Psychology Final Review (Chapters 1-16)
Childhood Psychological Disorders
-Autism: a developmental disorder characterized by communication problems, social difficulties, and repetitive behaviors -Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): a neurobehavioral disorder characterized by a combination of inattentiveness, distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior
Corpus Callosum and Brain Hemispheres
-Caries messages back and forth between the two hemispheres to jointly control human functions -Split-brain operation: procedure of separating the brain hemispheres to lessen the number and severity of seizures; used to treat grand mal seizures -Left hemisphere: control right side of body, where speech is located, specialized for mathematical ability, calculation, logic -Right hemisphere: Controls left side of body, better at recognizing patterns, creativity and intuition are found here
Perception
-Complexity: Perception goes beyond reflexive behavior and allows us to confront changes in out environment; essential for us to adapt to change -Through the process of perception, the brain is always trying to comprehend the confusion of stimuli that bombard the senses -Perception differs from sensation in that perception is the organization and interpretation of sensations into meaningful experiences
Schedules of Reinforcement
-Continuous schedule: Behavior that is reinforced every time it occurs -Partial schedule: When positive reinforcement occurs only intermittently -Differences between continuous and partial: With partial schedules, the responses are generally more stable and last longer once they are learned
Dreams
-Dreaming: the mental activity that takes place during sleep -Daydreaming: requires a low level of awareness and involves fantasizing, or idle but directed thinking, while we are awake (prepares us for events in the future, improves our creativity, allows us to control our emotions)
Drug Abuse & Treatment
-Drug abusers are people who regularly use illegal drugs or excessively use legal drugs -Treatment: 1) Drug abuser must admit they have a problem 2) Drug abuser must enter a treatment program and/or get therapy 3) Drug abuser must remain drug free
Brain Tests
-EEG: machine used to record the electrical activity of large portions of the brain -CAT: an imaging technique used to study the brain to pinpoint injuries and brain deterioration -PET: an imaging technique used to see which brain areas are being activated while performing tasks -MRI: an imaging technique used to study brain structure and activity
Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development
-Erik Erikson believes the need for social approval is just as important ad a child's sexual and aggressive urges (Freud) -Psychosocial Development: life periods in which an individual's goal is to satisfy desires associated with social needs
Sleep & Dreams
-Sleep: a state of altered consciousness, characterized by certain patterns of brain activity and inactivity -Consciousness: a state of awareness, including a person's feelings, sensations, ideas, and perceptions -Altered state of consciousness: somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness, in which a person is not completely aware
Contact Comfort
-Tactile touch -Monkeys clung to their mothers because of their need for this.
Biofeedback
-The process of learning to control bodily states with the help of machines monitoring the states to be controlled -Process: People can then experiment with different thoughts and feelings while they watch how each affects their bodies. In time, people can learn to change their physiological processes. -Used for specialty training muscular control, tension headaches by making peoples muscles relax, anxiety/stress, asthma, high blood pressure
The Cognitive Developmental Approach
-Theorists who emphasize the role of cognition or thinking in development view the growing child differently. Cognitive theorists see the child as the shaper. They argue that social development is the result of the child's acting on the environment and trying to make sense out of his experiences. -Role-taking: Children's play that involves assuming adult roles, thus enabling the child to experience different points of view.
