsibility is spread out all over to all people.
This can cause erroneous assumptions. Diffusion of Responsibility increases as the number of
people are present.
Pluralistic ignorance: A social psychological concept that occurs when people fail to act because they
unwittingly rely on social cues from others to guide their behavior, without realizing that the referent
others also face uncertainty.
Religious Cults
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A cult is generally a religious group that is outside the realm of mainstream religion. Some are
developed based on forecasts of apocalyptic events.
The ideology of such groups may seem peculiar, which is amplified by the fact that the inner
workings and beliefs of cults are often only known to the devout followers
In some situations, the line between a religion and religious cult is not clear-cut.
Jonestown
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In November 19, 1978, the ultimate obedience and conformity occurred when 900 steadfast
believers of the peoples temple, a cult under the leadership of Jim Jones, committed mass
suicide in Guyana. One third were children.
Jim Jones was a charismatic man who started attracting supporters in Indiana; he and 100
supporters went to the San Francisco Bay Area, which then increased to 900 supporters. Jones
kept firm control of all members and his authority became extreme. The South America jungle
was referred to as Jonestown.
Escalation of commitment: The more time one remains in an interpersonal relationship or as a
member of a group, despite experiencing increasingly negative outcomes, the more difficult it is to
leave the relationship/group.
Jones created an environment where members felt helplessness and fear. Those who engaged
in behavior were not approved and were publicly humiliated. Jones also broke up families,
separating children and brutally punished those who did not comply.
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Overall Jones took full advantage of his followers, that way they wouldnt be able to leave and be
in a forever like torture.
The Doomsday Cult
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20 years before the temple, a cult built by Dorthy Martin grew around her reported
communication with extraterrestrial beings and prophecies of the world's destruction.
Numerous doomsday cults predicting the world's destruction have existed overtime. However,
what makes this cult unique is the knowledge gained from social psychologists. Leon Festinger,
Harry Riecken, and Stanley Schactcher (2009) joined the cult to do deep investigation.
Dorthy Martin was instrumental in the formation of the doomsday cult, known as seekers,
based on messages that she claimed were sent to her spirits, one message indicated the end of
the world was near, as she had received messages about cataclysm floods that would destroy
the plant on december 21, 1954.
Overall the doomsday cult was just about a group of people believing the end of the world is
near.
13.4: Attitudes and Behavior
Attitudes: Variations in thoughts, ideas, and opinions
Humans possess myriad different opinions. Some beliefs are deeply held and strongly shape a
person, whereas other opinions may be less important and more changeable. Some attitudes
are strongly held by a person.
Cognitive: Thoughts and logic of one's attitude
Affective component of attitudes: The emotional aspect of attitudes
Behavioral component of attitudes: Actions that reflect support for one's attitude
Flowchart of component attitudes:
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Most attitudes can be easily accessible and can be explicitly stated.
The Implicit Association test (IAT) was designed to quantify feelings and opinions about
sensitive issues that would be difficult to self-report accurately. However the IAT is not a perfect
measure.
The Cognitive Dissonance Theory
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Leon Festinger, one of the members from the doomsday cult developed cognitive dissonance
When attitude and behaviors are inconsistent, a state of unease is felt, which the individual is
then motivated to reduce) to explain what happens when a person's attitude and behavior is
inconsistent.
Based on Festinger theory, staying in the cult and committing the belief would have been more
easier than leaving the cult.
Cognitive Dissonance example
Stereotypes
Stereotypes: Attitudes and opinions about people based on their group affiliations
Group members share the same stereotype
Heterogenous: When group members are diverse and possess a mix of different characteristics
Homogeneous: When members of a group are highly similar (or perceived as highly similar).
Homo means the same and hetero means different.
Stereotype threat: Occurs when a person or group experiences significant fear of confirming negative
expectations about one's own social group, which ultimately adversely affects performance
Prejudice
Prejudice: Learned, negative attitudes or opinions that a person has towards certain groups
Most associated prejudice with racism and bigotry, and these are indeed manifestations of
prejudice. However prejudice can also be based on gender, ethnicity, religion, country, skin
color, sexual preference, body size, and many more.
Prejudice is learned from parents, peers, first-hand experience, and vicarious conditioning.
Discrimination
Discrimination: Adverse behaviors directed at groups towards which one holds negative and prejudicial
beliefs
Social policies prohibit the use of discrimination based on sexual preference. However, laws
prohibiting discrimination based on group characteristics were born from a history of prejudice
and discrimination.
There may be no laws in the U.S allowing racism, however one current group that faces
discrimination is the LGBTQ.
Scapegoat: The tendency to blame a less powerful person or group for one's own problems. This often
leads to feelings of prejudice, extreme dislike, and malice towards the person or group being blamed.
Realistic conflict theory: Intergroup conflict that is created when two or more groups are competing
over real or perceived scarce resources (jobs, money, social status, power).
It is also another explanation for hatred across minorities based on ideas that there are few jobs
available, so the competition is limited.
In-group: The group that a person belongs to; is perceived to be superior to other groups.
Mutual interdependence: Refers to the need for individuals or groups to work together toward a
common goal.
Interpersonal Attraction
Mere exposure effect: The more time and experience that we have to someone is associated with an
increased liking of that person.
Physical appearance is strongly related to our liking of others. People who are considered
attractive are also assumed to have a positive personality. Based on the overwhelming finding
regarding the attributes assigned to those who are physically attractive, beauty is strongly
assumed with positive characteristics.
13.5: Aggression and Altruism Helping vs Hurting
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The notation that aggression is sometimes desirable is best understood when considering the
difference between instrumental and hostile aggression.
Instrumental aggression: violent behavior that is purposeful and is a means to achieve some goal.
Hostile aggression: Violent behavior whose sole purpose is inflicting harm on another living creature.
Theories of Aggression
In the 1960s, Alber Bandura conducted a series of classic experiment to understand:
Behavior modeling: Learning to complete a task by simply copying the behavior of another person.
Social learning: Learning behaviors and skills by watching others engage in those behaviors.
This kind of testing experiment was done on babies to see their behavior.
Prosocial Behaviors/Altruism
Prosocial behaviors: Helping others without the expectation of anything in return
Altruism: Engaging in behavior to help another, despite the cost or potential risk to self.
Reciprocal altruism: Engaging in what appears to be prosocial behaviors with the expectation of
getting something in return,
De Waal and Bronsnan (2006) posited that altruistic sharing and cooperation was based on
shared behaviors, symmetrical features, and other commonalities present in dyadic
relationships.
The Reciprocity Norm
Reciprocity norm: The idea that if others help us, then we should provide something in return.
Compliance
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The norms of reciprocity can be used in ways to gain compliance from others. The method used
to gain compliance varies in effectiveness depending on the situation.
Table of Methods used to complete compliance:
Table of effective methods of exposure on willingness to comply to smaller tasks:
Module 14
Chapter 14 : Psychological Disorders
14.1: What is Abnormal?
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Abnormal Psych: study of psychological disorders
a behaviour can be normal or abnormal depending on context
society approves and disapproves certain behaviours
What is a Psychological Disorder?
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psychological disorders cause significant impairment in an individual’s life
The 4 D’s provide guidance for diagnoses
● Deviance: a departure from what is normal
● Statistically deviant: behaviour occurs infrequently
● Culturally deviant: behaviour goes against social norms
● Distress: behaviours, thoughts, feelings that cause pain, suffering, or sorrow
● Dysfunctional: disrupts one’s regular routine
● Dangerous: leads to harm or injury
disorders tend to be consistent over a period of time
Labels
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a diagnosis can provide explanations and reassurance
also helps everyone stay on the same page, better more efficient treatment and
communication
labels can also be derogatory
can also excuse unacceptable behaviours or lead to self-fulfilling prophecies
Stigma
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Stigma: Disapproval, poor treatment, or isolation due to being different
mental health stigma fueled by discomfort and lack of understanding
media can over exaggerate
diagnosis of psychological disorders often leads to stigmatization
long history of stigmatization
● witchcraft, demonization; often punished for mental illness
● Trepanation: drill a hole into the head to release evil spirits
● Eugenics, sterilize those considered mentally inferior
Dorothea Dix starts advocating for better treatment, states begin funding specialized
institutions: asylums
● asylum conditioned sucked, inhumane treatment and very low likelihood of release
Medications prompted reform in 1950s
● Deinstitutionalization: reduce admissions to psychiatric hospitals, shorten stay,
improve treatment
Word Choice
●
●
APA encourages first-person language when referring to psychological disorders
● ex. schizophrenic vs. person with schizophrenia
● implies that they are still a person
identity-first language supporters argue that the disorder is an important part of an individual,
integrating the disorder w/ identity is affirming and validating
14.2: Diagnosing Psychological Disorders
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
●
used by various professionals in various fields to make consistent and objective decisions
about defining, diagnosing and treating abnormal behaviours
Brief DSM History
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●
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●
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began as an attempt to classify mental disorders in the US
introduced in 1952
● 7 revisions since then
DSM-III introduced precise definitions and diagnostic criteria
also introduced a multiaxial diagnostic system
DSM-III implied that homosexuals may experience anxiety and internal conflicts on their
sexual orientation
Major Changes to DSM-5
●
●
organization of manual reflects lifespan
● begins w/ disorders typically diagnosed in early childhood, proceed to disorders that
diagnosed later in life
● more streamlined categories of autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders
dropped the multiaxial format
How Mental Health Professionals use the DSM
●
●
●
●
primary purpose of DSM-5 is to help professionals diagnose mental disorders
clinicians trained to develop a case formulation:explanation of an individuals mental
disorders informed by developmental, physical, cultural, and relationship contexts
● typically gathered in a clinical interview
symptoms should only be diagnosed if symptoms cause significant distress or impairment in
one/more aspects of an individual’s life
DSM also useful for data collection and billing
14.3: Major Classifications of Psychological Disorders
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
●
●
●
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affect the brain and neurological systems
typically first seen during infancy & early childhood
impairments/deficits impact ability to function
as child grows & learns to compensate for deficits, symptoms and behaviours may evolve or
change
● many disorders still persist across the lifespan
Autism Spectrum Disorder
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●
●
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Asperger’s, autism, and pervasive developmental disorder are grouped together in the DSM-5,
collectively referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorder
characterized by significant social, emotional, behavioural, and communication impairments
● hypersensitivity to touch
● difficulty understanding social cues
● repetitive movements
● intense preoccupation w/ an interest
exists on a spectrum, wide range of impairments are possible
1% of population, rising
Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
●
losing touch w/ reality
●
●
●
difficulty thinking clearly
also called Serious Mental Illness (SMI)
key features can be grouped into positive and negative symptoms
Positive Symptoms
●
●
●
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Positive Psychotic Symptoms: behaviours not present before onset of the disorder
● appears during course of psychotic disorder, not typically seen in healthy individuals
Delusions: strong beliefs not founded in reality
● persists even when confronted with evidence against it
Hallucinations: sensory experiences that have no source
other examples: disorganized thinking and abnormal motor behaviours
Negative Symptoms
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●
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Negative Psychotic Symptoms: behaviours typically observed in healthy individuals that
start to disappear during the course of a psychotic disorder
Diminished Emotional Expression/Flat Effect: reduced expression of emotions through
facial expressions, voice, or body language
Avolition: decreased motivation to start/follow through on activities
Schizophrenia
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involves a wide range of emotional, behavioural, perceptual, and cognitive dysfunction
rare, 0.3-0.7% of US pop.
