PSYCHOLOGY 1002 SYLLABUS
Human Development
1. Introduction to Human Development and its research methods: Naturalistic Methods;
Cross-sectional/longitudinal; Experimental/correlational.
2. Genetic contributions to development: Introduction to Mendelian genetics; meiosis and
mitosis; dominant and recessive traits and disorders; chromosomal effects; twin studies.
3. Prenatal development: Normal development; factors causing abnormality (teratogenic
agents etc.).
4. Postnatal development (i): Language development; stages of phonetic, syntactic and
semantic development; Theories of language development.
5. Postnatal development (ii): Cognitive development: Piaget's view.
References:
[1]
Berger, K. (2000). The Developing Person Through the Lifespan (5th ed.). New York: Worth
[2]
Berk, L. (2000). Child Development (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
[3]
Peterson, C. (1996). Looking Forward through the Lifespan: Developmental Psychology (3rd ed.).
Australia: Prentice-Hall.
[4]
Shaffer, D. (1999). Developmental Psychology (5th ed.). California: Brooks/Cole.
Learning
1.
Basics of Classical conditioning: Introduction to course; use of animals; definition of
learning. Basic procedures and terminology; second order conditioning; extinction and
spontaneous recovery.
2.
Basics of instrumental conditioning: Procedures; distinction between IC and CC. Operant
and discrete trial examples; learning curves; extinction.
3.
Discrimination and generalization: Stimulus generalization - gradients; generalization of
extinction. Discrimination-procedures and results; effect on generalization.
4.
Distinction between two types of conditioning - response systems: Learning in two R systems:
Skeletal vs. visceral; voluntary vs. involuntary; procedures for distinction.
5.
Learning under aversive control: Escape and active avoidance; punishment and passive
avoidance. Two factor theory and fear.
6.
Biological constraints on learning: Classical conditioning: Taste aversion - long delay; CSUS associability. Instrumental conditioning: SSDRs; misbehaviour.
References:
Basic information about many of these topics may be found in the Psychology 1 textbook. For a
more detailed treatment, a textbook recommended for the Learning and Motivation course in
both 2nd and 3rd year will usually prove the most helpful:
[1] Domjan, M. (1998). The Principles of Learning and Behavior (4th Ed). Pacific Grove, CA:
Brooks/Cole.
[2] Mazur, J.E. (1998). Learning and Behavior (4th Ed). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
A more detailed treatment is provided by:
[3] Boakes, R. A. (1984). From Darwin to Behaviourism. Cambridge, UK: C.U.P.
Cognitive Processes
1. Introduction: what is cognitive psychology? Historical forerunners. Computer metaphor
and
the information processing approach. Methods of investigating unobservable
processes.
2. Limitations on cognitive processing: selective attention; attentional resources; automatic
processing; attention and memory.
3. Memory: knowledge and processes. Different kinds of memory. Short-term vs long-term
memory. Working memory.
4. Encoding and retrieval in long-term memory: rehearsal; levels of processing; transfer
appropriate processing.
5. The architecture of long-term memory: episodic and semantic memory; explicit and implicit
memory. Network models of memory.
6. Memory dysfunctions: amnesia and its implications for the architecture of memory.
Implications of memory theories for exam preparation.
References:
Basic information about most of these topics can be found in the Psychology 1 textbook. More
detailed coverage will be found in most textbooks on cognitive psychology. The textbooks used
in 2nd and 3rd year Cognition courses (PSYC 2113 and PSYC 3205) should be easily accessible and
cover all topics:
[1] Anderson, J. R. (2000). Cognitive Psychology and its Implications (5th ed.). New York: Worth.
[2] Best, J. (1998). Cognitive Psychology (5th ed.). Belmont: Brooks/Cole.
[3] Henderson, J. (1999). Memory and Forgetting. London: Routledge.
[4] Medin, D. L., Ross, B. H., & Markham, A. B. (2001). Cognitive Psychology (3rd ed.). Fort
Worth, TX: Harcourt.
Visual Perception
1.
Introduction: The study of Perception; stimulus properties; absolute and relative
judgments; measurement in Perception. The functions of perception; cortical pathways and
the "what" and "where" functions.
2.
Depth Perception: Monocular cues to depth (e.g., linear perspective, texture gradients,
elevation, interposition, motion parallax); binocular retinal disparity as a depth cue; ocular
mechanisms as depth cues (accommodation and convergence) to judgments of absolute and
relative distance. The relationship between size and distance perception: size constancy;
size distance scaling theory.