Ethical Issues
-psychologists are responsible for the welfare and confidentiality of all the participants that must be protected -obey state and federal laws and regulations -use of animals in research is controversial
Chaining
-to learn a skill, put various responses together -response chains: learned reactions that follow one another in sequence, each reaction producing the signal for the next
4 Types of Long-Term Memory
1) Semantic memory- knowledge of language, including its rules, words, and meanings 2) Episodic memory- chronological retention of the events of one's life 3) Declarative memory- stored knowledge that can be called forth consciously as needed 4) Procedural memory- permanent storage of learned skills that does not require conscious recollection -Skills: complex such as swimming or driving or simple such as tying a knot (as we gain a skill, we gradually lose the ability to describe what we are doing)
3 Stages of Memory
1) Sensory Memory: very brief memory storage immediately following initial stimulation of a receptor -George Sperling's experiment: used a tachistoscope to present a group of letters and numbers to people for 1/20 sec. People could only remember 4-5 letters. Then, he presented a tone for each letter flashed. Once people learned this system, they were able to remember ~75% of any row if asked to recall immediately -Iconic memory: visual sensory memory -Echoic memory: auditory sensory memory 2) Short-Term Memory: memory that is limited in capacity to about 7 items and in duration by the subject's active rehearsal -Maintenance rehearsal: a system for remembering that involves repeating info to oneself w/o attempting to find meaning in it -Chunking: grouping items to make them easier to remember -Primary-Recency effect: we are better able to recall information presented at the beginning and end of a list -Primary effect: beginning items of list -Recency effect: last few items of list -Working memory: short-term memory; system of processing and working with current information 3) Long-Term Memory: storage of information over extended periods of time (Semantic, Episodic, Declarative, Procedural)
Psychology
The scientific study of behavior and mental processes -can improve animal and human behaviors -tested through scientific research
Kinesthesis
The sense of movement and body position
Developmental Psychology
The study of changes that occur as an individual matures
Psychological health
The terms "mental illness" and "mental health" imply that psychological disturbances or abnormality is like a physical sickness Self-actualization: to be normal or healthy involves full acceptance and expression of one's own individuality and humanness
Vestibular System
Three semicircular canals that provide the sense of balance, located in the inner ear and connected to the brain by a nerve
Cognitive Development in Adolescence
*INCOMPLETE!!* -Jean Piaget described the thinking patterns characteristic of adults as formal operations -
Timing
*timing is critical the conditioned stimulus should be presented immediately before unconditioned stimulus (optimal timing = 1/2 sec before)
Theories of Adolescence
-G. Stanley Hall: a transitional stage, like being a full grown animal in a cage, seeing freedom, but not knowing when freedom will occur or how to handle it; "storm and stress" time of confusion, frustration, etc. -Margaret Mead: adolescence is a highly enjoyable time of life and not all marked by storm and stress -Robert Havighurst: claims every adolescent faces challenges in the form of developmental tasks that must be mastered (include accepting one's physical makeup, becoming emotionally independent, preparing for marriage and family, etc.)
Anxiety Disorder
-Generalized Anxiety Disorder: a vague feeling that one is in danger -Phobic Disorder: an intense and irrational fear of a particular object or situation 1) specific phobia- can focus on almost anything (height, darkness, etc.) 2) social phobia- fear that they will embarrass themselves in a public place or social setting 3) agoraphobia- extreme fear of being in a public place -Panic Disorder: an extreme anxiety that manifests itself in the form of panic attacks (panic attack: when a victim experiences sudden and unexplainable attacks of anxiety, leading the individual to feel a sense of inevitable doom or even fear that they are about to die) -Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: combination of 1) obsession- uncontrollable patterns of thoughts 2) compulsive- when a person has to repeatedly perform coping behaviors -Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders: a condition in which a person who has experienced a traumatic even feels severe and long-lasting aftereffects
Acquisition
-Generally occurs gradually -With each pairing of conditioned stimulus, the conditioned response is strengthened
Perception Cont'd
-Gestalt: the experience that comes from organizing bits and pieces of information into meaningful wholes (principles are proximity, continuity, similarity, simplicity) -Figure-Ground Perception: the ability to discriminate properly between a figure and its background (ex: when someone talks to you in a cafeteria, their voice is the figure and all other sounds becomes the ground) -Perceptual Inference: the phenomenon of filling in the gaps in what our senses tell us Subliminal Perception: Brief auditory or visual messages that are presented below the absolute threshold -Depth Perception: the ability to recognize distances and three dimensionality -Constancy: the tendency to perceive certain objects in the same way regardless of changing angle, distance, or lightning -Illusions: incorrect perceptions -Extrasensory perception (ESP): an ability to gain information by some means other than the ordinary senses
Sleep Disorders
-Insomnia: the failure to get enough sleep at night in order to feel rested the next day -Sleep apnea: a sleep disorder in which a person has trouble breathing while asleep
Cognitive development
-Jean Piaget believed intelligence/the ability to understand develops as the child grows -Schemas: conceptual framework a person uses to make sense of the world -Assimilation: process of fitting objects and experiences into one's schemas -Accommodation: the adjustment of one's schemas to include newly observed events and experiences -Object Permanence: a child's realization that an object exists even when he or she cannot touch it -Representational Thought: the intellectual ability of a child to picture something in his or her mind -Conservation: the principle that a given quantity does not change when its appearance changes
Operant Conditioning
-Learning in which a certain act is reinforced in corresponding increases or decreases in occurrence -Difference between classical conditioning: how the experimenter conducts the experiments (Classical: experimenter presents CS and UCS. Operant: participant must engage in a behavior in order for the programmed outcome to occur)
What are psychological disorders?
