Mid-Year Review
Psychological Perspectives
 Wave One: Introspection
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Structuralism (Wilhelm Wundt): mind operates by combining
subjective emotion and objective sensations
Functionalism
 Wave Two: Gestalt – view person’s total experience and
did not separate behavior from thought (Max
Wertheimer) – little impact on current theories
 Wave Three: Psychoanalysis – examination of
unconscious mind (Freud); repression, defense
mechanisms
 Wave Four: Behaviorism – scientific approach using
observable outcomes. John watson, Ivan Pavlov, Skinner
 Wave Five: Multiple Perspectives – eclectic
Psychological Perspectives:
Multiple Perspectives
 Humanist: Maslow, Carl Rogers – stress individual choice and
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free will
Psychoanalytic
Biopsychology (neuroscience) – explain psychology as strictly
biological processes (genes, neurotransmitters, structure, etc.)
Evolutionary (Darwinian) – psychology in terms of natural
selection
Behavioral
Cognitive – Jean Piaget, Erikson, etc. – examine thoughts and
behaviors in terms of interpreting, processing and
remembering information
Social-cultural (sociocultural) – examine based on cultural
influences
Research Methods:
Study Designs
 Case study – single or small group observed; highly
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detailed
Correlational – examine relationships between
variables
Naturalistic – observe without interaction with
participants
Cross sectional – snapshot in time (correlation)
Longitudinal – repeated measures of group of people
Experimental – assign participants to control or
experimental groups (causation)
Experimental Design
 Random sampling – selection process of randomly
choosing people from a target population to make
your group under study
 Random assignment/Randomization – randomly
assigning participants to control or experimental
groups. People have equal chance of being put into
each group
Types of Bias
 Confounding – some third variable influences a
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relationship between two other variables (may make
relationship eventhough not there or mask a
relationship)
Experimenter bias
Response bias (social desirability)
Hawthorne effect – people perform differently or
better when known under observation
Placebo Effect
Overcoming Bias
 Blind or Double blind
 Placebo
 Counter balancing
Statistics
 Measure of Central Tendency (middle)
 Mean, Median, Mode
 Measures of Spread
 Range, Variance, Standard deviation (average distance from
the mean)
 SD: 68%, 95%, 99%
 Z-score: way to compare scores between different
distributions
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1 Z score = 1 Standard deviation
Compare different distributions by comparing z score for
values comparing
Example: Mean 1 = 90, SD 1 = 2; Mean 2 = 80, SD 2 = 7
Statistics Continued
 Correlation coefficient – measure of relationship (-1
to 1)
 Scatter plot – graphical representation of
relationship between 2 variables
 Positively skewed – mostly low, some high (outliers)
 Negatively skewed – mostly high, some low (outliers)
Inferential Statistics
 P – value: 0.05 standard to compare your calculated
p-value. If your value is less than 0.05 the
relationship is statistically significant
 T-test – compare distributions using means;
compare continuous data
 Chi-square – compare categorical data
Ethics
 IRB – institutional review board
 Animal Research
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Clear scientific purpose
Best chosen for question (can use cells not animal?)