some genetic link, however most people diagnosed have no family history of psychosis
environmental contributions
more diagnoses in urban, minority groups, and men
earlier age of onset usually means worse prognosis
Schizophrenia is a Heterogeneous Clinical Syndrome: disorder presents itself in different
ways, no uniform symptoms
may also experience cognitive symptoms
Bipolar & Related Disorders
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●
●
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bipolar: two extremes
Manic Episode: a distinct period of increased energy and activity
● less sleep, lots of talking, difficulty focusing, impulsive, goal-directed activities
Depressive Episode: sad mood, loss of interest or pleasure
the symptoms of a manic episode can be so extreme that returning to a baseline state can be
considered depressive
Bipolar II Disorder
●
●
Hypomania: a less intense experience of mania , same increased energy and activity w/o
the same impairment
Bipolar II characterized by hypomanic and major depressive episodes
● once considered a milder form of bipolar disorder
● mood instability still makes it a debilitating disorder
Depressive Disorders
●
●
●
●
feelings of sadness, emptiness, hopelessness, irritability
often accompanied by physical symptoms & negative thoughts that significantly impair
functioning
symptoms are long-lasting, affect many aspects of a person’s life
often accompanied with suicidal behaviours
● majority of people who attempt suicide don’t fail
Major Depressive Disorder
●
●
●
●
affects ~7% of US pop. at any given time, ~20% experience it in their lifetime
women 2x more likely than men to experience it
● may be explained by hormonal changes
● societal pressures may make men less likely to report symptoms
Major Depressive Disorder characterized by sad mood or loss of interest in activities that
were once enjoyable
● headaches, digestive problems, agitation, lethargy
● worthlessness, difficulty concentrating, reoccurring thoughts of death or suicide
in children, symptoms may manifest as irritability
Anxiety Disorders
●
●
●
most common psychological disorder in US
characterized by excessive fear and anxiety
● Fear: response to current threats
● immediate danger, responses and behaviours help us escape danger
● Anxiety: worrying about future threats
● cautious or avoidant behaviours, muscle tension too
● normal and adaptive
anxiety disorders interfere w/ ability to function, disabling
Agoraphobia
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Agoraphobia: individual fears or avoids certain places/situations
1.7% of US pop.
women 2x as likely to experience
Requires a fear/avoidance of at least 2 of the following situations
● Using public transit
● Being in open spaces
● Being in enclosed spaces
● Standing in line or in a crowd
● Being outside or home alone
Situations make a person feel trapped, helpless, or embarrassed
Panic symptoms
Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
●
●
Comes right after anxiety in the DSM-5 to reflect similarities
Disorders characterized by rituals, preoccupations, and repetitive behaviours
●
●
Obsessions: recurrent, unwanted, and intrusive thoughts, fears, urges or images
Compulsions: behaviours an individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession
● Compulsive rituals usually performed to decrease obsessions
Hoarding Disorder
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characterized by a perceived need to save item, discarding them causes distress
persistent difficulty parting w/ possessions
● often due to a sentimental attachment to possessions
leads to an excessive accumulation of stuff
quantity of things renders areas unusable
a person who hoards isn’t necessarily distressed by their behaviour
Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders
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Trauma: an emotional response to a shocking or life-threatening event
● can also stem from repeated negative experiences
Stress: reaction to demands of life
traumatic events can also be stressful
ways that individuals respond to trauma and stress vary
disorders are diagnosed when an individual has significant difficulty recovering from distress
trauma and stress can be experienced directly and indirectly
direct and indirect exposure to racial discrimination can be experienced as trauma
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
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develops after individuals experience or witness a traumatic event
symptoms usually set in ~3 months after event
desire to avoid reliving trauma makes it difficult for individuals w/ PTSD to express thoughts
and feelings
~3.5% of US pop. experiences symptoms, ~9% experience it during their lifetime
Certain jobs increase risk of PTSD
also more common among sexual assault survivors and veterans of military combat
Several symptoms, must exhibit symptoms in 4 categories to be diagnosed
● Re-experiencing (ie. flashbacks or nightmares)
● Avoidance (staying away from things that remind the person of the event)
● Cognitive and Mood (inability to remember important features of the traumatic
event, negative thoughts, fear, anger, guilt, inability to be satisfied, etc)
● Arousal and Reactivity (easily startled, irritable, difficulty sleeping, etc.)
Dissociative Disorders
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disrupts a person’s memory, identity, perception, and behaviour
● can also affect physical sensation and motor control
everyone experiences dissociation (think daydreaming)
distress and impairment make dissociation problematic
Positive Dissociation: feeling like one is outside their body; disconnection from body,
feeling that one’s surroundings aren’t real
Negative Dissociation: Loss of memory or function
● ie. unawareness, gaps in information
●
often related to traumatic experiences, dissociation can help individuals tolerate trauma that
would otherwise be overwhelming
Dissociative Identity Disorder
●
●
●
aka Multiple Personality Disorder
Presence of 2/more distinct identities and extensive memory loss
● a fragmentation of identity that creates an alternate personality state
when the alternate personality emerges, individuals often experience lapses and gaps in
memory
Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
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●
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Somatic: something related to the body but not the mind
disorders characterized by an intense focus in symptoms of physical illness or pain
possible for individuals to experience symptoms that have no medical explanation
diagnosis usually comes when medical treatment don't produce any symptom relief
Factitious Disorder/Munchausen Syndrome
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condition in which individuals deliberately cause themselves to be ill/sick
onset in early adulthood, often follows hospitalization for physical/mental condition
can be self-imposed or imposed onto someone else
often not done for financial gain, people w/ disorder often unable to explain why they do it
Feeding and Eating Disorders
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both characterized by problems w/ consuming food & absorbing nutrients
feeding disorders: infants and children, usually result of preferences and perceived
intolerances
eating disorders: adolescence and adulthood, related to an emotional response to food
avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and anorexia nervosa both involve restricting
food intake and low body weight
anorexia nervosa involves an intense fear of weight gain and extreme discomfort in one’s
perception of their body
ARFID defined by picky eating
individuals can’t be diagnosed w/ more than one feeding and eating disorder at the same
time
Binge Eating Disorder
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●
●
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the most common eating disorder, more common in women
most prevalent in individuals trying to lose weight
characterized by eating an abnormally large amount of food in a short period of time
● loss of control, can’t stop eating
● must frequently binge eat; at least once/week for 3 months
no compensatory behaviour like w/ bulimia
feelings of guilt, distress, disgust, or depression
Elimination Disorders
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●
●
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typically diagnosed in childhood or adolescence
lack of bladder or bowel control, inconsistent w/ individual’s current level of development
diagnosed in potty-trained children over 5 when they frequently poo or pee their pants :/
can be voluntary or involuntary
Encopresis
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defication in inappropriate places
majority of children diagnosed experienced chronic constipation earlier in life
can lead to fear or pain associated w/ taking a sheit
may also experience general anxiety about using the toilet
voluntary encopresis may be associated w/ wilful, defiant, or rule-breaking behaviour
Sleep-Wake Disorders
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1/3 of life spent asleep
sleep-wake category focuses on disturbances that interfere w/ quality, timing, and length of
sleep
can cause adverse health outcomes
may also be a sign of other medical problems
often comorbid w/ depression, anxiety, and cognitive changes
Narcolepsy
●
●
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excessive daytime sleepiness due to inability to get a good sleep at night
characterized by recurrent, sudden sleep lapses
constant fatigue
Sexual Dysfunctions
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encompasses disorders w/ clinically significant diffuculties in sexual response or experiencing
sexual pleasure
sensitive topic, may be more prevalent than current estimates suggest due to underreporting
rate of dysfunction tends to increase w/ age
● likely due to declines in health associated w/ age
several other factors including
● partner & relationship factors
● medical factors
● cultural/religious factors
● individual factors (ie. body image, psychological trauma
can be lifelong: present since first sexual encounter
● often has psychological origins
or acquired: onset after a period of normal sexual function
● tends to have both psychological and physiological causes
can be generalized: occurs w/ all types of stimulation, partners, or situations
or situational
Erectile Disorder (aka Impotence)
●
recurrent failure to get or keep an erection during sexual activity
Gender Dysphoria
●
●
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experience of dissatisfaction, anxiety, and distress associated w/ gender assignment that
does not match individual’s gender identity
individual may wish to be another gender, insist they are another gender, or say they will grow
up a different gender
adolescents and adults w/ gender dysphoria at increased risk for anxiety, depression and
suicidal behaviours
rare, 0.002-0.014% of US pop.
● might be an underestimate
Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders
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●
●
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characterized by problems controlling one’s own emotions and behaviours
behaviour disregards rights of others, social norms, or authority figures
typically first seen during childhood or adolescence, difficult adjustments in adulthood
more common in males
Kleptomania
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●
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repeated failure to resist urge to steal, even if one doesn’t need the item for personal use
or monetary value
not an expression of anger or retaliation
feelings of guilt. fear and remorse after stealing
onset usually during adolescence
Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders
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encompass activities that stimulate dopamine release, makes us more likely to repeat
activities
Addiction: disorder of the brain-reward system characterized by compulsive and repetitive
engagement in activities associated w/ immediate pleasure, even when long-term
consequences are negative
ex. opioids
addiction doesn’t have to involve substances (ie. gambling)
Substance-use Disorders: negative consequences associated w/ frequent & persistent use of
substances, accumulates over time
Substance-induced Disorders: immediate effects of substance use (ex. intoxication)
Withdrawl: distress, restlessness, and irritability when attempting to reduce or discontinue
addictive behaviours
substance-related disorders characterized by physiological dependence (changes in brain
circuitry) and Tolerance (needing more of a substance to achieve original effects)
Gambling Disorder
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Compulsive Gambling: uncontrollable urge to continue gambling despite consequences
●
●
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chasing losses, taking larger risks to compensate for losses
may lie about gambling or resort to fraud to fuel addiction
previously classified as an impulse-control disorder
Neurocognitive Disorders
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affects how brain processes info
disorders are acquired
affects memory, attention, language, perception and learning
attributable to brain injury, disease, or substance/medication use
many of these disorders are mild, ~2% of US pop. report a disability associated w/ a major
traumatic brain injury
causes of these orders have unique ability to be traced
major and minor neurocognitive disorders distinguish levels of severity
Major/Minor Neurocognitive Disorder Due to Alzheimer’s Disease
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Alzheimer’s a nerocognitive disorder characterized by memory loss, disorientation,
confusion, impaired judgement, and behavioural changes
common, ~5-10% if US pop.