-Normal people are able to get along in the world (physically, emotionally, socially) -Abnormal people are those who fail to adjust
Brain Lobes
-Occipital Lobe: vision -Parietal Lobe: body sensations -Temporal Lobe: hearing, advanced visual processing -Frontal Lobe: controls planning of movements and working memory
Vision
-Process: Light enters the eye through the pupil and reaches the lens, a flexible structure that focuses light on the retina. The retina contains two types of light-sensitive receptor cells (rods and cones) that change the light energy into neuronal impulses, which then travel along the optic nerve to the brain, where they are routed to the occipital lobe -Color deficiency: when a person's cones do not function properly -Binocular fusion: the process of combining the images received from the two eyes in a single, fused image -Retinal disparity: the differences between the images stimulating each eye
Hearing
-Process: Vibrations of the air (sound waves) pass through various bones until they reach the inner ear, which contains tiny hairlike cells that move back and forth. These hair cells change sound vibrations into neuronal signals that travel through the auditory nerve to the brain -Conduction deafness occurs when anything hinders physical motion through the outer or middle ear or when the bones of the middle ear become rigid and cannot carry sound inwards -Sensorineural deafness occurs from damage to the cochlea, the hair cells, or the auditory neurons
Little Albert
-Psychologists John B Watson and Rosalie Rayner used conditioning on a human infant (Albert) -They attempted to condition an 11-month old infant to fear lab rats -Eventually Albert displayed fear, proving that emotional responses can be controlled by classical conditioning -Now an unethical experiment
Skin Senses
-Responsible for providing the brain with at least four kinds of information about the environment: pressure, warmth, cold, and pain -According to the Gate Control Theory of Pain, we can lessen some pains by shifting out attention away from the pain impulses or by sending other signals to compete with the pain signals
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
-Sensorimotor: The infant uses schemas that primarily involve his body and sensations (lacks concept of object perm.) -Pre operational: lacks operations (reversible mental processes); egocentric thinking; uses symbols to solve simple probs or talk about things not present; Emerges when the child begins to use mental images or symbols to understand things -Concrete Operations: Children are able to use logical schemas, but their understanding is limited to concrete objects or problems. -Formal Operations: The person is able to solve abstract problems.
4 Schedules of partial reinforcement
1. Fixed-ratio: set amount of responses for reinforcement 2. Variable-ratio: varying number of responses for reinforcement ("gambler's schedule") 3. Fixed-interval: set amount of time before response is reinforced 4. Variable-interval: varying amount of time before response is reinforced
Sections of the Brain
1. Hindbrain: A part of the brain located at the rear base of the skull that is involved in the basic processes of life 2. Midbrain: The small part of the brain above the pons that integrates sensory information and relays it upward 3. Forebrain: A part of the brain that covers the brains central core
Improving memory
1. Meaningfulness & Association: You remember things more vividly if you associate them with things already stored in memory or with a strong emotional experience 2. Elaborate rehearsal: the linking of new information to material that is already known
2 Types of Aversive Control
1. Negative reinforcement (increasing the strength of a given response by removing or preventing a painful stimulus when the response occurs) -escape conditioning: training of an organism to remove or terminate an unpleasant stimulus -avoidance conditioning: training of an organism to withdraw from or prevent an unpleasant stimulus before it starts 2. Punishment (an unpleasant consequence occurs and decreases the frequency of the behavior that produced it) -punishers: reprimand -disadvantages of punishment: unwanted side effects (rage, fear, aggression), people learn to avoid the person delivering the aversive consequences, less opportunity to correct the inappropriate behavior (merely suppress not eliminate behavior) -punishment alone can't correct; you need positive coaching and modeling
Dream Interpretation Theories
1. Psychoanalytic: Freud believed that no matter how simple or mundane, dreams may contain clues to thoughts the dreamer is afraid to acknowledge in his or her waking hours. 2. Spiritual: The Inuit people believed that when dreaming, people enter the spiritual world where they interact with those who have passed away, who help them reflect on current or future events 3. No purpose: Nathaniel Kleitman believed that experience of a dream is simply an unimportant by product of stimulating certain brain cells during sleep 4. Problem-solving theory: dreaming allows people a chance to review and address some of the problems they faced during the day 5. Cleansing: Francis Crick believes that dreams are the brains way of removing certain unneeded memories; "mental housecleaning"
Incoherence
A marked decline in though processes.