Cared for and housed in humane way
Acquired animals legally
Experiment must ensure least amount of suffering
 Human Research
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No coercion
Informed consent
Confidentiality
Risk (Cost – benefit analysis)
Debriefing
Neuroscience (Biopsychological):
Biological Basis for Behavior
 Neuroanatomy/Structure of the Neuron
 Dendrites – information in
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Interact with sense receptors
Interact with neurotransmitters (receptors)
 Cell body/Soma – contains nucleus, synthesizes
proteins/neurotransmitters
 Axon – carries action potential
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Myelin Sheath – fatty substance that insulates part of the axon and
increases the speed/velocity of the action potential
 Terminal buds – information out (release
neurotransmitters)
 Synapse – gap between dentrites and terminal bud of two
neurons
Communication in and between neurons
 Action potential
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Threshold
Depolarization – Sodium channels open
Repolarization – Potassium channels open
Refractory period – sodium-potassium pump re-establishes the
resting membrane potential
 All or none potential
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All action potentials look exactly the same
Stimulus strength differentiated by number and frequency of action
potentials
 Neurotransmitters
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Chemicals that diffuse across the synapse and interact with specific
receptors on dendrites
Review specific neurotransmitters
Other information
 Afferent/sensory neuron
 Interneuron
 Efferent/Motor neuron
 Reflexes
Nervous System
Central
Peripheral
 Brain
 Somatic - voluntary
 Spinal Cord
 Autonomic
 Parasympathetic
(decrease most body
systems, increases
digestion)
 Sympathetic (increases
heart rate, breathing and
decreases digestion)
Techniques to Study the Brain
 Lesions – damage or removal of brain tissue
 EEG – record brain wave activity
 CAT – x ray; structure not function
 PET – radioactive glucose; function
 MRI – structure not function
 fMRI – structure and function
Brain Structure
 Hindbrain
 Sits on top of spine
 Medulla – control breathing, blood pressure, heart rate
 Pons – involved in facial expression
 Cerebellum – balance and coordination
 Midbrain
 Reticular formation – controls body arousal and ability to focus
 Damaged fall into deep coma
 Forebrain
 Thalamus – relay information from senses to different parts of brain
 Hypothalamus – controls body temperature, hunger, thirst, sexual
arousal and endocrine system
 Cerebral Cortex
 Recent development in brain tissue
 Cognition
Areas of the Cerebral Cortex
 Hemispheres: specialization of function (split-brain
patients)
 Lobes
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Frontal
Prefrontal – thought, inhibition (Phineas Gage)
 Broca’s area – controls speech
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Temporal
Wernicke’s area – interprets written and spoken speech
 Hearing
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Parietal
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Somatosensory cortex (motor and sensory cortex)
Occipital
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vision
Other
 Brain Plasticity – ability to create new
pathways/neural connections
 Neural networks – highly branching connections
between many neurons; increased processing power
Endocrine system
 Hypothalamus
 Pituitary
 Adrenal
 Testes/Ovaries
Learning
 Classical Conditioning
 Ivan Pavlov
 John Garcia and Robert Koelling – Taste Aversion
 UCS, UCR, CS, CR
 Operant Conditioning
 Edward Thorndike (law of effect)
 Skinner: reinforcement vs. punishment
 Primary reinforcers: food, water, rest
 Secondary reinforcers: learn has value (money, power, etc.)
 Token economy
Negative reinforcement v. negative punishment
 Negative reinforcement – remove a negative
stimulus to increase a behavior
 Negative punishment – negative stimulus given to
reduce a behavior
Reinforcement schedules
 Fixed ratio – reinforced after set number of
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behaviors
Fixed interval – reinforced after preset time
Variable ratio – reinforced after variable number of
behavior done
Variable interval reinforced after varied times
Variable schedules more resistant to extinction
Ratio schedules promote higher response
Contingency Models of
Classical Conditioning
 Contiguity – more times two things are paired the
greater the learning that takes place (Pavlov)
 Contingency – cognition plays a role in learning
(Robert Rescorla)
Observational Learning
 Albert Bandura
 Bobo Doll
Other types of learning
 Latent (Edward Toleman) – rats learn a maze
without reinforcement
 Insight (Wolfgang Kohler) – realize answer/solution
to a problem (Ah ha moment)
Cognition:
Memory
 3 Box Model
Sensory Memory
 Iconic memory
 Echoic memory
 Selective attention – encode what we pay attention
to
Short Term Memory
 George Miller and Magic Number of 7
 Improve:
 Chunking: grouping info into chunks to remember
more
 Mnemonic device: ROYGBIV
 Rehearse
Long Term Memory
 Episodic: specific events
 Semantic: general knowledge of the world, stored facts,
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meanings
Procedural: skills and how to perform them
Explicit/declarative: conscious memories/facts or events
Implicit/nondeclarative: unintentional memories, do not
realize you have these memories
Eidetic: photographic memory
Long term potentiation: strengthen connections between
each other
Levels of Processing
 Deep: recall better
 Shallow
Retrieval
 Recognition: matching current event or fact with one
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already in memory (multiple choice questions)
Recall: retrieve from external cues
Primacy Effect (Hermann Ebbinghaus): recall things at
beginning of list
Recency Effect: recall things at end of list
Serial Position Effect: combination of primacy and
recency effect
Tip of Tongue Phenomenon explained by semantic
network theory
Flashbulb memory: encoded because of importance to
person
Retrieval Continued
 Mood-congruent: greater to recall an item when
mood matches the mood when event happened
 State-dependent: recall events better if in the same
state of consciousness
Constructive Memory
 Reconstructed memories may be false.