risk of disease increase exponentially at 65 years old
thought to be caused by genetic mutations in brain cells
causes physical damage w/in brain
● death of neurons and shrinkage of brain tissue
Personality Disorders
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●
●
●
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Personality: combination of characteristics, beliefs, and behaviours that make people
unique
● consistent and stable over time and situations
Personality disorders are characterized by personalities that are drastically different from
societal expectations and lead to distress and impairment
onset during adolescence and early adulthood, doesn’t change over time
individual w/ personality disorder may have difficulty in social relationships and w/ societal
expectations
strong perception that their thoughts and beliefs are the norm may lead to distress, anxiety,
depression, and acting out behaviours when society pushes back
●
10 specific types, 3 categories based on similar descriptions
●
Cluster A: Odd & Eccentric Behaviours
● social awkwardness, social withdrawal, distorted thinking
● similar to schizophrenia spectrum
Cluster B: Dramatic, Emotional, and Erratic Behaviours
● problems w/ impulse control. moral reasoning and ability to regulate emotions
Cluster C: Anxious and Fearful Behaviours
● shy, nervous, overly cautious behaviours
● thought to be less impairing than Clusters A and B
●
●
Borderline Personality Disorder
●
●
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characterized by instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotions;
intense emotions and moods that can quickly change
● black and white thinking: all good or all bad
● Cluster B Disorder
may have trouble calming themselves down once emotions are high, engage in impulsive and
harmful behaviours to soothe themselves
changes are sudden
Paraphilic Disorders
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●
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Paraphilia: a strong and persistent sexual interest in objects, situations or behaviours not
considered typical by society
● sexual urges are equal to/greater than more typical sexual interests
● person becomes so preoccupied w/ target behaviour/object that they become
dependent on it for sexual satisfaction
paraphilia alone does not indicate need for clinical treatment
paraphilia disorders can lead to harm or risk of harm to others
●
Fetishistic Disorder: sexual arousal and gratification depends on non-living objects or a
specific body part
14.4: The Prevalence of Psychological Disorders
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Prevalence Rate: how many individuals are affected by a health condition in a given time
period
~20% of US adults had a mental illness in the past year
15.7% of US adolescents aged 12-17 experienced a major depressive episode in the same period
of time
rates are disproportionately higher in certain populations
● women, people of colour, and lower-income individuals
WHO in 2001: 450 million individuals worldwide are affected by mental illness
rates of anxiety and depression in US adults and adolescents were 3x higher during COVID-19
pandemic than in 2019
14.5: Investigating the Causes of Psychological Disorders: the
Biopsychosocial Model
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Biopsychosocial Model: the complex interactions of a person’s biological makeup,
psychological experiences, and social environment determine risk for a psychological
disorder
biological: illness, injury, physiology, genetics, neurotransmitters
psychological: individual characteristics (ie. personality, mood, behaviour), intrinsic traits
social: family, culture, socioeconomic status, religion
cannot point to one incident to explain mental health outcomes
● one factor alone may or may not cause distress
Module 15
Chapter 15: Treatment of Psychological Disorders
15.1 Introduction: The Reality of Treating Psychological Disorders
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Treatment: describes a variety of strategies to help people manage psychological disorders
Therapy: a specific treatment that is intended to help manage a psychological disorder
Types of Mental Health Professionals
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Family doctor/Primary Physician: doctor who can diagnose general anxiety and depression
and prescribe medications but not as specialized as a psychiatrist
Psychotherapist: a licensed therapist who can treat patients through therapy interventions
Clinical social worker: a licensed social worker who can treat patients through therapy
interventions
Counsellor: counsellor who can give guidance on personal, social, or psychological problems
Psychologist: a doctor who can diagnose and treat patients through specialized therapy
interventions
Counseling psychologist: a doctor-level professional who is trained to assess and treat
psychological disorders. Psychologist often provide psychotherapy; they do not
typically prescribe medications
Psychiatrist: a doctor who can diagnose and prescribe medications, a psychiatrist is physician
who specializes in the branch of medicine devoted to diagnosis, prevention, study, and
treatment of mental health disorders
○ A medical doctor who is trained to assess and treat psychological disorders.
Psychiatrist often prescribe and manage psychiatric medications
○
●
Mental Health Professionals: Media vs. Reality
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Maintain professional boundaries; interact only during scheduled an appointment, with the
exception of emergency situation
Abide by ethics codes that strictly prohibit sexual relationships with patients
Have obtained specialized training and engage in ongoing learning
Mental health treatment requires objectivity, which is more difficult to provide when a clinical
has a personal connection to someone
Treatment providers are regulated by licensing boards to ensure ethical practices and to
protect consumers
15.2 The Basic Treatment
●
●
Pharmacotherapy: involves the prescription and management of medications.
○ Psychopharmacotherapy: the administration of psychiatric medications to treat
mental health disorders
■ Psychopharmacotherapy alone not sufficient to treat a psychological disorder
Psychotherapy: treatment of mental health disorders by psychological rather medical means.
Often includes 'talk therapy'.
○ Also aims to improve relationship, social skills, and overall well-being and promote
personal growth
○ Misconception: only involves talking
■ Use other techniques like relaxation exercises, role-play stimulations,
homework assignments
○ Increase use of telehealth as a mode of service delivery
Who Provides Treatment?
●
●
Psychiatrist: medical doctors (M.D./D.O.) who have specialized in the assessment and
treatment of psychological disorders
○ Like physicians, psychiatrists pay special attention to how physical conditions affect
mental health, prescribe medications to address mental health concerns
○ Trained to provide psychotherapy, many prescribe and manage medications and refer
to other mental health providers for psychotherapy.
○ Psychiatric nurse practitioners: nurses with advanced training and education (master's
degree/doctorate)
1. Able to prescribe and manage psychiatric medications in many states
Psychologist: doctorate (Ph.D./Psy.D.) in psychology and qualified to diagnose and treat
disorders of behavior, emotion, and thought
○ "scientist-practitioners": trained to conduct and consume research and provide
psychotherapy
○ Three main areas of specialization:
1. Clinical psychologists: treat individuals with more severe mental health
concerns
2.
●
●
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Counseling psychologists: work with individuals who currently find it difficult
to cope with and adjust to life crises and stressors
3. School psychologist: focus on the learning and mental health needs of
children and adolescents in the learning environment
Clinical social workers: master's degree in social work (M.S.W) and provide mental health care
to a variety of populations in many different settings.
○ Focus on how mental health systems function within different communities, are train
in psychotherapy and advocacy work.
○ Work to create practical solutions for problems that make mental health concerns
harder to treat, e.g. access to health care, food and housing subsidies, medical
disability compensation
Mental health counselors: complete a master's degree (master's of art (M.A)/master's of
science (M.S.) and provide diagnostic assessment and counseling to individuals across
lifespan.
Therapist: broad term that can describe a number of master's level mental health
professionals
○ Counselors, marriage and family therapists, and alcohol and drug abuse counselors
are trained in the assessment and treatment of psychological disorders and practice in
a variety of settings
The History of Mental Health Treatment
●
●
●
●
Mental illness/madness was explained by witchcraft and deals made with the devil
○ Individuals accused of witchcraft and devil influence were hanged/burned at the stake
Other explanation of mental illness was possession by evil spirit
○ Treatment: aimed to cure the patient by releasing the demons
○ Common methods to treat madness: prayers, incantations and exorcism
■ Extreme cases: Trepanation
■ A no longer practiced process of drilling holes into an individual's skull
in order to release demons that were thought to be causing mental
illness. This process dates back to 5000 BCE. Most people died as a
result of the procedure.
Inhumane treatment of mental illness continued into the 18th century with a movement
towards institutionalization.
○ Institutionalization: separating individuals with mental illness from the rest of society,
usually into a hospital or similarly restricted environment.
■ Institution were called asylums: patients kept in horrible conditions
■ Bethlehem Hospital: one of first institutions in London for the treatment of
mental illness
■ Originally to provide medical care to the poor, shifted focus to management of
psychological disorders
■ Number of patients increased, living and treatment conditions deteriorated
■ Patients crowded into rooms, slept on piles of straw, no access to
bathrooms, starvation due to inadequate food
■ Patients with violent symptoms were shackled to walls in public view
■ Harmless patients were sent out to beg for money
■ Treatments include: isolation, physical restraints, beatings,
bloodletting, and hydrotherapy:- submersion in hot/cold water)
■ Bedlam (nickname for Bethlehem): synonymous with chaos, confusion and
insanity
Philippe Pinel and Dorothea Dix:
Argued for more humane and dignified treatments for patients with mental illness
Advocated that the ultimate goal of treatment should be improve psychological
symptoms and allow individuals to return to their lives outside the institution
Medical model: understanding mental illness in the same way as other medical conditions
○ Important step in understanding of mental health challenges and led to more
concrete definitions of psychological disorders that could be researched more
effectively
Introduction of psychiatric medications drastically changed the treatment of psychological
disorders
○ Considered to be the true end of institutionalization
Advantages of medical model:
○ Medications improve psychological symptoms
Disadvantages of medical model:
○ Don't address environmental factors that contribute to mental illness
○ Medical model is not always sensitive to cultural differences, which influence how we
perceive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as normal/abnormal.
○
○
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The Importance of Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatment
●
●
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Medication prescribed by a physician should be scientifically proven to work, rigorously tested
so the risks and side effects are known
○ These standards are demanded by federal regulating bodies, medical insurance
companies, and licensing boards
○ Mental health professionals are also expected to show that the treatments they use
are scientifically proven to work
Evidence-based based mental health treatments have undergone research and been shown
to consistently improve patient outcomes
Efficacy: ability for research to produce desired outcomes based on research protocols that are
strictly controlled
Effectiveness: the ability for research to produce desired outcomes based on research applied
in real-world settings and populations
Mental health training programs are accredited by American Psychological Association, the
Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and
Related Education Programs (CACREP)
○ Ensure that future mental health providers are trained to practice evidence-based
treatment
○ Difficult to oversight their use of evidence-based mental health treatments once
providers begin to practice independently
15.3 Differing Approaches to Treatment
●
●
●
●
Biopsychosocial model: intricate interactions of an individual's biological makeup,
psychological experiences, and social environment determine their risk for a psychological
disorder
Biological treatments: include psychopharmacotherapy and non-pharmacological techniques
○ Used by psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners
○ These approaches seek to treat the brain
Psychological interventions: offered by psychologists and other therapists
○ Involve some form of talk therapy
○ Seek to treat the mind
Social workers: concerned social environment
○ Interventions target the social aspect of the biopsychosocial model
15.4 Psychopharmacotherapy
●
●
The medical model seeks to understand mental illness from a biological perspective
Psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners are trained in the anatomy and physiology of
the brain
○ Interventions focus on brain dysfunction that contribute to mental illness
○ Use pharmacological (drug-based) and non-pharmacological (not drug-based)
○ Majority of psychopharmacological interventions target brain chemicals called
neurotransmitters
History of psychopharmacology
●
●
●
●
1800s, syphilis major public health issue
○ Sexually transmitted infection
○ Symptoms: skin lesions and sores
○ Untreated remains dormant in the body for decades--> resurfaces attacks the brain
causing distorted thinking, hallucinations, paralysis, and death
○ Late-stage syphilis patients recovered and experience mental stabilization-after
contracting and surviving malaria
■ Intense fever that accompanied malaria destroyed syphilis bacteria
1920s psychiatrist discovered high-dose of insulin injections causes seizures
○ Occasionally used to stimulate the appetites of psychotic patients and had a calming
effect
○ Sakel observed that patients experienced temporary relief from their schizophrenia
symptoms
○ Risks of death
1920s, two Italian researchers, Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini, demonstrated that seizures can be
triggered by passing an electric current through a patient's head
○ Seizure: convulsions
○ Precursor of electroconvulsive therapy
The greatest achievement of psychopharmacotherapy: French pharmaceutical company
researching anti-histamine medications produced a drug with allergy relieving symptoms and
strong sedative effect (people feel more calm and peaceful)
○ Findings were foundation for development of chlorpromazine, the first antipsychotic
drug
Antipsychotic Drugs
●
Psychosis prominent feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders
○ Includes delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking
○ Symptoms reduced using antipsychotic drugs
Typical Antipsychotics
●
●
Chlorpromazine: sedative effects; used as anesthesia during surgery
○ Used with psychiatric patients; tranquilizing effects effectively manage psychotic
behaviors
○ Other drugs: haloperidol
Typical antipsychotics: the first generation of antipsychotic drugs first developed in the 1950s,
used to treat psychotic disorders. They function by reducing the amount of dopamine activity
in the brain (work by blocking dopamine receptors in the brain)
○ Dopamine: neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, motivation, and motor control;
fluctuation in dopamine levels can be problematic.
Stimulant drugs e.g. cocaine and amphetamine increase the amount of
dopamine available in the brain and can lead to anxiety, agitation, delusions,
and hallucinations
Mild/moderate side effects: dry mouth, blurred vision, drowsiness, and dizziness
Long-term use cause extrapyramidal symptoms:
■ Serious side-effects of antipsychotic medications that include disruption in an
individual's ability to consciously control their body movement (physical
rigidity/involuntary body movements)
■ Most serious symptoms: tardive dyskinesia
■ Involuntary and unwanted movements in the face, tongue, or arms
■ Persists even when the typical antipsychotic is stopped
■
○
○
Atypical Antipsychotics
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Atypical antipsychotic: a group of the second generation of antipsychotic drugs used to treat
psychotic disorders. Acts on both dopamine and serotonin in the brain.