Relearning
A measure of both declarative and procedural memory
Bipolar disorder
A mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and overexcited state of mania
Hypochondriac
A person who is in good health becomes preoccupied with imaginary ailments.
7 Senses
1. Sight 2. Hearing 3. Skin sensations 4. Smell 5. Taste 6. Vestibular senses 7. Kinesthesis
Remission type schizophrenia
Anyone whose symptoms are completely gone or still exist but are not severe enough to have earned the diagnosis of schizophrenia in the first place.
Dissociative Disorders
A disorder in which a person experiences alterations in memory, identity, or consciousness
Scientific method
A general approach to gathering information and answering questions so that errors and biases are minimized Question--> Hypothesis--> Experiment--> Results--> Conclusions--> Theory
Discrimination
Ability to respond differently to different stimuli
Diverted attention
Brought about by cognitive flooding, as if the person is unable to focus his or her attention.
DSM-IV
the fifth version of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -axes: major dimensions that describe a person's mental functioning
Adolescence
the period of life when a child develops into an adult
Phrenology
the practice of examining bumps on a person's skull to determine a person's intellect and character traits
Spontaneous Recovery
CR still lingers and can reappear again when CS is presented again but not followed by UCS
Placebo Effect
Change in person's illness or behavior that results from a belief that the treatment will have an effect, rather than the actual treatment
Psychoactive drugs
Chemicals that affect the nervous system and result in altered consciousness Include: -Stimulants: They stimulate, or speed up, the central nervous system. (Ex. Caffeine) -Depressants: Drugs that depress, or slow down, the central nervous system. (Ex. Alcohol) -Hallucinogens:Drugs that often produce hallucinations. (Ex. Marijuana and LSD)
Behaviorism
Classical conditioning is an example of a behaviorist theory: -Behaviorism: Attempt to understand behavior by relationships between observable stimuli and responses -Behaviorists: Psychologists who study only behaviors that they can observe and measure (not concerned with unobservable mental processes)
Token Economy
Conditioning in which desirable behavior is reinforced with valueless objects, which can be accumulated and exchanged for valued rewards
Retrieving Information
Importance: Stored memory is useless unless it can be retrieved from memory
Harry Harlow's Surrogate Mother Experiments
What makes the mother so important? He tried to answer this question by taking baby monkeys away from their mothers as soon as they were born. Harlow raised the monkeys with two surrogate mothers. Each monkey could choose between a mother constructed of wood and wire and a mother constructed in the same way but covered with soft cloth. In some cages the cloth mother was equipped with a bottle; in others, the wire mother was. The young monkeys became strongly attached to the cloth mother, whether she gave food or not and for the most part ignored the wire mother. If a frightening object was place in the cage, the baby monkey would run to the cloth mother for security. It was the touching--physical contact--that mattered, not the feeding.
Longitudinal Studies
Data is collected about a group of participants over a number of years to assess how certain characteristics change or remain the same during development
Cross Sectional Studies
Data is collected from groups of participants of different ages and compared so that conclusions can be drawn about differences due to age
Classical Conditioning
Definition: a learning procedure in which associations are made between a natural stimulus and a neutral stimulus -Neutral Stimulus: A stimulus that does not initially elicit a response -Unconditioned stimulus: Event that leads to certain predictable response without previous training -Unconditioned response: Automatic or natural reaction that occurs when unconditioned stimulus is presented -Conditioned stimulus: Once-neutral event that elicits a response training when it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus -Conditioned response: Learned response to a conditioned stimulus Ivan Pavlov's Experiment: Accidentally discovered classical conditioning when studying the process of digestion with dogs (associated the sound of bell w/ smell of treat and began to salivate at the sound of the bell)
Hypnosis
Definition: a state of consciousness resulting from narrowed focus of attention and characterized by heightened suggestibility Uses: 1. Posthypnotic suggestion (suggestion made during hypnosis that influences the participant's behavior afterwards) can change unwanted behaviors, such as smoking or overeating 2. Hypnotic analgesia (a reduction of pain reported by the patients after they had undergone hypnosis) can be used to reveal their problems or gain insight into their lives
Goals of psychology
Description: to describe or gather information about the behavior being studied and to present what is known Explanation: why people act the way they do -a hypothesis is an educated guess about some phenomenon -a theory is a complex explanation based on findings from a large number of experimental studies Prediction: by studying descriptive and theoretical accounts of past behaviors, psychologists can predict future behaviors Influence: long term goal of finding out more about human or animal behavior -basic science: the pursuit of knowledge about natural phenomena for its own sake -applied science: discovering ways to use scientific findings to accomplish practical goals
Parenting Styles