 May remember wrong: add or delete details
Forgetting
 Retroactive Interference: learning new info
interferes with recalling old info
 Proactive Interference: Older info interferes with
recalling new info
 Anterograde Amnesia: cannot encode new memories
Cognition:
Language
 Phonemes: smallest units of sound
 Morphemes: smallest unit of sound with meaning
 Syntax: grammar of language
Language Acquisition
 Babbling
 Holophrastic/ One word stage
 Telegraphic/ Two word stage
 Overgeneralization/Overregularization:
misapplication of grammar rules
 Noam Chomsky: Language acquisition device (innate
ability to learn language)
 Benjamin Whorf: Linguistic relativity hypothesis –
language might control or limit our thinking
Thinking and Creativity
 Concepts
 Prototype: most typical example of a concept
Problem Solving
 Algorithm: rule that guarantees the right solution
 Heuristics: rule of thumb
 Availability: judge situation based on previous similar
situation, may lead to wrong conclusion
 Representativeness: judging a situation based on how similar
the aspects are to prototypes the person holds
 Belief Bias: illogical conclusions to confirm pre-
existing belief
 Belief Perseverance: tendency to maintain a belief
even after evidence presented that contradicts the
belief
Impediments to Problem Solving
 Rigidity
 Example: functional fixidness
 Confirmation bias: look for evidence to confirm
belief and ignore other evidence
 Framing: how the problem is presented
Creativity
 Wolfang Kohler: Insight learning
 Convergent thinking: One answer
 Divergent thinking: many potential answers
Developmental Psychology
 Nature (Genetics) v. Nurture (Environment)
 Prenatal Development: Teratogens
 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
 Drugs, Alcohol
Motor/Sensory Development
 Reflexes
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Rooting: touch cheek turn head to feed
Sucking
Grasping
Moro: splay arms and legs if “dropped”
Babinski:toes spread when foot touched
Parenting
 Konrad Lorenz: Imprinting (innate in some organisms)
 Harry Harlow: Monkeys raised with cloth and wire
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mothers. Spend time with one that comforts not feeds.
Importance of sense of safety
Ainsworth
Secure attachment: confident explore when parent
around, cry when leave and come to parents when return
Avoidant attachment: resist being held, explore with
parent around, do not go to parents for comfort
Anxious/Ambivalent attachment: ambivalent to parents
Parenting Styles
 Diana Baumrind
 Authoritarian: strict rules and punishment
 Authoritative: consistent standards, reasonable
 Permissive: no clear rules or enforcement of rules
 Uninvolved
Stage Theories
 Jean Piaget
 Erikson
 Freud
 Vygotsky
Jean Piaget
Cognitive Development
 Sensorimotor: explore world with senses
 Object permanence (8 months)
 Preoperational: (2 – 7 years)
 Egocentric:
 Lack theory of mind: all think and feel like me
 Concrete operational
 Conservation of mass, volume and number
 Formal operational
 Abstract thinking
 Logical reasoning
Criticism of Piaget
 Information processing model – continuous and not
in discrete stages
 Vygotsky and Zone of proximal development
Erikson and all his stages
 Trust v. mistrust
 Autonomy v. shame and doubt
 Initiative v. guilt
 Industry v. inferiority
 Identify v. role confusion
 Intimacy v. isolation
 Generativity v. stagnation
 Integrity v. despair
Kohlberg and Morality
 Pre-conventional: make decisions to avoid
punishment; decisions limited to own interest
 Conventional: look at moral choice through the eyes
of others, what is right and wrong
 Postconventional: rights and values of an individual
life (any individual)
Criticism of Kohlberg
 Carol Gilligan
 Gender impacts how view situation so males not
more moral than females
Freud Stages of Development
 Oral: pleasure through mouth
 Oral fixation
 Anal: conflict around anus (toilet training)
 Anal fixation
 Phallic
 Oedipus complex: boy secretly in love with mother
 Electra complex: girl secretly in love with father
 Latency
 Genital: focus of pleasure through genitals
Gender Development
 Biopsychological: neurological differences leads to
gender
 Social-cognitive: own thoughts and social
interactions guide development of gender
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Gender schemas
Gender roles