○ Serotonin: neurotransmitter that helps to regulate mood and energy expenditure
○ Examples: clozapine (Clozaril), risperidone (Risperdal), olanzapine (Zyprexa),
aripiprazole (Ability)
Tardive dyskinesia common side effect of clozapine
Side effects:
○ Decrease an individual's white blood cell count, making them more susceptible to
infection
○ Difficulty with concentration, weight gain, and excessive grogginess
Antidepressant Medications
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Anti-depressant: medicinal treatments for depression
1. Amphetamine, opioids: used to successfully improve mood
■ Side effects: addictive nature
Prevailing theory: depression result of an imbalance of specific brain chemicals known
collectively as monoamine neurotransmitters
1. Monoamines include: serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine
Three major classes of antidepressants:
1. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors
■ Inhibit enzyme called monoamine oxidase
■ This enzyme chemically break down monoamines in the synapse, thus
disposing of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine
■ Inhibition of this enzyme by monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) allow
these mood-influencing neurotransmitters to remain in the synapse for longer
■ Phenelzine (Nardil), tranylcypromine (Parnate), isocarboxazid (Marplan):prescribe as last resort
■ Due dangerous food and drug interactions
■ Individuals prescribed MAOIs avoid tyramine:- substance present in
cheese, red wine, pickles, decongestants, and birth control pills
Tricyclic antidepressants
○ TCAs: three-ring chemical structure
○ Side effects: low blood pressure, weight gain, reduced sexual interest
○ Food drug interactions are absent unlike MAOIs
○ Imipramine (Tofranil), amitriptyline (Elavil), nortriptyline (Pamelor):- commonly
prescribed antidepressants
TCAs affect brain chemistry by inhibiting reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine, so
they are more available in the synapse
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
○ Most commonly prescribed antidepressant works by making more serotonin available
in the synapse (SSRIs)
○ High rates of effectiveness and lower risk of side effects
○ First-line attempt: initial, preferred, or best attempt at treating a psychological
disorder
○ Fluoxetine (Prozac), citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro), sertraline (Zoloft)
■ Prozac: household name for treatment of depression
■ According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: most
commonly prescribed psychotropic medication in the US
○ SSRIs target serotonin and have very little effect on norepinephrine and dopamine
○ They inhibit the reuptake of serotonin in the synapse, thereby increasing its
concentration
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Effectiveness of Antidepressants
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Antidepressants appear most effective for individuals with severe depression
○ 50% of people with depression experience some relief from their symptoms using
SSRIs, but only 20-30% experience complete relief
In cases of mild/moderate depression; improvement from antidepressant can be attributed to
the placebo effect
○ Rebuttal: SSRIs appear less effective because it takes approximately 4-6 weeks for
medications to build up to an active level in the brain
Ketamine: alternate to SSRIs
○ Focuses on neurotransmitter glutamate
■ Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter:- increases all manner of brain
activity
■ Accounts for more than 90% of all synapses in the human brain
■ Still in experimental stages; potential medication that can relieve symptoms
more than 50% of the time
Antidepressants are not as effective in preventing the next depressive episode
Depression can reoccur within five years
Psychological strategies, e.g. psychotherapy, can strengthen lifestyle changes that support
longer-term remission of symptoms
Psychotherapy and regular exercise have similar effectiveness to antidepressant drug trials
Anxiolytics
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Anxiolytics (Antianxiety medications): prescribed to treat the sensations of arousal and tension
associated with disorders of anxiety
○ Have their effect by acting on neurotransmitters in the brain
○ Effect: state of calm and relaxation --> class of sedatives
Benzodiazepines
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Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA): neurotransmitter that acts the inhibitor of the central
nervous system, thus calms the brain
Benzodiazepines increase the amount of GABA available in the synapse thereby effectively
treat symptoms of anxiety
Barbiturates: a group of drugs that cause sedation and induce sleep, historically prescribed for
anxiety disorders, e.g. phenobarbital
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Benzodiazepines: a group of drugs primarily used for treating anxiety by enhancing the effect
GABA. These drugs are known for being fast-acting and also highly addictive.
discovered accidentally
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○ First 'benzo':- chlordiazepoxide
○ Benzodiazepines fast-acting effect: anxiety symptom relief within 20-40 minutes after
ingestion
○ Side-effects:
■ Highly addictive
■ Develop tolerance and become chemically dependent on them
■ Long-term use associated with aggression, agitation and panic
■ Known as paradoxical effect: an effect of medication causing the
opposite effect to which would normally be expected
○ To address potential for abuse of benzodiazepines, pharmaceutical companies
developed extended-release forms to slow down the effects
Other Anxiolytics
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Medications that act on other neurotransmitter pathways have demonstrated efficacy and
effectiveness in treating anxiety-related disorders
SSRIs: help treat individuals with panic attacks, obsessions, or compulsions
TCAs: individuals with social anxiety have experienced symptoms reduction
Buspirone: primarily to treat generalized anxiety disorder, achieves its anxiolytic effect by
decreasing serotonin levels while increasing levels of norepinephrine and dopamine in the
brain
Beta blockers: originally developed to treat irregular heart rhythms and high blood pressure
Mood-Stabilizing Medications
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Mood-stabilizer: medications that treat and prevent highs (mania) and lows (depression) that
may be seen in disorders such as bipolar disorder
○ Bipolar disorder: characterized by shifts in mood, ranging from the highs of mania to
the lows of depression
○ Mood stabilizers are highly effective at managing the excessive euphoria, reduced
need for sleep, grandiose thinking of typical manic episode, and reducing aggression
and agitation
Lithium: naturally occurring mineral, most efficacious and commonly prescribed mood
stabilizer
○ Hypothesis: lithium increases the production of serotonin and enhances neural
plasticity, which allows the brain to be more flexible
○ Potential side effects:
■ Too much lithium: reduced thyroid function, substantial weight gain, and
organ damage
■ Individual prescribed lithium must undergo regular blood testing to monitor
levels of the drug in the body
Alternative mood-stabilizing medications: anticonvulsant/antiseizure medications
○ Enhance availability of GABA, effective in managing manic episodes with much lower
risk of side effects
○ Lithium is still more effective in reducing bipolar-related suicidal behavior, psychosis,
and aggression
Pros and Cons of Psychopharmacotherapy
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Psychotropic medications don't necessarily cure psychological disorders; instead provide relief
of symptoms
○ Medications discontinued symptoms often return
○ Individuals taking medications long term must be carefully monitored and have
medications adjusted as body chemistry changes over time
Psychopharmacotherapy in not intended to be the only long-term solution
○ Ideal treatment for psychological disorders include combination of
psychopharmacotherapy and psychotherapy
■ Medications address the biological aspect of psychological disorders
■ Psychotherapy addresses the psychological and social aspects
■ Psychotherapy help people build coping skills and more adaptive patterns of
thinking and behaving as well as identifying triggers in their environments
that can make mental health difficulties worse
There is risk of physiological/psychological addiction
Cost: psychotropic medications can be prohibitively expensive, esp. pharmaceutical
companies holding active patent
Medically stabilizing a patients helps them gain mastery over their mental health and make
progress towards recovery
○ Alters a person's quality of life
○ Allowing them to be productive members of the society
15.5 Non-pharmacological Interventions
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In cases of treatment-resistant: psychological disorders that haven't responded to multiple
trails of psychotropic medications, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners
recommend other biological treatments
Electroconvulsive Therapy
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Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): involves the use of electrical currents delivered to the brain to
induce seizures.
○ Used in cases of treatment-resistant depression and schizophrenia
Modern ECT is a safe and effective treatment for severe psychological disorders
○ ECT in 1930s, had little consideration for patients
○ People experienced injuries:- broken bones and teeth from the seizure
ECT administered over the course of several sessions
Patients typically sedated during the procedure while low voltage current is administered.
Effective in alleviating depressive symptoms in 50-70% of cases
High relapse rate for severe depression
○ Needs to used repeatedly when symptoms reappear
Side effect:
○ Mental confusion and short-term memory loss, go away after 7-14 days
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): non-invasive procedure that uses electromagnetic
currents to stimulate portions of the brain
○ TMS device produces small magnetic pulses which pass through the skull and go
about an inch into the brain where they can increase/decrease neuronal activity
○ Repetitive TMS (rTMS): procedure where pulses delivered in quick succession
■ Produces longer-lasting changes to brain activity
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Common side effects:
○ Mild headache
○ Fainting
○ Scalp pain
○ Seizure activity (rare instances)
○ Magnetic pulses are loud and the device is often positioned close to the ears; people
wear headphones/earplugs while undergoing treatment
Psychosurgery
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Psychosurgery: an operation in which psychological disorders are addressed using surgical
procedures, typically performed by a neurosurgeon
Trepanation: one of the earliest forms of psychosurgery
Prefrontal lobotomy: a psychosurgical procedure developed to treat severe cases of psychosis.
The procedure severs the connections between the prefrontal lobe and rest of the brain
○ Purpose: reduce severity of symptoms associated with mental disorders
Other forms: removal/destruction small pieces of the brain which is thought to be causing
mental dysfunction
Associated risks:
○ Seizures, cognitive deficit, and even death
Deep brain simulation (DBS): invasive technique involves implanting electrodes into the brain
to electrically stimulate certain areas
○ Neurostimulator operates via a battery (similar to a cardiac pacemaker)
○ Electrical current can help prevent signals that cause psychiatric symptoms
DBS is reserved for treatment-resistant cases of mental illness
15.6 Psychotherapy
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Psychotherapy: psychological approach to helping individuals identify, change, and overcome
problematic thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.
○ Referred to talk therapy
○ Presented as a non-medical approach to treating psychological disorders
Psychotherapy focuses on changing individuals' internal experiences
Focuses on making adjustments to how individuals show/express their internal experience
through behavior
Psychotherapy can guide individuals to change the systems in which they are embedded
○ Encouraged to address problem s within their household, workplace, or social
environment to improve their psychological functioning
Individual therapy: collaborative treatment that is based on the relationship formed between
an individual and their therapist
○ Professional relationship marked by ethics and boundaries
○ Therapist are legally required to protect the confidentiality of their patients; exception
of when individual plans to harm themselves/another person
○ Psychotherapeutic relationships marked by rapport
■ Rapport: describes an individual's comfort and willingness to engage with
their therapist
Group Therapy
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Group therapy: treatment option in which a therapist works at once with severe individuals
○ Common theme: anxiety/anger
○ Group members spend time sharing and exploring their current thoughts and feelings
○ Each patient brings different experiences and viewpoints
Treatment in group therapy is influenced by the group dynamic; how individuals in
the group relate to and interact with each other
Mutual-help group: variant of group therapy
○ Peer-run groups made up of members who share a common experience e.g.
bereavement, specific mental health problem, form of addiction
○ Economically more feasible compared to groups led by professionals
○ Groups may be anonymous, allowing members to be helpful to each other w/o the
need to be a patient in a treatment setting
○ 12-step recovery groups e.g. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA): follow a pre-established set of
recovery steps to maintain behavior change
■ Due to intentionally informal nature of mutual-help groups, the efficacy of
these types of programs is not well studied and can vary from group to group
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Couple’s and Family Therapy
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Couple's and family therapy (CFT): form of psychotherapy that addresses the thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors of all members of a relationship unit and how the thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors affect individual members and relationship unit as a whole
○ Traditionally referred to a marriage and family therapy, also known as marital therapy,
couple's counseling, relationship counseling and family therapy
○ Modern term acknowledges the array of human relationships that don't fit under the
umbrella term of 'marriage'
Couple's therapy: involve a couple meeting with a therapist to help resolve difficulties within
their relationship
○ Issues addressed: problems with infidelity, communication, or sexual dysfunction
○ Goal: facilitate communication between two individuals so they move ahead in a
manner most healthy for all involved
Family therapy: address interpersonal difficulties within the family unit, which may consist of
nuclear/extended family members
○ Specific issues addressed:
■ Conflict between parent and child
■ Planning to co-parent following a divorce
■ Coping with care of a terminally ill family member
○ Goal:
■ Focus on the importance of shared responsibility for problematic interactions
within the family unit - one individual is not to blame
School of Therapy
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Evidence-based psychotherapies have been developed and implemented which are typically
rooted in scientific theories, with treatment techniques evolving with new scientific
discoveries
Four major movements of psychotherapy:
1. Insight therapy
2. Behavior therapy
3. Humanistic therapy
4. Cognitive therapy
Insight Therapy
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Sigmund Freud: father of modern psychotherapy, many psychotherapy techniques have roots
in his methods
His style of psychotherapy was helping people understand why they think, feel and
behave in a certain way--> wanted them to gain more insight
○ He argued that reasons for human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors lie outside of
conscious awareness
Insight therapy: uses a variety of techniques to help more gain more awareness of their
unconscious thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
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Psychoanalysis
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Psychoanalysis: a form of psychotherapy coined by Sigmund Freud that seeks to help clients
gain more insight into their unconscious thoughts, behaviors, and motivations
○ Intensive form of psychotherapy, can involve multiple sessions each week over the
course of many months/years.