Diana Baumrind's Longitudinal study: observed and interviews nursery school children and their parents and followed up when the child was 8 or 9 yrs; determined distinct parenting styles: 1. authoritarian family: parents attempt to control, shape, and evaluate the behavior and attitudes of children and adolescents in accordance with a set code of conduct -effect: more confident in their own values and goals than other young people; will want to make their own decisions with or without advice 2. democratic/authoritative family: children and adolescents participate in decisions affecting their lives -effect: responsible, cooperative independence 3. permissive/laissez-faire family: children and adolescents have the final say; parents are less controlling and have a non punishing, accepting attitude toward children -effect: children may tend to lack self-discipline, possess poor social skills, may be self-involved and demanding, and may feel insecure due to the lack of boundaries and guidance
Conversion disorder
Disorders characterized by physical symptoms for which no known physical cause exists
multiple personality disorder
Dissociative Identity Disorder was previously known as this
Dissociative Fugue
Dissociative disorder in which a person suddenly and unexpectedly travels away from home or work and is unable to recall the past
Disturbance of affect
Emotions that are inappropriate for the circumstances.
Experiments
Enables the psychologist to control the situation Variable: any factor capable of change Experimental group: the group to which an independent variable is applied Control group: group treated in the same way as the experimental group except that the experimental treatment (independent variable) is not applied
Undifferentiated type schizophrenia
Encompasses the basic symptoms of schizophrenia such as deterioration of daily functioning, hallucinations, delusions, inappropriate emotions and thought disorders.
Delusions
False beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders
Cognitive learning
Form of altering behavior that involves mental processes and may result from observation or imitation -latent learning: alteration of a behavioral tendency that is not demonstrated by an immediate, observable change in behavior (example: cognitive map, or mental picture of spatial relationships or relationships between events) -learned helplessness: condition in which repeated attempts to control a situation fail, resulting in the belief that the situation is uncontrollable
Gender roles
Gender identity: the sex or group (masculine or feminine) to which an individual biologically belongs Gender Stereotype: an oversimplified or distorted generalization about the characteristics of men and women Androgynous roles: roles that involve a flexible combination of traditionally male and female characteristics
Endocrine System
Hormones: chemical substances that carry messages through the body in blood Pituitary Gland: the center of control of the endocrine system that secretes a large number of hormones Thyroid Gland: Produced thyroxine, which stimulates certain chemical reactions that important for all tissues of the body Adrenal Gland: Releases hormones to enable a person to generate extra energy to handle a difficult situation Sex Glands: Produce sperm and testosterone in males and eggs and estrogen in females
Cognitive changes
IQ differences: lower for older people; IQ tests penalize adults for slow reaction time (reaction time lowers w/ age) John Horn's 2 Intelligences: -Fluid intelligence: ability to solve abstract relational problems and to generate new hypotheses -Crystallized intelligence: ability to use accumulated knowledge and learning in appropriate situations Senile dementia: decreases in mental abilities experienced by some people in old age (characterized by memory loss, forgetfulness, disorientation of time and place, etc.) -Alzheimer's Disease: a condition that destroys a person's ability to think, remember, relate to others, and care for themselves
Identity Development
Identity crisis: a period of inner conflict during which adolescents worry intensely about who they are Identity formation: when the adolescent can resolve issues such as choice of occupation, set of values, etc. Identity confusion: Task of becoming a unique individual is never completely resolved Role confusion: Represented by childish behavior to avoid resolving conflicts and by being impulsive in decision making
Surveys
Information is obtained by asking many individuals a fixed set of questions
Case Studies
Involves an intensive investigation of one or more participants
Paranoid subtype schizophrenia
Involves hallucinations and delusions including grandeur: "I am the savior of my people" and persecution: "Someone is always watching me"
Smell & Taste
Known as chemical senses because their receptors are sensitive to chemical molecules rather than to light energy or sound waves
Emotional Development
Konrad Lorenz's Geese Experiments (attachment): Lorenz discovered that baby geese become attached to their mothers in a sudden, virtually permanent learning process called imprinting. A few hours after they struggle out of their shells, goslings are ready to start waddling after the first thing they see that moves. Whatever it is, they usually stay with it and treat it as though it were their mother from that time on. Usually it is the mother goose. Yet Lorenz found that if he substituted himself or some moving object like a green box being ragged along the ground, the goslings would follow that. Lorenz's goslings followed him wherever he went and ran to him when frightened. Goslings are especially sensitive just after birth, and whatever they learn during this critical period makes a deep impression that resists change.