3. Some Visual Phenomena: Illusions, constancy, contrast. Relationship between constancy
and illusion; visual illusions and inappropriate constancy scaling theory. Perceptual
organisation: The Gestalt "laws" of organisation and relational determination; recent
approaches to perceptual organisation.
4.
Perception and physiology: Consciousness and behaviour; neurological and behavioural
evidence. "Feature Detectors" in the Visual System: The concept of feature detectors; the
receptive-field concept; Kuffler's work; the work of Hubel and Wiesel; examples of feature
detector explanations of some visual phenomena.
5.
The Role of Experience in Perception: Perceptual capabilities of young organisms; depth
perception; motion perception, etc.; effects of restricted environmental stimulation on the
development of the visual system; critical periods in visual development.
6. Colour Vision: The nature of light: hue, saturation and brightness and their physical
correlates; sensitivity of rod and cone mechanisms; colour coding; the Young-Helmholtz
Trichromatic Theory; Hering's opponent processes theory of colour vision; recent evidence
related to colour coding mechanisms.
References:
[1] Goldstein, E. B. (1996). Sensation and perception. (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Motivation/Emotion
1. Basic motivational processes: Physiological needs; basic motivational mechanisms;
ethological models of behaviour; behavioural analyses of fixed action patterns - imprinting,
critical periods; open and closed systems of behaviour.
2.
Need based motivation: Drive approach to motivation, primary and secondary sources of
drive; sensory reinforcement; reinforcement theories of motivation; social needs.
3.
Incentive motivation: Goals and rewards as motivational mechanisms; hedonic theory; the
application of incentive motivation to human behaviour.
4.
Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. McClelland's theory; the acquisition of the need for
power, affiliation and achievement.
References:
[1] Mook, D. G. (1987). Motivation: The organization of action. New York: W.W. Norton.
[2] Petri, H. L. (1991). Motivation: theory, research, and application. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Human Mental Abilities
1.
History. The emergence of the concept of individual differences in cognitive abilities:
ancient philosophers, typologies and phrenology. The influence of the theory of evolution:
Galton, McKeen, Cattell and Binet.
2.
Psychometric Principles and Procedures. The concepts of test reliability; measurement error
and validity; Test standardization and norms.
3.
Major Tests of Intelligence: Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale; Wechsler's scales (WISC and
WAIS); Raven's Progressive Matrices test.
4.
Psychometric Theories of Intelligence 1: General factor theory (C. Spearman); the theory of
primary mental abilities (L. Thurstone).
5.
Psychometric Theories of Intelligence 2: Guilford's theory; Hierarchical theories of Burt,
Vernon and fluid and crystallized intelligence (R. Cattell and J.L. Horn).
6.
Group Differences in Cognitive Abilities: Gender differences in cognitive abilities; Racial,
age and socio-economic status differences.
7.
Cognitive Psychology and Biology of Intelligence: Brief introduction to the work of
cognitive psychologists (e.g. Hunt) who are interested in individual differences; Recent
studies of the relationship between intelligence test performance and brain processes
(electrical activity and glucose metabolism).
References:
[1]
Anastasi, A., & Urbina, S. (1997). Psychological Testing. (7th ed.) Princeton, N.J.: PrenticeHall.
[2]
Brody, N. (1992). Intelligence (2nd ed.). New York: Academic Press.
[3]
Carroll, J.B. (1993). Human Cognitive Abilities: A Survey of Factor-analytic Studies. New
York: Cambridge University Press.
[4]
Cattell, R.B. (1987). Intelligence: Its Structure, Growth and Action. Amsterdam: North
Holland.
[5]
Mackintosh, N.J. (1998). IQ and Human Intelligence. New York: Oxford University Press.
[6]
Roberts, R.D., Pallier, G., & Goff, G.N. (1999). Sensory processes within the structure of
human cognitive abilities. In P.L. Ackerman, P.C. Kyllonen, & R. D. Roberts (Eds.),
Learning and Individual Differences: Process, Trait and Content Determinants. (pp. 339-370).
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
[7]
Sternberg, R.J. (1984) Human Abilities: An Information-processing Approach. New York:
Freeman.
[8]
Vernon, P. E. (1950). Structure of Human Abilities. London: Methuen.