Patients lie on a couch with the therapist sitting to the side or behind, out of sight
Patients encouraged to engage in free association
○ Free association: a technique of psychoanalysis in which a client is encouraged to
freely share thoughts, words, and anything else that comes to mind in order to gain
insight into their unconscious thoughts, behaviors, and motivation
Therapist listen carefully, taking notes on reoccurring themes, metaphors, and memories;provide insight into the unconscious content
Freudian slip: error in speech, memory, or action that is thought to reveal an unconscious
thought, feeling, or belief
Dream analysis: involves the exploration of the manifest content in hopes of uncovering latent
content
○ Manifest content: aspects of dreams that the patients remember
○ Latent content: parts of dreams that reveal deeper insights into the patient's thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors
○ Another important tool for psychoanalysis
Therapist pays attention to the behavior
As they approach the root of specific problems, the unconscious mind creates roadblocks to
resist therapy
○ Resistance: describes a client's unwillingness to engage/cooperate in psychoanalysis
■ Can take the form of:
■ Missed appointments
■ Forgotten dreams (repression)
■ Insistence that they have recovered and no longer need therapy
(denial)
■ Expressing the desire to return to previously resolved problems
(regression)
■ Present a serious challenge to progress
○ Transference: occurs when the patient redirects feeling e.g. love/anger for another
person onto the therapist
■ Clue that a breakthrough is about to occur
■ A specific form of resistance
■ Difficult to navigate, but it indicates that patient's hidden memories and
conflicts are getting close to conscious awareness
■ Important for both of them to understand that these intense feelings are not
really about the therapist
■ Therapist can help patients navigate these emotions and uncover meaning of
them
■ Analyzing transference can help clarify childhood relationships the patient had
with important adult figures in the past
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Freud collaborated with several scholars (Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Anna Freud) who extended
and expanded upon his theory into psychodynamic therapy
○ Psychodynamic therapy is less time intensive and more focused on specific
psychological disorders
Behaviour Therapy
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Behavior therapy is rooted in learning theory
Insight therapy focuses on how unconscious processes influence behavior
Behavior therapy focuses on behavior modification
○ Behavior modification: the process of changing problematic behaviors
Based on the foundational work of behaviorists
○ B.F. Skinner's work laid the foundation for operant conditioning
Behavioral interventions involve changing antecedents and consequences to treat
maladaptive behaviors and encourage proactive ones
Operant Conditioning Therapies
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Operant condition: describes learning that is based on the consequence of behavior
○ Therapist attempts to modify maladaptive behavior by implementing rewards and
punishments
■ Desirable behaviors:- rewarded → reinforced
■ Undesirable behaviors:- punished
Contingency management: common technique used in behavior therapy which involves the
use of tangible rewards to reinforce appropriate behaviors
○ Use effectively to treat addiction-based disorders, decrease stuttering in children, and
get patients to accomplish their therapy goals
Token economy: a principle of behavior therapy that uses objects/symbols that are earned in
response to a desired behavior; the tokens can be exchanged for some larger
reinforcer/reward.
○ Voucher-based reinforcement: provides patients with a voucher for every drug-free
urine sample they provide; vouchers have monetary value, and the value increases
with the number of drug-free urine sample
Behavior activation: uses principles of operant conditioning through maintaining a schedule
to encourage people with depression to engage in enjoyable activities
○ One of the most effective treatments for depression; similar results to using
medication
○ Schedule is important:- forces people to be more intentional about the activity they
may not want to/have the energy to do
○ Theory: enjoyable activities are rewarding, and when a behavior is rewarder we
continue doing it
Applied Behavior Analysis
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Applied behavior analysis (ABA): goal of this type of behavior therapy is to reduce
inappropriate behaviors and increase effective communication, adaptive learning, and
appropriate social behaviors
○ Skinner contributed to the science and philosophy
○ Focus on therapy came with Ted Allyon, Art Staat, Mont Wolf etc.
○ Population that benefits: children with autism
Mechanism:
○ To reduce inappropriate behaviors, practitioners conduct a functional behavior
assessment/functional analysis
Practitioners record what happens before, during, and after the inappropriate
behavior and experimentally manipulate the consequences of behavior to
determine its cause
○ Then teach an appropriate response and consistently use effective reinforcers to
replace the inappropriate/maladaptive response
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT): a form of therapy that involves embracing and
accepting our thoughts and feelings instead of immediately trying to change them
○ Used by clinical behavior analysts to help college student with public speaking
anxiety, teachers and staff with depression, adults with OCD
Self-management techniques: a set of techniques teaching people (who don't require
professional intervention) to self-record, monitor, and change their own behavior via
reinforcement contingencies.
○ Used to help people stop biting their nails, drink less coffee, improve the completion
and accuracy of math homework
ABA used as an intervention for people with autism spectrum disorder.
○ When implemented intensively (>20hrs/week) and early in life (<4 yrs. age) ABA
therapy is associated with large developmental gains and reduced need for special
services later in life
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Pavlovian Conditioning Therapies
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Pavlovian conditioning/classical conditioning: involves learning that is based on the
association of behaviors and environmental stimuli
Behavior therapist using Pavlovian conditioning:- attempts to teach their patients about the
predictive properties in the environment
○ Basic premise of these therapies: psychotherapy is useful when learned behaviors are
maladaptive
○ Commonly applied treatment approach for fears and phobias
Counterconditioning: technique used by behavior therapist to replace undesirable behaviors
with more adaptive, desirable actions
○ Instead of wanting to ran away from a spider patient may learn to take deep
breaths/repat calming mantra
Systematic Desensitization
Systematic desensitization: specific counterconditioning technique which aims to replace the
anxious response to stimulus with a relaxation response
○ Developed by Whope
○ Used by behavior therapists to treat patients whose experience of anxiety is so
overwhelming that it interferes with daily life
Mechanism
1. Teaching relaxation skills in absence of the anxiety-provoking stimulus
○ Therapist guiding their patients through deep breathing exercises/progressive muscle
relaxations
2. When patient is proficient at relaxing at will→ establish fear hierarchy
○ Fear hierarchy: a therapeutic chart on which anxiety-provoking stimuli are ranked
from 1-100, from least to most fear-inducing, in order to help client systematically face
the source of fear
■ Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS): a rating system used in fear
hierarchy for assigning distress to anxiety-provoking stimuli
○ Using established hierarchy, therapist and patient practice relaxation in presence of
low-SUDS stimuli. As patient becomes comfortable they work up through the
hierarchy
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Visualization/imaginal exposure: a therapeutic exercise that involves the client imagining the
source of trauma/anxiety in a safe environment.
○ Goal: ultimately reduce the subjective level of distress experienced
○ Creating an imagined event allows the behavior therapist to assist with early
confrontation of the threatening stimulus
Systematic desensitization can take long time for the patient to progress through the
hierarchy
Flooding: therapeutic technique in which a client is exposed to an anxiety-provoking stimulus
and allowed to escape until they are able to relax
○ Uses extinction:- occurs when a stimulus no longer produces a conditioned response
○ Under controlled conditions, patient is placed in the highest rated anxiety-provoking
situation, encouraged to confront their fear, and allowed to escape
■ Initial reaction can be extreme; over the course of several mins/hrs. of exposure
without consequences, patient relaxes
○ Although intense approach, highly successful in confronting several different anxiety
disorders
Humanistic Therapy
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Limitations of psychotherapeutic approaches:
○ Insight therapy:
■ Strong focus on the unconscious & the past-not necessarily focused on
solutions to current problems
■ Time intensive
○ Behavior therapy:
■ Focused on very specific problems, didn't address personal growth
■ Founded on non-human animal experimentation
Humanistic therapy: developed as means of better understanding and addressing problems
unique to human experience
○ Humanism: philosophy suggesting that individuals are all unique, that we all have a
contribution to make, and that psychological health is found when we each reach our
full potential for growth
○ Primary goal: help patients develop a stronger, healthier sense of identity to better
understand the meaning of life
Carl Rogers: trained psychoanalytically & valued the role of unconscious; his theories placed
lager emphasis in the conscious aspects of the human experience
○ Distinguished between real self and ideal self which contributes to personality
development
■ Real self: a self-perception constituted by how we view ourselves, our
capabilities, and characteristics
■ Ideal self: a self-perception consisting of how we think we should be based on
external and societal expectations, e.g. parents and society.