Modeling
Learning by imitating others; copying behavior 3 Types of Effects 1) Increased behavior (Examples: clapping, looking at the sky) 2) Observational learning (imitation) -Albert Bandura suggested that we watch models perform and then imitate the models' behavior -Bobo experiment: found that children were more likely to act aggressively after they observed aggressive behavior 3) Disinhibition (when an observer watches someone else behave in a threatening activity w/o punishment, they may find it easier to engage in that behavior later)
Social & Personality
Levinson's Theory of Male Development: Important transition period (ages 30, 40, 50, and 60, that last ~5 years) Generativity: the desire in middle age to use one's accumulated wisdom to guide future generations Stagnation: a discontinuation of development and a desire to recapture the past Life situation changes in old age (ex: retirement, widowhood)
Movement deterioration
May occur as slowed movement, nonmovement or as highly agitated behavior.
Recognition
Memory retrieval in which a person identifies something they have not experienced before -Multiple index: a single item may be indexed under several headings so it can be reached in many ways
Recall
Memory retrieval in which a person reconstructs previously learned material -Reconstructive processes: the alteration of a recalled memory that may be simplifies, enriched, or distorted, depending on an individual's experiences, attitudes, or inferences -Confabulation: the act of filling in memory gaps -Schemas: conceptual frameworks a person uses to make sense of the world -Eidetic memory: the ability to remember with great accuracy visual information on the basis of short-term exposure -State-dependent learning: occurs when you recall info easily when you are in the same physiological or emotional state or setting as you were when you originally encoded the info
Nervous System
Neurons: The long, thin cells of nerve tissue along which messages travel to and from the brain "Firing": when neuron activity is fueled 2 parts of the nervous system" -somatic nervous system: controls voluntary movement of skeletal muscles -autonomic nervous system: controls internal biological functions (think: happens automatically)
Forgetting
Occurs when information that once entered long-term memory is unable to be retrieved -Decay: fading away of memory over time -Interference: blockage of memory by previous or subsequent memories or loss of a retrieval cue (proactive interference: earlier memory blocks you from remembering later information. retroactive interference: later/new memory blocks you from remembering older info) -Repression: when a person subconsciously blocks memories of an embarrassing/frightening experience -Amnesia: loss of memory that may occur after a blow to the head or as a result of drug use or sever psychological stress -Flashbulb memories: memory in vivid detail that usually involves events that were shocking or emotional
Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development
Oral Stage: infant's pleasure seeking focused on the mouth (ages: first 18 months) Anal Stage: infant's pleasure seeking centered on functions of elimination (ages: 1.5-3 years) Phallic Stage: infant's pleasure seeking focused on the genitals (ages 3-6 years) Latency Stage: sexual thoughts repressed; child focuses on developing social and intellectual skills (ages: 6 years to puberty) Genital Stage: sexual desires are renewed; individual seeks relations with others (puberty through adulthood)
Reasons for Using Drugs
People abuse drugs to avoid boredom, to fit in with peers, to gain more confidence, to forget about problems, to relax or simply to feel good
Catatonic type schizophrenia
People may remain motionless for long periods of time, exhibiting a waxy flexibility in which limbs int unusual positions may take a long time to return to a resting, relaxed position.