○ Psychological maladjustment results from when ideal and ideal selves don't match
Person-Centered Therapy
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Humanistic therapy applied to treat a number of psychological disorders: anxiety, depression,
personality disorders, and substance-related disorders
Goal: guide an individual's self-actualizing tendency
○ Self-actualization tendency: humans' natural inclination to reach their full potential
Person-centered therapy: a therapeutic modality that focuses on the patient's own role in their
treatment
○ Therapist providing this treatment has some very specific responsibilities
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Founded on three basic conditions:
■ Unconditional positive regard: therapist is accepting respectful, and caring
toward the patient even when don't agree with patient's views/behaviors, they
should demonstrate that they believe the patient is doing the best they can
■ Empathy: therapist shows an understanding of the patient's problems &
emotions
■ Congruence: therapist is genuine & authentic their body language matches
the word the therapist says
Therapist is supportive, understanding, & non-judgmental
No hierarchy in humanistic therapy- therapist & patient are peers
Person-centered therapy is non-directive:- therapist follows the patient's lead rather
than forcing their own agenda
■ This therapy effective option for patients who are self-motivated to make
change
Gestalt therapy
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Based on Gestalt theory: 'the whole is more than the sum of its parts'
○ Founder: Fritz Perls
○ Believed that sometimes the most important parts of ourselves are hidden from us
■ Helps patients uncover these hidden elements of self that were suppressed
because of external disapproval
■ Parts are discovered in a present-focused, genuine exploration of emotions
and problems, the patient is then challenged by the therapist to re-own them
Gestalt therapy focused on the 'here & now'
Gestalt therapist more direct and less gentle
○ Patients are encouraged & actively pushed to express their feelings openly
○ Central tenet: by understanding & expressing oneself as a whole person, patient can
take responsibility for their feelings and discover the capacity to change
Gestalt therapist use creative techniques:
○ The empty chair: patient imagines an individual/a problem sitting in an empty chair
■ They are encouraged to express their feelings & thoughts to the chair
■ Idea: by talking it out, patient will be aware of underlying conflicts
○ Therapist will sometimes place patient in the 'hot seat' and even provoke strong
emotions e.g. anger in hopes of helping then access their genuine feelings
Cognitive Therapy
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Cognitive perspective: the way we think about things influences how we see the world,
thereby influencing our emotions and behaviors
Cognitive therapy: treats psychological disorders by teaching thought-management
techniques to dispel negative thinking patterns
○ focuses on thinking esp. maladaptive thoughts
○ capitalizes on the strength the mind
Rational-Emotive Therapy
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Introduced by psychologist Albert Ellis
○ A psychotherapy strongly influenced by cognitive theory
A-B-C approach:
○ A-Adverse event: situation/event that triggers a negative emotional/behavioral
response
○ B-Beliefs: core beliefs associated with the activating event
C-Consequences: emotional/behavioral outcome caused by beliefs about the
activating event (psychological problem)
Facing an adverse event (A), an individual's belief (B) about the event will influence their
response & lead to emotional/behavioral consequences (C)
○ Ellis argued that irrational/inflexible beliefs are consequential
Role the cognitive therapist: directly and sometimes aggressively, change irrational
maladaptive beliefs until they are surrendered
Central tenet: therapist attacks the maladaptive thinking with the goal of illustrating that the
belief is fundamentally irrational
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Cognitive Therapy to Treat Depression
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Introduced by psychiatrist Aaron Beck as a treatment for depression
Addresses dysfunctional thinking by focusing on the connections between how an individual
evaluates events and the resulting emotions
○ Patients are trained to identify negative forms of thinking; then encouraged to
re-evaluate these beliefs
○ This process facilitated by the thought record
■ Thought record: a tool that allows clients to keep track of their thoughts and
recognize patterns that may lead to mental health concerns
■ Patients write out their thoughts with the goal of finding healthier
ways of thinking
Cognitive disorders: patterns of negative automatic thoughts that can become pervasive and
contribute to psychological disorders identified by Beck
○ Tend to be exaggerations/misperceptions of actual life events
■ All-or-nothing thinking/black-and-white thinking/dichotomous thinking:
individual sees a situation in only two categories instead of along a continuum
■ Discounting the positive: individual believes that positive attributes and
experiences don't count
■ Catastrophizing: individual makes negative predictions about the future w/o
considering other, more likely possibilities
After cognitive distortions are identified, therapist works with patients to retrain how they
think about their daily lives
○ Keeping a thought record can be useful during the process
○ During sessions therapist & patients evaluate distorted thinking & discuss more
adaptive ways to think about life events
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
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Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): a model of therapy asserting that thoughts and
perceptions influence feelings and behaviors
○ Model of psychotherapy that combines the basic tenets of behavioral & cognitive
therapies
Behavior therapy:- first wave if psychotherapy
CBT:- second wave of psychotherapy
○ Focuses on information processing-specifically, how emotion & behaviors are
influenced by maladaptive thought patterns
○ CBT employs techniques to identify & change those patterns
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CBT: short-term, action-oriented & problem focused
○ Unlike insight therapy & humanistic therapy, CBT treat specific psychological disorders
○ Like behavior & cognitive therapy, CBT is based on the view that problematic
behavioral & thinking pattern play a key role in development of psychological
disorders
○ Effective treatment include more adaptive behaviors & thoughts
Cognitive triad: Beck's cognitive triad represents an individual's belief system about the self,
the world, and the future that can make them more/less susceptible to depression
○ Treatment addresses automatic/spontaneous negative thoughts regarding aspects of
this system
○ Cognitive restructuring: a therapeutic process in which patients learn to identify their
cognitive distortions, dispute negative thoughts, and develop alternate, more positive
and rational thoughts
CBT most widely used form of evidence-based psychotherapy
Demonstrated efficacy in treatment of: depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders,
somatoform disorders, eating disorders, u=substance use disorders, schizophrenia, insomnia,
personality disorders, anger & aggression, criminal behaviors, general stress, distress due to
general medical conditions, chronic pain & fatigue, distress due to pregnancy complication &
female hormonal conditions
Third wave of psychotherapy: emphasizes mindfulness, acceptance, & individual value & goals
○ Treatment: acceptance & commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, &
mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
○ Patients may be more accepting of mindfulness based treatment, shown by better
retention rates in treatment
Telehealth
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"Telehealth," "telemedicine," or "telepsychology," among others, and they consist of modalities
that may involve telephone, email, video conferencing, or other technological alternatives.
○ Mobile apps or computer-assisted counseling or psychotherapy
History of being an option across the world in various historical crisis situations, including
natural disasters, environmental hazardous situations, and infectious disease outbreaks
COVID-19 and Telehealth
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Advent of COVID-19, telehealth quickly became a modality in both medical & mental health
settings
Telehealth expansion aided by:
○ Insurance companies & government programs loosening previous restrictions on
telehealth, allowing for components which previously may not have been covered
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Telehealth allowed for continuity of care for pre-existing clients and enabled new clients to
initiate treatment w/o having to engage in face-to face contact.
Social distancing created/enhanced loneliness & isolation, along with symptoms of depression,
anxiety etc.
People suffered from high levels of unemployment, financial stressors, addiction & domestic
violence
15.7 Addressing a Person’s Social Environment
●
●
●
●
●
Individuals are products of their environment → we are influenced by the people & things
around us
○ True for development, maintenance, and treatment of psychological disorder
Biopsychosocial model: the interaction of biological makeup, psychological experiences, and
social environment determine a person's risk of developing a psychological disorder and the
success of treatment
Social environment is broad and complex:- treatment of psychological disorders occur within
this framework
Maslow's hierarchy of needs: individuals must meet basic needs before they are able to
address higher-order needs
Treatment plan must go beyond interactions with mental health provider
○ Patients benefit form connection with community resources and government
agencies e.g. Food banks, employment initiatives, child-care services, and housing
services
○ Social workers specialize in connecting patients with such resources
○ They have additional training in advocacy & problem-solving techniques
Module 16
Chapter 16: Health and Stress
16.1: Fundamentals of Health and Stress
(idk if this matters but 64% of college students fear public speaking)
Our response to stress and fear is a result of evolutions and adaptations from ancestors. The stress
response is one of the traits that have helped humans survive which is why it managed to be passed
down all the way to our times now. A balance of stress is also necessary however, because consistent
amounts of stress can impair our bodies and increase risk of disease and aging.
16.2: What is Stress?
“STRESS” is a very versatile word that can be used to describe external environmental stimuli to internal
emotional experiences and bodily responses. Due to it being such a broad term, the word is used in
everyday language and in psychology discussions. This means the word is not precise enough to
describe the types of stress. Scholars suggest we not use “stress” but start identifying different types of
stress.
Good VS Bad Stress
Hans Selye is one of the pioneers of stress research. He coined two terms:
EUSTRESS: reactions as a result of good stress (allows for motivation)
○ Examples are marriage, work promotions, adopting a child, or being confronted with
manageable challenges
● DISTRESS: reaction to bad stress
○ A result of stresses that are perceived as negative
○ Examples are loss of loved ones, failing a test, or challenges beyond one's capabilities
The existence of stress can benefit one’s performance and this theory of correlation between stress and
performance is shown in the YERKES-DODSON LAW where the relationship is an inverted U-shape. The
law explains that too little or too much stress can impair performance although there is little evidence
to back this statement.
●
The updated stress and performance model– “Maximal Adaptability Model” –suggests that humans and
other beings are highly adaptive to stress and can perform well under many stress conditions (less and
more). Overcoming challenges involves stress, so it is important to understand how to perceive the
stress despite it might be negative.
Stressors and the Stress Response
The “Stress and Coping Theory” and the work of Hans Selye can help us distinguish external and
internal stresses.
● STRESSORS are EXTERNAL stimuli that have potential to disturb an individual’s state
○ They can range from minor inconveniences to severe issues like assault
● STRESS RESPONSES are INTERNAL psychological and biological responses to stressors that
work to recover from the imbalance state.
○ Psychological components involve thoughts and emotions while biological responses
involve feedback from bodily systems like increased heart rate
● ACUTE STRESSORS are short term external stimuli, usually lasting minutes to hours. (These can
range from mild to severe)
● CHRONIC STRESSORS involve enduring constant external stimuli, lasting weeks to years such as
poverty (These can range from mild to severe)
● Severe cases of stressors involve threat on one’s life of physical integrity and are called
TRAUMATIC STRESSORS (eg. disasters and abuse)
To define stressors, it must be separated by duration and severity like seen in this table:
The Stress Response: An Evolutionary Perspective
We know that as one gets nervous/anxious/fearful, their heart starts to race, palms start sweating and
the feeling of butterflies form in the stomach but why does this occur and how does that assist us in
thriving as stress should?
● Homeostasis is a state of balance meaning it is a state not affected by stressors. When affected
by stressors however, it throws off balance and your stress response alerts your mind that there
is imbalance as it works to restore said balance.
○ These alerts include the aforementioned psychological and biological responses
In the past this response was developed as a means to protect yourself from predators. With increased
predator encounters, we have evolved to mobilize energy with stressors to avoid damage and infections.
This leads to us developing the ability to experience a stressor response when anticipating a stressor.
From a neurosci standpoint, how do stressor responses work?
● The amygdala responds the quickest to stressors and is referred to the “neural watchdog”.
Sometimes it responds earlier than when you are conscious of the stressor
● The hippocampus’ job is to consolidate new memories and stressful situations are one of the
many types of memories that require encoding. With this, the hippocampus can also filter
through ongoing and past memories, using these one can also imagine possible future
experiences. (basically referencing past memories and applying to current stressors)
● The Prefrontal Cortex analyses the threat recognized by the amygdala and adjusts the response
according to the severity of the stressor
The biological responses mentioned before butterflies, sweating and increased heart rate occur when
you are consciously aware of the stressor. At the unconscious level, bodily systems still undergo
changes. In presence of a stressor, the AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM (ANS) and the HYPOTHALAMIC
PITUITARY ADRENAL (HPA) AXIS activated. These two systems produce hormones to coordinate and
regulate responses to stressors.
ANS
●
●
●
●
The ANS consists of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous
system (PNS) and maintains homeostasis through reciprocal inhibition. (like a push and pull
from the systems, they work together to maintain a balance)
The hypothalamus is the central piece to coordinating the ANS
The sympathetic functions as the activator, the parasympathetic acts as the regulator and the
hypothalamus is the controller
The SNS helps release stress hormones known as catecholamines from the adrenal glands
○ Catecholamines consist of epinephrine and norepinephrine which play a part in flight
or flight
○ The PNS reduces/cushions the fight or flight response in attempts of restoring
homeostasis (penis joke haha funny)
○ The SNS and PNS act like engine and breaks respectively
HPA
●
●
●
The HPA axis promotes the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands
The amygdala sends signals to the hypothalamus (controls then HPA axis as well as ANS) to
release corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)
○ CRH signals the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH
travels into the bloodstream to the adrenal glands to help release cortisol
Cortisol fluctuates and can be measured in blood, urine, saliva and hair. It is the most widely
used indicator of the stress response
●
○ People exposed to acute stressors show increased cortisol lvls after 15-20 mins
In humans, when waking up, cortisol rises and at bedtime, it decreases
○ People with chronic stressors, often show less deline later in the day, in fact, the levels
seem to flatten during times of decline
○ Due to the constant stress, the cortisol levels of people w chronic stressors also have less
increase in the mornings as well (you can’t increase stress lvls if u r always stressed, so
big brain)
●
The release of catecholamines and cortisol prepare the body to perform the biological
responses we talked about at the beginning of this chapter
○ Increased heart rate and pressure helps us run from stressors and fight off attackers
○ Quickened breathing helps us intake more oxygen to fuel to brain
○ Activation of fight or flight allows the pancreas to release insulin to increase glucose
levels for energy
○ Cortisol facilitates transforming fatty acids to glucose allowing for even more energy
●
Along with fight and flight, another response could be freeze. This often occurs when prey is
completely overcome by a predator. Humans freeze in response to traumatic and
uncontrollable stressors
Prolonged periods of stress response can be harmful as mechanisms used to control stress
response is vital to one’s health
While ANS works through reciprocal inhibition, HPA axis works with negative feedback loops as
regulators
○ To explain this, the cortisol released helps mobilize bodily resources but it also acts to
shut down HPA axis activity. It bonds to receptors on the hypothalamus and pituitary
gland to reduce CRH and ACTH production. Therefore HPA axis works to produce
hormones that shuts its own system down
In acute stress responses, it allows for momentary spikes of energy and oxygen intake, which is
beneficial. But in chronic stress situations, this can be harmful.
●
●
●
Immune System Response to Stressors
Research has shown that acute and chronic stressors can activate the INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE
● The INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE helps the body cope with increase risks of infection and injury
that some stressors can cause
○ For example, in the past, physical injuries from attacks were linked to stressors from
predators. In response to this, the body increases protein lvls to regulate inflammation
to deal with injury and infection.
16.3: Stress Research
The Importance of Perceptions
It is believed that one’s perception of a stressor can greatly affect the severity of a stressor. Due to this, a
certain stressor can cause different levels of stress response to different people.
● STRESS AND COPING THEORY states that stress is the perception that a stressor is out of your
capability to cope with something
○ PRIMARY APPRAISAL is an analysis of the stressor’s characteristics, demand and
relevance from your point of view (eg. difficulty and weigh factor of a test)
○ SECONDARY APPRAISAL is the perception of a stressor based off coping resources
provided for said stressor
■ Resources could be your personality, abilities, social support and financial
support
○ Appraisal helps us determine how manageable the stressor is
●
CHALLENGE AND THREAT THEORY determines whether a stressor is a challenge or a threat
○ Stressors involving higher demand,danger, uncertainty, and novelty are perceived as
threats
○ Stressors involving positive outcomes and gain are perceived as challenges
○ After primary and secondary appraisal of a stressor, the circumstance can be beyond
reach with your capabilities, that is when a challenge becomes a threat
Methodology in Stress Research: From Exposure to Perceived Stress
(Most of the early research was performed on rats >:0)
The research conducted examines effects early stressors have on incidence of cardiovascular disease.
The independent variable being stressor exposure and the dependent being cardiovascular disease
incidence. Due to the nature and length of this experiment, it is unethical to perform it on humans. This
is why we use rats. Us humans have abilities to have a stress response by simply thinking about the
stressor. How can human circumstances be replicated in rats?
Studying Stressors in the Real World
This approach uses groups of people that already have been exposed to a certain stressor and use them
for comparison to a group w/o said stressor. Through these two groups, researchers can conduct
correlation studies.
● Caregiving stressors, unemployment stressors and natural disaster stressors are stressors
already experienced by certain individuals. By asking them to participate in studies, they can be
a research subject ethically.
● Correlational studies can measure the likelihood of an outcome due to a stressor (eg. caregiving
stressor and depression)
The stressors we are measuring have strong content validity but there could be other factors affecting
the accuracy of the results as one person can experience multiple stressors at once, not just the index
stressor (the stressor being studied).
Another issue is that the severity and perception of a stressor can affect correlation being studied. (one
stressor can be viewed as a challenge or a threat to different people)
Measuring Stressors with Questionnaires and Interviews
As it suggests, this method uses questionnaires and structured interviews to ask about stressor
exposures.
Questionnaires
-
LIFE EVENTS CHECKLIST assess exposure to a range of traumatic stressors in one’s lifespan
LIST OF THREATENING EXPERIENCES assesses 12 stressors of moderate threat levels
CHILDHOOD TRAUMA QUESTIONNAIRE assesses different stressor exposure only present in
childhood
Interviews
-
LIFE EVENTS AND DIFFICULTIES SCHEDULE (LEDS) is a one-on-one interview with a
professional
STRESS AND ADVERSITY INVENTORY (STRAIN) is an online interview/measure that can be done
alone
Some problems arise with these methods however:
Questionnaire results can vary due to participant’s interpretation of questions
Questionnaires and interviews focus on certain types of stressors and don’t account for
participant’s history with different stressors not being tested for
Positive stressors like pregnancy are usually voided but negative stressors related to them like
postpartum depression isn’t accounted for
Due to special circumstances for every individual, coming to conclusions is not to be done carelessly.
Studying Stressors in the Laboratory
In stress response studies, it is important to use experimental studies rather than observational studies
to discover “causal relationships”.
● The TRIER SOCIAL STRESS TEST is a widely used paradigm in human experimental stress
○ Participants in this test are to deliver a speech and be a human calculator in front of a
crowd as a means of exposure to acute stressors
○ The test consists of a 10 minute anticipation period, followed by 5 mins of speech and 5
mins of math
○ Audience is told to maintain neutral expressions as it “increases demand of the task”
●
●
●
●
Acute laboratory stressors such as this are advantageous because many aspects of the stressor
(duration, casual effect, and exposure) can be easily controlled. The outcomes also can take
account of an individual’s perception of the stressor.
This method is not perfect however. This type of stressor is demanding of participants and has
ethical limits depending on the intensity of the stressor.
This method also only applies to acute stressors as there are different responses to chronic
stressors
○ Eg. Inflammatory response in acute stressor responses but harmful in chronic stressor
responses
The brief stressors that are allowed in ethical testing cannot be a thorough examination of
stressors on health because of how little is allowed testing due to ethics
Studying Perceived Stress
The most important thing when studying stressors is how one perceives a stressor (threat or challenge)
and methods to measure this is self reporting or using a questionnaire.
● The PERCEIVED STRESS SCALE (PSS) is a popular measure of this aspect in health psychology
○ This scale’s scoring is often associated with risk for mental and physical disorders.
Overall it analyzes at what level one perceives their life as unpredictable or overloaded
○ Using this, we can get an index of perceived stress for an individual
○ This scale is reliable, valid and easily completable
○ This test can be given on different mediums (online or in person) and in large quantities
at low costs (allows for large sample studies)
○ BUT it is unavoidable for some to misinterpret questions and has room for bias to
influence answers (bias from participant’s past experiences)
○ There's also a possibility for inaccuracy if stress exposure and outcomes mix together
(eg. someone with a financial stressor could have the outcome of that stressor
exaggerate interpretations of casual relationships between perceived stress and mental
health outcomes)
16.4: The Effects Stressors Have on Health
●
●
Stressors can activate biological stress responses + change functioning of our immune
systems
To some people, exposures to stressors can greatly increase the risk of health issues
○ Prevalence: The extent to which a specific factor or disease is found in a
specific population for a specific period of time
● More commonly observed in individuals who experience chronic
and traumatic stressors
The Diathesis-Stress Model
●
Diathesis-Stress Model: The theory that mental and physical disorders develop from
genetic or biological predisposition
○ Illness + stressful conditions play a facilitating role as well
○ Some people are more vulnerable to the effects of stressors because of genetic
or biological factors that put them at an increased risk for negative outcomes
● Plasticity factor: The extent to which people are sensitive to their
environments
● Likely to benefit from a positive environment and suffer
from a negative environment
Stress and Mental Health
●
Psychological stressors are recognized as risk factors for the most common psychiatric
disorders
○ Strongest known risk factors for depressive, anxiety, behavioural and substance
use disorders + risk factor for schizophrenia
Stressors and Major Depression
●
Onset of major depression has a strong association to exposure with stressors
○ Social rejection: Circumstances that involve exclusion from a relationship or
interaction with other people
● More likely to elicit an episode of depression compared to other
kinds
○ Four different types of stressors:
● Loss events: Involve loss of people, material possessions,
employment, health or cherished ideas about self or others
● Humiliation events: Involve devaluation of self in relation to others,
or the sense of self including events that involve rejection or failure
● Entrapment situations: Difficult circumstances (of at least 6
months) that are likely to persist or worsen over time
●
Danger events: Circumstances that involve the potential for future
loss, including the possibility of traumatic events
Childhood Stress and Psychiatric Disorders
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●
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Childhood stressors appear particularly harmful
○ Occur before the age of 18 years old
People exposed to chronic and traumatic stressors during childhood are about 2x as likely
to develop major psychiatric disorders
Childhood stressors that most strongly increase risk for psychiatric disorders include:
○ Family violence
○ Abuse and neglect
○ Parental history of substance use, mental illness and criminality
Stress and Physical Health
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●
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Stressors increase the risk for physical disorders
○ E.g. Colds, the flu or chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and autoimmune
disorders
Study by Sheldon Cohen et. Al
○ Those who the highest scores of stress had the highest risk of developing
clinical colds
○ Those with a positive emotional style (general trait to experience more positive
emotions) was protective against developing common colds
Some studies have linked major acute stressors with increased risk for cardiovascular
diseases
○ Brain: Headaches, difficulty sleeping, increased negative feelings, increase in
risk of developing mental disorders
○ Heart: Elevated blood pressure, increased risks of CVD, elevated heart rate
○ Stomach: Nausea, vomiting, cramps
○ Immune system: Increased susceptibility to infection, long duration of
infection, increased risk of autoimmune diseases
Pathways from Stress to Mental + Physical Disease
●
Must determine whether relationship b/w stressors and health outcomes are causal or
correlational
○ Correlational: When two factors are associated with one another such that
levels of one factor change consistently with changes in the other factor
● No pathways linking stressors with health outcomes = relationship
is due to other variables (e.g. genetics)
●
Pathways can be identified where stressors could cause mental +
physical illnesses = can move towards enhancing health at the
population level
Inflammation
●
●
Central to our survival in situations involving physical injury + infection
○ Play important role in protection but can also kill our own cells and cause harm
○ Chronic inflammation: Increased levels of inflammatory proteins in the body
which are present even at rest and over longer periods of time
● Age increases = chronic inflammation should increase as slowly as
possible
Chronic + traumatic stressors increase levels of inflammation
○ Result in higher levels of chronic inflammation —> increases risk for CVD and
autoimmune diseases
Biological Aging
●
The tendency for our cells to become able to divide or function properly as we become
older
○ As we become older, many cells in our body become functionally impaired and
unable to divide to create new cells
○ Functional impairment + lack of cell renewal can cause host of physical diseases
● Diseases of aging: Chronic diseases that tend to occur later in life
● Telomeres: DNA protein complexes that cap chromosomes and
protect against damage
● Shorten overtime; length of telomeres predicts risk for
diseases of aging + death
● Longer telomeres = protection against disease + longer
lifespan
●
Research study:
●
Longer duration of caregiving for chronically ill child was associated
with shorter telomere lengths
16.5: Reducing Stress and Enhancing Resilience
●
Number one strategy to protect ourselves from harmful effects of stressors = maintain
healthy lifestyle
○ Physical activity: Changes how body responds to stressors in our daily lives
● Makes autonomic nervous systems + HPA axes more resilient to
acute stressors
● Physically active lifestyle = protects from accelerated biological
aging associated with chronic stress
● People who are physically active tend to have different
personalities —> higher levels of extroversion,
conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness and lower
levels of neuroticism
○ Sleep: Highly beneficial for health + associated with better physical health,
better metabolic health, lower risk for obesity, lower risk for chronic and acute
diseases and longer telomere lengths
● Some individuals are more efficient sleepers than others (go into
important stages more quickly and stay in these phases longer)
● Humans need deep sleep (delta waves) and REM sleep
● Amount of sleep one needs decreases with age
● Newborn babies = 16 hours
● Elderly = Approximately 5 hours of sleep
● Sleep plays vital role as restorative process that allows us to resolve
intense emotional experiences
● Allows for restoration and healing in the brain
○ Diet: Stressors often lead to decreases in food intake
● Type of food may be of critical importance when considering
whether stressors increase/decreases food intake
● Comfort foods: Can down-regulate stress response
● Reduce levels of cortisol
● Rich in fat and sugar
●
○
○
Body Mass Index (BMI): If stressed, people eat foods rich in fat +
sugar to reduce stress responses —> weight increases overtime
● Higher BMI + obesity levels are found in highly stressed
populations
Social Support
● Social brain hypothesis: Theory that humans and other primates
evolved larger and metabolically expensive brains in order to
navigate complex social networks in which we operate
● People with stronger social relationships have 50%
higher likelihood of survival
● Exerts strong effects on inflammation + biological aging
● People who are more socially connected = lower levels
of inflammatory proteins
● Emotional support: Expressions of empathy, love and caring when
someone is experiencing stressors
● Instrumental support: Includes tangible help
● E.g. Offering to take notes for someone who misses a
class, bringing food to a friend dealing with a crisis
● Informational support: Advice and information that people give us
to change the impact of a stressor
● E.g. Learning new study techniques from a classmate
● Appraisal support: Help evaluating the demands of a situation +
resources available to cope with it
● E.g. Someone helps you clarify the actual requirements
of a class and provides various sources of information
that help you study
● Social rejection: Stressor that has a host of negative affects
Active Relaxation: Methods that were developed to elicit a relaxation response.