Hallucinations
Perceptions that have no direct external cause
Ageism
Prejudice or discrimination against the elderly
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Problem in research: A situation in which a researcher's expectations influence that person's own behavior, and thereby influence the participant's behavior -single blind experiment: participants are unaware of which participants received treatment -double blind: neither experimenter nor participants know whose received treatment
Diagnosis
Problems with labeling: The causes and symptoms of psychological disturbances and break-downs and the cures for those breakdown are rarely obvious or clear-cut
Contemporary Approaches
Psychoanalytic: studies how unconscious motives and conflicts determine human behavior -Sigmund Freud studied the unconscious mind; believed conscious experiences were only the tip of the iceberg Behavioral: analyzes how people modify their behavior based on their response to their environment -Ivan Pavlov conducting the tuning fork/dog experiment -John B Watson stated that all behavior, even apparently instinctive behavior, is the result of conditioning and occurs because the appropriate stimulus is present in the environment -B.F. Skinner wrote the novel Walden Two, portraying the idea of a utopian society conditioned by being rewarded for desirable behaviors -Conditioning -Reinforcement increases the likelihood of an event Humanistic: each person has freedom in directing his or her future and achieving personal growth -Abraham Maslow studied this Cognitive: focuses on how we process, store, and use information and how this information influences our thinking, language, problem solving, and creativity -Jean Piaget contributed to this Biological: emphasizes the impact of biology on our behavior -Psychobiologists: study how the brain, nervous system, hormones and genetics influence our behavior Sociocultural: newest approach; involves studying the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on behavior and social functioning -Leonard Doob illustrated the cultural implications of a sneeze
Reinforcement
Reinforcement: stimulus or event that follows a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated -Positive reinforcer: something added after a reaction -Negative reinforcer: something taken away after an action -Primary reinforcer: stimulus that is naturally rewarding, such as food or water -Negative reinforcer: Stimulus such as money that becomes rewarding through its link with a primary reinforcer
Naturalistic Observation
Research method in which the psychologist observes the subject in a natural setting without interfering
Generalization
Responding similarly to a range of similar stimuli
Psychologist
Scientists who have been trained to observe, analyze and evaluate behavior
Sensation
Sensation: What occurs when a stimulus activates a receptor Stimulus: any aspect of change in the environment to which an organism respond Perception: the organization of sensory information into meaningful experiences Psychophysics: the study of the relationships between sensory experiences and the physical stimuli that causes them Absolute threshold: the weakest amount of a stimulus that a person can detect half the time Difference threshold: the smallest change in a physical stimulus that can be detected between two stimuli Just Noticeable difference: the smallest increase or decrease in the intensity of a stimulus that a person is able to detect Weber's Law: the principle that for any change in a stimulus to be detected, a constant proportion of that stimulus must be added or subtracted Signal detection theory: the study of people's tendencies to make correct judgements in detecting the presence of stimuli
Major depressive disorder
Severe form of of lowered mood in which a person experiences feelings of worthlessness and diminished pleasure or interest in many activities Lasts at least 2 weeks
Nature vs. Nurture
Sir Francis Galton- Nature (studied families and determined that success ran in the family) JB Watson- Nurture (believed children were like clay and were easily formed;)
2 Types of Social Learning
Social learning: process of altering behavior by observing and imitating the behavior of others Types: 1. Cognitive learning 2. Modeling
Social Development
Socialization is the process of learning the rules of behavior of the culture within which an individual is born and will live 1. Rules- can be clear and inflexible, can change depending on the situation, etc. 2. Values- every society has different ideas about what is valuable, meaningful, etc. 3. Involves learning to co-exist with others and with self
Correlations & Explanations
The measure of relationship between the two variables -positive correlation: high IQ scores go w/ high grades -negative correlation: more time practicing tennis serves results in less double faults
Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development
Stage 1 (Trust vs. Mistrust): Is my world predictable and supportive?/sense of security (early infancy) Stage 2 (Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt): Can I do things myself or must I rely on others?/sense of independence (1-3 years) Stage 3 (Initiative vs. guilt): Am I good or bad?/balance between spontaneity and restraint (3-6 years) Stage 4 (Industry vs. inferiority): Am I successful or worthless?/Sense of self-confidence (6-12 years) Stage 5 (Identity vs. role confusion): Who am I?/United sense of self (early teens) Stage 6 (Intimacy vs. isolation): Shall I share my life with someone or live alone?/Form close personal relationships (young adult) Stage 7 (Generativity vs. stagnation): Will I succeed in life?/promote well being of others (middle adult) Stage 8 (Ego integrity vs. despair): Have I lived a full life?/sense of satisfaction with life well lived (older adult)
Stages of Sleep