● Mindfulness: Specific kind of meditation practice which focuses on
the present moment
● Nonjudgemental + accepting approach to one’s
thoughts + feelings
● Roots of mindfulness = Buddhism —> practiced with
goals of cultivating compassion + alleviate suffering
● Can decrease pain perception, increase pain + disability
tolerance, reduce negative feelings and psychological
symptoms
● Enhanced subjective well being, reduced negative
psychological symptoms, decreased emotional
reactivity to stressors + improvements in behaviour
regulation
Module 17
Chapter 17: Gender and Sexuality
17.2: Gender
●
●
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Core quality of being human
Determines one’s identity + name and shapes who they are
Social constructs; men are often hired more for leadership positions and women are preferred
for childcare jobs
Gender vs. Sex
●
Sex: Whether someone is biologically male or female
○ Comprised of a person’s genitals, hormones and genetics
○ Biological females: Have two X chromosomes
○ Biological males: Have a set of X and Y chromosomes
● Chromosomes determine physical differences between women and men
● E.g. genitals, hormones, body size, facial shape, body hair etc.
● Gender: A socially constructed idea of what defines women and men
○ Gender roles: Cultural expectations as to how women and men should look and act
○ Gender identity: Whether someone subjectively feels like a man or woman
● Does not always correspond to biological sex
● Transgender: Having a gender identity that is different from their originally
assigned gender
Sexual Development
●
Prenatal Development
○ Protogenitals: Anatomical structures of a fetus that later develop into genitals
● Neither male nor female
● Up until the 7th week of development
● Genital tubercle: Structure located the top of protogenitals that
develop into clitoris (women) or glans penis (men)
● Homologous organs: Different organs that are derived from
the same fetal tissue
● Main function = provide pleasure from sexual stimulation
● Swelling: Structure located at the sides of protogenitals that develop
into labia (women) or penis shaft + scrotal sac (men)
○ In women, the two strips of flesh divide —> become labia
majora and labia minora (large + small lips of vulva)
○ In men, swelling closes and distends outside of body —> create
penis shaft + scrotal sac
● Gonads: Structure located behind the protogenitals that develop into
ovaries (women) or testicles (men)
○ Primary role = produce sex hormones and allow people to
sexually reproduce
○ Ovaries: Produce estrogen + house eggs that are released
every month
○ Testicles: Create testosterone + generate millions of sperm
Primary sex characteristics: Organs that allow women and men to reproduce
● Includes external genitals (vagina, penis) + internal sex organs (ovaries,
testicles)
● Develop around 7th week of prenatal development
● 18-20 weeks: External genitals can be seen in ultrasound image
● Birth: Baby has fully formed genitals + sex organs
Adolescent Development
○ Puberty: A period of rapid change throughout the body during early adolescence
● Eventually leads to full development of primary + secondary sex characteristics
● Increase in sex hormones (estrogen, testosterone)
● Changes prepare person’s body to be capable of sexually reproduction
● Allow for sperm production and ovulation
● Secondary sex characteristics: Physical differences between women and men that
are not directly tied with reproduction
○ E.g. Differences in body shape, vocal qualities + body/facial hair
○ First sign of puberty = body hair
■ Girls = ages 8-9
■ Boys = ages 10-11
● Girls often start puberty a couple years earlier than boys
● Spermarche: When a boy first experiences ejaculation
○ Typically occurs at age 12 (begin to experience wet
dreams)
● Menarche: First time a girl menstruates
○ Occurs around age 12
○
●
Variations in Sexual Development
●
Intersex
○ Ambiguous genitals: Genitals that are not clearly either male or female
○ Intersex: A person whose genitals are not completely male or female
● Primary + secondary characteristics are driven by many factors such as
genetics, hormones and mother’s health
Klinefelter Syndrome: An intersex condition caused by having XXY sex chromosomes
(extra X chromosome), resulting in underproduction of testosterone in men during
puberty
○ Leads to less masculine body development (e.g. enlarged breasts, lack of facial
hair)
● Triple X Syndrome: When a woman has an extra X chromosome (XXX sex
chromosomes)
○ Often results in no bodily abnormalities
Transgender
○ Transgender (trans): Having a gender identity that if different from one’s assigned
gender
● Trans woman: Male at birth —> identifies as a woman
● Trans man: Assigned female at birth —> identifies as a man
● Gender dysphoria: Distress brought about by having a gender identity
that doesn’t match one’s biological sex
● Gender non-binary: People who do not identify as either male or female
● Cisgender: Gender identity is the same as their biological sex
●
●
Gender Differences
●
●
●
●
●
Most pronounced psychological differences between men and women are in aggression,
empathy and sex drive
○ Aggression = men are far more likely than women to physically + verbally attack
others
○ Empathy = women tend to display higher levels of empathy compared to men
Men are 2x more likely to masturbate regularly and 6x more likely to use pornography
compared to women
Gender Similarities Hypothesis: States that men and women are far more similar to each
other than they are different
○ Differences that do exist are usually small and inconsequential
○ Parental investment: The degree to which women and men must invest time,
resources and effort into creating viable offspring
■ Men produce around 10-20 times as much testosterone as women
Social role theory: Posits that gender roles are adopted by children through a imitating others
and then seeing how their behaviours are rewarded/punished
○ Many gender differences could be the result of culture rather than biology
Gender schemas: Culturally constructed ideas of how women and men are supposed to look
and act
○ Sexual double standard: A set of cultural expectations that cause people to praise
men who engage in casual sex/multiple partners, but shame and punish women for
doing the same
17.3: Sexual Orientation
●
LGB+
○
○
●
Heterosexual: Being attracted to people of the opposite sex
Homosexual: Being attracted to members of the same sex
● Gay or lesbian
Bisexual: Being attracted to members of both the same and opposite sex
Pansexual: Being attracted to others regardless of their sex (women, men,
transgender, intersex etc.)
● Queer: Any identity that is not heterosexual or cisgender
○ Sexual prejudice: Negative attitudes and stereotypes towards people who
identify as LGBTQ+
Being LGBTQ+ is related to a person’s genetics
○ Genetics account for around 50% of a person’s sexual orientation; the rest is
largely determined through a person’s prenatal environment
○ May be strongly related to prenatal exposure to testosterone
● Hypothalamus: Area of the brain which processes sexual attraction and
arousal
● Testosterone affects development of hypothalamus
●
●
17.4: Sexual Behaviour
●
Sexual Response Cycle
○ Physiological stages people experience while having sex
○ 3 stages: Excitement, orgasm and resolution
■ Excitement stage: Person begins to experience sexual arousal
● When a person becomes sexually “excited”, nervous system + brain
become more sensitive to physical sensations
● Vasocongestion: Veins and capillaries open up to allow more blood to
flow to genitals
○ Extra blood flow causes genitals to double in size —> penis or
clitoris becomes erect
○ Coitus: Man penetrates a woman’s vagina with penis
● Cunnilingus: Giving oral sex to a woman
● Fellatio: Oral sex given to a man
○ For men, head of the penis (glans penis) is densely packed
with nerves that are connected to spinal cord; house orgasm
reflex (makes it more sensitive)
○ For women, clitoris is also packed with nerves connected
directly to sacral nerves (spinal cord nerves); makes it most
sensitive area
● Plateau stage: Peak arousal has been reached and one’s arousal level
stays the same
●
Orgasm stage: When a person experiences orgasm
Heart rate + breathing increase as they experience muscle convulsions
throughout the body
○ Ejaculate: The propelling of semen out of a man’s penis
■ Woman’s vagina convulses 8-12 times in quick succession and
pulls semen from vagina up and through cervix
■ Transports semen from penis into uterus and allows sperm to
reach eggs
Resolution stage: A person’s state of physiological arousal returns back to
baseline levels after sex
● Refractory period: Period where men cannot become sexually
aroused again
● Lasts around 10-30 mins
○
○
Development of Sexual Behaviour
●
●
●
Childhood Sexual Behaviour
○ Self-stimulation: When young children use their hands or the environment to
stimulate their genitals
● Most toddlers show increase in self-stimulation at 15-19 months
● Masturbate: Rhythmically stimulating one’s genitals to the point of orgasm
Adolescent Sexual Behaviour
○ Sex at early ages often related to having naturally high levels of testosterone
● Teenager’s bodies (especially hormones) often dictate when they will become
sexually active
Adult Sexual Behaviour
○ Casual sex tends to be rated as less enjoyable + more stressful
● Asexual: Having no sex drive and experiencing no sexual arousal towards
others
● Older = sex often becomes less frequent + less satisfying
● Having children can greatly decrease couple’s sexual satisfaction
Sexual Variations
●
●
Healthy variations
○ Fetishes: An object or activity that is sexually arousing only to a small minority of
people within a population
○ Learning theory: Proposes that two psychological sensations or behaviours can be
associated within the brain if they occur together repeatedly
● Fetishes can also be induced on those who never had them originally
● Bondage, Dominance, Sadism and Masochism (BDSM): Group of fetishes that
encompass being turned on through being dominated and humiliated
(masochism) or by dominating and humiliating others (sadism)
● Neural associations tend to be more quickly and strongly formed when
a person is excited or scared
Paraphilic Disorders
○ A sexual urge or behaviour that causes harm to oneself or others
○ Marked by intense, persistent or impulsive urges which are difficult for a person to
control
● Voyeurism: Involves seeing others naked or having sex without their consent
● Exhibitionism: Involves exposing one’s genitals to others without their
consent
● Aka flashing
●
Frotteurism: Involves touching another person’s genital, buttocks, or breasts
without their consent
○ Hypersexual disorder: A psychological disorder marked by having an
extremely high sex drive that is impossible to satisfy
○ Leads to compulsive, uncontrollable sexual behaviours
Sexual Health and Wellness
●
Consent and Communication
○ Consent: Clear and enthusiastic agreement between two partners that they both
want to engage in the same activity
● Practicing safe sex
○ Sexually transmitted infections (STIs): Bacterial or viral infections that can be
transferred through sexual intercourse
● Contraceptives: A device or drug that can prevent pregnancy or STI
transmission
● Condoms: Latex or polyurethane film that is used to cover the penis
during sex
● Prevents pregnancy and STI transmission
● Birth control pill: An oral medication (pill) that women take to prevent
pregnancy
○ Regulates woman’s estrogen + progesterone levels, preventing
ovulating and inhibiting growth of uterine lining
● Birth control implant: A small device placed under the skin that slowly
releases medication into a woman’s body to prevent her from
becoming pregnant
○ Long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC): Are long lasting
(1-10 years) and easily remove or reversed if a woman desires to
get pregnant