Stage I: lightest stage of sleep, "drifting" (theta waves) Stage II: continuation of stage I; temp. declines, pulse slows, muscles relax (from low amplitude, high frequency to high amp. low freq. waves) Stage III: deeper level of sleep (large amp. delta waves) Stage IV: deep sleep; when sleep walking and walking occur w/o memory (irregular delta waves) (Stages I-IV are NREM) REM Sleep: characterized by rapid eye movements, a high level of brain activity, a deep relaxation of the muscles, and dreaming (low amp. higher freq. beta waves) --> similar to fully awake
Historical Approaches
Structuralist: a psychologist who studied the basic elements that make up conscious mental experiences -introspection: a method of self-observation in which participants report their thoughts and feeling -Wilhelm Wundt studied human behavior in a systematic and scientific manner and established modern psychology as a separate, formal field of study Functionalist: psychologists study how animals and people adapt to their environment; study the function (not structure) of consciousness -William James taught the first class in psychology at Harvard; wrote first psych textbook in twelve years; "father of psych" Inheritable Traits: heredity influences a person's ability, character, behavior -Sir Francis Gestalt traced the ancestry of various eminent people and found that greatness runs in the family Gestalt: perception is more a sum of its parts and involves a "whole pattern" -Max Wertheimer studied this
Kohlberg's Moral Development
Studied the development of moral reasoning--deciding what is what and what is wrong--by presenting children of different ages with a series of moral dilemmas. Kohlberg gave one example: In Europe, a woman was near death from cancer. One drug might save her, a form of radium that a druggist in the sam town had recently discovered. The druggist was charging $2000, ten times what the drug cost him to make. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he know to borrow the money, but he could only get together about half of what is cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper of let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No." The husband got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband have done that? Why?
Disorganized type schizophrenia
Symptoms include incoherent language, inappropriate emotions, giggling for no apparent reason, generally disorganized motor behavior and hallucinations and delusions.
Behavior modification
Systematic application of learning principles to change people's actions and feelings
Shaping
Technique in which desired behavior is "molded" by first rewarding any act similar to that behavior and then requiring closer approximations to the desired behavior before giving reward
Hysteria
Term used to describe unexplainable fainting, paralysis, or deafness in Freud's time.
Dying & Death
Thanatology: the study of dying and death Elizabeth Kubler-Ross determined 5 stages of death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance Hospice: a facility designed to care for the special needs of the dying Euthanasia: doctor-assisted suicide
Four Humors
The belief that the amount of phlegm/blood/yellow bile/black bile in a person determined their personality (ex. too much phlegm makes a person dull, pale, cowardly) -Result: doctors gave patients poisonous herbs to cause vomiting (sign that imbalanced humor was leaving the body)
Meditation
The focusing of attention to clear one's mind and produce relaxation -Meditation has been found to help people lower blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration rate (However, these reported benefits could be a result of relaxation, since some people fall asleep while meditating)
Extinction
The gradual disappearance of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeated present without the conditioned stimulus
Dissociative amnesia
The inability to recall important personal events or information; is usually associated with stressful events
Depressive phase
The individual is overcome by feelings of failure, sinfulness, worthlessness, and repair.
Memory
The input, storage, and retrieval of what has been learned or experienced Three memory processes: 1) Encoding (The transforming of information so that the nervous system can process it) -acoustic codes: when you try to remember something by saying it out loud repeatedly -visual codes: when you attempt to keep a mental picture (ex: remembering the letters "F" "A" "C" "E" for music note spaces) -semantic codes: trying to remember something by making sense of them (ex: "F" "A" "C" "E" spell "face") 2) Storage (the process by which information is maintained over a period of time) 3) Retrieval (the process of obtaining information that has been stored in memory)
Manic Phase
a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state; increased energy, restlessness; "high"; overly euphoric mood; little sleep; poor judgement
Antisocial Personality disorder
a personality disorder in which the person exhibits irresponsibility, shallow emotions, a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even towards friends and family members.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities each with their own pattern of thinking and behaving
Learning
a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience
Critical period
a specific time in development when certain skills or abilities are most easily learned
B.F. Skinner
believed that most behavior is influenced by a person's history of rewards and punishments experiment: to get food to appear in the cup, rats were trained to press the bar on the cage door
Seasonal Affective Disorder
depression during the winter due to less sunlight leading to an increase in the amount of melatonin in the body.
Somatoform Disorders
disorders characterized by physical symptoms for which no known physical cause exists.
Imprinting
inherited tendencies or responses that are displayed by newborn animals when they encounter new stimuli in their environment
